Tears of ....

[Lurch]

I've dreamt of having my own TVR ever since I saw my first about 10 years ago.

I've been following the classifieds on here for ages, and bought one about ten days ago. Nice dark green s3 in generally vgood condition. Got independant specialist to give it the once over to avoid any nasty surprises (particularly the chassis). And was given a very positive thumbs up report all round.

But ... I decided to book it in for a good service at Peninsula's and to have the chassis waxoyled. The result of this is that several holes in the chassis, essentially requiring all the outriggers replacing.

I am well upset as this may require a full body off to sort (I am waiting to hear back from peninsulas today). I thought I did the right thing by getting an independant to check it out, but have ended up well gutted and will be well out of pocket.

Has anyone had a full body off and what was total cost?

Anyone any idea about how to go about getting some come back with regard to the inspection?

[RichardR]

Sorry to hear your tale of woe Lurch. Really bad luck, especially after getting it checked!

Have you spoken to the specialist who checked it and asked why they didn't spot the holes? If they're not too far away from you (I understand that you probably travelled for the right car) maybe you could see if they are able to do the work and can offer you a preferential rate.

Tower View quoted me about £1800 plus VAT for a body off / new outriggers job (hope that's not too big a jolt), but Peninsular may well come up with something different.

Hopefully you'll get past this problem and be able to start enjoying your S again, and at least you know that any work you have to get done will benefit the overall value of the car.

Good luck.

[Lurch]

Cheers for the sentiments.

Did you get the work done with them, if so how long did it take?

I decided to wait and see what Peninsula came back with before taking it up with the inspector. Don't want to name any names until I have all the details etc. May not turn out to be full body off (here's hoping)

Whilst the body is off I thought it may be a good idea to get the whole thing powder coated etc.

Either way I'll get some quotes before going ahead.On the plus side awesome fun last weekend. What a noise ...

[dern]

The problem with any inspection is that they're not going to remove the old paint/wax in order to inspect the chassis and in many cases it's only when you do that that you'll see the holes.

Good luck with the fix,

Mark

[funbobby]

im having outrigger work done by top cats this month their quote was very good. email me if you need more info

[kev s3]

if you fancy having a go at taking the body off yourself this will save you a fortune,i would think most of the cost is with the time it takes to do this.i'm nearing the end of a chassis restoration and had my outriggers replaced.cost me £200 all in to have all the tubes done by a local classic car restoration guy (done in galv tubing). i also remember a thread about jacking up the body instead of totally removing it to allow access for the welding,maay take less time?
my car was the same the chassis looked great from underneath but there was a hole at the front corner where the body sits and you couldnt see it until the body was off.
best of luck whatever u do.

[Psychobert]

I posted on this a while ago; wondering about taking the body off to fully sort the chassis. Ended up thinking that as I didn't really need to do it now I'd not bother as its not a small job. It is possible to just lift the body a little to do the work, all dependsI guess on quite which bit needs doing and whether you've got enough access to the right areas.

Sorry about the shock with the car.. Stick with it, soon be on the road again ready for the summer..

[Ren Dao]

Sorry to hear the bad news LURCH hope it all works out
It will be worth it though they are a proper car

[RichardR]

Lurch said:Did you get the work done with them, if so how long did it take?

I didn't get the work done as I was only asking in a what if capacity, which is why I didn't ask around at all. If I remember correctly, they reckoned they'd need the car for about 2 weeks.

I'm sure that you'll find a number of different options available to you once you've done a bit of digging. Good luck.

[Lurch]

Thanks all for your advice. Having now been shown on a ramp where the problems lie, I can see the reason why the body has to come off.

The chssis has gone above the outriggers, which would have been difficult to see without putting the car on the ramp. The more worrying place is the seatbelt mounts, which have just about rusted off the chassis. Therefore I do need to get at least this done before it can be driven.