TVR Chimaera - 10 years after body off rebuild & outriggers - how has it survived?

TVR Chimaera 400 V8, revisiting a Chim that I restored around 10 years ago, pictures of the body off restoration and outrigger replacement.
#tvr
#tvrbodyoff
#tvroutriggers

[@anthonywatkins2783]

Looks stunning, I have purchased a 2001 4.5Litre Chimaera and absolutely love it, great video. 👌👍

[@RetroRatchet]

Cheers mate, quite a late one then! Be quick with the 4.5 in it

[@jamesmeadow4812]

The chimaera is such an underrated car !!!

[@RetroRatchet]

I know mate, great cars, quite fancy another actually!

[@kingcurry6594]

Not by me - I have 2 immaculate 4.5s.

[@v8will]

Chanced upon this, great car. I have a 1998 400. love it.

[@RetroRatchet]

Ah nice one mate, a later one then

[@gairnmclennan5876]

Nice video great photos! Thanks! There are good welding rods that can deal with stainless steel to mild steel (not sure about mig wire though). It doesn't sound like a bad idea to replace new rusty sections with stainless steel. I like that you left relief in the corner tabs as seen with the torch at the end. that would be standard practice today. There are some black chassis coating products in the USA that are legendary for remaining stuck (chemically bond) and shedding water salt and dirt. paint on. they don't chip crack like plastic coatings and self heal from dyna-pro 500 several others such as POR-15 too. Still best to acid dip as you say for preparation.

[@RetroRatchet]

Yeah i love por-15 if applied correctly, its superb

[@peverington]

Ah yes, I remember it well 😁

[@RetroRatchet]

Happy days!

[@SuperKeybored]

Thats a great video !...... I have owned two TVRs a Chimaera 450 then a Tuscan 4.0L ... I owned both from new and used both cars as daily drivers putting approx 44k miles on both of them over three years of each ownership. The chassis /outrigger condition never was even o my radar as both cars were owned from new....... however with a break in TVR ownership of some 17 years ... i now want to have a a final TVR blast whilst i can ! .... am looking for a Griff 500 at the moment and your video is extremely useful in this respect. I understand the outriggers are the first of the chassis elements to go ( catching all the road shit) but also not always obvious as it can be 'high up' or starting 'from above' so not always obvious from an underside inspection ? Any advice on questions to ask sellers or methods to inspect would be greatly appreciated. thx Callum

[@RetroRatchet]

Hi there, i would prob suggest an independent assessment by a specialist given the price point of a 500! A lot will have had some form of chassis work by this stage of the game, id search through the tvrcc to start with!

[@SuperKeybored]

thanks for the reply @@RetroRatchet

[@paulshepherd8295]

Having owned a Chimaera 450 for 16 years, the answer is that it's virtually impossible to determine how bad the outriggers are, as a lot of the surfaces are not visible (recessed into the floor). About halfway through my ownership, I opted for a full body-off restoration. The state of the outriggers was horrific. In addition, there were areas elsewhere on the chassis that needed cutting out and new metal welded in. Mine was a 1998 car. I bought it in 2007, and had the chassis done in 2014. Once the chassis had been fixed, it was hot zinc sprayed, then powder coated. I then had the outriggers overcoated with stone-chip paint. I wasn't taking any chances! I got under the car and cleaned it thoroughly before selling the car earlier this year, and the chassis was still perfect. At this point in time, cars of this type/age have either already had major surgery on the chassis or will need it imminently. If I were you, I'd be looking to find one that's already been done (and fully documented). It's an expensive job, and you're unlikely to get enough off the price of a car that hasn't been done to cover all the work. One good place to look is Amore Autos.

[@davidstuart4915]

sooo annoying - when i saw the chassis piled up outside the factory before use i told one of the directors they should galvanize or use stainless, but the response was that the gauge was big enough never to have to worry about it... what a wicked shame galvanizing all the steel on TVRs would have made them live for ever with so little repair work

[@RetroRatchet]

Thats really interesting mate! Yeah like a lot of British industry, could have been so much better

[@stevebamford4339]

The outriggers that needed replacing weren't actually original so in fact this car has now had a second set replacement, this is a classic example of why its prudent to take the body off apposed to going for the cheaper option of having the outriggers replaced with the body on, granted its much more costly but the chassis itself would probably have benefitted from a fresh powder coat when the first set of outriggers were replaced hence the corrosion on the top two rails in the engine bay area the second most likely area to corrode on these chassis in my experience.. did you use internal stents inside the tubes of the top rails and leave a small gap to fuse the stents and the donor material to the original chassis together prior to cleaning the welds flush?, another important thing to consider in regards to corroded outriggers is the fact that on both griffs and chimaeras and also cerberas (passenger side only) the seats are only bolted down to the plastic body and not the metalwork of the chassis leaving just the seatbelt mounts on the lower bottom rails and the outriggers to hold you in should the worst happen

[@RetroRatchet]

Hello, yeah we internally sleeved them,

[@stevebamford4339]

@@RetroRatchet top job!

[@emanemanrus5835]

there was a car into all that rust!

[@Ankistel]

Cafe Racer 😉

[@RetroRatchet]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@nickwatson2167]

Oh no you never got one of them . My neighbour worked for them and had a company car . They are dangerous as hell . Should be taken off the road

[@Birashanuman]

Absolutely ! Couldn't agree more ! A Bentley MkV1 special owner with a 6.75 turbo V8 engine transplant exemplifies and personifies the pukka meaning of a separate chassis and indeed V8 engine;

[@RetroRatchet]

Yeah i had a couple mate, they need to be treated with respect and kept well on top of maintenance wise, I had a v8 westy which was a whole different level!

[@nickwatson2167]

@@RetroRatchet mate your living my dream with all these classics 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@colingregson8653]

Been all over UK with the Wife in mine. Never let me down (mines a 1997). If you look after it it will look after you simple and the driving experience is so different than a modern car (and the engine noise is the pièce de résistance). Did try to kill me once when I pushed it so treat it with repect. Only Safety features are a long throttle play and the Wife in the passenger seat 😆😆

[@SuperKeybored]

@@colingregson8653 When I went out runs my wife ended up in the footwell in the fetal position