1970 Triumph TR6 Restoration Project - Part 15 - The Front Valance

Long time no see.... at least with this project. Well, I've done some work on it in the last couple of months so there are going to be some more videos in the next little while. In this one I worked mostly on the front valance. It turns out the car had an accident on the front passenger side and somebody did horrible job fixing it.

[@tashabb33]

Amazing! Except for your use of ear protection. lol. We're restoring a '75 TR6. Your videos are a lot of help. Thank you.

[@cutworm59]

OUTSTANDING JOB! I very much enjoy your longer videos Mr Elin. My personal favorite tool is a hammer. You are a hammer expert.

[@RustyBeauties]

Somebody called me Metal-pecker LOL

[@dgadver]

great job... you are awesome at narrating what you are doing!!!!!

[@brendonpaulcassarsaguna2006]

Great job mate. If only all cars are restored the way you do it.

[@RustyBeauties]

Thanks Brendon!

[@49dodgeguy]

A master at work...nice job,,,,looking forward to more updates,,,,, I replaced my radiator yesterday,,,another $450.00 into my little money pit,,,but I still love her ,,,lol

[@RustyBeauties]

Oh, did it leak? Did you take her with you in Mexico LOL?

[@minus148]

excellent.

[@RustyBeauties]

Thanks!

[@ianabruce]

11:03 The jack! Brilliant!

[@RustyBeauties]

Yep, "I've got the jack" so why not use it :)

[@punkbloater]

So satisfying to watch, i think watching you sorting out the rust and dents (taking care to keep the car's lines) is what i love the most. I guess you've noticed that the top of the inner wheel arch lip is not fitting or bowing up enough to meet the shape of the fender lip (where the bonnet rests), that's what it looks like on the video anyway (sry badly explaned i know). Realy clever fix with the jack btw. :)

[@RustyBeauties]

Oh, yeah, I know what you are talking about. This is the bad fender though, it is all warped and unusable. All I wanted from it was to give me reference for the position of the valance and the shape of the curve below the headlight. The original fender from the car is not bowed and matches the support.

[@indyme2]

Looks great. That was a tough fix.

[@RustyBeauties]

Yeah, it looked hopeless when I started, but I got surprised too LOL

[@DavidPlass]

I was telling you to use a jack, but you took a while to listen. Great job.

[@RustyBeauties]

Considering the sound travels with 343m/sec (almost as fast as my Spit) and the distance New York - Toronto about 800km. it took about 40 minutes to hear you. I am surprised it happened in the timeframe of one video! Which also explains why we first see the thunders and hear them later... I always thought it was because the eyes awere located further than the ears! Where did you disappear? Is The Beast ready for pant yet?

[@DavidPlass]

Haha. You mean it's not the speed of light? I was traveling last week; the rear carb is almost done - the dashpot knob should be out of paint tomorrow. Then, I'll start the front carb. I've got another little issue with the throttle lever bracket; hopefully a little heat will loosen it up so I can remove it, then derust and repaint it. Have you ever heard the joke on how to eat an elephant?

[@RustyBeauties]

No, the speed of light will be the GT6 :) Hm.... so how do you eat an elephant?

[@DavidPlass]

How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time!

[@RustyBeauties]

LOL, I was going to try with two! Thanks for the heads up!

[@tonyspiga2505]

super video de travail effectue j"aime

[@cheftush]

A Ton of work to get that back into shape. Good job. Next tool for you to buy...porta power (princess auto).

[@RustyBeauties]

Yeah, so I can carry it around in my trunk like the welder LOL

[@markrobinson8539]

Great work. The jack did well. Have you looked at a porta power hydraulic ram. My old friend Wally used to be a panel beater and I watched him at work a few times. He would also use the oxyacetylene torch to get the metal pretty much red hot and then he would work it with his panel beating tools. He could shrink the metal and reform it. Quite a skill I think but you might want to try and learn this hot metal technique. I don't know who teaches that these days.

[@RustyBeauties]

Well, I haven't had a need of such a tool so far, as usually I deal with rusted, not smashed fenders :) I once tried to straighten a dent using a torch and I ended up having a curly metal, which nobody could straighten LOL so I had to cut it out and replace it.... Maybe one day I will learn that too, but again, I don't think I need that skill yet!

[@ralphcap2476]

Great job after that you need a few beers anyway if you ever need some tr6 fenders I have a good pair of front and rears for a very reasonable price can't wait for some new videos

[@RustyBeauties]

Thanks Ralph. I will have that in mind!

[@bobadams179]

The damage in the front is almost exactly like the damage on my 71 TR6 except mine was worse. Someone tried to cover. the damage with 3/4 of an inch of Bondo. I cut off the lower valance with a spot weld cutter. I spent hours upon hours hammering out the damage from the lower valance. Then I bought a body pulling clamp from eBay, used a 8,000lb come along to pull the damaged underbody using the trailer hitch of my truck and a couple lengths of 4X4 pressure treated lumber to brace between my truck bumper and the frame of the TR6, and to raise the cable up high enough so that I would get a straight pull. I tried to hammer out the bends the best I could while the metal was under tension from the puller. It worked pretty well but it will never be perfect unless I replace all the sheet metal. I wish i'd seen your video 6 months ago when I was doing the same thing.

[@RustyBeauties]

Well I was lucky the inner fender wasn't damaged and I could use it as a support. If I had to push it forward too, then I don't know what was I going to use to support the jack.

[@fx1c333]

You could use a building prop custom it to fit the cars you work on with wooden flats to aid panel beating.

[@mrblowhard2u]

Nice work but with all the time spent straightening it , wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to just replace the valence?

[@RustyBeauties]

Yeah, Jademuttley said it all. And also I didn't spend so much time on it.

[@TheUlrikkaul]

It's unbelievable what kind of crap that we sometimes comes along. The guy that did this job should be forced to eat all that Bondo. Anyway a very fine way of using the jack. Are you going back to Europe for vacation?

[@RustyBeauties]

Yeah. And this car was ready for paint when it came to the shop for just a little frame repair.... I wish I could go to Europe this year again, but..... My wife and my son are there now and someone has to work here :)

[@49dodgeguy]

The cap would not lock down on the neck,,,,metal hard worn away,,,,,so I bought new radiator,,,,runs cooler now also,,,if you want the old one for a spare,,,,it's yours,,,may be take a look at it and see if you can repair the neck I'm off to Mexico in 9 hours,,,,be back on the 24 th Take care ,,

[@RustyBeauties]

Oh, if you don't need it I will take it. I need a rad for the 74 and I can try repairing the neck. That will save me some bucks. I appreciate it. Have a great vacation in Mexico!

[@johncollier7744]

As ever your patience is tremendous. Have you ever considered spot welding washers onto the damaged area then pulling . There are several companies who manufacture kits but no doubt your ingenuity could manufacture your own kit . See the following link on how it works kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZSuqWWQps2fmbc

[@RustyBeauties]

Thanks John! Yeah, I've seen that before, but I actually never need anything like that. I usually have access to the back of the panel and I can do my bang-bang.

[@johncollier7744]

Elin Yakov fair comment suppose having access to the rear is better, and you did a fine job just with a simple scissor jack.

[@MrRobhadfield]

A bit of AC/DC creeping in there at 13:00 ? Careful, KZbin will charge you! :D

[@RustyBeauties]

LOL, I own that song, I wrote it for AC/DC. Can't you tell from my singing I am a songwriter?