For those of you who missed the earlier episodes, I have been doing a
complete rebuild of a Triumph TR3A (TS75519L) I say rebuild, because I am
not doing a true restoration.
I had rebuilt a couple of engines in the past, but I had never done any
body work, interior, or suspension work before. This was to be a learning
experience.
My original project goals:
1. replace the badly worn original interior.
2. rebuild the engine
3. rebuild the front suspension
4. Repaint the engine bay.
My assumption was that this was a four to six month job. The last Triumph
Travelers Sports Car Club run I went on with my TR3 was the 1988 Los Gatos,
California christmas parade. The last time she was photographed as a
running car was at the 1988 Triumphfest. I started my sprucing up project
in January 1989 in the hopes of having her back together by May or June to
be ready for the summer Triumph Travelers runs and the many British car
field meets
And the best made plans never seem to survive the moment of exicution....
The TR3 I purchased in 1986 was freshly painted, Chevy white with black
engine bay and boot. When I removed the interior, I discovered that she
was originally signal red. I also noticed a layer of fiberglass covered
the floor. I found a lot of rust covering the fuel tank. When I removed
the fuel tank, I discovered rust through holes and deep rust pits under it,
and fiberglass covering a rust hole on each side of the panel above the
petrol tank.
This is when I made the decision to remove all the paint to see what was
below this newish paint job. As it turns out, I owned the second most badly
rusted TR3 I have ever seen. And thus, the four to six month sprucing job
evolved into a nine year total rebuild.
Final project goals:
1. A new TR3A with every part new or in as new condition.
2. Exterior, interior, and boot to be as close to full concourse as I can
make them.
3. Engine bay, period hotrodded. The bay to look like a new stock TR3 that
has been spruced and has a hotrod engine.
The number three goal arose from two influences. I attend the Monterey
Historic races every year. Also during the 1988 Triumphest I spent some
time sitting in a hotel lobby chatting with Ken Gallanders. I walked away
with dreams of fast TR3s and his sales list.
Every panel was removed from the car and sanded down to bare metal. I had
to replace the bonnet, because it was a pre-TS60000 bonnet and didn't fit
properly. I replaced the boot lid, rear valance, both floors, inner and
outer sills because of severe rust through on all these panels. Both Doors
had a line of rust through holes at the bottom and 'U' shaped cracks around
each door hinge where the metal had fatigued to the point of failure. I
replaced both doors.
I used the front wing repair panels to replace the bottom foot of metal
behind the wheel on each front wing. The bottom foot of each dogleg behing
the door was replaced. Sections of the boot floor were cut out and new
metal was welded in. Lots of rust through holes and deep pits in the boot
floor were welded up. The battery tray was replaced. During this process,
my TR3A picked up the name "The Once and Future TR3"
The frame was in excellent condition. It was just repainted then
undercoated it.
Once the body work was completed, the car was primed and sealed, then
undercoated. The interior of the car, including the engine bay, spare tyre
compartment and boot were painted her factory original signal red. The
steering box went off to The Roadster Factory for a rebuild, and the rear
shocks went to Apple Hydrolics. The arms on the rear shocks didn't even
hold up their own weight when i removed them from the car. The radiator
went out for recoring. About a year before I started my project, I had a
new ring and pinion installed along with a freshly rebuilt TR4 overdrive
transmission. So I left those alone during the rebuild.
I knew the steering and front suspension had problems. The steering did
not return and the car seemed a bit unstable in curves. Some of the ball
joints were badly worn. The rubber bushings were identifiable as bits and
pices of rubber.
The front springs were of unequal length. One was evidently the taller
spring that was available as a replacment. But both sides had the aluminum
spacer. The specer was supposed to be removed when the longer spring was
installed. Both trunions were very badly worn with lots of wobble. One of
the arms on the right trunion was snapped off. I understood why the car
seemd a little quirky on curves. I also shuttered when I thought of the
times I slid the car around narrow mountain curves.
The front suspension went back together with new trunions, ball joints,
nylon bushings, competition coil springs and Spax Shocks.
{continued in part 2}
TeriAnn Wakeman For personal mail, please start subject line
Santa Cruz California with TW. I belong to 4 high volume mail lists
twakeman@scruznet.com and do not read a lot of threads..Thanks
|