Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this forum but am a member over on the triumph experience and club triumph forums. This is the restoration of my first car, a 1974 triumph spitfire that was in pretty bad condition although the bodywork is FAIRLY solid, just problems in the typical areas (bottom of rear quarter panels, sills). It only has 46k genuine miles which always a nice starting base!
Here are a few pictures of how it looked at the beginning:
Rust on the bonnet was fairly bad
So I got a new one!
Will need priming and abit of adjusting but for fibreglass it fitted OK!
I tore up the carpets and seats to check the floors and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw!
No rust apart from in this small area
Not done any proper welding yet but do have the welder in the garage waiting for me
Help on fabricating this part?
I managed to successfully get the car running after refurbing the points,rotor etc and putting new plugs in. Sounded great and ticked over nicely even after 30 years sat doing nothing! I also added new cooling hoses, cleaned up the engine with a wire brush applying some kurust and then replacing one of the leaky core plugs (The others are still to do at some point!). Engine will eventually be painted also.
Since then I have mainly been doing cosmetic work on the car to remove the rust and to prep it for welding which involved bare metalling numerous panels, fillering and priming with zinc phosphate primer. The front of the chassis has also been done along with all of the front suspension parts being removed, rebushed and painted with a nice gloss black. It's just to go back on again and get it on wheels again! The steering rack is currently off the car and being refurbished but will get done more when the weather warms up.
Dragged out the softtop the other week and cleaned it up and was happy with its condition (only a small rip)
Here's a few more (fairly) recent pictures, I will try to get some better picures when I get time and it's not raining...
I also bought a fibreglass bonnet which needs fitting at some point!
Looks better in person than it does in the above picture. It was covered in filler dust when that was taken.
I also freed up all the master cylinders, removed the petrol tank to clean it out with electrolysis then give it a coat of paint and numerous other odds and sods that aren't really worth mentioning!
What's to come is:
Getting the front suspension back onto the car,
priming and filling the offside door and rear quarter,
Removing the doors and removing rust from the edges and priming again,
Making panels and welding them in,
Refitting interior and installing new head unit,
(Here's a custom panel I made for my radio)
Custom exhaust of twin pipes to be added,
More rust removal,
Engine painting,
All peripherals back on the car and then bleeding brake and clutch,
MOT!
Plenty to do but will keep you upto date!
Louis
I'm new to this forum but am a member over on the triumph experience and club triumph forums. This is the restoration of my first car, a 1974 triumph spitfire that was in pretty bad condition although the bodywork is FAIRLY solid, just problems in the typical areas (bottom of rear quarter panels, sills). It only has 46k genuine miles which always a nice starting base!
Here are a few pictures of how it looked at the beginning:
Rust on the bonnet was fairly bad
So I got a new one!
Will need priming and abit of adjusting but for fibreglass it fitted OK!
I tore up the carpets and seats to check the floors and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw!
No rust apart from in this small area
Not done any proper welding yet but do have the welder in the garage waiting for me
Help on fabricating this part? I managed to successfully get the car running after refurbing the points,rotor etc and putting new plugs in. Sounded great and ticked over nicely even after 30 years sat doing nothing! I also added new cooling hoses, cleaned up the engine with a wire brush applying some kurust and then replacing one of the leaky core plugs (The others are still to do at some point!). Engine will eventually be painted also.
Since then I have mainly been doing cosmetic work on the car to remove the rust and to prep it for welding which involved bare metalling numerous panels, fillering and priming with zinc phosphate primer. The front of the chassis has also been done along with all of the front suspension parts being removed, rebushed and painted with a nice gloss black. It's just to go back on again and get it on wheels again! The steering rack is currently off the car and being refurbished but will get done more when the weather warms up.
Dragged out the softtop the other week and cleaned it up and was happy with its condition (only a small rip)
Here's a few more (fairly) recent pictures, I will try to get some better picures when I get time and it's not raining...
I also bought a fibreglass bonnet which needs fitting at some point!
Looks better in person than it does in the above picture. It was covered in filler dust when that was taken.
I also freed up all the master cylinders, removed the petrol tank to clean it out with electrolysis then give it a coat of paint and numerous other odds and sods that aren't really worth mentioning!
What's to come is:
Getting the front suspension back onto the car,
priming and filling the offside door and rear quarter,
Removing the doors and removing rust from the edges and priming again,
Making panels and welding them in,
Refitting interior and installing new head unit,
(Here's a custom panel I made for my radio)
Custom exhaust of twin pipes to be added,
More rust removal,
Engine painting,
All peripherals back on the car and then bleeding brake and clutch,
MOT!
Plenty to do but will keep you upto date!
Louis
First real patch i've done on the car!
