Outrigger replacement blog

[Steve_D]

Strudul said:

• O/S seatbelt retractor has locked itself. No amount of persuasion, gentle or violent, seems to be releasing it. It's wound in too far really to be able to wind it in more. Tried taking it apart, but still can't seem to get it to release................

Bolt it into place and make sure it is upright.
Pull up really hard on the belt then release usually clears the problem. Been there a few times.

Steve

[TwinKam]

I'm sure Steve won't mind me clarifying; by pull up hard that's a smooth hard pull not jerks. The idea is to compress the windings of webbing to gain space for the drum to rotate to its next 'release' position.

[Steve_D]

TwinKam said:

I'm sure Steve won't mind me clarifying; by pull up hard that's a smooth hard pull not jerks. The idea is to compress the windings of webbing to gain space for the drum to rotate to its next 'release' position.

What?. Clarity at quarter past one in the morning + a drink or two.

Steve

[Strudul]

Steve_D said:

Bolt it into place and make sure it is upright.
Pull up really hard on the belt then release usually clears the problem. Been there a few times.

Steve

Didn't seem to work, but did eventually somehow get it to unlock, but it's still very temperamental and doesn't spring back anymore, so I am now temporarily running a Suzuki Swift GTI rear seatbelt in place of my driver's. Was planning to get a new set anyway - eyeing up some nice yellow ones.

[Strudul]

Day whatever I've lost count, but it doesn't matter anymore.

• DONE
• Coolant in and mostly bled
• Suzuki Swift GTI seatbelt fitted to O/S
• Rest of chassis bolts in
• Started it up on open headers... which was a very important diagnostic test, as well as to clear the pre-cat crud and circulate the coolant and not at all cos I'm a child who gets excited by loud car noises
• Most of the village probably thought the world was ending, whilst the rest of the county were looking up trying to spot a low flying Lancaster bomber or checking the news for local earthquakes
• Lots of zip ties for brake + fuel lines
• Proceeded to slice my thumb on the freshly trimmed zip ties
• Rear ARB (bushes) unbolted and pulled out of the way
• Exhaust reluctantly fitted cos stupid laws and I guess ear drums are nice to have
• Rear ARB refitted
• Handbrake cable refitted and sort of adjusted
• Fuel in
• Swept out the interior as there was a serious amount of crap that had accumulated in there
• Seats fitted (front passenger bolts were a pain)
• Taped the loom back up as the old stuff was falling off
• Battery "secured" back in place
• Bonnet back on
• Dashboard back in
• Centre trim back in
• Gear / handbrake aly bits back on
• Big tidy up and inventory - somehow haven't lost any tools, even the 10mm (though tbf 13 seems more prevalent on Chims)
• Kinda fixed the camber... maybe...
• Siliconed some holes
• Wheels on
• Car dropped
• Remembered how ridiculously low it is

Notes:

• Open headers is awesome
• There's probably a really easy way to get the front passenger seat bolts in, but mine had fallen out, and were being tts to slot back into the rails. Ended up putting a magnet on a stick below the bolt hole, feeding the bolt into the end of the rail, and sorta hoping and poking until it fell through the hole, then jamming screwdrivers above them so they wouldn't pop out when lining up and pushing through the car floor.

Next steps:

• Check exhaust U clamp cos I've just realised I might have forgoten to re-tighten the bolts
• Remove QR so horn fits
• Torque wheels
• Test drive
• Quick dust / wash
• MOT
• Beer

Snipped zip ties are basically razor blades


Safely down


Bonus pics of old riggers that have the structural strength of soggy cardboard.
The joke being that the car was sold to me 2 months ago with the seller lauding the, and I quote, "mechanically sound", "solid chassis". Right...




Turn volume and bass to max and it still won't do it justice

Edited by Strudul on Monday 2nd November 00:43

[Classic Chim]

In the original owners defence it’s probably been getting Mot’s like that for years, if you bought it like that then surely you couldn’t tell either. Most of the damage seems to be just where you can’t see a thing anyway.

Sounds like a Merlin

[Strudul]

It has passed without even an advisory for a lot longer than it probably should have, but if you know where to look I did find that you could shove your fingers into a big hole in the tubes in the front wheel arch, though you could only see it with a mirror.

[Classic Chim]

Well it’s all gone now.

[900T-R]

People tend to get upset when I tell them that a Griffmaera that hasn't had its outriggers replaced yet, will need them doing sooner rather than later...

"Mine's solid!"

"The silver grey chassis are MUCH better!" (Correct, but they're under cars that are 24-27 years old by now...)

"Mine has NO rust!"

"If you find holes in mine, I'll give you a thousand, but if there are none, you'll give me five grand..." (My reply: OK, lift the body then...)



My advice still stands - the best you can expect when buying a 20+ year old TVR that hasn't just been dry stored instead of being driven, is that the chassis will last you through another MOT or two as-is - and that is only because the real rot spots are cunningly hidden from the tester's eye.

The good news - modern rustproofing materials last much better than whatever TVR was using. I just lifted the body of mine that had an outrigger replacement in the winter of 2011/12 where the outriggers had just been POR15'ed (I wanted everything to be back to its original silver underneath and up top) and they are still like brand new everywhere. Even the brake system leak I had when replacing the brake master did lift the silver anti-rust paint (and the blue paint of our two post lift... :/ ) but the POR15 coating underneath was left entirely intact.

Ergo: after you replaced the outriggers and protected them with appropriate coatings, they will probably outlast you. Happy days

[Classic Chim]

You can’t go round saying things like that

That’s really encouraging to hear the paint held up so well. I’ve not even put mine back on the road and fear it’s rotting already

[VerySideways]

POR-15 is awesome
(unless you get it on your hands, or clothes, or face, or...)

[Zener]

VerySideways said:

POR-15 is awesome
(unless you get it on your hands, or clothes, or face, or...)

Yep my gloves went through but thought crack on anyway inc bare forearms and face result was..... paint ingrained skin for over a week even though I had used a pumice stone and domestic scourer till my skin bled and thinners whilst paint still wet just spreads it and pushes the paint further into the skin , I was warned but I was running over time wise and more concerned with the chassis being proper dry and dirt and grease free , and yes I am on my original out riggers (no holes) but my cars lived a sheltered dry life that was over 14 years ago , should have never backed up with Dinitol wax too however oily mucky stuff now but protects well unlike the pretender and DIY crappy Waxoyl but any maintenance on the car means sticky/messy forearms

Edited by Zener on Monday 2nd November 23:31

[sixor8]

VerySideways said:

POR-15 is awesome
(unless you get it on your hands, or clothes, or face, or...)

Or spill some on your block paved drive....

From a distance it looks like a big oil spot, and it won't budge. Winter may degrade it but it'll be a good test!

[Strudul]

Done, but not...

Got it all back together and all seemed good (except coolant gushing everywhere while bleeding the rad and what i think was a minor fuel air lock causing it to cut out and not restart for a few mins).

However, now failed MOT, but got a new thread for that here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[rev-erend]

At least it did not fail on the chassis