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TR2/3/3A My '59 TR3A

SidescreenTR

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Five years ago, I started a frame off. Life got in the way and I haven't touched it since. I have some work to do...
 

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I went from what you have to this in about seven months. It is possible!
Dan
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sail said:
looks good to me, drop in the engine and fire it up.

The engine and gearbox are fine (well they both worked when I pulled 'em anyway). Front suspension has been rebuilt too. The car came with a fiberglas front apron installed, but with a steel one as well. I want to use the steel if I can manage it.

Here's the apron, the right rear wing and - hiding in the background - the engine and gearbox.
 

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This is what mine looked like just after I started my restoration in 1987. It had 80,250 miles on it from new. It took me 3 years to complete.
 

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And this is how it looks as of August 2008 after driving it a little more than 100,000 miles since 1990.
 

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Keep up the attituide that I can do this. Dont make excuses not to be in the garage. I would look at the new shiney parts and want to install them to see how pretty they look. But most important use this forum. I wish I that I found the forum earlier in my restore. Many questions have been answered and lots of support from the guys!
Good luck
Dan
 
tdskip said:
...

Any tips to pass along?

the most important tip i got was to do work on the car EVERY WEEK. do not let anymore time go by then that. it doesn't matter what you do, just do SOMETHING. if you get tired of doing body work, redo the seats or other interior parts. redo the brakes and supension etc. even just making lists of parts needed is doing something. just keep the ball rolling and all of a sudden everything will come together as one. it's a ton of work to restore a car, but little bites and small jobs make it less intimidating and more pleasurable.

there's no particular order for doing what needs to be done, but if you're doing engine work, i would tackle that toward the end.

keep plugging away. :thumbsup:
 
Speaking from quite a few TR rebuilds and various other cars over the years, it's uphill until you get it painted, then downhill putting it back together again.

Go hard to get it sprayed, and every item you instal thereafter is one step closer to the magic day when you fire it up.

Viv.
 
I do spreadsheets. A bit AR, perhaps, but it works for me. Start out listing all the general, big-picture tasks: "remove engine"; "rebuild front suspension"; etc. Once you get to that point, then I start breaking down each task involved in the operation. So if I'm at "remove engine," I'll start listing all the tasks I need to perform -- remove front bumper, remove apron, remove radiator, etc.

When I complete a task, I move it to the top and change the font color to green. I keep that spreadsheet active and updated, and I print it off (not the whole thing, just the "active" section) before I go into the garage for the day or evening. That way I have a list in front of me that keeps me focused on the task at hand, and it also allows me to cross the tasks off the list as I complete them. I use that marked-up list to update the spreadsheet and the process continues.

Breaking things down to "bite-size" pieces is the only way I can tackle big tasks. If I go into the garage armed only with the goal of "restoring my Triumph" I'd be lost.

I also use the spreadsheet to keep a running tally of parts I need. That way, I hopefully keep ahead of the game and avoid work slow-downs due to backordered parts, and it also allows me to take advantage of buying parts when they are on sale.
 
If you run into a problem while doing something, ask here on the forum. But in the meantime do some other easier task. Don't just stop because of one little problem. You have lots of other things you can do where there is no problem. Then when you get your answer, you can move back there. From 1987 to 1990, there was no forum, but I took lots of photos before, during and after.

Sometimes I'd suddenly waken up at 4 in the morning with the best answer to the question I had been pondering for two to three weeks. But during those weeks, I had done lots of those other easy things.
 
That looks like a lovely straight, solid TR3A you have there. I can't wait to see the finished article.
 
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