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TR2/3/3A TR3 Front Apron Removal Help

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Hatman

Senior Member
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Removing the apron on the 59 TR3 for the first time. Removed the front bumper, grill, headlights (headlight buckets still in). Removed the six bolts under each front fender, the four bolts under the hood, and the four bolts behind the grill. Apron still feels like it's attached somewhere. Am I missing something?

Thanks.


Mark
 
Mark,
You've taken the starting handle guide stay rods off too I suspect (underneath).
That should do it (for a small mouth) as long as your wires have been removed from the metal keeper tabs and of course disconnected. On the small mouth the running lights kind of hang up in their respective holes and tend to fight you a bit until free. Not sure if the same thing happens on the 3a but I doubt it with the lights in the grille.
 
Sounds right to me. But they fit really tight. What I've found works for me is to first pull the bottom of the apron forward using both hands (just an inch or two), and then try to lift straight up on the whole assembly with one hand on the bottom and one on the top. You may need to wiggle a bit to accomplish those two moves.

If it still won't budge, you may need to take the fenders loose to give the apron more room to move. On one car, the edges of the holes got hung up and I had to drive a putty knife into the gap to spring them free. The putty knife can also help with clearing out rust, paint and bondo in the seam.
 
From memory there are two bolts that go through the inner wings and attach to the rear corners of the horizontal bit behind the grill.
You may also have to detach the trim strip from beneath the wings and along the inside of the bonnet opening to allow them to move up for the front panel to slip out.
 
If it has never been off, it may be the dum-dum (tarry sealant) that's "glueing" it all together along the seams. Loosening the bolts along the top of the fender and trying to move the fenders outwards about a 1/4" will enable you to stick a putty knife or a large knife carving knife (when your wife is out doing Christmas shopping) to separate it.
 
There two bolts that attach the front of the apron to a cruved rod that is attached to the inner fenders.
 
I belive that it is common to all sidescreen TR's it stablizes the inner fenders and the front apron.
 

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Oh that, not really a 'rod', and everyone above had mentioned that body brace/bolts so I thought you were speaking of something else/new.
 
Yes the problem is perhaps where the apron bolts to the inner fenders right behind the left and right corners of the grill or at the top were the connecting stiffener bolts to the inner fender. Often at the top, the aluminum bar on the apron gets pinched into the brackets at the inner fender. I am envious if you are taking a front apron off that has never been off before because that sounds like real fun to me. I would rather do that than watch a ball game that I am not in. In addition, you have received much good advice. Anyways what condition is your paint job in because that makes a big difference? After all the bolts are out, I loosen the fender bolts up back down the fender and take a piece of soft wood and cut a spreader about ½ to inch bigger than the engine compartment and tap that in place it will move the fenders out and hold them over while I pull of the apron. In addition, I usually tape the chrome beading to the fender so it does not flop around.
 
I think you got them. Will it move at all? Get some wd40 and spray it up and down the seam. Try prying a little at the top to open up that pinch. I think it just might be stuck at the two metals with corrosion. In addition, the lower bumper brackets can hold it also, and with the combination of the pinch at the top, it might not move easily. Take your time; it is just another fun mystery
 
Take a look at PC100011.JPG - Isn't that the bolt Nick mentioned on the left side? Those need to go.

Randy
 
Actually, that one (and the other three behind the grill) are gone. I snapped that pic before I removed them all.

I think it's probably just the apron is pinched in there. I'll work with it tonight, loosen the fenders if I have to, and see what happens.
 
Russ Austin said:
There two bolts that attach the front of the apron to a cruved rod that is attached to the inner fenders.
Click to expand...
It's a lot more than two bolts (7 or 8 as I recall), and I always leave that brace attached to the apron. The "four bolts under the hood," would presumably be the ones that hold the brace to the inner fenders.

But that is why I have to lift the apron straight up after pulling the front out a bit; to lift the brace out of the brackets on the inner fenders.
 
sp53 said:
In addition, I usually tape the chrome beading to the fender so it does not flop around.
Click to expand...

If you do not do this, the wing beading will reach out and grab your trouser leg every time you walk past the front of the car.

I have experimented with this...
 
We all assumed you had removed these rods as written above. If you remove them it should lift right up after slacking the bottm a bit forward and up as Randall wrote above
 

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Uhm, Don, those are the radiator support rods in your photo. They do NOT need to be removed when removing the front apron !

The rods mentioned earlier are the supports for the handcrank support, underneath the apron (to tabs welded to the frame). Since the handcrank support itself is missing in the photos, it seems likely they are not the issue.

Hatman, those are the bolts we were discussing, but they do NOT have to come out. Just lift the curved tube away still attached to the apron.
 
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