Another body off rebuild begins
Discussion
After the head gasket went a few months back I decided to go the whole hog and lift the body repair and recoat the chassis and rebuild the engine.
Anyway, lifted the body last saturday to find quite a few rat holes in the chassis!
Ended up putting nearly 20' of tube in yesterday to replace all the pitted and holed steel.
Hopefully off to the blasters this week, as soon as I get some Zinga for them to spray on.
Anyway, lifted the body last saturday to find quite a few rat holes in the chassis!
Ended up putting nearly 20' of tube in yesterday to replace all the pitted and holed steel.
Hopefully off to the blasters this week, as soon as I get some Zinga for them to spray on.
Edited by pjenni12 on Friday 17th January 23:14
I hate these threads 
. One cos you wonder if yours is similar underneath. And secondly cos when I look at peoples reweldling it makes me wince.
I've lose count of how many times I've seen small sections of pipe chopped out and rewelded along a long run of pipe.
Given that the chassis flexes when under load, anyone who chops a bit out and rewelds along a run is surely going to get dissimilar flexing from right to left? Where the welds are is actually pretty vital is it not?
I'd be a nightmare if I had welding to do on my car, I'd start off with a small hole somewhere and end up having replaced the whole thing.
. One cos you wonder if yours is similar underneath. And secondly cos when I look at peoples reweldling it makes me wince.I've lose count of how many times I've seen small sections of pipe chopped out and rewelded along a long run of pipe.
Given that the chassis flexes when under load, anyone who chops a bit out and rewelds along a run is surely going to get dissimilar flexing from right to left? Where the welds are is actually pretty vital is it not?
I'd be a nightmare if I had welding to do on my car, I'd start off with a small hole somewhere and end up having replaced the whole thing.
julian64 said:
Given that the chassis flexes when under load, anyone who chops a bit out and rewelds along a run is surely going to get dissimilar flexing from right to left? Where the welds are is actually pretty vital is it not?
Seeing the state of some (most) of the chassis that are undergoing rebuilds, I'd suggest you'd be getting dissimilar flexing between the two sides anyway. I doubt very much that a little welding would have an adverse effect. In fact, it's surprising that they don't snap in half after a couple of years.This is in no way a TVR-bashing comment, but the fact that these chassis are in such a state after such a short time is appalling. Had they been in a position, I would have thought you'd have had a strong case for a claim for a new chassis. I can't see what possible defence they could mount for such a shoddy piece of kit. 'Fit for purpose' and all that....
I had a 4.5 a few years ago, and it was of a similar condition, so I speak from experience.
AdeTuono said:
julian64 said:
Given that the chassis flexes when under load, anyone who chops a bit out and rewelds along a run is surely going to get dissimilar flexing from right to left? Where the welds are is actually pretty vital is it not?
Seeing the state of some (most) of the chassis that are undergoing rebuilds, I'd suggest you'd be getting dissimilar flexing between the two sides anyway. I doubt very much that a little welding would have an adverse effect. In fact, it's surprising that they don't snap in half after a couple of years.This is in no way a TVR-bashing comment, but the fact that these chassis are in such a state after such a short time is appalling. Had they been in a position, I would have thought you'd have had a strong case for a claim for a new chassis. I can't see what possible defence they could mount for such a shoddy piece of kit. 'Fit for purpose' and all that....
I had a 4.5 a few years ago, and it was of a similar condition, so I speak from experience.
Cerb was never designed or built to be a reliable, or long term runner. Buy it for that and you weren't really buying for the purpose it was intended for.
It was intended to be a short lived performance crazed giant beater. The fact that Cerbs have survived in owners hands as long as they have is a testiment to the owners, not the cars. If you look at the build quality, the engine, none of it was built to last a significant period of time.
1964 cerbs built, some are now ten years old. There are quite a lot of 10 year old BMW's that didn't make it that far.
One of my cars was a lancia monte carlo. Similar giant killing skills, similar build quality. Within ten years there almost none left, and they built a lot more than 2000 of them
.Lets face it the frame on the Cerb often outlives the ability to keep them on the blackstuff
julian64 said:
Cerb was never designed or built to be a reliable, or long term runner. Buy it for that and you weren't really buying for the purpose it was intended for.
I'm sorry, but I can't believe that was the remit. I was under the impression that it was designed as a GT. Can you imagine the boardroom meeting? "Let's build a car which is unlikely to last, and will breakdown regularly. If we announce that from the start, no-one can complain."If that was, indeed, what was proposed, it's hardly a surprise that TVR ended up as it did. And as I said before, I'm not TVR basher.
Well true, TVR had no real right being a car manufacturer IMHO. It was a specialist kit car maker with aspirations to build a mass appeal car.
Maybe at the dealerships they pretended the car was like any other mainstream car but with phenominal performance, and buyer who took them at face value often felt rather cheated after.
I bought my car like I would have bought a finished kit car. Nice to have a mainstream badge like TVR, and nice to have a decent backup network, but I was under no illusions as to how the car needed to be kept and mantained differently to a normal car. I budgeted for an engine rebuild within the first year, and was surprised when it didn't happen.
Maybe at the dealerships they pretended the car was like any other mainstream car but with phenominal performance, and buyer who took them at face value often felt rather cheated after.
I bought my car like I would have bought a finished kit car. Nice to have a mainstream badge like TVR, and nice to have a decent backup network, but I was under no illusions as to how the car needed to be kept and mantained differently to a normal car. I budgeted for an engine rebuild within the first year, and was surprised when it didn't happen.
brakedust said:
Looks like some good work, How long did it take you to get the body off?
Im still thinking of taking mine off and giving her a full overhaul.
Took me a weekend but I'm very familiar with my Cerb, I've already had all the interior out before (which can be a little daunting the first time!) I also have a fully kitted workshop with 2 poster which certainly helps. If your mechanicaly minded then go for it as there fairly straightforward under there. I knew mine had a few holes anyway so was expecting some work, and it used to depress me everytime I was under the car seeing the state of the chassis. My car is only 10 years old but has been neglected by previous owners so it wasn't a great surprise.Im still thinking of taking mine off and giving her a full overhaul.
One thing I wasn't expecting was the weight of the empty body, I was going to take the body out of the workshop and put it back in the garage but I think it'll be staying on the ramp above the chassis!
Hopefully I'll take the chassis next week for powder coating then I can get all the other bits zinc plated and start putting it all back together.
Well here's an update on the rebuild. After what I thought was a head gasket failure I started a body off rebuild last September to sort out many underlying problems.
I started with the chassis and left the engine till last as I didn't want two things in pieces at the same time.
After shotblasting and Zinga spraying I had it powder coated in blue to match the body.
I also had all the wishbones and uprights blasted then electroplated
A good way to save a fortune is to sand blast all the original fixings and re-plate them,
It was then time to put it all back together,
The body went back on in March and I spent a few nights sorting out the under bonnet heat shielding
Once the body was back on the chassis and all the trim re fitted I stripped the engine.
What I thought was a simple head gasket failure turned out to be two porous heads caused from years of sat in garages (awaiting repair) with only water in the cooling system and no antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor, it had even rotted the head gaskets away.
So after much searching I managed to find another pair of heads, had them pressure tested and skimmed.
I then put all the components through the vapour blaster,
I also had the complete bottom end dynamically balanced, which after seeing the measurements before the work, was well worth the expense.
New shells and rings were fitted along with water pump seals, O rings, and needle bearings.
And the whole lot re assembled over many hours.
So thats as far as i'm upto. Hoping to get the engine back in next week and fire her up for the first time in ages.
Roll on the MOT!
I started with the chassis and left the engine till last as I didn't want two things in pieces at the same time.
After shotblasting and Zinga spraying I had it powder coated in blue to match the body.
I also had all the wishbones and uprights blasted then electroplated
A good way to save a fortune is to sand blast all the original fixings and re-plate them,
It was then time to put it all back together,
The body went back on in March and I spent a few nights sorting out the under bonnet heat shielding
Once the body was back on the chassis and all the trim re fitted I stripped the engine.
What I thought was a simple head gasket failure turned out to be two porous heads caused from years of sat in garages (awaiting repair) with only water in the cooling system and no antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor, it had even rotted the head gaskets away.
So after much searching I managed to find another pair of heads, had them pressure tested and skimmed.
I then put all the components through the vapour blaster,
I also had the complete bottom end dynamically balanced, which after seeing the measurements before the work, was well worth the expense.
New shells and rings were fitted along with water pump seals, O rings, and needle bearings.
And the whole lot re assembled over many hours.
So thats as far as i'm upto. Hoping to get the engine back in next week and fire her up for the first time in ages.
Roll on the MOT!
Edited by pjenni12 on Friday 17th January 23:14
Matt,
Vapour, sometimes called Vaqua blasting.
I just googled it for you in Sussex and came up with:
http://www.yell.com/find/s/Home-Maintenance-and-Re...
In a past life I had my own metal refinnishing business.
This form of metal cleaning is the dog's danglies.
Phil
420 SEAC
Vapour, sometimes called Vaqua blasting.
I just googled it for you in Sussex and came up with:
http://www.yell.com/find/s/Home-Maintenance-and-Re...
In a past life I had my own metal refinnishing business.
This form of metal cleaning is the dog's danglies.
Phil
420 SEAC
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