1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project
Traction Owner’s Club › Forums › Forum Archive › Traction Owners Club Forum › Your Project › 1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
15th January 2015 at 8:38 am #4925
Anonymous
Are they that leaky…. wow 🙁
I am changing all the rubbers everywhere, doors, windows, boot. All the old ones were perished anyway.
If it rains, I will get the wife to walk in front with an umbrella 😆
15th January 2015 at 9:09 am #4926If you look at the front edge of the roof gutters they invariably slope inward directing any water onto the frame/door join, judicious use of filler (or maybe some silicone sealant until you paint the car) to change the angle of the slope away from the door helps a lot.
The scuttle vent is a pain to stop leaking as you have already read, but the windscreen should be OK if you fit the new seal the correct way, there is an article on the main site with a diagram….
Also make sure the drain holes in the door bottoms are clear so the water that runs down the glass can flow back out of the door bottoms……
15th January 2015 at 9:50 am #4927Talking of doors – are they designed to let water run straight down. Looking at them, there seems to be a large gap along the glass. I have the inner rubber (the one nailed on) – are there any other rubbers in there.
I have left the doors along at the moment as they work but don’t want to get my new interior soaked by missing a simple seal.
15th January 2015 at 11:00 am #4928Nope, no rubber at the bottom of the glass on the outside which is why you need to ensure that the drain holes are clear. Have a look at the tech doc http://traction-owners.co.uk/members_only/technical_articles.shtml on ‘rainproofing doors’ – Volume 23 – 1998-99 issue 5 (Mar) which covers all the common issues with ‘leaks’
15th January 2015 at 6:58 pm #4929Yes, they can leak like that. Don’t know how they did when new. Once water finds its way in when driving, it won’t stop. Sometimes it won’t leak at all but when driving for 8-9 hours straight in heavy rainfall, it’s gonna happen. I find that when parked in the rain, the car won’t leak, but when moving it will. Also, the door drain holes aren’t at their lowest point,where the door skin is crimped to the frame is lower and the factory didn’t do much about it. This is why Traction lower door skins rust out. Try to fill the area with some sort of sealant to bring it level to the door bottom. Another pain in the ass, but necessary. I think I’ve posted about this elsewhere but the cowl vent will leak too and this is another area that is hard to keep from leaking. American cars of the same era had cowl vents but they had a plenum below the vent with ducting and a drain for water. I wish Tractions had that too.
16th January 2015 at 10:51 am #4930So on we go with the body work and cleaning the last parts while I still wait for the return of my oil baffle from the repair shop.
My “dirty shelf” is now empty of all parts (other than the bonnet) – all the parts are cleaned, painted and ready to be put back on the car. Parts that I was going to throw away have come up like new so I am quite happy 😀 and that light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little closer 😯
Final few coats of “protection” paint go on the front grill
[attachment=2:2vhqzbeg]P1070161.jpg[/attachment:2vhqzbeg]
I cleaned up and touched up the window surround and then put on the ridge rubber – hmmmm, I am sure it is supposed to go all the way round. I bet this is for a BL model. Funnily enough, I had two of these (wrapped together) and both were too short. Annoying but at least this can go on later – luckily the front window is on hinges 😉
[attachment=1:2vhqzbeg]P1070162.jpeg[/attachment:2vhqzbeg]
Although I am no where near ready to do this, it had to be done. I put the grill back on the car. This is the first time in over a year that it actually resembles a Traction. And I can also start to see where everything is supposed to go too.
[attachment=0:2vhqzbeg]P1070165.jpeg[/attachment:2vhqzbeg]
16th January 2015 at 7:07 pm #4931On with the painting – Another unit I was going to throw away as it looked so tatty was the heater tubes. But in the end it was purely the rubber joints that had perished and was taped up by the previous owner. Took all that off to reveal perfect metal and after sandblasting and priming they look brand new again.
Here is the paint shop with fan assisted drying 🙂
[attachment=2:24lxq4yr]P1070167.jpeg[/attachment:24lxq4yr]
In between painting there is plenty of small jobs to do like riveting the front weather strips to the newly fitted grill.
[attachment=0:24lxq4yr]P1070168.jpeg[/attachment:24lxq4yr]
And also the weather strip under the window, but this was done with new screws.
[attachment=1:24lxq4yr]P1070170.jpeg[/attachment:24lxq4yr]
16th January 2015 at 7:13 pm #4932But although I said the cleaning had finished I emptied all my tins of bolts to see what I had left. It is mostly bolts for the wings but the bonnet opening parts got me thinking about something else. 😕
[attachment=1:5lemaxay]P1070169.jpeg[/attachment:5lemaxay]
I decided to fit the bonnet to make sure all the parts went in the right place. The front bonnet catch was a bit of a puzzle as I had not taken any photos of that, but I worked it out in the end. I also fitted the bonnet stop arms that hold it open. It didn’t have these before so a little more thought was required. But they now open and stay open lovely 😀
[attachment=0:5lemaxay]P1070172.jpg[/attachment:5lemaxay]
16th January 2015 at 8:43 pm #4933Looking good and yes the screen surround rubber should meet in the middle 🙂
20th January 2015 at 8:21 pm #4934Time to tackle the bumpers and I think the previous owner used them just for that. I have had to take photos of other tractions to try and figure out how they are supposed to look.
I have unbolted them and ground off the rivets to send all the individual parts to the sandblaster. They will protect the chromed side but realistically there is not much chrome left, so I will clean these up and try and polish something back into them.[attachment=2:3it2ubcc]IMG_1635.jpg[/attachment:3it2ubcc]
More painting, I was going to leave the lights alone but after all the other painting I have done they looked a bit of a mess so I micro blasted them and primered them. Final coat is being applied and in between coats I am wet sanding them.
[attachment=1:3it2ubcc]P1070179.jpeg[/attachment:3it2ubcc]
I have sanded the dashboard and prepared it for paint
[attachment=0:3it2ubcc]P1070182.jpeg[/attachment:3it2ubcc]
20th January 2015 at 8:23 pm #4935I have completed my first wiring harness. This the long connection from the front connection block to the rear which feed the rear lights, feel sender etc. Added an extra one for the fuel pump. It has worked out alright except it is very fiddly with the little heat shrink numbers.
[attachment=2:1nnbtjfv]P1070177.jpeg[/attachment:1nnbtjfv]
The connection block for the front (under dashboard)
[attachment=1:1nnbtjfv]P1070178.jpeg[/attachment:1nnbtjfv]
The car has had its first new parts on the exterior, the rear indicators are bolted on (after a bit of T Cut and polish before hand on the body work) and wired up.
[attachment=0:1nnbtjfv]P1070183.jpeg[/attachment:1nnbtjfv]
20th January 2015 at 9:18 pm #4936Aren’t the headlamp bases supposed to be polished? Mine are.
21st January 2015 at 8:09 am #4937From what I have seen they are all different. Mine were painted black and I have seen all sorts.
It would be nice if they were but as you can see from the bumpers, not a lot on this car is still polished 🙂
21st January 2015 at 9:06 am #4938@L.Lewis wrote:
Aren’t the headlamp bases supposed to be polished? Mine are.
Most of the French cars I have seen have black painted headlamp mounts, however chromed ones are available and I bought 2 for my car
21st January 2015 at 9:30 am #4939………….
-
AuthorPosts
- The forum ‘Your Project’ is closed to new topics and replies.