Automotive Projects Blog
This project is a bit of a bucket list project. My first car was a Triumph Herald (see car history) and since then I have always wanted the bigger engine Vitesse. This is a Mk2 with the rotoflex suspension, overdrive and of course it’s lid free.
In order to see where and how the sills had been welded to the tubs I got my flappy grinding disc out and removed some paint from the treat plates. Oh dear. Filler and rust. Why to “restorers” do this? It should be a criminal offense compromise the structural integrity of a classic with inappropriate welding where it wasn’t needed and using filler instead of new welded steel where it is needed. Rant over.
Having cut the sills off the rear tub is finally free to move. I am now at a decision point. The rear tub needs the following work:
All but the brackets can be bought from a number of suppliers and I am sure I could weld it all together given time and patience. The alternative is to source another rear tub and swap it over. Time to hit the keyboard and see what’s on offer.
There is a lot of welding work to do in the boot. The floor, both boot corners and the inner wheel arch. Whilst I understand that major welding jobs are best done with the tub bolted onto the chassis to make sure it will fit back when finished, I also appreciate that some of these jobs could be done with the tub off the vehicle for easier access. Especially the stell preparation, sealing, priming and painting. As I have previously mentioned, moving the rear tub would also allow me to make sure that the issues with the door closure could be fixed with tub repositioning.
Are here the fun starts. Having removed bolts holding the chassis to the rear tub (some needed an angle grinder) the tub remained firmly in place. Then I realised why.
THE SILLS HAVE BEEN WELDED ON!!.
Not just to the rear tub but to the front tub as well, effectively bonding the front and rear tubs together. And to make it even worse, the welding has been done with the front and rear tubs misaligned which is why the doors wouldn’t shut properly.
So the next job is to cut the sills off.
First to be removed were the chrome rear overriders. Two bolts each from inside the boot to captive nuts on brackets welded to the inner overriders. Easier said than done. The long lower bolt on the right hand side was seized and eventually seared after destroying the captive nut encloser. Job for another day.
Then came the rear valance which was riveted to each rear side valance and bolted to the tub with a series of bolts under the boot seal and the boot catch itself. Whilst drilling out the rivets I realised that all of the rear valance panels were fibreglass. I’m not sure they will be going back on.
After the right and left rear valances were removed it allowed access to the boot floor side panels which will both need attention along with their adjacent boot floor sections where the chassis bolts through. As I was working in that area I also undid the chassis bolts on each side. The right side put up a bit of a struggle as a previous owner had already rounded the bolt heads.
Whomever put this back together the last time did not do a good job. Although the hood is of good quality, it’s fitting was very poor using whatever bolts/screws were available in the workshop and without any effort to maintain the frame itself or its fixings before the new hood was fitted. The frame will need sand blasting, painting and the hood will eventually need replacing – probably black this time.
One question I will need an answer before I start re-assembly is how to position the hood header rail and the quarter lights in both doors. Do the quarter lights sit under the header rail or alongside it? Do the tops of the quarter lights sit flush with the top of the windscreen surround? I need to find a car show and take some photos of good examples.
My initial focus is to slacken the bolts holding the rear tub, and make sure that the door and bonnet gaps will eventually be able to look the part once the car is finished. To do this I started by:
After inspecting the floor pan from the inside, there is definitely some work needs doing to repair rust spots and perforations, although the majority will simply need cleaning and painting. As with the underside.
The more I see however, the more I am coming to understand that I have caught this car on the brink. Another couple of years exposed to UK weather would have most probably left this car’s body shell as scrap and too far gone to realistically restore. With this in mind I have decided to strip the car back to it’s shell and chassis and do the job properly.
After getting it home, an initial inspection has revealed the following:
It seems a long list and I fully expect it to get even longer as I delve deeper, but this is what I expected for a 55 year old car that has seen many owners. I didn’t buy a one owner concours car. I bought a project.