Project: SlickDizzy destroys his TR6! (56k no-no)

Began to strip the interior and have a look at the inner workings of my TR6 today in preparation for some rolled-on paint awesomeness.

Pics: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v126/SlickDizzy/TR6/ (I'm just posting highlights)

First things first - whoever last had their hands on this car is a dumbass. The non-original seats were crappily bolted in through the floor pan, with the driver's seat held down by nothing more than some thick sheetmetal screws through the floor (!!!) and the seatbelts were mounted through the floor at different points on each side. More sheetmetal screws were used to keep the carpet down...etc etc. The pictures describe it pretty well.

I tried to pull the fenders; the driver's side mostly came off, though it is bondo'ed to the front end of the car. The passenger side is a little more difficult, as the bottom part in front of the door is held on with some hastily-bent sheetmetal and - you guessed it - more sheetmetal screws. I was also really happy with the mirror mounting job, they had the courtesy to drill 3 more holes than what was needed for the crappy JC Whitney chrome-plastic E36 M3.

Also, when pulling the wheels, I noticed that they were actually 4x108 Mustang wheels - precariously drilled out to fit my 4x114.3 TR6. They are going in the trash.

My awesome garage.

These held the driver's seat to the floor.

Interior mostly out.

Some fine body work there, Bob!

Driver's side is much better.

Well, sort of....

Apparently this is how many holes you need for 3 mirror screws.

Rear tube shock conversion has been installed with surprising care - oh, wait, is that a spring expander?

More to come tomorrow.

Uh, it looks like your title is wrong....

it should be "SlickDizzy restores his destroyed TR6 56k (no no)"

Honestly, the first clue for me would have been the cheap pep-boys steering wheel. At least use eBay and pick up a more period correct version of a cheap Grant wheel. The rest is just fuel for the fire.

I figure if anyone can make it look even worse, it's me Lord knows I'll be POR-15's biggest customer in the coming month, though. I'm not quite sure if I want to touch the body rot behind the fenders; the driver's side is passable but I can't imagine how bad the box is behind the passenger side.

Unbelievably, it looks like some jackass tried to lift the car where the fender bolts to the body tub on the pass. side, which makes things even easier.

Damn - while you're definitely pointing out some issues - the before pics really don't look bad -

I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to roll a car that looked that good.

Holy basket-case, Batman!

Good luck, dude. I'm not sure if I'd have the patience to deal with all that sheet metal crap. I can deal with berkeleyed-up wiring, but not that.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Damn - while you're definitely pointing out some issues - the before pics really don't look bad - I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to roll a car that looked that good.

Unfortunately, the paint is horrible up close. Runs and orange peel everywhere, flaking due to bad prep, chips turning into more rust, etc. If it looked as nice in person as it does in the pics, I'd be leaving it alone.

Good luck Slick! Gloves and long sleeves are your friend when dealing with POR-15. It likes to bond to skin.

As you've probably found out, good eye protection is a good thing when under a rusty car.

I'm glad the old Triumph found it's way into caring hands.

Go Slick! She really was hot from the opposite end of the bar at closing time, but look what you woke up with!

You have my sympathy. But on the bright side, at least they used sheetmetal screws for the sheetmetal repair on your car. The back end of my 62 LeMans was held together with wood screws. :(

If this winds up taking longer than you'd like feel free to borrow my MGB any time you need a British roadster fix...

God speed in knowing that you are doing the Lord's work, at least if you are a deciple of the Paved Church of the Holy Cone.

Man I want a TR7

those "sheet metal" screws that held the seat in are actually lag bolts designed to go into wood. kinda like on your patio deck.......really scary

Yeah, finding the stuff the DPO's screwed up is never any fun. The J-H had bad rockers, knew about it before I bought the car. When tearing into it to fix the rust I found that someone had stuffed newspapers and balls of aluminum foil in them before putting a single layer of fibreglass mat and resin over it and then putting carpet over that. Noice.

Jensenman wrote: When tearing into it to fix the rust I found that someone had stuffed newspapers and balls of aluminum foil in them before putting a single layer of fibreglass mat and resin over it and then putting carpet over that. Noice.

Note to self, good BABE fix

DILYSI Dave wrote: Damn - while you're definitely pointing out some issues - the before pics really don't look bad - I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to roll a car that looked that good.

I loved the look of those wheels on that car. Too bad they were hack-jobbed.

Jensenman wrote: Yeah, finding the stuff the DPO's screwed up is never any fun. The J-H had bad rockers, knew about it before I bought the car. When tearing into it to fix the rust I found that someone had stuffed newspapers and balls of aluminum foil in them before putting a single layer of fibreglass mat and resin over it and then putting carpet over that. Noice.

I know how that feels. I was knocking loose rust off my crusty Volvo 1800ES, and inside the rockers I found about a half dozen steel wool kitchen cleaning pads... you know... the kinda with the soap imbedded into them? At least they were new...

Dizzy.. I feel your pain... the second ES I bought looked great in pictures... but after picking it up I figured out it needs just as much body work as my crusty one... except the crusty car is at least straight.

I looked at a 635 where both rockers were replaced with aluminum gutters from a house. When we lifted it up it sagged noticably and if it was on the driveway apron the doors wouldn't open. Don't even get me started with what some people do with spray foam.

Wally wrote: Don't even get me started with what some people do with spray foam.

But I thought those guys were real men of genius?

I drove a 914 which had rocker cancer, if you sat in the car you couldn't open the doors. It felt a mite, er, flexy as well. The top popped like crazy over every bump, I'm surprised it didn't blow the windshield out.