In message <199407280529.AA24291@world.std.com> Henry Mendenhall writes:
>
> How do I find out what's "right" in doing restoration?
Step #1 Join the Triumph Registry of America (TRA). Tell them you want the
current issue of the news letter. It is a special on TR3 tools.
Step #2 Purchase the TRA concourse judging standard hand book. It will go a
long way to telling you what goes where and how its finished.
Step #3 Ask questions to this group. I generally have not had much luck with
the restoration questions I have asked this group, but some people have been
helpful. I am in the reassembly plase of a complete rebuild (TS75519L) & can
probably help you on some things.
Step #4 When you ask a question about what is correct on your TR3, provide your
commission number (black plate on right side of your fire wall. What is correct
can vary on many things by commission number.
>
> There's the issue of getting back to an accurate original state,
> and books seem to exist that address this problem -- at least
> to some extent. They'll tell you which mirrors are right, and
> what the legal interior/exterior paint combinations are.
Be careful with these books. The information may not be correct for your car.
Also, there are differences between the UK and US built cars other than the
location of the steering wheel. The factory did a good job of documenting TR2s
& small mouth 3s in the manuals. But do not rely on them for the large mouth
3s. The factory just sent out suppliments that gave part numbers & descriptions.
No pictures or drawings.
>
> But other questions seem to come up. They tend to be more general and
> procedural, like "besides the frame itself, which components should be
> painted with the standard undercarriage black coating?".
Frame, suspension, steering, That brace tube that goes between the front
suspension towers in front of the engine, engine, horns, radiator, those two
brace rods that go between the radiator & inner wings (fenders), the box that
the pedals, and master cylinders mount on, the support bracket for the wiper
motor, the shaft that goes across the firewall for the throttle, any brackets
that mount the steering colum, the bulkhead tubes that pass the heater lines
through the firewall (bulkhead), the angle bracket that clamps down the battery.
The center section of the wiper motor is crinkle black paint, as is the center
instrument pannel of later TR3As. The rest of the wiper motor assembly is left
plain.
The engine bay and the inside of the grill area should be the same colour as the
car. On an original TR3, the brass number plates above the battery, brake tubes
and fender (wing ) mounting bolts are painted the colour of the body. I lot of
people over restore the car by leaving these unpainted and polishing the brass
number plates. The people doing over restoration (unfortunatly myself included)
put on polished stainless steel brake lines and wing mounting bolts.
> to the seller about the partially restored TR3 I'm buying from him, I
> asked if he would have done the black coating on the outside of the
> transmission. He said "no, that wouldn't be the right thing to do".
> But at the same time, he was confident that the front-end steering
> components were appropriate candidates.)
Transmission is not painted, but you can paint the drive shaft and rear end
black.
> - Is it "right" to put chrome valve covers on the engine?
All but the early TR2 came with a chrome valve cover. Finned alloy were a
popular aftermarket addition that may have been put in by some dealers.
> - what paint stripping techniques are preferred by serious restorers?
I Don't know how serious I am (though sometimes I suspect I'm more so than is
good for me), But I prefer mechanical striping. I have never had the paint on
scrape off stuff work well for me. I keep hearing of people getting rust
bubbling up near seams a couple of years after dipping.
Sand blasting (#30 grit) seems to work well for cast parts, sheet metal edges
and reinforced sheet metal areas But if you do it on wide areas of sheet metal
that are not reinforced you run a strong risk of distorting the sheet metal.
For those long expances od sheet metal there are three good methods, 2 of which
require a compressor (If you are going to do a restoration get as large a
compressor as you can).
1. 3M makes a black corse expanded material wheel that fits on hand drills.
This works quite well as long as you do not have the edge in contact with the
metal rotating into an edge. You can rotate off and edge without problems, but
rotating into the edge will disentigrate the wheel quickly.
2. DA sander. This is what the body shops use, but it requires a really high
volume of air to work. More than most 110V compressors can handle.
3. Sand paper flapper wheels. These high speed wheels fit onto a high speed
turning tool that can be run by most 110V compressors. It seems to work almost
as well as the black 3M wheel, but being smaller dia, it can fit into areas that
the 3M one can not. They are also cheaper.
>
> Is it feasible to get a professional restorer to visit periodically,
> to act as a consultant?
Usually you go to them with your car & pay mega$$$$/hr.
Restoration is labor intensive. A lot of it, like the paint striping can be
done by you as fast as they can do it. I have found that most shops will take
shortcuts that I would not do myself. They are most likely to shortcut time
consuming parts that are not visable..at least for the first few years. Most
people can not afford to pay someone else to do it right.
On my car, i do the assembly & disassembly, all the sanding, and painting of
parts that are just not visable after reassembly. I rebuilt the front
suspension, and did the body work in the boot, cleaned and polished the
instruments, refinished the instrument pannel and things like that. I have had
a body shop do the panel replacemnt, welding, final body work and painting of
places that you can see. What you have done and do depends upon what you are
willing to tackle.
A secret is to break the whole projects into many tiny easily doable projects.
That way you are always dealing with something that is not overwhelming and you
can get a since of accomplishment when you complete a miniproject. If you look
at the whole thing it would be very easy to become completely overwhelmed and
ether put working on it off or just get discuraged and give up.
Best of luck & feel free to contact me if you feel that my input would be
helpful.
Take care & good luck
TeriAnn Wakeman Large format photographers look at the world
twakeman@apple.com upside down and backwards
LINK: TWAKEMAN
408-974-2344 TR3A - TS75519L,
MGBGT - GHD4U149572G, Land Rover 109 - 164000561
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