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TR2/3/3A TR3 Body Panel Fitting

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Jedi Hopeful
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Before and after replacing the scuttle panel on my 1960 TR3 I have came to realize what a mess my car is in. The panel fit, fenders, hood, front apron are really bad. The scuttle was put back on in exactly the same place as the old one was. I suppose I just didn't realize it before as my car came to in a somewhat disassembled state as to the hood not fitting correctly. It almost seems as if it is too long to fit between the hinge area and the front apron. I suppose I'm not alone in this situation as I've read of the poor fitting body panels before. I have retired for the evening on fitting the hood and will try again this week. Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks. Donnie
 
Hi Donnie,
I have restored a few TR3's and I can attest to the poor fit between different parts. These cars were hand assembled back in the day,and it will take some hand fitting and shaping to get one to fit and function properly. always start fitting a car from the back ..forward.,fit the quarters to the trunk,quarter panels to the doors,doors to the fenders,fenders to the hood,hood to the nose.
If you still don't have gap between the hood and nose you may need to grind and weld,or shape the nose,or try obtain another part from another vehicle if available. One thing with any old triumph they weren't Merceedes, fit is awful at best and is expected. I just finished painting a Healey 3000 and the shop that fit the panels before it came to my shop had almost every panel modified for a perfect gap. You are not alone ,just learning why us body guys working on British are going bald on handful of hair at a time ;>)

Vern Dhanke
www.Britishautobody.com
 
The hand-built nature of these cars means that mixing and matching panals from different cars is always going to create challenges. The fit will come, but it often takes more adjustment than is givin by the fasteners. Don't be afraid to bend and tweak to gain proper fit. It's exactly what they did at the factory.
Vern has it down. Work back to front. doors to fenders to bonnet to nose. It's gonna take time and some head scratching. Hopefully you have come to this point prior to paint as that makes things much harder to work on.
 
When I rebuilt my TR3 after being in a accident I had learned a few things, so when we did the second restoration I had the front apron moved forward 3/16 on a inch. That gave me a little room for the bonnett to fit without rubbing the apron or the scuttle.
 
After looking things over again, I believe that's what I'm going to do. The other TR3'S I've seen have mostly all had a narrow gap at the bonnet to scuttle and apron. Looks like the thing to do is to drill out the welds that hold the uprights that the cross bar bolts to and scoot it forward a bit. The only problem doing that is the possibility the apron hanging down too low past the fender edges. At that point I can add a bit to the fenders or say the heck with it.
 
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