>Dan:
>
>I am in the tear down phase of a total ground up restoration of my
>'59 TR3 (not as far along as you are). Could you provide me some
>fairly detailed instructions on the the electrical conduit you devised
>for further support of the tub. I am doing the restoration in a one
>car garage (the 6 is in a rented garage) and do not have space
>for both the tub and the chassis to both be level in the garage so
>I plan on setting it on its side while I do the chassis and want to
>do all possible to prevent any bending or twisting of the tub.
>
>TIA.
>
>Scott Suhring
>Elizabethtown, PA
>'70 TR6
>'59 TR3
Scott --
Sure thing! Happy to help. The electrical conduit was not my idea
(don't want to take credit for someone else's inspiration), but this
is how I implemented it:
I bought some 1/2" electrical conduit at the local hardware store. I
think each "pipe" was 10 feet long; that's about right for what
you're going to do. You'll need three pipes ($1.39 each at my local
Ace), some strong plastic tie-clips ("grip clips?"), 8 smallish bolts
(1/4") about 2.5" long, 16 washers of a good size, and 8 wing nuts to
fit smallish bolts. And duct tape. (he he he)
I got a box full of nice big (read: strong) tie-clips at Target in
the auto section for $5.49 or so. You can probably find them
wherever you find conduit and bolts.
By "washers of a good size", I mean -- you'll want them to fit side
by side over and under the holes for the bonnet and boot lid hinges.
I wasn't thinking and bought washers that were way too big and wound
up cutting some with a hacksaw (I couldn't justify yet another trip
to the store that day).
If you ruin a piece of conduit doing this, or are just not happy with
how it's turning out, remember they're cheap and go buy another.
Anyway, what you're going to do is run the conduit from the hinge
holes at the back to the hinge holes for the bonnet, and then to the
bracket where the apron support crossmember bolts in. At the hinge
holes it will be bolted in and at the apron x-members it will be
secured by duct tape and tie-clips (it sounds cheesy, but it is
effective. After getting the front-to-back members done, you're also
going to do two crossmembers in the passenger area to help prevent
twisting. These will be secured to the first two conduits you put
on, also by duct tape and tie clips.
At the back end, you will have to create two fairly sharp bends in
the conduit to go up over the cockpit surround lip. I did not invest
$25 in a conduit bender, but rather chose to try it in my bench vise.
I of course kinked it some, but it still seems fairly strong. Only
later did I realize that one's knee is a good bending tool, though
I'm not sure you could get the two small bends done that way.
So the end of it will be bent so that the conduit lies flat over the
boot hinge holes, then rises to go up over the cockpit surround, then
goes back so that it extends over the bonnet hinge holes and is flat
over them.
Be patient and do some experimenting to get the fit right through all of this..
Mark one set of holes with a black marker, put the tube in a vise,
and drill one set of holes for your bolts.
Test fit the first set of bolts, and then mark the holes for the
other set. Again put the conduit in a vise and drill those, and do
another trial fit.
The conduit at this point should extend well over the motor
area/front fender of the car. Figure out a point a few inches
forward of the firewall where you can bend it gently to have it go in
and down to meet the apron crossmember bracket.
Remove it from the car again, and make this bend. I did this one
with my knee, and it was perfect. Do a trial fit and adjust as
necessary.
Once you're satisfied with the fit, put the bolts and washers in (one
set of washers on either side of the body sheet metal) and tighten.
Take a small piece of duct tape and wrap around the conduit where it
meets the apron crossmember bracket. Use a couple of plastic
tie-clips to secure it to the bolt holes there. The duct tape will
keep the conduit from sliding -- I think it will be very effective at
this.
I also put a plastic tie-clip through the holes in the cockpit
surround lip where the conv. top strap goes, around the conduit, to
keep it from lifting up away from the body.
Cut off the extra conduit forward of the bracket and put a few layers
of duct tape over the end. This will help prevent putting an eye out.
Now for the anti-twist members. Cut the remaining piece of conduit
so that each piece is long enough to go from just forward of the back
bends to just back of the scuttle. (basically, they'll go from the
rear of the cockpit on the left side to just by the dash on the right
side, and vice versa.) One over the front-to-back pieces, and one
under.
Put duct-tape around each piece of conduit where they are going to
meet, and use tie-clips to secure them together. Again put duct tape
over exposed conduit ends to avoid scratching and poking.
The tie-clips and duct tape isn't as cheesy as it sounds -- the
duct-tape has strong adhesive to the pipe, and would require an
immense amount of force to move it forward or backward along the
pipe. The plastic tie-clips, if you use a couple of them in each
spot and pull them tight, are going to dig right into that duct tape
and not go anywhere.
The anti-twist members are probably fairly effective; I have tested
that the front-to-back members are extremely effective at preventing
body bending.
I hope this all makes sense. I need to photograph my 3 in its new
position anyway, so I will take some photos specifically of my
conduit installation and post them for all to see.
Dan
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dan Buettner - Des Moines, Iowa - mailto:danb@thelittlemacshop.com
1977 Spitfire, FM64159U, now with an O too. Runs & drives, but shakes
like crazy; needs new tires and a steering/suspension rebuild.
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickndan/gmachine/greenmachine.html
1957 TR3, TS15098L. Needs an O. Undergoing frame-off restoration begun 9/99.
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickndan/TR3/TR3.html
1988 Honda Civic 4WD Wagon. Gets me to work and back home again every day.
No home page. (go figure)
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