So what cost for a body off and a total chassis rebuild ?
Discussion
Having done this myself I can honestly say there is no definitive price on a full rebuild/restoration - UNLESS you are fixed in your mind before hand exactly what you are going to do. I say this as it will always be a can of worms - you will find a host of other things that either need doing, or would be best done, with the car dismantled e.g. engine rebuild, fitting poly bushes, retrim interior, fit new oil/fuel lines etc etc. What I will say is that if you do it yourself then you could save around 50% gross of what you would pay someone else to do it. That could be a lot of cash. My rebuild took around 14 months, although I wasn't in a rush and worked on the car when I could. I estimate I spent £3-4k all in, but that is just an estimate (includes machine shop fees for engine which were around £1.5k all in).
Edited by longbow on Monday 4th May 10:35
i did the body off at str8 6. they didnt take the car apart. Just replaced the outrigger sections runnign along the car, and a couple of other chassis sections that were rusty, other areas with surface rust were cleaned and painted over. The price i paid was excellent. i suggest you give them a call to discuss if you are interested
Edited by QuiteQuietCerb on Monday 4th May 15:08
You are looking at thousands. The problem is it can vary a lot. If the chassis just needs painting then there is probably no need to remove the engine and all mechanical bits. If the chassis needs to be zinc coated then effectively the car needs to be stripped down and rebuilt. Not a trivial job as it is not uncommon to find a lot of stuff that needs replacing.
Not uncommon to find that it costs around £10k for a full body off and take it apart restore. But it all depends on exactly what you want done and how.
Not uncommon to find that it costs around £10k for a full body off and take it apart restore. But it all depends on exactly what you want done and how.
How old is your car? Although its actually quite an irrelevant question now.
The oldest Cerbs are now over 10 years old. With this in mind, with any major work such as the above I'd also look at rebushing the suspension, diff, new engine mounts, rebuilding the brake calipers, new fuel lines and possibly new brake and clutch lines. Lots of exterior wiring connectors will probably need replacing (use good quality automotive replacements). If its an AJP then I'd bare in mind that the cams may need re-profiling, prob a good idea to change the clutch and slave if its not been done before. Radiator may need re-coring, or just changing. Interior may be tatty....
If you are going to have the chassis/body completely taken apart and rebuilt then it would be foolish not to factor some or all of the above work into the equation, and thus you can see why these things become difficult to price.
But, as I've been looking into these sorts of costs recently too:
Replacing/repairing outriggers - £700-2000
Sandblasting a bare chassis and then zinc priming - £500-1000
Painting a chassis - £500-1500
The oldest Cerbs are now over 10 years old. With this in mind, with any major work such as the above I'd also look at rebushing the suspension, diff, new engine mounts, rebuilding the brake calipers, new fuel lines and possibly new brake and clutch lines. Lots of exterior wiring connectors will probably need replacing (use good quality automotive replacements). If its an AJP then I'd bare in mind that the cams may need re-profiling, prob a good idea to change the clutch and slave if its not been done before. Radiator may need re-coring, or just changing. Interior may be tatty....
If you are going to have the chassis/body completely taken apart and rebuilt then it would be foolish not to factor some or all of the above work into the equation, and thus you can see why these things become difficult to price.
But, as I've been looking into these sorts of costs recently too:
Replacing/repairing outriggers - £700-2000
Sandblasting a bare chassis and then zinc priming - £500-1000
Painting a chassis - £500-1500
I don't know if you saw Ronan's Silver Cerb at Chatsworth. But if you wish to rebuild the car to his spec and it was a spec and a half, it could cost you over £20K. He spent a lot of his own time working on it as well.
One thing he said that did shock me was that the body won't just lift off once all the securing points have been removed. Apparently, you have to heat the fibreglass on the tunnel and floor pan at the base of the footwell and jack the tunnel apart slowly by 6" to get it over the chassis tunnel. The chassis tunnel is wide at the top than the bottom. I don't understand why TVR did this!
One thing he said that did shock me was that the body won't just lift off once all the securing points have been removed. Apparently, you have to heat the fibreglass on the tunnel and floor pan at the base of the footwell and jack the tunnel apart slowly by 6" to get it over the chassis tunnel. The chassis tunnel is wide at the top than the bottom. I don't understand why TVR did this!
If you're "just" doing the out riggers then yes it could be.
However, if you're like me then you'd replace all bushes. Have the suspension cleaned and painted. Overhaul the brakes. Replace the handbrake cables. Uprate the diff mounts. Replace CV joints and driveshafts, wheel bearings. It will add up.
It just makes sense to do it all at once.
However, if you're like me then you'd replace all bushes. Have the suspension cleaned and painted. Overhaul the brakes. Replace the handbrake cables. Uprate the diff mounts. Replace CV joints and driveshafts, wheel bearings. It will add up.
It just makes sense to do it all at once.
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