Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Every once in a while you stumble across a part for one project while you’re searching for something else. Buy the part anyway! If it’s an obsolete one, who knows if it will be there when you consider yourself ready for it.

I stopped by Quality Coaches in Minneapolis to order a couple gaskets for the TR6’s bumper–owner Mark Brandow is a Moss (British parts) dealer. In addition, he has salted away a lot of neat parts, so while there I kept my eyes open.  Sure enough I spied a clutch cover and disk for a 215 V8–just what I need for the ‘63 gearbox I’ve been so excited about since chasing it down in Wisconsin. These parts have been at Quality a long time–Mark accumulated them with the same thoughts many MG and Triumph drivers have of maybe chucking a 215 aluminum V8 under the hood. He has done so with a Devin (and TR8 gearbox) and may not need the other stuff any more. No sense waiting till he sent it away.

The cover had some shelf rust on it, but a glass-bead cabinet makes quick work of that. The pictures here show the same clutch cover before and after I hit it with glass bead at my friend Tom’s shop. I cleaned up the disk contact surface (which had the writing on it) with a wire wheel on a bench grinder. Might even hit the outer shell with some Alumiblast paint, if overkill-fever strikes.

Tom busted me for shooting the cleaned up part on the black rug in the front of his shop, while the as-bought photos I snapped on a steel shop table. Looks a lot better regardless of the improved background. Somehow it’s easier to get excited about bolting on goodies when they look good–even if you’ll never see ‘em once fitted.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Car parts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.