Rear deck

[Graeme Robinson]

I'm about to start trimming my 59 3a; I hope I have all of the parts/bits and pieces that I need having bought what I believe everything necessary over the past few months etc. My main concern rests with what I refer to as the rear deck i.e. the area of bodyworks directly behind the hood when stowed.

Its become apparent to me that the rear of my car (boot floor, resar apron/inner wings etc) has essentially been replaced and I've noticed that quite a lot of key elements are missing such as the rear brace that sits directly below the boot latch to stop the rear apron from bending, plus a few other minor brackets etc. I've attached a few photos which give an idea of where I am currently with my restoration to; whilst I've had a TR6 for over 20 years, the 3a is still very new to me and as such I'd really appreciate it if anyone can adivise me of anything that appears to be untoward/missing and will therefore prevent me from fixing the rear compartment trim or the hood and/or the trim i.e.directly in front of the petrol tank and around the wheel arches etc.

 

Many thanks

 

Graeme

Edited August 9, 2014 by Graeme Robinson

[Fireman049]

Hi Graeme ~

 

The obvious missing parts are the 'Lift-a-Dot' pegs for the hood and Tonneau cover.

I notice that you have your petrol tank securing straps insulated with felt strip.

I would recommend that you replace these with non porous material such as rubber

or something. The felt strip will become wet and can seriously affect your petrol tank in time.

I've insulated my tank straps with strips of old rubber inner tubes.

 

Cheers ~

Tom.

[Dave Larnder]

Graeme

 

There has been talk recently about a rear firewall which I take is to go between the rear seat back (if you have one) and the fuel tank.One of our members says he has done it and I asked if he had the pattern for it but I never received a reply.

Although Tom has mentioned the lift-a-dots, you still have to cover and fit the rear capping as well as the elbow capping. Two of those dots hold the end of the webbing for the hood and two bolts. When you come to fit the webbing to the hood stick, DON¨T screw it down to the middle cross bar, leave that loose and you will find it ten times easier to fit and tension the hood, by leaving that bar forward until you have erected the over centre side plates, then just push that back to get the final tension. Pull it away first when you take the hood off too.

Like your colour scheme, but it looks a bit whiter than Old English White, what is your colour? anyway it won´t be long before you are enjoying the drive of a side screen car, a proper sports car, no windy up thingies.

 

Dave

[Fireman049]

Graeme ~

 

If you've got the rear seat back then that is the pattern for the firewall. Mine is made from aluminium.

 

Tom.

[Graeme Robinson]

Sorry I should have explained, I've got all of the cappings etc. together with the rear panel which closes the cockpit from the fuel tank; is this what you refer toe as the firewall? Incidentally, I purchased this from TR Shop and when I've tried to loose fit it seems too wide and if so will require some adjustment, nt sure if this is a common problem or not. I had a similar issue with the sae corresponding panel in the boot but this just required trimming with a sharp blade.

I really wanted to know if the bodywork should have any welded bracketry etc for the cappings/hood/rear panel to fix to as I'll need to sort this out now. I was advised prior to spraying the car that all was how it should be but subsequently I've found a few bits missing elsewhere on the car, mainly in the boot area..

Thanks for the tips on the fixing of webbing to hood stick; the colour scheme is the original spec of Pearl Grey and red (white piping) I've not seen another in this colour scheme, only Silverstohe Grey, it would be interesting to see the difference in shade, mine seems similar to battleship grey or shiny primer as the Lady that sprayed it for me put it!

[Guest]

Here a few pics as reference:

 

 

 

 

 

There was no rubber strap between the tank and the strap at that point. I used an alloy sheet between the tank and the cockpit, later to be trimmed with vinyl/'leatherette'.

 

 

Hardly visible here: I was unable to replicate the original horizontal pattern on the back plate's trim; originally it's done with heat. I had to use stitching to achieve a more or less similar pattern.

 

Menno

Edited August 10, 2014 by Menno van Rij 2

[mleadbeater]

Graeme,

 

I finished fitting firewall and trimming rear cockpit a few weeks ago, looks very similar to yours, the tabs you have under the re-enforcing rail look ok, although mine has tabs at the outer ends of the rail, the firewall tucks under this and is fixed with a single selftapper. Sorry cant give you a photo as trim all glued in.

I fixed the ends of the cockpit end trim with a selftapper into the rail, seems to hold it fine.

The other thing I did was to fix some 1"x 1" (approx) bent up steel sheet angle to the vertical wheelarch face, to allow fixing of the firewall to the wheel arches, again with selftappers.

Just found this photo ( not mine) which should help

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

[Graeme Robinson]

Many thanks for the replies, looking at the photos my car seems to have an entirely different profile to the rear deck itself, i.e. where the hood will be fixed to the lift the dot fasteners. Both sets of pictures appear to show a shelf with forward facing horizontal tabs, as I mentioned I am not familiar with the 3a but my car doesn't have anything that resembles this. I have taken a further picture from within the cockpit looking upwards to the underside of the rear deck, hopefully you can make it out ok but this details a series of tabs pointing horizontally towards the back of the car, do these need to be bent forward?

Getting slightly worried that I have a problem as the bulk of the rear of the car has been replaced and I'm concerned that the rear deck may be an incorrect after market product perhaps?!

[Guest]

These tabs are only for support of the firewall. They do not carry a heavy load. You can try to bend them forward or construct a sleeve-like construction that fits over the tabs, facing forwards. We you've bent the tabs themselves forward, there's a small gap between the rear deck and the tabs. The firewall slides between the deck and the tabs. It is not secured by screws etc. The only screws you need are below, left and right were there are two more tabs with small holes. When bending them forwards, there's a chance that the paint will crack and come off. So be sure that you can repaint the spots with a touch up brush.

 

What worries me more are the 4 holes on the upper edge of the rear deck. There should be a retaining plate with two holes on the inside on the left 2 and right 2 holes. On my car's pics you can see them, painted blue.

 

Menno

[foster461]

Menno, what is the black pad that is visible under the fuel tank.

 

Graeme, I have an untrimmed post 60K 1960 TR3A tub if you need any more pictures or measurements.

 

Stan

[Graeme Robinson]

Any pictures Stan would be very much appreciated if you think theyll show me anything additional to what Menno & Mike have sent me already.

Does the fact that my car doesn't have the rear seat make any diffefence in terms of the profile of the rear deck?

 

Is there any difference between pre & post 60k vehicles in terms of rear deck manufacture?

[mleadbeater]

As Menno says, on my car the tabs were folded forward to form a slot into which the top of the firewall slotted, I then drilled thro and fixed at each end with a screw.

 

Mike

[Guest]

Stan,

 

That's sound and heat insulation material. I can not remember the name at the moment.

 

Menno

[Graeme Robinson]

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding this but if the firewall slides into the slot, this suggests to me that the topside of the tab is then visible? This would explain why Menno suggets having to touch up after bending but from pictures that I've seen of finished cars, I cant see any visible tabs; I'll have another look though later.

[foster461]

As I recall the top of the rear trim panel curves in towards the fuel tank and so the edge of it goes into the slots created by the folded tabs and you dont see the tabs.

 

Here are some details my partially painted post 60 K tub, there may be some differences so it is just another data point. My central trim clip is attached to the deck with a sheet metal screw, Menno's central clip appears to be spot welded to the rear deck.

 

http://s38.photobucket.com/user/foster461/slideshow/TR3A%20restoration%20project/10%20Aug%202014%20-%20Rear%20deck%20detail%20for%20a%20post%2060K%20TR3A

 

Stan

[Graeme Robinson]

Thanks for the photos Stan, yours looks very similar to the profile on my car, the shot looking upwards from inside the boot was particularly useful.It's interesting as Menno's car appears to have a much deeper shelf i.e. directly above the tabs; difficult to say from a photograph but it looks to ge over an inch or so.

Hope you get as good a finish the outer panels as you seem to have achieved on the inner tub, it looks fabulous!

Thanks again

Graeme

[Rodbr]

Hi Greame,

Do you intend fitting a hard top? If so try the mounting saddles onto the ledge if not I wouldn't worry.

There should be two threaded plates spot welded on the inside of the pairs of holes for the hood webbing and one each "Lift the dot" pin.

 

The tabs on the under side should be folded forward to make a spring slot for the parcel shelf rear seat / cockpit backing. Use a piece of quarter inch plywood and fold over it to make a spring slot for the rear panel. The panel may appear too wide but fits under the deck into the spring slots and right out to the outside under the rear deck. The centre and the quarter covers fit over the top of the deck and then the quarter panel covers are fitted and butted up as a closure panel.

[Graeme Robinson]

I dont intend to fit a hardtop so that one less problem I suppose.

 

With regards to the holes, I'll have to check but I'm pretty sure that they're not threaded, do you know what size they should be?

 

Many thanks

 

Graeme

[Rodbr]

Hi Graeme,

The holes are not threaded so you need to add a plate threaded the same as what ever is on the LTD pins you are using. Ideally it should be welded to the panel as it stiffens the panel for the strain exerted by the hood and tonneau tension. Not exactly sure of the thread as the ones I got had different threads in the same batch! I think they should be 2BA

Edited August 11, 2014 by Rodbr