Triumph TR3 -Engine Compartment Primed/Rear Springs Installed

Yesterday I spent about 5 hours out in the garage, head down installing the rear springs, doing a final sanding and clean of the engine compartment and applying a coat of primer. The day was beautiful and warm and ideal for painting so I made the most of it.

I was " in the flow" for most of the time although I did notice myself snapping out of the flow and playing out a "fit for purpose" analysis related to the condition of the inner fender wells. There are a few minor ripples/dents in the sheet metal that weren't obvious prior to applying the primer and when examining my finished work I started to obsess a bit about whether or not I should spend some more time prepping the surface. For now I am going to move onto priming the underside of the floor boards. I might go back and do some touch up later but for now I consider the work to be "fit for purpose"...I have to continue to remind myself this is not a 100 point restoration and if the inner fender wells show a bit of wear and tear that is not a bad thing!!

Triumph TR3 -Spring Bushings Installed

Yesterday I had a suspension repair shop install my rear spring bushings-total cost $44-which I thought was reasonable.

The owner showed me pictures of his "frame off" muscle car rebuild which he is in to for around $28k to date with more expensive bodywork on the books before he is completed. He is doing it right for sure but with that vision $$$ are required... giving the car to a 3rd party to do the bodywork costs a lot of money-he was sharing the projected costs-I was somewhat surprised but he said there are only a few shops in my area willing to take on old cars and when they do it appears they add a contingency to cover the unexpected and the extra hours that are probably going to be required....plus there appears to be a pretty good mark up involved!!!

I was at a party last night and one of the neighbors has a mid '60's Mini Woody which he is totally rebuilding. He took me on a garage tour which was a good distraction. The car is completely disassembled, bead plasted and sitting on a rotisserie. The body work he has ahead of him is daunting (to me anyway) in scope. The upside is the body looks straight. I wished him well.

I experienced a bit of a tool challenge yesterday a tool supplier made a mistake and shipped me a bead blaster vrs a vibratory tumbler. Not sure what happened in their shipping department ? but they said they are going to rectify the problem and ship the right tool ASAP....a bit of a set back in the chassis reconstruction as I will have to wait at least a week for the correct tool.

52 years of grime, grease and assorted nastiness removed from the engine bay of my 1959 Triumph TR3 today while listening to excellent Blues programing on CKUA. Having the engine removed and the body off the frame makes the job much easier!!!! Now totally cleaned,most of the dents straightened (a few small ones left to add character) and the area sanded-Today the primer goes on....3 satisfying hours spent in the garage....

Triumph TR3 -Musing 101

Yesterday I was talking to a fellow sitting at the counter at my body shop supplier. He seemed like a real character...We struck up a conversation based on my purchase of a wheel well replacement panel for my Ford Ranger-the passenger side this time. He asked me how I was going to install it and we talked about my gluing on the panel which lead to discussion about his experience with amateur body work examples that turn up at his shop. We had some laughs and through our conversation I think I convinced him that I knew enough to do a "reasonable" job of installing the panel. (given I have already done the driver's side) He stated he never glues anything but there were some other fellows waiting who indicated they did and had embraced the technology big time. An interesting discussion followed which convinced me gluing was still the way to go vrs an amateur weld job or paying a shop to do it.......The conversation ebbed and flowed and eventually turned to a discussion about "rat rods". He stated as part of his auto body shop service he builds cars for people and was commenting on the fact that a customer had $20K invested in a 1928 Chev and the vehicle still lo0ked unfinished. He said he just didn't understand the trend and why people would pay good money for something that would not meet his standards?? The interesting trend for me is that it seems like the "rat rods" get lots of attention at show and shines vrs more "finished" cars that seem to be "a dime a dozen" types of builds. I know personally that I am drawn to homegrown examples when I look around and often walk by "slick" professionally built examples.

Which brings me to my latest musing: For the last couple of weeks I have been "obsessing" about the potential to reassemble the '57 Triumph as a "rat rod" example. I rejected this notion earlier but lately I have been steering back towards the idea... Spend a couple of weekends on bodywork-slap on a homegrown paint job, reassemble the body onto the powder coated chassis using all the new parts I have bought over the past year, paint the rims red and buy some wide white wall tires from Coker and start driving...probably sooner that finishing off the '59. Although the logic is basically misguided and faulty (particularly around the necessity to to re-buy all the needed parts) it seems like it might be a "fun" thing to do which may translate into a sale-able entity once I have finished. I haven't taken the cover of the '57 body for months and once I do I might change my mind? Not sure....

Triumph TR3 -A Bit More Chassis Painting Done

The final coat of Chassis Black was applied to remaining suspension parts yesterday. After 24 hours of curing the parts will be "OK" to re-assemble but I might be holding off a while longer to do so... I am still awaiting my "tumbler" from Eastwood (perhaps I should have paid the $6 surcharge for faster delivery vrs Parcel Post???) so I can clean all my hardware prior to reassembly!!! I also located a spring shop to re-install the spring bushings next week which will be another step taken. I am still holding onto the premise that I have "turned a corner" on my project and soon I will be assembling...

Triumph TR3 -More Chassis Black Applied

Today I applied a second coat of Chassis Black to the front suspension components and a first coat to the parts that were primed but not painted due to my running out of paint a few weeks ago.

I also switched over the brake and fuel lines from the '59 chassis to the '57-I plan to remove the rear axle and shocks from the '59 chassis tomorrow which will mean the frame will be totally stripped down.... I also removed one of the spring bushings from the powder coated rear springs but I couldn't install the replacement bushing without a press so I will need to search out a spring shop tomorrow that can do the job...

I spent about 3 hours on the Triumph today-overall progress is very slow this summer-much slower than I had envisioned-so many distractions....I just have to learn to go with the flow...