What’s the most stressful job you can perform when restoring a car? Changing the head gasket? Testing the brakes for the first time? Lifting in a freshly rebuilt engine, perhaps? All worthy suggestions, but I’m going to propose a rather more esoteric option for my choice – one reserved for the rarified world of fibreglass-bodied sports cars.
Lifting the body back onto the chassis
Our resident road tripper, Ben Coombs, checks in on progress as he takes a major step forward with his 1990s TVR Chimaera rebuild – reuniting the freshly restored chassis with its body. For anyone who’s lived through a classic car restoration, this milestone signifies that the open road is now in reaching distance.
There has been quite a lot of work leading up to this operation. Kermit the Chimaera had the body removed from its rusty chassis shortly before Christmas, and after a complete strip-down, the chassis was delivered to Sportmotive TVR in Stoke-on-Trent, where new outriggers were fitted to replace the rotten originals, and the whole thing was media blasted and powdercoated, resulting in a finish that was probably better than when it rolled out of the factory, back in 1997.
With such an impressively shiny starting point, I was guilt-tripped into making sure every component I bolted back onto the chassis was nicely restored. Therefore, plenty of brackets were cleaned up and repainted, all the fuel and brake lines were replaced, and a smorgasbord of new parts fitted. The result was so visually comforting, that it seemed a shame to hide it all beneath Kermit’s world-weary body. But as hanging the chassis on my living room for all eternity to be gazed at wasn’t really an option, it needed to be done.
So, earlier in August I brought together three friends, an engine hoist and some blocks of wood, and we got to work. The plan was to raise the rear of the body with the engine hoist and a sling threaded through the rear wheel arches, and lift the front using a sturdy piece of wood threaded through the fronts, long enough that the body could be rolled under the body. Then, it would be a simple matter of lowering the body back onto the chassis.
Doesn’t sound particularly stressful, does it?
Well, with the back of the car swinging in the air from a sling, and the front perched unconvincingly on wooden beam and some supports, it wasn’t the most confidence inspiring situation to put it in. Rolling the chassis required the wheels to be bounced over the legs of the supports, further rocking the boat – or more appropriately, the canoe. And then there was the matter of lowering this near-300kg lump of fibreglass down onto the chassis. The rear, with the engine crane, was simple to lower. The front, less so.
Eventually, we had to pile up wooden blocks on the chassis in front of the engine, on which we supported the engine. Then, with three people lifting the body, a fourth would quickly remove a few blocks at a time before the body was lowered. By proceeding like this, we were able to lower Kermit’s body onto the chassis. And then finally, relax.
The whole operation took about 90 minutes of concentration, but the result was certainly worth it. Having the body back on the chassis represents the beginning of the end of Kermit’s long drawn-out rebuild, and while there are still a good few days of work still to do, it won’t be long now before the ClassicLine-sponsored TVR is back on the road and heading for the MOT station.
Just in time for the winter, probably. But still, the prospect of finally getting tarmac under the TVR’s wheels is a most compelling one.
