Buying Advice: Chimaera

[Bart]

Hi,

I'm seriously considering shelling out for a Chimaera; like the look of them, and all importantly, they are V8s!! Been looking at the prices of a few on fleabay, and although a bit of a stretch, I should be able to afford one of the cheaper ones on my budget ~ 7 to 8k.

How expensive are they to run - fuel, tyres, parts etc? Currently my MGB (which subsequently would be going in the for sale section) is costing me a fortune in fuel at 15-20mpg with the filthy great Weber sat on top, so guess the Chimaera wouldn't be as bad as that. Would probably be a 4L one.

What things are there to look out for when checking them out? I've read about the chassis out riggers being prone to rust, but is there any other places on the chassis I should be looking. How big a job is it to replace the out-riggers - I guess it's a body-off job.

Just any advice you can give me would be a great help, or even if someone has one for sale.

Cheers,

Adam

[chodjinn]

Your MPG isn't going to be much better, although 15-20mpg in an MGB is pretty poor, depends how much you use the loud pedal. For other buying advice try the TVR owners club, there are things online. TVRs are essentially factory kit cars, used a lot of ford parts.

The chassis, if gone, probably best to replace the whole thing, yes it's a body off job. There is somewhere in the UK that does exchange chassis replacemen - they used them on Wheeler Dealers when they did a chim.

Obviously, it's a TVR so most parts are held on with prit-stik, tape and hope, and Chims are getting on a bit now ... good looking/going cars tho!

[kiwicar]

Hi
the chassis on TVR's are prone to rot owing to lack of any proper chassis coating at the factory as said above these are basically kit cars built on mass by the sea side. They are quite a bit lighter than an MGB so you should get a little better fuel economy, but it is a rover lump in there so you will probably never get more than about 25 on a run, they just cant burn a mixture anything like as lean as modern car. With your budget you would be better off getting a post 2000 XK8 that will give you 22mpg on general use, 30mpg at 85 on a run and all the bits are ford mondao.
best regards
Mike

[DaveEFI]

It's pretty impossible to estimate what any individual will get overall MPG wise out of any car, since it depends so much on the type of use.
If I cruise at about 70mph on the motorway, I get about 31 mpg on my SD1.
Take it the short journey to the shops on a cold morning and it's in the low teens.

If the best that MGB ever does is 15-20 mpg, it's likely running far too rich at cruise. Not uncommon with aftermarket carbs or injection, which often only get accurately tuned for maximum bhp.

[Eliot]

As mentioned, outriggers just behind the front wheels are the worst areas. Beware of someone painting or filling rotten outriggers just to sell it on - you want to get your hands all the way round tube of the outrigger, as I seem to remember it rots from the top, which isn't obvious from a casual glance underneath.

It's a V8 - its not economical unless driving it like a pussy and you don't buy a trev to pussy around in do you?!

[Bart]

I think my MGB is ok; I can't remember what jets I put in it, but I seem to recall going one needle size up on cruise to lean it out -- any leaner and it didn't run properly. It's just because I have a Lead right foot

I guess I'd better just go and have a look at a few. Don't mind if I have to do a little bit of work on it, but I don't fancy having to whip the body off to replace the outriggers -- or indeed the whole chassis!.

I've also read about starter motor issues. I guess it's heat that cooks them; are they relatively easy to get at to change?

[richardpope50]

Having taken my TVR RV8 to Dale, Bailey Performance, to get the MegaSuirt fully mapped, he thinks I should get over 30mpg. I was getting 25+ before the final map but not had a chance to drive it since. A friend of his with a Chimaera is now getting 37 mpg.

[Quagmire]

My P6 on SU's gives me economy in the range of 23-26mpg unless I go really nuts MGB should give about the same I would have thought?

Dunno how the weight compares between the two though, perhaps the P6 is a tad heavier?

30+ on a light slippery thing like a TVR sounds right!

[Ian Anderson]

Consumption
Worst 6mpg on track
Best 33mpg 50mph drive back from LEMans in a queue of traffic

On my GT40 replica Hotwire 3.9

Ian

[dbv8]

Ive had my Chimaera 450 for 7 years now so have learned a lot about these cars.

Some of the later cars (say 97 onwards) had poor powder coating and the chassis was proned to rust particularly on the outriggers where the powder coating was worn away from debris off the wheels. My advice would be to find either an earlier model with a well looked after original chassis or a later car that has had a proper outrigger replacement.

As for the car on wheeler dealers that was a Cerbera and the original chassis could have been repaired. A few specialists can do outrigger replacement but will cost you a couple of thou before wanting to replace and refurb a lot of other stuff while the body is off.
I did mine myself with help from a local engineering firm.

As for MPG it depends on the car, the state of tune and driving style. My 450 has many modifications giving 330 bhp but i can easily achieve over 30 mpg on a run whilst cruising at 85+

Rule 1... see and drive a few and buy on condition. You will be amazed at how the quality can differ from car to car.
If i was in the market again i would buy a modified and worked on car and save a fortune on future mods.

[volospian]

Bart, whereabouts are you?