A 2 post car lift for a classic TVR

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

I sold my expensive Jaguar F-type 5.0 So i could get back to what i really love doing. Also to boost my savings in old age back up a bit.

That is renovating or modyfying a Classic car. So I have bought myself a TVR Chimaera 450. 2001. Not yet a classic but nearly. I built my own garage some years ago as some will have watched the vidoe’s on youtube. When I built it I made the concrete pad deep enough to accomodate a 2 post car lift.

So I have purchased one with the intentions of working on the TVR. I have made a few video’s so far & this is the latest one of altering the lifting pads to safely lift a TVR. I hope this is of some interest to some of the members.

Take care all & i hope the forum problems get sorted out soon.

Steve.

https://youtu.be/H3e2euRFrk0

[egaParticipant @ega]

No doubt in due course you will Travel Very Rapidly!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Looks like a great project, Steve … and a excellent start !

MichaelG.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Thanks guys. One thing I have noticed is that most parts on this car are from other car makes. Fiesta. Mondeo. Cavalier . Rover. Granada. So easily available & not expensive. So hope the work planned will not cost too much.

Steve.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

You probably know this already, Steve … but others may not:

The name was derived from Chimera, the monstrous creature of Greek mythology, which was made of the parts of multiple animals.

https://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/tvr-chimaera.html

MichaelG.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Hi Michael, yes i had heard that. I guess most folk will never have even heards of the car.

Steve.

[Hugh Stewart-Smith 1Participant @hughstewart-smith1]

Steve,

Looks like a great project so best of luck with it. A word of warning though – make sure your garage is secure!

In the late 1960’s I purchased a 1946 MG TC sports car (£175) and ran it as a student around Cardiff, parked in the street but never stolen. In the mid 1970’s I bought a Triumph TR4 (£400). I drove to Greece in the MG when I took an enforced sabbatical from Uni (too much wine and women!) and made it a Grand Tour of Europe.

Both cars stolen from my East London lockup garage in the 1980’s and never saw either car again – until a couple of years ago looked up on the DVLA the reg. no. of the Triumph and low and behold, taxed and tested. After ‘googling’ found that it sold in an auction for £23,000  and I came across it displayed at a classic car show!  I tried to get the police to recover it but they insisted it was a civil matter.

So be warned!

Hugh

Amadeal Ltd

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Well Hugh what a horrific story. Sorry to hear about the thefts. I am fairly secure i guess. Elactric gates bolted & padlocked, Steel electric garage door. Steel garage. But never say never. Thanks for scaring me half to death.

The car is alarmed & Fully comp insurance as well. Plenty of security lighting around the perimeter as well. After reading this i will have to start using the garage alarm too. Thanks for the heads up.

On a sourish note i saw somewhere that getting Insurance for Range Rovers is getting hard in the London area after so many thefts. There are a few in our street parked outside. I have lived in the area for over 8 years now & not heard of any car thefts in the village.

But will be careful. I always work with the garage door closed for that reason.

Steve.

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

Do you know a good chiropractor Stevie ?

One of my former employers ran various TVRs over many years & I recall being given a lift to collect my company car from a service in one of them – the most bone-jarringly uncomfortable vehicle I have ever had the misfortune to have travelled in  (far worse than a safari minibus on unpaved roads in Kenyan game parks !)

Good luck !

Nigel B.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

The main differentiator of the Chimaera from the Griffith was softer suspension…..

 

[Robert Atkinson 2]

On Robert Atkinson 2 Said:

The main differentiator of the Chimaera from the Griffith was softer suspension…..

 

Not withstanding it’s a sport car, it is quite supple . As Robert says the Chimaera although having pretty much the same chassis does have softer suspension . I believe the Griffith was quite hard on the bones. Having owned quite a lot of sports cars in the past & also fitting different suspension to many of my past motors, I don’t find it too hard.

Steve.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Have you tried lifting a car with your car lift yet, some years ago I was given a good well known make of 2 post car lift,ex garage ,and was powered with a 3 phase motor,so I used my 3 phased converter, the converter had a slave motor and drove a 7.5 hp motor on a Colchester  triumph. used the lift a few times and then my converter failed. the converter maker could not offer any advice as why it failed. So I contacted Transwave as they are probably the most popular maker. The answer was instant  this is a very common problem,car lifts and large compressors   both tend to start on full load which overloads the converter and car lift motors are very often fitted with motors that are barely up to the job and easily overloaded. one way round the problem is to take the car lift down to the bottom so that the motor initially takes only the load of the lift not the car so the motor has time to get up to speed,if the car is already suspended and  a further increase in height is required it best to take the lift down to the bottom and start again to the new height,which is a bit laborious so I put a reduction pulley arrangement on the lift screws to increase the motor to screw ratio by a further 9 to 1, it worked for a while then the convertor failed again so to save further expense I scrapped the lift. It had previously worked ok on mains three phase.So i just wonder how you have got on with your car lift.

[Nigel McBurney 1]

On Nigel McBurney 1 Said:

Have you tried lifting a car with your car lift yet, some years ago I was given a good well known make of 2 post car lift,ex garage ,and was powered with a 3 phase motor,so I used my 3 phased converter, the converter had a slave motor and drove a 7.5 hp motor on a Colchester  triumph. used the lift a few times and then my converter failed. the converter maker could not offer any advice as why it failed. So I contacted Transwave as they are probably the most popular maker. The answer was instant  this is a very common problem,car lifts and large compressors   both tend to start on full load which overloads the converter and car lift motors are very often fitted with motors that are barely up to the job and easily overloaded. one way round the problem is to take the car lift down to the bottom so that the motor initially takes only the load of the lift not the car so the motor has time to get up to speed,if the car is already suspended and  a further increase in height is required it best to take the lift down to the bottom and start again to the new height,which is a bit laborious so I put a reduction pulley arrangement on the lift screws to increase the motor to screw ratio by a further 9 to 1, it worked for a while then the convertor failed again so to save further expense I scrapped the lift. It had previously worked ok on mains three phase.So i just wonder how you have got on with your car lift.

Hi Nigel. The car lift is single phase & not the screw type. It is Hydraulic , with 2 rams. Have you not seen the video i posted lifting the car up. Works superbly. A friend now departed had a screw type with acme nuts & long threaded rods, industrial lift in his garden. 3 phase. He drove it with a truck starter motor & batteries. Not the ideal but it worked. I can understand a 3phase with transverter being difficult to start with full load on it.

Steve.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

A decent VFD would have no problem driving a 3 phase motor on a car lift. It would however have to be properly integrated with the controls and limit switches.
Speed ramp up and down so a lot smoother. Starting a lift not in contact with the chassis runs a risk of damaging the chassis or the car falling off.

[Robert Atkinson 2]

On Robert Atkinson 2 Said:

A decent VFD would have no problem driving a 3 phase motor on a car lift. It would however have to be properly integrated with the controls and limit switches.
Speed ramp up and down so a lot smoother. Starting a lift not in contact with the chassis runs a risk of damaging the chassis or the car falling off.

Probably not Robert. On a single phase supply to 3 phase , we know we have to connect the motor in Delta. We also know a motor connected in Delta has little starting torque. Which i think the lift ramp would need.

Steve.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

The winding connection (star or delta) makes no difference to the motor torque. It is the current that determines the torque. As long as the winding connection matches the supply voltage torque is the same.
Maybe you are thinking of the classic star-delta starter arrangement. That connects a motor that is rated for the supply when connected in delta to be started in star. This is  to reduce the inrush current not increase torque.
There is a lot of poor information on the web about this.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Hello everyone. I have made some more progress on the old TVR renovations. The front end needs a refresh so I am upgrading the old Ford Siera brakes . This entailed making some custom adaptors that everyone said needed 12mm wheel spacers to work. I have done my own design & it works. Take a look. Look back at my playlist to see my thinking of the whole project. I do try.

Steve.

https://youtu.be/BzfmUByLrIU

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Ensure that the centreline of the wheel is still over the original line of the hub bearings.

Wheel spacers can offset this so that one bearing is more heavily loaded than the other, shortening its life.

Howard

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Hughs tale back in November is NO surprise I had the same thing, An Austin K9 military vehicle and a load of MG B spares- stolen I knew who was responsible but the police said it was a civil matter – K9 gone ! Noel.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Now that’s interesting, theft a civil matter and ignored by the police? BUT they will get involved if you catch and break the perps fingers.

Regards  Ian.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

That’s how it is now. Usually give you a crime No for your Insurance & thats it . Terrible state of affairs.

Steve.

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