Time To Tackle The Body

Well, now that I have a rolling chassis, I have to confront the body tub and various panels.  I've been putting this off for almost two years because I don't have the skill set to do it myself, and I know a good body man and painter cost serious money. Here is my body tub....not too pretty

Don't you wonder what's under this mess !?! 

Back in the winter of '09 / '10, I pulled off the front fenders and used a heat gun and scrapper to clean off the worst of the gunk.

I never got to the rear fenders, so I'll be paying to have them cleaned.

A highly recommended media blaster has been located less than a hour away, so it's time to load up a U-Haul and get the body show on the road !

Trying to figure out how to load all the various parts / pieces so they will travel without tearing themselves apart proved to be quite a job.  My neighbor Tom, who is a retired fire chief, came over and worked his magic on the ropes where needed.

 Good old ratchet straps work wonders.

Stay tuned for more car body fun !

We Have a Roller !

I think the last time tires were on Tillie was December 2009, so it was with great expectations that I mounted 4 wheels/tires on to the chassis creating a "roller"...no brakes, no power, no steering, but it does roll !

Yeah, I'm one happy camper !  Now it's time to get busy with brake and fuel lines. 

Anti- Sway Bars

  The '68 TR250, even though it had the new 6 cylinder engine, didn't come from the factory with  an anti-sway bar, and it soon became apparent that the heavier engine was causing excessive understeer and would require some attention to the suspension. The factory decided a front 3/4" anti-sway bar would cure the understeer problem, and life would be good. So, front anti-sway bars were  introduced first on the '69 TR6s. Actually, the factory was a little late to the anti-sway bar party. Several aftermarket companies were already providing bars for the earlier model TRs.  FYI, understeer is what happens when you turn the steering wheel on a wet road, but the car continues to go straight.  Well, the bar helped, but the TR6 still wanted to understeer. Of course the racing folks soon figured out that a larger front anti-sway bar helped even more, and a matching rear anti-sway bar brought about the neutral steering the racers desired.
Keeping in mind that a stock U.S. spec. TR6 only produces about 104 hp, it's pretty obvious that these cars aren't made for straight line drag racing. No, it's a sports car, made to go around curves quickly! With that thought in mind, I ordered new matching 7/8" front and rear anti-sway bars from Good  Parts. Richard has a race prepped TR6, so he knows how to make these cars handle.

The bars are power coated in semi-gloss black.

The mounting brackets are carved out of solid billet aluminum and use nylatron bushings. 

All the hardware is first class !

Since the TR6 came from the factory with provisions for a front anti-sway bar, the new Good Parts bar is a bolt on affair.

Front bar all buttoned up !

Well, it's on to the rear anti-sway bar, and since the factory did not provide for such a bar, I'll need to break out the cordless drill, a 7/16th" bit, and put 4 holes in the frame ! Wish me luck!

Using the old measure twice and drill once rule, I was able to get 2 holes on each side of the frame in the correct place !  A "U" bolt is fed up, across, and down, and will be used to hold a bracket on each side of the frame.

Another bracket is mounted up against the trailing arm, directly under the rear spring on each side.

The end result looks like this on each side.  The extra holes allow for future adjustment.

As usual, with Good Parts, the brackets are cut from billet aluminum and the bushings are nylatron !