Triumph 1300 FWD

[triumph1300]

Thought i would stick a mini thread and few pics up of my Triumph, although i know a lot of you don't like what i've done to it.

Anyway, I previously had a very rusty bodywork wise VW T25, i swapped it for a Triumph 1300 with 1 years fresh ticket, box of spares and £400 cash my way. It looked lovely in the pictures, and looked lovely when i picked it up...in the dark!!

After a good look over it, it had many apparent problems involving bodgery and possibly bad eyesighted MOT testers. The car was about 5 different shades of white, primer and rust, but in pictures it looked really good, so needless to say i was a bit gutted. It had been resprayed badly too, lots of silicone marks, and overspray everywhere.

One day the car will be painted, but currently I am out of work and in all fairness, my favourite colour on cars is matt or satin black...i'm more of a hotrod lover than nice shiny paint, so I painted it matt black just to keep me happy for the time being ( although it has been hinted the car will be fragged within 6 months?)

 

Here it is when i collected her:

 

 

How it looked last week:

 

 

And how it looks today:

 

 

The front wing was held together with mastic and filler, it snapped and this bodge was underneath:

 

 

Lovely. So now i have to teach myself to weld properly. I cant wait.

I still refuse to own a modern no matter how many times i own a rusty car!I just cant bear to see old stuff get scrapped or sit rotting away.

[M'coli]

Good stuff - and thanks for proving us wrong your commitment and attitude. Welding gets easier as you do more of it; with MIG, make sure the metal's clean of paint and rust as these really fuck up a decent.

[Negative Creep]

Ok it's not to everyone's taste, but fair play for giving it a go, persevering and putting up with crap from people about it (which I'm vainly hoping isn't the destiny of this thread)

[John F]

Also, don't bother trying to use gasless welding wire - consensus is that it's a waste of time.

 

And for what it's worth, I don't mind what you've done to the Triumph. I think they look slightly depressing as standard, getting rid of the brightwork has freshened it up.

[Cavcraft]

Aye, hats off to you. It looks like it'll be a good learning curve for you with the welding, keep us updated please with pictures as you go along.

[Shep Shepherd]

I think the car looks pretty mean painted matt black

 

Pawnote: My late grandfather (who also lived near Canterbury) had a white 1300 in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Could it be the same one?

[oman5]

It's just good to see one being saved.

If you can get one, try and keep a spare gearbox quill shaft. it's a known weak point on the 1300 FWD and the car won't go without it.

[philibusmo]

Good on you for wading through such a torrent of abuse and actually getting on with the job of saving this automobile whilst accidentally creating a decent internet meme in the process.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[ashmicro]

Good man. Get stuck in.

[triumph1300]

I have quite a lot of spares for this as I don't intend getting rid. I have 6 driveshafts, brand new CV joints, brand new track rod ends and balljoints, spare subframes, suspension arms,steering rack, spare gearbox and input shaft, also, a twin carb set up, and lots more. I intend fitting a sportier cam from a spitfire and a 4 branch manifold. Obviously this is when money allows. Living is currently more important than modifying cars!

And yes, that meme was pretty damn funny! Although I can tell you, I'm 100% not a hipster!

[Station]

I agree, don't use gasless, it just leaves a mess. I used it for a year, and when I switched to a gas bottle, it was like the first time I discovered wanking.

[triumph1300]

I agree, don't use gasless, it just leaves a mess. I used it for a year, and when I switched to a gas bottle, it was like the first time I discovered wanking.

 

Brilliant! To be honest, I have a mig here and its on gasless wire... And at the moment, complete lack of funds means I can't afford to buy gas and wire, so I have to make do with what I have, and to be honest I have no choice. It's my daily driver, and I need it back ASAP incase of any work or potential job interviews etc.

[stuboy]

gas is best.

[cobblers]

I'm glad you're getting it sorted and have stuck around after getting loads of grief off us lot.

 

That said, the grief you got off here will seem like bugger all when you try welding thinning rusty steel with a gasless mig set, especially as a beginner. Gasless is bloody horrible to work with, especially on thin steel. It spunks splatter everywhere (also like the first time I discovered wanking only you can't hastily wipe it off with an old tshirt) and the margin between "not actually sticking metal together at all" and "burning a hole straight through the panel" is depressingly small. It also leaves fluxy bollocks everywhere so you can't usually do the "tack tack tack" game without stopping all the time to wire brush it off.

 

I've always welded with pub gas (c02) which welding boffs seem to laugh at cos it's not argon or BOCs special mix of Argon and what I can only assume are princess Di's final breaths for what they charge for it.

C02 does the job and a £12 bottle fill will last for years, plus it's over 9000 times easier than welding with gasless.

[Polystratus]

 

Gasless is bloody horrible to work with, especially on thin steel. It spunks splatter everywhere (also like the first time I discovered wanking only you can't hastily wipe it off with an old tshirt) and the margin between "not actually sticking metal together at all" and "burning a hole straight through the panel" is depressingly small. It also leaves fluxy bollocks everywhere so you can't usually do the "tack tack tack" game without stopping all the time to wire brush it off.

 

 

Agree it's totally crap for car panel work, tried it on some scrap bits once and never again. As for learning to weld you may be lucky that your local college still does welding courses, all the colleges around here stopped doing them years ago to be replaced with warehousing/call centre type courses, so learnt from books and practice. U-tube is a good place to look and MiG welding forum.

[triumph1300]

I really really wish I had more money right now. I've literally got a £20 budget right now until some bits sell on ebay...even then I have bills to pay and a kid to look after. Needless to say although I'm skint as fook, I'm still happy and that's all I care about..

[warren t claim]

I really really wish I had more money right now. I've literally got a £20 budget right now until some bits sell on ebay...even then I have bills to pay and a kid to look after. Needless to say although I'm skint as fook, I'm still happy and that's all I care about..

 

Would it be worth lobbing an ad on your local Freecycle for old BL parts/panels? Someone might have something in their garage that they've been meaning to throw away, even if you get something you don't need you may be able to sell or swap it.

[mouseflakes]

 

I think this looks great - like a shark really pissed off at having a wine gum stuck in its back teeth.

 

Good luck with the this. I've heard that gasless mig can be a pain - I've only ever used gas myself. I reckon if you do find yourself in a position where you could get a welder, then make it one with a good reliable wire feed - it'll really help with the learning curve. A few years ago I switched to a Clarke 151TE after reading good reviews for a budget buy on the mig welding forum - it was a massive improvement on what I had before (and cheaper). Ratdat told me he got one as a back-up machine and found it so handy he used it most of the time.

[philibusmo]

+1 for gas over gasless.

I have used both, gas I can get reasonably neat, strong and consistent welds from. None of those adjectives apply when talking about gasless welds. I also have a Clarke, excellent bit of kit, cheap enough and really handy. Good luck on the job front, I know how it feels, about 2 years ago I spent 9 months with no job, luckily I don't have anyone dependent on me, which made it easier, but still not nice.

[triumph1300]

Yeah its hard work, i was self employed as a groundworker for 5 years and all of a sudden work just dried up. Nothing. The thing is, im on jobseekers at the moment, there are plenty of labouring jobs out there on jobcentre, but local, its like 1 weeks work etc. so its pointless me coming off jobseekers for 1 one weeks work, it messes things up too much. Plus you need a CSCS card...which i dont have and cant afford. Not a good time in my life right now, ive worked since i was 16 so its pretty crap...especially as i have mental health probs to sort first...but thats another story!

cheers for the positive comments guys

 

and xbollox and volksangyl, i apologise for the PMs...i was f**kin angry at the time, and i find it hard to reason as it is...

[Station]

I welded two arches fine with gasless though - it did the job fine, but I went through a few angle grinder discs smoothing back my welds!

The best was when I got it for a slight hairline crack 2cm's long in the bulkhead on my ol' Astra. My dad had welded before so he said he would do it. I left him to it and when I came back he had managed to pile on well over an inch of glowing slag across a 2 inch radius and the carpet underneath resembled the lower half of Bob Marley's favourite t-shirt. It was complete with those characteristic bits of welding wire sticking out at all angles. I lol'd heartily.

[triumph1300]

Sounds like he achieved a perfect job then! With the practise welds I've done, the first lot were horrible, spattery and uneven. Once I had played about with wire feed and power I managed to get it looking respectable (ish) and with good penetration

Now its time to try it for real and to make up repair panels....

[warren t claim]

Yeah its hard work, i was self employed as a groundworker for 5 years and all of a sudden work just dried up. Nothing. The thing is, im on jobseekers at the moment, there are plenty of labouring jobs out there on jobcentre, but local, its like 1 weeks work etc. so its pointless me coming off jobseekers for 1 one weeks work, it messes things up too much. Plus you need a CSCS card...which i dont have and cant afford. Not a good time in my life right now, ive worked since i was 16 so its pretty crap...especially as i have mental health probs to sort first...but thats another story!

cheers for the positive comments guys

 

and xbollox and volksangyl, i apologise for the PMs...i was f**kin angry at the time, and i find it hard to reason as it is...

 

CSCS cards are paid for by Jobcentreminus all the time. If your thinking about agency work the go self employed and claim everything back, @ 45p a mile offset against tax I ran my W124 without issues. Remember, one job leads to another....

[triumph1300]

Currently they aren't paying for CSCS cards. I've asked, many times...yet they are willing to put me on a course for computers...WTF! I would never work in an office, I would last 2 minutes, but as usual jobcentre don't listen. Ever.

[hairymel]

Good on you for wading through such a torrent of abuse and actually getting on with the job of saving this automobile whilst accidentally creating a decent internet meme in the process.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

i agree whole heartedly

 

hang on in there, it seems you have the required persistence to be a grade A shiter

[vulgalour]

Thank you. This thread is much more what it should be about; messing about with old cars. Good luck with the repairs on that front corner.

[Cavcraft]

Could you enrol at a night school for welding? You'd hopefully be able to do the course free of charge, they might let you work on your own car there and you'd learn a new skill too.

[Split_Pin]

I wasnt sure at first but I think the motor looks bloody great, esp with the negative camber at the front. Nice change from a matt black Golf!

 

Stick in there with the welding and everything else!

[Mr H Sceptre]

Really glad you have stuck it out here on Autoshite Mr 1300. Just glad to see someone with a passion for keeping old motors on the road. Not everyone's cars can be to everyone else's taste....& I must admit that your Triumph is growing on me. It does look quite menacing from the front!

 

Mr HS

 

So-called 'Management'

[eddyramrod]

I must echo what others have said, it is great to see someone dedicating himself to keeping an old car up and running, especially when the odds are against him. However.... gas v gasless may be a fine debate (I've never learned to weld so I can't comment) but this isn't the place for it. In the last year or so I've had a lot of the same style of advice, which all boils down to "I wouldn't be starting from here." Well "here" is where I have to start from, or in this case, where our hero Mr 1300 has to start from. He has gasless and fully intends to use it, so stop telling him something he can't afford is better and tell him how to get the best from what he has! Or better still, if you're within reach, go and help him! Actual help is always at least 94000 times more valuable than advice.

 

Best of British luck, 1300.