Well I had my copy of the book on order since August, and it finally arrived
on Friday. I am VERY disappointed.
Roger Williams seems to think a car or parts originating from California is
a cure all to all your restoration woes. I doubt the man has even been to
California, or that he knows that California is one of the largest states in
the US and in the upper half of CA is rains and snows just as much as many
other places in the eastern USA! He doesn't seem to make this
differentiation though, and he makes little mention that American cars tend
to have been through more minor and major accidents in their lifetime than
many European ones. I frankly got sick of his recommendations of finding a
California car and parts, it was uncalled for, poorly suggested, and very
excessive.
Secondly, the book was rushed into print. There are numerous references in
the book where Roger eludes to important elements being purposely unattended
to in this book, and will be included in a future edition. There is no
point to the first book then, other than to make the publisher even more
money. One such item include the Bosch fuel pump conversion for PI cars, I
feel this is very useful information for anyone restoring a PI car... and
there is nothing but a mention of it, and to purchase the next book for more
information.
The body section is unfortunately not detailed enough. Many problem areas
of the TR6 body are not addressed, such as the dimpling that can occur on
the front valance above the two center air holes. I don't think enough
information was devoted to paint prep, or even cleaning up after stripping
the paint. I have to disagree with his statement that removing rust with a
rotary took is just polishing the rust, I don't think so Roger. Those 3M
Roloc pads are great, they lift the rust right out of the crevices. And
what about Metal Prep? There are many ways to prepare your car for paint
other than sand blasting. Soda blasting was ignored as well, which is
probably the best way to remove the paint from your car. And there is NO
mention of cleaning the car out of after sand blasting... he is too focused
on getting the body in primer within four hours. Well that is all fine and
well, and the sooner you get your primer on the better... but not if there
is still stand in corners and in hidden places that are hard to get to!
'They'll just trap moisture for the future and create rust.
Anyway, as you can see I'm rather displeased with Roger's book. Anyone who
wishes to buy mine for $25 may do so.
I preferred the Practical Classic's TR6 Restoration more, it has better
photo detail and more photos... and the body and chassis sections are far
superior to what you will find in Roger's book. If anyone has Lindsay
Porter's MGB Restoration Guide, you will know what a quality restoration
book is like. Roger's books is not one of them.
Kai
|