It Followed Me Home...Can I Keep It?

cmfisher4

Promoted Users
Time for another project. Going to slow roll this one based on it being the "next level", but here we go again!

1964 Triumph TR4. Just over 19000 miles on the odometer. No clue if that's accurate, but she's pretty solid. well, except for the floor and sills.

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I've been lurking and keeping up with your threads, Jim. Like I said before, you're an inspiration and your photos and attention to detail are right where I want to be, so a great resource for me.
 
Pulled the wing off the driver's side (only). Pretty happy with what I found under the fender of a 56+ year old British car. Looks like it's going to be less work than my Spitfire, that's for sure. I have new sills (rocker) already, so hopefully it'll just be the floors and then several patch pieces.

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Bottom of the A post. The sill is the thing with all the holes in it, but that piece right above it is normally gone on these cars.

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Another shot more into the wheel arch. That metal baffle is also usually rotted away (you can see the hose behind it that discharged rain water run off into the inside of the wing...great design :rolleyes:

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Behind the front tire. There are holes in the bottom of the vertical panel, near the seam, but the front of the rocker cap is also an area that is normally obliterated. I can fix that stuff!

Cheers,
Chris
 
What's your threshold of pain on pitting? I assume there's some point where the pits are too deep and the metal needs to be replaced. Do you poke at it and, if the screwdriver doesn't go through it's ok? I've got some good pitting on the bottom of my fenders and in the wheel arches. I'd rather not cut and replace if I can help it for the areas that shouldn't be scarified. Ospho?

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Obviously some spots that require repair here (some?!), but the wheel arch isn't totally gone a few inches up.
 
Thanks, Jim. If the pitting is pretty good, but not through, do you just treat it (Ospho, paint, etc.) and move on?
 
Thanks, Jim. If the pitting is pretty good, but not through, do you just treat it (Ospho, paint, etc.) and move on?

I blast it until there is nothing but dull grey metal. All the black rust is out of the pits then I epoxy coat it. Painful but the the only way to truly stop the rust forever, not a big deal on a SW car but after getting the parts from Michigan I forgot how in the north most of the metal is in that condition :)
 
I had a 66 TR4-a and all the stuff saved up to do a 5.0 V8 conversion. Ended up selling off everything but the 5.0 motor when we moved..
 
That would have bumped up the performance a bit...:D
Believe it or not, but a 5.0 with aluminum heads is only about 60 lbs heavier than the original 4 banger so weight ratios aren’t off. Have a buddy in Canada with a 6.0 LS/6speed in a TR-6. It’s a beast! Hated selling mine off, but didn’t want it to ruin sitting outside until I got around to it. Have a close friend with a 65 he bought from the original owner in 66, so might have a shot at it someday.
 
I just pulled the motor this past weekend, so it doesn't surprise me that a modern aluminum motor is not much heavier than the cast iron block and head of the TR4 motor. There's a guy on YouTube putting a LS-something (4?) in a GT6. They are totally redoing the car. That'll be peppy, too.
 
Metal repairs to the TR4 continue...slowly, but continue. I've got the passenger floor replaced and inner sill on that side. I just finished up repairing the battery tray/firewall area and I'm really happy with how that came out (bought a bead roller...that thing is fun)!

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Next, however, is something more tricky, at least for me. The car must have sat for a while and the interior soaked up water and just let it sit on the metal - hence the need for new floors, among other areas. One of those is the top of the dashboard. The cover, referred to as a crash pad, closely follows the shape of the metal and a lot of it on the passenger's side has rotted away in the front. Here's a bunch of pics:

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I'd like to repair that area, even though it won't be seen. My initial thought is one long piece, formed to the original as close as possible. But, the rear vertical portion is a concern and, I think more so, the very small flange in the very front (that's maybe 1/8" tall). The vertical rear portion of that channel is in pretty good shape along most of the length, so I'm thinking about starting the repair right at that seam. But, how do I put the small front flange in...or when? Form a long piece of metal, then fold the flange over? Fold the flange along a piece of metal, then form it to match the car? I can go back after it's welded in to fix the portions of the rear vertical area.

I know I've got some shrinking and stretching to do in here and the very small flange probably adds difficulty. I consider it a challenge that I'd like to tackled, but I don't want to waste a whole bunch of metal doing it. Any advice anyone is willing to provide on an approach is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris
 
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