New Chimaera owner...looking for "Bible"

[legacy4cam]

I am the proud but slightly nervous new keeper of a '94 Chimaera 400, purchased from Tony Gilbert over the weekend. Been looking at them for ages, and finally took the plunge, bought a car I think is useable but with areas to improve undoubtedly. It's the red on that was advertised with fresh TVRPowers engine and new outriggers. Drove it 320 miles home fairly gently as still running in, but feels strong enough. Lots of history and receipts , and although its showing 115k miles, it feels tight and interior is very nice. I looked at lots, and could see issues in all of them, even those at twice what I've invested in this one. Its never going to be worth fortunes, but neither will the miles worry me about using it.

I am looking for the Steve Heath book , can anyone help with a spare copy for sale?

It needs the mirrors attended too, and has an occasional fuel starvation issue (I believe) which I hope to investigate soon. When running cleanly its very tractable and docile.

Other jobs to do include a set of silicon hoses, tidy up some loom taping, run upgrade starter and earth cables, and then hope it's reliable enough to enjoy over the summer.

I'm off to join TVR club, and look forward to meeting some of you hard core owners in the future.
Go easy on me when I arrive when the daft laddie questions...

[igiveup]

Congratulations and welcome to the club..

If you are a Facebook user have a look on the following pages as the Bible comes up every so often

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tvrbuysellswap/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tvrchimaera/



Enjoy your new toy!!

[FoxTVR430]

Well done. You took the plunge like so many of have done.
Let's hope you have a lot of happy miles ahead, most of us do I believe.

[QBee]

Don't listen to the bar room bks - they are very reliable cars. You just need to drive them regularly......if you leave many a daily driver untouched for four or more weeks you will come back to a flat tyre, flat battery and rough running.
Over Christmas 2014 I had two cars off the road, both German. The TVR never missed a beat.

[tuscan30]

^^^
Agree 100% with QBee.

Keep them exercised and they reward you many-fold.

[crowfield]

I bought mine ( a 98 400 ) back in February this year, having wanted one for years. Mine is a second car and I only use it when the weather is fine ( roof stays in the bag in the boot!) I bought the "Bible" from Amazon a few weeks before I got the car - fantastic book with a lot of information - worth every penny. Luckily my car came with a massive history file and needing nothing doing , but the advise to use them and not leave them garaged is very valid. I looked at a couple of really low mileage cars ( 13,000 miles on 1 of them ) , but opted for a car with 50,000 on the clock, as it showed more regular use and if anything needed doing, it would have been done ( and the invoices showed this to be the case ) . Ultra low mileage cars are out there, but I think they could be potential money pits, as bushes will need replacing, camshafts seem to prefer regular use, etc etc. Certainly in the 1000 miles I have put on it so far, there have been no problems at all. Ignore the pub experts who had a mate who knew someone who had one, and it always broke down - simply not true. Great cars, and what a sound!

[zacherynuk]

Heyup, Where are you based ?

You can mine if you want (and promise to hand it to the next person who asks) it's scruffy and well-read but still readable

It's a good read, useful to an extent but doesn't compete with the hive-mind of the guys and gals on this forum!

[Mark_S_24]

http://ecumate.com/shop/index.php/cPath/23/osCsid/p77dphf8hc3upt0p7769uu7850

The Original Book

[Hoofa]

Don't worry you can get by without the so called bible or should be renamed the book of the bleeding obvious !! I have never found it any good and it isn't a Haynes manual , there used to be some good reference material on the web which covered service Information and a alternative parts index, you will find a lot of people on here happy to answer any questions

[legacy4cam]

Cheers for the welcome. I'm based in central Scotland, bought the car 320 miles South, only to find the last registered keeper was 8 miles from my own address....small world etc.
I also looked at some low milers, but this one is for using, so I wanted one that had some of the potential big bills done, its had a fresh engine build, outriggers, and a full new hood in the last 2 years, and appears to have done virtually no miles in that time. Also has new rear suspension and new discs and pads all round, albeit on standard brakes.(which incidentally feel well up to the job at normal road speeds.)
I do want to sort bits n pieces out, so I've ordered corrado mirrors (not one for the purists I know, but spares will be easier come by in years to come, I can't see the CX (XJ220/MCL F1?) mirrors getting any more plentiful), and made some brackets to get the number plate down off the grill. No idea if that was as detrimental to the air flow as it looked, but in my mind it's the first step to giving the cooling system every chance. Might be coincidence, but the temp gauge seemed to be running a needles width lower coming to work today. Might need a run at lunch time just to re-confirm.....

I initially though the car was a 400, but the plenum has the 400HC badge, and the handbook is also seeming up to indicate its a HC, although as its hand written it could be cheap trick.... Any way of really confirming? I'll ask the engine builders, either way its very flexible and seems quick enough up to the 3k self imposed limit I'm using until the nominal 1000 mile run in period is complete.

I do need to have a search for info on the occasional fuel starvation issue I've had 3 times now. It does seem to be related to heat sink possibly, after a brief spell stopped when warm (5-30 mins) the car starts and drives well for 3 or 4 miles , then it seems to be fuel starved for about 2-3 minutes before clearing and driving well again. No heavy throttle or excessive cornering forces which seems to rule out filtration or fuel tank debris at pick up pipe, in my opinion.

Any suggested threads on the fuel issue(?) welcomed, and I need corrado mirror adaptors..even just a set of photographs and dimensions to have them fabb'ed up .

Cheers, Iain.

[QBee]

You probably know this, but while running in, try to keep the engine going up and down through the gears between 2000 and 4000 rpm, no constant speed driving and no labouring the engine (too high a gear).