TR2/3/3A TR3A Passenger door

[Number_6]

I took apart the passenger door on my TR3 this weekend to do some work on it. In the process I discovered why my sidescreens weren't fitting properly. I couldn't shut the doors with them on. It turns out at some point in it's past when the DPO put the doors back together apparently he didn't bother to try and put the sidescreen pockets on in the correct place. They were just jammed on with sheet metal screws without any attempt to locate them properly. As a result both the front and back sockets are about an inch or so too high. At least it's not a big job to correct.(the arrows point the holes where the socket was screwed on)

 

[Andrew Mace]

I can only guess the DPO redid the door panels, put them on and THEN realized he/she hadn't marked where the curtain brackets should go....

 

[Don Elliott]

What is your Comm. No. ? The red door in your photo is from a late TR3A with TS no. post TS 60000. If your car is a very early TR3A and some PO put on a door from a late TR3A, is it possible that he might have wanted to put on the early chromed sidecurtain supports like I have on my early TR3A which are screwed into the wooden top frame of the door for all TR2s, TR3s and early TR3As up to the point where they ran out of the chromed supports and went to the support with the Dzus attachments ?

 

[vivdownunder]

Geez Don, I know you chalk up some bulk miles...doesn't your partner in life ever complain just a tad???.

Cya,

Viv.

 

[Number_6]

What is your Comm. No. ? The red door in your photo is from a late TR3A with TS no. post TS 60000. If your car is a very early TR3A and some PO put on a door from a late TR3A, is it possible that he might have wanted to put on the early chromed sidecurtain supports like I have on my early TR3A which are screwed into the wooden top frame of the door for all TR2s, TR3s and early TR3As up to the point where they ran out of the chromed supports and went to the support with the Dzus attachments ?

The car is a late TR3A with No. above TS 60000, I think(but don't hold me to it) over TS72000. So I believe the doors are the correct ones. Instead of having a wood top frame on my doors there is just a wood block that are screwed insde the door at each of places where sockets are supposed to attach.

 

[NickMorgan]

It is interesting to imagine why the DPO did this. When I restored my TR3 I slid the side screen onto the door and used them as the template to fit the brackets in the correct place. Maybe the DPO fitted some after-market side screens that required the brackets to be in those locations.
My current TR3 has after-market side screens and a couple of years ago I bought some new ones. The brackets do no line up with my new side screens.
Now if I fit them I will also have to fit new door panels too.

 

[PeterK]

That's the thing about side curtains. As Nick pointed out, the procedure for fitting the brackets relies on where the side curtains fit on the door.

IOW, you fit the brackets to the curtains, then place the assembly on the door and mark the position of the brackets. They're a tricky fit and mine took a lot of detail to get the doors to close and still seal at the top. Still not perfect but we can at least close the doors with them fitted ... albeit with a little persuasion.

Mine sit up high on the door panels too but my early 3A has the ash topped doors and mounting blocks.

 

[Number_6]

From the condition of the Sockets it looks like they are the original sockets and sidescreens. The sidescreens are pretty beat up. It looks like they are the correct type Sockets and Sidescreens for my period of the TR3A, it uses the dzus fasteners but the sockets weren't even close to the correct postion. When I bought the vehicle last summer I tried to put the Sidescreens on and even with the top down the doors wouldn't close with the sidescreens in place.

The information that I got from the seller when I bought the car was that the previous owner hadn't driven the car very much and wasn't particularly mechanical. I was told that the DPO didn't even know where the spare was on the car or if it even had one!

 

[Don Elliott]

Number 6 - I have driven my 1958 TR3A about 98,000 miles in the past 17 summers since my restoration. I would guess that I've had the top up for about 4,000 miles and the side curtains have been on for about 2,000 miles. I don't like the claustrophobic feeling with them on. Also, I don't take the car out in the rain just to get a loaf of bread. But if it rains while I'm on a trip, like during the 1400 miles last July to VTR near Philadelphia, it only rained at night at the campground when I had the car covered with my tonneau cover, or while it was parked and covered in the parking lot at the hotel. Except for 15 minutes at 10 PM one night on my way to Downingtown, PA when it poured rain like . . . . But I wasn't going to stop to put up the top and sidecurtains. The only time during that week that the top was up was during the judging in the concours.

What I'm getting at is that you don't need the sidecurtains as much as you think.

Don Elliott, Original Owner

 

[BOXoROCKS]

....Don you stole my thunder...side screens are more trouble than they are worth. They take up all the room and don't fit anyway. The top is only barely worth while. I have been driving these buggys quite awhile myself. If I got wet....I got wet.

 

[Number_6]

I suppose that's true, they're a nice to have if they fit and if they don't fit, oh, well they aren't that much help anyway.

BTW, yout TR3 is looks excellent.

 

[vivdownunder]

There's a way to fit sidescreens so they are as good a weather barrier as they can ever be. For those interested -

Unscrew the attaching sockets or later dzuz brackets from the inner door and attach them in correct order to the sidescreen.

Remove the door trim panel and fill the old screw holes in the timber blocks. White glue and match sticks will do.

Refit the door trim panel and put strips of masking tape where the bracket goes. This is for marking the new holes.

Fit the hardtop or roof.

Put the sidescreen in its opening and position it for best fit.

Have someone hold it tightly in place while you hop in from the other side and mark the new holes. Drill and screw the brackets back on. Watch the drill doesn't catch up any door trim padding.

Then it's a question of whether you want to retrim the door panel to eliminate any marks where the brackets were before. You can prior check how far the brackets need to move. Before they are unscrewed, have someone hold the sidescreen in its new position and check the attaching alignment.

We go out to lunch a bit in the 3A, and its not ideal to arrive dripping wet, so the cabin remains dry now even in really heavy rain.

Cheers,

Viv.