Broken after only 2 days !!!

[Terry Chapple]

Can anyone recommend a good garage for repairing my Westie on an Insurance claim.... I have only had the car 2 days and my daughter in law reversed a VW Transporter into the offside front wheel.. breaking off the bicycle wing, indicator stalk and managing to also snap a weld on the chassis.... very cheesed off at the moment but these things happen... looking for somewhere that will do a good repair

 

[Andy Banks]

Sorry to hear of the mishap  

You don't say where the weld has snapped, can you describe or post a pic...?

There will be folks on here who will advise if it's wise to get a jig fix or a simple weld it back as it was. If it's on insurance, you might have to consider getting the factory to do it as for peace of mind, you'd want it welded back on a jig if that is the recommendation. Otherwise you'd want someone local who does a first rate welding job, your local area folks could help there.

[Terry Chapple]

Thanks Andy I have attached a pic of the broken weld.. it is on the chassis where the upright tube that the top wishbone is mounted and yes I think it would benefit from goid g on a jig as I can't really tell if it is twisted at all

[neptune]

 It's really unusual for a weld to break so cleanly like that, the tube would usually deform before the weld breaks. How old is the car? 

[NigelO]

Are you sure the minor bump did that? The edges look quite dirty, as though it has been split for some time

Either way, welds shouldn’t split like that - the weld should be stronger than the surrounding metal - might be worth having it check out properly

[1960dave]

That weld has been broken for a while and looks like it was very rusty around there at some point.

[CraigHew]

However, if the claim is going through the insurance and all family members will not fall out over it, I'd get the weld, and other damage, repaired by the Westfield factory.

Edit: just noticed your avatar says Southampton.  That may make the factory return more tricky....

[Terry Chapple]

Thanks guys.... the break of the weld definitely happened with the bump and I agree it is an unusual break... I can only assume that this was already a weak spot... I also need to get the steering rack checked out... there won't be any family fall out, these things happen and my daughter in law was driving one of my company vans so it will go through insurance OK.. just hoping I can get it back on the road soon. The car is 1998 by the way.

[CosKev]

The bump might have moved that and made it visible,but no way is that a recent crack/break!

It's been cracked around that weld for ages looking at the colour of the metal in the cracked area.

[Rednop1]

get that chassis checked !

that all looks wrong to me that tube shouldnt crack like that.

and if that is cracked like that its bound to have bent and moved the other tubes above 

[Rednop1]

i've looked at your other posts 

you have a seight?

check your top engine bay chassis rails see if they are cracked due to the extra weight of the engine and torque  they normally crack and this could have  weakened the chassis allowing this tube to move like this  

[6carjon]

Hi Terry

Very sorry to hear of your incident. The Westfield factory is the obvious and probably best place to go. You could try a local TVR specialist such as Southways automotive in Fareham,. They do chassis restorations and as tvr are built in a similar way will have the right skills and suppliers if they are interested in this work. They can obviously work on the engine too.

My local TVR dealer looks after mine as long as I tell him where the bits come from or source them myself.

Failing that a local classic car places will perhaps have fabrication skills to help you.

As rednop (Ash) said it would be wise to check the top of the chassis as he describes for other cracks they could have contributed to the failure. 

The steering rack is mk2 escort if you need a new one.  Most choose a quick rack if replacing it with 2.4 or less turns to lock.

Cheers Jon 

[Rory's Dad]

Don't want to be alarmist but weren't some home built v8s a bit suspect due to the weight and power of the motor?? You perhaps need to check... 

[Terry Chapple]

Many thanks to all ... I have carried out further checks and Found that the top rails are also cracked... I have decided to send the car back to the factory where a full and thorough check can be made and any necessary repairs carried out.

[CraigHew]

27 minutes ago, Terry Chapple said:

Many thanks to all ... I have carried out further checks and Found that the top rails are also cracked... I have decided to send the car back to the factory where a full and thorough check can be made and any necessary repairs carried out.

Good call...