A Better Way to Clean Up Metal

Sept. 2010

I'd been using solvents, power wire brushes, and elbow grease on smaller parts and  managed to splatter dirt, grease, and gunk all over the Man Cave...there had to be a better way, besides, I can't imagine doing the whole frame this way !
I happened to mention my dilemma to Ted at TSI while on the phone with him ordering his frame stiffener kit. As usual, his answer was just what I needed to hear..."you're in Toledo, just call Laura at American Metal Cleaning, take your parts and frame over, and have them dipped. Oh yeah, and tell her Ted from Pandora told you to call her".
Well, a quick Internet search revealed that American Metal Cleaning uses an alkaline process to clean and strip the metal, and this  process is approved by the US Military and NASA...good enough for me !
This stripping / cleaning process takes about 7 days as it goes through several cycles of being dipped in the various solutions, however the metal is not degraded or made brittle...just clean !

Well, an appointment was made, the truck was loaded, and away we go !

Frame before.

 Parts before.

Delivery !

A happy guy with his cleaned frame:

Cleaned Parts:

Another frame pix..looks like new !

By the way, when I mentioned to Laura that Ted from Pandora sent me, she went on and on about what a great guy he is !

POR-15...The Rust Solution !

Pulling apart my "LBC" (Little British Car) and seeing all that rust made me wonder how it can be prevented from happening in the future. One solution that collector cars guys have embraced is a product called "POR-15". This product is a moisture-cured coating that dries better in a damp environment, but once it's cured, provides a non-porous coating that keeps moisture away from metal permanently. It's not cheap and requires the proper preparation, but the end result is well worth it.
I "restored" a horse drawn cultivator in Sept of 2009 and used POR-15 for the first time...a good trial for my TR6 project.
Here are some pixs of the cultivator project.

Before:

During:

After applying the POR-15

Completed

Cleaning and Painting Parts

July 2010,

A commitment to a full restoration means  that every part that is not being replaced must be cleaned and painted. This doesn't seem like such a big deal until you start looking at all those parts and realize that they are covered with 37 years of road dirt, grease, and tar , not mention all the undercoating gunk the factory / dealer applied.
Here are a few pics of parts that need to be be removed, cleaned, prepped, and painted.

Oh well, nothing is going to get done by just looking...time for wire brushes, solvent, and elbow grease !  Again, the 6-Pack folks have a vast amount of experience on what works and what tools will make the cleaning easier...I'll heed their advice !!

Documentation

I mentioned in an earlier blog how much I relied on my digital camera to document the various parts. Picutres are good, but words explaining the pictures are yet another critical element in any restoration. Thankfully, the British car community has a lot of terrific books, manuals, how-to guides, etc., to support the do-it -yourself restorer.  Here are just a few examples I have collected over the  last year.

The Bently's shop manual ( Blue above) is 600 pages of everything you would want to know about the mechanical workings of the TR6.  Roger Williams' How to restore Triumph TR5/250 & TR6 leads  you around all the pitfalls that await the novice restorer with many before and after photos, and  it gives words of wisdom.

Here is a view of the detail in Bentley's shop manual.

The vendors that provide parts also have catalogs that give great detail on what goes where all the way down to bolts, nuts, type of washers, etc. Of course there are the non-Triumph specific companies like Eastwood that provide everything from cans of spray paint to MIG welders and media blasters for the DIY restorer.

More Parts Come to Light !

June 2010,
 Once the tub was lifted off the frame, I got a whole new look at the rear suspension and drive train. Fun to think that some of these parts have been hidden from view for 37 years !

Seeing all these exposed drive train parts reminds me that now that I'm committed to doing a full blown frame off restoration, I'll need to make a lot of decisions regarding things like the gearbox, differential, fuel lines, brake lines, rear axles, etc.  Thankfully there are many vendors that can provide everything from stock type parts to upgraded components....this should be interesting! 

Here is a pix of a cart I made to move the frame around...very handy !

We Have Lift Off !

One of the cool things about this project is all the great tools that a guy "needs" to do the work...like a engine hoist / cherry picker ! 

Ok, let's start lifting stuff !!

Another tool I couldn't do without is a good digital camera !  I've taken literally hundreds of photos of how the small bits and pieces go together.  I don't know how guys did restorations before the invention of a digital camera ; I sure couldn't remember how everything goes back together, and with digital there is no film to buy.

Frame Off Restoration....The Start !

May 2010,

Once I accepted the fact that a rolling restoration was not possible, it was a small jump to "let's do a complete  frame off restoration" !  I already had a lot of the car pulled apart, so it didn't seem like such a huge job to separate the body tub from the frame.

It's really pretty amazing how many parts are involved with even a simple car like the TR6...here is just a sample.

The Rolling Restoration Dream Finally Crashed !

April 2010,

For the last 10 months I'd been telling myself that I could do a "rolling restoration", meaning , repairing the Six just small chunks at a time while still being able to drive the car in between times.  Well, the engine fiasco  put that idea to rest....this car isn't going any where for a long time !
Thankfully I have a very perceptive and understanding wife, who all along has been telling me that this is a hobby car and there is no time table on when it needs to be completed, so just enjoy in process.

With those words in mind, I began dismantling more "stuff" like this wiring harness...

How do you spell spaghetti ?

Gee, I wonder why the fuses were blowing ?"

Would you trust this guy with your wiring harness ?

Ted Tells Me The Facts of Life....(About Thrust Washers)

March 2010,

During my visit with Ted Schumacher, he asked me if I understood the concept of thrust washers in the TR6 engine.  Of course my answer was "thrust who" !?!  So Ted pulled a set of new thrust washers off the shelf and explained where they went in the engine (at the rear of the engine around the crankshaft), what their purpose was (control the fore/aft movement of the crankshaft) a.k.a. "float", and most importantly, how to measure the amount of float (should be between 6 and 9 thousands of an inch).

On the drive back home, I got a sinking feeling that the float in my engine was more that .009 of an inch !  Ted had also explained  that the bronze face of the washers was designed to be sacrificed in order to preserve the crankshaft (clutch usage is what tries to move the crankshaft  fore and aft ) ,and checking the float was something that must be done annually or every 10K miles.

Once I got home, I went to the 6-Pack Forum and did a search on "thrust washers".  It seems this has been a favorite topic over the years as many threads were retrieved for me to read. I learned that if the float becomes too great from worn washers,  they will fall out of their crankshaft nesting place and lay in the oil pan. Once that happens, the crankshaft and and block will slowly destory each other !

During my next visit to the "Man Cave" (my garage) where I am working on "Tillie", I grabbed  the engine damper and gave a it yank....it moved waaaay too much (you should hardly feel .009), so ,I got a ruler and rough measured about 1/8 inch movement, that's 125 thousands !!  Based on what I had read on the 6-Pack threads, I knew my thrust washers were laying in my oil pan, and who knows how long the crankshaft and engine block had been tearing each other apart.

Here is what I saw when I dropped the oil pan....

Here are some of the metal chunks / shavings

And finally the battered thrust washers

You'll notice the washer on the left appears to look pretty good, while the one on the right shows battle scars. I'm told that is very common, as the left washer was in front of the crank, while the right washer was at the rear, and it  takes the most abuse. 
At this point , I know I'll need to have the engine rebuilt. The issue is whether or not the crankshaft and engine block can be salvaged.

 Ted has assured me that he has the machine shop resources available when it comes time to deal with the engine, so for now I've put the whole engine mess on the back burner.

A Visit with Ted at TSI

February 2010

I had been making a list of things to order from TSI and finally pulled the trigger on ordering those parts.  When Ted had  my shopping list completed, he called and mentioned that since I lived just a little over an hour from his shop, I might want to drive down and pick up the order, saving the shipping cost.  It turned out to be a sunny winter day, and the roads were clear, so I pointed my Ram truck to Pandora, Ohio, home of Ted Schumacher Imported Automotive.

A short list of Ted's 40+ year involvement with British iron includes racing, engine building,  part design, and part manufacture.  He is truly a legend among British car enthusiasts!  These days, other vendors do the actual parts manufacture, engine rebuilding, etc., but the work is done to Ted's specifications....to very high standards !

For me, one highlight of the visit was seeing his shop.  The building that is home to TSI was originally opened in 1914 as a Dodge dealership by Ted's  uncle, Leon Steiner.(Steiner Motor Sales) Ted's dad worked in the dealership before and after WWII, (Leon had all daughters),until retiring in 1968,and it remained a Dodge / Plymouth dealer until the franshise was sold in 1987.  In 2000, Ted was able to purchase back the building and is restoring it to look like it did when he worked there as a kid the the 40's and 50's....very cool!

Just to show you what a small world we live in, my first grade teacher in 1954 was a Miss Steiner, and her brother, Hayden Steiner, lived next door to where I was growing up. They were originally from Pandora, and when I asked Ted, he confirmed they were his mother's kin.  That explains why they always drove Dodges bought from the dealer in Pandora !!

Here is an example of Ted seeing a need and providing a fix.  The standard oil pressure line from the engine to the oil gauge in the dash was plastic, and when it broke, it made a mess.  Ted's fix is a braided stainless steel line....

Likewise, part of the line from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder was plastic.  Braided stainless steel is way tougher and looks great !