Bagheera on to galv Murena chassis

[alimorg]

HI All fairly new to this matra stuff so please dont mock:
Is it possible to build up a bagheera on a murena galvanised chassis?

[Matra_Hans]

Hi
The Bagheera and the Murena chassis are very different with different dimensions and shapes in many places, different rear suspension too.
So: No you cannot bolt a Bagheera body on to a Murena chassis.
But if you try to carryout the “body swap� you will be spoiling two interesting sports cars in one go. Instead think of restoring the Bagheera chassis and having it galvanized.
However everything depends on your skills, there are Murenas around with body kits, which makes them look like a BMW M1 or a Ferrari.

regards Hans

[alimorg]

Ok that answers that then, where do you go to get a whole chassis galvanised?
Cheers
Al

[Will Falconer]

You can't (hot dip) galvanise a Bagheera chassis. The Murena chassis was designed to be dipped in the very hot galvanising bath without distorting, but the Bagheera wasn't...

But strip a Bagheera down to a bare chassis and you could at least fill the rust holes and spray it thoroughly with rust-proofing primer.

[Matra_Hans]

I know that there are many difficulties in galvanizing a car chassis but it has been done. Check this: http://www.matra-bagheera.com/Plan/Resto/Galvanising/galvanising.html

At this year’s international Matra gathering in Germany I saw two Bagheera II build on galvanized chassis (the two cars had the same owner) The two Bagheera chassis was galvanized by Matra as a test before starting the Murena production. The two Bagheera chassis were later sold as spare parts.
I had my cooling water pipes for the Murena galvanized last year, when I collected the pipes I asked the workshop manager if he would undertake the galvanizing of a complete chassis, but he would be very reluctant to perform that task due to the risk of things going wrong.
Hans

[jester1592]

You could also try to find a manufacturer of cable tray in your area. They will employ a hot dip process either on site or use an outside contractor quite locally. Cable tray is usually 1.5mm to 2.5mm thick, so the manufacturers should be able to assess the likely risk of chassis distortion during the dipping process.

The other factor to think of is that it will be imperative to ensure that the chassis is completely free from rust, otherwise it will be sealed in by the galvanising prosess - and that will be really bad.

[Will Falconer]

I stand corrected!

 

[Anders Dinsen]

It appears that a Bagheera rebuilt on one of the rebuilt chassis is offered for sale at eBay - though some may find the price a bit on the high side:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4643153144

- Anders

[Spyros]

As Matra-Hans pointed out on my web site, it's possible to hot dip a Bagheera chassis provide some adaptation are made.

My chassis is not distorted and other people did the same here in Belgium.
I was not the first one to try, nor the last one.

Actually the first were Matra. They developped the technique by using about 10 Bagheera chassis ...