My Bird is 22 years old. Absolutely no rust; not even hidden around shock towers. Zero, zilch, nada, bupkis.....
I finally investigated a noise, which I was certain was a loose nut on the right rear shock. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! The paper-thin metal at the top of the shock tower is turning to chips. This crap is really thin. Must be that high-carbon body steel. Very, very thin. Did I tell you how thin it is?
Now I need to find someone to weld a nice patch, followed by some rust prevention for the heated and naked metal. I made a temp fix with some king-sized washers. Anyone know if the surrounding area is also thin? That would require a mig-weld. I believe that a shaped patch welded from inside would be nice, as the underside appears to be too difficult to reach.

P.S.- What I have decided to do on Saturday, is to fabricate a plate out of sheet brass, and when it is near perfect, cut and bang out the real thing from some steel. Then I can go to the welder. Easier said than done.

Un friggin' believable.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks

Seth

 

OUCH!
By contrast I changed the rear shocks on my 85 'Bird last week and the metal was fine. Two years between them so the shock tower condition I would have though would be similar.
Morticia's bodywork is a bit rough in places, so if anything she should have been worse!

Mark.

 

Wow, I named my TR-7 Elsa. She was quite a pretty drophead -coupe' in typical British Racing Green. Miss her. The English seem to put their hearts into designing cars. Handling was wonderful. Looks were unique. But, Elsa was a piece of unreliable junk, lasting 20 years and several hundred thousand miles, because of LOTS OF CONSTANT HARD WORK. The local machine shop opened a new wing on profits from my jobs.

Seth

 

Yes, the TR7 was not particularly well received in its country of origin either. However, I liked the shape, and when people started dropping Rover V8s into them

Having read the forums on here of a bit now, I feel that US cars tend to be built to last longer. Comments such as "the car's done 200k miles, I suppose I should replace the suspension bushes" WTF?? You don't get that from UK cars ,IMHO.

Best of luck with your repairs. One thing though, even if you plate from the inside of the car, you'll still need to rustproof the outside won't you?

Mark.

 

Mark,

Thanks.
Yes, I will need to pay careful attention to rustproofing.
I once owned a beautiful 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Coupe. This 5,500 pound unit-body lounge chair had the same 440 cubic inch engine that Jensen put in the Interceptor. The odometer went around the clock so many times, that I lost track. In all those miles, it ate one transmission and one thermostat. The annual oil changes seemed a waste of time, as there was no blow-by at all. They don't build 'em like that anymore.

Seth