I have read of all of the troubles that people seem to have. Electrical,
carburetion, body rust and the myriad breakdown of parts. I am the original
owner of a 74 TR6. I live in the New York area and the car has always been
garaged. On the day that I bought the car, I pressed a strip of MORETITE into
the joints between the fenders (front & rear) and the body. I had heard of the
notorious rust problem that plagued these cars and I was determined to defeat
it. Well, that ounce of prevention did it ... no rust ever started in those
little valleys. It is true that I did have the usual problems of rust at the
trailing arm area, and the headlight rocker switch was recalled. I NEVER
touched the strombergs and altho you might chalk it up to luck ... the car has
always passed the annual exhaust inspection. When I originally got the car I
did plug up a lot of those thin black tubes and the car has always run well. I
do my own tuneups (points/plugs/condenser) and change my own oil. I never repl
a spin on type (if you lean across the engine compartment from the passenger's
side, you can reach down with an open end wrench and remove the filter rather
easily). I have always used well known brand oils and Castrol brake fluid. For
the first 12 years of its life, the car was my only mode of transportation. It
was used in all seasons and types of weather. I used Simonize paste wax
exclusively - none of the presoftened or liquid stuff. The car has been a most
reliable source of transportation, I wouldn't hesitate to take it anywhere. For
the last 18 years the car has been my secondary one, still garaged and used
mostly in good weather. About 8 years ago I noticed some rust accumulation
around the headlights (the chrome rims had been lost or stolen, and I never
replaced them). I finally decided to have the rust taken care of and ... to
make a long story short, I decided that the car owed me nothing, and I owed it
a lot. Instead of sanding and puttying, I bought two new fenders - met
took care of a small amount of rust in the rocker panels by replacing them, I
took this oportunity to do the needed work at the trailing arm, AND what the
hell, had the whole car repainted. Prior to the paint job, I replaced all of
the gaskets (might-as-well). All work was done by professionals and the entire
cost was approx. $4000. I sing the praises of this car. If these cars were
taken care of and routine maintanence done, they responded with trouble free
usage. I'm sure that many of the people on this list enjoy fixing/replacing/and
in general toiling mightly to keep their cars on the road (and GOD bless them
for their efforts), I only wish that some loving care was administered from the
beginning, there would be many more of these fine cars tooling merrily down the
roads today.
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