Tamiya Tyrell P34 "1977"

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... O.k I picked up this original Tamiya Tyrell P34 from Andyaus a little bit ago. Was in decent but rough shape. As soon as it came I started working on it. I always wanted one of these. :woohoo: I saved both mirrors and the two aluminum mounting brackets off the original body. The rest of it went into the garbage. Too far gone to be salvaged. My re-re Tamiya Tyrell P34 needed a driver's side mirror anyway so now it has one. I tore the car down and let all the parts soak in a plastic tub of Greased Lightning over night. Next day started cleaning 38 years of dirt and grime off of it. The parts came pretty clean but now you can tell this car was run a bit. Scratches all on the bottom of the chassis plates. No big deal. I decided then that all the aluminum parts would be fine glass beaded and sent out to be powder coated. Nice thing about my glass beader is that it takes small scratches out quite easily. After powder coating you will never tell they were there. I'm going to go with a aluminum powder coating colour so it will be hard to tell the difference. The main chassis plate was pretty bent and the stiffening grooves were disfigured. I used to be a Way cover repairman in a fabrication shop so this was easy to fix. Took about a hour but got the chassis plate almost good as new. I ordered a NIP body for the car and it came in today. I also cleaned up the upgraded 540 motor. I ordered a NIP steering set that should arrive next week. Here's some pics of the process so far.

Car when I bought it : (Andy's pics)

[THE HP FREAK]

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... So NIP body came in today :





All the chassis parts degreased and cleaned :



All the chassis parts glass beaded :

[zomboided]

Lovely old car, keep sharing the photos and encourage me to build my re-re

[Avante2001R]

Looking forward to seeing this all done. Lucky to find a body set!

[Quandry]

Wow! what a project. You are doing a great job at turning this around!!

[yellowcat]

That will be a big project and cost a lot to turn it new again. The body sells for $125.00 at Jason's. Looking forward to see everything put together again.

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... Shouldn't be too bad. Everything is there basically. I already have a set of tires, and a vintage battery and will be reusing all the vintage electronics. Powdercoating will be about $25. I didn't pay close to $125 for the body set. lol! Basically after the P/C I just have to put it back together and paint it. Should have less than $300 in it total. Not bad since finding one of these in great shape ranges from $650-$1000.

[NWarty]

Awesome stuff and great find!

[wood5tock]

Will be keeping an eye on this one. Great job so far

[Grastens]

The chassis parts look great!

Given your work with those metal pieces, I was almost surprised that you did not attempt to restore the original shell; that being said, there was certainly a lot more missing than present! Still: any plans for it as of yet?

[996TT]

Great work as always Neal. Keep the pics coming....

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... Just an update. The NIP steering set came in today. Also ordered a can of Tamiya TS-15 and TS-26 for the body. Should be here next week. I dropped the glass beaded parts off at the powder coaters tonight. Going with a light silver metallic. Cost? $15. lol! Hopefully I can start assembling this thing soon.

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... Well the paint showed up today. Might paint the body tomorrow depending on how I feel. Also the NIP P34 steering set showed up.

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... Well I picked up the powder coated parts today. They look good. Hopefully I can start assembling it soon. What I still need to find is the rubber tires that came on the TYRRELL P34. I know the re-re had the same tires. But I can't seem to find any. People would have to replace the ones on the re-re eventually, so where do you get them from? Anyone?

[Grastens]

FleaBay used to have a few sets, but with other versions of this chassis now using sponge foam tires it may be a bit harder to find rubber types...

[996TT]

Neal... these are in the classifieds...have they been sold or is something wrong with these ?...

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades_model.asp?cid=117611

[THE HP FREAK]

HI!... Wheels came in today. Just going with the huge rear foams until I can find a set of the original rear rubber ones.

[NWarty]

Just watched "Rush" last night (again for the umpteenth time). Loved seeing the six-wheeler in the background

[Grastens]

Great footage in that film - the cameras loved the P34!

Hope the proper rear tires can be located!

[matman]

Just watched "Rush" last night (again for the umpteenth time). Loved seeing the six-wheeler in the background

Now that funny , i just watched Rush last night as well . Here in Australia .

Was great looking at the old F type cars & that tyrell ! wow , it keeps me

wanting to buy one , i have all ways like them & wanted to build one .

Great thread THE HP FREAK .

[Mrcrash]

I love this car! I had 1 in my younger days but It met a car wheel