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TVR 3000S restoration

by Nigel Warner

December 2001

Hole in engine compartment upright	First side welded and finished	Starting to remove outrigger and sill

I first removed the passenger side front outrigger by cutting through the sill tube where it meets the outrigger and then cutting it from the body mounting plates and the 3 other points that it joins the chassis. This took some time and I found that where it mounted to the inner round tube there was a large rust hole on the inside so I cut a small section and welded this up.. I then cleaned up all the points that it joins onto and made sure it was in the same position as the old one I had removed.

I then phoned round the local steel stockholders to find some 1.5 inch diameter round and square tubing. In the end I was told to try a local forge, which were very helpful, and I purchased some for a grand total of £5.80.

A piece of square tube was then cut slightly over length and then filed etc,. to fit the inner round tube section. I then tack welded it in a few places, double checked it hadn't moved, and then seam welded it in position. By leaving the sill tube in position I could make sure of the length and fit of the outrigger. This was then cut to size before removing the sill tube. A new piece of round sill tube was cut to size and then welded in. The last little job on this side was to weld a closing section over the end of the outrigger. I am now ready to do the same on the other side.

Well this weekend (15th Dec) I didn't have much spare time so instead of starting on the other side I thought I'd give the chassis a good look over to see if there were any other holes. Unfortunately I found one. A suspicious looking mark, on the square upright (engine side) from the inner end of the outrigger I had just fitted, when prodded revealed a hole about an inch across. I filed it out so that it was a hole of about one and a half inches square and cut a new piece of metal to fit and welded it in position. I hope I don't find any more.

On Dec 22nd I completed the welding on the other side which was exactly the same rust wise as the first side I tackled. The next stage is to rub remove the surface rust.

January 2002

The painted chassis

I have rubbed down the rusted areas on the front part of the chassis. I found that the rust had gone back under the powder coating for quite away as the coating doesn't seem to bond to the metal very well. I treated the rust with Jenolite which neutralises the rust and gives a good surface for the primer. Next I primed it with Bondaprimer which took a very long time, just doing from the front of the chassis to the front outriggers took me most of the morning.

I have now painted the chassis with Smoothrite and I have also given all the exposed parts of the chassis a good coat of Black Waxoyl. I must say that it does look good now and hopefully I won't mark it too much whilst refitting the suspension etc.

I'm hoping that I will get the front suspension rebuilt and back on the chassis next month.

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