Do Me a Favor?

[TR3BGeorge]

Hello Folks,

 

Your remark about the boot floor being sunken on my B got me to thinking that maybe that is my problem. However, I have no way of knowing if it is sunken or not.

 

BUT, if you could take a photo of your compartment with the door removed, I could see how far down your bottom floor comes. One photo would do it, from "straight on" or a little below the top of the opening.

 

Lastly, if mine IS sunken, are there any fixes for raising it back up?

 

Thanks in advance - these photos may be my godsend.

 

P.S. I had my first excursion - to my RRTC meeting on the other side of town - WITH THE TOP DOWN. Dang, I was having so much fun I hated to come home!

[Menno van Rij]

Here ya go mate! On the first, the car has been blasted and there's only surface protection added. You can clearly see the damage on the RH side of the car. The second and third are after repair etc.

 

Hope this helps you.

 

Menno

 

 

 

[sidescreen]

Hello George,

 

Maybe this picture will point you in the right direction ?

 

 

Regards,

[vivdownunder]

George, you can use a straight edge to tell if the boot floor is sunken. An offcut of timber from side to side behind the rear wheel arches will suffice. Floor mat up is best.

 

If it's sunken, you can gently push it back up from inside the spare well with a scissor jack and timber packers top and bottom.

 

Or a more primative way is with packers and a length of timber as a lever, using the lip of the well as a fulcrum.

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

[stuart]

George I suppose the whole point is does your car have the "raised" boot floor panel that is fitted to the late cars. You can just see the edge of the raised portion in Mennos pictures. It may be that when yours was rebuilt it was fitted with the earlier flat boot floor which would explain your problem. I know the panel fits differently but thats not to say that it couldnt have been done.

Stuart

Edited March 10, 2010 by stuart

[BrianC]

I think these show the raised floor Stuart is referring to.

 

 

Edit: Actually, now I'm not so sure - I've got a bad feeling about this

Edited March 10, 2010 by BrianC

[stuart]

Perhaps this will help to illustrate the area I mean.

Stuart.

[Menno van Rij]

A few additional pics

 

 

 

[Don Elliott]

Since everyone is jumping in - here I go too, George. These are "before and after" while we were restoring a late TR3A which had all the features that you would (or should) find on your TR3B unless some previous owner used part of a rear clip from an earlier TR3A - before TS 60000. My early TR3A (TS 27489 LO) has a flat floor in the boot with raised reinforcing ribs stamped into it about 1/4" high to add stiffness or rigidity.

 

Don

[BrianC]

Edit: Actually, now I'm not so sure - I've got a bad feeling about this

 

I'm so glad a few more photos have been posted and I now understand what Stuart means by "raised boot floor".

 

However, I was so worried that none of my photos seemed to show the curved and ribbed pressings that I had to go outside and empty the boot to check. At least I now know I do have the correct floor - should never have doubted it, but photos can be misleading. Time for a large Scotch!

[TR3BGeorge]

Thanks, guys. With all your great photos, I am still in the dark. I THOUGHT I wanted you to simply remove your spare wheel cover, and TAKE A PHOTO LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO YOUR COMPARTMENT. So, I went out today, in the sunlight, and tried to take the photo I wanted you to take. It turns out that a photo won't show me anything.

 

All I can do is measure distance from top to bottom. And, for what? If the dang thing doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. Here is what I am going to do. I am going to spend the $400 for a new wheel from Dayton (which breaks my heart). And, if the @#$%& thing STILL doesn't fit, I will do what a poster on British Car Forum recommended. Take the damn thing to a welder, and have him cut a round hole in the floor of the trunk (boot) so that I can drop the tire directly into the spare wheel compartment. I suppose then that I would cover up this monstrosity with some ugly-ass piece of plywood. I HATE to "tacky up" something nice, but I have GOT to have a spare tire in my car. Ipso fatso.

 

Thanks again. You guys have done some BEAUTIFUL work on your cars!

[Don Elliott]

George - Before you take drastic action - a few words of wisdom.

 

1. In over 102,000 miles on 2 and a half sets of tyres, I have never had a puncture while driving my TR3A.

 

2. Many owners (well a few anyway) do not carry a spare tyre or wheel. They use the space for extra luggage space and they carry a full can of aerosol "Fix A Flat". If they get a flat tire, they will fill the tire with this foam.

[angelfj]

George - Before you take drastic action - a few words of wisdom.

 

1. In over 102,000 miles on 2 and a half sets of tyres, I have never had a puncture while driving my TR3A.

 

2. Many owners (well a few anyway) do not carry a spare tyre or wheel. They use the space for extra luggage space and they carry a full can of aerosol "Fix A Flat". If they get a flat tire, they will fill the tire with this foam.

 

 

 

Words of Wisdom from "Our Guru"

[Richardtr3a]

Just buy a smaller section tyre that will fit. Modern cars have special spare whel and 155x15 on a 60 spoke wheel fits in my car.

Try this out before you cut anything and involve plywood.

[david ferry]

Don't forget that if you do need to change a wheel, you need to be able to stow the removed wheel somewhere.

 

David

[vivdownunder]

With wider rims, carry a strong garbage bag so a wet wheel can be carried for repair beind the seats.

 

George, this guy in CA parts out TR's and might have the narrower spare wire wheel you are after. http://triumphsonly.com/pages/main/index.html

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

[TR3BGeorge]

Thanks, Guys. Viv, I have contacted triumphsonly. We'll see what they come up with. I gave them the dimensions of my wheel (offset), so they can see what they have.

 

Richard, I don't think that my tyre is the problem. It is most likely the wheel offset. I now have a 165 on the wheel, and it is AT LEAST ONE INCH too wide for the wheel well. And changing to the 155 will not make that much difference in width of the wheel-tire package.

 

Laying my wheel on the cement and sticking a ruler down thru the spline, it measured SEVEN INCHES at the "top" of the wheel spline. So, to make a long story short, I need a wheel that measures no more than 6 inches wide. And there might not be such a thing.

 

Before cutting out the boot floor, I do have one other option that someone has touched on. I can put my hydraulic floor jack in there, and crank that @#$%^&* thing until the @#$%^&^%$#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks again, friends. I will be curious to hear what triumphsonly has to say. I DO know that I will cut out the floor before I will gamble $400 on Dayton.

 

Don, we had trouble, years ago, with those cans you are recommending BLOWING UP, causing property damage and bodily injury.

 

I don't know about England and Canada, but spring has arrived in Texas!

[BrianC]

George - Before you take drastic action - a few words of wisdom.

 

1. In over 102,000 miles on 2 and a half sets of tyres, I have never had a puncture while driving my TR3A.

 

2. Many owners (well a few anyway) do not carry a spare tyre or wheel. They use the space for extra luggage space and they carry a full can of aerosol "Fix A Flat". If they get a flat tire, they will fill the tire with this foam.

 

 

 

Don,

 

1. Try leaving your spare at home next time you go on a long trip - that should ensure you get a puncture ($od$ Law ).

 

2. Best way known to Man to render a tyre (or tube if fitted) as scrap.

 

Seriously:

The foam solution is not always suitable (e.g. serious damage to tyre or tyre-wall) and should only be considered as a last resort to drive slowly to a repairer or to a safer parking place. Personally, I think these, along with space-saver wheels and tyres should be banned. I know a lot of bikers carry the foam or use a chemical treatment permanently in the tyre or tube, but they are not really in a position to carry a spare tyre (although a tube is feasible and usable for a straightforward puncture). There is no excuse for car drivers to adopt risky solutions simply to avoid carrying a spare.

[BrianC]

Thanks, guys. With all your great photos, I am still in the dark. I THOUGHT I wanted you to simply remove your spare wheel cover, and TAKE A PHOTO LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO YOUR COMPARTMENT.

 

I just came across these - not sure if they will help (or even at exactly what stage of the dismantling/reassembly they were taken).

[TR3BGeorge]

I just came across these - not sure if they will help (or even at exactly what stage of the dismantling/reassembly they were taken).

 

Dang, Brian! That's what I call a shop!!! Those damn V-2 rockets can't hurt THAT baby, unless it's a direct hit! We had a lot of quonset huts here after the war, but they eventually have just about all been replaced.

 

Thanks for the photos.

 

Some WWII history, and later humor. As you know, Werner von Braun headed up the Nazi rocket program in Peenemunde that rained hell on London for many months. After the war, he came to America and we made him a hero. He even wrote a book entitled "I Aimed for the Stars." Mort Sahl, one of our great political wits, said that the title should have been changed to, "I Aimed for the Stars, but Sometimes I Hit London."