TR2/3/3A Rear sheetmetal repair

[Frank Canale]

Thank you, Lionel. Great to hear from you. How are things going in Australia?

 

[Frank Canale]

Rear vertical closing panel. goes under spare tire pan and closes off rear valance
Passenger side rear closing panel.

 

[CJD]

Dang Frank...if you pressed those yourself you are doing better than the parts you can buy.

 

[Frank Canale]

Thank you John, yes I am having a lot of fun doing my own repair panels. Yes I believe you are correct, I can make the panels out of the correct gauge metal and make it to fit back correctly. Both panels are hammer formed and I am finding it getting easier and the finish better as I get a better feel for how hard to strike the forming tools. I have also gotten better at taking my time to figure out how the metal reacts to the panel you are making. The boot floor is almost done but I need to get the inside of the rear valance sandblasted and primed before I remove the old boot floor. Then I can work on the final fitting. I am having to figure out the best order to do repairs and starting to re assemble the new panels that I have made. Frank

 

[Frank Canale]

More repair to the lower rear valance. Repairing this area step by step.
The bottom right corner of the spare tire cover channel has too much rust so i decided to replace the corner section of channel.
Thanks to Lionel I had an easy time fabricating the corner channel. I remembered he welded the inside leg to make his channel.I cut the corner of a heavy plate to match the radius i needed to help form the pieces. The first step was to brake a piece to form a piece of angle then I shrink the bottom leg of the angle with my Harbor Freight shrinker. It is very good for forming small pieces like this. A little bit of hammer forming on the steel plate and it was ready to weld. The fit was very good and so that made the welding much easier. The edge was fused with no filler wire, very low amperage with full penetration. Probably the best weld on my car so far.
Repair corner tacked in place.

 

[LionelJrudd]

All OK where I am in Australia Frank. Hope it is the same for you. Just waiting on the last of the spring rains to go so I can get into sandblasting the chassis for my 3A.
Looking forward to getting all the parts hanging off the chassis.

 

[sp53]

Frank and Lionel amaze me with their moving forward.

 

[Frank Canale]

This was a needed confidence builder. Up till now most repairs are where they won't be seen but now time to jump into the deep end and see if I sink or swim.
end of horizontal closing panel replaced and connected to the rear wing attachment flange. This establishes the bottom corner. some of the rust damage has been removed.
Starting to form the repair panel. slow going continuing to plan how the repair goes.
Remaining rust damage has been removed.
2 piece repair panel before tacking in place inside of repair showing 2 pieces welded together. I welded the two together now because it is easier to weld and planish the weld.
Repair panel in place ready to tack in place. It took longer to tack the repair in place carefully making sure the panel and repair were flush, than it did to weld it up. One thing to note that the repair is not a straight line horizontally. The curved weld line was done to help prevent warpage and it worked as planned.
This is the repair after welding and planishing. The weld shrank a little and that can not be avoided but as long as it is not warped the weld can easily be planished and will need only minor sanding.Doing the repair this way is slow but in the end very rewarding. The bumperette tube will be located after the back end is on the chassis. I plan to level the raised plinths on the rear of the valance with the laser and then use the driver side for the reference to locate the passenger side. one step at a time. Frank

 

[DavidApp]

That is a great looking repair.

When I look at the first photo in that series I realize how good a TR I bought. It had rust but nothing like that.

David

 

[LionelJrudd]

I think we would all be proud to show that patch in public!!!!

 

[Frank Canale]

Thank you Lionel, you set an example of how restorations should be done. It takes extra time but it sure is rewarding. Frank

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Really Nice work Frank.

Cheers
Tush

 

[Frank Canale]

Thank you, Tush. Your videos are a tremendous source of information. I am so fortunate to have found the BCF. 4 great sources to refer to, Tushes videos, John’s documentation on his restoration and lionel’s documentation on his restoration. In no particular order of importance. I can’t leave out the vast resource that Randell left. Always enjoyed his responses. All questions and responses are helpful as I am sure I will encounter it down the road. Frank

 

[71TR6]

Fantastic work on that rear valance repair, Frank! Making your own patch panels is the way to go if you have the skills and tools to do it. Buying aftermarket panels is crapshoot and there are some that fit well, some that need some minor tweaks, and others that result in parts being thrown across the shop after countless hours of trying to make them fit (and one ends up making their own anyway in the end). I've experienced all three.

Keep the posts coming!

Ron

71 TR6
59 TR3A in pieces but making headway