Very Poorly Chim - Modification Suggestions

[sbhumphrey]

Just received my Chim back from a year in storage in Spain. Alas the 'secure dry storage' I expected has turned out to be 'parked in a field, broken passenger window, open to the elements and a couple of thousand miles of abuse'. Alas I have no redress whatsover.
She is indeed in a poorly state needing everything from new discs to new wishbones etc, I have just been quoted £2500 by Fernhurst just to get her through the MOT and then there is probably another good £5000 of work to bring her up to showroom standard.
As I am probably going to restore her to her former glory can anyone suggest any recognised mods which would be best done whilst refurbishing her rather than after all the work, someone has already suggest upgrading from the original shocks. She is a 4.0 on a 97.Thanks

[WazzaL]

Depends on what you want it for..

Shocks yes, but could also do:
Steve Heath's drop links
ACT plenum's
ACT smooth bore elbow to AFM
Upgrade air-flow meter
Upgrade brakes + calipers
Alloy radiator

But if it is a complete strip down, worth cleaning up the frame..!

[sbhumphrey]

That's a must anyway, it is a wire brush all over

[sbhumphrey]

Drop links? excuse my ignorance

[JonRB]

sbhumphrey said:

turned out to be 'parked in a field, broken passenger window, open to the elements and a couple of thousand miles of abuse'. Alas I have no redress whatsover.

That's outrageous. I feel for you.

[sbhumphrey]

Thanks, it came as a real shock when she arrived on the transporter. You live and learn.

[S7Paul]

sbhumphrey said:

Drop links? excuse my ignorance

These:

http://www.tvrcarparts.com/pages/partdetail.asp?id...

They link the ends of the anti-roll bar to the lower wishbones. The standard ones have rubber bushes that compress over time, and play develops. These are rose-jointed and control the ARB much better.

[WazzaL]

S7Paul said:

sbhumphrey said:

Drop links? excuse my ignorance

These:

http://www.tvrcarparts.com/pages/partdetail.asp?id...

They link the ends of the anti-roll bar to the lower wishbones. The standard ones have rubber bushes that compress over time, and play develops. These are rose-jointed and control the ARB much better.

I've got them on mine. Hopefully won't need the anti roll bar too much, but with a little aggressive driving, it may be called into use. - Often the rubber ones perish (mine were) resulting in an ineffective roll bar. If they need changing, worth upgrading.

sbhumphrey said:

That's a must anyway, it is a wire brush all over

True. - Maybe even a little waxoyl!

Edited by WazzaL on Saturday 22 September 13:42

[GreenV8S]

If the condition is that bad then I imagine that you will be lifting the body off and sorting the chassis out thoroughly. In that case it would be an ideal time to replace all the bushes, as well as fitting the rigid ARB drop links (strongly recommended, by the way). Brake and fuel hoses are unlikely to have suffered particularly from the neglect but this would be an ideal time to renew them too.

Edited by GreenV8S on Saturday 22 September 14:27

[ray_von]

WazzaL said:

Depends on what you want it for..

Shocks yes, but could also do:
Steve Heath's drop links
ACT plenum's
ACT smooth bore elbow to AFM
Upgrade air-flow meter
Upgrade brakes + calipers
Alloy radiator

All of these can be done at any time. I agree with Peter, concentrate on things that are easier to do when/if the body is off. I'm assuming the £5k is not just for cosmetic repairs.
If you are getting wishbones for MOT it might be worth getting poly bushes fitted now to all the new ones then change the others during the overhaul

[sbhumphrey]

It's £5K before the cosmetics start, need a respray,new dash and carpets, but I will get to those once she is fully sorted mechanically.

[CaptiV8ted]

5k sounds a hell of a lot to me. Even if you needed 8 new wishbones which seems unlikely, and 4 new shocks AND all new disks, you'd still be way off 5k. Are you able to do the work yourself?

[andy-w]

CaptiV8ted said:

5k sounds a hell of a lot to me.

There is someone up this way who is having his chassis replaced...£2600 + vat for the chassis and then there is labour charges...rough estimate £10k and that is assuming nothing else needs replacing like handbrake cable, fule/brake lines, bushes etc...

I managed to get all the brake pads and discs for £70...will be using these for the mot and then shall upgrade the pads to EBC Greenstuff pads when it is properly on the road...and other parts are available quite cheap if you are prepared to look.

[sbhumphrey]

I think that is the route I will take. Yes brake lines/fuel lines etc needed.
I will start sourcing the bits from wherever to do the rebuild on a sensible budget. Its not going to be a quick job so I can look around a bit for deals.

[andy-w]

If you are going to do a body lift go to machinemart and get 4 of the 3 ton axle stands...they are really good and you can get an excellent work height from them.

Is the car really that bad???

If you can doo most/all of the work yourself you are laughing...i have just done a complete chassis strip and rebuild with the body off and i havent spent a great deal of money....but then i did all the work myself.

There are plenty of people on here who can give advice if you get stuck....

[That Daddy]

andy-w said:

If you are going to do a body lift go to machinemart and get 4 of the 3 ton axle stands...they are really good and you can get an excellent work height from them.

Is the car really that bad???

If you can doo most/all of the work yourself you are laughing...i have just done a complete chassis strip and rebuild with the body off and i havent spent a great deal of money....but then i did all the work myself.

There are plenty of people on here who can give advice if you get stuck....

Its taking you blood ages though Andyonly digging you in the ribs mate,hows it going

[SimonV8ster]

sbhumphrey said:

It's £5K before the cosmetics start, need a respray,new dash and carpets, but I will get to those once she is fully sorted mechanically.

Don't know what the Spain storage deal was but can't you claim anything off the insurance ?? Broken window caused water damage to carpets/dash, etc ??

[andy-w]

That Daddy said:

Its taking you blood ages though Andyonly digging you in the ribs mate,hows it going

Couple more weeks and it should be back on the road.
As soon as i get the braided hoses delivered i can fit them and drive the car out on to the road to turn it round.

Then i just have to spray the boot, bonnet and doors and it will be driveable...thank god...!
Its running and sounds lovely...

Given the choice between going this long without my chim again or losing an arm....hmmmmmm...i am sure you could rig up some kind of paddle gearchange setup on a chim for one armed use...!

That is the main problem...if you do it yourself it will take a long time. If you pay someone to do it you are going to be skint...not sure what is worse...?

[ray_von]

Lets get this right £2500 to get its MOT, then £5000 for other stuff THEN respray,dash,interior etc.
You must love that car to chuck that amount of money at it. If it needs a body off do it all together don't bother with the £2.5k for the MOT you will be paying for some of the work twice

[sbhumphrey]

Wife loves the car to bits and given I'll never get my money back I want to bring it up to showroom standard and get the very most out of it. The idea is to do whatever mods along the way to result in a fully spec'd car. People have mentioned Spax Shocks etc Thus my questions.
What is a body off? Besides the obvious? I think my plan is to do most of the work along with a friendly garage, bit daunting though.
My insurance was invalid in Spain after 3 months as it was an English registered car. The storage was via a friend of a friend and he's disappeared along with any chance of me seeing compensation.