Chassis Refurb
Discussion
Hi, just wondering if I could get the views of the collective on here.
I want to refurb my chassis this winter as part of my modifications, and initial plan was to do a full body off refurb with the chassis going to RT Racing for coating and any repairs, although as far as repairs go, I strongly suspect there's next to non required. Now, as ideal as this may be, I'm struggling to comprehend that I'll actually have enough time to do it, and see my car in the many stages of disasemblement, scattered parts....then a slow rebuild, meanwhile I'm not getting to use it!
My thinking now is if I could do a 'half job' for now, and then in years to come the full on rebuild could be the best way to go.
I'll be pulling the engine out as part of my gems upgrade, so that'll give me the opportunity of getting to the engine bay. Also, I'm prepared to lift the body a little to gain further access.
I'm sure this kind of thing has been done by plenty, so I just thought I'd get The good folks on here's view and ideas of best practice for such refurb.
Before anyone says it, I know a full body off and stripping of the chassis is the ideal for longevity, but time, not to mention budget also need to be a major consideration to me at the moment. The gems mods and probable head and induction work are already looking costly.
I want to refurb my chassis this winter as part of my modifications, and initial plan was to do a full body off refurb with the chassis going to RT Racing for coating and any repairs, although as far as repairs go, I strongly suspect there's next to non required. Now, as ideal as this may be, I'm struggling to comprehend that I'll actually have enough time to do it, and see my car in the many stages of disasemblement, scattered parts....then a slow rebuild, meanwhile I'm not getting to use it!
My thinking now is if I could do a 'half job' for now, and then in years to come the full on rebuild could be the best way to go.
I'll be pulling the engine out as part of my gems upgrade, so that'll give me the opportunity of getting to the engine bay. Also, I'm prepared to lift the body a little to gain further access.
I'm sure this kind of thing has been done by plenty, so I just thought I'd get The good folks on here's view and ideas of best practice for such refurb.
Before anyone says it, I know a full body off and stripping of the chassis is the ideal for longevity, but time, not to mention budget also need to be a major consideration to me at the moment. The gems mods and probable head and induction work are already looking costly.
A 4 to 6 inch lift is reasonable enough to access rigger condition. I think that will tell you if you need to lift it much further.
Engine out there's no reason why you can't get to most of the important bits especially if you drop box. Truth is it's a fight and you still have the diff ares to consider which does take a lot of road crud and you'll not really be able to do much with body in place.
I'd either do it all or wait another year then go to town as only the best job is really worth doing in these situations imho
Saying that I did my front end with engine in place and it's a lot better than it was.
Engine out there's no reason why you can't get to most of the important bits especially if you drop box. Truth is it's a fight and you still have the diff ares to consider which does take a lot of road crud and you'll not really be able to do much with body in place.
I'd either do it all or wait another year then go to town as only the best job is really worth doing in these situations imho
Saying that I did my front end with engine in place and it's a lot better than it was.
This.......you only want to do this once so go for the full body lift.motul1974 said:
Ok, I hear what your both saying. How about a professional treatment, maybe that could esse my conscience and prevent it getting bad??
No matter what you do in the way of 'treatment' it will not reach the bits that are rusting.If you do a body lift you can get at and repair the outriggers but not very effectively. But you will have difficulty getting at other areas that could have problems such as the sides of the lower chassis rails.
Removing the body yourself would be an option. Whilst the chassis is away being fixed you can concentrate on bodywork jobs such as renewing the heat shielding or interior re-trim.
Steve
Edited by Steve_D on Tuesday 8th August 23:27
Many many years ago, my mates Lotus Elan suffered the, 'headlight won't rise' problem. The tubular section at the front of the chassis that acted as the vacuum reservoir for the headlamps had rusted until it leaked. The resultant chassis replacement meant the whole car got a re-build. Once the chassis was in bits, pointless to do otherwise.
I speak here from recent bitter experience.
In March I removed my engine & 'box (another story) and decided to 'refresh' my engine bay whilst they were out.
I removed every component and every scrap of paint from the gearbox mounts forward. That was no fun, let me assure you. I still bear the scars. And paint chips in every orifice.
I then proceded to paint the chassis. This is virtually impossible. But worse still, the paint 'reacted' and bubbled up and I now have to start over.
Only I am not going to. I am removing the body and sending the chassis for blasting, repairs (if any) and professional recoating.
My motto now is, 'If I had known then what I know now, I would have done this from the outset'.
I have wasted a Spring and a Summer's worth of weekends (and probably £300 on rotary brushes and paint etc).
I ignored the advice of others on here because I thought that I could get it done quicker my way.
Don't make the mistake that I have.
In March I removed my engine & 'box (another story) and decided to 'refresh' my engine bay whilst they were out.
I removed every component and every scrap of paint from the gearbox mounts forward. That was no fun, let me assure you. I still bear the scars. And paint chips in every orifice.
I then proceded to paint the chassis. This is virtually impossible. But worse still, the paint 'reacted' and bubbled up and I now have to start over.
Only I am not going to. I am removing the body and sending the chassis for blasting, repairs (if any) and professional recoating.
My motto now is, 'If I had known then what I know now, I would have done this from the outset'.
I have wasted a Spring and a Summer's worth of weekends (and probably £300 on rotary brushes and paint etc).
I ignored the advice of others on here because I thought that I could get it done quicker my way.
Don't make the mistake that I have.
I wrote a body raise article so you can see for yourself what's involved.
The reason I went for the raise rather than the full body off approach is I only have a single garage and nowhere to store the body.
http://www.brookbanks.net
The reason I went for the raise rather than the full body off approach is I only have a single garage and nowhere to store the body.
http://www.brookbanks.net
Thank you for the 2" idea, that may prove to be what I do. I've a single garage, but I do have outside space.
I hate doing things half hearted, and I guess the 2" method could give me a relatively 'easy' way of extending its life without being seen as a 'bodge' fix, but rather some remedial maintenance.
I guess a full lift and attending to the chassis with everything in place in not really any good either by the sound of it.
I think it's a 2"'er or the whole hog!
Thanks to everyone for their inputs though
I hate doing things half hearted, and I guess the 2" method could give me a relatively 'easy' way of extending its life without being seen as a 'bodge' fix, but rather some remedial maintenance.
I guess a full lift and attending to the chassis with everything in place in not really any good either by the sound of it.
I think it's a 2"'er or the whole hog!
Thanks to everyone for their inputs though
Just been finishing my griffith resto. Gotta say it's not difficult to get the body off once you have gone to the effort of a 2inch or 6inch. You basically all the way there for coming all off.
If your looking to save a little money. Find a local company to do the sand blasting another for any steel work. They will most likely do or know of someone who powder coats.
Mine was 450quid to sand blast, zinc prime, prime, then top coat.
You will be around 20 hours work to strip and rebuild the chassis once the body is off.
You might as well to the full affair rather than go to the same effort twice.
While at id recommended purchasing new bolts. Those nice new clean threads should be treated to some clean bolts.
Best of luck.
M
If your looking to save a little money. Find a local company to do the sand blasting another for any steel work. They will most likely do or know of someone who powder coats.
Mine was 450quid to sand blast, zinc prime, prime, then top coat.
You will be around 20 hours work to strip and rebuild the chassis once the body is off.
You might as well to the full affair rather than go to the same effort twice.
While at id recommended purchasing new bolts. Those nice new clean threads should be treated to some clean bolts.
Best of luck.
M
motul1974 said:
You make it sound so easy. Sounds almost rude to not go all the way Mike! 
But I really do see the value in a proper job though. Im simply exploring if I could do a decent job of 'half a job'! lol
Heres a link to my endeavours a few years back.But I really do see the value in a proper job though. Im simply exploring if I could do a decent job of 'half a job'! lol
If you have access to any system scaffold that you can adapt, it makes lifting the body off easy, even just for one person.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
TJC46 said:
motul1974 said:
You make it sound so easy. Sounds almost rude to not go all the way Mike!
But I really do see the value in a proper job though. Im simply exploring if I could do a decent job of 'half a job'! lol
Heres a link to my endeavours a few years back.But I really do see the value in a proper job though. Im simply exploring if I could do a decent job of 'half a job'! lol
If you have access to any system scaffold that you can adapt, it makes lifting the body off easy, even just for one person.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Tjc do you still offer your scaffolding out?
Chimp871 said:
Probably the best one man lift idea I've seen.
Tjc do you still offer your scaffolding out?
I had no take up offers at the time, so i kept hold of it for a while then scrapped it.Tjc do you still offer your scaffolding out?
I may get around to adapting some more..............if i do, and its only a slight if at the moment, i will post and it will be free to use.
Getting the itch to do another so watch this space !
I did a 6" lift on my own a couple of years ago, with the engine in.
Manifolds have to come out, took off the exhaust, diff, prop shaft and all the suspension and steering components and had pretty much clear access to the whole chassis. The only part that I could not get to properly was the top rail under the cabin, but that cleaned up nicely and looked new so left that as it is.
The rest of the chassis was completely rubbed down (it had new outriggers 5 years back), cleaned and recoated with Rustoleum and the outriggers with a rubber type wheel arch liner paint. The suspension arms were powder coated and the whole thing re-bushed.
I have left it without any gunk on it and lift it up once a year for a wipe down and to touch up any chips and it still looks good 2 years later.
Manifolds have to come out, took off the exhaust, diff, prop shaft and all the suspension and steering components and had pretty much clear access to the whole chassis. The only part that I could not get to properly was the top rail under the cabin, but that cleaned up nicely and looked new so left that as it is.
The rest of the chassis was completely rubbed down (it had new outriggers 5 years back), cleaned and recoated with Rustoleum and the outriggers with a rubber type wheel arch liner paint. The suspension arms were powder coated and the whole thing re-bushed.
I have left it without any gunk on it and lift it up once a year for a wipe down and to touch up any chips and it still looks good 2 years later.
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