Chassis Rust

[day_dreamer]

I know this topic has been well covered in the past, I have read the old posts and I still a little confused as the best way to treat the chassis do I :

* scrape old paint off.
* paint with hammerite.
* paint with underseal with built in Waxolye.
* spray said underseal everywhere else where I can paint.

Only intend to do it once so I wish to get it correct.


Malc

[simpo one]

Seems good to me - as long as you can reach all the bits.

[beljames]

I'll email you my experiences if you're interested. Send me a mail and I'll reciprocate.

I've just been under mine assessing how well it's fared over the past 9 months since the big overhaul. Looks good. A top up is needed in a few areas where my technique was shoddy (the early bits I did) but otherwise its looking good.

It's still worth bearing in mind that once this stuff has started, you'll need to dedicate some time every 6 months or so just to 'make sure' all is well, but rest assured, you're not alone. Virtually all TVR's seem to have this problem to some degree, and that metal is damn thick.

Incidentally, I gave my wishbones no more than 6 months. But painting them in Hammerite and then in Underseal, they haven't degraded at all.

[The Dodger]

Day dreamer, this is almost exactly what I did on my wedge just after I got it. Fortunately I had access to a four-post ramp and air tools. Scraped/ground off all flaky stuff. Large helping of smooth black hammerite everywhere I could get to. Warmed up the waxoyle and sprayed everything in sight underneath. It did smell a bit when I drove home though! (waxole on exhaust!).

Looked the same 5 yrs later when I sold it although I only did about 1,000m/yr.

[timshap]

Problem is how does one get to the top of the chassis rails without taking the body off???

[jim hobbs]

Virtually all TVR's seem to have this problem to some degree, and that metal is damn thick.
------------------------------------------------------
Eeeerr hate to disappoint you the chassis tubes are very very thin. TVR do not galvanize their chassis because the tubes would bend in the heat. Nor can you weld on replacement tubes. Inspection of my chassis showed very little rust from the top of the tubes. All was in the outriggers and mostly in the wheel arches.
For all those that remember my car is now back on the road taking 4 months to replace the chassis.

[beljames]

Whilst those tubes are not as thick as the box sections on some modernish cars I would still argue that they are plenty thick enough and more than you would expect given the bracing of the chassis. They're well capable of withstanding surface rust. The first thing I do now when seeing a TVR is look under it (odd, I know), and I'm telling you, 50% of them over 3 years old are degrading to some extent.

I'm also amazed that you were told that replacement tubes can't be welded onto the chassis. People have been doing this on TVR's for years. I cannot believe that the Griff / Chimaera chassis is any weaker than those fitted to previous generation TVR's

That said, I remember seeing your original post with horror. Your car is in Hong Kong right? Salty air, high humidity, high temperature I guess just speeded up the natural process, but even I was amazed how quick (was yours a 96?). The sad thing is that this could all have been avoided with a cheap but comprehensive application of underseal when the thing was new. Anyhow - I'm glad its back on the road.

To all those chappies buying new Tamoras, Tuscans etc. please get your car thoroughly undersealed. Save some poor guy major hassle in the future!