29 January 2008 - the tub's a hybrid!

Well I found out last night that the tub was originally a Saloon and it has had the convertible top grafted onto it. Trouble is that it is a really bad job and the welding is crap! I am amazed it lined up as good as it did.

Stripping off the paint reveals a lot of history and this car is no exception. The bottom half of the tub was a saloon tub, probably chosen as they do not rust out as much or as quickly as the convertibles which are exposed a lot more to the elements. However, this was done a while ago as the rear boot corners and some of the floor pan has rotted out already.

The scary hole in the O/S/R corner will have to be made up and the rust holes in the convertible top part will need to be carefully repaired with metal and strengthened. You can see from one of the pictures that the top has been repaired from underneath, but to do so they have removed a strengthening web so this will need to be tidied up and the web added back in from a donor I have.

The worst part of this tub is that it has been covered with a bitumen type underseal that I personally hate as it just traps water and moisture and the metal rusts from inside. Removing this will be a pain, but I really want to so I can stonechip the whole tub inside and out prior to painting, much the same as the bulkhead.

I have ordered some repair panels from Rimmers today, the two rear boot corners which replace te outer skin and the two sill panels that make up the door aperture. These are the first panels I have got for this car, so I am hoping the quality will be good and that they fit okay. My experience with VW panels is that they normally don't, but maybe the Triumph ones are different!