My body seems to have stretched!

[Dave Herrod]

I have been battling for the last three weeks trying to get my TR3 body to line up with the chassis.

Having read all over the forum, I realise this shouldn't be a surprise, but I am not sure quite how best to proceed and thought someone might just have a bright ideas that I haven't!  The tub came off the chassis about  eight years ago...it was well braced before I removed it, and hasn't had much cutting or welding that would change the alignment significantly.  The chassis was repaired by CTM, but only one side was significantly repaired.

My problem is that, with all the cockpit fixings in place, the mounting holes on the inclined chassis braces up to the turrets do not align with the corresponding holes in the chassis by about half an inch both sides.  ( The holes in the bodywork are forward of the chassis holes). I have tried fixing it at different points and pulling and pushing but to no avail.  My next tack is to spot the holes, but this would make the rear_most bolt almost tight against the drop panel from the bulkhead.

Has anyone come across this particular challenge and come up with a way of aligning everything?

Thanks

Dave

[Waldi]

Dave,

I do not know if there are dimensional drawings of the chassis (there are for the TR5/6), but checking the body and chassis dimensions should be the first thing to do before correcting.
Metal does not shrink like wood does. I would not correct anything before I understood the cause or it will bite you later in the assembly.

Cheers,

Waldi

[ianc]

Section J of the Workshop Manual 502602 has a fold-out, dimensioned drawing of the chassis (called frame Unit).

Ian Cornish

[John L]

Perhaps you need some more heat in your garage to stretch the chassis, leave the body outside....  Sorry I'll get my coat....

[iain]

11 hours ago, Dave Herrod said:

I have been battling for the last three weeks trying to get my TR3 body to line up with the chassis.

Having read all over the forum, I realise this shouldn't be a surprise, but I am not sure quite how best to proceed and thought someone might just have a bright ideas that I haven't!  The tub came off the chassis about  eight years ago...it was well braced before I removed it, and hasn't had much cutting or welding that would change the alignment significantly.  The chassis was repaired by CTM, but only one side was significantly repaired.

My problem is that, with all the cockpit fixings in place, the mounting holes on the inclined chassis braces up to the turrets do not align with the corresponding holes in the chassis by about half an inch both sides.  ( The holes in the bodywork are forward of the chassis holes). I have tried fixing it at different points and pulling and pushing but to no avail.  My next tack is to spot the holes, but this would make the rear_most bolt almost tight against the drop panel from the bulkhead.

Has anyone come across this particular challenge and come up with a way of aligning everything?

Thanks

Dave

I have encountered this, with no changes to the body or chassis. Resolved by using the correct number of packers at each mounting point. The inner wing mountings being angled do not need much fore/aft/ height of body movement to make them seem way out. Align these 4 bolts first and then lower the shell to see how far out you are. Then shim with the correct number of shims at all mounting points. ( I discovered this when I lifted the shell to fit new rear springs.) Page 107 of the MOSS catalogue is useful for packer type and location. Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs!

Iain

Edited May 18, 2020 by iain

[Dave Herrod]

Thanks all,

I have started with the correct packers all-round and tried both approaches - fixing the cockpit bolts first and also  fitting the inclined brace bolts first.  Either way, one set or the other end up about half an inch out for/aft. I currently have extra long bolts to keep the cockpit fixings aligned whilst allowing me to raise the whole shell, but having tried all sorts of permuations I still can't get near!  Had I not had the whole thing very securely braced, I could believe that the tub had folded a bit during handling.

I have a copy of the original workshop manual, but have to admit I didn't check the dimensions after it was repaired by CTM. Speaking to Colin when I had it done, I am pretty sure that he had only worked on one of the side rails.

I will give it one last go!

[stuart]

Did they replace the turret support bars as IIRC there were some around a few years ago that were drilled wrongly.

Stuart.

[Dave Herrod]

Now that is interesting... I didn't think they did, but will dig out the paperwork.  I know it ended up costing almost the same as a new chassis would have cost.