Been looking for a fun, cheap project car

[Blarg]

If you do decide to buy it the first thing you need to do is pull the gas tank and have it flushed and resealed. Sitting for 12 years means there is a bunch of varnish and probably rust built up that will continually clog the filters. 

[nate]

On 9/30/2019 at 9:11 AM, Blarg said:

If you do decide to buy it the first thing you need to do is pull the gas tank and have it flushed and resealed. Sitting for 12 years means there is a bunch of varnish and probably rust built up that will continually clog the filters. 

I should hopefully be going to check it out this weekend.  Any idea if there is a fuse I can pull to make sure the fuel pump is off when I try to crank it over?

[Blarg]

The weather a Lake Cuyamaca is absolutely perfect right now. I have my feet up on the patio overlooking this small lake waiting for my lunch. 

Took a trip to Julian, Sunday. Almost burnt the Spitfire engine up driving up the steep grade on HWY 79 behind some jackass iin a suburban that kept unnecessarily slowing down in the turns, killing any momentum I had. Was running mostly in 2nd gear overdrive and nearly overheated the engine. 

I was part of a Triumph club caravan and everyone was pissed this jerk never pulled over like he should have to let traffic past. If it weren't in the mid seventies I would has to have pulled to let the engine cool down. 

That's the hitch with driving these old sports cars, they have very narrow torque and horsepower bands and you can be stuck between gears if not allowed to drive in the cars terms instead of traffic. When that happens bad things occur. Overheating, engine wear, stress on the trans. 

I'm probably going to need to have the valves looked at when I get home. I hear some tapping under the valve cover, and that's never good. 

[Blarg]

I have negelcted this thred because the return trip from Julian resulted in some very bad news. The engine rebuild was a failure in catastrophic ways and the mchine shop is refusing to take responsibility for their shoddy work. The engine spun a crank bearing, the end play should be around .004 to .008 but you could grab the pulley and rock the crank back and forth by not a thousandth but over a half inch. This caused the pistions to bind up and when downshifting to a stop the engine would stall out in low RPMs. 

I knew there was something wrong because there was a vibration from 2,800 - 4,000 rpm. I even took it to the machine shop to show them there was something wrong and they clained it wasn't the motor it was a mount or frame vibration. Horseshit. They didn't inspect the crank after it was turned and installed it with a ground up end seat. That and they never replaced the valve springs so the #1 valves collapsed, essentially I was running about 80 PSI out of the #1 cylinder because neither exhaust or intake were fully closed. 

So for the last couple of months the car has been at a shop in Chatsworth that only works on Triumphs and the owner races Spitifires since the 80's. He knows this car front to tail and that is basically what we had to do, fix or replace just about everything from engine to differential.

The engine was borderline for retaining the block since the previous machine shop screwed everything up. The crank was thrown away, the honing was off from the crank banging back and forth in the block and binding up the pistons. So it is being honed to .060 over which is the absolute maximum it can go. After that the engine is basically a doorstop. I no longer have a 1,298 cc motor, it is now 1,351 cc's. 

Three years go when I started this poject I had replaced all of the 30 year old bushings with Poli bushings. It turns out there was a bad batch of them on the market at the time and they are all shot. They were supposed to last 10 years or at least 60,000 miles, they came apart in 3,000. Add to the fun the rear didn't have grease zerks so those half shaft ends had to be replaced as well and since we are spending like a madman I had the 4:11 differential replaced with a 3:89 to drop the top gear freeway RPMs by about 500, Son now at 70 I should be taching about 3,800 instead of 4,200. It will make for a more comfortable drive on long distance trip but shouldn't affect it's ability to hill climb since I have basically a 6 speed transmission with the overdrive.

Just when you all think I've lost my mind, today I am going down to Irvine today to look at a 1970 Triumph GT6 that is in storage. 

[Blarg]

The GT6 in Irvine was intresting. On one hand it is basically a one owner car, the neoighbor is selling it for him after driving it for a year. In that time he had a marginal paint job put on it without painting the engine bay valance so you go from new paint to rust and crud. This is called putting lipstick on a pig. The engine bay is dirt and grime, no one has repalced any hoses in a decade or more. The radiator valance is held on with bent cpoat hangers. The tires are 8 years old on chrome spokes that look out of place. All of the door seals are missing, never isntalled after paint. The passenger door is out of alignment. The interior is shot. Dashboard cracked, the wood venner is sperating, all of the door panels are warped and torn along with the seats. It needs a new headliner and all new carpets and every piece of chrome is pitted. 

And this guy thinks it's worth $10K. If the mechanicals are solid, like the engine doesn't need a refresh and the electrical all works, there is still about $8-10K needed just to make this a driver since the paint is a cheap single stage with some obvious flaws. If the engine and trans needs work that's an additional $7K. 

I shouldn't even consider this. 

[Tank]

I admire your persistence. I'd have given up on the first triumph years ago.

adding a second triumph to your stable . . . I'm not really sure what to say other than do what makes you happy.

[nate]

$10k!?  Insanity

[nate]

Since @Blarg mentioned it in another thread, I have still been out looking.  I checked out an early Miata, 280Z, TVR 3000s (when I saw the price I knew it was going to be a disaster) and a 70s 2 door Land Cruiser.

Everything out here is always so rusted I just can't bring myself to do it.  I do own a TIG welder but I don't have the skill or patience to do real body work.  I took the Miata to a friend's shop to put up on his lift because it looked good, then you see the frame and it is literally turning to dust in front of us.

[Blarg]

Yeah, most foreign cars that are older than 1990 didn't have the best rust preventatives. Lancias were known to be rusting on the showroom floors.

The danger of buying online is so much can be hidden even in undercarriage pictures. My best friend had someone from the BMW club go out and inspect a 1974 300CS he was bidding on to see if the picture matched the car and the report came back that everything looked to be as represented so he bought the car. First time he filled it with gas is when he found out the owner didn't disclose the gas tank was rusted through. That was a $1,500 part that only can be bought from one supplier from Germany and it took 3 weeks for delivery. 

 

[nate]

The Land Cruiser was actually pretty nice and reasonably priced, he had done a lot of mechanical work on it, and parts were available, but it needed two front fenders and a steering rack to replace some rust damage.  To find the fenders I would have needed to go to Arizona or CA to get some that weren't rusted.

[Blarg]

Most of those parts are easy to find without trying to use a donor.

https://www.coolcruisers.com/fefjafmr.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsYb0BRCOARIsAHbLPhHWIv69TMBPr-uU_4DbIJkkDV_-i_Fd-6kaa2viIUQektzgZCDaHgcaAoakEALw_wcB

[nate]

30 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Most of those parts are easy to find without trying to use a donor.

https://www.coolcruisers.com/fefjafmr.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsYb0BRCOARIsAHbLPhHWIv69TMBPr-uU_4DbIJkkDV_-i_Fd-6kaa2viIUQektzgZCDaHgcaAoakEALw_wcB

One of the LC forums I was reading said that this company is not great.  I never did look to see how much it would cost to ship, but those are reproduction, not original fenders.

[Tank]

On 3/30/2020 at 4:26 PM, nate said:

The Land Cruiser was actually pretty nice and reasonably priced, he had done a lot of mechanical work on it, and parts were available, but it needed two front fenders and a steering rack to replace some rust damage.  To find the fenders I would have needed to go to Arizona or CA to get some that weren't rusted.

Dude, missed opportunity...

 

[nate]

Man that looks so amazing.

BTW, never did buy a project car, we have the Tesla and Pathfinder.  When Abby is old enough to drive in a couple years she gets the Pathfinder and then maybe I can find something.

[Tank]

25 minutes ago, nate said:

Man that looks so amazing.

Didn’t realize til after I posted it that it doesn’t even have cheese. Sorry, buddy.

[nate]

5 hours ago, Tank said:

Didn’t realize til after I posted it that it doesn’t even have cheese. Sorry, buddy.

I just pretend that the disgusting tomato is actually cheese

[Tank]

6 hours ago, nate said:

I just pretend that the disgusting tomato is actually cheese

I’d rather have the tomato instead of the spread. Blech  

[nate]

30 minutes ago, Tank said:

I’d rather have the tomato instead of the spread. Blech  

you are the devil

[Tank]

On 8/30/2020 at 9:59 PM, packy nateon said:

you are the devil

i hear the same thing every time i announce a test is coming in history class.

[Jay]

So @Blarg a few questions:

1. What did you pay for the Spitfire originally?
2. How much have you spent on it?
3. How much could you sell it for?

Thanks.

[Blarg]

I bought it 20 years ago for about $1,500. 

I've made some foolish mistakes along the way which cost me basically double what I should have invested.

On the open market it could get around $12-15K. The resale for Spitfires hasn't gone crazy, you can still get a good driving example for under $10K

I have no intention of selling it so the monetary investment isn't really a factor. I like the car styling, it's driving characteristics and the escapism into another era where cars were not so sophisticated while also having a personality. New cars are sophisticated but as sterile as a housing tract in Irvine, where everything pretty much looks and is designed the same but the air conditioner and internet work nicely. 

[Jay]

I've always wanted to get an MGB, like this:

[Blarg]

Steel bumpers mean less detuning and lighter. Pre 1972 are the best. One word of warning, a recent article came out that has shook the Triumph community. We all like our small British sports cars but they do not have a profile that is very visible and contact with other vehicles can be fatal.

This recently happened when a Chevy pickup literally ran over the top of a Triumph GT6 coupe that was stopped at a light behind another car. The driver was killed. 

Worse is the asshole that didn't stop posted this right after the accident.

So far he hasn't been charged with anything, which is a crime in itself. 

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

On 9/27/2020 at 9:34 AM, Blarg said:

I like the car styling, it's driving characteristics and the escapism into another era where cars were not so sophisticated while also having a personality. New cars are sophisticated but as sterile as a housing tract in Irvine, where everything pretty much looks and is designed the same but the air conditioner and internet work nicely. 

This speaks to me but I don't know which type of car or truck I want.  I'm not a car guy and don't want to put much into fixing it up initially while the one requirement is that it has to be a manual.  In the 90's my dad's buddy had a 50's ford truck which I always really liked the look of and still do but I know those aren't cheap.  I think it was on these boards someone said jeep stands for just empty every pocket but I really like the look of the CJ5's, CJ7's and some of 80's to early 2000 jeep models.  One of my neighbors has a 1960's CJ5 that he actually had a for sale sign on a week ago but at 14K it's not in my price range.  This is definitely a want and not a need and I'd need to keep it in the 5-10K range which may mean I'm wasting my time because my wants and budget won't line up.  A lot of this is driven by me missing my last car which was a manual and wanting something I can drive on a nice day that I actually enjoy driving.                

[Jay]

Funny, back in the '70s, '80s and '90s we drove nothing but manual transmission cars.

After 12 years of commuting to Northrop in Hawthorne, from HB, in my Honda Prelude I swore I would never buy another manual. 405 traffic will do that to you.

Wasn't until 1997 we bought my wife a Grand Cherokee, but I still drove a stick until 2000 when I bought my 5-series BMW.

I don't think I have driven a stick since then.

Edit: actually in 1977 I had a '69 Nova.