TR2/3/3A General Restoration Question.

Starting my 60' TR3A on frame driver restoration and plan on doing as much of the work myself as possible. I kind of have a cost expectation of maybe $14,000 mostly on complete brake redo, fuel sys, electrical, tires, paint, interior, weather, missing hardware/parts.

Out of curiosity would like to ask a few questions of you all.

1. What condition was your restoration was in before you started?
2. Did you do the work yourself or sub-out what % and what?
3. Was it a on frame or off frame restoration?
4. How many man-hours did the restoration take?
5. What ball park $ figure did it cost you (if not to personal)?


Again, Thanks for your input.

You're going to get all sorts of answers as every resto is different -- but $14K may be in the ballpark if you plan to farm out the body & paint and do everything else yourself.

Paint cost in particular can vary widely depending on the quality you seek.

Two things you never want to tell them are: How much you're willing to spend (that will become the starting figure) and that you are in no hurry to have it done (no hurry can turn into never)..

For whatever you farm out -- a thorough written plan and estimate implemented with regular follow-up by you are important to avoid misunderstandings and disappointment.

Hi Paul,

I'll Take a Crack...almost finished my 60 TR3A Restoration and am about 1/4 of the way through a 59 TR3A restoration.

1. Condition. 60 was a vintage race car that looked ok from about 20 feet. Closer, you could see that it had many patches in it with fiberglass/bondo/pop rivets etc. Sills were rotten and floors were rotten. Had to replace the rear apron it was in such poor condition. Rear body mounts and front body mounts and sheet metal had to be replaced as well. Interior was very tired. Car had sat for an extended period of time so it would not start, and all hydraulics needed to be changes. 59 Very Rusty. Again, Floors/Sills will need to be replaced. No Interior or top or sidecurtains useable. Frame very rusty and required extensive repair. Car sat for 40 years in a barn so it was not in great shape.

2. I do all the work myself except where I required specialized services (like machining)

3. Both the 60 and 59 are full frame off restorations.

4. No Idea on Man Hours.....I think in sanding alone on the 60 I have about 500 hours (had to sand it down a second time after a paint mismatch the first time around). If I had to guess, I would say somewhere between 2000-3000 hours.

5. No idea, and I don't want to know. I have files of receipts for each car....I don't add them up intentionally....It can get expensive quickly. For example, on the 60 I went with a Aluminum Rad fitted with a SPAL electric fan, an alternator conversion and a rack and pinion conversion. I think for those three mods alone it was close to $2000

Most of my work I have documented on my Youtube Channel if you want to see what is involved. Most of my videos are not really instructional (a few are), they are just a video log of work completed.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cheftush/videos

Good Luck with your project.

Cheers
Tush

PS, Your car looks to be about the same colour as my 59.....



Cheers
Tush

I'd love to comment, but fear it'll scare you from getting started if I did. I think Tush says it all!

The beauty of doing a driver is that you should work on one thing at a time, so you can enjoy driving it in between. Major restorations are not for everyone. Few would have been begun if the owners knew what they were getting into ahead of time.

I agree with all of the above.
I am close to finishing a ground up complete resto on my TR4.
Would I do another TR.......NO...too much work and mega dollars.
IMHO...keep it as a daily driver with safety aspects attended to, or buy a nice one already done at around $30k.?

Paul, I think you are pretty close with the $ 14,000. figure. I did a body off on my TR3A a number of years ago and if you do as much as you can yourself, it will help keep the costs down. I farmed out the machine work on the motor but disassembled and reassembled it myself. The body was taken down to bare metal using a lot of sand paper. I noticed there are much better grades of sand paper available now that work much better than what was available years ago. By taking it down to bare metal, you will find any issues that could otherwise be missed. I would talk to the street rodders about machine work and painting. They usually know who does the best work. Good luck.

All good comments here. I have done a complete restoration on my TR4 and am now doing a driving restoration on my TR3.

The few additional comments I would add:

1) Body work can be very time consuming if you do it yourself or can be expensive if done by a professional.

2) Not sure what I prefer regarding a full restoration vs driving restoration. The later allows you to enjoy driving the car during the process but also means some work will be duplicated (mostly assembly and disassembly being done more than once).

Personally I really enjoy the restoration process including the body work. As a suggestion to get started, maybe work on a few sections of the car focused on getting it running first. This will give you a taste of the restoration process and effort. From there you can decide on how much you will want to take on.

CJD said:

I'd love to comment, but fear it'll scare you from getting started if I did. I think Tush says it all!

The beauty of doing a driver is that you should work on one thing at a time, so you can enjoy driving it in between. Major restorations are not for everyone. Few would have been begun if the owners knew what they were getting into ahead of time.

Click to expand...

They are straight forward to restore only IF the body is in good condition to start with! Take some pictures of body damage / prior repair work and post them . We would all love to see them and see just what you are starting with !
Restoration can be very satisfying but the novelty can wear off after $14,000 is spent and your car is still in the body shop. There are a lot of guys on this site that can help you prevent that!
Thanks for joining in!
BTW , I spent all of that on a straight TR3A frame on restoration a few years back and did all the body and paint work myself . The only rust repair needed : both floor panels and the boot floor. 1000 hours at least.

Photo looks like a good starting point. Sounds like you're in the ball park with your figures. I've done three TR3's. I don't have a lot of specialty tools so on the first one I spent a little supplementing my tool box. I also had a significant learning curve on the first one even though I had previously owned several LBC's, I had never taken on a real thorough restoration. All were done on frame due to limited space and lack of extra set of hands. The first one also came in boxes so disassembly was a snap, putting something together that I didn't take a part was a little more challenging. Time wise" I really didn't pay much attention to the time and took 3 years to get it built back, partly caused by purchasing parts as budget would allow. Don't worry too much about how long it will take, just chip away at it and enjoy the little victories. I did the body work myself and most of the mechanical but found a shop that would agree to paint over my body work...which is sometimes problematic to find as you can't expect a shop to guarantee paint over bodywork of unknown quality. Do it right the first time. I would be dollars ahead if I had just kept the first one with all its errors and gone back and corrected it instead of selling and starting over. My current car is far better than the first one. You'll find answers to any questions you have right here. It has been a very helpful reference. My current car was "almost" a rolling restoration, but I always did the "while I'm at it" task to avoid the dreaded "do overs". Have fun!!

Paul,
I pretty much agree with the others above. My first restoration was on a good car (a 3B). And was frame on. This is not an advertisement but you might want to look into The Roadster Factory Investor program. With an investment with them you get a discount on parts. This is important as you will be wanting parts when you need them as opposed to waiting for a sale to come up from one of the suppliers.

When you are talking about $10,000 worth of parts a good discount really adds up the savings. Of course that is so that you can spend that much more on the car.
Charley

I guess I've been lucky on my British car restorations--2 Morris Minors, Austin A35 Van, 1973 MG Midget (pictured) and 3 Nash Metropolitans
Never spent more than $10,000 on each of the restorations, including the original car, and (and in some cases--parts cars)
The '73 Midget was a "driver", but very tired--no rust (no welding!)--The engine (1275) and transmission work was farmed out, and the painting
was done professionally. i did everything else myself--refurbished or new.--It was a "shell" and ready for painting when it went to the paint shop.
I took off all the smog stuff--air pump, charcoal cannister, new "early" fuel tank without the evaporative loss control, plugged the air ports in the head.
Took off the twin carbs, and fitted single HS4--with the proper exhaust--all proper upgrades--I'll post some pics later, if I can figure out how!

See previous thread on "73 Midget--posting pics (I think!)

I did a body off restoration on an MG TD back in 1973. TD parts were really cheap then - expensive now. I spent 600 plus hours, mostly in a cold garage. Did everything but the valve job and the painting. Sold the car for $9,500.00 a year later. Much time was spent smashing and hacksawing (by hand) rusted nuts & bolts. I had no electric or pneumatic tools - just my bare hands. Lucky for you, the TRs have no woodwork. Much rime was spent "fettling" as the Brits would say. All in all, it was a great experience - but I wouldn't do one again.

...since you asked.

I did a complete frame off, on a complete basket case. My 59 was washed out of a garage, along with the garage when the 20' storm surge of hurricane Katrina made land fall at Bay St Louis. The car had been "restored" decades earlier, and was somewhat ready for another restoration. Most of the interior (as well as exterior, mechanics, wiring, gauges, etc) was missing or damaged beyond repair. I managed to save the crank, and block. Some body panels are "original" but not many. Since I got it for free, I thought it would be a good deal. I was told that I'd have been better off starting with nothing, but I didn't listen.

I shopped ebay for 3 years after taking everything apart and noting what I would need. I spent another 4 years putting it back together. I kept spread sheets of every cent I spent, and every day I worked on it. I did everything myself, except the machine work on the head, and turning the flywheel. I wrenched, welded, painted and even color sanded in my garage for what seemed like an eternity. I learned more than I would have guessed, and drove the completed car coast to coast. I loved every second -even spending over $20k on parts (mostly used originals).

I am very happy I got to do it, and if I was forced to go back in time, I'd do it all over again. -But I doubt I will do another. Some things we do, we do because we want to be able to say we have done them. Some things we do because we love doing them. There is a huge difference between the two previous statements. Now, I really enjoy driving and tinkering with "my" TR3. I own it. I've never felt this way about any car I had in my possession before.

Choose your journey well, and enjoy it.

TexasKnucklehead said:

...since you asked.



I shopped ebay for 3 years after taking everything apart and noting what I would need. I spent another 4 years putting it back together.

Click to expand...

So you're the one who cleaned out Ebay of Triumph parts! Just curious...how many hours does the spreadsheet show? I'd be afraid to know what I spend on an average restoration if I took the time to log them.

CJD said:

Just curious...how many hours does the spreadsheet show? I'd be afraid to know what I spend on an average restoration if I took the time to log them.

Click to expand...

John,
I'd be afraid too! I was brave enough to track exact cost, but not time. My sheet shows each day I worked on the car, and what I did on that day, but not the amount of time spent on that particular day. Some days I only worked an hour or so, and some more than 12. I remember one late winter night, early in the project when I lost track of time and found myself working on the kitchen table cleaning the gauge faces until the sun came up. -I purchased a set off ebay and opened them up after work, and one thing led to another. Anyway, I logged 616 days where I worked on the car, over a 7 year period. At times, complete years went by without touching the car. Nearer the end, I might have worked more than 70 hours a week on it...

I guess some things are best left a mystery!

$14,000 sounds reasonable if you are doing most all of the work yourself. I spent about $11,000 on my TR250 that needed everything. I farmed out the machine work on the motor.

If you areally redoing a whole car you have time. The Roadster Factory has a sale every week, over a year or so most everything, since you need most everything...Moss and VB have seasonal sales too.

I was lucky and my motor mostly need bearings and rings. All new bits for the interior cost more than engine or body costs (mig wire is relatively cheap).

Paint and primer can be super expensive, shopen around, check online, etc. I went and got a galion of epoxy primer and a gallon of primer surfacer for my Austin Healey nearly 10 years ago and it was over $600.
When I did my TR about 5 years ago it was less than that for primer through topcoat from Autocolor Library.

Good luck.

I am in the process of restoring four TR3s and agree with all the previous comments regarding costs and labor expenditures. I do all the mechanical rebuilding (except gearboxes), bodywork, painting and interior work myself as my restorations are "nice driver quality", not show quality. One thing I would add is that if you are doing the majority of the restoration yourself, take lots and lots of detailed photos as you disassemble things. If the car is apart for any length of time, you might not remember where some smaller parts belong. Good luck and enjoy!