I have been on this build for a little over 2 years and I know it is not a Buick but I think the minds I see on this site are some of the best. When I started on this it was boxes and bins of parts. I started in the owners shop to get it rolling and running . Now I have moved it to My shop and I can spend time on it. My question is has any one worked on one of these? It started out as 3 cars. The body was hit hard in the front and sent with the other 2 cars and a shop built a strait car out of the three. When I started on it it was in fresh paint with no rolling gear under it. I have it to the point of running and trying to set it up to run correctly and stop. I have a unlimited budget but have been asked to use as many original parts as possible. Have any of You guys dealt with a project like this? How do You tell the costumer thet the part can not be saved and they are better off to buy new. He thinks I can do magic.
Sometimes polishing the turd you get ess on ya. Sounds like a project and I hope you are doing it for time and materials. There are many times the new isn't as good as the original, but when the original stuff is messed up it can become a spiral down.
Thanks for the input. I need to bleed all the brakes and the clutch today. Then I can sort out all the parts for the e brake. It is all new and in bags. Then I need to sort out the Wiring . It is a painless harness but it is for a 75 model and this thing is a mix of 72 74 75.
It looks like you've got this one well underway, in fact I don't see where you would be having issues because you've made it look good so far. Now having worked on a few European cars, yes, there are issues with "fitment" especially with British cars. You have to know the vintage of the original part, and then there's a good likelihood that you'll end up having to modify that to fit. The English have a special position in their factories called a fitter; this is a guy who is quick enough to see the essential problem and figure out a correction for it and make it work. So in the end, you end up mixing and matching whatever works. As long as it does the job intended for it, how you've arrived there is a non issue. Restoring one of those cars becomes a very expensive proposition, because it's all about time sorting out issues. The English were notorious for making run changes on the assembly lines and then not saying anything about it. The overall fitment of the car is also highly dependent on when the car was produced, ie if it was built on a Wednesday, or Friday, etc. Quality control was $hitty with a capital S in the English car industry back then, lots of labour issues and strikes, coupled with bad engineering and cumbersome government mandated changes. You're going to end up building a better car out of parts than they ever did in reality. It sounds like you're approaching it in a methodical and appropriate manner, one system at a time. You are a miracle worker, and I hope you've got an assembly manual or a chassis manual for one of these things to at least serve as a guidepost as to what you're looking at. My experience with British cars has been that new or old, it won't fit and it'll need some work to make work. Replace with new as much as you can, you'll have a chance at staying ahead of it that way. Some of the jobber stuff is better than the original stuff because someone took the time to correct the inherent problem the designers missed or ignored. And with the wiring, take note, the grounds and the location of the grounds as per the book are absolute crap, as are the fittings. You can spend the rest of your life working out electrical issues on these things, so if you've got a good head for wiring, modify and seal it off properly, something they never got right to begin with. They didn't call Lucas (the company, not the board member) the Prince of Darkness for nothing. Wiring harnesses shouldn't be too different, if I remember right most of the componentry didn't change all that much throughout the production run. Bottom line; nothing will fit like it is supposed to or as depicted in the book. There are no two bodies that will fully interchange parts like the US cars do. Yes, the 72-76 models looked exactly the same and technically were identical, but they weren't. There were subtle changes made all throughout the production run, and even two models built side by side will be different enough to be frustrating. Even engines, every one of them is ever so slightly different, in tuning one, you end up using your ear and feel more than you do a set of specs.
Thanks Marc, I have often said working on British cars is like slamming Your hand in the door over and over again. I did get a replacement harness from painless but it is for a 75 and the car is a mix of 72 73 75.
Years ago my dad bought a ‘58 Jaguar XK 150 dhc. After driving it for a few months he decided to strip it down to bare metal and paint it a different color. When he started on the hood it had a coat of body filler at least 3/16” thick across the ENTIRE surface. The hoods were aluminum and understandably flimsy. Some previous owner decided to reinforce the hood with strips of metal on the underside held in place with pop rivets (the reason it needed to be built up with so much body filler). Dad decided the best thing would be to get a new/different hood that hadn’t been messed with. He found one at a fair price and brought it home. Guess what, It Didn’t Fit Correctly! All of the parts (fenders, headlight buckets, hood etc) were hand made and assembled by different people. You couldn’t (at least not very easily) take a part from one car and put it on another. I’m not sure if your TR6 is the same but that could be at least one reason for issues with how it all fits together. You’re right that their are a lot of impressive minds on this forum. I would bet that there’s a forum dedicated to those makes and models. You might try to find one to get some really specific answers to your questions. And as mentioned earlier, British wiring was a disaster! Mark
i want a GT6.ive looked at a few..but they have serious rust around here..but..i will find a nice solid one, i want to do some kind of american 4 or 6 cyl with a turbo and a manual trans..and paint it British Racing Green...
I forgot I started this thread and I have got a lot done. I am just waiting for interior clips from over the pond and I can close it up. It runs like a champ and even stops. I would like to say I got all the gremlins out of the wiring but I know there is more! Just have not seen them yet. There is a bride that needs it for Her wedding on May 24 weekend so.
All int parts are in house. I have just found out how lazy the body guy was. I needed to install seals in the inner fenders and when I pulled out the old one I noticed that half of the hidden fender bolts were missing and half full of bondo. Now I have to spend time with a tap and install said bolts before I can close up the inner fenders. the fenders were about a half inch to fit the front bumper but I think I got that.
Passed the safety inspection on the weekend. Top is installed and I am down to seat belts seats and radio. Should have it all done next weekend.
Mark..it sure looks like YOU GOT THIS! I am impressed with your stamina to continue even when you felt like giving up! When Im not working on Buicks, I have been known to turn to British Cars. My very first car was a 67 Etype roadster. My dad and I bought it wrecked and it was our first attempt at restoration. More recently, I've worked with several local British Car Enthusiasts over the years and painted quite a few for friends... LOVE those Classic British MotorCars!!! TR6's are my favorite: Wheelz, Tampa Bay
Thanks Wheelz. After I take care of the mothers in My life today I hope to get out for a couple of hours today.We have blue sky's and sunshine so if I get the tires on in time I may get it out for a rip or a photo shoot at the minimum .
I have never owned a foreign car (nor have I ever owned an American-built motorcycle) but I do have a certain liking of older British cars. Having said that, my concern of British machinery is that the British never will do something the simple way if instead it can be done with complexity. I once did a front end alignment on an older Bentley (I may have mentioned this before) followed by an alignment on a full-size Ford. The lower control arms on the Bentley were made up of (as I recall) about 21 pieces of beautifully crafted steel and aluminum. The Ford's were a one-piece steel stamping. I would love to have one of the Bentley's control arms to hang on the garage wall, but I can't think of any reason why the Ford's control arms were not just as good - and a hell of a lot less expensive.
