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TR2/3/3A Rear tail light cutouts

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Lionel I figured it out, really. No one ever told you cannot that, so you just keep doing impossible stuff. Perhaps you will invent a double-sided, turbo, trunnion powered with an inverted engine, and the car will fly. If or I should say when that happens, swing by and pick me up!
steve
 
Speaking of trunnions Steve, I have been sorting out bent front suspension gear and pressing shafts out of dud trunnions and into less dud trunions. In the whole process it never occurred to me to add a turbo! Food for thought.

Been a bit distracted lately with vintage motorcycle rallys and swapping a Honda M/C for a 1927 T model Ford. Next thirty year project so not much done on the TR.

Finally got back to fitting the rear mudguards. Right hand side wasn't too bad but the left which appeared Ok when I finished it presented a twist when fitted to the car. Didn't pay enough attention to the slight variation in the curve of the body line as well as working with a template from the right hand side.

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After lots of thinking, I decided I could do:
1. Reposition the flange where the guard attaches to the body to reallign the guard.... problem with this is the slots for the panel bolts would then be in the wrong position.
2. Cut along the flange to relieve the pressure, straighten the guard and reattach it. Decided to go this path!

Any other options required stretching or shrinking over large areas which then created untold other problems.
1. Slotted guard
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2. Weld tacked in place
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3. Final weld
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4. Refitted
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Next project. (Is this allowed?)
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Lionel, I see in your first photo you have the sump off the T, brings back memories for me the first vehicle registered in my name was a 1927 T Ford light truck with a two-speed diff given to me by my Grandfather. I was going to make my fortune carting firewood managed two loads to our house and gave it a miss finished up selling the old girl to a farmer for 15 pounds

Graham
 
Yes the people who worked out the radiuses and compounded cures on these cars were not intimidated by any ability not to be able to form something. The work is true craftsman’s ship; they must have been competing with each other to see who could not only create a difficult design, but could replicate it and sell it for a profit, amazing.
steve
 
Nice recovery Lionel. I know exactly what you mean about pressing pins out of trunnions. I am working on upgrading the front suspension to a TR4A suspension. Had a nice visit to see Marvin after his suggestion to do the up grade. Beefier suspension arms and vertical link. Still disassembling suspension to clean and check the vertical links for runout. Hope to get back to sheetmetal soon. Frank
 
Merry Christmas everyone.
I got a little bored with doing panel work earlier this year and so I started rebuilding the engine, gearbox and differential for the TR. I haven't posted anything related to those activities because there are a number of comprehensive rebuild threads on the forum. Likewise, I rebuilt the door frames which were rusted out completely in the bottom third and reskinned them but didn't document it as it has been done by several others in detail. Many thanks to them for guiding the way.
In August, I started again on the body panels, in particular the bonnet. The sample I have is a post 60k with raised hinge plinths. The body does not have plinths. I removed the front and rear strengthening frames to reveal the rust underneath. The rear frame had additional thickening piece which goes in the raised plinth. I cut these off and used the hammer and dolly to flatten the plinth back into the main bonnet metal.
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Rusted section at rear.
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Rusted section at the front.
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I decided to replace the front five inches of metal and about the same at the middle of the rear. The rear was quite straight forward, with simply a small flange on the rear edge, using the removed section as the pattern. I deliberately cut this flush with the raised section in the middle of the bonnet so I would be welding along the bend in the metal, which would assist in minimising warping of the sheet.
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The front edge is more difficult because although it is a straight line when you look down on it, the curvature necessitates a pattern to ensure the resulting edge is straight. When laid out on the flat, this edge curves and hence the lip which bends under and clips on the strengthening frame has to be carefully bent along its length. Ie it can't be bent over a straight edge. The left photo below shows the flange being worked over a bit at a time. The right photo shows the result of doing it wrong. Made the mistake of starting with a straight line bend and then curving the piece to match the flow of the bonnet with a resulting incorrect leading edge. We learn by our mistakes!
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Looking good Lionel; it is nice to see your progress. To get more photos you need to go to a section on your personal page and delete some of your older stuff. It is easy, but I cannot explain it right now, but poke around and you will find it.
 
What an amazing thread . Thank you for sharing . --Just curious as to what gauge of metal you are using for the new panels ?
 
Hi Windsor. Sorry for the delay in responding.
The sheet I use for body panels is 0.95 mm which equates closely to 19 gauge. Other parts such as body mounting brackets are much thicker and I find what I can to match the individual pieces. If you haven't already done so, you must check out John's series of threads on his TR2 restoration. That's where I started.

John, I load my images directly to the forum so I guess that is why I am out of space. I tend not to upload to the cloud as such.
 
Thank you for the reply Lionel . Ive been playing with pieces of 18 and 20 gauge on my english wheel .( total newby to metal fabrication ) ive found the 18 gauge pretty stiff , and the 20 a bit light . But Ive heard that gauge sizes vary considerably depending on country and sytem of measure .Ill try talking to my metal guy in mm . Yes I,ve read Johns TR2 thread several times , both of you are great inspirations . I hope that the fires arent too close to you ? My prayers are with you .
 
I may have got your guys started, but the metalwork you're now doing is WAY past my level. I very much enjoy following along!
 
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