*** Resending note of 08/22/96 00:44
On Wed, 21 Aug 1996 dmcnabb@awinc.com (Doug McNabb)wrote:
>I'm about to start the grand project....restoring my '67 TR4A which I bought
>in March real cheap. Having never tackled anything like this before...First
>question...where do I start? It had sat for 18 years poorly stored...lots
>of rust. It will need whole new interior from the floor panels up..new
>dash, seats, new everything....but where do I start? Engine or body? Should
>it be blocked up or stay on the rubber? All advice will be appreciated.
Doug,
This sounds like a candidate for a frame-off restoration. The reason I say
that is because you'll want to look at every system in the car anyway before
driving it and with that much body repair you'll pretty much wind up taking
the body off the frame anyway. I'm assuming that if the interior is so bad
that the dash needs replacing, there is considerable rust in the floors as
well.
Here's how it works. Step one. Buy film. Lots of it. Take about 200 pictures
of everything on the car. Even if it's mostly missing due to rust. This will
help when you begin reassembly about two or three years from now.
Then, strip out the interior, or what's left of it, taking more pictures
(remember to keep a log of film roll#, frame# and subject for all these
photos) as you do every step.
With the interior out, weld angle iron across the door openings and x-frame
the passenger compartment. Do this to stabilize the body before removing it
from the frame. If you don't the body will collapse into several flexible
pieces and you'll have the devil's own time making everything line up when
you put it all together again. (You probably will anyway, but it will be
10x worse if you skip this stabilizing step.) You can then remove the body
from the frame and set it aside for (much) later. Strip all the parts you
can off the frame (more photos. LOTS more.) and send it out to be sandblasted.
When you have a clean frame have it checked for alignment and cracks and
repaired if necessary. You can use the frame as a body jig for aligning the
body during repair. If you have a dry work area you can use the clean frame
as is so as not to mar the fresh new epoxy paint you'll put on it later.
The body repair will take a LONG time and cost a LOT of money. Be prepared
for a depressing time. You'll throw away an awful lot of the original car
and spend the national debt of a few third world countries on new panels.
You'll also be fabricating a few pieces. Best to have three things available
during this process; 1)welding and metal working skills, 2)a couple of good
friends willing to give up lots of their free time to help (the body is
heavy and you won't move it alone.) and 3)copius quantities of beer (to keep
your courage up and your friends interested). Take your time here. Measure
everything three times and then check your measurements twice BEFORE you
pick up the welder. You'll thank yourself for taking this care when you
bolt up the fenders and doors and find that they DO fit. Once you have the
body repaired (don't remove the angle iron yet) you can set it aside again.
You're still taking pictures, aren't you?
Now back to the frame. Send it out for paint. When it's painted you can start
hanging pieces back on it (you didn't waste the time while the frame was out
getting blasted, did you? You did spend it cleaning and painting all the
suspension bits and other stuff to go back on, Right?)
The engine can be done anytime. Either sent out (you'll probably want
to have it boiled out and checked by a machine shop anyway) or rebuilt
by your own self, if you're so inclined. When you have a painted and
shiny rolling chassis, mount the drive train. (easier than trying to
squirrel it into a freshly painted body.) The body can be painted on or
off the chassis. You can mask the chassis to prevent body color from
getting on the frame, or not. The factory got overspray on it so that
would probably be a "more correct" restoration than a perfect black frame.
Your call.
The interior is time consuming and fussy work, mostly because that's the
part that everyone who rides in the car will see the most and you want it
to look REALLY good, but it's not difficult. It's also among the last
things you'll do so I won't go into details on it. You've got a while before
you get to that step (also, this is getting long and I really should do
some of the work that they pay me to do).
You'll doubtless get other advice, some conflicting, some not. There are
as many ways to approach a restoration as there are people doing it.
In a nutshell, Be patient, take your time, keep your work area clean and
organized throughout, and farm out anything that you're not comfortable
doing yourself. And remember, we're here to help if you get stuck/discouraged
depressed or need parts.
Apologies to all for the length of this reply.
Good luck
Rik
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Rik Schlierer "Destiny does not send us heralds.
rgs03@health.state.ny.us She is too wise or too cruel for that."
LucaSpeed? Motorsports Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
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