Folks,
Thanks in large measure to help from many people on the Triumphs list, I am
on the home stretch. You may recall that I needed to tear down my TR250 to
fix one wishbone and add gussets all around. That went swimmingly. I had
some suspension parts powder coated (Fred Thomas, I'll send stuff to you
next time, I promise!). The undercarriage is about finished.
The engine and transmission went back in last Friday. Most of the brake
lines went in over the weekend (or was it yesterday? the days have been a
blur). The suspension and steering took a few days because I wound up
disassembling both sides at the same time to get the p/c done. The notes I
took were not as useful as they might have been because I wrote them
assuming I'd always have one side or the other together as a reference. I
wound up doing and undoing some stuff. Thank goodness for my TRF parts
manuals (I have a clean indoors one and a now very dirty garage copy) and my
Haynes manual (now my dirty garage manual, complemented by my TR6 indoor
manual) I got the steering rack in yesterday. The suspension was finished
off this evening (springs, shocks, brake calipers, flex lines).
At this point, I have to put the body back on, install the radiator and
hoses, hook all the wiring and steering bits back up and install the basic
interior. Then I can start fiddling with the engine and make a first pass
at front end alignment (then probably take it somewhere for something more
accurate).
I have two questions. I was a bit disappointed that the BL TR6 repair
operations manual I just got says nothing about removing and refitting the
body. I was led to believe that it did (maybe earlier or later ones do?).
Now that I'm at that point, I'm a bit in the dark about holding the body
fitting pads and strips to the frame while placing the body on the frame
(contact cement? silicon caulk?), whether or not there should be any sort of
glue between those fittings and the body, and whether there are any body
alignment issues. There was some sort of soft white gunk under the washers
and bolts that connect the body to the frame in the cockpit, presumably to
ward off water and noxious fumes. What was it? What should I use during
reassembly?
Are there any tricks to lining the body up or does it basically plop right
into place? Will the body mounting kit I bought from TRF be sufficient or
are there some other "as required" pads or shims that I will have to buy
more of?
I ordered two new seat diaphragms and hooks. I'm going to be driving the
car from Albany, NY to Chicago, IL in about a month, so I figure the extra
support will add substantially to my comfort. I think I saw something here
awhile ago that suggested that I could replace the diaphragms without a
complete tear-down of the seats. Any tips?
Looking ahead a few weeks, I'll be a novice Illinois driver in the very near
future. I'm wondering about a few things. Can someone clue me in on
inspections required in Illinois? I haven't registered the car in New York
since 1995. I think if I register it here they will make me pay the fees
for the intervening years (96-99). I'd like to avoid a NY registration
altogether, if possible. Can I register it in Illinois, get some sort of
provisional sticker for necessary inspections and temporary license plates,
then drive it to Illinois? I will be in Chicago on June 25th, so I can
probably spend some time in the appropriate DMV lines if necessary.
Again, let me thank everyone who's helped me get to this point. Most of you
don't even know you helped me. I spent about a month just catching up on
digests of the list I hadn't read (about six months' worth), soaking up as
much information as I could find that I thought would be appropriate. I
will single out Randall Young for thanks. He really demonstrated service
well above and beyond the call of duty. He has answered several questions
about fairly complex tasks, especially about spring removal and replacement
- it went quite easily after I overcame the fear of an exploding suspension
on that first spring!
This whole exercise took more time than I expected (doesn't it always) and
occurred over a much more compressed timeframe than I anticipated. Once we
decided to move and sold our house, I had to get my butt in gear. I think I
have completed in about a month what I expected originally to take all
summer to do. There is nothing like a strong external stimulus to evoke a
strong response!
Skip Montanaro | Mojam: "Uniting the World of Music" http://www.mojam.com/
skip@mojam.com | Musi-Cal: http://www.musi-cal.com/
518-372-5583
|