[TR] Pain job for 1972 TR6

[Chad]

 I have never encountered what I would consider a "square" threaded bolt in almost 30 years of working on TR6's.  Maybe that is a descriptor I am unaware of.
Chad in Tulsa.
    On Monday, October 7, 2019, 02:58:58 PM CDT, Gene M <mclans at sbcglobal.net> wrote:  
 
  Over 40 years ago I was researching matching paint for my 70 TR6 after an accident (I still have it).  The car was painted white after someone had sprayed it with candy apple metallic red.  Stripping down paint on body panels, the original lacquer paint were red, dark green and yellow.  I had seen other white TR6's but my research at the paint supplier showed that white was not an original TR6 color.  The color I went with was Jaguar white.  
The shop that painted the car had problems with the paint at the seams between the panels cracked--they had tried some fillers to fill in gaps.  Turns out the panels pretty much just hang on the frame and flex independently because they are held on by "square threaded" bolts, which do not pull sheet metal panels together like modern sheet metal screws or fasteners.  Back then I was not able to locate these square threaded bolts from any source, including a local hardware store that had been around since the early 1900's.
The other thing I found out by bringing in a panel to that hardware store to get fasteners was that WW II veterans recognized that this came from a British car because the British would dip their metal parts for everything in vats of lacquer paint and air dry them since their weather would immediately rust everything.  That's why original TR panels, including every nook and cranny have the same color paint.  And if you scrape the color coat--no primer.
I went to a lot of "pick and pull" auto wreckers in the 70's trying to find body panels and these square threaded bolts were on all of them.  When I tried to connect panels with these original bolts, the bolts would not cinch the panels together tightly and would quickly fracture if I tried to torque them down.  If you find a panel where the bolt holes are deformed or you don't find paint inside the hole, it probably was put on after a replacement.
So a black engine compartment was probably sprayed over the original panels because the car is pieced together from panels that didn't have the same original color, or maybe it was sprayed with a high temp paint.
The biggest problem with lacquer dipped panels is eventually there will be lacquer check.  Spraying stuff on top can hide it for awhile, but eventually the checking goes through the new sealants and top coats (maybe there are new sealants that can prevent this that have been developed over the last 40 years, but I doubt it since all of the "solids" that used to be available as fillers in paint are gone, and those old ones would not stop the lacquer checking, just hide it for awhile.
Anyone remember the debate in the 60's on Ford with its enamel paint and orange peel problems, versus G.M. with its smooth lacquer finish which probably wouldn't start checking while you still owned the car.
All my info came way before the internet and I didn't look for my old notes when I was trying to keep my 70 TR6 original.  My research showed mine was pieced together and very little was original from the same car, and I never did find a TR6 in the boneyard that had all color matching panels when you pull panels apart and and look at the color of the seams.  
Anyone else come across these square threaded bolts?
Gene M.70 TR6Sacramento, CA

Anyone know if there are urethane paints that can be sprayed over lacquer and will <original post>  Hey Jeff. Well, a "paint job" is a very relative conversation. If the
engine bay is black then it's been repainted - someone correct me if I'm
wrong but Triumph painted the engine bay body color. 

 
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