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OMG! What have I done now?

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Tabcon

Tabcon

Jedi Warrior
Offline
Many of you saw the photo's of the TR4 I got recently. If you did, you could see that the car was restored and looked really good. While the restoration was an "amateur" one, it was pretty good nonetheless. In a sense, I'd rather have a car that was restored by someone who once loved it than by some $40 an hour shop.

The one thing I've found with my car is that the previous owner paid a little more attention to aesthetics than to the actual mechanics. I'm not sure if he was running out of money, I mean who's ever had that problem, or he just didn't know.

Anyway, what started out as a simple attempt at detailing the rear wheel arches, suspension and chassis has turned into a major overhaul. A restoration of a restoration I suppose.

Today, I completed the entire removal of every little bit of suspension and brakes, as well as the rear axle assembly. I sorted everything into piles and started cleaning and painting all the components I'm going to reuse. Who knows what this will lead to.

I've decided to upgrade almost everything to bring it all up to modern standards while still retaining the authenticity, at least as much as possible.

The PO installed either original parts he cleaned and sometimes sandblasted (a lot) and then painted, or cheap after market stuff. Some of the parts had a good deal of metal removed and were beginning to rust again. Every nut, bolt, washer and lock washer were corroding and or rusting also. He also used fairly cheap hardware, some of which doesn't look like it was rated for the task. It may not be "original equipment" entirely, but I'm going back with all high grade zinc plated fasteners. If I'm going to drive this car the way it was meant to be driven, I at least want the piece of mind of knowing what's holding everything together.

If anyone is interested, I'm going to catalog the restoration of the restoration with photos on my TR website. Before and after type stuff. I haven't actually taken any shots yet, but I'll most likely start tomorrow and have them up by tomorrow evening. The car actually looks sort of funny sitting up on jack stands with no wheels or suspension under it.

I've been doing a good bit of research on all the brake and suspension components and have compiled a fairly good list of what I intend to use. Spring rates, braking, caster, camber...blah, blah, blah. Hopefully, when it's all in place, it will handle and ride a bit better.

Oh yea, tomorrow I'm going to pull the steering rack also. I want to replace it with a quick rack, but I'm not too sure about the quality of these after market ones.

Fun!
 
Tabcon said:
Oh yea, tomorrow I'm going to pull the steering rack also. I want to replace it with a quick rack, but I'm not too sure about the quality of these after market ones.
Click to expand...

Tab, beware of the quick rack. It will make the steering squirrley at speed and very challenging while parking.
 
Tabcon said:
In a sense, I'd rather have a car that was restored by someone who once loved it than by some $40 an hour shop.
Click to expand...

So where is this shop that works for 40 bucks an hour?!... :smile:
 
I'm glad you told me about the quick rack. Actually, I find the steering one of the things I really like about my car. I think it's quick enough, surely probably quicker than me as it is.

I suppose they may be useful in auto-X or something.

I don't know what it is, but every time someone comes out with a new or 'improved' product for the TR4 I want to try it. I suppose it's either because there are not that many manufacturers catering to the TR4 crowd and it's intriguing when something new comes around, or that it's really true...there's a sucker born like me every minute...lol.
 
Restoring a restoration is actually more common than you might think. The typical approach for a quick "restoration" is a quick clean up and cosmetic makeover. If your lucky the engine is refreshed and if your real lucky, the rest of the drive-line has recieved due attention. It truly is a crap-shoot sometimes without copious amounts of documentation to know just to what level the restoration has been done to. Sometimes it simply comes down to what a persons definition of "restoration" is. You'll find its like trying to nail down an exact definition of "Art".

On the same line of thought. Beware of trying every "new and improved" ideas that sometimes appear for these cars. Many serve no real purpose other than separating money from your wallet.
 
(On the same line of thought. Beware of trying every "new and improved" ideas that sometimes appear for these cars. Many serve no real purpose other than separating money from your wallet.)



<span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">
you said it brother!</span></span>
 
To the original question: "What have I done?"
You have opened up a big ol' can o' worms.
Now that they are out , MUCH more energy will need to be expended to re-can them.
 
"OMG! What have I done now?"

Looks like you may have left the garage door, window or side door open and unattended and a group of the miteaswells infested your garage. They're REALLY sneaky that way! Be VERY careful or what WAS once a running, driveable car will be reduced to a pile of incomprehendible parts!! :laugh: LOL
 
Moseso said:
To the original question: "What have I done?"
You have opened up a big ol' can o' worms.
Now that they are out , MUCH more energy will need to be expended to re-can them.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth - but getting her sorted out that is part of the fun....
 
Great if ya wanna go fishing'

canofworms.jpg
 
Tabcon said:
...Oh yea, tomorrow I'm going to pull the steering rack also. I want to replace it with a quick rack, but I'm not too sure about the quality of these after market ones.
Click to expand...
I'm at work at the moment and don't have any books with me, but ISTR that some of the early TR4s had what I would consider a "quick" steering rack, with something like 2.5 turns lock to lock. I don't know when it was changed to the "slower" rack, but I do have an early TR4 steering rack that does have the 2.5 turns; I was, at one point, considering throwing it into my autocross Spitfire 4...but that never happened. :wink:
 
The reason I pulled my rack was that it was the original and had some play in it. It also had a problem with sticking when releasing the steering wheel in a corner.
I didn't like that at all.

I'm going to go ahead and try a quick rack from Racestorations. Darryl said the ones he sells are not twitchy at high speeds, which can be extremely frightening and necessitate the use of absorbent seat covers as well. Besides, I doubt I'll be spending much time above 100mph in this car anyway, but who knows. My intent is to rebuilt it with components that would allow me to easily convert it into a vintage racer. At the very least, I should end up with a car that handles and rides better than it does now.

I also bought a new set of tires for it, some Michelin Pilot Exalto 195/65-15's.
No new wheels yet as I've sent back the "Minilite" replica's I got from Moss, as well as the Superlite's that did not fit. I'd like to go with Panasport's, but they don't make a knock off version, which is what I want to use. I even ordered a set of Revolution 3 piece wheels from Moss in Europe, but they couldn't get the lug nuts for them, so I gave up on those also. I can't imagine offering wheels for sale and not having the lug nuts to fit them. Those kooky Brit's...lol.
 
Andrew Mace said:
I'm at work at the moment and don't have any books with me, but ISTR that some of the early TR4s had what I would consider a "quick" steering rack, with something like 2.5 turns lock to lock. I don't know when it was changed to the "slower" rack, but I do have an early TR4 steering rack that does have the 2.5 turns...
Click to expand...
OK, I'm home and found a reference in a Bill Piggott book. The TR4 did have a steering rack with only 2.5 turns; at CT20064 (LH steering) and CT20266 (RH steering), steering arms, mountings and chassis mounts were changed. I think it was at the same time that the rack was changed to one with 3.5 turns lock to lock.

Anyway, you might check to see what you have: if your car is before the numbers above and the rack has solid aluminum block mountings, it's almost certainly the "quick" rack already?
 
Miteaswells, whileimatits and ifiminthereanyways; these are all subgenera of the infamous shipwrightsdesease; highly contagious BTW, it lurks in that fluff in the corner of our garages.
 
No, my car is a later build. I can't remember the number, but it's in the 30k digits. It does have the aluminum mounting hardware, but they were added by the PO.
 
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