Milestone Reached - Thanks to Forum Members

[Barry Cook]

Although I've been a member of this forum for almost three years this is the first post I've made. Up until now I've been soaking up the experience and knowledge of forum members. When I first started out on the restoration of a very rusty TR4a nearly three years ago I had an old SIP 135 Turbo welder that I was struggling to produce any decent welds from. I followed the threads on the forum and made a number of modifications/improvements to the welder and suddenly I could make some welds. An LED lamp fixed on my welding helmet and I could even see where I was welding. When the welding was done I then took the advice of the forum, bought 5l of Lechlar epoxy primer and the gun recommended in one of the threads. The results were as good as I could have hoped for.

A huge thank you to the forum. Looking forward now to doing something that doesn't involve welding and grinding.

Barry

 

[eSCHEn]

Tidy work Barry

 

[711jrp]

That looks good Barry......

 

[gordon stephenson]

Great work Barry. Real ground up restoration, Look forward to following your progress.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

^^ What the lads say, and keep the progress reports coming.

Oh, and welcome aboard - formally.

 

[Burdekin]

Very nice work Barry. She's going to be a fantastic old classic Triumph when you're done.

 

[awemawson]

Very nice. Have you got any 'before' pictures that you can post ?

 

[Wallace]

Welcome to the forum, superb work on the TR.

 

[Monkey Harris]

Nice looking work ,
I've been glad to help...lol...

 

[norsa]

very impressed Barry.

 

[adam1181]

There's a massive amount of knowledge on this forum that we all learn from that enables us to do projects like you've done.
Great work Barry, looks like you've put a lot of time and effort into it. I'm sure we'd all like to see it progress so keep us up to date please.

 

[norsa]

indeed, and dont be afraid to ask dumn questions. It could save you hours of grief.

 

[Norm]

Looks great Barry, don't leave it another three years until you post some more,

 

[Barry Cook]

Thanks guys. I have to confess that my welding was so poor at the start that I got some help. Didn't want to risk my welding on anything structural. The car is an original RHD model which has been owned by one family up until I bought it. I knew the sills, inner and outer, were shot when I bought it but I gave up on the floor pans too once I started chopping the rot out. I've taken the project on as a learning exercise. I used to restore cars as a hobby many years ago but MIGs for use at home weren't available then and when it came to the welding I had to get a mate with gas bottles to pop round. I've always wanted to be able to weld and this project has been a fun way of learning.
I didn't really take any full car photos when I first got the car as it was quickly wheeled into the garage. Attached are some photos which show the rot. Once the sills and floors had been done I sent the car off to a place in Preston that bake the body shell to remove all the paint, filler, grease etc etc. Its then dipped in phosphoric acid to kill the rust. Its a good process but it can leave you with a lot less car than you expect. There is a photo below which shows a myriad of pinholes in the floor above the boot. I had to make repair panels for that as I didn't want to replace the whole panel. I followed a link from this forum to one written by BMW Tony. It's amazing what you can do with a bolster, lump hammer and a couple of bits of angle iron. The repaired sections are shown in one of the photos in my first post.
The tub is going off to be stored on Saturday so that I have room to get on with the chassis. That's been repaired and primed and I am looking forward to getting the top coat on. The suspension bits have been powder coated and are now ready to go back on. Will post when I have a rolling chassis. (May be a while)
Thanks,
Barry