Menno van Rij Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Restoration Update Tub back from blasting Today I went to see the tub that has been returned from blasting. All covered up in some sort of red oxide primer, there it was, in the middle of the body shop. A bit of mixed feelings after carefully examining the car. At the front all is in perfect shape. Just a few hairlines (due to the age of the material, the owner of the body shop told me). LH and RH the edges of the sills look ‘crusty’, but the sills themselves look okay. Cutting out and making new parts will be enough. Nevertheless, the body shop-guys will take both sills of, and look for problems on the inside. After priming the inside of the sills, they are going to be re-attached. They don’t like the quality of ‘new sills’. Both floor pans are thin as paper. Some tiny pinpoint holes and rot on the front of the pans, where they meet the lower part of the bulkhead. Okay, so far so good… On the backside of the car, things look less promising… The rear apron was –as said before- filler central! Well, after blasting, the news is, that there are two (2!) aprons on top of each other!!. The original heavily dented and an other one, on top and attached with some patches of welding, not so dented!!! The car had a shunt on the RH backside and it shows inside. The boot floor has some waves in it, so has the RH wheel arch. But nothing that can’t be corrected. Just adding hours (money!) to the total… In all: 2 new floor pans, 1 new boot floor and a few patches on the front side of the sills. Don’t know about the wings though, as they are at the blasters’ workshop at the moment. Regards, Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Menno You look to be quite lucky with that shell as most of the original UK cars that come back from the blasters have considerably less of them remaining than yours!! Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nigel Lay Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Just to re-iterate what Stuart has said, I am amazed at the amount of metal you have left! A lot more of TS952 vanished 'under the gun' Nigel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Just to re-iterate what Stuart has said, I am amazed at the amount of metal you have left! A lot more of TS952 vanished 'under the gun'Nigel This shows how relative things are: I was (already) upset by looking at the horrors around the rear apron! The owner of the bodyshop told me that he had seen far worse TRs in his shop! The car was originally delivered in L.A. late 1959. That's all I know (according to het Heritage Certificate). When I bought the car, there was this document with a Washington State license plate number and an address of a guy in Seattle. I don't think that the Seattle climate is good to cars, so I guess that I'm lucky indeed. Regards, Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Menno, I'm curious to know what type of media did your blaster use on the tub? Gordon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vivdownunder Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Hi Menno, While your outer sills are off, can I suggest you take a really good look at the inner sills, as they are vital to body integrity. They rust from the inside, and thus become thin and weak without any obvious outward sign. When rebuilding my current TR3A, luckily a mate had a spare set of inner sills that I borrowed, and I found a local sheetmetal shop who made copies in heavy duty material. I then had them galvanised. These heavy duty sills cut body flexing around the doors, and virtually eliminated scuttle shake. You don't want to be finding that your inner sills rust through soon after you get your car finished, as you then have a big job ahead. Best regards, Viv. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted August 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Gordon, I don't know the exact name in English of the stuff that the bodyshop uses. I'll ask and I'll give you an answer asap. Viv, you are absolutely right! When installing the new floor pans, the guys at the bodyshop will remove the sills and check them. They told me that they will not use patterns or so-called NOS, because there's no real NOS and the fit is awful. They will make new sills themselves. Imho -and I'm not a qualified person- the RH sill needs replacing: I noticed that the sill is not straight and flat on the inside; as if rust is pushing the remaining tin outwards (mmm, English isn't easy when you want to tell something that should be on a photo to make it really clear...) Thank you both for your imput and I'll keep you all informed! Regards, Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 (edited) When I restored my TR3A from 1987 to 1990, It was January 1988 that I had all the tub and outher heavy parts sandblasted. Do not do this to body panels. Use some other media. Look at the photos of some of the steps in my restoration on the Montreal TR site http://www.rucompatible.com/triumphmtl/member_cars.htm#TR3 In the 5th photo, you can see the man doing the tub at minus 25 degrees C. The frame is in the foreground. Edited August 28, 2007 by Don Elliott Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T Rusty Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Menno: Hope this gets through. I'm on my way the garage right now, working on my TR3A. Haven't had time to read all but will mention that my "Meister" tacked in two new sills (from Moss I was told, but haven't verified it) and the new floors don't fit. When tacked to the sills there would be about one centimeter between the floor and the chassis. Am looking forward to catching up on your restoration as mine seems to be running parallel although as of last Friday mine was still in two parts...I'm down near Frankfurt. Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I also just obtained 2 inner/outer rockers and floor pans but from another source. While trial fitting to frame, I noticed the same gap between floor pan and frame as T Rusty noted. It seems that maybe all these parts come from the same manufacturer and different distributors. T Rusty, What did you come up with for a solution to the gap? I'm still having a coffee looking and thinking about it. Cost much less to think than to cut!! Gordon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I bought new inner sills from C & B in Richmond-on-Thames back in 1987. They were part of a £1500 order I had air shipped to Canada. About a year later, when it came time toi put them in, I found something that may be similar to the problem described above. On one inner sill the extending support that bolts to the out-rigger was MIG welded too low onto the inner wall of the box structure of the sill. On the sill for the other side one was ok but the other one was welded on too high. The curve of the floor pan at this edge is supposed to nest into the space provided . This would have left a space at the bottom of the floor. So I took my hand grinder and cut off the parts and re-MIG welded them back in the correct places. I did this in 1989 during my restoration. The floors are even and have been fine since then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwifrog Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I also just obtained 2 inner/outer rockers and floor pans but from another source. While trial fitting to frame, I noticed the same gap between floor pan and frame as T Rusty noted. It seems that maybe all these parts come from the same manufacturer and different distributors. T Rusty, What did you come up with for a solution to the gap? I'm still having a coffee looking and thinking about it. Cost much less to think than to cut!! Gordon Gordon, I believe the inner sills and floorpans are produced by Heritage in the UK no matter what supplier you use Cheers Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Every time I have fitted inner sills I have had to move these brackets so It usually pays to check the originals and then move the brackets to suit. I have complained but got the usual answer."No one has complained before"!!! Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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