Chimera to be put back to form

[jas brad]

I have decided to put my 4 lt chimera back to form I have had her for 17 yrs but last had here on the road in 2007 I have stripped all the front and rear suspension and have re powder coated all the arms purchased loads of bits from race tech and racing green to replace all suspension and steering had the wheels refurbed by pristine wheels superb job and had new tyres fitted by the good lads at Adams and page in high Wycombe still had the original from 1996 fitted but it had only done 18 k when I last used her I could do with any help and advise to see me through the process of re commissioning my old girl

[jas brad]

Sorry for the spelling first off chassis is spot on I have though stripped all of the suspension arms and had them blasted and re coated new complete bushes lower and upper ball joints track rod arms all knew wheel bearings knew drop links and anti roll bar bushes.
Had wheels repainted and knew tyres as it still had the original tyres on I will be replacing all the fluids and filters car was started about 2 yrs ago I am sure that I will encounter more problems that I will may need help with along the way with putting her back on the road and thank you all in advance for any help that you may be able to give me the car is generally in great condition but have decided that I want to make her a great original example I have to day managed to source for example every single nut and bolt so as to not use the old which are not in that bad a condition but I want her to be at her best the car has always been stored in a garage and in 17 yrs of ownership has not been out in the wet .
Getting a little carried away though spending money on her roll on summer though looking forward to remembering why I brought it in the first place.

[jas brad]

Hi classic chim
I brought her many years ago after selling a group A saloon race car as I could not afford the costs to race it any more so with the proceeds I bought the chimaera my daughter loved it always wanting a Sunday afternoon run and because of this i vowed I would never sell it .
I have however not been able to spend the time running her over the last 10 yrs or so but am now committed ounce more I started in the garage at 8 this morning and have just finished had some good points today and some bad bent the bed on the press and had to refabricate a knew bed to press in the bushes in all done now phew .
Fitted knew bearings to rear hubs really need to know the torque settings for hub nuts if you can help also can anybody help with the best way of separating the ends from the drive shafts so that I can fit knew drive shaft boots i am fairly practical but would love to have a good manual any ideas for the best and where to purchase one from .
Please excuse me as I am not that good at computer stuff but would like to show pics of progress any pointers how I do this would be helpful soz I am a good Buider and not a lot else

[jas brad]

Classic Chim said:

Hi Jas.
first off I’m the worst possible person to ask about computers
So don’t be sorry.
Great to hear your back on the car and here you will find many of the answers to your problems.
Photos

When you reply to a comment etc you’ll see ( upload an image ( beta) just above on the right hand side, press that and follow the instructions.

It can take awhile for the images to upload.

I’ve helped replace a differential which is easy to disconnect from the drive shafts but I’ve not actually changed the gators on the Cv joints so I’ll let someone else advise you on that one.

Front and rear hub retaining nuts
229-258 ft lb
310-350 Nm
Most set then to 260 ft lb.

Group A saloon race car. Lovely bubberly.

There’s the book written by Steve Heath called the Chimaera/Griffith ( Bible) which has a lot of tech details but searching on here usually gets you the same info. Each car was built with what they had so the Bible is more an outline of what you have rather than being a Haynes manual but it’s still useful.

Most jobs on these cars have been tackled by some talented bloke or other on here so keep posting and you’ll get the help you need.
Congratulations on keeping the car and for all the right reasons so onwards and upwards.
These cars today are even more poignant than when they came out, very few cars are as mad and capable as these things.

If you’ve pressed in wishbone bushes you’ll be ok, what a pain that is.

[jas brad]

This is how I removed them as one unit so hoping I can reassemble them in the same way have taken a few more pics today showing some of the work I did around 14 yrs ago thanks for the help on how to post pictures

[jas brad]

Don’t remember any shunting did have a problem when I did the engine work changed the coil for a Lucas gold and the engine would not rev past about 3800 rpm did not know at the time if I recall correctly that my car has a balance resisted loom so could not provide enough voltage to the coil .
She has done 18,300 miles when I got here she had done 16,000 miles so as you can see I have been largely lazy of using her over my ownership time to change this as i now have more time .
Time for the rear end to go back in then strip the front end and start the whole process again will service the whole car before starting change all fluids and filters have already purchased all items for this can any one help I have always used as per original spec mobile 1 oil is this still the best ?? For the car is this now outdated I have added one more photo of her on the stands

[jas brad]

Stripped out all the front end suspension this weekend ready for all knew parts after hours of trying to remove the rear bushes I thought a much easier method of removing them must be on the cards . Tried all the various methods read on line all seemed time consuming problem I found was keeping everything square either in a press or a large vice so I turned a little bespoke tool for the job this has a central pin for locating with a top anvil which I have turned out in the center to accommodate the center bush sleeve took 30 mins on a lathe but a little rusty on using one but the results were worth it managed to remove all eight bushes tonight in 25 minutes using a large vice and a extension bar for the winding arm shoulders may ache in the morning though would recommend this little gadget though for removing and refitting though after many hours doing the rears I have attached pics as the front arms were a little rusty certainly worse than the rears I had already done

[jas brad]

o

[jas brad]

Stripped out all the front end suspension this weekend ready for all knew parts after hours of trying to remove the rear bushes I thought a much easier method of removing them must be on the cards . Tried all the various methods read on line all seemed time consuming problem I found was keeping everything square either in a press or a large vice so I turned a little bespoke tool for the job this has a central pin for locating with a top anvil which I have turned out in the center to accommodate the center bush sleeve took 30 mins on a lathe but a little rusty on using one but the results were worth it managed to remove all eight bushes tonight in 25 minutes using a large vice and a extension bar for the winding arm shoulders may ache in the morning though would recommend this little gadget though for removing and refitting though after many hours doing the rears I have attached pics as the front arms were a little rusty certainly worse than the rears I had already done