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TR4/4A Tr4 bodytub to frame question

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Scott McK

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Hello, longtime time reader but an infrequent poster. That is soon to change. Friday, we mount the bodytub back to the frame on my TR4. Neither I nor my bodyshop have done this before. The tub has new floorpans and in freshly painted. I have a new body mounting kit from TRF. A few qustions:



1. Do we set the tub on the chassis and bolt it down or make a loose fit and offer up the doors for alignment purposes?

2. Are the bodymount pads used on an "as needed basis" to adjust the door opening gaps?

We test fit the bodytub on the chassis before paint and all went well. Any and all advice is appreciated.

Scott
 
I can only assume the TR4 is similar to the TR3, but I'm not 100% sure.

In the case of the 3, "they" say the shims can give you some minor adjustments for the door - we did all our gap alignments before painting, and then disassembled. I started with the shims as shown in the books, and it all worked out - I didn't need to do any adjusting by playing with shims.

In your case being as you are now painted, I would go with the suggested rubber shim placements from the book, loose fit the tub to the frame, and then test fit the doors. Then if all looks good, squeeze it all down and tighten up.

I first used a lot of longer thinner one size smaller bolts I (I can't remember exactly the diameters - but my guess would be the correct bolts are 5/16", and I used 1/4" stove bolts to drop down the holes to adjust alignment). There are a lot of bolts and if you are off an 1/8th, it just won't go. So don't tighten up anything until finished. I started with center tub bolts and did the outer bolts last. When you get the holes lined up, pull out the smaller bolts and go with the correct ones. I got these from Ace Hardware - just use cheap stove bolts - like 6 or 7" long and drop 'em in from the top.
 
When we remounted the TR4A tub to the frame, it took a few iterations to get the tub to the point where the doors and fenders could be adjusted to even out gaps. The last and successful iteration, we started in the middle of the tub with the mounting points inside the cockpit, through the floor. With the front and back of the tub unfastened, the door gaps were generally wider at the top than at the bottom. We got the tub to sit down level on the frame, using as few of the shims as necessary, and tightened a few of the bolts to hold it in place. Then we mounted the doors and fit the rear mounting points just in front of the rear valence. For my car, we could lift the back end of the tub up a bit to close gaps at the top of the doors. We did the same at the front at the mounting points near the radiator. We left the two mounting points in the engine bay (with long bolts) for last.
 
I adjusted the rear upper door gap the same way - pretty easy to shim the back end a little to tighten it up if it is wider at the top.
 
Thanks to all for the replies. We start the job tomorrow morning. I will update the tread as soon as possible and hopefully have a few pic"s.


Scott
 
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