TA Body Tub Timber Construction Pictures

[Rob Reilly]

Thanks Carl. Another instance of TA and TC not being exactly the same.
I found a photo of mine before disassembly.

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[Rob Reilly]

More progress.

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Today I start on the dashboard/firewall/scuttle area.

[Rob Reilly]

More progress.

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The holes in the front timber pieces didn't match the holes in the steel front end brackets, and they were at the wrong angles, so I had to cut the brackets off, drill new holes, fit the brackets, and finally weld them back on to the side rails.

[Ray White]

When I came to fitting the windscreen stanchions, I found that the brackets were in the way of the bolt holes. I resorted to drilling and tapping the brackets (in situ) to take the long screws.

[Rob Reilly]

Ah, that might explain why my brackets already have extra holes in them.
It may be original factory work.
As near as I can make out, the windshield had never been removed before I removed it.

[Steve Simmons]

I just ran into a TC the other day with the same thing - the bracket was blocking one of the windscreen stanchion screws. But only on one side. Odd.

[Rob Reilly]

I have to correct myself. My windshield was removed and reinstalled at least once in it's early years, when the car was repainted.
I have one extra hole on the right side bracket, and two extra holes on the left side.
It will be many months before I'm ready to install the windshield, so I guess I'll find out then whether the holes are in the right place.

[robj]

Rob,

just read through your post and you're quite a bit ahead of where I'm at. And If I may add, your work looks great!
I did note in your discussion of the backboard measurements, this is another area where TC Forever may have an incorrect measurement. The book shows the backboard measurement as 41 1/4 ". My TC board was 38 1/2" [but was def. homemade as it was 2 pieces.] The board I got from Abingdon Spares is 39 1/2". It appears the 39 1/2 " board will fit correctly. The 41 1//4" in TCF would be way too wide.[Unless it was intentional for trimming to fit].

Besides that and the reason for my reply [other that to whine about measurements in TCF] is one thing he does stress is to have the doors ready for trial fitting before firmly attaching the Latch Pillar [and even the Hinge Pilar] so they can be adjusted for proper door fit. There is even the suggestion of shimming the back of the body frame to tighten the top of the door frame opening, or conversely padding the mount at the bottom of the diff ramp to open the top of the opening.

Looking at where you are I figured I would throw that out there.

robj

P.S. Following with great interest!

[Franz Tenbrock]

Hello Rob
No more pictures?
Put all your work on your car in a thread so we can follow it from start to finish.

I often check my thread when I want to see what I've done in the past, now I'm making a table of contents so i can find it easy what i am loooking for,

[robj]

Rob, your work is looking great! Following excitedly.

robj

[Rob Reilly]

I had gotten bogged down with my TA tub construction. I'm using original TA doors that are in good condition, but not original to this car, although that may not be relevant to the work. My doors fit before I put on the front cross timber, and now they don't. So I removed the front cross timber and thought about it for awhile. One step forward and two steps back, yet again.

I decided to concentrate on the hinges and get them set as accurately as I could. I wish these hinges had some sort of fine adjustment, like machine screws and a tapped plate inside a pocket in the timber, rather than just wood screws straight into the timber.
I discovered a defect with the hinge pillars from Hutson. They are pre-notched for the door hinges, the exact width to fit the hinge, but one side the spacing from top to top of the notches is 7-7/16" where the other side is 7-9/16". The doors are both 7-9/16". So one hinge on the pillar was 1/8" out of correct position. So do I move the bottom hinge down or the top hinge up? I cut the top notch wider at the top and moved the top hinge up.

The notches in the bottom main side rails for the hinge and latch pillars are also made to a very exact width and angle, no easy adjustment.

I have come to the conclusion that once the door hinges are set, I will take a belt sander and shave down the rocker rails and latch pillars until the doors close. Then push apart the latch pillars and shave down the ends of the front cross timber until the doors close right, more or less flush with the body sides.

I understand that the doors overlap the body sides, rather than sitting flush as all other cars do.
I'm a long way from putting any steel skin on this frame.
Is there a spec or general practice as to how much air gap there should be around the door?
Is there a rubber weatherstrip or sealing gasket that goes in there?

[Mick bibby]

Hi Bob pictures I took at Hutson when I picked my parts up from the factory
Just remember to set your timber door frame 4 to 5 millimetres out from the body timber door opening to allow for the steel lip on the door
There's no seal fitted to the door oraperture all though I have noticed some cars are fitted with a small rubber pad to the bottom front curvature of the door opening

[Rob Reilly]

Thanks Mick.
I am fitting doors that already have the steel lips.

Today I accomplished two things.
1. I fitted the side curtain compartment top cover and opening lid.

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2. And with a lot of dinking around with hinge pin nuts that loosened when I moved the door (I had forgotten to turn down those locking tabs), taking the belt sander to the rocker rail, and shaving the hinge pillar notch so I could move the top hinge up 1/16", I got the left hand door to fit.

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[Rob Reilly]

Working on the right door today, I discovered the hinges are "sprung", at least that's the only word that comes to mind. As if somebody jacked up the door and sat on it. The door is too far forward.
It looks to me like when closed there should be almost no gap between the front and back parts of the hinge, maybe 1/32" at most.
So off again and doing some bending in the bench vise and H-frame press.
They are somewhat malleable, but nevertheless I cracked one. Had to re-weld it and grind and polish off the weld bead.

[robj]

Hi Rob,

Although it's a little hard to tell from here but the fore and aft fit on your door opening seems a little snug. In TCF I'm pretty sure he says 1/4" all around for bare timbers, [at least on the TC] to accommodate the thickness of the sheet metal from the doors and the body. Obviously your doors are skinned, [as mine will be when fitting] but is there enough room to get the body metal fitted without binding?

Also in TCF he mentions a rod the size of the door hinge pins and long enough to go through both hinges could/should go through both hinges for correct alignment.

robj

[Rob Reilly]

I'm not having any trouble with aligning the two hinges. The problem is the hinges are bent, so the door is too far forward, too much gap at the rear.

[Rob Reilly]

Hinge straightening in the H-frame press.

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Both hinges are now flat with nearly no gap.

[robj]

I just looked at my hinges and each one has a gap, some worse than others. There was a stray new one in the parts that came with the car and that one's worse than the original ones.
Do you think there's any downside to applying heat as opposed to cold bending?

robj

[Rob Reilly]

I would take them apart before using an oxy/acetylene torch on them. You don't want to heat up the spring or it will lose its tension.

[robj]

Thanks,
Good point, I forgot about the spring.

robj