Paint

My dad called today, and, in the course of describing the progress on the Triumph, I talked myself into not leaving the bulkhead in primer.  When am I ever going to have both master cylinders off again?!  This is a great opportunity to do this right, and the delay is negligible since it's not likely to be Triumph weather until March at the absolute earliest.

So...  where does one find #82 Carmine Red paint?  Well, there are plenty of places on the internet willing to sell you a spray can of it for $25-30 each.  But everybody wanted another $15 for shipping for a single can of spray paint, and several of them auto-added a bunch of other things to your shopping cart, like dust masks and scratch pens and masking tape. The whole thing comes across as kind of a racket.  

None of the big Triumph parts suppliers in the US seemed to want to sell body paint.  They'll all happily sell brake caliper paint, or engine paint, or wire wheel paint, but not the OEM body colors.  Rimmer Bros. (UK) was selling it for GBP 12.50 or so, which is less than $25, but shipping from the UK seems unlikely to make it worthwhile.

On a lark, I called our local British car shop, The Motorway. They recommended a particular paint shop who could mix up matching paint.  So I called them, and found out that #82 Carmine Red corresponds to PPG code # 72065, and they could have a spray can of it mixed up before quittin' time tonight for $15.  Sold.

I'll post some pics of the paint process as it unfolds.  Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of a carburetor rebuild, and I've got brake parts waiting for their turn to get installed.  Need to get cracking....

Mounting Brackets Again

The brackets I primed yesterday were calling out to get their final silver coat today.  Here they are, in all their shiny glory.  After our weather moves through, I'll install these on the freshly primed bulkhead, and we'll be ready to start putting things back together.

Mounting Brackets

Cleaned & rust-converted example at bottom,
primed pieces above

With weather on the way, I've turned to projects that can be done indoors.  The alternator is a prime candidate, but I'm still waiting for the brushes to get here. 

That leaves rust mitigation.  At the beginning of the bulkhead job, I pulled a bunch of brackets out of the way.  They were fittings for the master cylinders, speedometer cable, ignition coil, etc.  Each had its own sad patina of rust, grime, and road dust.  So I went over them with the wire wheel while the weather was still good enough to do it outside.

Once they'd all been brushed clean, I wiped them all down with a rust converter and set them aside for 24 hours.  A day later, I came back and primed them.  Tomorrow, I'll hit them with a coat of metallic silver Rustoleum and they'll be as good as new - or, rather, as good as I'm likely to get them, which is more than adequate.

A quick word about my indoor paint setup.  I sealed up the edges and corners of a cardboard box, shoved a wire hook through the side of it pretty deep within, et voila! Indoor paint booth.  Overspray is contained.  The fumes still require an exhaust fan or an open window, but it's manageable.

The wire hook - a bicycle spoke, in this case - is bent to form a handle so that the work can be rotated in the booth to hit it from all sides.  Works pretty smoothly!

Detail of the handle for rotating the work
in the paint "booth"

Bulkhead Rust

The bulkhead on the driver's side was pretty rusty when I got the car.  It's a common problem - spilled fluid from the clutch & brake master cylinders attacks the paint, leaving the metal unprotected, and chemistry has its way with the steel, resulting in something like this:

With the brakes on my short list of to-do's, it was now or never.  Once the master cylinder is installed, the job is way harder.  So I got started, removing all of the parts mounted to the left bulkhead and firing up the electric drill with a wire wheel.

I was pleased to see that the rust hadn't gotten deep into the bulkhead:  

After scouring the affected area to my heart's content,  I cleaned it and applied a rust converter chemical, then shut down for the night.

Today, I masked the work to prevent overspray getting all over everything, and hit it with a healthy coat of Rustoleum automotive primer.

Came out looking great,  and now I can install the brake system with the piece of mind that come from knowing I'm not slowly losing a critical structural member to the tin worm.

What Have We Here?

I spent some of this morning familiarizing myself with the car.  Here's what I've found so far.

Weather-Proofing

I found the missing rubber strip for the driver's door, and it's actually in pretty good shape, so that's one less $30 tidbit to buy.  And I was able to press the passenger's side piece back into place.  The doors are fine now.

The brand new soft top in the trunk looks great, but the installation process is much more involved than I realized.  I'm missing some of the necessary fasteners, too.  I think, in the short term, my best bet is to keep the hard top on it and to rig a plywood & sheet plastic "plug" for the rear window space until I can get the glass replaced.

About the rear window: after checking with a Triumph forum for ideas, I had a couple options.  I found a place that sells replacement glass for $300+, but I also found Lexan sheeet at the local Home Depot for about $80.  And then, I checked with my local glass shop. They can fabricate a flat automotive laminate glass window for only about $90.  That's clearly the best option.  I need the rubber window seal ($120) before they can make the piece, and a little searching turned one up at Spitbits.com.  While I was there, I ordered the missing fasteners ($3.60) for the new top.

Battery & Starter

The battery is truly shot, not taking a charge at all.  I'll pull it before heading to work today, so I can get the core discount on the new one ($79 with core) at NAPA.

With the charger pumping out the 100A "start" current, I tried the starter.  It spun freely but wasn't engaging the engine.  According to my Haynes manual, it's either loose on its mounting, or the pinion is sticking on the sleeve, or it's shot.  I'll pull the starter and inspect it before I just buy a new one ($50 at AutoZone).

Miscellaneous

Aside from that, the only other progress was repositioning it with the front end on ramps, and a bit more inspection for rust.  There is a lot of surface rust in the engine bay.  I'd really like to brush it clean and paint it, just to keep it from worsening, but you can only do so much without removing things, and once you start removing things, where do you stop?  I'm really not able to take on a frame-off restoration right now.