Beauty IS only skin deep!!!

The beast…yup, that’s the new name for the TF 1500. At least until something better comes along, maybe the owner has a better name for IT. As dad laughs at my cursing he says, you never know what you have until you get into it. The Beast was such a nice car to look at when it came in…now the only thing I still like about it is the nice shiny wheels.

The sheet metal that came off the body tub (fenders etc.) really doesn’t look that bad (it still has to go to the stripper, who knows how much will come back still looking good.) But the body tub is another story. There seems to have been a water problem at one time. There were a lot of rusted screws, nuts and bolts. The cutting wheel is my friend!!! The rocker panels are pretty bad as well as the rear wheel wells. Also for some reason the top rails, both inner and outer, were cut in the middle and pieced. There were a number of nuts missing, one on the body brace to the roll bar and two were loose. I never test drove this car but it must have rattled a bit.

Top rails when the bolts were out!

A little bondo in the wheel well

Rusty rocker

On the bright side the fight is almost over. All the sheet metal that has to go to the stripper is pretty much ready to go. All I wanted is to have the engine ready to take to the machine shop when we pick up the one that is there now. The last parts came in on Thursday, I ran them down on Friday and was told the engine work would probably be done this coming week. So I had to hustle to get the front off the Beast and while I was at it got the rest apart. It will be easier to get the engine out!!!

Dad has finally gotten the TC he was working on pretty much straightened out. He has the fender for the TD that was in an accident almost ready to paint and has the parts ready to fix the damage. He has a water pump to change and the engine to rebuild and install…then I think he’s caught up and can help with restorations. If he gets this done in the next couple weeks we will be in good shape for the restoration “season.”

Catch you later…

Yawn...sorry tired

I had high hopes of working at the shop a bit this weekend…and I did, but just a bit! Dad and I cut about 4 cords of wood (now to split and stack it!) We cleaned up the area where we stack it. I also stacked a little over a cord on the racks on the deck, preparing for the winter. But I did get down to the shop to clean and overhaul the sand blaster.

I had used the sandblaster a lot this past week getting the parts ready for the engine rebuild on the MK II. I found out Friday, while putting in another order, that the cams that were on back order until October had in fact been shipped already. I ordered two in case they were so back ordered that they wouldn‘t have any in a week or two. I need one for the TF restoration coming up. My plans are to bring the TF engine parts to the machine shop when we pick up the MK II engine pieces.

Speaking of the TF…with the Jag gone there is a spot to house the TF. We are waiting for some screws to mount the dash in 53TD so I hopped on the TF and got to work on the disassembling the front of the car to have access to the engine when the time comes to remove it. I actually had 3 sets of sockets out Whitworth, metric and American. You find such an assortment of fasteners on a 59-year-old car. Dad would also like to have the sheet metal to and back from the stripper before the snow flies. We have a couple weeks left to “maintenance” season before we get into the serious restoration time, winter.

A spot to hang out.

Here we go!

A rust hole, hope the wood is ok!

Today we did some rearranging at the shop and made room so we could move the cars as we need to. This means that the MGA is now housed outside in the Quonset hut and there is a clear shot in and out of the paint booth. I’ve wanted to get BlownTC into the booth to get the frame painted so the suspension and brakes can be finished. Over the winter the body and metal painting should get done. Here’s hoping…I know how things go now…it only took me 8 months to figure it out!

We are also anticipating getting the TA body tub back sometime this winter. At times I don’t even remember this car is in the shop. We don’t do TA body tubs, just the TC, TD and TF. The engine is rebuilt and waiting, the frame is painted and waiting. I’m hoping to have a good amount of the work that needs to get done in the shop finished before the TA body comes back. I guess I’m forever the optimist…

Later.

Well I concede defeat as far as driving my TD down the road before summer is over. I still haven’t gotten my water pump back on. It is painted but we aren’t happy with the shade of red so it has to be repainted. Even if the pump was back on my gauges aren’t beck from England yet. They were sent out in May and are almost finished but I don’t expect to see them for another month or two. I guess that is the way things go when you have to rely on others’ expertise. They are getting a total restoration and at this point are going to cost well over a grand. But they are the original gauges and I think it’s worth it to have “brand new” gauges. I’m beginning to understand why you don’t set goals in this business. I had wanted to drive my car this summer…sans fenders, bonnet, sitting on an apple crate if necessary etc.

On other fronts…the Jag is gone so there is a little more room to move, dad hasn’t filled the open spot yet. This eventually will be the spot for the TF restoration. I am using the space to get the dash finished for the 53TD. That should go in tomorrow. Then the TF will be moved into the spot. This will allow access to move the MGA (yeah we have one of those too) out into the Quonset hut. I believe that car was put on hold before I moved up here so I don’t have the information on it. THEN…that will allow access to the paint booth and BlownTC can move in and get the frame painted.

Lets see…on the “dailies” the TC that came in to have the radiator exchanged (it had the one in it on loan) and oil changed is still in. It has two brakes not working. Taking them apart dad thinks that regular fluid was put in it and not silicon fluid. There is a lot of rust and moisture. It should be finished soon.

The MK II that had trouble with radiator fluid in the engine is on its way to an engine rebuild. The machine work is getting done and parts are coming in. I cleaned the sump out on Monday and sandblasted the red paint off of it. It’s looking much better. The only snag so far is that the camshaft and tappets are on back order. I have a bit more cleaning and the carb rebuild then we will be in waiting mode. That seems to happen a little in this business. If I’m not mistaken we have been in limbo with a ’37 TA for quite some time.

Sump sludge if you look through the plate you can see clumps

Bad tappets

Ok I'm off to bed…Later

Holy Crap!!!

HOLY CRAP!!! I got home Thursday night about 7:00 and as I passed the shop it looked like a parking lot. For real there were 4 cars parked outside and a trailer sitting next to the shops trailer, only I didn’t say holy “crap.”

Of the 5 cars that were outside one was the TD that was in the accident, previously mentioned. The B was just there for an oil change, lube etc. The cream TD with the rear wheel off was having trouble with getting gas to the carbs. There were two fuel pumps, two fuel filters and no gas. The car in the trailer, a TD again, I guess is just in to have the radiator swapped. It has had the radiator from my dad’s car in it for two years and it’s time to swap it out. The TD the is off to the right of the door came in for an oil change knowing that there was radiator fluid getting into the oil, it is now in for an engine overhaul and it’s not looking good (more on that in another post.)



The B was out quick on Friday. I hadn’t planned to work until Monday; I still don’t feel up to par. But I tore the rest of the engine apart on Friday. The TD with the gas problem went out this morning. Yup Saturday work. Monday the Jaguar is heading home and hopefully the engine parts will be off to the machine shop or at the latest Tuesday. My hopes are to have the TF engine parts ready to go to the machine shop when we pick up the TD parts.

I hope this is the last rush to have driving cars repaired and we can concentrate on the restoration projects over the winter. Bedtime…later

Almost back

I’m still in Buffalo. As luck would have it I got sick just before I was supposed to leave. I ran a temp of 101.6, not that bad but bad enough to make me not want to drive 8 ½ hours. I had clogged sinuses and an upper respiratory infection to round out my malady.

Dad wasn’t too happy with the delay it seems a car came in with engine trouble (antifreeze in the oil) and it’s turning into a total engine rebuild. He pulled the head off had it checked for cracks and warping with nothing showing bad. So it’s tear it down until you find the problem that is usually close to a rebuild anyway.

He also wanted to get the Jag out of the shop this weekend…ooops! So I guess if I’m up to it I’ll be putting in some hours this weekend to make up for the days I’m missing with this illness. I’m sure we can get back on track fairly quick.

Anyway that’s the short of it, I'll be leaving for NH in the morning...