Corroded chassis members repair questions

[anonymous-user]

Another question for those with more know how than I.

A previous fix to my car entailed someone trying to minimize the clutch hose rubbing on the chassis, by siliconing a piece of heat shield material around the hose and to a vertical chassis member adjacent to the drivers side manifold.

I wasnt really impressed when I saw it, and certianly wastn 10 minutes later after removing it. Can this be fixed in situ?






Drivers side wheel arch is to the immediate left of the photo


Second question!!

On the passenger side of the bay, the top chassis rail has a small pinhole on the top side, again close to the manifolds, as this is on the front to back top rail of the chassis, is this potentially worse than the corroded vertical member above??



ANY help is good help right now. Not in a happy place atm. :-(

Edited by djstevec on Sunday 25th May 01:25

[anonymous-user]

spongy said:

Sir if you join in my way of thinking at the mo i am looking at my chassis as a temporary make do untill my funds allow a new one,this kinda takes the pressure off when i find nasty things.

Yeah this pretty much sums up my thinking right now mate.

That call to TVR Power about chassis is gonna come much sooner rather than later!!

[anonymous-user]

Oh the cars going nowhere, she's here for the long term. Body off is probably where this is all heading. Just not planning on major chassis work as APM have my engine in bits at the moment too. Having a drink, watching the golf.

[anonymous-user]

Tanguero said:

Looking at those pictures I would say it going to be a body off job to repair it properly. Worse still if the top rail is pin-holed from inside as well as an upright on the same side, personally I wouldn't drive it at all until it had been done! The only load bearing member of any strength left on that side is the bottom rail and in an accident I wouldn't put any money on that not folding up on you. Not worth the risk.

Hey Peter,

Well car isn't going anywhere for a while I feel. Issues are on opposite sides of the bay, but am thinking more and more that I need to get the body off and either refurb what I can, or leave the body on for now but do what I can to all the other bits and bobs to get ready for a TVR Power chassis if/when they make cerb chassis available.

[anonymous-user]

Yeah just ordered some storage racking for the spare bathroom as I feel there's going to be many more components going in there in the next few days/weeks. Have to figure out a way to lift the body in a communal garage space with no possibilities of fixing in to the ceiling or storing the body/chassis when its off.

First thought was some form of scaffolding around/above the car for the lift day, some bogies to move the body when off, and low load the body to my mums until chassis ready (so long as she doesn't sell the house in the meantime!)

And call TVR Power tomorrow for a chat about chassis's ;-)

[anonymous-user]

M3John said:

djstevec said:

First thought was some form of scaffolding around/above the car for the lift day, some bogies to move the body when off, and low load the body to my mums until chassis ready (so long as she doesn't sell the house in the meantime!)

And call TVR Power tomorrow for a chat about chassis's ;-)

I think if we fabricate two large H frames joined by a common `cross bar` then we'll be able to do it quite easily in your garage mate.
No idea of the cost but, would need two block and tackles too (at least), maybe if somebody else is looking at doing this you could have a bit of a group buy thing going on and we'll be the Guinea Pigs for it. [clarkson] "What could possibly go wrong" [/clarkson]

Edit ;
Going by the pictures in this thread we may actually be able to lift it with 3 engine hoists.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by M3John on Monday 9th April 13:30

My kinda spirit!

Could deff replicate that arrangement in scaffolding. Probably worthwhile moving the car to a quieter part of the garage though, and take up a double space. Time to price up some 2nd hand scaffold poles.

Anyone know any Cerb friendly builders merchants? ;-)

Edited by djstevec on Monday 9th April 14:25

[anonymous-user]

crypto said:

I hope they will also do one in stainless steel ...

Wouldnt that be too brittle and not enough flex in the members so would crack badly?

Happy to just have a complete chassis atm!!

;-)

Edited by djstevec on Monday 9th April 18:41

[anonymous-user]

Im guessing this is a good a guide to what needs to happen as any I can find...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[anonymous-user]

As noticed by UKKIDS35 when he popped round tonight, the chassis "ladder" in the engine bay is wider at the top than the bottom, but the body tub goes in the opposite direction.

How do you get the body to pass the chassis? Do you have to lift one side of the body before the other? As I'm kinda being pushed down the body lift route, kinda need to get this right!

[anonymous-user]

Tanguero said:

You tilt the body to about 30 degrees as you lift it off.

As if I wasnt apprehensive enough already about doing this!

[anonymous-user]

spongy said:

You will be fine sir..make sure you get a midget to lift one side and you will be ok.just take it in little stages and all will be fine ...the bodys are very strong have looked at one off a chassis.

Yeah this all a little bit daunting for a guy who's never even serviced his own car before buying a Cerbera! First was a split fuel hose on day 2 of ownership, then HT leads and coil packs as they cooked themselves in a 2 hour traffic jam on the M25, then an engine pull, now a body off!!

At least Ive brought a small amount of order to the chaos of my spare bathroom.

[anonymous-user]

4!

[anonymous-user]

Well started the process of the body removal today. Seats out, front roll cage mount bolts off, tub to outrigger bolts out, seat belt mounts to both side out.

Roll cage mounts looked a bit worse for wear. Powder coating pretty much gone so will need to do something there when the body is off. Dashboard, rear roll cage body mounts, front footwell bolts, helmet holder bolt and a few more bits'n'bobs to go.

[anonymous-user]

Got a bit of research to do on getting the rear seats out and petrol tank moved, but hopefully get the easy bolts all off by the weekend. I cant physically fit into the footwell to get to the foremost outrigger bolts, so borrowing some help from a much slimmer friend in UKKID35! :-)

[anonymous-user]

Tanguero said:

The rear seats are just a couple of nuts under the rear wheel arches. Look for big lumps of Sikaflex and dig around with a screwdriver. There will be an 8mm nut under it. Undo those and the rear seat cushions just lift out.

Thank you Peter.

[anonymous-user]

ridds said:

Or you'll go to undo them and they'll snap off.

The prophet of doom!! But an accurate prophet....most of them did snap off yesterday.

However all part of the progress made yesterday, again with much help of someone who knows what he's doing (and has much smaller hands!) in UKKID35, thank you Paul!!

So the interior is now in slightly less than usable state, but if anyone can give me some advice on how to remove the dash/centre console and what needs to come out/off there, I'd MUCH appreciate it, as it just didnt look clear yesterday.

[anonymous-user]

Well whatever TVR did, the future of this chassis is POR15 and hammerite top coat. And hopefully no bloody waxoyl required!

[anonymous-user]

Gray_101 said:

Where you at Steve..... any up dates ?

Hey Graham,
Well latest is that its basically ready to separate body and chassis, Im borrowing Tanguero's 4 post lift rig (and a lot of his knowledge!! ) to do the actual lift off. Peter is still putting his all back together, so its in a little bit of a holding pattern right now. Im in absolutely no rush though (Im doing this once and once only!!), it also gives me some time to clean up whats going back on, and buying the new shiny bits!

Oh and not going down the POR15 route anymore. On good advice from Peter, Im sending the chassis and all the suspension components to a place in Gravesend for blasting back to metal, zinc plasma and a proper powder coating.

Now, if the plan is to have the car resprayed black, what colour chassis to have?? Gold perhaps? Deep red?

Edited by djstevec on Sunday 10th June 11:27

[anonymous-user]

Great job!!



I was thinking about you not putting the engine back in before dropping the body back on, obviously no body = a lot more room to get it back in and hook it all back up again.

How much of a hindrance would you say having the engine in would be?

S

[anonymous-user]

BCA said:

Not entirely sure, I remember him setting up the dealership, but things went quiet over time? A true Cerbera-mad enthusiast.

I think it works without the naff numberplates/ stickers/ different wheels. I saw it in the 'glass at Le Mans with the new owner and it looked menacing.

Well "if" Im gonna shove a rear diffuser on mine, its gonna actually produce downforce not just be dead weight and risk having something just there to get knocked off by speed bumps!!
Chatting with Andy (APM) a while ago, a road going cerb would benefit more from a simple lip spoiler on the boot. So I'm thinking something discreet along those lines.

maybe....

Edited by djstevec on Thursday 21st June 09:37