Restoring the Front Apron

The front apron on my TR3B is a bit of a mess.

Someone drove it into a pole or something and the front right (as you look at it) of the mouth is too “closed,” the top “lip” on the right side is flattened, the upper right corner or the “lip” is too narrow and protruding.   The whole thing is “racked” or twisted slightly.  It looks like the car was driven with the bolts loose, and as a result of the sheet metal vibrating and moving around, many of the holes are out of round or pretty much destroyed.  The underside is surface rusty.  Some of the attachment holes on the side are broken/cracked through. 

At first I thought it was hopeless.  I considered buying a replacement (Ouch, expensive) or leaving it to the body shop that will do the final paint/fit/finish on it.  But I said to myself, “Hey, why not get a little practice on it if you are thinking about replacing it anyway.  What is the worst that can happen???”  So I started fixing one thing at a time that I felt I COULD handle.  By the time I got done with each step, I think I have it straight and fixed!!!

These are the steps I took to restore it

Step One:  Fixing the Bumper Attach Rectangle and Holes Under the Mouth
The rectangular area where the bumper attach holes are was a mess on each side, especially the drivers side (right as you look at it).  I used a hammer and dolly to flatten out the rectangular areas.  But the one on the right was also pushed in along the top (you are looking at the apron on edge, and the rectangle is behind the carpenters square.  You can see that in the picture below.

Bumper Attach Hole Rectangle Pushed In - Needs Fixing

I found a hammer and a block of wood worked best to knock the upper edge of the rectangular area forward.

Using Wood Block to Knock Area Back Out

Now I am going to address the out of round and distorted holes with a patch.  I have no idea what diameter they are

Fortunately my friends on the Triumph Experience forum measured them for me.  3/4 diameter holes, 31 1/2 inched apart from inner edge to inner edge (not the center of the holes, but the inner edges).  So I fixed these by making some patches and welding them in.  I layed out the piece on some 20 gauge mild steel, and drilled the hole with a 3/4 inch bimetal Lennox hole saw from Lowes, low RPMs and using oil . I then cut out the piece from the sheet metal with a Dremel Tool and a Fiber Reinforced Cutoff Wheel (don’t use the easily broken non fiber reinforced ones).   

Making Patches For Bumper Attach Holes

I then found one of the hole locations by putting the 3/4 hole saw into the mangled mess and discovered one edge of the mangled hole was the original arc of the original hole.  I used a square and a sharpie to mark out the hole using the inserted hole saw as a guide.  Measuring everything out, I deduced that the hole is smack dab in the center of the rectangular area on the apron.  I clamped the patch onto the apron, and used a sharpie to lay it out.  I then removed the patch and cut the square out with a Dremel Tool.

Cutting Out Patch with Fiber Reinforced Cutting Wheel

I put the left side exactly 31 1/2 inches interior edge to interior edge of the circles.  Vertically, I centered it on the rectangle.  I welded the patches in (I am going to do a whole post on learning how to MIG weld this thin 20 guage stuff).  Here it is tacked in, now just need to finish welding and grind. 

I made other patches for various out of round holes as well.

Lesson learned on the picture below – ALWAYS drill the hole first, while the patch is still in your sheet of sheet metal, before you cut it out.  I am going to have a real challenge drilling this hole, and may need to cut it off and start again.

Lesson Learned - ALWAYS Drill the Hole First

Step Two:  Fix the shape of the mouth

I tried to put the chrome grill insert in the mouth opening as a jig to measure the mouth opening.  I used a sharpie to mark the outline of the chrome insert on the mouth, showing where it was too closed.  It was ok on the left side, then “closed down” moving from the middle to the right side, by a half inch at the worst of it.  The upper right hand corner lip was compressed, and sticking out too far.  So first, I tapped the protruding lip on the front upper corner with a body hammer until it flattened out.  I used a profile guage from Northern Tools and kept comparing it to the profile on the left side.  I also noticed that the stretched out metal had a different surface texture than the surrounding metal.  As I tapped it down, it would change appearance and start to blend back in.  It is amazing how lightly you can tap and have it gently remove the distortion.  If you hit it too hard you create new dents.  Real lightly, and it slows taps it back to the original profile.   This did not help much in opening the mouth back up.  But it did fix the lip profile. 

What finally did the trick to open the mouth up (needed to open it about a half inch at the worst place) was to use a heavy hammer and a block of 2×10.  Using the sharpie outline as a guide, I put the 2×10 block inside the mouth as in the picture, and beat on it with the hammer moving gradually along the mouth edge, starting with the middle which needed the least moving, and moving towards the worst area on the right, beating it open more and more.  I was afraid this would damage the lip, but it didn’t. 

Beating Mouth Open with 2x10 and Hammer

I beat on the end of the wood.  I couldn’t take the picture showing the hammer beating on the end of the wood and hold the camera at the same time, so I just rested the hammer on top while taking the picture. The fact this is a copper hammer is irrelevant, it is just a “heft” that felt good to me, and I only hit the wood with it, not the steel.  A small sledge hammer would have been good too.  A normal body hammer was too light though.  I had to hit it fairly hard to get it to move.  I moved the block from the center to the right side of the mouth as I hit it, gradually opening it up until the chrome insert fit nicely.  I also had to tap the curvy part above the lip in some places to get the smooth curve all the way across with a body hammer, using the dolly on the back side in an “off dolly” technique that I will describe in another post dedicated to learning to use hammer/dolly later.  I verified the lip curve with the profile gauge.

Grill Now Fits in Mouth After a Good Beating

The right side bumper attach hole is ground and primed.  I still need to grind/prime the one on the left.  It is coming along!!! 

Step Three –  Fixing the Curved Section that Attaches the Apron to the Fender

Two problems.  The first is that some of the holes were all distorted and rusted out.  Again, it looks like the bolts were loose, and the metal moving around distorted the holes.  Second, some of the holes actually split, allowing the whole apron to flex.  Most of the problems are on the right side, where the dent is from the accident.  I suspect all the damage is a result.  Lesson learned – re-tighten bolts if you hit anything!!!

Before doing anything else, I have to remove all the retaining nut brackets on the back side.  Someone before me had tried pulling them off with pliers or something.  They actually ripped another hole in the metal where the spot weld is.  Picture coming for this. 

I tried a variety of things, and finally settled on a 4 1/2 inch grinder cutoff wheel (these are inexpensive at Northern Tools).  I had tried the grinding wheel, and the sandpaper flap grinding wheel, but neither was  precise enough in the close quarters.  I ran the risk of thinning out surrounding metal, and in fact DID thin one edge out to a razor sharp knife edge, and had to cut the section out and patch it.  I used the cutoff wheel two ways.  First, as a cutoff wheel.  I cut off as much of the bracket as possible on edge, a little at a time, verifying I was cutting ONLY the bracket.  If you attack the bracket at about a 30 degree angle, it thins it out, gets it red hot, and it will grind down paper thin and fall off.  I think it gets so hot that the spot weld melts.  But the metal of the apron underneath does not get as hot.   Second, I used the flat of the cut off disc as a grinding wheel.  Not ideal, but because it is so thin I could SEE to work precisely.  I tried a Dremel tool as well, but it was a waste of time once I got the hang of the 4 1/2 inch grinder.

4 1/2" Grinder and Cut Off Wheel to Remove Nut Brackets from Apron

  Be sure to use a face shield and all the proper safety precautions using the grinder/cut off wheel this way.

Another Angle that is Helpful

After the nut retainers are off, I was ready to patch the holes. On my first attempt to I used a piece of angle iron and clamped it together.  This proved to be a mistake.

First Attempt at Fixing the Apron/Fender Attachment Section/Bolt Holes

I didn’t get the curve exactly right and had to cut my patch out.  So instead I created a jig to establish where the bolt holes should be (for the holes that were rusted out/distorted), and to ensure I have the curve right (for the holes that have completely split and allow the apron to flex).  I could do this because the left side was still perfect.  I clamped a piece of wood to the left side, and used a sharpie to mark all the bolt holes.  I then removed the wood, and drilled the holes.   I then flipped the wood over, and clamped it to the right side, matching up the holes with some bolts, and clamped.  Cut out my patch pieces, welded them in.  I will put the apron back on the car together with the fenders to verify it all is correct.   Pictures to come soon…