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I am restoring a 1965 4a , the body is off the chassis and is supported on trestles and timber. I would welcome any advice about the way to proceed. The door openings are braced and I have fitted a new floor , sills ,strengthened the B post and fitted new inner front wings. I have the Roger Williams book which says do one side at a time ,which I am doing, but he also stresses that the body must be built up on the chassis.

I don't want to fit the body to the chassis until I have painted the underside and I would also like to turn the tub upside down to properly weld the floor and paint. I haven't been brave enough to weld the inner wings yet, just pop rivetted them in position as I feel all the alignment is going to change when fitted to the chassis. Am I being unduly concerned? I'm sure I am not the only one who has had this crisis of confidence.

The benefit of your experiences would be much appreciated!

Carbidave

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Any work you want to do on the bodyshell needs to be fixed to a rolling chassis for correct alignment

 

Tom

Edited by stiggy
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The only way to do work on it properly is to have the chassis up on stands, (not on its wheels) set up dead level front to back and side to side and fit the shell correctly levelled to it otherwise you are wasting your time. Your chassis is your jig. I always keep a slave set of rubber/ally mounts and all the body mounting bolts especially for this purpose as you are going to be putting it on and off several times during the build and antirust priming as you go on.

Stuart.

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A member of this forum - Paul Anderson- has setup a rather comprehensive website http://tr4a.weebly.com/ detailing the restoration of his TR4A with hundreds of pics and video. It so happen that the bodywork started in October and as we speak the rolling chassis is on its way to the bodyshop for fitment before attacking the doors posts. Not sure about the front end though. You might be interested in following his trail and the steps of the process, the website is updated regularly.

Edited by Geko
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You really do need to do all major body repairs on the chassis as Stuart says. Otherwise things won't line up. We borrowed very large axle stands to get things up to a convenient working height. You will need to take the body off after repair to prime and stone chip the underside. Good luck JJC

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I did my TR3 tub under supervision from Stuart and left the tub on the frame until the new floors and sills were attached and most of the structural repairs were complete. Then I parked the tub on a dolly while I focused on the frame, suspension and brakes. I had the tub on and off the frame several times before it was finally painted and installed permanently. I kept a diagram of all the shims and kept the shims/pads/bolts in separate bags so the tub always went back on the frame the same way. I expect to do some final tweaking once it is all painted and assembled as things will have changed again by that time. Paint adds thickness and weight.

 

I used a two ton engine crane (for the longer beam, not the for the weight) so I was able to remove and refit the tub single handed. This is a popular approach for the TR2/3 and unless the later cars are wider it will probably work for them too.

 

Stan

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I used a two ton engine crane (for the longer beam, not the for the weight) so I was able to remove and refit the tub single handed. This is a popular approach for the TR2/3 and unless the later cars are wider it will probably work for them too.

 

Stan

 

 

Yes, the two ton engine crane works fine with the later body.

 

TR6-006_zps15f15436.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

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Thanks all for your input- the chassis is strengthened and painted so I can now fit and level the body. When the body repairs are finished I can then lift it off again - how do you feel about inverting the shell ? Does this put it under undue stress?

The bonnet is in a poor state at the front , particularly the box section strengthener that the hinges mount to - this does not look easy to fabricate and I have tried the usual sources but I don't think any one is re-making them.

(love your garage/ workshop Graeme!)

Dave

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? Does this put it under undue stress?

 

If you look at Graeme's picture you can see the body bracing bars. (Agreed, British Columbia is lovely especially Nanaimo) if you have this sort of bracing you can invert the body without any distortion if you're careful. At least we've been ok so far! JJC
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The tub isnt that heavy so with the sills and floors in and the doors braced it should be fine to invert it and rest it on a couple of saw horses. For the TR3 I had one saw horse that the boot floor rested on and another that I cut down and put just in front of the battery box so that the tub would sit level. The two saw horses were rated for 10x the weight of the tub and had large wooden tops for the sheet metal to rest on.

 

 

DSC_0006_zps1b7ccc05.jpg

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I am literally doing the same process with a 62 tr4,

In my case I had the stripped down chassis mounted with an engine stand at either end, they are cheap to buy and I attached angle iron to the chassis at either end and the engine stands bolted to the angle iron.

That way it was easy to use an engine crane ( as has been suggested ) to lift on or off the tub for mounting. It is a great work height To do your repairs on the tub, but The real bonus is that you are also able to tilt either way the tub and chassis together when you are wanting to weld and get into the underside areas. It's an easy rotisserie And at the end re sell the engine stands on fleabay if you don't want them, makes it even cheaper.

 

Good luck

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Thanks all for your input- the chassis is strengthened and painted so I can now fit and level the body. When the body repairs are finished I can then lift it off again - how do you feel about inverting the shell ? Does this put it under undue stress?

The bonnet is in a poor state at the front , particularly the box section strengthener that the hinges mount to - this does not look easy to fabricate and I have tried the usual sources but I don't think any one is re-making them.

(love your garage/ workshop Graeme!)

Dave

I think one of our guys down here has a bonnet that has had the outer skin irreparably damaged by a blaster but I think the frame is good if that would help.

Stuart.

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For my TR3a, I did all the repairs to the body with it mounted on the chassis and then braced the doors prior to removing it from the chassis to rotate it for welding underneath and painting etc.

 

I then stood it on its side so that I could deal with the chassis which I had supported level on axle stands. (My garage is not quite as big as some of the really nice ones that others have posted pictures off, and of which I am extremely envious).

 

I finally put the body back on the chassis whilst it was still on the axle stands and bolted it down. I only did that once, I didn't need to remove it again. I then bolted the wings on and fettled the doors to fit.

 

What step in the process did I miss out? Why would it need to fitted on and off the chassis several times pls?

 

Rgds Ian

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Ian, in my case it was just to solve some logistics issues with a multi-year project. The dolly with the tub on it is quite bulky so I chose to put the tub back on the frame for one winter for example and park the dolly outside. It gave me a bit more room in the garage and put the tub at a good height. Next spring I put the tub back on the dolly while I started getting it ready to paint.

 

Stan

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For my TR3a, I did all the repairs to the body with it mounted on the chassis and then braced the doors prior to removing it from the chassis to rotate it for welding underneath and painting etc.

 

I then stood it on its side so that I could deal with the chassis which I had supported level on axle stands. (My garage is not quite as big as some of the really nice ones that others have posted pictures off, and of which I am extremely envious).

 

I finally put the body back on the chassis whilst it was still on the axle stands and bolted it down. I only did that once, I didn't need to remove it again. I then bolted the wings on and fettled the doors to fit.

 

What step in the process did I miss out? Why would it need to fitted on and off the chassis several times pls?

 

Rgds Ian

Its just when you have finished welding up the tub you normally put it back on the chassis to do the outer panel repairs/fettling then take it off again to paint then finally fit it.

Stuart.

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Thanks for the info on the bonnet Stuart , that may well get me out of trouble - any idea on cost? I bought the car in 1975 and did 70,000 miles including a trip to Poland and then the crank broke and generally life got in the way of repair work and the car languished under a sheet for the next thirty years.I am not looking for concours just a sound driveable car - it has a lot of sentimental attachment. Thanks again all for the advice.

Dave

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