triumph TR3 - Bodywork-Rear Valance Revisited/Chassis

A couple more hours spent today on sanding down the final skim coat of filler and applying the sealer primer to the rear valance area. It is about 95% complete and looks good in all one color. There is some more body work that is required on the top area where the truck latch sits and of course there are nicks and uneven spots that will need to be worked when the final paint prep work is done near the end of April. I am planning to do the paint work in early May.

I travelled over to a friend's and picked up his engine hoist with the intent of removing the engine tomorrow night. He is in the midst of rebuilding a Suzuki motorcycle from the 1980's so it was an interesting visit to view his progress.

I have been visualizing the chassis rebuild most of the weekend. I am eager to get going on the work mainly from the perspective of finally being able to consume some of my purchased parts like engine mounts, brake calipers, spin on oil filter adapters etc etc and start emptying some of the storage boxes that contain the parts. These actions will show that I have turned the corner and heading towards project completion. Also the pile of "spare" parts will grow and become available for resale (still trying to figure out the best approach there)...

Triumph TR3 - Bodywork-Rear Valance

A couple of hours in the garage yesterday. I went back to finishing off the rear valance by applying 3 coats of skim coat of filler. Unfortunately I didn't get away with the 1/8" professional depth with some areas of the patches requiring more build to "smooth it out" and I am not finished yet.... Overall I am happy with the look-probably an 8 out of 10 overall-it felt good to see the panels disappear under the filler and it has been done much more cheaply than a replacement panel. More bodywork planned for today...

Triumph TR3 - The Body Comes Off -Nearly

Four hours in the garage today. Everything that needs disconnecting-has been disconnected and I was able to lift the body 6 inches off the frame (all round-front and back) so nothing is binding or still attached. There were a few mechanical challenges along the way and a couple of broken off bolts but everything came apart in a pretty straight forward way. It was probably 4 hours well spent.

With the body slightly hoisted I can see how "rough" the frame looks which further reinforces my resolve to continue with the overall disassembly and get the powder coated frame reassembled and slid under the body. I am so glad the 1957 frame is shiny black and straight-the "restored" condition saves me hours and hours of clean up work. I have been transferring bolts and brackets etc that I remove from the old frame to the new one so I can easily find them when I go to reassemble the chassis.

The mechanical work I have been doing over the past week has been very satisfying although I went through more than a few moments of "mental" hesitation about further disassembly but my resolve held and I stayed on track. What is done is done and there is no going back!!!

It is going to be so much easier to do the rest of the work with the body removed-one good car out of two!!!

Triumph TR3 - Sunday Sanctuary

"First things first" I changed out my less than stellar sounding boom box with one that was sitting unused in the basement. I like to listen to CKUA (public radio) and CBC when I work and the experience was starting to lack clarity..... The original unit has been slowly deteriorating sound wise for the past few months (also the CD player doesn't work) and I had put off any action until finally this morning I determined I had enough "dimness"/compromise when the solution was so straight forward-a change out was what was needed...the newer unit works great (I had to swap antennas first)...

Today I continued to disassembled most of the engine components and transmission mounts etc so the engine and transmission can be lifted out of the engine bay. I am going to remove the transmission first as it will make for an easier engine removal-particularly in my tight quarters (single garage). I removed the drive shaft and noticed the rear pinion seal is leaking and there seems to be a fair amount of play in the rear pinion gears. I will need to check out the other rear end to see how the play compares. Just a few more things to do and the engine can come out. I am going to pull the clutch (after marking the location and disc position) hoping the clutch has enough wear left that it doesn't need to be changed out and the flywheel surface is in good shape? I am going to change out the throw-out bearing one way or the other...

After the engine is readied for removal I am going back to do the skim coat on the rear valance and finishing up the bodywork. I really needed to take a break from bodywork but I think I am ready to go back now. I have been checking out YouTube videos to get some inspiration..

After that the body will be prepped for removal and the engine taken out and then I will move the car into the driveway and start building the powder coated chassis. After the engine and front suspension is reinstalled I will remove the body from the existing chassis and move it back into the garage...

Triumph TR3 - Turning Wrenches

I have been away from the garage for nearly 2 weeks. The time has gone quickly. Work and a 3 day cross country ski trip in between were the priorities although I will admit I spent a bit more time in front of the computer screen watching NETFLIX movies than engaging in some wrench turning...I have pondered the why and can only pin a "low energy" physical state on the default to the square screen.

Yesterday I determined to prepare the engine for removal. I really didn't want to face more bodywork so I decided to grab some wrenches and do some mechanical disassembly. Off came the radiator (a bit of a problem was experienced with the loosening of the lower hose so it took much longer than anticipated plus some antifreeze inadvertently spilled onto the garage floor adding more time to the task). I removed the fan and the front support that sits between the frame rails. exposing the front of the engine. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have the engine disconnected ready to remove. I am then going to go back to finishing off the body work on the rear valance and priming which I hope to have finished shortly. More to follow..

Triumph TR3 - Back to the Rear Valance

Yesterday afternoon I spent 2 hours in the garage-grinding and finishing the rear valance area in order to prepare the finish for the skim coat of filler. Interestingly I was prompted by the universe to check out the fit of the rear tire cover and when I placed it in the opening it became apparent it wasn't fitting. What I had done when I fabricated the new valance was use a jack to hold the flange and lower valance lip together for fastening and I must of pushed it up slightly when I applied the pressure. Luckily this situation was noticed and I was able to use the jack to push it the other way (the jack was placed inside the spare tire opening) and after a bit of fiddling the cover fit well. Had I not done this I would have applied the skim coat and realized somewhere down the line the cover didn't fit which would have meant a fair amount of rework.

It felt good to be back in the garage....

Triumph TR3 - Distractions Abound

My wife asked me last night if I am going back out to my garage today to work on my car. I felt pleased with her observation and support for my hobby. In consideration of her question I realized it has been a while since I visited the TR3 shrine and the time is probably right to fire up the garage heater and get back out there. June 30th is rapidly approaching and there is much more to do...

There have been a number of distractions over the last few weeks (I know, a common story) including my return to work 3 days a week and more importantly, our extended cold snap of -30 degree C. temperatures (now at least 3 weeks) which has really impacted my physical energy levels and enthusiasm generally. I have defaulted to indulging myself in less active pursuits like watching movies on Netflix. Not a total waste of time but getting close to the line.

On Friday morning I had a CD player installed in my Ford Ranger so there has been some automotive activity recently. I misplaced my faceplate for the Jensen unit that came with the truck and I have not had "tunes" in my ride for over a year. What happened to the faceplate is anyone's guess-I am leaning towards someone removing it from my truck on an evening when I didn't look my doors. I have searched through all the usual storage places with no luck so I needed to "bite the bullet" and get a replacement installed. I just so happened to have an extra unit available-a Panasonic which was installed for $75. Money well spent in my determination.