The next instalment in the rebuild of my TR2 , 9963 AP.

THE BACK AXLE
In the last episode Gregg and I were struggling with the total rebuild of the Lockheed back axle. Well, we got so far as to taking it all apart , buying new bearings, seals and thrust washers etc and rebuilding the sun wheel and planetary gears, but without a giant press to insert the main bearing we were, to use a technical term, knackered! Also, up to that point the job had been ,and looked like being in future, a real pain so I decided to contacts some specialists for quotes to finish the job for me.

To my rescue came Rotherfield Gearboxes (Steve Nichols 01892 853004) who at a reasonable price would finish the rebuild, set the correct float and ensure it would run smoothly and, hopefully, quietly. I rang him a week later to discuss progress. Hmm, it was all in bits again as I had supplied the wrong main bearing, it was deeper when compared with the original and he had only discovered this when all had been assembled and wouldn’t fit properly!

I checked with Moss, the supplier, but they told me it was the right replacement as the original was no longer available. Yeah right, but it was clearly bigger. However, the old bearing was in very good condition so its gone back in. Fingers crossed eh?

See, I told you it was going to be a pain and what a good decision to let someone else have all that grief!

Upon return all the axle needed was a few coats of paint and the addition of the refurbished brakes. The drums and backplates were blasted and painted and new wheelcylinders and brakeshoes fitted.
Job done.

DOORS
IF you recall, the 2 is a long door model and the doors, whilst mainly sound, need reskinning and repairs to the bottom of the frames. So this was the next job, the theory being to start the body rebuild from the doors.

Fist job was to remove the old door skins from their frames. It’s amazing how much thicker the metal is compared with today’s panels! That done, measurements were taken of the old metal required to be replaced and patterns made. Next, new metal was cut and fabricated to replace its rusty predecessor and welded in place using TIG as it can be used on finer work than say MIG.

WHERE TO NEXT?
That’s as far as we’ve got at this time, New projects like putting a 5 litre Mustang engine Cosworth gearbox in a Scimitar (Gregg), aquiring and recommissioning a 420 Jaguar (me) together with enjoying other cars and summer TR events have meant little progress but hey, life’s for living!

Also because I didn’t have a TR I could borrowTS2 for the TR Tour to Compeigne so it can’t be all bad.

Oh yeah, where to next. Well, it’s get the doors sandblasted and new doorskins fitted, then lots of protection to their insides. After that its on to tackle the rest of the body and rebuild the front suspension.

Keep you up to date,
Ian May

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