TR6 I'm new here- have a question about a TR6

Hi All-
I've been lurking here for awhile, and I'm looking for a bit of advice. I looked at a pretty decent 1976 TR6- I checked out the buyer's guide on VTR.org.
The buyer bought a Spitfire and the TR6 at an estate sale a few months ago- he's going to fix up the spit & is selling the TR6

So here's what's good-
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[*]very little to no rust
[*]body seems straight (with a couple of caveats)
[*]all the electrics work, except the horn
[*]runs well and strong- drives well
[*]compression is good (per seller 150-170 between all cyl.)
[*]wheels don't shake
no bad leaks
[/list]

bad:

• paint- red resprayed over green
• dings, a few slight creases in the body work
• hood and trunk (bonnet & boot ?) dont seem to align to the body- doors worked fine. it seems like this can be adjusted.
• one of the tailpipes is very damaged
  
  
  so the question is- is this 1975 TR6 worth $5500? I want the car, I don't think anything is wrong enough to be a dealbreaker. I guess I'm just looking for some support in the fact that it's a good price. I look forward to joining all of you fighting with British cars /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

It sounds alright, you might try to bargain down to about $5000 or so. I payed $6000 for my own 6, which had similar problems, if not more, than that. $6k was a little high ($5000-5500 would have been a good deal), but the seller was a friend who had already poured alot of money into it and I didn't want to screw him over.

When it says "All electrics work," you should be slightly suspicious. Not that they work, but the general condition of the harness and system. All my electrics work in my 72 TR6, but the wiring is a total mess and really needs to be redone. Another thing to check: pull up the floormats and look for rust under them, and up underneath (outside the car) the rockers. These cars leak if the top doesn't seal well, and sometimes water will sit in the floorwells or soak into the mats and rust them out. As you probably know, rust is the biggest deal. Almost everything can be fixed relatively (emphasis on almost) easily except for rust. Once you start having to redo rockers and floor pans and having the chassis repaired, you get into serious problems. If you go to checkout the car, take a cloth (so the magnet doesn't scratch the paint) and a magnet with you. That way you can run it over different areas of the car to check for bondo. If you find a spot it doesn't stick, it's because of rust and someone just filled it up with bondo that will fall out in a year or two.

As for the paint, that can be redone easily, even if it's not easy on your wallet, dings are fine if you're fine with them, since they don't hurt anything. As for the hood and trunk, they can be adjusted. Tailpipes are easy to fix as well.

I think I covered everything, at least everything I can think of right now. I'm sure other members who have been into these cars can add more than I'd be able to. But overall it sounds like a decent car.

You don't mention the indicated mileage... these engines can continue to run strong even in a rather worn state. Mileage might suggest if a rebuild is in your future.

Paint isn't cheap... good paint is expensive. This will be a matter of what you can accept and how that respray looks.

Someone with a TR6 could probably tell you about thrust washers and that weak point on the diff mount (those are the 2 problems I keep seeing as unique to the TR6/250).

Good tip on the magnet & floormats -- I'm always wary of what's underneath a respray.

Good point on thrust washers. To check those, get in the car and start it up. With it running up to temperature and at normal idle speed, push the clutch in. If the RPMs drop at all, then the trust washers are worn and need to be replaced. This is when you press the clutch in, it presses against the flywheel and can cause the crank to move and press against all it's journals. If those need replacing, then the engine probably needs a rebuild. Also check the diff mount like Geo said. If it's loose, then those will need replacing as well.

Another thing I just thought of is synchros, like the reverse syncho for instance. With the car running, push the clutch in and shift to neutral. Push it back in and try to shift into reverse. If it doesn't want to go in or grinds slightly even with the clutch all the way in (while trying to engage the gear) then that syncho needs replacing, as is the case on my 6.

Hello Kestonh,
a better way of checking the thrust is to lever the crank back and forward (engine off of course) There should be no more than barely perceptible movement.

Webb, just a point, there is no synchro on the reverse gear, it is either a clutch problem or too high an idle speed.

Alec

Cool- thanks for all the tips!

the engine has ~125K on it.

the floor boards are fine. I couldn't find any filler anywhere on the car

I didn't notice any rev drop when I was shifting.

Per the owner- the car has New brake master cylinder and new clutch slave cylinder, new plugs, points and wires, and new alternator.

Sounds good then. That engine does need an overhaul at ~125k miles. As a general rule, 6 engines will go for about 100k miles before they need to be rebuilt.

piman,
It's probably both. My car idles at about 1300rpm, which is a pretty high. Also the throwout bearing needs replacing.

Hello Webb,
your idle is about twice what it should be: and if Kestonh is lucky the engine has only 25,000 on it since a rebuild

Alec