30/7/2013 Chassis Weldathon Begins!!!

As a Design and Technology teacher (with a VERY understanding boss who also likes classic cars!!)
I am fortunate in that I was, at the beginning of the summer holiday, able to trailer the TVR chassis into school, where I can work on it in a proper engineering workshop, with a MIG welder far better than my one at home....

So carefully, with the chassis upside down on trestles, the rusty lower chassis tubes were cut and replaced one at a time (to maintain geometry). All new tubing was internally sleeved and rosette welded as well as seam welded. This is the correct way to join tubing end to end.

The tubes forward of the outrigger cross tube were replace one at a time..



Before the rotten cross tube and tube sections behind were cut out.

Wow that's a lot of tubes to reconnect!

The new outrigger cross tube was tacked into place..

Note excellent use of bungees to hold tubes together (idea cadged from the rebuild diary I photographed)

 

The rear suspension bracket was salvaged from the rusty section I cut out. Here it is just slid on and will be properly aligned and welded later.

You can clearly see the 2 spot welds either side of the join. These are the "rosettes" and there are 3 spaced around the tube either side of the seam weld.

Had to stop for the day here, but this joint is all ready for welding and you can see the "rosette" holes and the internal sleeve beneath. This is the system that American NASCAR engineers use to repair crashed racing cars, so it should be good enough for me!!!

All in all not bad for one afternoon's work. Quite nerve wracking cutting large chunks out, but very satisfying seeing lovely new tubes going in.

 



Not Quite the Beginning....

A few years back I purchased a 1969 TVR Vixen S1 with the intention of fulfilling a childhood dream and completely restoring a classic car.....every last nut and bolt!!

The Series one (S1)Vixen is quite a rare car, TVR only having made 117. There are currently only 14 known examples still in the UK and out of those less than 5 are road going and original (some having been turned into racing cars or V8 Griffith-a-likes.

So here is a quick photographic update on my progress so far....

1,2,3 "Aaarrr!" Poor old thing as she was in David Gerald TVR Showroom back in 2009 . She'd had a light near-side bump resulting in a bent wishbone and a badly cracked bonnet, and then sat festering in an open barn for some 23 years!!!

 

 

On getting her home the dismantling began with the interior, including the dashboard...

 

 

There was a nest of deceased mice behind the dash!!



Having removed the dash, the rest of the interior was stripped and carefully labelled before storing all the bits, the doors and front + rear screens were then also removed....

 

Then after much internet research and a very deep breath, the body was cut from the chassis....TVR at this stage simply fibre-glassed the bodies onto the chassis (the engineer in me winces!)

 

This left the floor pans and the front inner arches still attached to the chassis. They were carefully removed (although the passenger side floor-pan disintegrated) and the chassis was stripped of everything else...

 

Here you can see the replacement bonnet I sourced...It apparently came from the company car of TVR's racing driver at the time Gerry Marshall!!

Having stripped the chassis, an inversion revealed the true horror.....TVR gave little or no thought to rust protection in the 60's....

 

 

Err...

 

Oh dear...

 

Blimey!...

Oh Lord.....what have I bought. There followed a lengthy period when I did very little and was quite depressed about the whole thing. However  Early in 2013 I discovered a fellow S1 owner who was publishing a highly detailed and inspiring blog. Having contacted him we now swap info on a regular basis!! Then in May 2013, I spotted a vixen S1 for sale on Ebay, that had an extensive photographic rebuild diary!! Following a phone call, the owner kindly allowed me to visit and photograph the diary, which has proved extremely useful and has spurred me back into action....