For all things Rover V8, the TVR Griffith and Chimaera and TVR T-Cars
Chassis
Online resources
TVR Nothhants Picture spread Not much detail but the pictures will explain the chassis and layout.
Thomas Crawford’s article shows a simple way of raising the body. You do not have to organise eight friends and ensure they are all sober. The method does not depend on you having an honours degree in engineering either.
Martin Platt, a graduate engineer, had £6000 to spend on a nice convertible that was loud and in your face. Whilst he didn’t mind a bit of cosmetic work, he didn’t want any rust. He was pointed in the direction of a ’93 4.3 Chimaera in Wales in a blue/cream combination with Leven alloy bits. There was a fair bit of dampness inside with as much guano as anyone could want but on the plus side there were loads of stamps in the book. £4000 seemed a reasonable price.
The interior was cleaned, new carpets from Coverdale put in, the hood was replaced. Much in the way of mechanical and electrical bits was replaced. The car sailed through its MoT apart from rear tyres so Martin thought it time to start of clean the chassis.
As can be seen from the pictures, there was a problem with the outriggers that wire brushing would not cure.
Martin considered the classic 2” body lift option but, as he wanted to keep the car for some time, he opted for a full body off as that would allow him to check the rest of the chassis for damage.
The chassis was cleaned of 13 years of grime using a drill wire brush attachment. Every strut and tie was cleaned and degreased before applying Hamerite, nick opting for blue so that the chassis would match the car.
Nick says: A word of caution to anyone attempting to do this work. The chassis can become distorted through uneven rusting. It is important to find a strong straight edge to straighten out sections of chassis when welding in new sections.
Once the chassis was painted the wishbones were refitted, the uprights put into place with new ball joints and track rod ends and the brake callipers fitted.
Nick gives another word of caution: You need at least eight people plus a runner to remove a body. It is very heavy and unwieldy so be careful.
He finished the reassembly of the car in mid April, and only two weeks before going on a driving holiday in France to choose his wedding venue. Fortunately, other than a loose jubilee clip on the output side of the fuel pump there were no problems.
The car ran faultlessly for the 1500mile trip with ease even managing to return 30mpg on some trips.
The rather sorry looking Chimaera as found.
The first sign that things were not as they should be.
Photos in lower section courtesy of Nick Simpson who retains the copyright.
If it has all gone wrong
A new chassis will set you back in excess of £8000, at least that was what my replacement chassis cost, complete with Dinitrol injection, in 2002, with little hope of regaining the outlay if selling it.
Mine failed in the classic areas, the outriggers, but there was further rust in the suspension area. My car was the 1993 Motor Show car and the chassis was not, according to the staff at the Factory, given any rust proofing at all so less than 10 years on one chassis might not be the norm.
The arrows show the offside danger spots
A replacement chassis is not the only option, as mentioned above. To replace the outriggers the body needs to be raised around 2” or so for access. However, if the chassis has rusted in one place it might be a good idea to check the rest of the chassis as well. See HERE for outrigger replacement.
Below is a couple of online resources which explain the methods of lifting and removing the body. You could also try the Griffith pages.
On Body Off on this website Martin Platt gives an overview of his successful first attempt at removing the body. Of particular note is the fact that his car had just gone through an MoT yet he found the holes, and further damage, a few weeks later. Further, the chap who owned my car at the time of its new chassis had had it tested a few months before taking it to a TVR dealer only to find that bits of chassis outrigger could be pulled away by hand. It is essential to check the chassis yourself. Modern MoT examiners are used to monocoque chassis and can be confused by TVRs. A rotten chassis can be dangerous. Check it yourself.
One man’s problem, and solution
There are any number of guides to purchasing TVRs on the internet and most seem eminently sensible. All seem to say more or less the same thing. This can be summed up as: check everything. And if you are not competent to do so, then get someone who is.
One thing is true though. There is no risk-free way to buying.
One thing is true though. There is no risk-free way to buying.
My thanks to Racing Green Cars for their help in taking these pictures and for technical advice and information.
The picture shows a ‘typical’ late TVR rolling chassis, in this case one for a Speed 6 car. It is, in all essentials, the same as for a Griffith and Chimaera. It has been described as a backbone chassis, spaceframe or twin-rail with bracing. All can be supported one way or the other.
Everything is based around the two main chassis rails running from the front of the car to the rear. These are the large square-section tubes situated at the base of the chassis. These locate the front and rear bracing for the suspension and, at the front only of course, the steering. These rails are braced by the tubular rails running more or less parallel above. The ‘spaceframe’ bit comes from the angled tubing bracing the vertical connecting tubing.
Whatever you call it, and I prefer backbone, it is substantial and capable, as demonstrated in the later cars, of providing exceptional road holding, ride and grip. The chassis has been criticised for intrusion into the cockpit but that is more a function of the position of the engine, mounted as far back in the chassis as reasonable to provide excellent balance.
Its strength, in more ways than one, is that the bodywork is not under stress so tension cracks are much less of a worry and whether the car is open or closed has no effect on rigidity of the chassis.
But there are weaknesses, the main one being corrosion. The two main chassis rails seem to be more or less exempt from corrosion for the majority of cars, that’s going back to the early 90s. The outriggers, those bits that come under the passenger areas, are a different matter.
The outriggers are only marginally structural. They provide a location for the body to be fixed to and for the seat belt fixings but without them the chassis would still provide good roadholding. However, corrosion is an MoT failure.
Despite rumours to the contrary the outrigger section can rust anywhere. However the two main areas are indicated in the pictures, below right.
The upper picture below shows the front chassis outrigger. Lots of muck can be thrown up against this part, including stones, which can damage the protective paintwork or strip any rust preventer from it.
The same goes for the rear part, lower picture. There are various suggestions for stopping the rusting but all the ones which seem to work to an extent involve hard work. You have to go under the car and dig out the area around the outriggers and then apply rust preventer.
Again, contrary to persistent rumour, rusty outriggers is no reason to stop you buying a car although it should be taken into consideration when deciding price. There are a number of companies providing fixed price outrigger repair, certainly for less than £500 per side.
The wishbones, indicated in yellow in the picture above, can also rust.
The picture explains the phrase ‘unequal length wishbone suspension’. The length of the wishbone is indicated by the blue arrows. As can be seen the upper one is shorter than the lower. As the spring on the damper is compressed due to a bump or cornering forces, the wheel takes on slight positive camber which can help with cornering grip.
The chassis for the Chimaera and Griffith was taken from the one-make Tuscan race series. And was all the better for it.
The two pictures, right below, show the underside of a speed 6 engined TVR. The higher one shows the plate which is generally known as the sump guard I’m told, but that might not be its prime function, and the lower shows the rear plate.The chassis has been raised on an hydraulic lift and the posts are, quite naturally, on the jacking points.
Care needs to be exercised when jacking up an unknown car. If the chassis outriggers are suspect then using them for jacking can be seen to be a wee bit problematical. Check first.
The large round hole with the black surround is, rather oddly, the air inlet. Many might feel that putting it in such a position makes the possibility of picking up water into the engine quite likely. However, in discussions with experienced service engineers it would appear that this has never happened.
The two main chassis rails can be seen clearly. If these are rusty or damaged then all sorts of problems can occur.