Tearing Down your TR6

HealyDoc / the triumphs list

From: HealeyDoc@aol.com
Subject: British Car Restoration

Restoring your British Car

A Guide to Tearing Down

By NORMAN NOCK of British Car Specialists

Before you start haphazardly taking your car apart, you will need to have a plan. You should be sure you have the following: a good camera, factory parts book, service manual, and room to store all the parts you take off. You must keep in mind that it may be a year or longer before you will be replacing many of the parts you will be removing. Be sure to keep a photographic record in detail starting before you remove a single part, and as you progress with the tear down. The more close-up pictures the better, they will be of help to you when you start reassembling your car.

When you have registered your car with us for our 10% restorer's discount you will qualify for written information with the parts we supply. This will give you the benefit of our many years experence working exclusively on British cars. For example: if you buy the necessary parts to restore your engine, I will supply you with the written information to help you rebuild your engine.

LET'S GET STARTED ! (Did you take your pictures?)

Remove hood, trunk lid, shrouds, grill, fenders, doors, windshield, bumpers etc. Replace all nuts, bolts, washers, brackets, clips, to the major unit you have just removed. Another idea is to place small parts in a strong! plastic bag and tie to the unit.
Take 40 to 50 close up pictures of all you can see in and around the engine area, fire wall, radiator area, left & right side, inside, top, trunk area, etc.
Remove seats and all interior material ( do not throw anything away)
Remove all instruments, switches, and instrument panel. (reattach all hardware) The wires behind the panel are all colour coded, we will supply you the appropriate information to rejoin the wires when you buy the wire harness from us. If your harness is not going to be replaced, tag all wires before removing from the panel.
Pull the engine/transmission and store them out of the weather. (reattach carb's, generator, starter, etc. to engine) These items should not be disassembled until you have a "rolling Chassis." The reason for waiting to do this is that you will have a lot of parts sitting around and you do not need any more than necessary, they may get lost.
Continue the tearing down process from this point at your own discretion. (front end, rear end, exhaust, etc.) Be sure and take more pictures as you progress.
The chassis and all its metal attachments, like the front end, rear end, springs, etc. should be sand blasted now. If the chassis needs any repairing, it should be done before sand blasting. Prime all parts immediately after sandblasting and seal inside the chassis with Waxoyl (5 liter kit $76.95) to help prevent rust. Restore the front end, rear end and reassemble parts until you have a rolling chassis painting the appropriate areas as needed.
By now you have an album of pictures of your car so you know what it looked like. You now need some pictures of another original car that has been completed to compare with. Install the relays, solenoids, switches, regulators, etc. on to the firewall. Fit the wiring harness, hydraulics, fuel line, etc. until you have as much done as possible.
When you have reached this point, and only then, should you start to restore the engine, transmission, etc. As soon as the engine and transmission are completed they can be installed in the car and be out of the way again. Start the engine and road test as soon as possible. (be very sure you have oil pressure BEFORE starting the engine)

If you intend to make use of our "Mail in Repair Service " send us your units with full instructions and your time table.

If I can be of any help to you during your project, please call me. Have fun restoring your Healey you are going to have a busy year!