1968 Triumph 1300 FWD

So, the month of May.



The left hand rear wheel arch was next for the attentions of the welding torch. Starting by having a poke around with a screwdriver then marking what was coming out and making a template.





After making the replacement I cut it out. The inner arch was also rotten at the bottom, thankfully not all the way around like the RH side. This was also cut out after making the replacement.











Once that was done it was onto the front edge. Again, outer and inner replaced, the rest was ok.









We then moved under the wheelarch to the back of the sill. Again, inner and outer parts replaced. The interior of the sill was superb like the RH side so it was etch primed before sealing it up.







After the back end was complete, it was time for a break from metalwork. So, it was onto the mechanical side.



Starting with the rear brakes, I replaced the rear shoes, cylinders, springs, clips, flexi hoses and brake pipes.



I then replaced the shocks and springs on all four corners before dismantling the front suspension. A mere sentence doesn’t seem enough to cover the replacement of all the bushes for Superflex polys, seeing as they were absolute b******s to change.









After getting the suspension back together, I was about to strip the calipers to rebuild them. However, £45 exchange per Caliper from the Triumph Dolomite Club meant I went this route instead. The first pair arrived which turned out to be two right handers. These were sent back and my old rebuilt ones were not returned to me. A nice trade off for the messing about.











The car has to be driven to the paint shop so it meant making it roadworthy. That meant the 50 year old hardened cross ply death traps would have to come off before it’s trip. I went for some 165/80/13 from Black Circles which were fitted after the wheels were blasted and painted. I went for silver instead of the original white.









The gear change could at best be described as ‘vague’, or like stirring a bucket of vomit if you were being less kind. As you can see, the bush that was there had completely disappeared. Luckily the metal Bush sleeves from the front suspension were a perfect fit around the bolts. The change is far more positive now.



It was then onto the wings. Before starting I seam sealed and painted the areas that wouldn’t be seen once they were fitted.



The wings weren’t the best fit (when were they ever), but after a day of adjustments they were welded on before seam sealing the remaining areas inside the wings.











The dash also had to go back in temporarily. The wood panels I’ll be refurbishing so these were left out but I did fit LEDs to the warning light cluster, the dash lights, the tail lights and the sidelights. I also re-silvered the tail lights with tin foil.



















Once the dash was in I moved onto refitting the front end and preparing to start up, which it did straight away after 3 years of inactivity.











So, after hoping she was off to the paint shop this weekend, a charging fault has put paid to that. Done all the usual checks and swapped the Dynamo for a known good unit, fault still there. Onto the control box next...