TR2/3/3A TR3 OD Speedometer Part Needed

[Vaark01]

I had an OD transmission installed in my TR-3B and the shop said I need to get a part that will allow them to connect the old non-OD speedometer cable to the transmission.

Can someone tell me what part I need to find?

Thanks.

 

[Brosky]

A 90 degree adapter?

It's a TR3, Randall, where are ya?????

EDIT - Disregard the broken cable in top photo. That was for illustration only in another thread.

 

[TR3driver]

What you need is a different shop!

The later TRs used a thing called an angle drive to connect the speedo cable to the OD, but the TR2-4 did not. Instead, they used an extra-long speedo cable (96" as I recall) that looped around under the RH side of the car and came up through the floor behind the parking brake handle. That's why that funny bulge is there in the parking brake boot.

As the angle drives are rather expensive ($60 @ Moss) and fragile, IMO the long cable ($21 @ Moss) is a much superior solution.

I did find it advisable to slip some rubber tubing over it to prevent chafing where it goes through the floor, but YMMV.

 

[Don Elliott]

You need to buy the longer speedo drive cable and sheath specified for an overdrive TR3A or TR3B. I bought my last one from Roadster Factory in gray colour as per original. I could have bought one from Moss but it would have been black.

Feed the small end of the cable forward through the hole in the floor near the hand-brake lever arm, forward through the frame with rubber grommets for protection, then bring it up around the front end of the starter near the inner fender, up behind carb #2, across the back of the engine and through the usual hole in the firewall for a speedo cable directly behind the speedometer.

Before I did all this I took a 15" length of hose from an old washing machine and slid it on the top (small) end all the way to the large fitting at the overdrive end. This rubber hose will protect your sheath from getting cut where it rubs on the sharp edges for the hole in the floor.

There is a brass clip (clamp) that is screwed to hold the sheath in the center behind the engine. The hole for the screw is on the top of the flat box section just in front of the center of your battery box. You can't see it but it's hidden behind my chromed valve cover where you see my gray speedo cablecable going towards the firewall behind the reservoir for the brake and clutch fluid.

 

[martx-5]

... That's why that funny bulge is there in the parking brake boot...

I always wondered what that was for. Son of a gun. Hang around here long enough and it's amazing what esoteric facts you'll learn. :thumbsup:

 

[Vaark01]

Thank you for the help.

 

[Vaark01]

Thank you for the help. Very nice looking engine compartment.
Mine is almost as nice, but I am missing the washer bottle and clamp. Thanks again.

 

[2wrench]

When you look into an engine compartment and you can see your reflection....
you know that what you're seeing is a beautifully restored and finished
vehicle.

 

[TR3driver]

The washer bottle was an option (generally dealer installed); from what I've seen most TR3s did not originally have one.

Also, the hole for the clamp on the shelf in front of the battery is not present on cars without OD; so you'll probably have to add it.

Being somewhat lazier than Don, I just slit some old heater hose and slipped it over the speedo cable. A plastic tie wrap holds it in place. So far, no judge has noticed (mostly because I never entered the car in judging).

 

[Don Elliott]

Thank you gents for your favourable comments about my engine compartment. That photo was taken at VTR 2007 in Valley Forge, PA where I was awarded 2nd in the "Early TR3A" class with 8 entries. I scored 384 points out of 400. See my black TR3A below.

The bottle and its support bracket was dealer installed back in May 1958 when I bought my TR brand new here in Montreal. It is a "Trafalgar" bottle and push-button on the dash.

If you don't have one, it's not a problem for the TRA or VTR concours judges, because, as Randall writes, "they were mostly dealer installed". Mine has never has water or washer liguid in it since I finished my restoration in 1990. I don't drive on muddy roads and rarely in the rain. If it's raining, I don't need liquid in the washer bottle. At TRA in Auburn, Indiana in 2003 or '04, a judge pointed out to me and to others that I had no liquid in the washer bottle. I told him, "That's the way it came. It was empty when I went to the S-T dealer to pick up the car". I added,"That's the way it was originally, and I don't want to lose any points because I have blue liquid in there today, when it came empty and blue washer liquid did not exist in 1958 - so it's original".

 

[TR3driver]

I told him, "That's the way it came. It was empty when I went to the S-T dealer to pick up the car".

You tell em, Don !