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Greetings everyone,
I am new to the Triumph world as well as to performing any extensive car maintenance in general. I recently purchased a 1959 TR3 after 45 years of talking about it... two of my older brothers had one in our family’s garage while I was growing up (One they had purchased for “a few hundred bucks”) and I have many memories of sitting in the driver’s seat as a four year old planning on my own car someday. The smell of oil, gasoline, wood and leather really got me.
I bought the TR from a gentleman who is quite knowledgeable and skilled with all cars British... the car was in my price range for a “project car” but actually ran and all parts worked... I put about 100 miles on it around our little town before things started providing me the “opportunity” to get my hands dirty, greasy and rusty... issue one was a locked brake... after jacking the car, it appears one of the rear cylinders locked up for whatever reason (I cannot get the piston out of the cylinder and have ordered a new complete cylinder as well as shoes and a drum and associated mounting hardware).
As the car was sitting in the garage waiting for house projects to be completed, and for me to get on the brake issue, the clutch system leaked all its fluid out of the reservoir (the previous owner had modified the brake and clutch master cylinders to run off separate reservoirs)... seems to be a little coming from here and there (Master and slave cylinder) so I bought a new clutch slave and master cylinder and the pipe and flexible hose. (When I took the master cylinder apart it didn’t seem useful to overhaul it).
I am quickly understanding why someone might want to jump into a frame off restoration... the more I dig and look over the car, the more I want to replace and fix... don’t even get me started on the leaf springs! ugh!
So, if anyone is still reading, I have numerous questions (The first of thousands, I’m guessing).
1) Rear Girling brake... all the books I have looked at show the cylinder at the three o'clock position and the brake adjuster at nine. However mine is at the four o'clock position with the brake adjuster at ten leaving the shoe mounts at a 30 degree angle opposed to level... should I remove the brake mounting plate and correct this? This is the brake that has a seized cylinder.
2) Frame... previous owner had stated that his buddy had “restored” the car in 1997 and had addressed any frame issues, however the frame surfaces are not entirely “smooth.” I was afraid there was rusting going on under the paint but the spots that are rough are very hard and the paint does not give way when pressed... is there some sort of coating put on the frame to protect it prior to painting? Or does this sound like a major problem? (I was worried about jacking it, but the frame seemed very stiff and I had no issues getting the car onto jack stands)
3) Rust... I realize this is a complex issue, very dependent on where it is and how deep it goes but when I see it anywhere, I want to replace everything that CAN be replaced and sand it off everything else... what is the best solution to soak rusty parts in to clean them up? I want to try to overhaul the master and slave cylinder that I removed just for the practice, but both need serious cleaning. The brake drum I removed seems solid but is covered in a layer of surface rust... can I simply sand it and check wear or should I take it somewhere to have it sandblasted?
4) Is it normal for cars this old to simply have a few slow leaks? (I used to flight engineer on a B727, and when I was instructed on the preflight walk around, I pointed out oil leaks under the engines and the instructor said “If they ain’t leakin, they're empty!”) I don’t tolerate any leaks on my daily driver, but thought maybe a 57 year old car deserved a little slack.
Thank you for any and all advice!
I am new to the Triumph world as well as to performing any extensive car maintenance in general. I recently purchased a 1959 TR3 after 45 years of talking about it... two of my older brothers had one in our family’s garage while I was growing up (One they had purchased for “a few hundred bucks”) and I have many memories of sitting in the driver’s seat as a four year old planning on my own car someday. The smell of oil, gasoline, wood and leather really got me.
I bought the TR from a gentleman who is quite knowledgeable and skilled with all cars British... the car was in my price range for a “project car” but actually ran and all parts worked... I put about 100 miles on it around our little town before things started providing me the “opportunity” to get my hands dirty, greasy and rusty... issue one was a locked brake... after jacking the car, it appears one of the rear cylinders locked up for whatever reason (I cannot get the piston out of the cylinder and have ordered a new complete cylinder as well as shoes and a drum and associated mounting hardware).
As the car was sitting in the garage waiting for house projects to be completed, and for me to get on the brake issue, the clutch system leaked all its fluid out of the reservoir (the previous owner had modified the brake and clutch master cylinders to run off separate reservoirs)... seems to be a little coming from here and there (Master and slave cylinder) so I bought a new clutch slave and master cylinder and the pipe and flexible hose. (When I took the master cylinder apart it didn’t seem useful to overhaul it).
I am quickly understanding why someone might want to jump into a frame off restoration... the more I dig and look over the car, the more I want to replace and fix... don’t even get me started on the leaf springs! ugh!
So, if anyone is still reading, I have numerous questions (The first of thousands, I’m guessing).
1) Rear Girling brake... all the books I have looked at show the cylinder at the three o'clock position and the brake adjuster at nine. However mine is at the four o'clock position with the brake adjuster at ten leaving the shoe mounts at a 30 degree angle opposed to level... should I remove the brake mounting plate and correct this? This is the brake that has a seized cylinder.
2) Frame... previous owner had stated that his buddy had “restored” the car in 1997 and had addressed any frame issues, however the frame surfaces are not entirely “smooth.” I was afraid there was rusting going on under the paint but the spots that are rough are very hard and the paint does not give way when pressed... is there some sort of coating put on the frame to protect it prior to painting? Or does this sound like a major problem? (I was worried about jacking it, but the frame seemed very stiff and I had no issues getting the car onto jack stands)
3) Rust... I realize this is a complex issue, very dependent on where it is and how deep it goes but when I see it anywhere, I want to replace everything that CAN be replaced and sand it off everything else... what is the best solution to soak rusty parts in to clean them up? I want to try to overhaul the master and slave cylinder that I removed just for the practice, but both need serious cleaning. The brake drum I removed seems solid but is covered in a layer of surface rust... can I simply sand it and check wear or should I take it somewhere to have it sandblasted?
4) Is it normal for cars this old to simply have a few slow leaks? (I used to flight engineer on a B727, and when I was instructed on the preflight walk around, I pointed out oil leaks under the engines and the instructor said “If they ain’t leakin, they're empty!”) I don’t tolerate any leaks on my daily driver, but thought maybe a 57 year old car deserved a little slack.
Thank you for any and all advice!
