Hi
I'm new to this group and have been reading the messages for the past few weeks
and have decided to take the plunge and write a few my self.
First, some background, I am in the middle of the restoration of a LBC (70, TR-6
to be exact). I bought the car in 1982 in Tennesse from a guy who had done a
very amateur restoration (ie. bondo and paint the rust). I drove the car for 2
years before reverse and first gear gave out. At this point I thought I would
fix the transmission and continue driving the car. However, upon removal of the
interior, I discovered rust in the floor boards and was immediately struck with
a case of what I now realize was "ship fitters disease". Needless to say the
car went into storage for the last 10 year.
A year ago after successfully completing my rehabilitation from this disease. I
began in ernest a complete ground up restoration of the car. After completely
tearing down the car and removing the tub from the frame I realized the rust was
much more prevalent than I had expected (so much for southern cars being
relatively rust free). Since then I have accomplished the following:
Frame and chassi- New rear trailing arm cross members, sandblasted and painted,
new urethane bushings,tie rod ends, ball joints etc.
Engine and transmission were both rebuilt. The engine only had 62K miles on it
which I believe was the case as it came back std, std on the pistons and crank.
In the process of completely rebuilding the engine I decided to incorporate the
performance upgrades listed in the "Kastner" book for street/comp.
-compression 10.5/1 via milling the head (I also had the head ported and
polished by a racing outfit), cam ground to a hotter profile, valves shaved
down at the point where the stem meets the disc to reduce resistence. Replaced
the original valve spings (40 lb) with competition springs (105 lb) to prevent
valve lash at high RPM. Conservative estimates are for this engine to produce
165 bhp at 6500 rpm.
Body
The body required a major effort due to rust and the previous owner being an
idiot (ie. the hood cable broke at some point so his solution was to take a
cutting torch to the inner front fender wells and cut out a chunk large enough
for him to reach inside and unbolt the hood hinges, real smart huh). I replaced
the following with new metal
Floors (both sides)
outer rocker panels
rear valance (outer)
front inner fender wells (see above)
front valance (the top of this had also been cut off with a tourch)
rear dog legs
rear quarter panels
In addition there was also some minor metal patching work that was also
required.
What I would like some input on are the following:
1) The car was originally BRG although the previous owner had repainted it
orange.
I am considering painting the car red (guards red; porsche) as green is not one
of my most favorite colors in a car. Given the fact that this car is never
going to be a 100 pt show car anyway I dont really feel beholden to keep it
original. What do you all think?
2) I plan to put a main wiring harness in the car, anybody have experience with
this? Do they come with all the fittings for the inst. bulbs, connectors etc.
What about a detailed wiring diagram? Are TRF, Moss, British Victoria etc all
the same quality or is one better. Price is not as big a concern as that the
harness is as close to original as possible (I don't want to spend 6 mo
modifiing it to get it to fit).
3) how about some information of interiors and tops. Carpet sets, dash and door
pads etc. Is the an inexspensive supplier that has good quality?
well thats about it Thanks for your help.
Kevin Strait strai001@maroon.tc.umn.edu
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