Chimaera spring clean

I went to disinter the Chimaera at the weekend from my friends garage so that it could be MOT'd.

As it had not been run since November 2008 I disconnected the coil wires and turned over the engine until the oil pressure warning light extinguished and then re-connected the coil wires. On pressing the immobiliser "plipper" I noticed the fuel pump was not making it's ususal "buzzing" noise and sure enough the engine turned quickly, coughed a couple of times but would not fire.

Searching the excellent Pistonheads forum on the internet I applied the suggested remedies. I thumped the dash on the passenger side, in case it was the immobiliser relay, swapped the fuel pump relay with another relay in the loom and checked the fuel pump fuse was OK, but still no joy.

The relay is a 12V 30A Bosch part no. 0332014112 and used on Landrovers, but costs £27+ VAT from said dealers. The same relay from ADP the local Bosch factor is £5.86 inclusive of VAT, so it pays to shop around! However it wil ltake a couple of days to get here.

Thsi is a known TVR fault and hopefully a new relay will sort the issue. If not the fuel pump will have to be investigated. It is situated under the car near the diff and so the car will need to be jacked up to test it's operation with a multi-meter. I don't think power is getting to the pump at all, so a lot of head scratching could be in order. A new pump is £170 +VAT + delivery from TVR parts suppliers.

I had to cancel the MOT , which was a pain. The good news is that adding the Chimaera to my Tuscan insurance with Hagerty only cost about £50 per year and so I was really happy.