Right then, this is where it starts. For those on the forum who don't know the story I will recap and for those who do know me, forgive my Triumph 101 (thread was put onto another forum initially). I bought a Toledo via ebay about 6 or 7 years ago (maybe), does that sound right Glenn, or is it longer? The car hadn't run in a while and was owned by a young chap who was a teacher. I think I paid the vast sum of £79. After doing a little bit of work on the car, fitting the 1500FWD seats and so on. It was then that the car was sold to make way for a 1500FWD....
The car was sold to a chap called Martin (Raider) who in Sept 2007 proceeded to fill it with his mates and venture around the Alps. I recall he had exhaust woes on a number of occasions during the trip. It gets a bit blurry from then on. It was bought by Craig from the Dolly Club who I think converted the engine (sorry mate, can't recall exactly when or why). Fast forward a few years and the car was bought by Glenn. He did lots of work on the car, including sourcing and fitting a low mileage TR7 engine and box. However, the lure of an MG and hydragas suspension overtook the Toledo love and a mysterious deal was struck involving nuns and kittens and lo! I had my old Toledo back.
A brief wobble re; selling/loss of storage intervened to disrupt the normal flow of the cosmos. However, the Rust and Oil Gods were once again smiling upon me.
Anyhoo. Yesterday and today saw some Hot Tolly Action and here follows the photographic evidence. I am now knackered. Really knackered.
I took the doors off to enable me to clean up the surrounding area. The doors are pretty solid but will also need a slight tidy up.
Everything else was lovely and solid and rust free.
There is some slight rust pitting along the bottom of the sill but it is the original and is bloody solid otherwise.
The car does have its bodywork faults but it was all present when I bought the car and doesn't really seem to have deteriorated.
This is the rear N/S bumper iron mounting point. The car has obviously had a bump in the past and it looks a bit tatty. I may look at pulling this out somehow.
The N/S sill has a dent in it too. There is also some pitting in the N/S rear wheel arch. The O/S is perfect.
So, in the past few weeks (and days) the car has gone from this:
To this:
The front valance is also a notorious rot spot and as I got rid of the paint I found some filler. Luckily the filler was just hiding a dent and nothing worse. There are a couple of pin holes and pitting but that is easily sorted. I will try and improve the dent but it will need a skim of filler.
The paint was laid on pretty thick, am not sure if household paint was used at some point as it just felt different when it hit me at speed in the face. Just a hunch.
Some engine piccies. Not much wrong there at all. Just a little tidying/cleaning to be done. Grand work Glenn
The interior:
The carpet will be replaced, Coverdale do an excellent kit. The headlining is intact but as with most of these cars, the glue used at the factory becomes brown with age and stains the headlining material. I will clean with meths and roller paint the material as if done carefully it gives an almost factory finish (satin emulsion is what is required). I've done this a few times since the mid 1980's and it has never failed me yet.
The overdrive is not operational. Glenn did tell me why. Possibly the switch is faulty. All in time. I will also take off the front bumper irons to clean them and to enable easier access to the front panel. Luckily the front bumper came off as easily as an easy thing but the irons are a bit loose. I was too tired to tackle that today.
So there you go. The grey primer is a sacrificial coating and will be sanded down lightly, filler primered and a couple of coats of red oxide will be painted on and flatted. Just need to think about colour and so on.
Hope you all enjoyed it so far. Hold on, I'll get the piccies!