Chassis

[jpa]

I am about to start the chassis resto of the vixen.

Can anyone advise of :-

a) Any safety / strengthening mods to chassis eg, adding seat rail mounting plinth? Seat belt mounting points or roll bar?

b) Best stripping / coating method. I know this has been discussed before but I could not find it! Is there any blasting medium that should be avoided? Is powder coating the best?

Any experience / advice gratefully received.

Cheers
Paul.

Edited by jpa on Monday 8th February 11:49

[Slow M]

jpa said:

I am about to start the chassis resto of the vixen.

Can anyone advise of :-

a) Any safety / strengthening mods to chassis eg, adding seat rail mounting plinth? Seat belt mounting points or roll bar?

b) Best stripping / coating method. I know this has been discussed before but I could not find it! Is there any blasting medium that should be avoided? Is powder coating the best?

Any experience / advice gratefully received.

Cheers
Paul.

Paul,

I'm sorry not to be able to help with a) but as far as b) is concerned:
Depending on your budget, I would say that Dipping the chassis, followed almost immediately by powdercoating would be the "best" way to go.

I did my M chassis frame with several stages of child's play sand and OSPHO (by SkyCo) as well as multiple visits to the opthalmologist to have shards, that bounced through the breathing holes in my safety goggles, removed from my eyes.

There is plastic media, walnut shell, baking soda, steel shot, glass bead, and various other blasting media to chose from. If you're having someone else do the job for you, avoid sand as the heat build-up that many professionals will produce by being "cost effective" (read that as: -trying to save some time), will raise stresses in the frame that may cause it to twist or lose strength.

Do your repairs/modifications before dipping/blasting and coating/painting. That way, if you take some extra time between the two stages, you won't have to fight the rust twice.

Best of luck with your project.
B.

[tvrbuell]

I made up larger rear plates in front of the back axle and above the diff mounting to give better mounting for the fitting of a roll cage (spoke to the makers of cage prior to doing this). As for the finish on the chassis there are many options and differing costs, just make sure all the work to be carried out on the chassis is done before starting or you'll have to start the whole proceess again. Good Luck with it. Dewi

[jpa]

Thanks guys. I have spoken to a local blast coating firm but from what I can find it may be best to also get the bare chassis zinc primed first before coating.

Can anyone recommend a firm for the roll bar / cage? I am in the yorkshire / lancs area?

[TVR_owner]

http://www.ppcages.com/index.php

Skipton - excellent and sensible price wise. Have done various cages for Vixens in the past.

[jpa]

Nice one, thanks for that. Skipton is but a stones throw away from me.

Edited by jpa on Wednesday 10th February 15:36

[Slow M]

Just in case you're not there yet,...

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

[mosstrooper]

TVR_owner said:

http://www.ppcages.com/index.php

Skipton - excellent and sensible price wise. Have done various cages for Vixens in the past.

I was there a few weeks ago. My understanding (and I could be wrong) was that they have only made one in the past. However, I placed an order for a rear roll-over plus horizontal belt bar. I'm told it has been made and is currently away for powder-coating. Hope to collect it next week.

Contact Dan and he will send you photographs of the full cage he built.