Hi all,
Right before the last storm I moved my 60 TR3 into my crowded garage. I had
a radiator recored as the old one was leaking.
It has taken me way too long to remove the front apron, the culprit being
the 6 bolts and square nuts on eaither side of the apron being somewhat
stubborn. These are the square nuts that are suppposed to be held in place by
the
pressed sheet metal in hard to reach places. Now I understand its reasonable
for these things to be hard to separate as they have been married for 45 years
and never most likely been apart.
I ran into the same problem when I removed the wiper motor for a
cleaning/painting.
Everyone one of the nuts would turn inside the sheet metal aking a simple
job very difficult.
While this started as a simple "replace the radiator" job, I am now
considering rebuilding the front suspension, and what the hell, the apron is
off, the
engine bay looks like crap and I am going to paint the car before spring
gets here......... so why not pull the engine and clean up the bay sheet metal
and give it somewhat more respectable coat or two of paint?
My question for those who have "been there done that", does anyone see a
problem with replacing these sheet metal fasteners with a regular nut and bolt
set up?
Using body shop terminlogy, when removing them, I had to resort to
"sometimes you have to do some damage to do less damage" All of the fasteners
are now
history and I would rather relocate new nuts and bolts than replace the
fasteners.
FWIW, yes, I saw the clamshell apron in CLassic Motorsports , and it is
beyond my ability to replicate it.
Thanks all.
Terry
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