Lifting the body Single Handed
The car is 28 years old and still on its original out riggers so they needed to be inspected. I wanted to tackle the job myself and have a 4 post lift so decided to have a go. What started out just as outrigger treatment progressed into almost a full restoration as everything apart from the engine and gearbox were removed from the chassis either for replacement or restoration.
Photographs were taken throughout the project as from past experience it is all to easy to forget things when putting stuff back a few months later. The first two photos below show before and after images of the front suspension and is a reminder of just how corroded things can get for a well used car. The 4 post would easily lift the body but the complication being that to expedite the car needed to be driven under the ramp, a far from ideal scenario as with the car at ground level many things that need to be removed before lifting would have been far easier with the car on the ramp. I did remove the body to chassis bolts and the exhaust system prior to driving it under, the rest was done at ground level. To secure the body I used ratchet straps, two at the front and two at the rear, overkill but better to be sure so if one slips there is some backup.
Photographs were taken throughout the project as from past experience it is all to easy to forget things when putting stuff back a few months later. The first two photos below show before and after images of the front suspension and is a reminder of just how corroded things can get for a well used car. The 4 post would easily lift the body but the complication being that to expedite the car needed to be driven under the ramp, a far from ideal scenario as with the car at ground level many things that need to be removed before lifting would have been far easier with the car on the ramp. I did remove the body to chassis bolts and the exhaust system prior to driving it under, the rest was done at ground level. To secure the body I used ratchet straps, two at the front and two at the rear, overkill but better to be sure so if one slips there is some backup.
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The straps supported the body under the wheel arches with foam slabs to spread the load, The body was lifted about 20" off the garage floor enough to inspect the chassis. Several owners have recorded the shocking state of their chassis's on lifting the body and in most cases the out-riggers were non existent so I was pleasantly surprised to see that mine were not too bad.
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Only one tube was holed, the others required de-rusting but were otherwise reasonably sound. the redundant lugs (seen at the left above) were unused on my car so it made sense to cut them off as they were rust traps, a good job I did as one revealed a hole under. Two repairs were therefore needed one to the holed tube seen in the third photo above and the second to the damage under one lug. I decided to cut out a 6 inch section of the holed tube together with its mounting fillet and weld in new steel. So as to maintain its position I inserted 2 smaller tubes inside the 6" patch and cut a slot in the new section so as to manouvre the two inner tubes into the old tube at both ends An old vacuum cleaner tool was just the right OD to fit inside the new out-rigger section. The new section was gas welded in position as was the new fillet plate. For the hole under the redundant lug I cut out an 180 degree half section about 4 " long and welded this in as only half the section was removed the position reference was maintained.
New 6" section and fillet
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The new half section
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The two new welded sections and the undrilled fillet corner piece are seen above after de-rusting, treating with Hydrate 80 and priming with Bird Brand red oxide. Hydrate 80 is a rust treatment marketed by Bilt Hamber and may be used on rusty and clean metal it has the advantage that it does not require washing off and forms a good base for primer. Bird brand red oxide primer contains rust inhibitors and forms a matt finish, I gave the chassis two coats.
To enable more clearance to treat the upper members the chassis can be lowered onto wooden blocks this gives a usable chassis to body clearance of about 16" inches. In order to treat the underside of the chassis and reach into the chassis central section the axle stands may alternatively be extended to give a chassis/ground clearance of about 12 inches just enough room for me to crawl under to derust and paint. Given the choice it would be far easier to remove the body completely as access for de-rusting and painting is much more restricted using this method. I removed everything except the engine and gearbox and set about de-rusting all the separate components. An angle grinder with both cup, flat wire brushes and sanding disks, a battery drill with small wire brushes and a Dremel tool with grinding bits were all used to remove rust and old paint. It is a very lengthy and tedious process An old file sharpened to a cutting edge was also used where the power tools could not access. The most awkward pieces to derust were the insides of the suspension arms. A word of warning be very careful to remove all earthing straps before attempting to lift the body, I forgot the ones under the near side of the dash and while the chassis was on axle stands it was fine but when lowered onto 4" wooden blocks the cables unable to stretch pulled the body bobbin out of the fibre glass, another job when the body is back on the chassis. I was fortunate in that a friend gave me some silver paint that was similar to the original platic coating (see images below), it was apparently used to paint electricity pylons after drilling them etc. to stop corrosion, It seems excellent stuff but now unobtainable due probably to EEC regulations. You do need plenty of room to store all the components etc. while treating the chassis and if the body is completely removed even more room so this exercise would be difficult in a single garage unless the body is taken off and stored outside something many owners have done. I am fortunate in having an agricultural barn. The suspension wishbones were given the same three part paint treatment but I decided to give the suspension uprights, the differential, the front ant-roll bar, the brake calipers and brackets etc. a top coating of black chassis paint.
To enable more clearance to treat the upper members the chassis can be lowered onto wooden blocks this gives a usable chassis to body clearance of about 16" inches. In order to treat the underside of the chassis and reach into the chassis central section the axle stands may alternatively be extended to give a chassis/ground clearance of about 12 inches just enough room for me to crawl under to derust and paint. Given the choice it would be far easier to remove the body completely as access for de-rusting and painting is much more restricted using this method. I removed everything except the engine and gearbox and set about de-rusting all the separate components. An angle grinder with both cup, flat wire brushes and sanding disks, a battery drill with small wire brushes and a Dremel tool with grinding bits were all used to remove rust and old paint. It is a very lengthy and tedious process An old file sharpened to a cutting edge was also used where the power tools could not access. The most awkward pieces to derust were the insides of the suspension arms. A word of warning be very careful to remove all earthing straps before attempting to lift the body, I forgot the ones under the near side of the dash and while the chassis was on axle stands it was fine but when lowered onto 4" wooden blocks the cables unable to stretch pulled the body bobbin out of the fibre glass, another job when the body is back on the chassis. I was fortunate in that a friend gave me some silver paint that was similar to the original platic coating (see images below), it was apparently used to paint electricity pylons after drilling them etc. to stop corrosion, It seems excellent stuff but now unobtainable due probably to EEC regulations. You do need plenty of room to store all the components etc. while treating the chassis and if the body is completely removed even more room so this exercise would be difficult in a single garage unless the body is taken off and stored outside something many owners have done. I am fortunate in having an agricultural barn. The suspension wishbones were given the same three part paint treatment but I decided to give the suspension uprights, the differential, the front ant-roll bar, the brake calipers and brackets etc. a top coating of black chassis paint.
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The newly painted differential is a heavy beast and installing it single handed with the chassis on axle stands is a tricky process,
complicated by the fact that it is not a straight lift but needs to be initially turned sideways to clear the chassis members, a racing jack proved invaluable to take the weight. The rear diff flange is threaded for the 4 mounting bolts in addition to having lock nuts, that are loctited in position.Next the brakes lines and fuel hoses needed to be fitted and fortunately I had taken photos before dissasembly of their runs otherwise I would have not had a clue. Its surprising what one forgets in a couple of months.
Before attempting to lower the body back on its chassis all the threads in the chassis need to be cleaned of paint etc. as this is much easier with the body lifted. The seat belts have two threads in the chassis one on an outrigger and a second on the inner lower chassis rail a third bolt is secured through the back body and strenghthened with the steel upright plates. (see photos below).
complicated by the fact that it is not a straight lift but needs to be initially turned sideways to clear the chassis members, a racing jack proved invaluable to take the weight. The rear diff flange is threaded for the 4 mounting bolts in addition to having lock nuts, that are loctited in position.Next the brakes lines and fuel hoses needed to be fitted and fortunately I had taken photos before dissasembly of their runs otherwise I would have not had a clue. Its surprising what one forgets in a couple of months.
Before attempting to lower the body back on its chassis all the threads in the chassis need to be cleaned of paint etc. as this is much easier with the body lifted. The seat belts have two threads in the chassis one on an outrigger and a second on the inner lower chassis rail a third bolt is secured through the back body and strenghthened with the steel upright plates. (see photos below).
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Before dropping the body back on to the chassis check the position of the handbrake and gearlevers ( assuming that they were not removed) to ensure that they are not fouling their rubber grommets. Several bolt holes require sealing with silicon sealant before re-assembly especially the seat belt bolts and the back body to chassis bolts. It is worth checking miscellaneous items such as the gearbox reverse switch, I found that the wire insulation had cracked presumably with the heat and was showing bare copper, this needed rewiring, a 22mm spanner released the switch. Removing the steering rack was straightforward but I had difficulty in removing the top steering universal joint next to the bulkhead for painting, it appeared to be rusted solid. Removing the two bolts and soaking in penetrating oil and even levering the slot open a little did not help so in the end I used a slide hammer with a mole wrench attachment to grip the UJ and it came free. Its surprising how simple jobs can take an age, programs such as "Wheeler Dealers" never seem to have these problems.
With the body raised it makes sense to change the differential oil as access is much easier. The filler plug is particularly awkward to undo with the body on as it requires a square ended tool to loosen it in the limited space whereas the drain plug underneath only needs a spanner to undo its square end. I thought to make life easier in future the two plugs could be interchanged as it would be much easier to undo the filler plug with a spanner but unfortunately the drain plug has a magnet attached to catch any swarf so needs to be at the bottom of the differential.
Body to Chassis bolts
Originally the body to chassis bolts had captive nuts welded to the chassis with bolts through from the cabin, these nuts were all very corroded so were cut off to raise the body. As the replacement nuts would just be ordinary captive nuts and not welded it seemed much neater to have the nuts inside the cabin bolted through from the chassis underneath. Bolts were cropped to the minimum so that they were not protuding into the cabin. The underside looks now much neater. A bonus would be less chance for the nuts to rust solid.
Hydraulics
The clutch and brake master cylinders terminate at the manifold on the inner wing seen below, I had forgotten when the time came where each brake line connected. Fortunately very helpful experts on the Pistonheads TVR Forum came to my rescue and confirmed the correct positions. The wider bore clutch pipe connects to the bottom, next up is the single line feeding both rear brakes, the nearside front brake is next with the offside front brake finally at the top. The dual master cylinder allows braking to be split and gives emergency braking if one cylinder fails so it is important that the correct sequence is followed.
Drive shafts
The original drive shaft boot clips were made by "Norma" (see below) and were unlike most crimp type as they they had a small bolt to tighten them. The small clips had rusted beyond repair but the larger ones were in good condition. It is worth retaining the larger "Norma" clips as access to remove the boots once the drive shafts are back on the car for greasing is very awkward with crimp type clips and relatively easy with the "Norma" clips. Unfortunately Norma no longer seem to sell them. I replaced the small inner clips with the crimp type. It is perhaps worth mentioning that although all the drive shaft Allen headed bolts all look similar there are two different threads. Those bolting into the differential are M10 1.5mm whereas the bolts into the hubs are M10 1.25mm.
With the car still on axle stands bolting the drive shafts in place is very awkward especially bolting to the hubs. The hub ends need to be fixed first otherwise it is doubly difficult due to poor access, bolting the diff end is easier as access is much better.
Heat Shields
With the engine still in place on the chassis replacing the complete inner wing heat shields would have been very difficult so I decided to just replace the burnt out sections. I bought some self adhesive fibreglass heat resistant mat but then realised it was far too thin so made pockets cut to shape and lined it with woven fibreglass mat. When glued to the inner wings it is not perfect but a big improvement and it protected the inner wings. See images below.
Bolt Threads and Suspension Arms
Any restoration involving de rusting and painting the chassis etc. will inevitably spread paint into bolt holes so they will need clearing with Thread Taps. Fortunately there are not that many different threads so a just a few Taps are needed:
The 2 Seat belt bolt holes ( into the side chassis and middle chassis) require a 7/16" 20 TPI UNF tap.
The 2 front bolt holes seuring the front body, the 4 securing the rear of the car, the anti-roll bar and the 6 silencer bolt holes all need a M10 1.5mm tap.
The steering rack requires a M8 1.25mm tap.
If original bolts are to be reused then the corresponding thread dies may also be needed to clean the bolt threads.
After painting suspension arms and chassis mounting brackets it will be no surprise to find that they no longer fit easily.
The brackets will probably need widening a little and a bolt with two nuts and washers is a simple way to stretch them a little. Dont be surprised if doing this that your perfect shiny paint finish now has a few chips. Image below.
Earthing
As TVR's have a fibreglass non conducting body electrical circuits depend on the chassis alone for earthing.
There are several earthing points on a Griffith all illustrated below:
1. A main earthing point is on the left hand side of the tunnel under the whale tail and dash.
2. The second is on the right hand side under the whale tail and dash.
3. A third at the front offside where the body is bolted to the chassis.
4. The fourth is at the rear where the body is bolted to the chassis, the lower near side bolt.
5. The main engine earth has two leads from the engine loom and is connected to the chassis offside by a substantial cable.
6. The engine loom has two more earth leads connecting to the rear nearside of the engine, shown from above and below.
Gearbox remote
On inspection the gearbox remote on the T5 box looked a bit rough the ball joint especially so I decided to replace it and paint the various parts. The remote components are shown below and where the main shaft is bolted to the remote gear lever the bolt is sleeved with a plastic tube with washers either side and needs to be drifted out carefully to separate the two. The ball joint is available from Motoclan.
Dismantling the car before restoration
The order with which components are removed from the car is not that important but another TVR owner has made an excellent guide to removing the body here.
Removing the radiator
This can be a bit trying, this may help
Costs
A breakdown of my costs are here:
Including chassis/outrigger restoration and new parts and materials
Some Problems Experienced
Others who have tackled a body off will not be surprised that a few problems arise, a few are outlined here
Click the images to increae their size
With the body raised it makes sense to change the differential oil as access is much easier. The filler plug is particularly awkward to undo with the body on as it requires a square ended tool to loosen it in the limited space whereas the drain plug underneath only needs a spanner to undo its square end. I thought to make life easier in future the two plugs could be interchanged as it would be much easier to undo the filler plug with a spanner but unfortunately the drain plug has a magnet attached to catch any swarf so needs to be at the bottom of the differential.
Body to Chassis bolts
Originally the body to chassis bolts had captive nuts welded to the chassis with bolts through from the cabin, these nuts were all very corroded so were cut off to raise the body. As the replacement nuts would just be ordinary captive nuts and not welded it seemed much neater to have the nuts inside the cabin bolted through from the chassis underneath. Bolts were cropped to the minimum so that they were not protuding into the cabin. The underside looks now much neater. A bonus would be less chance for the nuts to rust solid.
Hydraulics
The clutch and brake master cylinders terminate at the manifold on the inner wing seen below, I had forgotten when the time came where each brake line connected. Fortunately very helpful experts on the Pistonheads TVR Forum came to my rescue and confirmed the correct positions. The wider bore clutch pipe connects to the bottom, next up is the single line feeding both rear brakes, the nearside front brake is next with the offside front brake finally at the top. The dual master cylinder allows braking to be split and gives emergency braking if one cylinder fails so it is important that the correct sequence is followed.
Drive shafts
The original drive shaft boot clips were made by "Norma" (see below) and were unlike most crimp type as they they had a small bolt to tighten them. The small clips had rusted beyond repair but the larger ones were in good condition. It is worth retaining the larger "Norma" clips as access to remove the boots once the drive shafts are back on the car for greasing is very awkward with crimp type clips and relatively easy with the "Norma" clips. Unfortunately Norma no longer seem to sell them. I replaced the small inner clips with the crimp type. It is perhaps worth mentioning that although all the drive shaft Allen headed bolts all look similar there are two different threads. Those bolting into the differential are M10 1.5mm whereas the bolts into the hubs are M10 1.25mm.
With the car still on axle stands bolting the drive shafts in place is very awkward especially bolting to the hubs. The hub ends need to be fixed first otherwise it is doubly difficult due to poor access, bolting the diff end is easier as access is much better.
Heat Shields
With the engine still in place on the chassis replacing the complete inner wing heat shields would have been very difficult so I decided to just replace the burnt out sections. I bought some self adhesive fibreglass heat resistant mat but then realised it was far too thin so made pockets cut to shape and lined it with woven fibreglass mat. When glued to the inner wings it is not perfect but a big improvement and it protected the inner wings. See images below.
Bolt Threads and Suspension Arms
Any restoration involving de rusting and painting the chassis etc. will inevitably spread paint into bolt holes so they will need clearing with Thread Taps. Fortunately there are not that many different threads so a just a few Taps are needed:
The 2 Seat belt bolt holes ( into the side chassis and middle chassis) require a 7/16" 20 TPI UNF tap.
The 2 front bolt holes seuring the front body, the 4 securing the rear of the car, the anti-roll bar and the 6 silencer bolt holes all need a M10 1.5mm tap.
The steering rack requires a M8 1.25mm tap.
If original bolts are to be reused then the corresponding thread dies may also be needed to clean the bolt threads.
After painting suspension arms and chassis mounting brackets it will be no surprise to find that they no longer fit easily.
The brackets will probably need widening a little and a bolt with two nuts and washers is a simple way to stretch them a little. Dont be surprised if doing this that your perfect shiny paint finish now has a few chips. Image below.
Earthing
As TVR's have a fibreglass non conducting body electrical circuits depend on the chassis alone for earthing.
There are several earthing points on a Griffith all illustrated below:
1. A main earthing point is on the left hand side of the tunnel under the whale tail and dash.
2. The second is on the right hand side under the whale tail and dash.
3. A third at the front offside where the body is bolted to the chassis.
4. The fourth is at the rear where the body is bolted to the chassis, the lower near side bolt.
5. The main engine earth has two leads from the engine loom and is connected to the chassis offside by a substantial cable.
6. The engine loom has two more earth leads connecting to the rear nearside of the engine, shown from above and below.
Gearbox remote
On inspection the gearbox remote on the T5 box looked a bit rough the ball joint especially so I decided to replace it and paint the various parts. The remote components are shown below and where the main shaft is bolted to the remote gear lever the bolt is sleeved with a plastic tube with washers either side and needs to be drifted out carefully to separate the two. The ball joint is available from Motoclan.
Dismantling the car before restoration
The order with which components are removed from the car is not that important but another TVR owner has made an excellent guide to removing the body here.
Removing the radiator
This can be a bit trying, this may help
Costs
A breakdown of my costs are here:
Including chassis/outrigger restoration and new parts and materials
Some Problems Experienced
Others who have tackled a body off will not be surprised that a few problems arise, a few are outlined here
Click the images to increae their size
Hydaulic manifold
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Inner Boot Clip
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Original Clip
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New section
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Woven mat
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Repair patch
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Easing a mounting
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Under dash
left
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Under dash right
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Front body bolt
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Engine rear Under
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Rear Body bolt
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Chassis to engine
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Engine rear top
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Remote pivot
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Remote parts
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Assembled
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Ball joint
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Plastic sleeve
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