Whats the best way to inspect?
Discussion
Ok, I am hopefully going to look at a few cars at the weekend and will be taking someone with me who knows a bit more about cars than I do.
I have a good enough idea what to check for, I have cash in my pocket and am trying to hide my excitement.
I appreciate that I must check underneath but what is the best way to do this without a pit or ramp? Should I jack it up? put it on ramps or can you get a good enough idea by just lying underneath the car?
Any final tips before I go?
Cheers
Steve
I have a good enough idea what to check for, I have cash in my pocket and am trying to hide my excitement.
I appreciate that I must check underneath but what is the best way to do this without a pit or ramp? Should I jack it up? put it on ramps or can you get a good enough idea by just lying underneath the car?
Any final tips before I go?
Cheers
Steve
It's certainly made more difficult without a ramp- the chap I bought my car from had a pit and so I spent a fair amount of time under the car.
However you can have a poke around the outriggers whilst the car is on the ground. It's a bit more difficult with other bits of the chassis such as the trailing arms. I wouldn't have thought a reasonable seller would object to a request to jack the car up.
One top tip is to try to get your fingers around the top of the outriggers and feel for rot and any protection. People seem to spend a lot of time treating and looking after the visible bits and ignore the rest. It's not uncommon for someone to lift the body on their P&J to discover that large bits of the outrigger tops have dissolved away
However you can have a poke around the outriggers whilst the car is on the ground. It's a bit more difficult with other bits of the chassis such as the trailing arms. I wouldn't have thought a reasonable seller would object to a request to jack the car up.
One top tip is to try to get your fingers around the top of the outriggers and feel for rot and any protection. People seem to spend a lot of time treating and looking after the visible bits and ignore the rest. It's not uncommon for someone to lift the body on their P&J to discover that large bits of the outrigger tops have dissolved away
Steve
I thought I had given the chassis a good checking over when I bought the car but this is what I found when I started to clean the chassis up. All the tubes within an inch or so of the hole was totally solid the corrosion being very localised. Muck lies on top of the body mounting plates and rots the tubes, try and get a finger in to check this area. The only other area on mine was the seatbelt mounting plates which had got a bit thin, these looked okay until the bolts were removed and the plates fell apart. The outriggers were the same on both sides.
It's not expensive to repair if you can do the work yourself, cost about £20 - £30 for tubes and plates to replace full outriggers and £30 for paint.
Take your time and have a really good look around the chassis and trailing arms.
Tony
I thought I had given the chassis a good checking over when I bought the car but this is what I found when I started to clean the chassis up. All the tubes within an inch or so of the hole was totally solid the corrosion being very localised. Muck lies on top of the body mounting plates and rots the tubes, try and get a finger in to check this area. The only other area on mine was the seatbelt mounting plates which had got a bit thin, these looked okay until the bolts were removed and the plates fell apart. The outriggers were the same on both sides.
It's not expensive to repair if you can do the work yourself, cost about £20 - £30 for tubes and plates to replace full outriggers and £30 for paint.
Take your time and have a really good look around the chassis and trailing arms.
Tony
Rot, as in Merky's photo can be so "tucked away" that even jacked up, over a pit or whatever can be very difficult to detect. Unless vendor has documented proof of recent remedial work you have to assume there will be rust and allow accordingly in price.
Materials minimal but high labour content so if able to tackle yourself could be good bartering point ?
Serious money to have done (properly) at workshop, probably more financially astute to find one where seller has picked up big bill !
May take bit of travelling but always good selection of S's for sale, depending how fussy you are about colour,trim, S1, 2 or 3 etc etc......Good Luck
Materials minimal but high labour content so if able to tackle yourself could be good bartering point ?
Serious money to have done (properly) at workshop, probably more financially astute to find one where seller has picked up big bill !
May take bit of travelling but always good selection of S's for sale, depending how fussy you are about colour,trim, S1, 2 or 3 etc etc......Good Luck
Ragtop said:
Whatever you do, DON'T crawl under a car supported only by a jack.
I suppose you could take a pair of ramps with you, but make sure the car will ride up without scraping on them!!!
Good luck,
Graham
Sorry- I wasn't suggesting relying on just a jack. I'd completely agree that you have to take a safety first approachI suppose you could take a pair of ramps with you, but make sure the car will ride up without scraping on them!!!
Good luck,
Graham
mycroft said:
I like your car a lot but its a bit over my budget Dale!Cheers
steve
Steve H said:
mycroft said:
I like your car a lot but its a bit over my budget Dale!Cheers
steve
I don't have an ulterior motive I just feel that owning a TVR makes you part of a community and i am happy to give a bit of time to help anybody else join it .
Dale
mycroft said:
Steve H said:
mycroft said:
I like your car a lot but its a bit over my budget Dale!Cheers
steve
I don't have an ulterior motive I just feel that owning a TVR makes you part of a community and i am happy to give a bit of time to help anybody else join it .
Dale[/quote
Thats very kind of you Dale and much appreciated. I will keep it in mind if I find another in your direction.
Cheers
Steve
Good luck with the search.
After just completeing my rebuild I can say yep the materials are cheap for the repairs and if you can weld a bonus (which I can) but the time and effort to do the body off then sort it all out is high. Try and get one with a recent fix to these problems.
I've seen a lot of adverts that state chassis good recently waxoiled etc, but if they havne't done a partial lift of the body I can't see there's any way of really knowing.
I'm sure there are some good chassis out there that haven't been touched if like me you are buying at the lower end of the budget have a good educated poke round and take your chance. I opted for a partly rebuild car thats taken me 6 months to finish (if I had more time it could have been a couple of months). It may only be a s1 but at least I know it has zero rust on the chassis or trailing arms, I must admit though buying a runner in the first place at points did seem more appealing
After just completeing my rebuild I can say yep the materials are cheap for the repairs and if you can weld a bonus (which I can) but the time and effort to do the body off then sort it all out is high. Try and get one with a recent fix to these problems.
I've seen a lot of adverts that state chassis good recently waxoiled etc, but if they havne't done a partial lift of the body I can't see there's any way of really knowing.
I'm sure there are some good chassis out there that haven't been touched if like me you are buying at the lower end of the budget have a good educated poke round and take your chance. I opted for a partly rebuild car thats taken me 6 months to finish (if I had more time it could have been a couple of months). It may only be a s1 but at least I know it has zero rust on the chassis or trailing arms, I must admit though buying a runner in the first place at points did seem more appealing
It does depend on how much you are expecting to pay , up to £3k I would expect some chasis reapairs to be on the horizen, anything over £5k I would expect that work would have been done.
When I looked for mine I wore old clothes and got on my back and felt all around the tubes and seat belt mounting points . On early S's the swinging arms were rust prone but it is dificult to check these without a jack, however assuming the outriggers were OK ,these are likely to be also .
Have you got a copy of the Bible by Steve Heath , this is invaluble for S ownership and will cove everything you need to know.
good Luck
Rower
When I looked for mine I wore old clothes and got on my back and felt all around the tubes and seat belt mounting points . On early S's the swinging arms were rust prone but it is dificult to check these without a jack, however assuming the outriggers were OK ,these are likely to be also .
Have you got a copy of the Bible by Steve Heath , this is invaluble for S ownership and will cove everything you need to know.
good Luck
Rower
I'm possibly a bit too far from you (i'm in Scarborough) but my S1 is for sale for around £3000 and to the best of my knowledge needs no chassis work, i have my own four post car lift to inspect this if you wanted to have a look.
If you are interested in having a look let me know and i'll give you a few more details.
If you are interested in having a look let me know and i'll give you a few more details.
Edited by graham kay on Wednesday 2nd September 17:52
Take a bit more advice before attempting to remove a gearbox or you may just end up 
and 
and 
It is however a useful book to have (probably the only technical book on S's) but should bare in mind it is not a full workshop nor even Haynes manual
and and It is however a useful book to have (probably the only technical book on S's) but should bare in mind it is not a full workshop nor even Haynes manual
Edited by phillpot on Wednesday 2nd September 22:05
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