Just looked at a Chimera

[danhay]

A friend of mine is interested in buying a 1996 Chim 400 from the local Toyota dealer. They have it on sale for £13k and it has done 25k miles and is in good overall condition apart from the following niggles:
1. The stitching at the top of the rear window has split.
2. The footwells are wet, although the area below the hole in the stitching seems dry.
3. It has a bit of a misfire, which didn't disappear when warmed up and if anything got worse.

They have said they can sort all these problems, but how likely is that? I've heard some horror stories about misfire problems on TVRs. Also, my friend will be keeping his car outside, are damp footwells likely to be a fact of life?

Finally, how does the price sound?

Thanks in advance, Dan

[burriana500]

Price sounds reasonable for a mechanically sound car - stitching always goes, can be re-done or simply glued - wet front carpets is usually something on the inner wing like the brake fluid reservoir seals that need sealing properly.

Cannot comment on misfire - may be nothing, on the other hand....

If they can put it right, let them do it and then have an independent check done.

[danhay]

burriana500 said:

wet front carpets is usually something on the inner wing like the brake fluid reservoir seals that need sealing properly.

Funny you should say that, the seal on the brake reservoir had come away!

[shadowninja]

The misfire could be a loose sparkplug shroud. Or whatever that cap thing is that goes over the spark plug. Check they're all firmly pushed in. If it still misfires it's something more technical (I'm not technical).

[mustard]

I'd be incline to try and contact the previous owner, speaking from experience (used to work at a Toyota main dealer) British P/x's more often or not were part exchanged for a reason (sadly not normally the right one) discovery's range rovers against Land Cruisers, MGF's against MR2's, Freelanders against Rav4's.... get the picture

A phone call could prove invaluable

[Steve_T]

If you're serious an inspection by a TVR specialist is the best way to go - at a minimum get an AA inspection. A Surrey TVRCC member saved himself a £5k bill thanks to an AA inspection.

Steve.

[danhay]

The Toyota dealer (who are part of a chain) are offering their own 1 year warranty - as opposed to some off the shelf policy. So I'm happy that it won't end up costing him a fortune but it might spend a lot of time off the road if the cause of the misfire ends up being elusive? The engine runs fine most of the time, it's only at certain load conditions that it occurs.

To be honest my friend is a bit too compulsive to bother with a specialist check, that's why he dragged me along!