Got my Griff back
Discussion
Well after alot more weeks than it was supposed to take I have finally got my Griff back from Tower View and Saturday.
To remind you all it went in for a chassis refurb due to very rusty outriggers. They took a load of pics for me so I will post them as soon as I have sorted out scanning them etc.
The chassis looks fantastic in it's new silver coat. They have re-powdercoated all of the engine mounts and suspension arms at the same time. Fitted all new poly bushes and 2 new bottom ball joints (tops had been recently done anyway)
I also took the opportunity to have braided hoses and a front big brake kit fitted (the one that uses the original calipers) and red dot pads all round.
They have done a really good job. The car feels excellent. Really tight and the brakes feel excellent as well. They also did some other odd little jobs like fit a lower fan temp switch, a new boot solenoid etc.
The only problem was that sitting in traffic on the M25 my head got sunburnt :-(.
You would have had a long wait
tvrtim said: I saw it at Tower View a couple of weeks ago.The chassis looked like brand new, in fact probably better.I asked Mark if he could do mine for me whilst I was there but he declined. Mind you they are usually very obliging.
. Mine went in on the 1st Feb. Mind you they have done a good job. As you say the chassis looks better than new appart from some slight pitting that was still left in the metal after it was cleaned. 
just drive fast enough to dodge the rays.... 
There is no fixed answer to this. Mine had very rusty outriggers and various other bits of rust on wishbones etc. So needed doing at some point in the next couple of years before it needed new bits welding in.
When I've sorted out my new scanner I'll get some pictures posted for you all to look at. I'm playing with the setup at the moment to try and get the bet pictures I can out of it.
Get someone to look at the chassis for you if your not sure yourself. It really depends on how good the original coating was and how many stone chips in it. Plus how much moisture gets to it.
Giving it a good waxoil every year or two should stop it from happening. Mine is a 92 car and never had any waxoil etc. I also think that my garage might get quite damp in the winter. I don't think it helped that it was away being fixed during the floods a couple of years ago and came back full of water. So it was stood out in all that rain and took weeks to dry out properly after I got it home.
If you do need to have it done then budget between £4000 and £5000 for someone to do the whole job for you. You can also have little upgrades etc done like I did. You effectively get the upgrades done labour free (and I got a discount on the parts due to the size of the overall bill) as it makes no difference whether they put the old bits back on or new bits.
If you do need it doing then do what I did and phone round the dealers/independants who advertise in sprint. Ask their advice, each will give slightly different bits of knowledge, and build up a picture of what you want doing and how you want it finished etc. I wont summarise what I was told or the decisions I made because I can't remember it all now and it would be coloured by my opinion. This is a big job and pretty expensive so you should make your own judgments.
The first on though is whether to bother, or get rid of the car. I will just say that I decided this based on the fact that I wanted to keep my 4.3 and I reasoned that any inspection would notice the rust and knock the value by atleast £3000. I would also make the car difficult to sell. Atleast I know now that if I ever did need to sell the car then the fact that I had all this work done will help sell it.
Edited to say: Despite what you get quoted for the work expect to have some additional parts to pay for. Basically it is likely that some parts will not be worth putting back (both bottom ball joints on mine had to be replaced - one had had to be burnt out and the other was not much better). Also, it's worth having them make judgements on things like the clutch - if you have a years wear left do you replace the clutch now for the cost of the parts or do you put it back and get a £800-ish bill in a years time?
>> Edited by icamm on Wednesday 9th April 18:39
When I've sorted out my new scanner I'll get some pictures posted for you all to look at. I'm playing with the setup at the moment to try and get the bet pictures I can out of it.
Get someone to look at the chassis for you if your not sure yourself. It really depends on how good the original coating was and how many stone chips in it. Plus how much moisture gets to it.
Giving it a good waxoil every year or two should stop it from happening. Mine is a 92 car and never had any waxoil etc. I also think that my garage might get quite damp in the winter. I don't think it helped that it was away being fixed during the floods a couple of years ago and came back full of water. So it was stood out in all that rain and took weeks to dry out properly after I got it home.
If you do need to have it done then budget between £4000 and £5000 for someone to do the whole job for you. You can also have little upgrades etc done like I did. You effectively get the upgrades done labour free (and I got a discount on the parts due to the size of the overall bill) as it makes no difference whether they put the old bits back on or new bits.
If you do need it doing then do what I did and phone round the dealers/independants who advertise in sprint. Ask their advice, each will give slightly different bits of knowledge, and build up a picture of what you want doing and how you want it finished etc. I wont summarise what I was told or the decisions I made because I can't remember it all now and it would be coloured by my opinion. This is a big job and pretty expensive so you should make your own judgments.
The first on though is whether to bother, or get rid of the car. I will just say that I decided this based on the fact that I wanted to keep my 4.3 and I reasoned that any inspection would notice the rust and knock the value by atleast £3000. I would also make the car difficult to sell. Atleast I know now that if I ever did need to sell the car then the fact that I had all this work done will help sell it.
Edited to say: Despite what you get quoted for the work expect to have some additional parts to pay for. Basically it is likely that some parts will not be worth putting back (both bottom ball joints on mine had to be replaced - one had had to be burnt out and the other was not much better). Also, it's worth having them make judgements on things like the clutch - if you have a years wear left do you replace the clutch now for the cost of the parts or do you put it back and get a £800-ish bill in a years time?
>> Edited by icamm on Wednesday 9th April 18:39
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