Triumph Stag Rescue

[Matt306]

Long journey of repair to a very rusty Triumph Stag. Comes with a rover v8 engine as opposed to the triumph one but motive power is the least of my worries at the moment. 

[Matt306]

I brought the car from David Walker one of many triumphs growing in his garden. This one was missing the floor.

Because it was so wet I put a heater in the car to dry it out 

[Beans]

That looks like a real project!

[Matt306]

So where to start on this mamoth project.  Windscreen out first then the dash then on to the drivers side.

Sill off first a brace across the door i should have put one width ways too . Floor and outrigger replacement.

[Nick Jones]

Blimey….. that’s brave! Some good work happening…..

Nick

[Matt306]

6 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Blimey….. that’s brave! Some good work happening…..

Nick

Nick I was reading an earlier posting of yours this afternoon about a Spit your son took on! 

[Matt306]

Little bit of repair to the tunnel at the rear by the heel board .

[frenchiemk2]

Huge project.

May the Trium-Force be with you.

[Nick Jones]

17 hours ago, Matt306 said:

Nick I was reading an earlier posting of yours this afternoon about a Spit your son took on! 

🙂 Yeah….. but the Spit has a chassis to use as a jig…… and ours was in good shape. Anyway, I think the Stag might be a bit rustier…..

Respect!

Nick

[Matt306]

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

🙂 Yeah….. but the Spit has a chassis to use as a jig…… and ours was in good shape. Anyway, I think the Stag might be a bit rustier…..

Respect!

Nick

I read a book on stag restorations which say the T bar provides loads of strength. Nevertheless I braced the door opening.

[Matt306]

Moving to the suspension mounts I have this problem and the cross member rusted below. My solution was to drill out the spot welds on the closing panel at the top. This allows access to repair the cross member and rear chassis outrigger. 

[Matt306]

Today's job was repair the heel board. This will allow strength across the car and support the floor. I can then fabricate repair panels for the cross member before thinking what I'm to do with the bracket then I can put the closing panel back in. 

[Nick Jones]

Epic. Brings me out in a cold sweat……

 

[Ben Hutchings]

This is just... huge. I have no idea how you fathom where to start with something like this.

Well done Matt, I shall watch with awe and interest. 

[Matt306]

54 minutes ago, Ben Hutchings said:

This is just... huge. I have no idea how you fathom where to start with something like this.

Well done Matt, I shall watch with awe and interest. 

I picked the worst side first as the other would have more strength.  It would be easier to weigh it in but I repair the cars for a hobby and fun. All my cars came in varying states of rot.

[Tim Bancroft]

Fair play to you Matt, what a challenge! 

I have a feeling that this will become a very popular thread and very inspirational to many.

 

[Hogie]

I think it is quite exciting when you cut the rot out, clean and prep the remains and then weld in good metal.

 

Top marks to you.

 

Roger

[Matt306]

I am back to work today so work will be rested. I think next plan maybe to put the sill Outer on. 

 

Thanks for all the comments it's good to read. I'll keep adding the pics.

Bear in mind I am self taught with pretty basic tools so if I can do it ... have a go .

[Nick Jones]

I note you said you had braced the door gaps  - absolutely essential in my view - but does your bracing allow you refit the doors to check the fit?  Also very highly desirable in my view.....

On the Spit we did go to some lengths to make sure the doors could be refitted and the brace design even incorporated a jack screw so we could move things about to improve the fit - necessary in our case because the rot was bad enough that the shape of the car had been lost - but hopefully not in yours!!

Nick

[Matt306]

Hi nick yes the brace went across on the inside of the a and b post. The inner sill went in then. What the Stag has which the spit doesn't is the T bar.

[RobPearce]

On 30/07/2021 at 17:07, Matt306 said:

Moving to the suspension mounts I have this problem and the cross member rusted below.

My Stag had that problem on the 2000 RBRR. We got to Fleet with one end of the rear subframe hanging off, leading a bystander from another team to say "That's not supposed to be like that". Since we hadn't noticed any seriously bad behaviour, and since Fleet was the last control before the end, we carried on and completed the run.

Your repair work looks excellent.

[Rubce]

Fascinating stuff. Please keep posting updates on progress 👍

[Matt306]

Cheers all, lovely to read the positive comments, when my back is aching and I feel like whacking it with a lump hammer it'll keep me going. 

 

The Stag has had a bit of a rest this week as I had to fix the TR7 rear wheel bearings and fitter better brake cylinders.  I'll be posting more soon.

[Matt306]

Small posting today. The drivers door was always bigger then the passenger door so the door gaps were tiny. I guessed this is because of a resin of the door at some time. I attacked the inside edge of the door. 

I found the door frame and a huge over lap before the fold. Both doors need work so this was an exploration. Included is a comparison with the passenger door. I drew a black line to highlight the door frame edge.

[frenchiemk2]

Nice job still going on! 

Fantastic, you're doing great.

🤩