TVR Chimaera Thread

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Jimmy Choo
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

I kinda like the rhubarb and custard look in that picture. :oops:
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drcarlos
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Jimmy Choo wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 10:18 am I kinda like the rhubarb and custard look in that picture. :oops:
It's a special sealer/primer called barcoat that stops any potential cross reaction between paint types. Cellulose reacts with 2 pack so where I'd sanded through the 2 pack primer where it was thin and trying to achieve as flatter surface as possible we used that to make sure that there was no cross reaction.
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

So no custard, just rhubarb. :(

I'm sure it will look stunning anyway.
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Ascender
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by Ascender »

What sort of paint are you using @drcarlos? I remember a common issue with the paint TVR used for that colour is that it was subject to fading in the sun.
Cheers,

Mike.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Ascender wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 4:54 pm What sort of paint are you using @drcarlos? I remember a common issue with the paint TVR used for that colour is that it was subject to fading in the sun.
The brand I have is Nexa autocolour. We were originally asking for a waterbased as it doesn't react with other paints but ended up having to get a 2 pack as it wasn't available in waterbased. The primer used fortunately was 2 pack as well and not cellulose or else the entire front would have had to have been re-primed in that barcoat stuff.
On the TVR colours spreadsheet it's listed as both 2K and Aquabase although the paint supplier said it was only available from them in 2K. I wonder if TVR painted with Aquabase and that faded as you hear a lot of stories about issues with waterbased paints?
I don't know a lot about painting so I am relying on my neighbour and his 30 odd years of experience, hopefully he'll not lead me in the wrong direction.
There was also evidence of an undocumented repaint too. When we were prepping as it looks to have had a 'blow over' at some point as instead of removing the indicators they painted around them. We found the paint ridge there and sanded back flat to do it correctly.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by Ascender »

drcarlos wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 9:57 am
Ascender wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 4:54 pm What sort of paint are you using @drcarlos? I remember a common issue with the paint TVR used for that colour is that it was subject to fading in the sun.
The brand I have is Nexa autocolour. We were originally asking for a waterbased as it doesn't react with other paints but ended up having to get a 2 pack as it wasn't available in waterbased. The primer used fortunately was 2 pack as well and not cellulose or else the entire front would have had to have been re-primed in that barcoat stuff.
On the TVR colours spreadsheet it's listed as both 2K and Aquabase although the paint supplier said it was only available from them in 2K. I wonder if TVR painted with Aquabase and that faded as you hear a lot of stories about issues with waterbased paints?
I don't know a lot about painting so I am relying on my neighbour and his 30 odd years of experience, hopefully he'll not lead me in the wrong direction.
There was also evidence of an undocumented repaint too. When we were prepping as it looks to have had a 'blow over' at some point as instead of removing the indicators they painted around them. We found the paint ridge there and sanded back flat to do it correctly.
Oh, I'm sure it will be absolutely fine, I was just being nosey!

The Aquabase thing makes sense. I just remember the boot on mine was starting to fade and I got the standard "they all do that" answer from TVR, but I had a loaner Cerbera in the same colour for a couple of days and noticed the exact same issue.
Cheers,

Mike.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

A bit more progress tonight. Wet sand and polish of the front. Thursday we'll hopefully get the engine bay masked up ready for paint on Saturday.

Some more paint and polish
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by duncs500 »

Looking good. 8-)
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Engine bay is now painted gloss black, will start reassembly Saturday morning. Then I'm off up to Norfolkland until Sunday but the rest of the reassembly can happen over next week with a view to painting the quarter on the Saturday.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Got the bonnet on at the weekend. Locked and covered the car up and disappeared up to Norfolkland. Got a call as I arrived to say the alarm was going off but more worryingly the car was cranking itself over!
Well my youngest lad got the alarm to stop sounding and killed the auto re-arm and it was OK for the rest of the weekend.

I thought the toad system was borked by the salvage yard when they had issues getting the car started and it seems the alarm was back feeding the starter circuit when sounding and also in the ignition on position with immobiliser armed. I did a bit more testing to see if I could work it out, I succeeded in blowing 2 fuses and frying the immoibiliser by trying to crank it with it armed, which should just sit there and do nothing.

Great.

No other damage done though as i've bypassed the immobiliser and it's all fine.

So the toad is being replaced with a new cobra system with microwave protection (The toad was fitted minus ultrasonics and didn't have the microwave added on). Going to get it professionally done and certified by the local guy who is well recommended and also reasonably priced too. He say's it's a decent system and it has the remote boot popper function too which is good. £400 I didn't want to spend but worth it I think.
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mik
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by mik »

drcarlos wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 3:30 pm Got a call as I arrived to say the alarm was going off but more the car was cranking itself over!
:shock:

Image
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

mik wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 3:38 pm
drcarlos wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 3:30 pm Got a call as I arrived to say the alarm was going off but more the car was cranking itself over!
:shock:

Image
It's funny you mention that. I've never named a car but me and the wife had a conversation about maybe calling it Christine after that.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by integrale_evo »

Not good. Lucky it wasn’t left in gear!

A bloke who lives opposite my grandads farm told me to make sure I disconnected the batteries whenever I was leaving the tractors as he’d had an old jcb which decided to start itself which made the starter catch fire and burn the whole thing down :shock:
Cheers, Harry
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

integrale_evo wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 9:21 pm Not good. Lucky it wasn’t left in gear!

A bloke who lives opposite my grandads farm told me to make sure I disconnected the batteries whenever I was leaving the tractors as he’d had an old jcb which decided to start itself which made the starter catch fire and burn the whole thing down :shock:
Oh don't, despite consuming a fair amount of alcohol on Saturday I still didn't get much sleep wondering if it may decide to go mental again and do something very destructive. Starter is now disabled by virtue of being unplugged.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Another picture of progress.

Bonnet on

I've got the new front indicators mounted but my interesting solution to holding them in place while the adhesive goes off is not so pretty.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Spent some time trying to get the cooling system bled now I've got it all back together and despite following the instructions (front end of car raised funnel of coolant in swirl pot) I couldn't get the heaters hot, the funnel just kept overflowing and spilling coolant everywhere.
I gave up and thought a road bleed might be the order of the day. Needn't have worried heater got hot right away and engine temps stayed around 80 (which is about 10 degrees lower than before as I now have a free flowing stainless mesh grill rather than the crappy stamped alu thing) until waiting in traffic and then crept to 90 with both fans kicking in on cue. The salvage fan I don't think will last long as it's a bit noisy, so I'll order a generic replacement soon.
I'll check the levels later on the coolant and call it job done I think.
Road bleed was fun but a bit sweaty as I left the top on and had heaters on full to start with, traffic heavier but I did get a couple of chances to open it up. It's satisfyingly quick.
Will be painting the rear quarter and mirror on Sunday and then apart from the final polish the body is done.
Might be able to get it on the workshop this Saturday to get the 4 tyres fitted, the lambda probe done and the oil/filter changed, failing that it will be next weekend.
Only question now is do I take brave pill and use it tonight for a run I have to do over to billingshurst?
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Final paint completed and the rear light cover is fitted (my hands will have remnants of Tiger seal on them for a week now), give it a polish and it looks good.
Fitted the Lambda in the exhaust and it now doesn't do a skippy when you are trying to just pootle at 30 in 4th. It still can dies when it's not warmed up fully so there is work to do on the fueling and map and I'll now look into getting to Bailey performance to get this done.
New tyres also now fitted which revealed that the front wheels have both had a bad refurb as the paint flaked off as the old tyres were removed (been painted with tyres in place and no prep work done at all), so another job added to the list.

Will give it a wash and final polish this week to get some nice finished article shots and I'll use one of my new camera mounts to shoot a driving video.

Jobs for the next week will be the front arch boat hatch fitting, indicator beepers and headlight warning beepers.

Pretty happy so far.
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mik
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by mik »

Taking shape pretty quickly 8-)
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by ZedLeg »

Saw a Chimaera for the first time in ages the other day. Looked tiny in modern traffic. Sounded brilliant.
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Re: TVR Chimaera Thread

Post by drcarlos »

Took it out for a spin tonight, just me and the roads for about an hour, unfortunately the sun had gone and it was overcast but it did stay dry (well there were a few spots). I'm starting to get it as a car a bit more now and am quite comfortable driving normally. I think the excitement and nerves (combined with the old tyres) conspired to make my previous drives a bit more of an event (not in a good way). I think I can now get on with more of the fun side of ownership.
I'm going to order a set of alloy stalks and handbrake cover soon, but the biggest interior mod will be to replace the black plastic switches with alloy ones and update the incandescent bulbs for the tell tales to leds. Will be a fairly big job for a whole weekend I think.
I shot a driving video, but it needs an edit before I post it.
In the meantime I stopped and shot a few pictures.

All finished
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