Discussion
Bought my S2 in 2005 and it was used as a daily driver until I moved to London and went to uni in 2006, I was supposed to sell it to pay for uni living costs but managed to keep hold of it but unfortunately it just stood on the drive slowly going mouldy for the best part of 4 years. Fast forward to 2009 and my dad and I got a workshop to restore classic cars so it got moved to the back of the workshop. Not much happened for a while but at least it was dry! Started the restoration in Jan 2010 doing bits and bobs, should have kept a more comprehensive photo diary but always forget to take pictures, get too involved! Here's the few photos I do have:
Body lifted off:
To reveal a pretty rotten chassis!
I didn't get photos but the front corners of the outriggers were almost totally gone, ended up cutting out the whole of each side and about half of the mid section bars.
New sections welded in and painted with POR15:
Body back on
First wash in 4 years!
I was a bit worried about the paintwork, it had been left under a car cover for years, most of the carpets had to be ripped out as they were mouldy but the cover had damaged the paintwork with a kind of dullness where it had somehow etched into the lacquer. Lots of polishing and compounding later and I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not perfect but it's about as good as it's going to get without a respray. If anyone asks it's just honest patina!
Looking moody!
Just need to check a few things tomorrow and hopefully it can go for it's MOT...
Body lifted off:
To reveal a pretty rotten chassis!
I didn't get photos but the front corners of the outriggers were almost totally gone, ended up cutting out the whole of each side and about half of the mid section bars.
New sections welded in and painted with POR15:
Body back on
First wash in 4 years!
I was a bit worried about the paintwork, it had been left under a car cover for years, most of the carpets had to be ripped out as they were mouldy but the cover had damaged the paintwork with a kind of dullness where it had somehow etched into the lacquer. Lots of polishing and compounding later and I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not perfect but it's about as good as it's going to get without a respray. If anyone asks it's just honest patina!
Looking moody!
Just need to check a few things tomorrow and hopefully it can go for it's MOT...
ben10 said:
northandy said:
That's lovely.
There's something great about seeing a proper rolling chassis, not like these modern cars with a bodyshell withe the bits all bolted to that.
Agreed, it does look pretty cool with the body off There's something great about seeing a proper rolling chassis, not like these modern cars with a bodyshell withe the bits all bolted to that.
(Also looks good with the body on
)Altrezia said:
These are really growing on me lately. How do they drive?
They are pretty good, the steering is brilliant and whilst it's not as powerful as the V8 TVRs there's a decent enough power to weight ratio to be fun, certainly enough to keep up with a modern hot hatch. It doesn't handle like a hot hatch, you can't throw it into a corner and hope the car will look after you but if you get entry speed and lines right you can chuck it about a fair bit. Overall I think they're great, for the price nothing comes close, for the money you could probably get something that covers ground faster (some kind of Type R, GTI or an Impreza) but this is so much more fun, every single drive is an event.Podie said:
Altrezia said:
These are really growing on me lately. How do they drive?
Great cars - still miss me S3c.More chuckable than the Chimaera that I replaced it with, and rawer - although not as quick. V8S is a nice compromise!
toast boy said:
Podie said:
Altrezia said:
These are really growing on me lately. How do they drive?
Great cars - still miss me S3c.More chuckable than the Chimaera that I replaced it with, and rawer - although not as quick. V8S is a nice compromise!
Our Griffith is a modded 500, with Protechs, rollbar, upgraded brakes etc etc, but again there is [i/something[/i] about the S.
V8S prices hold firm as they built a lot less than Griff and Chims. I'm not saying either is better - just that they are different.
Thanks for the reply Podie, what do you think makes the S feel different then? Does it have a shorter wheelbase than the Griff/Chim? Barring that I can't think of much else that is too different in terms of things that would contribute to driving feel - the basic chassis architecture is similar and the weight is more or less the same I think?
_Batty_ said:
was it hard to lift the body? the outriggers are totally shot 
Not difficult at all really, disconnect everything, undo the body bolts (12 if I remember correctly), and lift using something suitable or lots of manual labour. I've heard of people lifting it with manpower but it has to go quite high so not sure I'd be keen to try that. It goes up at quite an angle at the back to clear the transmission tunnel and we just lifted it partly by hand and then took up the slack with strong ratchet straps secured to beams in the ceiling. In the wise words of Haynes, refitting is the reversal of removal 
The only slightly tricky bit is the angle to clear the tunnel, took a bit of jiggling about to get the chassis out but not massively difficult, probably only a few hours from start to finish.toast boy said:
Thanks for the reply Podie, what do you think makes the S feel different then? Does it have a shorter wheelbase than the Griff/Chim? Barring that I can't think of much else that is too different in terms of things that would contribute to driving feel - the basic chassis architecture is similar and the weight is more or less the same I think?
In the early PH days lots of S owners moved to Griff's and Chims... most agreed it was a little more raw. May be first TVR rose tinted specs, maybe they are just a little less refined. Not sure on dimensions but the S feels smaller for some reason. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff