[TR] TR3 Upper Fulcrum Bolts

[William Brewer]

Thanks Randall,
     The outer holes are closed at the bottom. There is a upper spring seat (doughnut shaped) that looks like it contains the caged nuts or nut plate between it and the shock tower on the frame.
     I was able to gently run a 3/8-24 tap in there to re-align the threads in the hole and get the bolt to thread in straight. The hole does bottom out. It helped to start the questionable bolt hole first and follow with the rest.
     I don't think that I could drill and run a helicoil in there without having the body off of the frame. I was tempted to attempt drilling from underneath and cutting some additional threads. I may do that in the future if ever in doubt.
     The bolt aligment, bolt threads and the nut plate thread condition are better now than in any time during my last 18 years of tearing around in the TR. I think that I'll call it good and enjoy the car.
     Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

     Bill in Tehachapi


Message: 3
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:05:13 -0800
From: "Randall" <tr3driver at ca.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [TR] TR3 Upper Fulcrum Bolts
Cc: "'Triumphs'" <triumphs at autox.team.net>
Message-ID: <080601cb8a80$9591fa10$c0b5ee30$@rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"

> I need to
> find a bottoming tap to try to clean it up.

I'm missing something here, Bill.  Those threaded holes are supposed to be
open at the bottom, so you shouldn't need a bottoming tap.

Sounds to me like you should go ahead and install a Helicoil, but that's
just my opinion.  I really hate having to worry that something will break
when I pitch the car into a high speed corner.

-- Randall