March's Marching Forward

A good weekend! As of today the entire right-side front suspension assembly is back together. Putting things back together is a big and important step that is all too often missed by most of us… me included.

I deciphered the reassembly using the front driver’s side suspension, TRF Parts assembly manual and the TRF TR6 glove box manual. All that was all just enough to get me through. I was very glad that I hadn’t disassembled the driver’s side yet.

I had Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to work. Friday was dedicated to cleaning and painting the last of the suspension parts and test fitting the new fender. The new fender looks great and is a great fit. I just pinned it with clamps for now as I still have to weld in the rocker-panel.

On that note – the new Lincoln Weld-Pak 140 MIG welder looks great in the shop but I resisted it's siren's call. There are things I need before me and the welder will be at one. Not the least of which is a bottle of Argon and most importantly some practice on non-TR6 steel.

The coolest moment of the weekend was when I was cleaning the spring and found it to be in good shape with factory paint marks. It had some not so great spots that would not clean up but this is not a contours car and I would rather leave as much original as possible.

Installing the spring was quite a production. My cheapness prevented me from purchasing the $85.00 spring compression tool specifically for TR6s. I bought the $25.00 spring compression clamps from Princess Auto instead. The clamps worked well for removing the spring without bodily harm. After a few attempts it was clear that reinstall wasn't going to go as well. I even “modified” the $25.00 Princess Auto camps with my angle grinder shortening them considerably. After that I worked at it for about an hour to no avail.

It’s important to point out I was measuring time by how many half hour episodes of Billy the Exterminator had gone by. The thought of homes, with so many mice that six foot king snakes had moved in, will be forever tied in my brain to installing this suspension.

I finally came to the conclusion that with the compression clamps installed it would be impossible to reinstall the spring. I also figured out that if I removed my modified compression clamps – I would never get the spring compressed again. What to do?

In the Magic-Snap-On-Tool-Box-of-Hope there was a small roll of perforated metal strapping. I decided to use a couple of lengths of that strapping and a couple of small bolts to keep the spring compressed while I removed one of the clamps. I was then able to slip the spring into place without injuring myself.

Well… that’s not entirely true.

There was an incident involving the grinder… again. Somebody needs to take this tool away from me. When I was “modifying” the $25.00 spring clamps I drop the grinder. At the time I had the cutting wheel installed. The wheel broke of course. The broken piece was still attached but obviously broken. I had no intention of using it in this condition but I pressed the trigger for no apparent reason. The broken piece came flying off and hit me in the chest leaving a quarter-size bruise and a sharp pain. That was rather stupid and would fit under my dad's heading of "Angus-ized". I really hated admitting that.

Bolting in place the bottom of the shock was rather difficult without the engine installed. Compressing the installed spring using a floor jack would just lift the entire car. I had to get my mother and sister to stand in the engine bay to have enough weight to compress the spring to bolt the shock down.

The next task was to install the lower control-arm bushings for the vertical link. The first thing was to figure out that the plastic sleeves I had already installed were installed incorrectly and had to be removed and reinstall. Two episodes of Billy the Exterminator later I had that all figured out and the vertical link installed.

It’s not contours but it is safe, functional and some of the best work I have ever done. There is an engineer and

his father restoring a ’74 TR6 and reporting progress on 6-pack.org. He has replaced the frame and now has acid dipped every body part on that car. This is a car he drove home and was few light bulbs and a spare tire away from passing an inspection. There is always going to be someone out there going the extra mile. The only thing that I'm jealous about is that he’s doing it with his dad.

Stay tuned…

Raging Guilt

So it’s been two weeks since I’ve been to work on the car. That is not sitting well with me but there are two sides to the “car at the wedding” equation. The car side has been laid out in excruciating detail on these electronic pages. The other side of the equation is as important (split-tails would argue it’s more important). The other side is, of course, the wedding and there actually being one to drive the TR6 to. If I don’t get wed I think I could end up like the brothers Jay Leno bought one of his Hudsons from: keeping carburetors in the kitchen sink and heads in the kitchen cabinets.

To that end I have been doing my damndest to get this career situation cleared up. I realize that my perpetual unemployment has been integral part of the suspense so far but I need to get this wrapped up before we hit the third act. Who wants to marry an unemployed guy? And who wants to be an unemployed guy at their own wedding? I’m running out of witty remarks to “so what are you up to now?”

I have only really been unemployed since the beginning of December when I, as Gordon Lightfoot would say “… got burned it a three way script… enter number two”, but December is traditionally a pretty slow month. Everyone is checked out for the month. I always found that December and August are the two worst months to try and accomplish any business. On top of that I spent the first week being shocked by my unexpected unemployment with the added burden of the high holy season approaching. I spent the rest of the month bucking lumber to sell and feeling sorry for myself.

Since January I have been pretty dedicated to the job hunt. My dedication grows with each day I find I have an abundance of free time. It’s now been two months, 9 drafts of my resume and 467 drafts of my cover letter and I am just starting to see some movement. According to the Calgary Herald there is about seven percent unemployment in Calgary right now. As Calgary has a population of 1,079,310, according to Wikipedia, that would put 75,551 people in the job market with me. That is one scary-ass number.

It seems that I couldn’t have picked a worse time (economy-wise) to end my career last spring. Thinking back on that hard decision I still think it was the right one. Now is the time to take risks – no kids to consider. To misquote Joni Mitchell – it wasn’t the time of year but definitely the time of man – to move on.

So here’s to next week’s blog (I am tipping a mug of Kokanee Gold beer) being happier than this one. I am committed to this project but success has to include me being employed.

In other news the fender arrived (see pic).

Stay tuned – it’s just getting interesting…

Great Moments in Horse Trading

I try to stay away from making any sweeping and definitive statements about my dad because a) he was human and b) I was only alive for half of his life and of that I was only critical for less than half of that. What I will say though is that I never heard him use the term “Bucket List”. That is a term that I just cringe when I hear. I just read an article in the latest VTR mag that used the term in an annoying article about people driving and trailering their Triumphs across the USA without incident. I take that personally as I almost died twice and got arrested (in that order) to bring one to Canada from KC (the trip outlined early in this blog).

Bucket List is getting up there on my list of hated terms right next to “Parrothead” or “Guesstimate”. If I ever use any of these terms I would like someone, doesn’t matter who, to walk up behind me and put one right between my ears Sopranos style.

Dad did however travel to Italy, Africa, Scotland, most of the United States and Baffin Island – among other places. He had been nose to nose to both polar bears (Baffin Island) and militant lesbians (Texas Dyke Bar). He wasn’t bigger than life he just said yes to more things than he said no to. I try to live that way – it’s a short life and if you live it right you don’t need a bucket list. Please don’t use that term anymore – it’s the verbal equivalent to socks and sandals.

But I have to plug the one fellow who crossed the US in his 1962 TR4. His blog is a good read even if he does use the term “Bucket List”. Go to: http://brianjones.tumblr.com/

Moving on to new business I bought a MIG welder. Yes, yes I did. It’s the most beautiful MIG welder I have ever seen in my entire life. The car gods willed me to buy it.

As I stated last week I sold the moped for five-hundred dollars. Because the car gods willed it the Lincoln Weld-Pak 140 (the biggest 120 volt welder Lincoln makes) was on sale at Canadian Tire for four-hundred and ninety-nine dollars. The sale ended on February 18th and I waited as long as I could to think on buying it. The retail price is $650. Remember I’m the guy who impulse purchased a car in KC last year. I really wanted to think this one through.

I even went as far to throw a stink bid in on a Lincoln Weld-Pak 100 with a cart that was on Kijiji.com for 745. It also had a bottle of Argon which I would need. This was the same guy that told me he didn’t need any more junk when I offered to trade the moped. I offered him 500 dollars for the whole setup.

Since we last emailed this fellow had sold off his bottle and offered me the just welder and cart for 550. I then still thought about this decision as his used MIG would be a little too old to come with a warranty. Usually the warranty thing would not be an issue but MIGs have rotating parts and I have a rule about warranties that falls down the line of moving parts and no moving parts.

I was very proud of the amount of thought I put into this decision. I hope it’s a sign of latent maturity. With my 500 dollars from the moped deal, seven dollars and ninety cents in Canadian Tire money (which stacks as high as a thousand dollars in twenties in real money) and Ruffin the wonder mutt I proceeded to head to three different Canadian Tire stores to track down this unit. I actually inquired about stock in town at the first Canadian Tire I hit but had to pass another on the way to the store I was told had the unit in stock. I stopped in just to make sure.

It was the last day in the sale and so late they weren’t even advertising the sale price anymore. I got the last one this store had and with my Canadian Tire money and GST the total came to $517.09. I then found a brand new welding cart on Kijij.com for $25.00. Thank you Al! MIG welding cars hover around the $100-150 range.

So for $542.09 I got a brand new welder , cart and three year warranty. I love when a plan comes together. I still need a bottle of Argon but I will still be under budget when I get that.

That’s all that happened this week on the car. Most of my time right now is devoted to finding employment. This car project will stop dead unless I can get this resolved. DANT DANT DAAA!

Stay tuned...

Progress – Sweet Progress

The car and I had a good week – meaning meaningful employment and I are still at odds. I spent Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday working my ass off. It wasn’t pretty; I was quite unshowered and disgusting by the time Thursday afternoon rolled around. Tuesday night I logged 5pm ‘till 2am, Wednesday from 9am ‘till midnight and Thursday 9am ‘till 3pm.

I spent most of the time grinding. I started off with the wire wheel on my angle grinder until it caught on an edge of the shock tower, flipped out of my hands, nicked my ear and the top of my left shoulder. It was at that point I went to Canadian Tire and got some wire wheels that fit my drill. The drill had considerably less torque and was way more manageable.

I eventually setup a stool which I clamped a small vice to and used that and my drill to grind paint and rust on the A-arm parts related to the left front wheel. I did that for most of Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Tuesday night I spent stripping paint and rust out of the wheel well and inter-fender. I also spent some time on Tuesday dry fitting the rocker panel. I mocked it up to see how close it would fit. You’ll see in the pics it looks good.

Throughout the day on Wednesday I painted the interfender. I primed with a zinc-based primer. This might be controversial but, after a few coats of the zinc, I sprayed an old school red primer to match what was on the car originally. Later I that night I sprayed a few coats of a flat black. This is not correct but it looks good. What would be correct is body color and then rubberized undercoating. After all the primer and flat black I sprayed a few coats of a clear coat.

I hung the suspension parts I finished sripping on a string line and sprayed them flat black and clear coated Thursday morning.

The paint removal with the drill is a slow progress. I saw that Canadian Tire has bench grinders on for 50 bucks. The purchase of one might be in my future. A blasting cabinet would be ideal but that’s not in the cards.

I am impressed with the outcome of my three days of work but I am rather distraught with the time it took. I must have at least 50 hours into the single wheel well and still some mileage to go.

I returned to Calgary Thursday evening, bought a pizza and Krista and I nursed our newly neutered pooch through recovery. I am not sure which one of us, the dog and I, where in worse shape on Friday. I was worn right out from the long hours of my blitz. Ruffin was walking funny.

I sold the Moped this weekend to a kid from Canmore for 500 dollars. The Lincoln 140 Mig is on sale at Canadian Tire for 500 bucks. I haven’t made a decision to invest right now as my future is still rather uncertain. At the same time that price is 150 bucks lower then retail. That won’t last very long.

Stay tuned…



A quick shout out to a fellow name Scott who sent me this pic of his father with his Topaz TR6 along with an inspiring email. Scott also lost his dad too soon but still has the car and has kept it up. This Blog is about fathers and sons.

Parts!!!

There is very little excitement going on in my life right now as I am STILL unemployed -anyone out there looking to hire the former GM of a small software development firm with an education in marketing and addictions to TWIT podcasts and Wired magazine? – and oh ya, a car project that resembles a coke habit. I’m on the verge of going and eating worms. But, before I breakout the shovel, inspiration knocks – my parts have arrived!! Well, most of my parts – still waiting on my fender.

Torture – as I know it – is having parts and not being able to get to the car. We had a couple of events here in Calgary that I needed to attend so no car time this weekend.

I am however headed to the car tomorrow night for two days of working. The bad news is I am headed there without a MIG welder. I saw my MIG budget squirt out the tail end of our small dog that had a stomach bug. He required a vet visit, meds and special food for a week. Oh, well.

The coolest thing from this last week is when I discovered www.6-pack.org I planned to swoop in and drop a link to this – The-World’s-Greatest-But-Yet-To-Be-Discovered-Blog – but I stayed and found the richest TR6 resource I’ve seen yet. I’m still only half way through the forum and links.

So in summary: I have parts, I have a dog with the shits and still no job. The wedding is 179 days away.

Stay tuned…

Parts and Mia Culpas

Parts are on their way!!! Len Drake from Drake’s Motors in Kelowna, BC (http://www.drakesbritishmotors.com/) got right on it after he received my email last week. A few emails over the afternoon and we had a good list and a good price. Len even deciphered the part numbers for everything I had earmarked for TRF and put together the Moss equivalent.

The parts coming (should be here Wednesday) are as follows:

6 CLIP BAFFLE SEAL
1 SEAL FRONT BAFFLE PLATE
1 BAFFLE PLATE R/H
1 ROCKER PANEL END CAP L/F
1 ROCKER PANEL END CAP L/R
1 ROCKER PANEL END CAP R/F
1 ROCKER PANEL END CAP R/R
1 SILL PANEL OUTER R/H
1 SILL PANEL OUTER L/H
1 BAFFLE PLATE L/H
2 KIT FT WING MTG
2 KIT REAR WING MTG
1 SEAL GRILLE TO HOOD
1 RACK BOOT KIT
1 TRUNNION ASSY LOWER R/H
1 TRUNNION ASSY LOWER L/H
1 BALL JOINT UPPER Pair
1 MAJOR FT SUSP KIT
4 WASHER RUBBER
2 MOUNTING RUBBER STEER RACK
1 TIE ROD END SET
1 BUSH KIT POLY TRAIL ARM
2 BUSHING LOWER CONTROL ARM
1 BUSH SWAY BAR MOUNT URETHANE
2 U-BOLT SWAY BAR MOUNT
2 BRACKET SWAY BAR
1 MOUNT STEERING RACK SOLID
1 REAR SHOCK CONVERSION
1 74-76 FRONT RIGHT FENDER
2 FRONT SHOCK OBSORBERS


This should be enough to keep me going for a few weekends at least.

This is not all I’m going to need but it’s all I could afford – hello Ichiban noodles.

My future in-laws stopped in at Mike’s to drop off a cheque for me and take some pics of the motor. The motor was still at the machine shop and it seems no amount of harassment would convince Mike’s to disclose the location of the machine shop.

Being that my groomsmen were all here in Calgary for the kilt fitting there was no progress on the little car. There was however two nights and one afternoon of copious drinking that left wives, girlfriends and one fiancée a little put out. It could be a cold February for all involved.

I have to also apologize to my brother Neal and his wife Michelle. No one should have to come home from the movies to find their hot tub B&E’d by three large drunk and naked men. That might have been a little offside.

Stay tuned…

PS: still in the market for a job and a MIG welder (in that order I’m told).

Sex and Violent Spinning

There is something to be said about working on a classic roadster with the Barrett-Jackson on the tube in the background. It has to be right up there with George Costanza’s tri-factor sex, sandwich and television combo.

I still don’t have parts. I am close to having parts but I still don’t have parts. It looks now that I have found, through Donald of Red TR6 fame, a Canadian supplier with parts in stock. If the good lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise we should see parts as early as next week.

Being that I can’t stop just because of lack of parts I spent the good part of the last three days working on the car. I cleaned the engine bay. I rubbed and rubbed and cleaned. I documented and removed smog parts, electronic parts and brake parts.

I think it’s starting to look good. Brake fluid and battery acid has taken its toll on the paint in some areas but nothing has rusted through. The worse is what I would refer to as “acne”.

I exposed the rust effected areas with a wire spinning tool until my Makita die-grinder spun the wire heads to death. The vibration is something else when those heads let go.

I have also been trying to get my hands on a MIG welder. Dad had a flux-core welder but they are not really good with sheet metal or/and novice users. I hunted down two MIGs on Kijiji but it seems that so far no one wants to trade a ’69 Honda P50 Moped for a MIG. One guy even told me to "screw off".

I penned an email to another fellow who initially told me he doesn’t need anymore “junk” when I proposed the moped swap but since has shown a smidgen of interest in me and my plight. I have now proposed trading my Stihl chainsaw and 200 bucks for his MIG setup. I have two saws and being that I only need one to maim myself severely; the trade would be a good one.

I’m not sure how the MIG thing is going to turn out but I’m hoping for the best.

The lads in my wedding are getting fitted for their kilts this weekend. This brings that impending wedding on the radar. I know it’s only January but as Van would say: “precious time is slipping away”. Soon August will be here and hopefully so will a small British sports car.

Stay tuned….