5 years off the road and it back in action
Discussion
I've been a member of pistonheads since 2007 and had two 450 Chimaeras to my name.
My current Chim has been off the road for nearly five years, mostly due to my lack of time. During it's garaged life I've had two job changes, one wedding of my own and seven for my friends/family, spawned two children and moved house.
My daily driver has been a Merc CL55AMG Kompressor which has been great but a complete and utter money pit and hoot to drive. The time has finally come and the merc has to go and rather than smoke about in something I hate I've decided that the Chim is a suitable replacement.
Whilst off the road it was regularly started and moved, it's had annual monthly fluid changes, but some things obviously needed attention.
Whilst my garage was being rebuilt it lived outside for a summer. That was when some total ***hole had a go at breaking in and spectacularly failed, not without doing a real number on the hood ripping the rear screen and stitching then for good measure going to town on the passenger side window bending the frame trying to get in. I didn't bother sorting it as I had a cover and I knew it was going back into the garage for the foreseeable future.
A while ago I splurged on some GAZ golds probably after dreaming of top down summer driving but work meant I never got around to getting the geo done or even driving it more than in and out of the garage.
I knew the throttle pot was out of range and I'd noticed the vacuum advance was shot.
The doors had both dropped with use and the lower parts of the doors were sticking out, the drivers door also had large panel gap along the rear edge.
Various bushes needed sorting.
I swapped the oil filter and changed the fluid. Checked the plugs, leads, and had a scout about for leaks.
Then I made a plan to get it back on the road by getting some expert attention on all the bits I wasn't comfortable/qualified to do. The plan was:
1. MOT
2. Geo setup and ride height
3. New hood and rubber seals all around (including sorting the windscreen seal)
4. Throttle pot, vacuum advance
5. Replace various bushes
6. Check wiring
7. Check over chassis
8. Give the whole thing a good once over and make sure it's in ship shape
I'm based in Gloucestershire so my choice for MOT & Geo was simple - Neil Garner.
Almost didn't make it on the day as the fuel relay packed up the night before the MOT. Lucky Neil had some on the shelf. I drove over there first thing in the merc got the relays, fitted them and then set off in the Chim to Kemble.
The drive to Neil's "interesting" to say the least the steering was all over the place due to the geo being way off and there was clearly something wrong with the low down fueling.
The car passed it's MOT with one advisory (handbrake efficiency) and Neil got the wheels pointing in the right direction and the ride height sorted. All for a very reasonable price.
Then I was off to a new firm, TVR101 in Bentley, Surrey.
I'd spoken with Jamie about the other items on my list. We'd establish a quote I was comfortable with for the hood and felt really confident they were up to handling the work.
Turns out it was a brilliant choice, both Jamie and Woody have tonnes of TVR experience and are really nice guys to boot.
Weighed up driving over and then training it back, but my wife had friends to visit in the area so we drove in convoy and dropped the car off on a Saturday morning, chatted though the known problems with them and left it in their capable hands.
The next week I had constant communication from TVR101. They got to work straight away and even sent me pictures as things were going on.
It was a bit of a surprise as I generally get treated like a leper when I visit the Mercedes dealership despite dropping around 4.5k there over the last 5 years in maintenance and repairs and having bought 3 AMG's in the last 7 years. TVR101 really excelled. I felt happy that they were looking after the car and more importantly understood what I was looking for.
The hood was off quickly and the greasy bits where being worked on whilst the trimmer was prepping the replacement hood.
Woody called at the end of the week and ran though all the things they'd sorted. The list was way longer than I'd originally planned but the work was all agreed in advance and the price was less than I'd budgeted for.
The hood was going on the following week and the door alignment, seal work was going to happen at the same time. They'd already identified that the screen had been replaced badly years previously (by no names - a national windscreen company) it wasn't square which made their job even harder.
More calls and emails early in the week and then the day when the car was ready Wednesday afternoon. We arranged for a pickup at the weekend. The final price still far lower than I'd budgeted and somehow everything and more had been sorted!
Woody and Jamie really looked after me and the car and I wouldn't hesitate to go back even though they're around two hours drive away. I'm already saving for a carpet re-tirm with them. and so far I've resisted Woody's lure to make it louder but there is only so long I can hold out on that.
The guys sorted out a few things totally free of charge. It's those little touches that make all the difference (like blasting and repainting my callipers, fitting some bushes I'd left in the car and much more).
I've had the car back for about a week and it's bone dry inside, the hood looks fantastic, it's running like a dream. For a car with 74K miles on the clock it feels like new again and my love for it has been rekindled.
I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking
My current Chim has been off the road for nearly five years, mostly due to my lack of time. During it's garaged life I've had two job changes, one wedding of my own and seven for my friends/family, spawned two children and moved house.
My daily driver has been a Merc CL55AMG Kompressor which has been great but a complete and utter money pit and hoot to drive. The time has finally come and the merc has to go and rather than smoke about in something I hate I've decided that the Chim is a suitable replacement.
Whilst off the road it was regularly started and moved, it's had annual monthly fluid changes, but some things obviously needed attention.
Whilst my garage was being rebuilt it lived outside for a summer. That was when some total ***hole had a go at breaking in and spectacularly failed, not without doing a real number on the hood ripping the rear screen and stitching then for good measure going to town on the passenger side window bending the frame trying to get in. I didn't bother sorting it as I had a cover and I knew it was going back into the garage for the foreseeable future.
A while ago I splurged on some GAZ golds probably after dreaming of top down summer driving but work meant I never got around to getting the geo done or even driving it more than in and out of the garage.
I knew the throttle pot was out of range and I'd noticed the vacuum advance was shot.
The doors had both dropped with use and the lower parts of the doors were sticking out, the drivers door also had large panel gap along the rear edge.
Various bushes needed sorting.
I swapped the oil filter and changed the fluid. Checked the plugs, leads, and had a scout about for leaks.
Then I made a plan to get it back on the road by getting some expert attention on all the bits I wasn't comfortable/qualified to do. The plan was:
1. MOT
2. Geo setup and ride height
3. New hood and rubber seals all around (including sorting the windscreen seal)
4. Throttle pot, vacuum advance
5. Replace various bushes
6. Check wiring
7. Check over chassis
8. Give the whole thing a good once over and make sure it's in ship shape
I'm based in Gloucestershire so my choice for MOT & Geo was simple - Neil Garner.
Almost didn't make it on the day as the fuel relay packed up the night before the MOT. Lucky Neil had some on the shelf. I drove over there first thing in the merc got the relays, fitted them and then set off in the Chim to Kemble.
The drive to Neil's "interesting" to say the least the steering was all over the place due to the geo being way off and there was clearly something wrong with the low down fueling.
The car passed it's MOT with one advisory (handbrake efficiency) and Neil got the wheels pointing in the right direction and the ride height sorted. All for a very reasonable price.
Then I was off to a new firm, TVR101 in Bentley, Surrey.
I'd spoken with Jamie about the other items on my list. We'd establish a quote I was comfortable with for the hood and felt really confident they were up to handling the work.
Turns out it was a brilliant choice, both Jamie and Woody have tonnes of TVR experience and are really nice guys to boot.
Weighed up driving over and then training it back, but my wife had friends to visit in the area so we drove in convoy and dropped the car off on a Saturday morning, chatted though the known problems with them and left it in their capable hands.
The next week I had constant communication from TVR101. They got to work straight away and even sent me pictures as things were going on.
It was a bit of a surprise as I generally get treated like a leper when I visit the Mercedes dealership despite dropping around 4.5k there over the last 5 years in maintenance and repairs and having bought 3 AMG's in the last 7 years. TVR101 really excelled. I felt happy that they were looking after the car and more importantly understood what I was looking for.
The hood was off quickly and the greasy bits where being worked on whilst the trimmer was prepping the replacement hood.
Woody called at the end of the week and ran though all the things they'd sorted. The list was way longer than I'd originally planned but the work was all agreed in advance and the price was less than I'd budgeted for.
The hood was going on the following week and the door alignment, seal work was going to happen at the same time. They'd already identified that the screen had been replaced badly years previously (by no names - a national windscreen company) it wasn't square which made their job even harder.
More calls and emails early in the week and then the day when the car was ready Wednesday afternoon. We arranged for a pickup at the weekend. The final price still far lower than I'd budgeted and somehow everything and more had been sorted!
Woody and Jamie really looked after me and the car and I wouldn't hesitate to go back even though they're around two hours drive away. I'm already saving for a carpet re-tirm with them. and so far I've resisted Woody's lure to make it louder but there is only so long I can hold out on that.
The guys sorted out a few things totally free of charge. It's those little touches that make all the difference (like blasting and repainting my callipers, fitting some bushes I'd left in the car and much more).
I've had the car back for about a week and it's bone dry inside, the hood looks fantastic, it's running like a dream. For a car with 74K miles on the clock it feels like new again and my love for it has been rekindled.
I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking
Edited by mb450 on Wednesday 12th November 00:47 - My proof reading is awful!
Edited by mb450 on Wednesday 12th November 00:48
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