Triumph TR3-Fixing the Garage Door

As one can determine by my lack of BLOG entries lately I have not been out in the garage working on the TR for a number of days. Christmas and other distractions have taken me away from my car hobby and try as I may to make it a priority I have not overcome my inertia and actually made it out to the garage to continue on my quest to a completed car. Also I recently signed up for NETFLIX (my family doesn't have cable TV etc) which is providing a whole bunch of wonderful movies and documentaries for me to watch which also has contributed to my lack of garage time.... a woeful distraction that needs to be managed if I am going to be driving a TR3 this summer......

I did however get out into the garage yesterday to repair the rear entrance door to the garage. It was one of those "must do" jobs that didn't get done in the fall when the weather was good. The door has been "sticking" for about 6 months or so and every time it is opened or closed it makes a high pitch squeaking noise that is very irritating. Not a big issue if the garage is only being accessed a couple of times a month but given my frequency in November it really needed to be done. It took about 25 minutes total to get the door to fit properly and operate smoothly. A welcomed improvement.

Triumph TR3-Just Garage Clean Up and Daydreaming.

All has been quiet on the TR front for the last while as I have been otherwise distracted from my car reconstruction hobby (which in fact is not a bad thing as I needed a bit of a break from the toxic environment of filler dust and paint fumes) but now I am feeling a strong need to get back out into the garage and back to work.

Yesterday I went out into the garage and cleaned up the "consumed" sand paper and tided tools etc. About 20 minutes total. I didn't even bother to turn on the furnace and just did the work in the -10 degrees C. temperature. As I was working I did a quick calculation and figured I have about $300 invested in bodywork supplies to get the body to it's current state. The $$$$ add up fast.

I am still focusing on substantially completing the body work my the end of the first week in January 2011 (potentially ambitious but my intent) so I can move on to the chassis reconstruction. I anticipate I have about 30 hours of work left to complete to de-rusting (and prep) of the rear panels around the spare tire cover and installation of the pre-made repair patches-then filling and splashing on some primer to finish off the area.

Triumph TR3-Back to Working on Fenders Once More!!

Yesterday I ran a rag over 3 of the fenders (a recommended "tip" from an auto body repair book from the library) and found some additional "waves" in the sheet metal (just a few-not many) that were not satisfactory to me so out came the filler for yet another skim coat!!! A couple of hours of sanding and finishing I am back to a 220 grit finish ready for the sealer primer to be applied. This detour was a "do it now or do it later" type of decision and as such I determined to take the time to get the fenders to the next level of smoothness.

I have also determined not to do anymore work on the fenders until they are bolted on for the final painting and then I will go back and see what additional "touch up" work might be required? I am anticipating they will have a "fit for purpose" straightness that will not require too much more massaging. It is time for me to move on to the back of the car..

An interesting thought crossed my mind yesterday as to why I determined to work on all 4 fenders at once verse doing them one at a time, completing the work and then moving on to the next one. I surmised that the reason was one related to "production line" repair! I believed it would be easier and faster to make the same repairs to all 4 fenders one after the other then go back and repeat the cycle. One downside is more chaos around having to deal with 4 loose fenders in a confined workspace...there is probably no right answer to this question.

My wife asked me yesterday how I am going to paint the car? I told her I plan to do it myself and she appeared skeptical that this was a good idea? She expressed concern that after all this work I might mess up the paint job and have to start all over again! Of course the bodywork would stay intact and not require redoing but if the paint doesn't go on smoothly lots of rework would be required. Something to contemplate for sure...

Yesterday I found a picture of a white TR3 on E-Bay that is going to act as my inspiration to keep this project going. Today I will print it off and hang a copy in my garage and next to my computer screen.

Triumph TR3-Finally-Sealer Primer Applied

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours working on the Triumph-most of the time spent "in the zone". My main focus was the hood. I had previously primed it (back in the summer) and sanded to a 180 grit finding a number of imperfections that needed to be addressed. There were a number of small convex dents verses concave that required some hammer and file work plus on area with a fairly large dent (probably from someone sitting on the hood) that required a fair amount of sheet metal massaging to straighten out. A small amount of skim filler was required to fill in the indentation after the hammer work was completed. After going over all the problem areas I cleaned up the hood with wax and grease remover and primed it with primer sealer which turned out very smooth-I am happy with the results.

I also turned my attention to the front valance which had been previous "hi-filler primed". I sanded it down to a 180 grit, cleaned it and applied sealer primer to it. Unfortunately upon inspection last night I noticed a couple of small paint runs that I will need to address today. The body work looks good on first inspection ( a huge improvement of the original state).

Overall a satisfying "work session"

Triumph TR3-Early December Garage Time

I finally got back into the garage yesterday (I took some time off for travel-cross country skiing in the mountains) and spent about 2 hours working on the fenders. After running my hands over the panels the night before (I had ventured out into the garage for a moment) I decided one more coat of skim filler was necessary on the rear left and front right fenders. My decision appears to be a good one as both fenders benefited from another layer and more block sanding. (resulting in most of the filler landing on the garage floor but some sticking where it was needed-a desired outcome). I took all four fenders to 180 grit smoothness. A good days work in my determination.