Brace yourself!
Matt readies himself to tackle the TR’S crusty sills
With the TR engine rebuild process seemingly approaching completion (See Practical Classics, July 2018, p102) it was time to get back to restoring the body. First task was to address and/or amend the door gaps. The gaps between the door and wings on the driver’s side were quite good but the passenger side left something to be desired. The gap between the back of the door and the front of the rear wing was much too wide at the top and quite tight at the bottom – adjustment definitely required.
The way to do that was to loosen the rear body to chassis mount, then jack the body up, with the vertical movement allowing extra spacers to be fitted between the body and chassis. At least that is how the theory goes. After an hour of huffing and puffing, not helped by the fact that our trolley jack wouldn’t go quite as high as we’d hoped, Matt Tomkins and I had the body where we wanted it. Once jacked up, the gap at the top of the door had closed up quite a bit. Matt superglued a number of sturdy penny washers together and, having removed the chassis-to-body bolt, he was able to place our new ‘super washer’ on top of the original and double the height of our now-combined chassisto-body improved, we couldn’t get the body up further to get any more washers in – I believe some metal will have to be let in to the rear edge of the door to ultimately solve the gap issue.
Scores on the doors
Next, we moved onto the doors. I was concerned about ensuring that the doors would still line up with the new sills when they are eventually fitted. One tip I received was to mark on the bodytub exactly where the edge of the door sits at the front, so this is exactly what I did, using a marker pen to mark the spot. All being well, the doors will therefore match up with the new sill panels when they are welded in position… gulp.
After taking plenty of pictures for future reference, we removed the doors, ready for the bodytub to be braced. The bodyshop guys at TRGB had kindly agreed to lend me a pre-made jig
‘The next job will be removing the rusty sills proper. Wish me luck…’
frame that mounts a solid bar between the door hinge holes at the A-pillars and the striker plate holes at the B-pillars, with a final tie bar between the two at the B-pillar end. This made things so much easier, especially as it pretty much went straight on and bolted right up! Thanks, so much guys. And this is how the car currently sits – I’ve stripped the rubber seals from around the door openings and begun to strip back the paint on the sills to unveil the spot welds, so the next job will be removing the sills proper. Wish me luck…
I’ve also made a decision on what wheels to use when the car is ready to return to the road. While at TRGB recently to work on the engine I spotted a set of alloy wheels in the corner of one of the storage sheds. They came off a TR4 that was traded in but are believed to have been fitted to a TVR originally – if you know more then please get in touch. In black with polished details, I think they will look great when fitted to a white car.
Raising the bar
As a spot of light relief, I’ve also fitted a tow bar to my Triumph 2000, ready for trips away in a trailer tent after we recently sold our Talbot Express camper. Reader Simon Oliver kindly donated a bar, which I stripped and painted at home (see boxout). The only snag is slow-running indicators… fitting an uprated flasher unit is next on my ‘To-do’ list.