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New adventure begins in France!


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Hello everyone, and greetings from Burgundy in France. New member here, about to embark on a retirement adventure: the complete restoration of a 1969 TR6, which arrives tomorrow. I'm set up in the garage, but this will be all new to me. I'm a retired winemaker, and the only mechanical work I've ever done has been on tractors! That said, after much research, reading,  and searching, I bought an almost completely rust-free TR6 (I'll know more once the body comes off) with a CP engine and overdrive (and original factory hardtop!), and wanted to get thoughts from the much-more-experienced on my plan of attack. I plan initially to brace and remove the body with its fenders in place, and set it aside (after close inspection to ensure no nasty surprises). While I am capable of doing most everything else, I am not a metal shaper nor a body man: Any serious repairs that I discover will have to be done by a pro. Once the body's off, out will come the engine for an eventual complete rebuild (including the PI system being redone by N. Ferguson, with whom I'm in contact), and a head rebuild to permit unleaded. Once he chassis is stripped, if it's as good as I think it is, I'll clean, reinforce and repaint it; same with the suspension and drive parts (although I'm going to fit a limited-slip diff). When the frame and suspension mechanicals are sorted (How long will that take? How long's a piece of string?), I plan on reinstalling the body and only then sending it for paint without the engine and drive train, as I am changing the colour. So: what am I missing? What are the holes in my plan that are clear to those who've done this before?  What are the pitfalls I haven't thought about? Thanks for your replies to this first post; it won't be the last. I'll put some pictures up once my car arrives and is in the garage, Best to all, Blair

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Hello Blair,

Welcome to the forum and world of TR’s.

If the car indeed has little rust, I would not lift the body.

Ask a mire experienced TR owner to do a basic inspection, so you have a better understanding of what is needed.

There are a few members on this forum who are living in France too, maybe also near to you?
 

conversion to un-leaded is often not needed, so if you can get it running I would first drive and enjoy it! Then you also get a better feel of engine, drivetrain brakes and suspension.

Enjoy the TR!

Cheers,

Waldi

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Blair - welcome to TR ownership and the forum - both good choices!

I'm sure you will be getting plenty of help and advice from here - your enthusiasm comes across very obviously  which is great because thes projects inevitably take longer than expected and can can be quite taxing at times.

I'm sure others will be along with their views, but I would approach the rebuild slightly differently - you should strip everything down taking copious notes and photos and labelling everything. Bracing the bodyshell across the door openings and across the cockpit is very sensible, and if you can make them so they are adjustable and/or removable, better still  - make sure the door opening braces are on the inside of the cockpit so the doors can be flitted and gapped .Almost certainly you will find that more needs doing than you expected - even if the chassis is almost perfect, it will still need strengthening

Then get some strong supports and place them  under the chassis front and rear suspension pick up points at a convenient working level and make sure it is level across itself and also check for distortion and squareness and rectify as necessary. Do the repairs etc but don't prep /paint it at this stage.

Now mount the body on the chassis as this is your body jig - then carry out all the work to the bodyshell which will almost certainly involve welding, cutting and grinding in close proximity to your chassis, hence why you don't prep it before this stage.

Once bodyshell is done and gapped , then you can prep your chassis whilst shell is being painted - in between all of the above you can be dismantling and rebuilding all the mechanical components for refitting when chassis is prepped pending fitting of painted  bodyshell.

The hardest bit normally is the bodyshell so it often gets left till last whilst the easier and "nicer" bit is the chassis and all the running gear, so that usually gets done first but for the reasons above, I find that the wrong way round - damaging your newly painted and finished rolling chassis to do the bodyshell is soul destroying - don't ask me how I know, having learnt the hard way

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but you did ask!!!

Cheers  Rich

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Hello Blair

Welcome to the Forum, I am also a French based forumite who lives in the south west ( where all the best wine comes from :P) not far from Bordeaux if I can be of any help just let me know

cheers

Alan

Edited by Kiwifrog
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14 hours ago, AarhusTr6 said:

So you're going to live in Bordeaux and restore a TR6..... well that really sounds like a most wonderful retirement plan!!!!   

Actually, I've been living in Burgundy for the past almost 20 years, and retired from winemaking last year. Thus the long-awaited TR6 project! Thanks for posting from Aarhus; we just spent a fantastic two weeks exploring Denmark from top to bottom. I had only known Copenhagen before (I sold a lot of wine in Denmark).

Edited by BlairP
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If you need chassis repairs done, contact Colin at  www.ctmengineering.co.uk who is actually now in France and still doing all chassis work although he has some six months waitig list.

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Exciting news, but only take the body off if you need to, and if you are replacing panels and welding any sections in, leave the engine in until everything is aligned the weight adds to the frame torsion. Here are some pics of a recent body on resto at Enginuity. Its a joyous experience bringing one back to life !

Good luck !

3307B704-440E-4A99-9E8B-DF01976A7E77.jpeg

5C937B60-AB29-49A6-ABBF-5DF27E18ECE9_1_105_c.jpeg

BD3BDA00-191C-4F17-B986-78E08F17DBC2_1_105_c.jpeg

C2937749-FF13-4116-9FD2-6F39E1EF0C26.jpeg

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Enjoy the resto and retirement. If you need help just have to ask. Clem 

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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, and the comments and ideas that I have already found incredibly helpful. As promised, my TR6 arrived today, and I dove right in. She’s really early – engine no. CP26723HE – and the body appears to be in really great shape. I hope when I get her up on the lift that promise will carry through. Below are some pictures

On 8/30/2020 at 12:35 PM, Kiwifrog said:

Hello Blair

Welcome to the Forum, I am also a French based forumite who lives in the south west ( where all the best wine comes from :P) not far from Bordeaux if I can be of any help just let me know

cheers

Alan

. More to follow…

Regards to all, Blair

tr5.jpg

tr6.jpg

tr1.jpg

tr12.jpg

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Hi BlairP (sorry I can't find your first name) 

I embarked on a TR6 restoration when I retired 16 years ago, unfortunately the bodytub of my project disintegrated and I had to buy one of the last heritage body shells fortunately most of the original body panels, doors, boot lid bonnet etc live on in other people's projects.

Below you will find the pictures of my restoration which may help you. May I suggest you try and buy a copy of Roger Williams book 'Restoring Triumph TR5/250 and TR6' also a copy of the Triumph TR6 Repair Operation Manual (the later can be downloaded from the Web) Also you will find the Moss Europe and Rimmer Bros spare parts catalogues very useful (free from them). I spent a lifetime in electronics and had company car for most of my working life so knew very little when I started to restore but my local TR Register Group and the forum provided immense help and if you can read you can do anything or at least find someone who can!

Good luck, enjoy it, if I can be of help don't hesitate to ask. 

Bill

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12 hours ago, John L said:

Looks OK as is to me, I would run it for now and see what's really needs doing, and then set about it in the winter months,

John

Hi John, unfortunately it doesn't run (problem with the PI system, which is coming off and going to a UK specialist to be rebuilt). I did a dry compression test as well, and while not horrible, it was a bit uneven, so I'm going to redo the head - and while it's off the rest of the engine - before going further. It's not ideal: I would have liked to run it a bit. But I'm pretty much decided on this course of action. Best, Blair 

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On 8/30/2020 at 6:25 PM, BlairP said:

Hi Alan, and thanks for posting. To be honest, I didn't even know they made wine where you live. Is it any good (wink, wink)?

Some of it is ok :rolleyes::D

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Hi Blair, welcome to the world of TRs and the forum. If you join the TR Register, http://www.tr-register.co.uk/why-join, there are many benefits, not least of which is the wealth of technical information available to you that has been collected over the years. I can also recommend joining the Triumph Club de France, https://www.triumph-club-de-france.fr/ which has an active local group in Burgundy. I am a TCF member and have joined in with many of their local and national events, which bizarrely feature drinking wine on frequent occasions. 

Mick

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On 8/30/2020 at 6:24 PM, BlairP said:

Actually, I've been living in Burgundy for the past almost 20 years, and retired from winemaking last year. Thus the long-awaited TR6 project! Thanks for posting from Aarhus; we just spent a fantastic two weeks exploring Denmark from top to bottom. I had only known Copenhagen before (I sold a lot of wine in Denmark).

Next time your cruisin' through Jutland PM me and we have a tyre kick and a cuppa!

Richard

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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings all. I'm making progress with the strip-down; gonna attack the dash tomorrow. I have a question, which I have not been able bro answer for myself via research. The number on the commission plate of my LHD car (riveted to the RF wheel arch from the driver's seat) appears to be CP26553L - it's quite hard to read. The engine number is CP26723HE (not hard to read). Does this mean that I don't have a matching-numbers car?

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Hi Blair,

Your TR6 does have matching numbers and your commission number is indeed 1CP26553LP which is a TR6 that was assembled in the Belgium factory at Malines. There were 3600 TR6 assembled there, all PI,  and they are quite well documented in the Belgium Customs Records held by the British Motor Museum. The customs ledgers document the commission number its matching engine number, the date the CKD was despatched from the factory in the UK, the date the car was completed and its destination. In the case of your TR6 it was initially despatched from Malines when completed to a Dealer in Belgium.  I haven't recorded the date of despatch albeit I do have a date of the 30th June 1969 which is when the CKD kit left the UK factory to Malines.  

Best of luck with the resto, you look you have a very good condition TR6 as its basis.

Derek

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13 hours ago, saffrontr said:

Hi Blair,

Your TR6 does have matching numbers and your commission number is indeed 1CP26553LP which is a TR6 that was assembled in the Belgium factory at Malines. There were 3600 TR6 assembled there, all PI,  and they are quite well documented in the Belgium Customs Records held by the British Motor Museum. The customs ledgers document the commission number its matching engine number, the date the CKD was despatched from the factory in the UK, the date the car was completed and its destination. In the case of your TR6 it was initially despatched from Malines when completed to a Dealer in Belgium.  I haven't recorded the date of despatch albeit I do have a date of the 30th June 1969 which is when the CKD kit left the UK factory to Malines.  

Best of luck with the resto, you look you have a very good condition TR6 as its basis.

Derek

Wow, thank you so much for this Derek. It's really helpful and informative. Where did you find this information? And I had no idea that not all TR6s were built in the UK. The seller told me mine was a French car from origin, but goodness! I had no idea! I really appreciate it.

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Hi Blair,

The information comes for the British Motor Museum who hold all of the original build and sales records for the TR6. As I noted the records for the TR6 assembled at the Belgium factory are limited to that from the Customs Ledgers. There are rumours that the records have survived but so far nothing has surfaced so details such as original colour and any options fitted just aren't available.  The British Motor Museum will supply a Heritage certificate at a cost however it is limited to what I have noted earlier. Your TR6 could well have sent to France however the ledgers do say internally to Belgium at least initially.

Details about the Heritage certificates can be found on the following weblink.

https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/archive/heritage-certificates .    

I have attached an abstract from a Belgium assembled TR6 which shows the level of information provided which is very limited unfortunately. The certificates themselves are embossed and nice to have so not as plain as my abstract.  

Derek

Heritage Cert 1CP52037LP.jpg

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