LearJeff
Freshman Member
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Greetings! Well, first of all I'm pretty good at following directions. So, when I received my welcome msg. from Basil urging me to post, here I am.
My name is Jeff Perdue and I live in Alameda, CA. (near San Francisco). My current British obsession (other than my wife and two Jack Russell Terriers!) is my little red 1974 Triumph TR6. I'm about 50% through with the biggest project of my life - a 100% body-off frame restoration. I delivered the car to my frined & mechanic, Steve, in late February of this year and the body was off, engine, transmission and rear diff were removed, as well as all the front and rear suspension pieces and all other remaining components by March 1, so I consider that our true "ground zero" start date.
One thing we're doing that may set this car apart is the vast amount of powder coating. EVERY metal piece of the undercarriage was sent out for powder coating and I do mean every piece! From the biggest of items such as the frame itself to the tiniest items, like the small metal clips that hold the fuel line secure to the frame. All powder coated. The frame is finished in a beautful silver, which provides a very nice contrast to the satin black of all the other metal components. 80 some odd pieces in all were powder coated, most of which will never see the light of day again!
A few other interesting touches include the replacement of every single nut, bolt, washer and screw with brand new, aviation-grade hardware. As each bolt is properly secured, a bright red stripe of Torque Seal will be applied.
And of course, we did the obvious upgrades, shock conversion in the rear, poly-urethane bushings throughout, stiffeners added to the front, rear diff mounting strengthened, etc. We also upgraded and modified the front brakes to Strange Engineering Rotors and Calipers. And Steve designed a rear disc brake conversion using Strange components, as well. Aside from the in-house fabrication of the various mounting brackets, the biggest part of the job was finding a company that would sell us un-drilled or "blank" one-piece rotors. Once Strange agreed to that, Steve came up with a way of adapting the rotors to the existing hubs by way of a tack welded "retainer" ring that filled in the empty diameter around the center of the hub. Sounds easy enough, but getting the rings machined to the tolerances required was probably the most complex part of the job. Then the rotors were drilled to accomodate the Triumph stud-bolt pattern. We are now in the process of trial and error to determine the best way to mount the rear calipers. We have narrowed it down to three possibilities, each with their pros and cons. Stay tuned! We ended up going with a Willwood caliper for the emergency brake.
The transmission has been overhauled, the rear diff overhauled and the engine is due to be delivered next week some time (the week of March 20th). In the meantime, all of the powder coated pieces have been delivered back to Steve's shop and assembly is already underway.
I've managed to come up with a VERY rudimentary web site depicting our progress on the car so far, along with a somewhat interesting history of how I came to own this particualr TR6. The un-original web site name is:
www.jeffperdue.com . FYI--It seems to load relatively slowly, even with DSL. If you have a dial-up connection, you might want to skip it! And, if anyone out there has any recommendations as to what I did wrong with the site in terms of its loading speed, please let me know! Thanks,
Jeff
My name is Jeff Perdue and I live in Alameda, CA. (near San Francisco). My current British obsession (other than my wife and two Jack Russell Terriers!) is my little red 1974 Triumph TR6. I'm about 50% through with the biggest project of my life - a 100% body-off frame restoration. I delivered the car to my frined & mechanic, Steve, in late February of this year and the body was off, engine, transmission and rear diff were removed, as well as all the front and rear suspension pieces and all other remaining components by March 1, so I consider that our true "ground zero" start date.
One thing we're doing that may set this car apart is the vast amount of powder coating. EVERY metal piece of the undercarriage was sent out for powder coating and I do mean every piece! From the biggest of items such as the frame itself to the tiniest items, like the small metal clips that hold the fuel line secure to the frame. All powder coated. The frame is finished in a beautful silver, which provides a very nice contrast to the satin black of all the other metal components. 80 some odd pieces in all were powder coated, most of which will never see the light of day again!
A few other interesting touches include the replacement of every single nut, bolt, washer and screw with brand new, aviation-grade hardware. As each bolt is properly secured, a bright red stripe of Torque Seal will be applied.
And of course, we did the obvious upgrades, shock conversion in the rear, poly-urethane bushings throughout, stiffeners added to the front, rear diff mounting strengthened, etc. We also upgraded and modified the front brakes to Strange Engineering Rotors and Calipers. And Steve designed a rear disc brake conversion using Strange components, as well. Aside from the in-house fabrication of the various mounting brackets, the biggest part of the job was finding a company that would sell us un-drilled or "blank" one-piece rotors. Once Strange agreed to that, Steve came up with a way of adapting the rotors to the existing hubs by way of a tack welded "retainer" ring that filled in the empty diameter around the center of the hub. Sounds easy enough, but getting the rings machined to the tolerances required was probably the most complex part of the job. Then the rotors were drilled to accomodate the Triumph stud-bolt pattern. We are now in the process of trial and error to determine the best way to mount the rear calipers. We have narrowed it down to three possibilities, each with their pros and cons. Stay tuned! We ended up going with a Willwood caliper for the emergency brake.
The transmission has been overhauled, the rear diff overhauled and the engine is due to be delivered next week some time (the week of March 20th). In the meantime, all of the powder coated pieces have been delivered back to Steve's shop and assembly is already underway.
I've managed to come up with a VERY rudimentary web site depicting our progress on the car so far, along with a somewhat interesting history of how I came to own this particualr TR6. The un-original web site name is:
www.jeffperdue.com . FYI--It seems to load relatively slowly, even with DSL. If you have a dial-up connection, you might want to skip it! And, if anyone out there has any recommendations as to what I did wrong with the site in terms of its loading speed, please let me know! Thanks,
Jeff
Hey Guest!
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
