TR2/3/3A TR3A Fiberglass cockpit capping woes

[CraigLandrum]

Our TR3A came with no cockpit cappings so I've had to scrounge and pick them up where I could. For the two "S" shaped pieces that go directly in back of the driver and passenger door, I ordered the replacement fiberglass ones from Moss, part numbers 802-506 and 802-516 for left and right hand sides. The catalog says they need trimming. Now there's an understatement. They need trimming, widening, and remanufacture. The pieces I got are well-built and are substantial enough, but they are about a 1/4 inch too narrow. There is absolutely no way that I can cram them down over both the outside and inside of the body wall where they are supposed to go - and I still hav eto cover them with the thick vinyl I'm using. Sanding the insides down would get me about 1/32 or 1/16 at the most - not nearly enough. The only solution I can see is to use a bandsaw and split these things down the middle and fill the gap with more epoxy and fiberglass to allow them to fit.

Has anyone else ever used these things? Did you have the same problem? How did you solve it? Is there some magic substance that will make these things pliable enough to fit onto the car? Makes me wish I had held out for some rusted steel versions that come up on eBay....

 

[martx-5]

I see them come up on e-bay all the time, and I think it might be the best alternative. Besides that, getting the vinyl on there (I used leather) without any wrinkling in the lower crook takes a bit of work to get it stretched properly. Probably the reason they used steel rather then aluminium as they did for the rest of the cappings.

I also made a wooden jig as shown on this pic to stretch the leather on the dogleg. It was submitted by a member of the forum. I'll see if I can locate that thread that shows how to cut the wood.

Edit: BTW, mine are not on the car yet, so I can take some measurements so you can see how they relate to the fiberglass ones. All measurements will be with the leather folded over on the inside. They do fit over the car. The initial opening is not the same throughout the piece, but generally measures about 1.25". It narrows a bit as it gets toward the curve...maybe an 1/8" to slightly more toward the front.

Edit again: There is also a twist in the piece so they can only go on the correct side as the body is curved back there.

 

[angelfj1]

Craig: Could you split them down the middle on a table saw? If you have access to a saw, you could rig up a jig to hold the capping (upsidedown) against the fence. Then you would 'rip" them lengthwise. If you could do that, you could then put each pair on the car (cover the place where they attach with masking tape), held in place with tape, and fill the "gap" with epoxy and a narrow strip of glass tape. After the epoxy has cured you can remove each cap and them smooth and cover them with the trim material. :hammer:

 

[Mkutz]

Splitting them, then filling them with epoxy might make them too weak to withstand the amount of force it takes to push, pull, tug, and tuck the covering over this particular capping. It could very well crack down the center, while your trying to cover it which would be discouraging to say the least. I covered mine with leather and built a similar jig seen above. I did mine in stages, and all told, took probably about 2.5 - 3 hours of work of trimming, etc. to look nice. At times, I had to put a lot of force on that bad boy to pull the wrinkles out.

My advice is to return it and get original parts from a used parts supplier.