Chassis Refurb Options

[Shed TVR]

Hi All,

The chassis on my Chimaera is looking decidedly tired. I'm considering stripping it down to the bare chassis myself, and then sending it off to somewhere to save on labour costs of them removing the body. Has anyone gone down this route before? If so, how much did it cost and who did you use? I'm located in the midlands.

Thanks

[Shed TVR]

Thanks for all the replies!

mk1fan said:

Google is your friend. Lots of threads across these TVR forums about chassis refurbs and options.

Striping down to the chassis and rebuilding a TVR isn't that difficult on the 'mechanic' scale but there are some hard bits - wheel bearing bolts for example.

There really is excellent value in searching through the TVR forums, as a whole, on here. Chassis treatments are not model dependent and info isn't always cross posted between the subsets.

I will have a search in the whole TVR forum, I think I was just limited to the Chimaera.

Mark_S_24 said:

Hi,

I'm in Scotland so can't help on Places etc.

If you have enough room you can do most of the work yourself.
This guy got the prep done to remove the body in 4 to 5 hours... I took 18 Days :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8OLAhvehQ

Once the body is off, it's a case of removing the Engine/Gearbox/Diff/Brakes etc.
Again all doable if you are confident to remove a body.
Here is a link to the Guide I used
https://tvrcarclub.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/TVRChimaeraBodyLiftChecklist22Nov09v1.pdf
Then if you've gone that far you can face the pain of taking the bushes out, or that might be the point to palm it off :-)
And of course, as you take things apart expect to pay for new bits... it'll go up & up :-)

Good Luck
Mark

Thanks Mark, funnily enough I was watching that video yesterday morning which inspired me to start this thread! I'm interested to see how he removes the body, I did see two engine cranes in the thumbnail.

Appreciate the link and I'll have a read through. I wonder if there's a powerflex kit that exists for the Chimaera? I certainly don't want to go through the pain of swapping the bushes for standard replacement items without a hydraulic press.

Belle427 said:

You may as well get it blasted and paint it yourself, some useful stuff in this thread regarding paint.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks Belle had a read through this last night. My issue is I'm not confident enough with welding to do the outriggers and any other chassis repairs myself, so I thought I may as well ship it to somewhere who can do all that.

magpies said:

There are a couple of very good Chim threads - check out ChimpOnGas https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... and Classic Chim https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

They are long reads but worth it. I also stripped my TVR S down and rebuilt in early 2000's when I refurbed the chassis, having it blasted then I repaired and painted with Hammerite and then again last year (I changed my engine and 'box to a Jaguar) this gave me a chance to check out the chassis - there was no rust at all so recoated with Hammerite again.

Thanks I will have a read through these. Jaguar engine that's interesting - which engine out of interest? V6 from an X type?

ChimpOnGas said:

Message

ChimpOnGas thanks so much for that detailed reply. Very useful and appreciate you taking the time to write that out. Your reply makes sense about the different coating systems, I have been offshore in the north sea and it's amazing how well the paint withstands the weather conditions. £101 is very reasonable and I suppose the main purpose of the paint is to protect the chassis, so it doesn't matter too much if it was sprayed or brushed on. I could certainly see myself going down that route - I just need to find someone to weld the chassis now!

[Shed TVR]

Hi All,

Bit the bullet a couple of days ago and decided to get this started, whilst also converting the car to Megasquirt engine managment as I've wanted to do for a while. I gave Adrian at RT racing a call who has quoted me a very reasonable price to pick up the bare chassis, repair and paint it, and return it to me. He's even said I can get the wishbones painted at no extra cost!

Almost all the prep to lift the body is done, I just need to remove the fuel tank and disconnect the lines then figure out how on earth I lift it off the car. Considering an engine hoist at the front, then perhaps another engine hoist or a winch onto my garage roof at the back.

Anyone know what grade of bolts I need to replace the original chassis bolts? I would use stainless but I suspect they might be too brittle from my minimal knowledge.

I've enjoyed reading through the threads linked here, lots of useful information and the Jag/Ford powered TVR S was just cool.

[Shed TVR]

No need to argue gents, I'm sure there are plenty of legitimate reasons someone might choose either coating method.

I appreciate all the great information provided in this thread, thanks all!

[Shed TVR]

Haha good to hear chaps. Quick question regarding the fuel lines which I couldn't find from searching - I have part copper line and part flexible on my car. Is it OK to replace this totally with flexible lines?

Thanks

[Shed TVR]

ChimpOnGas said:

It's done that way for a reason, it's the same with brake lines, you always use solid lines where you can as they are stronger, safer, and longer lasting.

Flexible hoses are only used where movement is expected, for fuel lines that means the transition from solid to flexi is at the engine, for brake hoses its at each wheel due to suspension articulation.

You wouldn't plumb your entire brake system with flexible hose, neither should you plumb the tank to fuel rail and back to the tank in flexible fuel hose either.

With flexible hoses, less is most definitely more

Thanks Dave, good explanation and makes sense to me.