Hi Guys,
Some of you may remember my posts a while back about the left rear of
my '75 TR6 sagging. Well, I've replaced the spring packs and trailing
arm bushes with urethane, and the left rear is still lower than the
right. So after much frustration, I set out to find the problem.
Unfortunately the problem is far worse than I anticipated.
Apparently the car was in an accident. It's not the left rear that's
sagging, it's the right rear that's 1 1/4" high! Once I got under there
and had a really good look, I realized that the end of the right frame
rail, where the body attaches, is distorted in that it's vertically
elongated and pushed up. Also the bolt that attaches the rear of the
body shell to the frame is trying to pull through the frame rail, so the
frame rail is even more mushroomed around the bolt.
I went to four frame alignment shops locally, and all said the same
thing. It's a nice car, the work that was done to repair the problem is
good, and they are not interested in doing any more repair on it. So,
here's my question. It really bothers me that the car is uneven. It's
uneven enough the the left headlight is noticeably lower while driving
at night. Does anyone know of someone around Missouri that would be
able to fix this for me? Is it worth the fix, or should I live with it
until I can do a full frame off restore, which I'm looking to do in
about five years.
The car is mechanically sound, and very nice otherwise. The only other
issue is a little play in the differential, but I plan to drive it this
summer anyway, and take care of that this winter.
One final thing. Before my purchase, I did some research, and I'm
mechanically inclined. I went to a dealer in Missouri felling pretty
confident that I knew what I was looking at. I also went in there
thinking that a reputable dealer selling a TR6 as restored would be up
front with any major problems. Well, I was gravely wrong. I haggled
hard with the dealer and got $2000 off his asking price, and I still
feel I was ripped off. Unfortunately one of the lessons I learned is
that very few people with something to gain are trustworthy anymore. I
guess I expected him to have a certain amount of integrity because he is
a specialized dealer with a repair shop, and not the corner used car
salesman. Anyway, enough of that. My advice to anyone who is looking
for one of these cars is to be very very careful and know who you're
buying from.
Mike
'75 TR6
CF36384U
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