Newbie seeking advice
Discussion
Hi guys,
I am new to this forum and TVRs. I do not own one yet but am exploring the possibility of a 1993 Chimeara. I have been reading the posts on here and the advice seems to be spend as much as you can up front to avoid longer term costs. Well I have a limited budget so that whilst being sound advice is not practical in the short to medium term. A rolling restoration is probably my best bet of getting a TVR, it will live outside anyway. So last week I went and looked at one at the bottom end of the price range without an MOT.
Once the battery was reconnected it fired up first time, didn't smoke and idled nicely with good oil pressure, somewhere around 30 psi if I remember correctly. The engine bay was clean and there where no oil leaks. The engine sounded good with no rattles. I was taken for a short ride on a private road
, the thing flew and sounded awesome like a Jota on steroids, I was very impressed and couldn't hide my grin!
As I said previously it does not have an MOT, the owner said if he MOT'd it the price would rise. I checked out the MOT history and there where no advisories for the outriggers. I have no TVR experience so poked a camera underneath and took some photos which hopefully I have resized and attached. My intention would be to get them replaced but ideally of a time of my choosing. So based upon my limited pics and from your experience do you think that these may get through an MOT? If not is it possible to have them welded up as an interim measure prior to getting them replaced?
Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Jack
I am new to this forum and TVRs. I do not own one yet but am exploring the possibility of a 1993 Chimeara. I have been reading the posts on here and the advice seems to be spend as much as you can up front to avoid longer term costs. Well I have a limited budget so that whilst being sound advice is not practical in the short to medium term. A rolling restoration is probably my best bet of getting a TVR, it will live outside anyway. So last week I went and looked at one at the bottom end of the price range without an MOT.
Once the battery was reconnected it fired up first time, didn't smoke and idled nicely with good oil pressure, somewhere around 30 psi if I remember correctly. The engine bay was clean and there where no oil leaks. The engine sounded good with no rattles. I was taken for a short ride on a private road
, the thing flew and sounded awesome like a Jota on steroids, I was very impressed and couldn't hide my grin! As I said previously it does not have an MOT, the owner said if he MOT'd it the price would rise. I checked out the MOT history and there where no advisories for the outriggers. I have no TVR experience so poked a camera underneath and took some photos which hopefully I have resized and attached. My intention would be to get them replaced but ideally of a time of my choosing. So based upon my limited pics and from your experience do you think that these may get through an MOT? If not is it possible to have them welded up as an interim measure prior to getting them replaced?
Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Jack
Edited by ScrumpyJack on Friday 5th October 21:57
Edited by ScrumpyJack on Friday 5th October 22:09
The second picture (Along with pictures 3 and 8) strongly suggest to me it needs new outriggers.
I'm not an expert - but if you can see that from bottom sides, its probably worse where you can't see
Sorry.
An Mot costs £30-40.
If the owner is not prepared to spend that on the car, they know its going to flag up some issues.
They are absolutely great cars - but you really need to check them over before you start it up... once its kicked into life and you've heard the rumble its very difficult to make the head rule the heart..
Thats not to say its not the right car (even expensive cars can have issues!) - but you need to budget in doing the outriggers.
I'm not an expert - but if you can see that from bottom sides, its probably worse where you can't see
Sorry.
An Mot costs £30-40.
If the owner is not prepared to spend that on the car, they know its going to flag up some issues.
They are absolutely great cars - but you really need to check them over before you start it up... once its kicked into life and you've heard the rumble its very difficult to make the head rule the heart..
Thats not to say its not the right car (even expensive cars can have issues!) - but you need to budget in doing the outriggers.
Edited by HiAsAKite on Friday 5th October 22:32
Many cars have passed the MoT with horrendous outriggers, if you search hard enough you'll see pictures of some on here! Some testers don't realise they are structural, your seatbelt reel bolts through the rear wheelarch onto a plate attached to the outrigger.
An MoT test would be worth it to see what else is wrong. If the lights don't work, emissions are way too high, bushes, brakes and suspension shot and rubber bushes and gaiters knackered, it could be a very long list. If you offer to pay for the MoT test and he refuses, I'd walk away. They're not that rare, yet. Over 2600 taxed and 1100 SORN according to howmanyleft.
There's a few in the classifieds at what seem to me to be low prices.
A blue one (89k miles) that started at £10k then £9250 is now back on at £7995.
An MoT test would be worth it to see what else is wrong. If the lights don't work, emissions are way too high, bushes, brakes and suspension shot and rubber bushes and gaiters knackered, it could be a very long list. If you offer to pay for the MoT test and he refuses, I'd walk away. They're not that rare, yet. Over 2600 taxed and 1100 SORN according to howmanyleft.
There's a few in the classifieds at what seem to me to be low prices.
A blue one (89k miles) that started at £10k then £9250 is now back on at £7995. ianwayne said:
.................... If you offer to pay for the MoT test and he refuses, I'd walk away................
Sorry O.P but those outriggers are knackered.Pictures 2, 3, 4 , and 8 are really bad, and most of the rot will be on top of the outriggers that you dont see until you lift the body.
I bet you could easily poke a screwdriver through them.
An M.O.T is not expensive, the seller must know that it wont pass, or why else would he not have one done.
Offer to pay for an MOT, and forget about the little test drive you had.
Once you actually drive one, it is so easy to get carried away and ignore some of the possible problems and convince yourself everything is good.
You need to have your wits about you when buying any TVR.
They can very quickly become expensive, and the bodyoff and outrigger replacement will need doing in the future, on even the very best original cars.
Even some of the T-Cars, Tuscan, Tamora, etc are having chassis work done now.
Forget its a TVR.....would you buy an everyday runabout without an MOT, especially when the seller refuses to get one done ?
Good luck with your search, BUT KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR EYES WIDE OPEN.
latham91 said:
Hi Jack,
If you live any where near Calne N. Wilts you're welcome to pop in for a cuppa and a chat and I'll show you round mine which is a decent honest example which I self maintain. May give you some idea what to look out for...
Hi Latham,If you live any where near Calne N. Wilts you're welcome to pop in for a cuppa and a chat and I'll show you round mine which is a decent honest example which I self maintain. May give you some idea what to look out for...
That is very kind of you. I would like to take you up on your offer whenever it is convenient for you. Fortunately I live in Chippenham so not far away!
To the others that have taken the time to reply, many thanks it is appreciated. At this point in time I will put my sensible head on as I am inclined to walk away.
Cheers Jack
ScrumpyJack said:
Hi Latham,
That is very kind of you. I would like to take you up on your offer whenever it is convenient for you. Fortunately I live in Chippenham so not far away!
To the others that have taken the time to reply, many thanks it is appreciated. At this point in time I will put my sensible head on as I am inclined to walk away.
Cheers Jack
Hi Latham and ScrumpyJack. I don't want to intrude but I live between Chippenham and Calne and am in the process of trying to buy a Griffith. Would it be possible to gate crash a meeting?That is very kind of you. I would like to take you up on your offer whenever it is convenient for you. Fortunately I live in Chippenham so not far away!
To the others that have taken the time to reply, many thanks it is appreciated. At this point in time I will put my sensible head on as I am inclined to walk away.
Cheers Jack
Any car of that age either has had the outriggers done or needs them doing so on that basis you need to plan ahead.
Is the paintwork in nice condition and your ideal colour? Is the interior in good condition and your ideal colour? Is it mechanically sound?
If you can answer yes to those then it is worth planning to have the outriggers. But, if the above questions are yes then it will likely be out of your budget.
For this car it is a non starter. As has been said, they appear very rusted from below so will be completely shot from above and with that level of rust there will be other points on the chassis that need dealing with so you will be into £8k body off territory. You could try and knock the purchase price down but I'm confident the owner knows the problem is there and will hold out in the hope of finding a 'Mug'.
Keep looking.
Steve
Is the paintwork in nice condition and your ideal colour? Is the interior in good condition and your ideal colour? Is it mechanically sound?
If you can answer yes to those then it is worth planning to have the outriggers. But, if the above questions are yes then it will likely be out of your budget.
For this car it is a non starter. As has been said, they appear very rusted from below so will be completely shot from above and with that level of rust there will be other points on the chassis that need dealing with so you will be into £8k body off territory. You could try and knock the purchase price down but I'm confident the owner knows the problem is there and will hold out in the hope of finding a 'Mug'.
Keep looking.
Steve
MG-FIDO said:
ScrumpyJack said:
Hi Latham,
That is very kind of you. I would like to take you up on your offer whenever it is convenient for you. Fortunately I live in Chippenham so not far away!
To the others that have taken the time to reply, many thanks it is appreciated. At this point in time I will put my sensible head on as I am inclined to walk away.
Cheers Jack
Hi Latham and ScrumpyJack. I don't want to intrude but I live between Chippenham and Calne and am in the process of trying to buy a Griffith. Would it be possible to gate crash a meeting?That is very kind of you. I would like to take you up on your offer whenever it is convenient for you. Fortunately I live in Chippenham so not far away!
To the others that have taken the time to reply, many thanks it is appreciated. At this point in time I will put my sensible head on as I am inclined to walk away.
Cheers Jack
Steve_D said:
Is the paintwork in nice condition and your ideal colour? Is the interior in good condition and your ideal colour? Is it mechanically sound?
If you can answer yes to those then it is worth planning to have the outriggers. But, if the above questions are yes then it will likely be out of your budget.
It is dark blue (starmist?) with a cream interior which I do like. Interior is OK and acceptable to me. Everything appears to work and mechanically from my limited knowledge looks OK. There are a couple of chips on the paintwork on the front end around the grille. A blemish on the front wing and a larger blemish on the rear passenger side by the boot. There are also a couple of chips in the windscreen which have been highlighted as advisories in previous MOTs. The 2 rear tyres will need replacing at least.If you can answer yes to those then it is worth planning to have the outriggers. But, if the above questions are yes then it will likely be out of your budget.
If you double click on the pics above it will take you to some more pics on Flickr.
Cheers Jack
CanoeSniffer said:
Any chance I could wade in on this? Swindonite myself, coincidentally with a '93 Chim that I'm umm-ing and ahh-ing about keeping, probably fits the rolling resto billing. Welcome to poke around it, maybe juxtapose it against Latham's to get an idea what needs doing.
Don't see why not... will give some more perspective and always interesting to have a poke around someones else's car....Have pm'd you time/place etc.Will go out and buy some more tea cups!
Ed
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