TVR Chimaera 500
Discussion
Back in February 2021, I was looking for a replacement for my Audi S3. I'd set my sights on an S5 convertible, as I wanted a convertible for a while and it ticked most boxes for a daily driver. Unfortunately, the one I went to look at had been home to a mouse, and a few months later Covid prices had started to take hold and the S5 went a bit out of reach. I left it for a few months and then decided to apply some man maths, what about keeping the S3 and having something more fun for the weekend trips out...queue the hunt for a TVR!
I looked at 6 before settling on 'Trevor'...they're all called that aren't they? Initially I wanted a green one, but I soon came to the conclusion that I should be buying on condition, with spec coming second - unfortunately that meant I ended up with a 500
Previously owned by '2 sMoKiN bArReLs', he was the best example I could find and had clearly been cherished. Thanks for looking after him so well!
A picture from October last year when I picked him up from James Agger - James was great with helping find the right car, he was also very patient!
And safely home in the garage
I then set about doing as many miles as I could in him, before the gritters came out for the winter, that turned out to be about 600! They were pretty much all trouble free, although I did go down to 7 cylinders for a short period with some lumpy running. This turned out to be a tired plug extender so I ditched those and bought some new resistive plugs - all resolved and much better at low RPM. I also chucked a new serpentine belt on because it was looking a bit shiny.
As the winter took hold, I started working on my list of jobs - nothing major, but minor improvements, first of which was the radio - it was the original item, including the CD changer in the boot, and it wasn't great! I upgraded this to a Pioneer head unit, and also upgraded the front speakers to JL Audio items, not cheap but a great improvement over standard..especially as only one of them worked!
I also thought it would be a good opportunity to get Trevor up in the air and check it all out underneath. As part of the prep done by James Agger, he'd taken the waxoyl off leaving a pristine white chassis - as a result, all I needed to do was give it a good wipe down and top up the waxoyl on the outriggers.
After this, it was time to try and improve the passenger leg room situation. For anyone who hasn't been a passenger in a Chimaera, you really do need short legs to be comfortable because at the end of the footwell there is a battery, fusebox and ECU! I bought an Odyssey PC950 and moved the ECU above the glove box, which has gained enough space to be far more comfortable on a long trip.
Before
After
Still looking for jobs to do, I added a fan override switch to work off the original switch for turning the interior dash lights on and off. This resulted in some very battered hands as the wire to splice into runs behind the radio, so it was like keyhole surgery!
It's nice to have the ability to turn the fans on before they cut in, so that if I know I'm going to be sitting in traffic for a while he can run a little bit cooler.
What next...well, I didn't really like the orange indicator lenses. You can replace them with clear from an old military Land Rover but they aren't cheap, so I found some equivalents from eBay for half the price.
Getting the old ones out was quite straight forward, cutting round the originals to get rid of the sealant TVR must have bought by the barrel, I then fabricated up a mount to put the new ones into and stuck them back into place.
Once that was complete I was pretty much done with my list, and the weather was starting to improve so it was time to get him out of hibernation.
I then spotted a set of Lenso BSX alloys that had come up for sale on Pistonheads, I'd never been sold on the Estoril wheels and would have preferred a set of Imolas, but these would also do the trick - so on they went!
Meeting up with a friend and his Silvia that he imported from Japan - any excuse for a drive!
Gilks' Garage Cafe
Caffeine and Machine
Next up, a few more miles and a service. Whilst tidying him up over the winter I'd noticed a couple of things that I wanted to improve, so I went down to Str8 Six for a service, and to also get the following fitted.
- New heat shields on the inner wings as they were disintegrating
- New power steering hoses as it was leaking at the U joint
- New manifolds and sports cat from Clive Ford
I was expecting some additional items to come up whilst he was in, as they usually do, but I was glad to get a clean bill of health back from them so off we went.
Can't remember the show, but I met up with my dad in his Fiat 125
Both the toys together...and this is why I wanted a colour other than blue!
Over the summer I've been to several shows and several more petrol stations, but that's not a bad problem to have. We also went over to a friend's wedding at Clearwell Castle - couldn't have wished for better weather and all in all it was a great weekend.
and finally some more recent pictures - I'd been replacing the door/hood seals so needed a final run out to check all was OK.
I looked at 6 before settling on 'Trevor'...they're all called that aren't they? Initially I wanted a green one, but I soon came to the conclusion that I should be buying on condition, with spec coming second - unfortunately that meant I ended up with a 500
Previously owned by '2 sMoKiN bArReLs', he was the best example I could find and had clearly been cherished. Thanks for looking after him so well!
A picture from October last year when I picked him up from James Agger - James was great with helping find the right car, he was also very patient!
And safely home in the garage
I then set about doing as many miles as I could in him, before the gritters came out for the winter, that turned out to be about 600! They were pretty much all trouble free, although I did go down to 7 cylinders for a short period with some lumpy running. This turned out to be a tired plug extender so I ditched those and bought some new resistive plugs - all resolved and much better at low RPM. I also chucked a new serpentine belt on because it was looking a bit shiny.
As the winter took hold, I started working on my list of jobs - nothing major, but minor improvements, first of which was the radio - it was the original item, including the CD changer in the boot, and it wasn't great! I upgraded this to a Pioneer head unit, and also upgraded the front speakers to JL Audio items, not cheap but a great improvement over standard..especially as only one of them worked!
I also thought it would be a good opportunity to get Trevor up in the air and check it all out underneath. As part of the prep done by James Agger, he'd taken the waxoyl off leaving a pristine white chassis - as a result, all I needed to do was give it a good wipe down and top up the waxoyl on the outriggers.
After this, it was time to try and improve the passenger leg room situation. For anyone who hasn't been a passenger in a Chimaera, you really do need short legs to be comfortable because at the end of the footwell there is a battery, fusebox and ECU! I bought an Odyssey PC950 and moved the ECU above the glove box, which has gained enough space to be far more comfortable on a long trip.
Before
After
Still looking for jobs to do, I added a fan override switch to work off the original switch for turning the interior dash lights on and off. This resulted in some very battered hands as the wire to splice into runs behind the radio, so it was like keyhole surgery!
It's nice to have the ability to turn the fans on before they cut in, so that if I know I'm going to be sitting in traffic for a while he can run a little bit cooler.
What next...well, I didn't really like the orange indicator lenses. You can replace them with clear from an old military Land Rover but they aren't cheap, so I found some equivalents from eBay for half the price.
Getting the old ones out was quite straight forward, cutting round the originals to get rid of the sealant TVR must have bought by the barrel, I then fabricated up a mount to put the new ones into and stuck them back into place.
Once that was complete I was pretty much done with my list, and the weather was starting to improve so it was time to get him out of hibernation.
I then spotted a set of Lenso BSX alloys that had come up for sale on Pistonheads, I'd never been sold on the Estoril wheels and would have preferred a set of Imolas, but these would also do the trick - so on they went!
Meeting up with a friend and his Silvia that he imported from Japan - any excuse for a drive!
Gilks' Garage Cafe
Caffeine and Machine
Next up, a few more miles and a service. Whilst tidying him up over the winter I'd noticed a couple of things that I wanted to improve, so I went down to Str8 Six for a service, and to also get the following fitted.
- New heat shields on the inner wings as they were disintegrating
- New power steering hoses as it was leaking at the U joint
- New manifolds and sports cat from Clive Ford
I was expecting some additional items to come up whilst he was in, as they usually do, but I was glad to get a clean bill of health back from them so off we went.
Can't remember the show, but I met up with my dad in his Fiat 125
Both the toys together...and this is why I wanted a colour other than blue!
Over the summer I've been to several shows and several more petrol stations, but that's not a bad problem to have. We also went over to a friend's wedding at Clearwell Castle - couldn't have wished for better weather and all in all it was a great weekend.
and finally some more recent pictures - I'd been replacing the door/hood seals so needed a final run out to check all was OK.
Stunning Car, the wheels really set it off, cracking colour combo as well, simply beautiful.
Did the Sports Cats make much difference to the performance? (not that a 500 Chim needs any improvement
)
A mate has recently restored one of these, the Brake Servo replacement caused him the biggest headache so far iirc. He lost some enthusiasm during the resto, we had a chat and came to the conclusion that V8 powered RWD convertibles are few and far between, any mainstream manufacturer probably won't make them ever again within a reasonable price range, so persevering and preserving is the way forward.
Any car which can make your feet tingle while it idles is going to get my vote.
Did the Sports Cats make much difference to the performance? (not that a 500 Chim needs any improvement
)A mate has recently restored one of these, the Brake Servo replacement caused him the biggest headache so far iirc. He lost some enthusiasm during the resto, we had a chat and came to the conclusion that V8 powered RWD convertibles are few and far between, any mainstream manufacturer probably won't make them ever again within a reasonable price range, so persevering and preserving is the way forward.
Any car which can make your feet tingle while it idles is going to get my vote.
You knew I'd be along 
Lovely write up & I'm so glad the car has found a top owner!
I loved that car & selling it after 15 years or so was a heartbreaker.....but my body was telling me it was time. (When you can't get in or out it's a bit tricky)
I hope you have as much fun as I did in it!
Lovely write up & I'm so glad the car has found a top owner!
I loved that car & selling it after 15 years or so was a heartbreaker.....but my body was telling me it was time. (When you can't get in or out it's a bit tricky)
I hope you have as much fun as I did in it!
James also sourced the car for me, from Kerridges in Suffolk in 2004.
It was wearing V8 PKM
I had a plate ready to go on (being a serial TVR owner)
I only did 34,916 miles (burning up 6932 litres of super), that's an average of 22 mpg in old money. In the earlier days the annual mileage was more respectable, but it tailed off latterly. (It was a 4th car, so was for high days & holidays).
...although I wasn't adverse to a bit of snow
It was wearing V8 PKM
I had a plate ready to go on (being a serial TVR owner)
I only did 34,916 miles (burning up 6932 litres of super
), that's an average of 22 mpg in old money. In the earlier days the annual mileage was more respectable, but it tailed off latterly. (It was a 4th car, so was for high days & holidays)....although I wasn't adverse to a bit of snow
Bit of an aside, but your Dad's 125 was one of the cars of the show for me at Gaydon in September. There can't be many in that condition.
Lovely TVR as well...one day I might have to scratch that itch, but I have a full garage at the moment.
If you are at one of the Gaydon meets next year I'll say hello!
Lovely TVR as well...one day I might have to scratch that itch, but I have a full garage at the moment.
If you are at one of the Gaydon meets next year I'll say hello!
Thanks for all the kind comments!
In answer to some of the questions
Yes - the first picture is collection from James Agger, he's usually got some interesting cars in the workshop.
I didn't notice any performance difference after fitting the sports cat, apart from more pops and bangs out the back when it's hot. It had a de-cat pipe in before but still had the pre-cats in the manifold which have now gone. I didn't want the faff of finding an MOT each year with the de-cat in place so some shiny new pipes looked like the best option.
For those who are interested, I did a thread on the Fiat a few years ago - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... Since the engine rebuild by Guy Croft, it's done about 20k miles and most recently several trips from East Sussex to Durham, full of luggage, taking my sister to university - they were built to be used...provided it's not raining or salty, otherwise they disappear
We should be at a few of the Gaydon Gathering's next year, nice and convenient for me being in Warwick, although my Dad might be in his other boxy shaped car
2 sMoKiN bArReLs - thanks for the additional pictures, always appreciated!
In answer to some of the questions
Yes - the first picture is collection from James Agger, he's usually got some interesting cars in the workshop.
I didn't notice any performance difference after fitting the sports cat, apart from more pops and bangs out the back when it's hot. It had a de-cat pipe in before but still had the pre-cats in the manifold which have now gone. I didn't want the faff of finding an MOT each year with the de-cat in place so some shiny new pipes looked like the best option.
For those who are interested, I did a thread on the Fiat a few years ago - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... Since the engine rebuild by Guy Croft, it's done about 20k miles and most recently several trips from East Sussex to Durham, full of luggage, taking my sister to university - they were built to be used...provided it's not raining or salty, otherwise they disappear
We should be at a few of the Gaydon Gathering's next year, nice and convenient for me being in Warwick, although my Dad might be in his other boxy shaped car
2 sMoKiN bArReLs - thanks for the additional pictures, always appreciated!
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