BUYiNG TIPS

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4.0- and 4.3-litre cars can get by with a single cooling fan but larger capacity engines need a correctly working twin fan set-up, the wiring for which wasn’t properly resolved until 1998. Make sure any car you look has a proper switch and relay wired in per fan.

iN rUsT we TrUsT 2

Pre-1999 cars’ outriggers can rot. These help to attach the body to the chassis, strengthen crucial areas of the layout and carry the seatbelt mounting points. Weakness here, caused by the factory-applied powder coating degrading and rubbing down to the metal is an MoT failure – but specialists replace most affected tubes without taking the body off.

OUT THe car’s 3 elecTrics

Another oft-discussed TVR foible – but they’re nowhere near as bad as pub folklore would have you believe. Bad earths are common but more faults are caused by poor stereo and immobiliser installations spliced into the factory loom. Replacement door and boot solenoid ‘poppers’ are readily available and specialists can sort the most common problems cheaply. Water ingress can also affect the operation of switches, headlights and relays.

BOXiNG cleVer 4

The later the Chimaera, the better the drivetrain. Very early Chimaeras used the tough, but agricultural BL/Rover LT77; by 1994, the much smoother (and stronger) Borg-Warner T5 was the mainstay. Ditto the differential – pre-1997 cars used a GKN unit whose parts are difficult to track down nowadays, but later cars employed an Australian-built BTR limited-slip diff, which can be easily serviced and improved.