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Triumph TR6 - Soda Blasting and intro...

Hi All,

New guy here...be gentle!

I've been reading the archives and enjoying the wealth of information here. Thanks for the help so far.

I recently started a resto on a 74.5 TR6 that had been sitting for 15 years. As expected, the roof rotted and the carpet held the rainwater, rotting the floor. The frame is fine, but the interior is shot. I've cobbled together a couple of web pages about my fun so far if anyone is interested...

http://www3.sympatico.ca/broph/TR6.html
http://www3.sympatico.ca/broph/sodablast.html

This is my first resto, so don't laugh too hard! I've done all the welding and panel fabrication myself, but will farm out the paint to a pro.

John OMeara's stripping thread was particularly interesting as I have just had the body soda blasted by a company in Sherkston Ontario, they did a great job with no apparent waves or damage to the panels. It took the nasty undercoating and rockguard off with little effort. Although I stripped the car, they said that sound rubber and chrome are not affected by the soda blasting and don't need to be removed...steel wheels can be given a cosmetic blasting without removing the tires.

All in all, a great experience and *really* reasonably priced. (and I didn't have to breath stripper fumes or sanding dust)

Rob in Niagara Falls
74.5 TR6 soon to be Mimosa Yellow!
R Brophy


No laughing here! Looks to me like you're doing a great job. Those patch peices look excellent.

I cut out and replaced my rocker panels, which turned out very well but, I have to say you are a far better welder than I am. Fortunately for me the rocker welds are hidden. The welds are sound...they just not as pretty as yours. My car is from the south and the only thing rusty were the rockers...luckily.

I also stripped my entire car to bare metal but I used a drill motor and 5" sanding disks plus alot of elbow grease. I will never do it that way again. It came out great but man that was alot of work.

It looks like you are bringing it back to the original color since I see alot of yellow in some of the normally hidden areas. Did you have to replace any fenders? Or were you able to patch those big rust spots?

Keep feeding us pictures of that resto.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Hi Henry,

Thanks! That must've been tough work with a drill and disc! Got any pics? I bet your welding isn't as bad as you remember.

The rest of my rockers were very solid...I would guess that the rust damage was caused by that darned scuttle drain. It will be re-routed shortly. No, I didn't replace any panels (other than the floorpans), the rust patches on the fenders looked worse than they really were ...the glass blasting cleaned them up nicely, no perforations, only really nasty suface rust from tree sap induced paint failure. Wish I took better "before" pictures. The lower fender on the starboard side was pretty rough so I made a 6x10" patch panel...it was a fairly tough panel to make from scratch, the wheelwell lip was a real bear. There are no fancy sheet metal brakes or English wheels here, only an old Linde 225 MIG, a vise, and a good anvil.

Yes, I am going back to the original Mimosa Yellow...my Missus wants popsicle purple, but it ain't gonna happen :-)...it's *my* mid-life crisis.

Rob

R Brophy

Rob,

I have some pic's that I'll post here a little later..If I can figure out how. I don't have a web site like you. But there must be some way to load the pic's here.

Are you planning on pulling the engine to paint the engine bay? I didn't pull mine until after the resto. I decided later to do an engine rebuild. When it was out I did alot of cleaning in the bay and touched up the original paint with a spray can that the auto paint store matched for me. Came out nice.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Hi Henry,

Check with your ISP, you may get webspace with your subscription. Setting up a website is pretty simple..if I can do it, you can.

No plans at the moment to pull the engine...but then again I haven't checked the thrust washers. I'll probably just try to scrape the undercoat off with a putty knife and detail whats there. The paint looks pretty good under all the goo. A spray bomb of colour match would work just fine to touch up the rough spots. This is going to be a driver, not a trailer queen. If I ever pull the engine, I'll paint the sheetmetal properly. It shows 100lbs oil pressure, so hopefully a rebuild is a long way off.

Rob

R Brophy


Rob,

Try this link. I uploaded pic's to my yahoo web album.
Hopefully it works.

I didn't take too many pic's during the resto. I guess I got too busy.

Note: the pic of the done TR.....I only wish it was my house. Made a nice backdrop for the car.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson


Duh!!!

Here's the link.

http://photos.yahoo.com/hbpatter83
HP Henry Patterson

Hi Henry,

The car looks great! Hope mine turns out half as well. I particularly enjoyed the self portrait in the second photo.

A couple questions if you don't mind: Did you go with Base/clear paint or acrylic? Which carpet set did you install?

Rob...who spent the day with a tub of varsol removing all that nasty undercoat from the engine compartment. And it looks great.
R Brophy


Hi Rob,

The painter used a high quality Base/Clear called Glasurite made by BASF. He basically sprayed it in a garage with no paint booth. The color sanding and buffing wheel was the key to the great job....Of course he is a good sprayer too.

The previous owner installed the carpet so I can't help you there. You can check the archives on this BB. I seem to recall some threads about the differet choices of carpet. I have heard good things about The Roadster Factory's Magic carpet kits.

Here's a link you might want to check out. It's all about body work and the BB at the site is great. I used it alot during my resto. Check it out.

Be sure to post more pic's of your car. I'd like to see how that engine compartment turned out

http://www.autobodystore.com/

Henry

HP Henry Patterson


Hey Rob,

I checked out your web site. You build some cool stuff. I love that Morris chair. Wish I could build that. I have a table saw...but that's about it.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Hi Henry,

Thanks! I have a pretty weird job...prop builder. This week I'm building a life size dog that has to be dismembered on stage and snap back together for the next performance.

You can do a lot with only a tablesaw...don't let that stop you from building stuff :-) The chair isn't as difficult as it might look.

Check out the English Taxi I built from scratch last year...I used parts from my other Triumph to make the steering.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/broph/car.html

It was a fun build but a rush...had six weeks start to finish.

Thanks also for the paint and carpet suggestions. My painter has a really good reputation among the local HotRodders so I'm not too worried.

Keep checking the page...I add photos weekly as things happen. The full time job is really getting in the way of this project, I only get to work on the car on Sundays. The borrowed shop space is a half hour drive each way so I can't get much done in the evenings after work.

Rob
R Brophy

Hello Rob and Henry, Terrific work by both of you! Rob, the foot well patching looks familiar.. I will complete the tub the next few weeks... no soda blasting in the area so it will be high labour. I am so excited to be putting togethter my chassis... newly restored and looking stock with some internal mods to enhance its rigidity. I fabricated the box sections from 16g, plug welding them together. All the running gear, brakes and suspension are finished and ready to install onto the chassis. The engine complete with OD tranny will be dropped on later in the week. I do not expect to see the completion of this project for at least one more year, however. Somday you'll have to come for a long road trip out west so you can 'twist' through the mountains and along the seaside. I teach metal work at the highschool level and really appreciate the work that both of you fellow do... I also am an avid woodworker! In fact i have CNC cut several TR6 dash pannels out of Yew wood and will eventually get a finish on them... can't decide on semi (original) or high gloss finish though. I am CNC cutting aluminum/yew wood steering wheels to match the pannels... sort of like a moto lita except these use the stock hub unit... Design work is so much fun on these cars! I really need to figure out the personal web page thing....your's is great Rob!
Cheers, Rob
'76-6
Rob Gibbs

Hi Rob,
Your car looks like it's going to be great...your website is also interesting...where are you in Ontario ? I'm in Kitchener.
Charlie
Charlie B.


Rob Gibbs,

The dash panel in my car is from a company called Prestige Auto Wood. All of their dashes are gloss but will do a matte finish if desired. Anyway I went with the gloss and it looks great. In some cases the gloss really sets off the wood tones. I believe the reason Triumph used matte was because of reflections or glare. Just thought I would throw that in for you.
HP Henry Patterson

Hi Rob, Charlie, and Henry,

I'm in Niagara Falls, Charlie so I'll probably run into you in Ancaster next year! Had to hitch a ride to the last Ancaster in a buddy's '52 MGTD cuz both of my Triumph were in pieces...oh the shame.

Rob, I bet there is a blaster in your area...check with the local marinas. It is very popular with the boating set. Have you put any pictures of your car anywhere on the net? It would be great to see examples of repairs and resto work done by others. If you're looking for a good CNC project to raise some restoration funds...how about CNC door panels? I just finished making new masonite boards to save my vinyl door panels. It's easy to swap the masonite panel but by the time you need one the original is usually beyond use as a template...I had to soak my original masonite board with water and press it between two plates of 3/8" glass with three small 25lb anvils on top, in order to get it flat enough to trace.

Hey, Henry! that dash is gorgeous! I have to replace the veneer on mine but I haven't decided on the wood yet.I'm thinking plain mahogany at the moment, but airbrushed with aniline dyes like a Starburst Gibson Les Paul guitar. But that's a long way off.

Rob
R Brophy


Rob,

You just had to bring up guitars! I originally wanted mine to look like my Gibson 335 (yes I'm lucky enough to have one) that was built with curly maple and finished in "antique natural". But original dashes were made with french walnut and in the end I decided I wanted the original look. It is highly figured walnut though so it does have that "curly" look to it. Especially when the light hits it just right.

I'm sure you can come up with an awesome dash with a veneer and your skills. Be sure to do before and after pic's of that dash.

My wife and I are probably going to take another trip to Niagra Falls (Canadian side) for a weekend this fall. I'll have to look you up and check out your projects.
HP Henry Patterson

Hello all, I just love the talent found amongst this lot! Door pannels.... How about CNC cut .080 aluminum trunk liners... crinkle powder coated! I have done rad shrouds for a few years in .095 Al. with the TR6 grill logo and others engraved through the powdercoat.... helped to pay the bills on this car! and it was satisfying to do custom work for other TR nuts.... they seem to really like these parts. I have all four wheels back on my chassis as of tonight... it wasn't even painted this time last week so I feel like its moving along finally. I am moving south in about two weeks after 15 years on the tip of this beautiful island. I will look into putting together a web page later in the summer.
Cheers to all, Rob
Rob Gibbs

Hi Rob,

just curious as to what items you have done in the past. Do you have any pics of the items?

Regards,
Ken
Ken Jackson

Rob- I see you had to change your location on the header
Don
DON KELLY

Hi Rob,
Looks like a project and some. Are we sure that Mimosa was the original colour? Mine is Mimosa (a 73)and I could be wrong but a 74 + didn't come in that yellow. Someone had a date line colour chart, that would help. It could be Jasmine.

MV
Marcello

Rob,
I am sorry it could indeed be a Mimosa yellow. I am know to be wrong at least once a century.

I found the link check it out.

http://www.trregistry.com/start/registry/html/painttrimcodes.php


MV
Marcello

Rob

Great start, I have a 74.5 PO painted white over the blue (not a good job), used a lot of fibre glass etc. Can you let me know what size/gauge metal you used for the patches?

Anyone know of a soda blasting company in Nova Scotia?

Thanks
Les
lw gilholme

Hi Marcello and Les,

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Mimosa yellow...seems to me I checked the colour code before disassembly was started in Feb. My Wife is still pushing for purple but it ain't gonna happen!

The patch panels were made from stock I already had...just grabbed whatever gauge was needed out of the pile. Sorry to be no help. I can tell you that the metal for the sills is much heavier than you would expect...16ga, 18ga? I can measure one of the off-cuts tomorrow if you like.

Spent the day wet sanding! Another coat of epoxy primer tomorrow and more wet sanding the day after that. Hopefully paint will happen next week.

Anyone happen to have the DuPont (or equiv't) paint code for Mimosa?

And how does a fella get one of those great Tr6 CD's everyone is talking about?

Rob
R Brophy

Rob-One of your Ontarioian Brothern can probale st you up with one
Don
DON KELLY

Rob,
I have a copy,I will be happy to help out a fellow Mimosa owner. Where abouts do you call home? (email me the answer)

Marcello

Thanks Marcello! Email sent...Rob
R Brophy

This thread was discussed between 18/06/2005 and 27/07/2005

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