Bodywork

[Richardtr3a]

I have been looking at the rear panel on my 3A and the spare wheel cover is more curved than the bodywork. I have been ignoring it for years. But I looked closely today and the cover is not touching the seal along the lower edge. It is lower and  resting against the body and that is pushing it out.  I am looking for an answer.

1. Find someone who could adapt the lower edge of the wheel cover  less high. Not many bodywork specialists left.
2. Move the lower edge of the rear panel opening down in the middle. It is fitting well at each end but the slim box section is too high in the centre. 

I am thinking of making some thin cuts with the angle grinder and using a slim jack to push down the centre a small amount. Has anyone any advice on this sort of problem?

Thanks Richard & B

[John Morrison]

Photo or two Richard?

John.

[Ralph Whitaker]

10 hours ago, Richardtr3a said:

I have been looking at the rear panel on my 3A and the spare wheel cover is more curved than the bodywork. I have been ignoring it for years. But I looked closely today and the cover is not touching the seal along the lower edge. It is lower and  resting against the body and that is pushing it out.  I am looking for an answer.

1. Find someone who could adapt the lower edge of the wheel cover  less high. Not many bodywork specialists left.
2. Move the lower edge of the rear panel opening down in the middle. It is fitting well at each end but the slim box section is too high in the centre. 

I am thinking of making some thin cuts with the angle grinder and using a slim jack to push down the centre a small amount. Has anyone any advice on this sort of problem?

Thanks Richard & B

 No2 sounds a bit drastic. I would be inclined to alter the lid slightly as there are plenty of those around in case it goes wrong. Also the modern seals seem to be a bit hard, or thicker than originals causing the cover to bow out in the middle when the ends are pulled in by the budget locks.                                                                                                      Is the rear panel noticeably bent up? through accident damage or bad repairs?

Ralph

Edited October 7, 2020 by Ralph Whitaker
Additional thoughts

[Ian Vincent]

Have you tried jacking it without attacking it with the angle grinder first?

make sure you have a stiff support for the top edge you don’t want to bend that out of shape.

Rgds Ian

[Richardtr3a]

I tried this afternoon in the sun. I put a 1" thick timber plank 6" wide along the inside of the spare wheel home, I then placed a small jack in the centre and opened it up. It usually has a handle but because it was fitted sideways I could only use a short screwdriver working from the side in a cramped position. It became hard to turn and I was measuring for any movement every two turns. It got to the point where it was almost impossible to turn and there has been no movement. Suddenly there was a loud bang and I was worried that something was broken.

I quickly took it all apart and the jack had made an indentation in the timber and the plank was split in two. The lower part of the body opening is well made and strong. I can not see any signs of repairs or damage. there was no movement at all. So this is not flexible.

I then inspected the cover and this is where to find an answer. The top RHS corner will not fit into the body when the lower edge is offered up first. It is a poor fit all round, which does not bother me much. It is tempting to get out the angle grinder but a better plan is to find another cover and see if it fits better. Has anyone a spare cover which I could borrow or buy to see if a replacement could work before I try and find an old fashioned body shop local to Sussex. It is a shame that the local group do not meet, because this would be an easy topic in the pub car park on a sunny summer evening.

Any help appreciated Richard & B.

[R.M.]

What a coincidence just finished working on that area this very weekend, just a one more dent on the rear o/s corner to finish, it ended up quite an easy area to work on in the end,  had to do quite a bit of hammer and dolly work but it now looks as good as new, i also had the same problem with the spare wheel cover but a couple of hours panel beating and shrinker stretching the flanges sorted that one and it now matches the rear panel very well, like the others mentioned don't use an angle grinder as that is way to drastic and you may well end up needing a replacement if you do do it.

[Richardtr3a]

Thanks RM. Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of advice here and you will find some answers to almost all problems. 

I can see that you are just the man I need for my spare wheel cover.  You can make this a perfect day by telling me that you are based in East Sussex near Lewes.

Thanks Richard & B

[R.M.]

Thanks for the welcome, as to your question it's bit tricky as i am in Suffolk and i only do restoration as a weekend hobby and not as a business, and though i do like Lewes a lot and all of the south coast i will not be down that way in the foreseeable future. If my camera works tonight i will post a picture of area of the car i am working on if anyone is interested. 

[Richardtr3a]

6 hours ago, R.M. said:

Thanks for the welcome, as to your question it's bit tricky as i am in Suffolk and i only do restoration as a weekend hobby and not as a business, and though i do like Lewes a lot and all of the south coast i will not be down that way in the foreseeable future. If my camera works tonight i will post a picture of area of the car i am working on if anyone is interested. 

Please send the pictures tonight. Suffolk is a long way. Thanks Richard &B

[R.M.]

As promised here are a few pictures of the many i had taken on my camera, as usual i had to delete many due to an appalling lack of photography skills, ignore the wooden prop as i had to remove the tyre lid catch equipment on the inside so i could get to access to the inside to beat out all the dents, i think the pictures will show the cover matches the lines of the bodywork ok, a good result, i did have to use a shrinker on the edges to get that matching right, the last picture shows the point where the rear panel meets the wing this was also badly roughed up and i may have to remove the inner closing panel behind the wing to get enough access to beat it smooth again, hopefully i will have a bit of time this weekend and rectify that area, and i will post a pic when done, you will see that the area on the back panel above the tyre cover has also been sanded back, this had an inch deep dent the size of a grape fruit right in the middle of the panel that the previous owned had used lots of filler to hide, this meant i also had to remove the inner catch and strengthener in the boot to get enough access to hammer and dolly out that dent, lastly a quick final run over with an angle grinder shrinker stretcher to get rid of the dent, and will not now need any filler to finish, a good outcome i would say,

[Ian Vincent]

Very nicely done. 

Rgds Ian

[stuart]

Very nice until you fit the rubber seal that is generally supplied, this is why I use a closed cell foam rubber strip instead, this is thin enough and soft enough for the panel to pull back into place and still be a good fit.

Stuart.

[R.M.]

43 minutes ago, stuart said:

Very nice until you fit the rubber seal that is generally supplied, this is why I use a closed cell foam rubber strip instead, this is thin enough and soft enough for the panel to pull back into place and still be a good fit.

Stuart.

Yeh i recon you will be right about that and i may need to slim the flange on the cover down a bit, all things the factory didn't do due to time and the costs of fettling. a foam gasket will be much better than a harder rubber gasket.

[R.M.]

2 hours ago, Ian Vincent said:

Very nicely done. 

Rgds Ian

Many Thanks, i try my best and agonise when it all goes wrong.

[stuart]

1 hour ago, R.M. said:

Yeh i recon you will be right about that and i may need to slim the flange on the cover down a bit, all things the factory didn't do due to time and the costs of fettling. a foam gasket will be much better than a harder rubber gasket.

Make sure its closed cell foam so it doesnt absorb water.

Stuart.

[roger murray-evans]

Congratulations on having wheel spats on your TR.

Not all subscribers to this forum  will congratulate

you for such good taste!

Roger M-E

[R.M.]

Thank you for that Roger, i found a picture of a very cool looking tr3a on the internet all in white with wheel spats and a black hard top, to me it looked so 1930's art deco that i was inspired to copy it, it is the thought of how good it will look in my mind that that keeps me fired up and going on this restoration, so far i have completed one spat but need to finish the other but can only go at a snails pace due to a summer work load and the fact that i am also trying to be more methodical by working my way around the car one side at a time though sometimes it's almost impossible to stop getting all excited and doing a bit here and there in a scatter gun approach.

[David Owen]

7 hours ago, stuart said:

Very nice until you fit the rubber seal that is generally supplied, this is why I use a closed cell foam rubber strip instead, this is thin enough and soft enough for the panel to pull back into place and still be a good fit.

Stuart.

 

From Macgregor's I hope!

[stuart]

1 minute ago, David Owen said:

 

From Macgregor's I hope!

No its a 3M product.

Stuart.

[Richardtr3a]

My rear cover is not as neat as the pictured one here. However when I fit the  domestic draught excluder the cover bends and there are two cracks about 6" in top and bottom both ends, on the return, so not visible on the surface. 

My next plan is to strengthen the cover my a reinforcing strip on the inside top and bottom which would just fit behind the existing welded brackets for the fasteners. It will have to be correctly curved but strong enough to remain in shape when under pressure.

What shall I use and how to fix it to the cover without damaging the paint. ??

Thanks for any advice. Richard & B