Chassis inspection

[barchetta_boy]

Hi guys, me again

I drove my car in the salt so put it up on my ramp and washed off all the underside with soap and water. While it was up there I took a good look at the chassis. To my inexpert eye (first TVR and only car I own that has a tube chassis other than my race cars) it looks pretty good. Cars was garaged for last 10 years and has obviously been waxoyled to death (with a strange missing patch on n/s front... anyway)

There are some rust patches as you can see. I was thinking drill + wire brush and then some rust treating paint. The aim being to stop it getting any worse. If the car turns out to be a keeper we can do a full chassis resto in the fullness of time. Is this a good strategy? Any particular products I should use?

Cheers

[BritishTvr450]

Pictures of the outrigger tubes running down the sides of the car would be useful.

All you can do is as you suggest and then use more wax oil until any holes can be found or it fails an MOT.
That’s the point where you have little choice but get it repaired.

My gut instinct says it’s close to needing some repairs but only close inspection from someone who knows these chassis well will confirm that or not.

[sixor8]

The missing patch may be from jacking the car up. When I jack up my Griff to remove wheels for access to brakes, check sump or even just clean properly etc, I use a spot on the front beam. I used to replace the scrubbed off waxoyl but got a bit fed up, and the can ran out too.

There is still powdercoat showing where mine has come off. From the photos shown here, that looks acceptable to me.

[camel_landy]

It's going to be the bits you can't see, where the body sits on the outriggers. Mud, grit & salt gets trapped in this area, stays damp and then rots the tubes away from the top down (ie - where you can't see them).

See if you can get your fingers up in there to feel around.



^^^ This is what mine looked like, once chopped out.

The other bits to check are next to the exhaust manifolds.

HTH

M

[barchetta_boy]

Understood, thank you

[Byker28i]

Scrape back the loose powdercat, rub back gently

Bilthammer Deox-c to kill the rust. Evil stuff wear gloves as it stains

POR-15 paint with hardener
https://www.frost.co.uk/por15-whitecote-2k-urethan...

Again, stuff sticks and does not come off. Old gloves, overalls, gloves, apply thinly as it's easy to get runs/drips which then set...
Put old cardboard/board underneath to save the floor just in case...

Then Dinitrol clear wax over. It's the only one I've found that stays clear and doesn't yellow.


Do check the top corners of the outriggers as much as you can. They generally get missed and rot from the top down, you only notice the bottom rotting when its too late.

[barchetta_boy]

Obviously the difficulty with the top of the outriggers is that the bodywork is flush to them; presumably there's no way of opening up a gap there without going the whole hog and removing the chassis? Maybe I'll get a compressed air line in there and blow out all the st I can

[Byker28i]

You'll never get it all, but you'll get the corners.

For cleaning I use one of those narrow bottle brushes, like these, along with an small angled attachment for my pressure washer
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/bottle-brushes/1767...

Then try to get some more wax down there

Worse case...



There are plates/covers made that try to keep the mud/muck out from the wheels

[ukkid35]

barchetta_boy said:

Maybe I'll get a compressed air line in there and blow out all the st I can

Absolutely the right thing to do

My 928 rad failed at the Ring last October, because I failed to blow out the debris between the condenser and the rad

Such a simple preventative task, assuming you have access to a compressor

[ukkid35]

Also, there's an aluminum plate that protects the brake lines on the driver's side, it's worth fitting exactly the same plate, reversed, on the passenger side as well

[barchetta_boy]

Where's the best place to buy that? Or any TVR parts for that matter. 928 I'm familiar with, this is a new world to me!

[ukkid35]

Try Peter first, he has fabricated a lot of aftermarket parts for the Cerb

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?me...

[Byker28i]

ukkid35 said:

Try Peter first, he has fabricated a lot of aftermarket parts for the Cerb

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?me...

Yup, see
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[gruffalo]

barchetta_boy said:

Where's the best place to buy that? Or any TVR parts for that matter. 928 I'm familiar with, this is a new world to me!

I have apair in my garage if you want them. I bought them from Peter but when thechassis came back refurbished it already had some on it.

[barchetta_boy]

Yes please, will DM you