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Dugger

Dugger

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If there is a previous post cover this, please advise.

I probably have bitten off more than I can chew.....

I am currently in the process of restoring a 67 Spit MK3, FD12546L, that I found literally rotting away in Lexington, Ky in 2002. Frankly, this was not a car that I would normally attempt to restore, simply because of the relative value .vs. cost to repair, but because I made the mistake of taking my wife along, we ended up with the rusty beast on a trailer and finally in my garage. I do appreciate the fact that she has a lot of confidence in my limited abilities, and in her defence, we did own one when we were first married. [Note to self - leave her home next time] If you would like to see the car as I bought it, you can visit my web page https://personalpages.tds.net/~mwdugger

Once home, I started the dismantling process. Cataloging parts,bagging bolts, making a list of replacement items, etc.,... standard stuff. And of course, I found other issues I didn't/couldn't see, but suspected. The good news - the motor, tranny, and frame are in decent condition and it appears that it has not suffered from a serious accident. One unusal thing I found later was that this car has a factory replacement engine (DG1767ESS) from a later model Toledo. I suspect this will be another problem if a rebuild is in her future.

I knew when I loaded her on the trailer that the floor pans, inner sills, and battery box were beyond repair and would have to be replaced. This was one the main bargaining chip along with the sorry paint job. Since early 2003, I have been on the lookout for a decent replacement tub, but I am finding out that a non-rusted MK3 tub is seriuosly hard to find. One exception has been, occasionally, on the west coast, but shipping costs and not being able to actually see the tub before purchasing make that somewhat prohibitive and risky.

I have priced the needed panels from SpitBits, NW British Parts, and Vicky Brit and the difference in cost is minimal, so I am wondering which supplier provides the better piece, gage and fit?

Or..Do all the panels actually come from the same manufacturer?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
I think they're all manufactured by British Heritage. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
If that's the case, price is the deciding factor, beware of the freight/handling charges though, they may vary.
 
Hi,

I'm not really familiar with Spit body panels, but many relatively simple items like battery trays, inner sills and floors *might* be more cost effective to fabricate locally from scratch. It could be worthwhile to talk to some body shops in your area.

I say this because there is nearly always still some fitting involved with the replacement panels that you see in the various catalogs. It will depend in part upon whether you will do the installation yourself or have it done. If having it done and paying both to buy the reproduction panel and to have it properly fitted, it would likely cost more than it just to have a skilled person make the panel on the spot and install it.

Especially with some of these simpler items, a good panel beater can make up a near perfect panel quickly and efficiently. The hardest thing is finding a really good panel beater.

With more complex parts such as hoods and fenders, I'd be more inclined to buy the repro parts as a starting point, simply because they would be more costly to have made up locally and involve a lot more skill to accurately make by hand.

If you decide the vendor route is better for you, personally I like to work with TRF as much as possible. I just like their attitude and enthusiasm for LBCs. It's not *just* a business for them! Moss is good too, but I find their prices a bit higher and have to add high California sales taxes on top of that. I used them more when I had a good, reliable out-of-state distributor to work through, bu the retired from the biz.

Also, TRF has discount plans that might be worthwhile when doing a major restoration, $100 for a year's membership earns all sorts of discounts. I think Moss has something similar. Don't know about VB.

On the other hand, I've easily had more items back-ordered with TRF than the other two vendors combined (but must add I haven't used Moss/VB a lot lately). And, a few of those infamous TRF back-orders got pretty ridiculous, both in terms of the number of items BO'ed and the length of time. Time-wise, the worst was nearly five years... I'd forgotten I had even ordered it! In January I ordered some 20 parts from TRF. I'd estimate 14 or 15 items were back-ordered. Most were fulfilled within a week or two or three, some took a month or more. One last item arrived a week or two ago. However, they did work with me on the phone and via email to help expedite the most urgent items.

I doubt there is much difference in body panel quality, vendor-to-vendor. They probably source these items from the same manufacturer in Britain (which means import duties were levied and are included in the final price, too). I have noticed quality differences in some smaller items when there was an opportunity to compare. Among the "big three": TRF came out best, Moss second and VB was third. A really blatant example was some locking tab washers. It so happened I got a set from each of these vendors. TRF's were shiney and zinc plated to help keep them that way for a reasonable time. Moss' were unplated, certainly serviceable, but would likely get rusty pretty quickly after installation. VB's were also unplated, also serviceable, but already had a lot of spots of surface rust on them.

There have been exceptions, but this comparison has generally held true over a wide variety of parts and a number of years purchasing from these three vendors.

Keep us posted about your project!

Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L
 
I'd have to agree that the sheetmetal panels are probably coming from the same source. I ordered floors for my TR3 from TRF, but they were a back-ordered item. I couldn't get a time of delivery from them, so I got them from Moss who had them in stock. The gauge of the material was the same as what I took out, and the fit was darn near perfect. I felt so good about how the job came out, I tackled the trunk floor also. The fit on that was also excellent. What helped I think was removing the original panels completely, and welding in the replacements as the factory originally did. The trunk was an involved process, as it took almost a month in my spare time to complete that job, but I'm real happy with the results.

Replacing interior panels can be a bit time consuming, but I didn't find it too difficult, and the little mess-ups here and there will all be covered over.
 
Dugger,

Just be happy your wife really digs TRs!!! At least you don't have to pay cash for parts to keep things off the credit card bill.
 
Thanks for the responses. I wasn't aware that TRF sold Spitfire panels. I will be ordering the panels this month as my monthly lbc budget has yet to be expended.

I will keep everyone updated as to my progress. I am in the process of building a new web site for Ol Spit's restoration work and as soon as it is up and running I will make it available to the forum.

Thanks again
 
Dugger,

You might also want to talk with Nigel at Spitbits. He has been very helpful to me in the past and seems to be competative in prices.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I will be ordering the panels this month as my monthly lbc budget has yet to be expended.

[/ QUOTE ]

An LBC budget!, what a quaint idea. Think I had one of those once but it didn't last long
 
Budget !?! You mean there *IS* a limit to the amount one can spend. Wow...
 
Hey BOX, I am definitely interested. Just check out the website for the dismantling pictures to see why.

I just finished uploading a new website for the restoration of the Spitfire. Although I haven't really started putting her back together, I thought you fellow enthusiasts would like to see what I starting with. Okay, I know some of you might be asking why I took on car in such condition. I can only answer that one way, I just couldn't stand to see her parted out.

https://home.comcast.net/~duggergang
 
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