tr6 body tub

[cnicholson]

I am at the soul destroying stage of stripping my tr6 body tub, and am finding more and more holes....

does anybody know where i can get, and how much a rust free body tub would cost?

I have got good rear wings doors and bonnet and can probably save the scuttle top and rear boot floor etc the rear inner wings, floors sills and bulk head are too far gone I think

Thanks carl

[thescrapman]

One of the importers of cars from the US is probably your only hope.

And they must be drying up now.

You could try TRGB, they have had imported stuff in teh past.

I think nearly every panel is available fro TR6's so what you have ought to be rebuildable.

Cheers

Colin

[Richard B]

Are Heritage intending to do another run of new shells?  :-/

[Jason]

Richard_B wrote:

Are Heritage intending to do another run of new shells?  :-/

Almost certainly not, they had trouble selling the last batch and the quality was not that great apparently.

[TRTOM2498]

TRGB had what looked to be a good USA shell a few months ago, but now sold.  Walter Petchey, imports TRs from the states, and has two dcent TR6 shells last time I spoke to him.  He had a mint one, all in primer with Stanpart panels, ready for paint.  Think circa £7k. Sounds a lot of money, but to have these body shells renovated is big money.  Ask me how I know.  California connection in Ashbourne have a couple of complete cars, but not sure how good they are.

All / most panels can be obtained, but work on the basis of two days per side for sills to be fitted properly, and at £50+ /hour, costs soon start to add up.

Keep me posted, I have a few spares for TR6s, as my current car is under going a body off rebuild.

Cheers.

[cnicholson]

I was very surprised to discover that the Moss do the repair panels I need, (shocked) and the price was acceptable too, having seen my car in sunlight for the first time in 6 months, it is not as bad as it thought probably needs new floor pans, complete sills,bulk head repairs and an o/s inner wing

[elclem1]

So it sounds like a good project, I have just replaced the same stuff - remember measure the diagonals before during and after otherwise ........... Andy

[cnicholson]

who saw the tr6 on wheeler dealers last night? the poor guy who sold it was robbed.

6k for a rust free tr6, I would have sold the dog and my pi for that, the rest of the repairs where a walk in the park.

[Hogie]

Hi Carl,
             try and repair everything you have.  
New floors are a good  but most other things are not.
The sills are very iffy.
I believe the front and rear valence are not available.

If you use what you already have alignment problems will be reduced.

Roger

[cnicholson]

The sills are completely shot, have got a new set from tr bits, they seems ok will need fettling a bit, the floor seems solid but there is some nasty thick paint covering them, so at the very least they need to be stripped back and inspected, was going to get the tub shot blasted (not the outer panels, which I have done at home with my light duty shot blaster) this will hopefully stop any rot in its tracks, I have not pulled the tub of the chassis yet, but it does seem very solid, does anybody have any details of the mods that should be done to the diff mounts, I have heard that they need to re-enforced?

Thanks

[FlyFifer]

1700 wrote:

I am at the soul destroying stage of stripping my tr6 body tub, and am finding more and more holes....

does anybody know where i can get, and how much a rust free body tub would cost?

I have got good rear wings doors and bonnet and can probably save the scuttle top and rear boot floor etc the rear inner wings, floors sills and bulk head are too far gone I think

Thanks carl

A TR6 owner near me has a partially finished TR6 he would sell if any good to you with a load of new spares. All the hard work done but it is up in Fife, Scotland.

[mikeyb]

Blimey I was up there in Collessie only a couple of weekend ago !!

[Nick Jones]

Collessie?  My Grandfather lived there for quite a few years (mid 70s to mid 80s) in the old station house.

Nick

[mikeyb]

A very good friend of mine, Graham (from whom I bought the Herald Rally Car a few years ago) lives there - in a lovely old traditional farm cottage on top of hill!  He marshalled with me on RBRR, hence the good excuse to visit  :-)

[FlyFifer]

The guy with the TR6's is an old school panel beater/coachworker, his own TR6 was rebuilt 23 years ago & looks as fresh today as it did back then (now also for sale for the right money). He bought another half finished TR6 with hardtop but, along with his full Mini rebuilds, an MGB GT & working from home as a mechanic time & space is limited to complete. If ever there was a guy to buy a classic car from I reckon you couldn't do much better that someone who has spent his working career on classics, he was one of the coachbuilders with Mercury Motors in Fife when they were doing full MGB renovations & sending them around the globe such was their reputation in the 80's/90's. Now the son runs Mercury Motor Sport & Ford is their chosen mark.

Collessie only 20 minutes from me.

[cnicholson]

Well i was a little bored of turkey over Xmas and decided to remove the thick floor paint, needless to say the floor pans where a bit corroded in parts, but astonishingly sound in other areas. As the sills where a right old mess, I got busy with the angle grinder and started to have a closer look....

I have never darred to cut the sills off a Triumph before, but so far so good, having done much pondering I have decided to just cut the whole floor pan and sill assembly out of the nearside (cant see the o/s under stuff at present) and replace with new, I think it will probably be for the best in the long run, and will make the repairs to the front footwell panels much easier. Luckilly Aldi had a good deal on cutting discs over xmas.....

In the meantime i have been practicing my welding skills with You tube tutorials and scrap metal, where would we be without the internet......

[cnicholson]

alas more progress over Easter, I have nearly cracked the installation of neew floor pans and sills, just some minor fettling to do, and small repair to the bulkhead..... at this rate it may even get a new lick of paint this year and see the road before Xmas.....

I have never done this level of panel beating before, youtube is wonderfull tool to the novice.

the only down side is that my industrial sized spot welder has pulled a muscle in my back..........

[cnicholson]

oops that was before, here is an after

[cnicholson]

the saga continues....

moved onto the bulkhead section this weekend, it would appear that when it was converted to RH drive a skin of steel was placed over the bulkhead section behind the battery as a bodge! to make matters worse the plenum was rusty and has leaked in-between the two skins of steel, no guesses what happened next, as you can see there is not a lot left of the bulkhead section where the water sat....

took me a while but I managed to fettle a new sectioni will be repairing the rusty edge on the water drain next, thinking of using fibreglass in the bottom channel to stop water contacting the metal? any thoughts on this?it is sound apart from the very edges that I have welded just don't want water sat in the joins in future.

[cnicholson]

pic of new bulkhead section

[cnicholson]

I am at the not so soul destroying stage of trial fitting the panels after rebuilding the bodytub and the chassis, progress has been good, it may even have a visit to the bodyshop soon for paint.....

there a still a few small areas that need some attention but i think the worst is over now. even started to build the megasquirt system. the plan is to have it back on the road in march ready for its new (now free) tax disc.....

[cnicholson]

well my xmas present is making good progress a year after cutting the floors out of my tr6 it is being prepared for its shiny coat of red paint...

on schedule for its now tax free roadfund return to the road in april,

can't wait to drive this with the EFI conversion

[cnicholson]

and so the first coats of primer started to go on on friday ready for final rub down and paint by wednesday...

[cnicholson]

so the car came back in its shiny new coating just before xmas, have been busy in the garage on the rebuilding bit.....

its amazing how much you need to replace.

[Tim Bancroft]

Here starts the fun.

Looks great, good luck.