Help on Chassis protection

[peterhaggerty]

Hi Guys,
I have just purchased my first TVR! Picked up a nice S3. I am wondering if anyone can give me some info on the best way to go about protecting the chassis waxoyl, hammerite or both? Spray or brush? also any bits that can easily be missed or tricks on how to get into hard to reach bits?

Any contributions much appreciated.
Thanks
Peter

[tvrgaas]

You need Steve's Book on the S.

www.tvrbooks.co.uk/

The sample chapter is on the chassis.

Here some people talk about POR????

[peterhaggerty]

many thanks, I have that book at home already but sometimes its nice to get some feedback from a normal man in the street who has done it.

Peter

[jonnylayze]

what you need to do first is make sure the chassis is really clean and really dry so spray it underneath (if you're not living iunder a hosepipe ban) and let it dry (probably for a week or so. I've coated my chassis with a mixture of waxoyl and Cavity Protect. Cavity protect is brilliant - made by Carplan and comes in a yellow spray can. You'll probably need quite a bit and its not cheap at about £6 a can but its cheaper than a chassis rebuild. I'd say a key area to clean and to protect is the outriggers (especially on top and where they meet the bodywork cos these areas are hard to access and are traps for dirt

[F908 Tim]

Ten simple steps...
1.Book long holiday off work.
2.Send family away to somewhere cheap.
3.Ley in wire brushes,white spirit,plenty of rags and goggles.
4.Clean off any and all rust you see back to metal or good paint.
5.prepare bare metal with MetalPrep by POR.
6.Paint with lashings of Hammerite on brush.
7.Re-Paint with lashings of Hammerite on brush.
8.Spray everything with a good coat of Waxiol.(Shame cos'the paint looked nice!)
9. Bath, another Bath. throw away all clothes.
10.Be pleased with yourself ...until next year!

You have the picture?

[mmickgoodall]

Or alteratively follow f908's steps 1 and 2.
Then remove body and look at the mess that it was hiding.
Next
Run screeming from the garage.
Wait a week.
Have another look run screeming/maybe sob a bit.
Wait another week.
Get someone else to look.
Send to blasting company.
Wait a week.
Have another look. Smile a bit.
Fix a few dodgy bits.
Have painted.
Buy lots of new suspention etc.
look again. Smile lots.
Put car back together. Smile even more. Maybe even a contented sigh.
Look suprised/reticent when wife adds up how much it cost.

[peterhaggerty]

Thanks for the help and a good laugh. Sadly I dont have the time for a body off job because I am sure thats the way forward, maybe next year. In the meantime wire brush and detol I think, oh isnt that a joke?!
The chassis currenlty looks in good condition, on the exposed parts, but looks like it has never been protected! Is this normal that some models never had any protection? or maybe it has just come off? It is a 1991 s3, 59,000 miles. I drove it home on Easter Monday and havent stopped smilling yet, what a noise.
When waxoyling is a face mask necessary or recommended?
Peter

[chutmun]

F908 Tim said:

3.Ley in wire brushes,white spirit,plenty of rags and goggles. 4.Clean off any and all rust you see back to metal or good paint.

forgive my ignorance/stupidity, but how exactly do you achieve "Clean off any and all rust". Wirebrush ONLY, or do you use some form of 'detergent' as well?

[Wildfire]

I used White spirit and a rag, but that was to get rid of the waxoyl.

Use Valvoline Tecyl. I just inspected my Chassis after 3000 miles in all weather after 1 coat of tectyl. It is still as thick as when I put it on. Unlike Waxoyl which needs renewing after 1 year or less. Especially on heat prone cars like the Tivs.

[Jonnylayze]

peterhaggerty said:

Thanks for the help and a good laugh. Sadly I dont have the time for a body off job because I am sure thats the way forward, maybe next year. In the meantime wire brush and detol I think, oh isnt that a joke?! The chassis currenlty looks in good condition, on the exposed parts, but looks like it has never been protected! Is this normal that some models never had any protection? or maybe it has just come off? It is a 1991 s3, 59,000 miles. I drove it home on Easter Monday and havent stopped smilling yet, what a noise. When waxoyling is a face mask necessary or recommended? Peter

I was amazed when I was looking for an S, the number of owner's who with a car of nearly 20 years old professed never to have been underneath/looked at the chassis. One guy said that bits of the chassis had needed welding at the last MOT but because he never looked at it he couldn't tell me anything about the state of the chassis until the next MOT. In lots of ways it was a waste even of the cost of a phone call let alone travelling to look at the car

Muppets

[Yellabelly]

My chassis is in good condition but even so it was still showing signs of surface rust. After scraping off the loose rust and old paint I then used Hammerite Kurust before painting with Hammerite smooth and finally sprayed it with waxoyl.
Tools required are coarse emery cloth strips, broken hacksaw blades for scraping, grinder and my tip for getting over the top of the outrigger tubes, use a wiresaw as a drag file.