Calvin Grannis' 1974 TR6 with LS1 (project diary)

[74ls1tr6]

Alan,

Those headers look like long tube headers. Long tube make some good power from what everyone has told me and what I've read.

That hood setup with DZU fasteners "Very Nice". Great ideas!

Happy 4th of July everyone for 2009 and stay safe!

I have a second start-up video from behind the car with my terrible sounding shoes!

http://www.youtube.com/user/74Triumphls1    Enjoy! I did.

[alana]

I'm starting to get twitchy.
Haven't had a fix - I mean update - for a few weeks.
Surely you've done something other than drive it

[74ls1tr6]

Have been very busy lately. Moving business from a 2300sq ft building to a 3800sq ft building. Went on Shasta lake with the jet skies, boat and fishing last week. So after hearing the engine run OK, checking for clearance in the engine bay, took everything out that weekend , and started body tub prep.

OK to undo the twitchies, here is some food for thought. My old 1980 some rims looked pretty*&^%$^%# up. So unbolted the front set and started to see if i could clean them up some.

When they made these rims they sprayed some kind of protection coating on them. Well over the years the coating yellowed and turned dark, which you would think they are throw away rims at this point.

I used Chem tool and Laquer (SP) thinner to wipe off the coating. Then proceeded to use a combination of buffing wheels, buffing paste, wire wheel (on the cast section), and Flitz buffing compound. Used my drill at 2400 RPM and went to town on the aluminum rims.




The before and after photos.


These are 15X7 rims with 245-60-15 tires. These rim's were made for a TR6 with the right offset so that the upper control arms have a clearance of 1/2" from the rim. I don't know who made them. I bought these rims when I restored my TR250 and they worked well. I will burn these tires off first before replacing them with BFGs later or go to a larger rim for brake upgrade.


The spokes were a gold color. I will paint them maybe the same color as the car. I will need to find some center caps for them. I do have some adapters too metric 4-100mm that can open up to a lot of different rims. Could run later Mini Cooper rims that run up to 18" maybe.

[74ls1tr6]

Back side of rim.



Worked on the engine bay smoothing some areas. Need to weld up original brake booster holes. Did weld up the hole for the original heater core piping that goes through the firewall. The AC pump is a little lower than the alternator, so the passenger side inner fender is a little lower. The driver side needed more smoothing because of warping from Mig welding. The passenger side didn't warp at all with Tig welding.



Photo is a little dark, but stripped paint down to the metal. Some smoothing needs to be done in this area. I might suck the muffler tips into the lower area a little instead of having them stick out.



Both side of door sills were stripped to metal, only one ding to smooth in the rocker panel. The whole body tub has been seam sealed. Both front and back outer fender wells have been seam sealed and primed. Used POR 15 primer and POR 15 black paint inside the passenger compartment + trunk modded area.

[74ls1tr6]

Inside firewall seam sealed. Original heater hole covered with aluminum plate. Heater pass through welded up and seam sealed.



Ooops, shouldn't have painting the booster area, will grind off paint and weld up original booster holes which are the slotted holes to the right.



Next two photo's of passenger(correction Driver side) side outer fender well's primed for Lizard skin sound control and ceramic coating after that.



The Lizard skin will be sprayed on both sides of the pan, firewall inside and out, inside doors, Trans cover inside and out, inside fenders, outer fender wells, and trunk area inside and out. This will help the AC + heat from headers and sound control. I will be able to hear my stereo maybe.

[74ls1tr6]

These are some of the products I have been using.

I have used 3 of these tubes of seam sealer. Pricey, but good stuff.


Por !5 stuff for rust prevention.



Ceramic insulation!



Sound Control. Note Sound control needs to be sprayed first before Ceramic coating. If anyone is going to spray this stuff, get the sprayer kit for it.



Now just need some more time to get going on this.

[danmas]

Calvin,

If you get a chance, please weigh those containers of Lizard Skin before you apply it. I searched the web for weight info with no luck. My car was sprayed with both products, but I didn't get a chance to weigh the stuff to see how much it added to the overall weight.

As for sound proofing and heat proofing, it works. I'm glad I have it.

[74ls1tr6]

Hi Dan,

I did read that you used the Lizardskin products on you GT. When I was at the speed shop where I purchased it, the guy at the counter brought out a deep electric frying pan. He had painted the ceramic coating on one half side of the frying pan that was not that thick. He then proceeded to plug in the frying pan with an ice cube on the un-coated side and the coated side. So of course the ice melted fast on the un-coated side. The side that was coated didn't even melt. I was able to put my finger down inside on the bottom of pan and could barely feel any heat, the heat was coming from the other side. So I was sold on the product as a NO brainer.

I did figure that it would add some weight to our cars, but all that tar that came off had some weight to it also. In case of a fire all that tar would make the car go up in flames where as the Lizardskin would help out with a blaze.

So I will weight both 2 gallon buckets and post back the results of each one.

Dan, how much sound control and ceramic did you have to use on your GT?

[74ls1tr6]

As for the weight of the pale, don't know until it is sprayed and cleaned out for weight. I will do that in the end.

OK , the sound control weighted in at 26.6 lbs per 2 gallon pale. Spraying on at least .020" thick or 20 mills

One gallon covers 50 sq ft @ .020"



The ceramic insulation weighted in at 11.8 lbs per 2 gallon pale. Spraying on at .040" thick or 40 mills
One gallon covers 20 to 35 sq ft @ .40"



A little math could get the weight pretty close for the whole car!

[danmas]

Calvin,

Thanks for the info!  I'll have to check with Ted and see how many containers he used. I'll let you know when I find out.

[danmas]

Calvin,

I talked with Ted today. He doesn't remember for sure, but he thinks he only used one container of each. Assuming 2.4 pounds for the pails, the residue/waste left over, and any over-spray, that's about 36 pounds total. Well worth it!

[74ls1tr6]

Dan,

Thanks for the info!

For an added 36 lbs, for good fire safety, sound control, and heat control..... I would agree....Well worth it!

My 74 TR6 caught on fire twice because of wiring problems, so Advanced Auto Wiring and Lizard Skin products is what I was looking for in my build.

In the end, I will weight the lizard skin pales, and post the results later.

[74ls1tr6]

Painted high build primer 3 in1 on the whole tub. Then applied Lizard Skin sound Control, and then Lizard Skin Ceramic heat control. I like the smell of this Lizard Skin, Maybe because I'm getting closer to having this ride on the road in the near future.

The skin was easy to spray, and left a nice texture finish. The inside of all the fenders + the tub took about 3/4 of both pales.
I still need to spray inside the doors. Tapping my fingers around the body tub where the Lizard skin is applied and where it is not applied, you can tell the difference in sound. This stuff is going to quiet down the passenger compartment pretty good.




I did spray underside panel where the gas fill is.



I will be able to take the transmission cover out just like the original setup. I won't need to take my dash and gauges out to remove it. Just need to take off shifter assembly, carpet, and dash brace out.



Just sprayed the firewall area with Lizard Skin, and the inner wings where the headers will be close too. The  original holes that were welded up for the booster came out pretty well when the skin is sprayed over. It can hide those areas well.



Looking at different paints to use? I wonder what others are using for paint and what kind? There is alot to choose from? I did some pricing here and they want 3 to 4K with the paint supplies being 1k. I will save and spray myself. So 1k for supplies, thats just paint, hardners, thinners, and clear coat. Sand paper, taping supplies will cost too, and protect my lugs & eyes.

[74ls1tr6]

Here are the fenders. I had the get 3 new fenders because the original ones had seemed like 20lbs of bondo on them. Used my hand grinder with flapper disk, and found areas of over 1/2" deep of that lovely "BONDO".

So I'm sure I will need to message these new one's to fit correctly. Both Lizard skin products are sprayed on these fenders.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Sure going to be a nice one when you finish it up Calvin.

[rficalora]

Calvin, curious why you sprayed the lizard skin before getting the fenders to fit right?  seems like any work you do to make them right will cause rework.

[74ls1tr6]

Thanks Jim, I believe it will be an OK ride when I'm done. Trying to use what I have and keep costs down, but make it better.

Rob, That's a good question?

With a TR6 it's kind of like installing plumbing, you have to cut each piece and assemble it together before sweating it all together. With that being said when I restored My TR250 I had a shop strip all my fenders, spray on the undercoating, and prime the fenders. Installed all the fenders then did all the adjustments, then sprayed on the paint. It would make a better restore by painting the color on the fenders off the car, but very hard to not mess up the fender while installing back on. That my cause some rework that I don't want to deal with.

 Since there is a body that is mounted on a frame, there are all kinds of adjustments to do with shimming just for the tub. So tub gets mounted loosely then the doors are next. The whole body is adjusted by how the doors align on the tub. At this point then the fenders get adjusted to the doors.

When I sprayed the Lizard skin, I did'nt spay the mating surfaces, so movement for adjustment won't cause rework for me.
I did mount the fenders before spraying Lizard skin to see where they fit, to get an idea of the fit, but it is on the rotisserie and not the frame.


I guess my word "message" meant to move fenders into place and bolt down semi tight then re-adjusted to get the gaps right. With a TR6 you have alot of adjustment space to work with. The new fenders don't fit as well as the one's that come off the car, but they do fit with more time consuming adjustment time.

Today, will be spraying primer on all the fenders. Will start to look at re-skinning one of my doors, for I have a nice tin can action going on in that door.

Calvin

[rficalora]

Got it Calvin... when you said message I thought you were expecting to have to cut/weld tweak to get the gaps & ends to line up right.

[TRip]

Calvin, is Lizard skin anything like Rhino liner?

Is it just a rock guard or is it also a rust proofing?

Trip

[74ls1tr6]

Hi Trip,

The Rhino liner when sprayed on,is some pretty thick stuff and tuff.

Check out the website for Lizard skin if you already have or have not, but read about the technology that is in it. It is a real good product. As for rust proofing, I would use POR 15 primer then the POR 15 paint. After those have been applied, I went for the Lizard skin, because it isn't that thick on the car body panels, and the benefits are huge. The ceramic coating on lets say the inside of a metal roof panel,on a hot day, would drop 30 degrees lower than a roof panel that didn't have the coating. I don't think the Rhino liner would be capable of doing that. The sound control Lizard skin and ceramic Lizard skin coating act like a sealer also to protect from rust + you can paint it any color after.

Here is the link:http://www.lizardskin.com/

[TRip]

Thanks for the explanation and for the link, Calvin.

"As for rust proofing, I would use POR 15 primer then the POR 15 paint. "  

Thanks for the tip.  I'll definitely be needing good rust proofing for when I eventually get the TR7 V8 project done.  Considering what I've seen with my current TR7 and it's rust issues, super rust proofing is going to be at the top of the finishing list.

I had checked out the lizardskin site but it's way nicer to have your first-hand experience/opinion rather than any CO marketing claim... Especially since they all say their's is the best on the market.

Cheers, Calvin.

Trip

[74ls1tr6]

Started working on the passenger door. This door had a fairly good size dent under the lock down low. I tried to work it out with some body tools without good results. It had a tin can action going on from the metal being to streched. It was to hard to get tools in behind the door cross brace. So this door needed to be re-skined. This is the first time doing this for me, but doesn't look to hard to do.

Took a small angle grinder to the outside edge, all the way around just enough to see both sides of the fold in the medal. Took the small strip that was folded over and just pealed off. Where the window comes up through the door, use a dremel tool with small grinding wheel, cut the panel at the right distance, for the new panel to be installed. Took off the whole outer skin panel. This process took me about 20 minutes to do.



There is a few places around the door that have been brazed by the factory to hold the door from twisting.



Section that was streching beyond fixing for me anyway.



After grinding the edge and not going to far, keeping the shell of the door metal not ground down any. You can see the folded section came off just by grabing one end, and pulling it up.



Showing what a TR6 door looks like when the skin is off. After the skin was off took the shell and cleaned up in certain sections to prep for the new skin. Had to clip some corners on the new skin off, so that it would fit correctly, and have the right gap at the window opening.

[74ls1tr6]

Painted some POR 15 primer then black POR 15 paint on both sides of the lip that the door skin will be folded over. Left some sections not painted for tack welding the skin back on.

Tig welded the skin on both sides of the window opening to hold at the right place and right gap for the seals and window to work right. Started from the top of door with hammer and dolly. Tapped with hammer to start folding door skin over with the dolly on the other side. Made sure the door would fit in the skin at the bottom as work progressed. Tapped both sides then did the bottom last. Sanded the whole door down with 180 grit sand paper. Primed the whole door with high build primer.








First coat of primer sanded with 400 grit sand paper (wet sanded with Reverse Osmosis water which helps the sand paper from loading up, and the paper glides across the surface better). Door looks nice a straight now.



One of the bottom corners of the the door showing the corner fold.

[74ls1tr6]

Some more photo's showing the skin on and the door primed. Next this door will be sprayed with Lizard skin sound control + ceramic control after, on the inside of the door skin area. The factory used a square section of thick sound deading material, glued on the skin behind the cross brace. The sprayer for the Lizard skin has a 90 degree tip, so should be able to get in behind the cross brace ok.







Next 2 photos show the window opening.







I will install the snaps on the door after finish clear is done.

[TRip]

Calvin, I'm really impressed!  Especially about the fact it only took you 20 minutes to get the whole outer skin panel off.

Nice work on the rest of the door too!

Trip