Body Miscellaneous
Car Cosmetics
Lubrication
Adhesives for Trim Repairs
Adhesive for Underbonnet Heatshield
Water Ingress
Hood Waterproofing
Rattling Hood Struts
Scratched Rear Window
Windscreen Damage and Repair
Chimaera Grille Removal
Number Plate and Airflow Through Grille
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Car Cosmetics
Internet Mailing List May 98
I at last take delivery of my new Griffith next week, my first TVR. I would be interested to know if any of you chaps out there have any tips
on how to retain a TVR's 'as new' look to its various parts, ie engine compartment (particularly ally castings) and also body and interior trim.
It is a second car, will be garaged and will only get used for church on Sundays, etc. so high mileage shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Mac Berrington
Internet Mailing List May 98
I have to admit to being a bit of an underbonnet polisher (probably a hangover from my classic car days), so here are Beech's Top Tips:
- Jet washing's fine, including the hood. Might blow a wheel center badge off now and again.
- Don't scrub the hood fabric, it goes fluffy. Reproof with Fab-Sil from camping shops.
- Don't splosh water around the engine bay and never steam clean, the electrics don't like it at all.
- "Back to Black" brings dirty rubber hoses up nicely.
- Rubber trim and vinyl comes up well with "Son Of A Gun", especially the back window, and seems to keep it supple.
- "Wonder Wheels" gets the gunge off wheels better than anything else I've tried.
- Anything slightly acidic gets the oxidation off ally castings, eg. wheel cleaner, but do wipe it off afterwards.
- Solvol Autosol is still the best thing around for polishing ally.
- "Mr Sheen Dustguard" anti-static polish is bloody brilliant for keeping the side windows clean. Rainwater just balls up and falls off it, so you don't get a load of filth obscuring the door mirrors when it dries.
- I lubricate hinges etc with spay-on bike chain grease, 'cos I've got some, but it is good at getting into fiddly places and goes solid so it stays where you've put it. Excellent for holding the hair in place as well.
- When I got fed up with watching the cats go rusty, I soaked a rag in black Sperex high temp exhaust paint and wiped that on them (too idle to mask off and spray, and rags don't leave brush marks). Run the engine for a few minutes and splodge another coat on. Still looking good after 6,000 winter miles. Takes about three days to get the paint off your hands/arms/face.
- A squirt of WD40 around electrical connections will hold back corrosion. The Navy hose down chopper engines with the stuff on carriers, so it's got to be pretty good.
- Just in case, let your dealer know in the nicest possible way that you don't want his lads scratching/scuffing/spilling brake fluid on or otherwise treating your car like a second-hand tractor. There are some right oiks out there, often in quite surprising places.
The best thing to keep the car working well is to drive it as often as you can, briskly.
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Lubrication
Sep 96
Bodywork areas that will benefit from regular lubrication between
services are:
- Chimaera bonnet hinges.
- Chimaera boot hinges.
- Door hinges. They can be reached with a spray nozzle.
- Pedal boxes, particularly the clutch (yes, they all squeak).
- Throttle pedal. There is a lube hole in the pivot.
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Adhesives for Trim Repairs
Internet Mailing List Aug 96
Can anyone advise me on how to stick back the leather on my Chimaera?
I have tried 'Evo Stick' which was recommended by my local dealer
but it only stayed for about a week before it started peeling
back again . . .
Steve Williams
Internet Mailing List Aug 96
. . . try Araldite Rapid.
Jason Jarvis
Internet Mailing List Aug 96
Copydex works well for vinyl trim, and it ought to be ok for leather.
You paint it on both surfaces as a milky liquid (so you can see
if you've missed bits), and it cures in about fifteen minutes
into a clear contact adhesive. I tried two or three other things
before this, and Copydex was the only one that had enough immediate
grip to stop the vinyl creeping back after I'd stuck it down.
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Adhesive for Underbonnet Heatshield
Sep 98
I have a 95M Griff 500 and the heat shielding on the underside of the
bonnet has become detached. It obviously requires a specialist adhesive
due to the high under-bonnet temperatures. I established from my local
dealer what adhesive the factory use, and then tracked down its supply.
OK, maybe it's not the best solution or I wouldn't need it now, but I
think I can cope with reattaching it every 3 years!
Dunlop S1358 - A high temperature contact adhesive, used in other
automotive applications e.g. interior trim and headlinings. It's
applied much like any other contact adhesive. i.e. coat both surfaces
and join them when it's tacky. A litre tin should be enough for a whole
bonnet or more, and cost me just under a tenner.
The manufacturer is Norcros Adhesives Ltd, Newstead Industrial Trading Estate, Longton Rd Trentham, Stoke-On-Trent,
Staffordshire, ST4 8JB, Tel: 01782�59110. They can tell you a local supplier.
The only one in Surrey is Croma Industrial Supplies Ltd, Camberley, Tel: 01276 683776
Julian Bridle
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Water Ingress
Sep 96
Here are some suggested remedies:
- Door seals. Water can run down the groove between the hard and soft sections of the door seals and then into the footwells.
Cut two 1/4 inch sections out of the soft part of the seals at the front of each cill and roughly in the middle, to let the water
drain out. Run a bead of silcon sealer along the top of the door seal by the door hinge. If you don't like cutting bits out of
the rubber you can inject some glue into the 'O' section and stick it flat.
- Behind the rear number plate, run sealer around the number plate lights and emergency lock.
- Inside the Chimaera boot, seal the bumper fixings.
- Underneath the car, seal around the seat belt mountings.
Apr 97
I have known earlier Chimaeras leak water due to missing silicon sealant over a plate in the engine bay directly over the pedals.
Geoff Cahalin
Internet Mailing List Jan98
How come the drivers side carpet in my Griff always gets wet when it rains? The passenger side is fine, when I'm in the car in the rain I can
see no water getting in around the hood and the rest of the car is dry. If I take the carpet out to shove in the drier there is water left standing
in the footwell.
David Donnan
The favourite place for water ingress into the drivers footwell is through the edge of the brake fluid reservoir according to my dealer.
They strip and reseal this at every service as a matter of course. TVR used to use silicone which won't adhere properly to the reservoir
which moves slightly everytime you press the brake pedal. Even if you look carefully the gap is sometimes difficult to see and the
water runs down the bulkhead/inner wing behind the pedal box and appears magically on the floor.
TVR have apparently now changed from silicone to Sikaflex (black incredibly sticky stuff used to bond in windscreens) and this cures the
problem (allegedly). If someone would like to prove this by re-sealing and then never using their brakes............maybe not.
Robert Morgan
I had to re-seal mine as I had the brake fluid cap split and deposit some brake fluid over the inner wing last July. Took the best part of a day to
clean it up and repaint the wing. Silicone *will* stick: the trick is to get everything scroupiously (is that the right spelling?) clean and then
layer the silicone so that the reservoir is wedged all round by sealant. When this is tacky, put another layer around to create the seal. Then
smooth it off with a wet knife. The reservoir cannot move so the seal remains intact. This approach takes a couple of tubes of sealant but it
hasn't leaked one bit. Having said that, it didn't leak before either but it was done with some black stuff which I think was Sikaflex. This was
breaking away from the reservoir but the raised sealant hump meant that the water flowed away either side. A quick test with a watering can will
prove it one way or the other.
Steve Heath
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Hood Waterproofing
Aug 96
Fabseal tent fabric waterproofer works well on the hood. A couple
of coats will stop water soaking through the stitching and also
covers up minor scuff marks. One Griff owner told me that this
actually stopped water collecting in his footwells - presumably
it had been getting in through the fabric and running down through
a body cavity somewhere. Fabseal doesn't seem to harm the paintwork
but it's a devil to clean off if you let it dry.
Apr 97
I have had it confirmed to me that the Factory use "FABSIL"
to treat the roof material, so I would recommend that it should
be applied once a year to maintain the waterproofing.
Geoff Cahalin
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Rattling Hood Struts
Internet Mailing List Mar 98
I noticed that the aluminium struts on the Chimp do rattle when the top is folded down. It was possible to waggle the strut
and product the rattle. It seems that the pivots are not holding it still. I was thinking of putting a small amount a of clear mastick, to reduce the
movement of sound of rattling. I suppose a clear nylon half washer (if such things existed) would be another approach - sliding it over the pivot
and into the groove? What about my IKEA rubber hammer (plus block of wood) and trying to tighten the joint by squashing the aluminium pivot?
Simon Smollett
Internet Mailing List Mar 98
You've summed up the possibilities exactly. Squashing the pivot is usually the final and best outcome but can be hard to get right. Another
solution is to tie a piece of elastic between the two struts!
Steve Heath
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Scratched Rear Window
Internet Mailing List Sep 97
I spilt some petrol onto the window on my Griff with the roof
down and did not realise for several hours. The petrol marked
the plastic quite badly, however several hours with various rubbing
compounds removed most of the marks very successfully. I found
that body rubbing compound is great for very heavy damage but
be careful as it can be quite abrasive. T-Cut is good for medium
work. Brasso or similar metal polish is great for finishing off
or on light damage. I ended up using a mop polisher with the
fine stuff which saved a lot of elbow grease.
Before you do it, make sure the fabric around the window is well
sealed so that any surplus cleaner can easily be washed off. Fabsil
is ideal for this. If this is not done, any spillage can take
several goes with water and nail brush to get the stuff off the
fabric. Don't forget to support the window from behind so that
it does not get stretched. If all else fails, a replacement window
typically costs about 100 pnds to have done.
Steve Heath
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Windscreen Damage and Repair
Internet Mailing List May 98
Whilst driving it home a crack started to steadily grow from the bottom of the windscreen, above the steering wheel. Now some
10 inches long, and with no obvious sign of impact damage, have the garage managed to do this whilst jacking up the car carelessly?
Any views/similar experiences appreciated before I get irate on the phone to them (a shame because they're normally pretty good)
Mike
Internet Mailing List May 98
Same thing happened to my Chimaera a couple of years ago. I'd parked at the South of England Show for about six hours in 90 degree temperatures and when I came back there were two cracks the full height of the windscreen. When Autoglass were taking the screen out they pointed out rips in the pillar fabric where it had obviously been replaced once before, and none too carefully by the look of it. The glass wasn't damaged in any way before this happened and I'm sure it was just the heat combined with a bad fit at some point that stopped the screen expanding in its surround (a bit of broken glass left under the rubber maybe?). Until Mike's posting I'd not heard of this happening to anyone else, and I did ask a couple of dealers at the time.
Peter Beech
Internet Mailing List May 98
My S2 had the lining on the internal windscreen pillars cut when the screen was replaced before I had it. Like most things, there are good
fitters and there are bad ones. Unless you take care, the knife that is used can go through and slit the covering.
I've had good and bad experiences with Autoglass. I had to replace the screen on the Wedge a few weeks ago (£420 quote from AutoGlass...)
and arranged to have this done while it was down at Tower View Race Services. My insurers, Norwich Union, insisted on AutoGlass as well. The
first problem was that they told me that I must have a 3000s and not a 390SE as the 3000s was the only one that came on screen. I told them to
ring the factory and eventually they rang back to say that they had found one. The fitters turned up about three days later with a scratched and
delaminated screen. Dave Wallis asked them a few question about installation and got some mumblings about it's like a Lotus. He
eventually sent them packing as he didn't think that they could do the job or that the windscreen was acceptable. Autoglass promised to call
back but didn't.
The Wedge (and the Griff, Chimaera, Cerbie etc) can suffer the same problem. While the damage can be repaired with newer cars, some of the
interior lining material is extremely hard to get and so the repair could involve a complete new interior... I rang AutoGlass and spoke to their
manager, pointed this out, mentioned the cost of a new interior if they screwed up... surprise, surprise... he agreed to cancel the order and let
someone else do the job.
A quick call to the insurers and they said that in view of the specialised nature of the car, that they would let me choose the fitter
and then reimburse me. Dave at Tower View fitted it for me and did an excellent job at about £50 less than AutoGlass... so everyone was
happy! Norwich Union paid up in a few days with no problems.
The moral is ask what experience the fitter has if you have to go outside TVR. If you don't feel comfortable, then use the "interior" reason to let
you choose who you want. A damaged interior is one of the most expensive things to put right on a TVR.
Steve Heath
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Chimaera Grille Removal
Sep 97
Ealry Chimearas have a grille in the form of sheet of perforated
metal with a rubber surround. The rubber is a sort of S shape
in section, with one curve of the S fitting over a lip around
the grille opening and the other curve holding the grille itself.
The rubber is either glued to the lip or has a few small screws
or rivets to keep it in place. All you need to do to get the grille
off is work around the rubber surround easing the grille free
with a penknife. You may need a hairdryer to soften the rubber
in cold weather, and getting it back on neatly is a bit trickier.
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Number Plate and Airflow Through Grille
Internet Mailing List Sep 96
With the summer now upon us I was looking at the front of my Chimeara and thought that the front plate actually covers 1/2 or 2/3 of
the grill area. Whilst it hasn't yet overheated surely you would get much better air flow through the engine if you replaced it
by one of those stick on plates on the bonnet like the Jag E-type had. Coincidently, I then saw a Chimeara in London with just this
set-up. I think that they are technically illegal (and the E-type had special permission) but if it is visible from the front I
doubt you would get stopped for it.
David Leeming
Internet Mailing List Sep 96
A good point, and one that has been mentioned a number of times at meetings in the past. According to one of my books on the E-Type
there were no concessions for this particular car, the police just turned a blind eye . . . At least one dealer (Portfield)
mounts the number plate with its horizontal centre line on the lip below the grille. It doesn't look so good though . . .
Steve Powell
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