TR4/4A TR4 license plate bracket location

[SCguy]

I'm not sure where this bracket goes. I could eyeball it, but I'm considering getting an amco luggage rack for the car and I believe that I need to make sure the bracket is properly located before I drill. Can any one provide me with a correct measurement of where to drill and locate my bracket?

 

[DNK]

Drill into that pretty paint job??

 

[Tomster]

My 4A has two nutserts installed thru the lid, either side of centre and approx 1 - 1.5 inches above the handle of the boot lid. This provides mounts for the lower portion of the plate only, which seems fine. I also backed my plate with rubber to lessen any scratch risk to the lid it self.
The thought of drilling thru that lovely paint must be terrifying. Put some low tack tape for marks first and then measure and measure and measure then mark. Go have a beer, think about magnets instead.....

 

[Geo Hahn]

Mine has no bracket -- just holes in the boot lid for the upper license plate bolts:

I made some rubber washers to protect the paint there.

I'm confident that these holes are original as the car has original paint and those nuts had the same funky grey plasticene on them that were on the other bolts and speed-nuts and that a former TR employee assured me was the original goo.

I would be concerned that that bracket would not stand up to the weight you will put on the luggage rack with a suitcase or such.

Nervous work drilling in fine paint. The guy who did my TR3A thoughtfully welded up the holes for the rear 'TRIUMPH' badge and I got to measure and drill the replacement holes.

Sorry, I am away from home and cannot give you exact locations of the holes on mine.

PS - With that bracket standing proud of the surface of the boot lid I'm not sure the luggage rack would even mate up with it properly -- I'm thinking the rack 'legs' want to be mounted against the surface of the boot lid.

 

[SCguy]

Geo,

That makes sense! If I look on the inner side of my trunk I can see exactly were those two holes were filled. So I guess I'll scrap the bracket, but I'm open to suggestions as to what is the best way to protect the paint around the holes after I drill.

 

[Merlin63Tr4]

Larry, I have an AMCO luggage rack on my Tr4, and there is no way that sheet metal bracket in your picture could support the luggage rack.
My '63 came (like Geo's) with only holes thru the trunk (boot) lid, but unlike Geo's mine has all four holes for mounting the license plate. I also added rubber spacers between the license plate and the paint to protect the finish. The luggage rack uses the two upper license plate holes for locating, mounting and supporting the rear, and there are two small brackets that slip under the trunk (bonnet) lid hinges to mount and support the front of it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif

 

[TR3driver]

You might find this article interesting :
https://www.jmwagnersales.com/mach.htm

 

[KVH]

Who did that paint job? Who spec'd the color or matched the code? WOW!

 

[Tomster]

Rubber "O" Rings sound like the way to protect this area. Plumber's O or donut rings would be easy to source.
My luggage rack has 4 mount holes thru the horizontal (top) surface of the boot lid only. It is not one of those, Dali inspired, drooper racks

 

[Geo Hahn]

If you go with that Amco-style luggage rack -- which is a quite elegant no-drill design -- you might consider reshaping the hinge mounts a bit so they look a bit more attractive. These before & after pics show how I changed them:

 

[DNK]

Found this article . Might be of use

https://www.jmwagnersales.com/mach.htm

 

[TRMark]

Is this what you need? There is no bracket the holes are drilled into the lid. Like the grommet idea. Always good advice; measure twice.