TR4/4A Trunk lid and handle assembly

[TRMark]

Doing some repair and getting ready to paint TR. The trunk handle has wobbled around in the mount and has bent the outer shell. If you look a the picture there is kind of a reinforcement piece visible but not aligned with the hole, it doesn't do anything. I am thinking of detaching it from the lid support and welding it to the outer skin so it offers more support. Anybody else run into this?

 

[CJD]

Got a picture of the back side?

 

[TRMark]

Not much to see on the back side. The bit on the inside is between the outer skin and the inside support.

 

[KVH]

Not much to see on the back side. The bit on the inside is between the outer skin and the inside support. View attachment 40455

I'm not sure that piece does nothing. But I'm also not sure I understand the question. On my two 4As, that piece provides both support and a place for the handle extension to pass thru and bolt on with a nyloc nut. And, of course, the chrome collar fits nicely in that notch in the body.

 

[alanjohnturner]

I restore trunk-lids. This is a troublesome little part because it nearly touches the outer skin but not quite. These is a source for corrosion.

Could you weld it to the outer? Yes you could. Only warning is that these have very little curvature to stabilise them and quite a lot of residual stress from the pressing.

Put simply they like to warp when welded. If it does warp then your options for filler are limited around there, also dollying out is tricky.
So Idon't think I'd do this.

This bit does add some stiffness to the inner flange that holds the lock.

Over here these are always rusted out here up about 2 inches. Here are some before/after shots:

 

[TRMark]

Thank you for the info. I came to the same conclusion about welding to the outer skin, it could go very wrong. I will be installing a new trunk lid seal, so the plan is to maybe grind open the latching bit so it does not fit as tight and warp the lid skin. You are doing some serious rust repair, I have to say I feel very fortunate my car is relatively rust free.

 

[Geo Hahn]

Slightly OT -- one reason I suspect some boot lids rusted badly along that bottom edge while others survived unscathed: Triumph used a wad of grey plasticine (like modeling clay) on each peg of the 'T-R-I-U-M-P-H', the 'TR4' and the license late bolts. Without that sealant rain flowing down the boot lid can get through those holes and creep down the inside of the lid, collecting inside the inner lip.

When I first found this stuff I thought the PO had put it on there - a crude but effective solution. I later learned from a very reliable source that this was, in fact, the original treatment.

 

[alanjohnturner]

I the UK we are more or less permanently wet for half the year.
Triumph painted these cars using a method called "sight-line only".
Basically if you couldn't see it they didn't paint it. So there would have been no weather proofing between the outer and inner skin.

The seals don't fit well and in the UK the bottom of the lid just fills up.
When we restore we add drainage and sealing in all sorts of places.

I fixed three lids because we have cheap remanufactured repair panels here and I wanted to try out different welding techniques.
I publish a lot of such stuff on the UK TR-Register forum.