Chimaera Boot Lid Hinge Modification
Designed for early Chimaeras up until around late 1998 with the earlier style of boot hinge with restricted opening height.
After experimenting with different types of hinges, all requiring different amounts of work to incorporate into the Chimaera's boot aperture, the current favourite uses a pair of Mazda MX5 boot hinges (lightly modified - details and measurements shown in the gallery) each with a small gas strut. These hinges are easily sourced and cheap to buy from online breakers.
The boot aperture requires modifying by grafting in two new rear corner sections which are deeper and specifically moulded to accommodate the Mazda hinges.
The good news is that with care and patience, these new bodywork sections can be carefully glassed in position, prepared and painted without having to paint the outer wings - the entire work can be kept within the confines of the boot aperture and the amount of paintwork needed kept to a minimum.
After glassing in the new sections, drain holes can be drilled towards the rear corners, and an additional drain attachment bonded underneath the hole to divert water through a flexible pipe routed behind the fuel tank to the underside of the car through existing holes in the boot floor cavity.
Stainless steel sandwich plates are used to allow the Mazda hinges to mate up to the underside of the TVR boot lid.
The adapter plates have two holes which correspond to the existing bolt holes for the old hinges, and two protruding welded-in threaded studs - which align with the position of the holes in the Mazda hinges, allowing the boot lid to securely bolt straight to the new hinges.
Some adjustment may be needed, either by addding spacing washers where the hinges are bolted to the new aperture, or by moving the boot lid and sandwich plates in their elongated holes, but with a little trial and error it's possible to get a lovely flush panel fit, and without the boot lid sitting proud at the drivers side as it would with the previous single long gas strut on the offside.
Similar to the later TVR factory boot hinge set up, these MX5 hinges allow the boot lid to open almost vertically which is a godsend for stowing the targa panel.
The hinges have a cantilever action which moves the rear edge of the boot lid away from the rear window as it rises, and allows the boot lid to open fully without fouling the rear soft top, or hardtop if fitted.
