roger murray-evans Posted February 22, 2018 Report Share Posted February 22, 2018 I've just acquired one of these in a somewhat knocked about but repairable condition. Does anyone know if the the steel hardtop seals and rubbers and aftermarket screens are suitable replacements? Correct headlining format? Many thanks Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 22, 2018 Report Share Posted February 22, 2018 (edited) Oh, so you found the Hen's Teeth and now you want to have an easy ride to the finish using standard parts? /jealousy mode off/ You've just dropped a major find in a small posting without pics, and other glorious information! Knowing but not understanding the infinite ways of Triumph's thinking, there are two options: 1: they've raided their own parts bin, so yes it will fit. 2: the factory outsourced/offshored the production to a few gnomes in the back of a factory without consulting or consent about parts, measurements and compatibility. In that case, it will not fit. We need pics! Menno Edited February 22, 2018 by Menno van Rij 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iain Posted February 23, 2018 Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Roger some pics would really help... Iain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mjdearing Posted February 23, 2018 Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Nice one Roger,must be the one off the bay, i had 2 of these many moons ago the NOS yes NOS one went over to the US via our old friend John S, but not seen another in 25yrs. Well done. Martin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roger murray-evans Posted February 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Hi Chaps, I bought it because it was reasonable. I'm in ignorance of what the ally ones are about. Assuming they are not quite so plentiful as the steel/glassfibre items.Because my TR2 in an early ally dash/bonnet/spare wheel cover car it seemed appropriate. I'll post a pic when it gets here. Cheers Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roger murray-evans Posted February 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Collected the hardtop today.Also got some 'fittings', if anyone recognises where they all go?.The chrome escutcheons have each had a captive nut brazed inside.This would assume that the rear of the hardtop was affixed straight onto the cockpit cappings!The front windscreen brackets are missing but may follow later if they are found.The half round tube arrangements I don't recognise at all The inside is sprayed with foam of some description.It all looks original. Is painted black.Most of the damage is the panel under the rear screen.The inside of this area has a strip of wood screwed from the outside and has attached an oblong steel plate which looks though it hooks of the capping in front of the petrol filler. There is an area on the top which will need knocking out. The lovely chap I bought it from never had it fitted to his TR3s.It was a gift from a fellow Scimitar owner 25+ years ago. As you can see, I am not a gifted snapper! Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nigel C Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 looks like a standard rear screen/rubber/aperture to me....I'm totally impartial here.....you understand.......but I might have one in stock Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Fremont Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 The steel bits are problematic; the Michelotti " Surrey " kits in all alloy may have had this factored into their design. Nonetheless I reckon the work to bring it back will be worth it . Cheers, Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roger murray-evans Posted February 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Nigel C You have a PM Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roger murray-evans Posted March 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2018 Update! Having spent the last 4 days with paint stripper, wire brushes, thinners a junior hacksaw and some very small BA spanners, I've managed to reduce the object of my desire to it's component parts relatively unscathed. What is obvious is that it isn't a pressing, the main shell being made in 6 seperate parts i.e roof centre, roof sides X 2, window aperture 1/4 panels X 2 and the rear bottom panel all welded into the one panel.There are 2 steel hockey stick shaped angle pieces for the door apertures screwed on the inside of the ally panel with 2 chromed steel cant/drip rails sandwiching the door aperture.These cant rails seem to be normal Triumph steel hardtop items.Very little else seems to carry over. The front of the roof has a fabricated steel angle section which sandwiches a T section rubber weather strip to the ally front top lip above the windscreen frame.It would seem that there should be 4 simple (I hope) steel brackets which screw first to the roof steel angle section and then into 4 (not the normal 3) brass screen mounting brackets. At the rear/window aperture sides all I have are a 3/16" hole each side rather crudely drilled to mount a 'don't know what', and under/inside the rear window a piece of tapered wood screwed from the outside with 5 screws holds a steel plate which seems to sandwich the rear tonneaux capping in front of the fuel cap. Thickness of the aluminium sheet appears to be around .0365".i.e less than 1mm!The heaviest single component is the screen (which is broken of course). The original screen is a very much more stiff item than the modern replacement I have to hand, which seems as flexible as Tesco value ham!Also the original screen has a degree of curvature in both directions. The modern one is obviously just shaped from flat sheet.The window rubber is a simple double channel, with no filler strip. It is my current intention to get this hardtop fitted to my TR2 when it goes for panel repairs in the next few weeks. I will also need a purposed made frame for storage as this top has almost no structural integrity at all. It is ridiculously lightweight and I would have to say probably not as suitable to normal GT motoring as the steel item. If there is anyone out there who has access to a car fitted with one of these, I'd be more than happy to have some installed pictures (better than mine please!) in order to try and get as close as possible to the correct mountings. Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vivdownunder Posted March 28, 2018 Report Share Posted March 28, 2018 Years ago a mate Ken Copeland chased down an aluminium hardtop and I went with him to collect it. The owner, a Brit expat, related a story of it being a short-run lightweight item for competition cars. He claimed it was made by an aircraft bodywork company called Helliwells. At that point I listened more carefully as Helliwells were known to do aluminium work for Jaguar and a bit of prototype fabrication for S-T. Later of course, as Tube Investments after a takeover, they built the aluminium bodied Swallow Doretti. Ken hated any form of top on his TR3A and only ever used aeroscreens regardless of the weather. The rare aluminium hardtop was just a keepsake, so of no help at all as to fitting arrangements. Viv Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alec Pringle Posted March 28, 2018 Report Share Posted March 28, 2018 Hi Viv, the Doretti wasn't a later production, it was designed and developed pretty much in tandem with the TR2 . . . . . and Helliwell's had become part of TI back in 1950, long before either sports car had been conceived. The Walsall factory could turn its hand to small scale manufacture of just about any darn thing, and as such provided a useful facility for Ken Richardson when he wished to develop or experiment without the powers-that-be at Standard Triumph knowing what he was up to. Alloy hardtops being an example ! Cheers Alec Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roger murray-evans Posted March 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 Interesting stuff! It would follow that the hardtop I have, to be honest, is not what you would call 'robust' in day to day use, but it would make sense as a competition item.Whether the loss of structural integrity over a steel version was outweighed by the weight advantage we can now only guess at. I would have thought that 'mine' would have been made using either a factory glass fibre or steel hard top as a buck.That would make it .0365" larger all over using 20g ally sheet and (hopefully) allows the use of the standard window. I believe the cantrails on the 'normal' tops as being in aluminium? As mine are in chrome plated steel, I'm assuming this was another tweek to try and add back some strength. I've had to replace the front steel and the cantrails pro temp just to be able to move the blessed thing around without it folding. Thank you both for the Helliwell story line.There just might be another like mine out there. I did find a 3A on the Net having been sold here fitted with an Alloy works top, and that appeared to have all the usual mountings i.e. 3 at the front and 5 at the rear. Roger M-E Quote Link to post Share on other sites
friarmike Posted April 4, 2018 Report Share Posted April 4, 2018 (edited) My 1955 tr3 was ordered with a steel hard top and has never been fitted a soft top. now my hard top is in very bad condition but I will restore it and I will also fit a soft top in her. its not going to be cheep just getting the window and all the seals and replace a few missing pieces of hard ware will cost around 500.00 not including many hours of labor. Edited April 4, 2018 by friarmike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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