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Hi All

Kind of a really stupid question.

Did all TR6's have Kidney panels?

The reason i ask is as you can see from the pic of my interior when i aquired the car it was, well in a bit of a state.

Now i'm putting it all back together i seem to be missing them. So either i've lost them, unlikely. They were a missing item when i bought the car, surprising as pretty much everthing else was there even if it was decrepit. Some cars never thad them, no mention so i doubt it.

My money is on number two but i wanted to check.

Also back when new were the speakers ever fitted in the panels as is an option for new panels now.

Cheers   keithInterior.thumb.jpg.5b37a7abba87264d0d185ef74c13dc57.jpg

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Another question, the heater outlet, is there somewhere that it exits when the panels are in place? 

Gareth

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  • 2 months later...

I have just made a pair of kidney panels and fitted them. When I bought my TR6 in 1994 the kidney panels had long been thrown away, so I had to start from scratch.  Two important issues to get right:- 1) the front is held in place by a metal bracket rivetted onto the kidney panel that slips behind the H frame. 2) for the kidney panel itself, make a cardboard template and trial fit in place (left and right will be different shapes) to best fit the transmission tunnel, carpet arrangements, heater hoses and the bird's nest of wiring etc. that will be particular to your car.  Once you have the right shape, commit it to thin flexible plywood, rivet on the front clips, and cover with a 5 mm foam padding and a suitable vinyl cloth. I held the far ends of the panels in place with a flexible cord fixed to the rear of the panels and secured onto the hose clips on the  conveniently positioned heater hoses.

The heater hoses terminate at the dashboard eyeballs. Fix the cord out of sight across the transmission tunnel to secure the kidney panel in place.

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5 hours ago, Andrew Deacon said:

I have just made a pair of kidney panels and fitted them. When I bought my TR6 in 1994 the kidney panels had long been thrown away, so I had to start from scratch.  Two important issues to get right:- 1) the front is held in place by a metal bracket rivetted onto the kidney panel that slips behind the H frame. 2) for the kidney panel itself, make a cardboard template and trial fit in place (left and right will be different shapes) to best fit the transmission tunnel, carpet arrangements, heater hoses and the bird's nest of wiring etc. that will be particular to your car.  Once you have the right shape, commit it to thin flexible plywood, rivet on the front clips, and cover with a 5 mm foam padding and a suitable vinyl cloth. I held the far ends of the panels in place with a flexible cord fixed to the rear of the panels and secured onto the hose clips on the  conveniently positioned heater hoses.

The heater hoses terminate at the dashboard eyeballs. Fix the cord out of sight across the transmission tunnel to secure the kidney panel in place.

Hi Keith

As far as securing the far end of the Kidney panels? If you still have the cardboard gearbox cover you might still find the 2 black m/s fixings pop riveted on to the cardboard at the end that goes up against the bulk head. 2  chrome self tappers/ 2 dished washers are used to secure the ends of the kidney panels to these fixings.

Bruce.

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On 6/8/2020 at 5:11 PM, Keith66 said:

Hi All

Kind of a really stupid question.

Did all TR6's have Kidney panels?

The reason i ask is as you can see from the pic of my interior when i aquired the car it was, well in a bit of a state.

Now i'm putting it all back together i seem to be missing them. So either i've lost them, unlikely. They were a missing item when i bought the car, surprising as pretty much everthing else was there even if it was decrepit. Some cars never thad them, no mention so i doubt it.

My money is on number two but i wanted to check.

Also back when new were the speakers ever fitted in the panels as is an option for new panels now.

Cheers   keithInterior.thumb.jpg.5b37a7abba87264d0d185ef74c13dc57.jpg

I believe that they were for  late USA market cars as dealers in the US fitted Radio/ Cassettes to most cars that they sold? But Graham will give us a definite answer on that one? Smiths did a speaker kit for the rear trim panel, as I did have one of those.

Bruce.

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On 6/9/2020 at 8:53 AM, Mk2 Chopper said:

Another question, the heater outlet, is there somewhere that it exits when the panels are in place? 

Gareth

There is an upswept part of the lower edge that leaves an opening for or the heater air. You can see it in the Danielson pics.

Ed

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23 minutes ago, ed_h said:

There is an upswept part of the lower edge that leaves an opening for or the heater air. You can see it in the Danielson pics.

Ed

Thanks Ed, a fellow club member gave me a used set and I can see that upswept section. 

Gareth 

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I made a set of these other week out of 4mm hardboard, using the original vinyl and foam.  Proceeded to snap them both in half upon installation.  Oh, well...fun project, and they are still more secure than the ones I took off.

Graham.

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3 hours ago, Graham J said:

I made a set of these other week out of 4mm hardboard, using the original vinyl and foam.  Proceeded to snap them both in half upon installation.  Oh, well...fun project, and they are still more secure than the ones I took off.

Graham.

I used marine 3 ply- I figure if they can build boats with it , it must be good.

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+1 for marine ply

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I replaced my speaker kidney panels described in Sept 2018. All home made with ply and foam and vinyl resourced locally. The post is complete with photos. Unfortunately I cannot access the post on my menu. If you’re able to find it, I’m sure you’ll find it very useful. Indeed a spare piece of vinyl with the template drawn on it, I posted to a TR member in Australia! See photo. PS I did respray the speaker grills as well. 

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Hi Kieth66

My first TR6 was only about 3 years old when I owned it, even back then the kidney panels were broken, and as a carpenter I re made them.

I wish bean counters did not have a say in what materials etc go into building a car, had these panels been made from 3mm or 4mm ply, and not 3mm hardboard most would have survived.

Fast forward nearly 45 years I purchased another TR6, again with broken kidney panels, because my TR6 is not a million pound Ferrari I again decided to make 4mm ply kidney panels, I was going to use the old Blue Peter trick and cover them with black sticky backed plastic but it would not stick, I think I should have used Scotch primer first.

You will see from my photos I painted them black, I also repainted my old glove box inside and outside black and it looks as good as new.

I am very happy with my new kidney panels, and before any one complains about my screws showing that attach the original metal brackets, again it is not a million pound Ferrari and all my screws are inline. :)

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20 hours ago, mhossack said:

Hi Kieth66

My first TR6 was only about 3 years old when I owned it, even back then the kidney panels were broken, and as a carpenter I re made them.

I wish bean counters did not have a say in what materials etc go into building a car, had these panels been made from 3mm or 4mm ply, and not 3mm hardboard most would have survived.

Fast forward nearly 45 years I purchased another TR6, again with broken kidney panels, because my TR6 is not a million pound Ferrari I again decided to make 4mm ply kidney panels, I was going to use the old Blue Peter trick and cover them with black sticky backed plastic but it would not stick, I think I should have used Scotch primer first.

You will see from my photos I painted them black, I also repainted my old glove box inside and outside black and it looks as good as new.

I am very happy with my new kidney panels, and before any one complains about my screws showing that attach the original metal brackets, again it is not a million pound Ferrari and all my screws are inline. :)

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That is a far better job than the originals! The mistake that BL made was was to use hard board and not plywood but your design is even better than the original?  You have also solved the problem of support for the speakers!  As far as the screws go you can always have them chemie blacked. Lastly is that a LED light for the foot well?

 

Bruce

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47 minutes ago, glasgow4a said:

Interested in where you purchased marine ply in that thickness as i had no luck obtaining it here and had to use hardboard with a couple of coats of clear varnish for protection.

Hi!

Go down to your local boat building yard as they will have plenty of off cuts as I have done?

Bruce.

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Hi astontr6 I am going to update my post soon but a little busy.

Does astontr6 mean you also have an Aston Martin?

Now for the reason for my post.

Hi glasgow4a you don’t necessarily need Marine, all Marine ply is a very expensive ply that has no voids in manufacture so water cannot ingress, necessary when boat building.

Standard WPB ply (waterproof boil proof) is more than good enough, but saying that Triumphs do leak a lot :)

All I would do is go around your local industrial estate and look for small joinery/building firms and someone will have some off cuts, before I retired I used ply for my drawer bottoms and cabinet backs, good luck.

Edited by mhossack
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi astontr6

You are correct they are 12v LED kitchen/bedroom canopy lights, I tried to take a photo with them on but I thought they were a little too bright, so I used my battery cut off switch to turn them off.

I purchased my ex 1975 USA TR6 about 3 years rebuilt by a non TR specialist and some of his work showed that.

My wiring loom had been butchered over 50 bullet connectors, wire ends just taped over, door switches and glove box light and switch missing, air vent ducting and outlets missing etc etc, I decided to clean up the car and fully rewire to a very high standard.

It is amazing how heavy those old speakers are, I am not into in-car entertainment so just kept what came with the car as they worked.  

I would like to know where the original interior light went, not sure what year CR series wiring diagram I am looking at, but it shows an interior light which seems only switched with the door switches.

I purchased an excellent Autosparks wiring loom, it came with an interior light the one I am asking about, not on a very long wire.

In my photo it looks very bright, in reality it is not, but because it was in the loom I used it, you can see I fitted a small metal plate and fitted the bulb holder.

You can see to the left a white light, light switch this comes on when the doors are open, and again when the doors are closed and you press to turn them on, very useful at night.

Just curious I am correct in thinking at some point an interior light was fitted behind the seats.

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Edited by mhossack
Missing word
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The red warning light on the right is a momentary button (switch), as you can see I have pressed it in with my key to turn it on, and the red light for an obvious reason.

This is a brake failure warning light hence me going for red, unfortunately pressing the momentary button only tells you the light is working and the circuit is working, you need either the front rear or complete brake failure to move the switch and turn it on.

I think it is wise of me not to test it.

Plus my new 8 blade fuse box no need for relays now.

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