Chassis Swap Spitfire 4 1964

[68vitesse]

Realise car is MOT exempt, but is the advice never mention that a chassis has been changed still relevant?.

Regards

Paul

 

[Clive]

Yes, unless it is a brand new chassis with paperwork to support.

With anorak done up to my nose, the cars id is attached only to the chassis (I know the comm plate is on the body, and the chassis id plate is totally irrelevant to anything) so if swapping a chassis you ought to use the id from the replacement chassis. 

Of course, in the real world people keep quiet if they are sensible. Theoretically if on my car I had 2 cars, that I stripped, but after 2 years I can't remember which chassis came from which car as they are identical. Does it matter? Not really. 

Or use the donor chassis and replace the old chassis bit by bit.....

[Neil Clark]

I'm not anorak!  The integrity of the car from a safety point of view is far more important to me and I will be mentioning everything in the history file and in the restoration blog.

[Clive]

Neil, if the people at  DVLA find out they get all twitchy, and will want to give you a Q plate. So take care how you go about how you describe the work. 

Doesn't matter a jot to me or anybody sensible.

[Neil Clark]

Thank you Clive!

[Neil Clark]

By the way, just to be transparent the car is listed with the insurance industry as damaged repairable.

[Peter Truman]

I'm reading the latest posts with interest and slightly bemused, the chassis ID on my Vitesse & Spitfire  is located on the top of the front crossmember and cannot be seen with the engine in, and was for manufacture purposes only ie chassis supplied by a supplier to Triumph. So in my mind the chassis number is irrelevant.

Now for my real query were lucky we have a separate chassis to work from if you had a Midget ie a monoque and you had to replace the floors door sills spring mountings and the front bumper mountings would you (have) to advise anyone NO, even if you replaced parts of a Spit chassis would you advise anyone, NO, so why would you have to change the cars Comm No & ID data if you replaced the whole chassis? If you want to be honest Joe cut the chassis plate off the buggered chassis and put it on the replacement chassis job done all car ID numbers match and are correct!

When rebuilt in the 1990's our Spit had a replacement chassis as the original was bent front RH, the chap (friend) who did it still had the old chassis and when retiring his business last year and dumping a lot of old steel removed the ID from the old chassis and gave it to me, we keep it for prosperity and I might put it on the new chassis if I pull the engine?? there's no requirement to record the chassis No. here in Vic Aus only engine No and Comm No now VIN. stupidly older cars rego is primarily recorded by the Engine Number, and Comm is incidental, the older record card base (not computerized pre 84) is filed by make and engine number.

I'm not going to go near the rebodied TR6 with original chassis argument and the free rego issue, what your registration want and are informed I assume are two different things! Speaking as one across the world looking from the outside and is not knowledgeable of the regulations just thinking what would be easiest and being honest I'd seriously consider as the chassis and running gear are potentially 40 yrs old.!

Peter T

 

[Colin Lindsay]

7 minutes ago, Peter Truman said:

Now for my real query were lucky we have a separate chassis to work from if you had a Midget ie a monoque and you had to replace the floors door sills spring mountings and the front bumper mountings would you (have) to advise anyone NO, even if you replaced parts of a Spit chassis would you advise anyone, NO,

There are two dangers with this: one, the DVA ask on their forms for a replacement V5 has the vehicle been rebuilt, so you have to be careful as to your reply. If you say yes, they want proof that it's the same vehicle - photographs will usually do - but as with anything official if you give away too much and alert them they'll dig deeper and deeper, so say nothing. If you say no and they inspect the vehicle for any reason it can also cause bother. Remote, yes, but possible, so why risk it?

Two: I've seen so many people posting about their cars, and even selling them, where both posts and adverts claim: the car has received a replacement chassis from a donor vehicle... and you never know who might just be interested.

As the song says: whatever you say, say nothing.

 

 

[thescrapman]

13 hours ago, clive said:

Neil, if the people at  DVLA find out they get all twitchy, and will want to give you a Q plate. So take care how you go about how you describe the work. 

Doesn't matter a jot to me or anybody sensible.

And if the DVLA are having a bad day the car gets crushed as not having a definable identity.

What category damage was it! Did you get to keep log book and does it need an inspection to put back on road.

 

[Neil Clark]

Yes, the paperwork seems all in order post the accident.

[Neil Clark]

I'm watching YouTube videos of body off and reinstallation's and notice on some that there are packing washers pieces being placed between the body and the chassis on some, not on others.  My car was redone a few years ago and I see these are present.  Perhaps it's eyesight but I don't see anything similar on the parts diagrams.  Is there a reason why some cars don't have them?  Thanks

[NonMember]

There are supposed to be packing washers on most (but not all) of the body mountings. How many, or how thick, depends on production tolerances. Some people forget to re-fit them, and mostly seem to get away with it.

[Neil Clark]

Thanks Rob