Biggest mechanical idiot to refurb their own TVR?
Discussion
My advice is have a go, you can ony learn.When I needed specialised advice I contacted various UK specialists, they were very helpfull. I live in West Australia & have just restored a TVR 3000M. The distance from the UK may seem daunting but the parts I could not source locally I found through the net. I enjoyed the project & now have a great car!
Go for it. Im coming to the end of my complete restoration now. Just take loads of pics and bag all nuts/bolts up in sandwich bags with labels and you will be well away.
These are pretty basic cars to pull apart / rebuild I would say in my experience.
And you have the added benefit of many folk on here that will help you at the drop of a hat.
Good luck
Neal
These are pretty basic cars to pull apart / rebuild I would say in my experience.
And you have the added benefit of many folk on here that will help you at the drop of a hat.
Good luck
Neal
Go for it, plenty of help and advice available on here and other forums, Steve Heath books, Haynes manuals etc. etc.
Nice thing about doing things yourself (apart from saving loads)in my opinion is other things get done too, simple example, book car in garage for new battery and they will fit a new battery. But do it yourself and perhaps you'll clean up the battery tray, paint it, clean up the thread on the clamp bolt, grease it and so on........
And of course the personnal satisfaction, and going to work on Mondays with dirty fingernails
Mmmm...interesting. Purchase price and complexity rules out any of the AJP cars and I have had a Griff already, so what would be a good model to choose? The Chimaera is obviously good value and parts aplenty, but what about the S-series cars? Is the same true of them? Any older than that and I guess we're heading into classic car territory with prices to match?
SonicHedgeHog said:
Mmmm...interesting. Purchase price and complexity rules out any of the AJP cars and I have had a Griff already, so what would be a good model to choose? The Chimaera is obviously good value and parts aplenty, but what about the S-series cars? Is the same true of them? Any older than that and I guess we're heading into classic car territory with prices to match?
The S is really straight forward and parts are plentiful. There are also many owners doing rebuilds at present and most post on websites or PHs so there is plenty of advice around. I suggest for a sample here you look at the owners website in the stickied wikis in the S Series forum.Mark
My advice is to make sure you have a decent place to work, shop around for parts prices, make sure you have a decent set of tools, take before photos and ask loads of questions on here if you get stuck. I have done a major refurb on my car - once you get started you will realise how simple TVRs are put together and you will ask yourself the question - why go to a dealer to get your car extortionally fixed!!
Go for it - nothing ventured - nothing gained.....
Go for it - nothing ventured - nothing gained.....
Depends which TVR it is. Chronologically anything upto a Chim would be straight forward I would imagine (though having only worked on my Chim, I can only confirm that actual model). They're more simple than people give them credit for. An RV8 is an RV8 at the end of the day. The rest is scaffolding and fibreglass - easy. Access to things in general is your biggest foe, so my advice there is always be prepared to remove more than you thought you'd need to (e.g the starter motor to remove the R/H bank exhaust header)....quicker in the longer run.
T-series cars, well they might be simple to some but I wouldn't go running in wielding any spanners unless I'd been shown around first!
T-series cars, well they might be simple to some but I wouldn't go running in wielding any spanners unless I'd been shown around first!
k to many bottles of wine... deciefer above at your peri
Well put hoov.
But to correct. I would say that I was not a complete novice. I have always maintained my cars, mechanicals being easy, electrics more of a problem. But I have never tackled anything of this scale.
I would on reflection say that the body off refurb is essentially reasonably easy for a practical person with some car knowledge. I would certainly recommend doing it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the work and know that it is done to a very good standard. It took me about 3 months evenings and weekends, but I was hooked on the project.
I took in the region of 700 photos in total of everything I took apart from all angles. It was like a big Airfix kit. The electrics proved to be exceptionally easy.
I now have a car that I can be confident in and can benefit from fully understanding how it goes together.
If you require any advise pre or during the work I and I am sure many other body offers could oblige.
But to correct. I would say that I was not a complete novice. I have always maintained my cars, mechanicals being easy, electrics more of a problem. But I have never tackled anything of this scale.
I would on reflection say that the body off refurb is essentially reasonably easy for a practical person with some car knowledge. I would certainly recommend doing it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the work and know that it is done to a very good standard. It took me about 3 months evenings and weekends, but I was hooked on the project.
I took in the region of 700 photos in total of everything I took apart from all angles. It was like a big Airfix kit. The electrics proved to be exceptionally easy.
I now have a car that I can be confident in and can benefit from fully understanding how it goes together.
If you require any advise pre or during the work I and I am sure many other body offers could oblige.
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