The bulkhead repair panel has now been fitted. A blanking plate for the hole left by the brake/clutch reservoir bracket on the other side will be fitted. The original reservoir bracket has been moved to the NS of the bulkhead for the right hand drive conversion.
Note how the bulkhead fits correctly to the repaired inner sill now.
Reassembling the front suspension has revealed an issue with the front top wishbones. The wishbones are supposed to have a spacer to prevent crushing when the ball joint is tightened but it appears a previous owner has missed this. This has deformed the wishbones which have now been replaced as per picture below.
Progress on the Body and chassis has been marching along but as with any project, if you start cutting away exterior body panels, you start uncovering 50 years worth of rot. My body isn’t actually in too bad shape but there was still some work to complete.
The NS bulkhead has been previously had accident damage badly repaired so the NS wing, inner wing, damaged bulkhead area and battery box has been removed. Along with the damaged suspension, this was the actual cause of the body being misaligned on the chassis and it a relief that the cause has now been properly identified and repaired.
This is the repair panel for the bulkhead and the new battery box which will be welded in once all of the other minor repairs (see below) have been completed.
This is the NS inner sill which has rotten away at the end. It has now been repaired.
Some more updates have come through from Watermill Carriage Company. The main bulk of the work on the car has centred around the engine rebuild and the body, particularly around the front offside inner wings and bulkhead.
As mentioned in a previous post, the engine block was in reasonable condition. The images below show that the lips that the piston liners sit on are in remarkably good condition. There was very little residue in the cylinder walls which are prone to blocking from silt/rust etc.
The head has been rebuilt completely. It has new valves, valve guides and valve seats and has been converted to run on unleaded petrol. The head has been refaced – the marks shown on the bottom of the head are paint that will be taken off with a razor blade before fitting.
The bottom end of the engine has now been reassembled with a reconditioned crank (20 thou oversize), cam, followers, timing chain, oil pump etc. The valve gear was apparently in good working order so has been reused.
The ring gear and pinion has been replaced due to the damage from the incorrect starter. You can also see the new 87mm pistons and liners that have been fitted which will give an overall size of 2138cc which was one of the options available to buyers when the car was purchased new.
Stuart from Watermill Carriage Co contacted me today to confirm the new wiring loom had arrived with him. He also sent some photos of progress on some of the chassis work. Some of the body mounts were twisted resulting in the issues with the body sitting straight (not to mention 12 of the 17 bolts that hold it down were missing). All of the broken body mounts under the floor have been replaced and the body is being bolted down today with the correct rubbers in place. The lower inner wishbone mounts was bent so this has been unpicked from the chassis, straightened and re-welded as was another body mount at the front of the car. The damaged front of the chassis rail has been replaced. It all looks a bit grim underneath at the moment as underseal has been removed to allow the chassis and body to be welded. All of this will be repainted/undersealed as required.
The new wiring loom has been ordered today so that’s another tick off the list. I’ve chosen to go with a with a braided cloth one rather than a plastic covering. Many post 60K cars still had fabric looms and indeed, my car currently has a fabric loom fitted.
This gallery contains 10 photos.
I’ve bought a few parts from sellers on Ebay but none have been in quite such nice condition as those from the Ebay seller TR2and3bits. I’ve purchased three items from him recently and to say I’ve been pleased with them … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
My car should be fitted with an overdrive gearbox (hence the O at the end of the chassis number). However, at some point a previous owner has fitted a standard gearbox, probably following a failure of the original one. So … Continue reading
This gallery contains 19 photos.
Watermill Carriage have begun taking the car apart in earnest. First to come out has been the engine and gearbox. The transmission tunnel has also been removed along with the dashboard, steering column, interior and associated wiring. The off side … Continue reading
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted and there’s a very simple reason for this. In October, I had to refresh the bottom end of the engine. When the timing was advanced (to where it should have been) it caused more pressure on the bottom end and it started knocking. To say I was gutted was something of an understatement.
So Southern Triumph replaced the big ends, centre mains and thrust washers where access was possible without removing the crank. This has fixed the knocking and in fact the car runs better now. But I had lost the love for the car and I drove it back from Southern Triumph and put it away in my garage. Continue reading
1959 Triumph TR3A 