Body Lift time

[Jon Brown]

Had a knocking noise on the passenger rear on my Chim, so had a look and the anti roll bar mount had snapped due to corrosion. New arm and bushes are on order but all the wishbones could do with a cleanup and paint.

Having looked at various bits of the chassis and read lots of posts I think its time for a body lift and some serious cleaning and repainting with POR 15, mainly as a preventative measure.

My question assuming that the outriggers are okay which were only replace 4 years ago how long does it take roughly to lift the body and can this be done easily on the drive on axle stands etc. Going to Le mans this year and was hoping to get it sorted before then.

From the various posts my understanding of the best method for repainting is as follows:

1. Body lift, remove wishbones etc
2. Wire brush chassis using electric drill
3. Decrease with Brake cleaner or thinners?
4. Paint first coat of POR15 using disposable brushes and small tins of paint
5. Second coat after a couple of hours when paint is tacky
6. Body and wishbones back on

Could anyone confirm if this is right or suggest any amendments.

The only other thing that I can think of is the paint itself, looking at Quinny’s posts his used a silver coloured paint. Was this POR15 and is there a primer then the silver top coat or is it just a silver paint from start to finish.

Thanks for the help in advance, I have tried to read as many posts as possible before asking any questions. Sorry for the essay!

JB

[e635815]

Personaly, I would sand blast the parts then zinc coat them (either by electrical deposit or by hot bath) and then consider painting them (that's what I did anyway).
Appart from that, your sequence of tasks is the right one.

[dbv8]

I guess it all depends on how bad it is once you get a good look, how far you want to go with the refurbishment and what the weathers doing if you say you plan to do it on the drive!

I had plans for a similar quick turnaround and now its 18 months and counting. If i had been working at home and tried harder then i still reckon it would have took me 6 months.

[Alexdaredevilz]

Dont forget 'Whilst your there'

[BliarOut]

I'm just going to republish the Body Raise article I wrote a while back and put it back on line as some of the images have disappeared over on TGP.

[Jon Brown]

BliarOut said:

I'm just going to republish the Body Raise article I wrote a while back and put it back on line as some of the images have disappeared over on TGP.

That would be really helpful, maybe it could be made a sticky at the top of the forum.

[quattrophenia]

I was only going to change my brakes and have a wipe around!
I then added powder coating the suspension arms, new bushes (as powder coating destroyed the old ones), brake lines, rod ends and ball joints, full chassis scrape with Hydrate 80 treatment, painted with some classified industrial paint my mate sourced for me and a good coating of underseal with waxoil, cleaned/painted calipers. etc.
It's a shame you have to do the work now because unless you can work on the car full time, I'd be suprised if you get much mileage on her this summer. I have lived and breathed TVR's on axle stands for the last 6 weeks and just want to here that V8 howl now.
Good luck with your new project.

[BliarOut]

I've quickly put it up here:

http://www.brookbanks.net/

I should probably proof read it and improve the grammar a little, but I said that a couple of years ago when I first did it

The article and pics were done when I almost put the body back down so I haven't got many good images of the actual raise, if anyone has some that are good I'm happy to add them.

[EggsBenedict]

If you get tempted to polybush route, seriously consider buying new wishbones. getting the old ones cleaned and removing the bushes takes ages, and can end up ruining the wishbones. I have to buy new front lowers, and one of the rear uppers got slightly distorted also, but I salvaged it. Overall, with all the time spent with wire brushes and degreasant and the time/money (depending on who does it) spent getting the bushes out, it's worth looking at a new set of tubular jobs from Racing Green.

[Alexdaredevilz]

EggsBenedict said:

If you get tempted to polybush route, seriously consider buying new wishbones. getting the old ones cleaned and removing the bushes takes ages, and can end up ruining the wishbones. I have to buy new front lowers, and one of the rear uppers got slightly distorted also, but I salvaged it. Overall, with all the time spent with wire brushes and degreasant and the time/money (depending on who does it) spent getting the bushes out, it's worth looking at a new set of tubular jobs from Racing Green.

It's not that hard to remove bushes, plus new arms will cost well over £1000

[BliarOut]

Ooh, I should post up my bush removal tool too

Linky

The missing pic is here:

[EggsBenedict]

yep, that would help. But seriously, think about how you value your time - the refurb of the wishbones including stripping them all down and POR painting them takes more time than you'd think. Even if the bushes came out easily (sod's law says they won't), then you should budget a day to remove all of them. With brand new ones, they come painted with epoxy two pack that is as hard as the POR15 I used on the other wishbones and obviously you'll have the peace of mind knowing that they're brand new. Racing Green recently had an offer on the whole set of wishbones - was well under a grand if I recall, so might be worth calling them before you start. I wish I had now - the job is hard enough as is (or at least it is on my car...)

Edited by EggsBenedict on Wednesday 30th March 23:00

[BliarOut]

Ahem, I did mine, no probs

[Jon Brown]

Thanks for the guide, very helpful.

No intention of changing all the wish bones at the moment, as i dont have a spare grand. Although I intend to do the work myself.

My mechanic told me about some paint used on oil rigs, will post details when i have details

[roseytvr]

Jon
I was planning doing the same through the winter but got delayed on household projects! In the end I decided to strip the four corners and sort wishbones and bushes first and will probably go body lift next year knowing all the wishbones and bushes are ok. Given you know the outriggers are solid I wouldnt start stripping know and risk missing summer!!

Depending on tools and expertise but I got both corners out comfortably within half a day but cleaning and painting takes an age - just doing the wishbones and bushes will take you a month unless you have major time on your hands.

Check out the POR 15 thread on the general forum, all you need to know on their but my sequence was:

1 Gunk to get rid of major st
2 Sandit down
3 Por 15 marine clean to get rid of all traces of grease (great product)
4 POR 15 Metal Ready to etch bare metal
5 POR 15 rust preventative paint 3 coats
6 POR 15 top coat 3 coats

If you are doing the bushes yourself and have access to a good vice they are fairly easy - follow Quinnys Vids on you tube. We are going to miss him when hes gone!!

Good luck

[roseytvr]

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

The POR 15 thread is on this forum, it just popped up as if by magic!!

[Kitchski]

If you decide you don't have the time or whatever to go through with it yourself, let me know. I know of a company who are looking to potentially start offering an outrigger inspection/refurb/replacement service with a body lift. I believe there are plans to offer to do the first one at cost price as a means of gauging howmuch labour is involved in the job and whether they can offer competitive quotes full time. Could be a cost effective but quality job?

Email me if you're interested and I'll put you on to them. I know collection/delivery is usually no problem.

[SILICONE KID]

You can have the whole set acid dipped and powder coated for less than £100..

[dbv8]

SILICONE KID said:

You can have the whole set acid dipped and powder coated for less than £100..

You are a day early Daz

[ralphy12345]

Jon Brown said:

From the various posts my understanding of the best method for repainting is as follows:

1. Body lift, remove wishbones etc
2. Wire brush chassis using electric drill
3. Decrease with Brake cleaner or thinners?
4. Paint first coat of POR15 using disposable brushes and small tins of paint
5. Second coat after a couple of hours when paint is tacky
6. Body and wishbones back on

Could anyone confirm if this is right or suggest any amendments.

Certainly sounds right to me. There is an addition you might like to consider though: it's one I did whilst re-furbing the chassis and that is to treat the insides of the tubular sections with a corrosion preventative. A simple enough job to do really (mine was a chassis-off job but it would be just as effective with the body still on) and very cost effective given the peace of mind it affords.

I used Bilt-Hamber Dynax S50, it comes in aerosols complete with an applicator tube and you just drill some small holes in the chassis, apply the S50, then leave for 24 hours before sealing the holes up again. As an aside, when I came to seal up the drilled holes I spotted a patch of the S50 on a joint in the chassis, turned out to be a pin-hole in the weld but such is the 'creeping' power of the Dynax it'd found it.





So that's the outside and inside treated!

R