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1973 Triumph Spitfire Chassis Frame

As you may have seen earlier, my chassis frame was pretty rotted out and I had come to the conclusion that attempting to repair it wasn't the right option. The frame outriggers were virtually non existent and the frame was punctured through in multiple locations.

So I went on kijiji and came across a gentleman in oakvile who had is spitfire parted out. It was a 76 but the frame but was in a decent shape. It seemed like it was re-coated once upon a time and all the bracketry seemed solid. I made the purchase for a few hundred dollars ($300 - $400 I believe. Can't recall).

July 2016

↑ So the first thing I noticed is that unlike the 73 spit, the 76 spit had rear outriggers that supported the trunk floor. Not sure why Triumph decided to add these but I believe the intent was to meet new impact/crash regulatory requirements.

↑ Started off by grinding the welds holding the outrigger. The sheet metal for the outriggers overlapped that of the rails.

↑ Once the outriggers were off, I took the frame to Mass Industrial in Port Hope to have it sand blasted. The sand was able to puncture the areas adjaced to where the outriggers orininally were. The area was corroded and it was evidently due to stagnant water buildup.

↑ I chopped off the rotten sheet off the rails and fabricated a patch panel from 16 gauge weld steel

↑ Patch panel clamped, prepped for welding.

↑ Back then I did have a welder and borrowed a Century welder that did not have a provision for shielding gas. I used .03 flux cored wire and was satisfied with the results.

↑ Too thin, so repeated beads it was.

↑ All set, I thought it was not necessary to weld the recovery eyelets back on.

↑ Also noticed one of the outriggers was missing a spacer.

↑ So I picked up a gas fitting rom home depot for $2. Didn't seem like it had any special surface treatment and it welded O.K.

↑ Next, I coated the entire frame with POR 15 using a paint brush. Regrettably, the floor got quite a bit too and that stuff does not get off unless you use a wire brush or grinder.

↑ So here are the driveline and suspension components. My friend has a blaster at work and took a shot at cleaning these up. Apparently it wasn't powerful enough to knock off all the grease and gunk that caked onto the surface over the decades. So I took them to mass industrial and had them re-done.

↑ Everything coated in POR 15 afterwards.

↑ The frame ended up looking really good once the POR 15 dried up. I then felt the desire to make it look as OE as possible and decided to weld on the recovery eyelets. Now its all ready to have everything bolted back on.