New guy from Oz

[John_Hensleigh]

As of a few minutes ago, I've broken silence, so I don't feel like I can lurk anymore without an introduction.

Name's John Hensleigh, I'm 22, live in extreme Northeast Kansas. Recent college grad with a degree in mechanical engineering. I work as a production engineer for a firm in Saint Joseph, MO that manufactures utilites service vehicles. I've been married for 3 months now, my wife works around the house and for our landlord (an big-time organic farmer).

I got my Triumph/first car for my 14th birthday, 1964 TR4. The previous owner had graduated college and left it with a professor for "temporary storage"; professor moved the car out of the barn about 20 years later, and another 10 years later, I came along. Got in touch with PO, he gave us the car free of charge, sent the title. I spent several years in high school cleaning and slowly refitting the necessities, and getting the title straightened out (rat-p*ss disolved the VIN plate, had to go to court, get reinspected, etc etc). Didn't have time or money for continued effort through college, but now that I'm graduated and have a steady income, I'm thinking about getting back into it.

Tentative plans for the car and reasoning are as follows: the frame is borderline in terms of soundness, the body isn't really all that straight, and the interior is pretty dismal. The car has run, however, and runs pretty well when it decides it wants to start. Realistically, this should be a parts car for a closer-to-finished project, but being my first car, I can't bring myself to part it out, even for my own use. I've taken an interest in autocross of late, and since I have been meaning to rebuild the TR eventually anyway, my wife suggested I use it as my weekend racer... Her Fiat 850 is taking up the garage as the moment, so I can't do a whole lot until I help her finish it, but once we get it back to functional, I'll haul the Triumph in and see how bad the frame is...

Anywho, that's about all I've got for now. I look forward to being a part of the community here, and contributing where I can. If anybody's got specific questions for me, or if you're nearby and want to crank on a wrench with me, feel free to let me know.

Thanks,
John

 

[DNK]

A Fiat 850 and a ratty TR4.
You are a glutton.
Welcome to the Jungle

 

[DanB]

Welcome John, when you said Oz, I thought Australia, but now I see you're not in Kansas anymore either LOL...
You'll have a lot of fun with that TR4, and you'll be able to get a lot of free advice on here. Some of it is worth what it costs, but most is valuable and people are really helpful.
Good luck with the Fix It Again Tony.

Dan B.
South Charleston, WV
66 TR4a, 80 TR7

 

[hondo402000]

let the opinions fly

good luck and just have fun

Hondo

 

[Tr3aguy]

John,
Welcome to the spending world of Triumph.....just don't count the money.
If the frame is shot....try Frames

I have been working on a basket case as well and still attempting to complete it.

Enjoy the journey, the group has a lot of collective experience.

 

[John_Hensleigh]

The Fiat is on its way out, I think. Wife bought it to learn on, without really realizing how few are left/how hard it is to get parts/how much of a pain they are. She'd like to get set up with a Spridget or possibly a TR3 or Austin Healey 100. She likes cute little smiling faces on her cars, and the Fiat... looks more like it was dropped as a child. We looked at a late '60s Midget early this week, we may have it tucked away by the end of the month.

I am, admittedly, a sucker for punishment. I welcome 40-year-old-sports-car-induced punishment pretty much any day.

Opinions are fine, I've encountered a number since I started looking at rebuilding for racing. If that's what I do, I plan to hold onto all of the original parts I have in case I don't like what I've done. Honestly, if the car was any less of a rust-bucket/dented mess, I wouldn't consider abusing it on the weekends.

I've looked at RATCO, haven't decided if buying is the route I'll take or not. If nothing else, I've perused their brochure pretty thoroughly (bedside reading material) and may use their illustrations if I decide to fabricate myself. Since I'm leaning toward a competition-minded car, I've been thinking of building my own frame pretty strictly based on the original (otherwise I wind up in a class where I'm a consistent back-runner), but with some minor mods/upgrades.

I'll ask questions as things come up, but for now I'm reading lots and saving my money.

 

[tdskip]

Welcome John.

One tip is to post lots and lots of pictures so we can see what you are working on and an issues that - oh, say maybe - can arrise.

Why is the frame shot?

 

[Banjo]

Welcome John. I've had both a Fiat 850, and a tatty TR4 (Actually a TR4A solid axle)
Fiat left a bad taste. I did find out that they are known to have jumped timing chains, even with very low miles. If yours seems to be getting everything it needs (Fuel and spark) but still doesn't want to start, look at the valve timing.
My TR4A was a huge piece of turd, but I absolutely loved it. It looked like the paint had been shoveled on, the frame was punky, the rear axle shifted on and off the gas, the interior was just the ripped up seats and wavy inner door panals, the body was about 40% bondo, but the engine ran great and I loved to beat on that car. It was so much fun to drive.
Again, welcome. Hope you have fun here.

 

[George_H]

Just noticed, Someone has a frame for a 4 in the classified section.

 

[Brosky]

John, welcome to the forums. Post a couple of pictures of your car when you can. That will show us a lot more than words can describe and may provoke some additional guidance.

 

[John_Hensleigh]

I'll post plenty of pictures, but will have to wait until I can visit the folks again; car is in "temporary" storage (has been there more or less since we dragged it off the trailer) at my folks house about an hour away.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...mething_big_Fra

My frame makes this guy's ^^^^ look real nice. I haven't had the body off yet, and can see similar holes on the bottom of the frame in other places than he found them (and I would anticipate holes behind the t-shirts). Everywhere between the axles, you can scrape BIG flakes/chunks of rusty steel off of the frame. The car pretty much sat on the floorboards in wet forest-mulch for 10-25 years. I shoveled six full-sized trash cans worth of debris out of the floorboards, including several very healthy buckbrush plants. The floorboards were mostly gone, so the gunk inside the car had started dissolving the frame rails from above. I've since covered the floorboards with sheet steel, so that'll be problematic to show, but I'll see what I can do next time I go see my parents.

Banjo- The Fiat engine is actually the only part of the car that's in working order. The guy we bought it from likes to work on 850 engines, and doesn't like body/interior work, so he sold it for cheap as a running project. The under-seat frame/subframe is the real motivation to think elsewhere; I'm afraid the side rails and center X look like they could use a refreshing. Could probably whip something together or buy a patch kit, but neither of us is head-over-heels with the car in the first place, and the effort necessary to make the car trustworthy at speed is a little daunting given our enthusiasm.

In terms of the TR, you've hit the nail on the head. Don't know of any axle issues with mine, but paint, bondo, interior is right on the money. Somebody (PO) tried to pull the car out of a ditch with rope; tried the luggage rack (bent badly toward the back), tried the rear bumper upright (broken off; rewelded it myself), ultimately tried wrapping the rope lasso-style around the rear wheel arches (crushed rear quarters, rope-sized dents across the moulding on the top of rear quarters). Real genius apparently. Dents halfheartedly filled with bondo, which cracked and fell off before me. Floorboards and transmission tunnel are scratch-built replacements (I was a cheapskate in high school), replaced completely wasted original seats with Oldsmobile Sierra seats (eyeroll). All that said, when the rusty fuel tank hasn't plugged the fuel system, the engine runs like a champ, and I love to thrash it around. Drove it to my junior prom, pretty much as it sits now.

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I'll try to dig up some old pictures this week, maybe new ones this weekend.

 

[TonyPanchot]

Hey John Send me a PM

 

[HerronScott]

John,

Welcome! Always happy to see another TR4/4A.

I know what you mean about first cars since my TR4A was also my first car. Mine was definitely a parts car since we later found the frame rot (what frame was left that is). Luckily, it was easy in those days to find a solid inner tub and frame and some good fenders for not a lot of money and I was able to bring it back to life. I hope you are able to do the same!

Scott

 

[John_Hensleigh]

Pictures as promised. Also as promised, they don't actually show the really sketchy parts of the car.

If you look closely, you can see where the PO tried to pull the car out of a ditch (or to pull someone out of the ditch with this car). Tried the luggage rack (bent), tried the rear bumper upright (broken and rewelded), wrapped a rope (small one, too, by the look of it) around the rear quarter panels (matching dents on wheel arches, quarters, molding strip on quarters).

 

[Geo Hahn]

I'm having trouble seeing the pics... in case it's not just me, here's a link...

John's Pix

 

[John_Hensleigh]

I sort of wondered about that, must not be doing something quite right. I'll try the attachment route next time. Thanks for linking, Geo.

 

[Bainesy]

John,

I learned from an earlier post on this forum that you hover the arrow over the picture you want in your Photobucket album (have it open in a separate tab)and click on "IMG code" on the box that pops up. It should say "copied" when you click on it. Tab back to the forum you are posting in and hit "ctrl + v". Wherever the cursor is will appear some text. Preview your post and if you did it right you will see your photo, and so will the rest of us when you submit your post.