Tom-
Yessir, here is my report for your consideration: minimal actual progress on the 3A. But, in my defense, I have been doing quite a bit of TR stuff:
1) Its drivin' time in Texas - I've put over 1000 miles on the TR4 in the past month, and loved every minute of it (except I10 in Houston).
2) Swapped the od trans out of the project car with a spare TR6 trans to get the od in shape for use in the 3A- my back still hurts. Pressure tested the OD with a drill, it operates but it looks like I'm getting 300 psi max which may mean I need to adjust it a bit. A club pal & expert also advised that the syncros looked pretty worn in the box so I'll be thinking about that for a while.
3) Finally took the 3A shiny bits to the chromers. Pricey as expected but not as bad as other quotes on the board. $200 for the windshield surround, $25 for the gear shift, $45 for each bumperette. Plus tax and environmental charges. Painful but the shop has a good reputation and does mostly high end hot rod copper/nickel/chrome work. When I get the stuff back in a few weeks I can give anyone interested a better opinion.
4) Got the 4A head reworked with the help of another club member & machine shop. Looks good, only needed a head skim, I had them put in new guides, springs, and seats on everything. They also replaced that aluminum plug with a pipe plug. Will be putting the 4A head on the 3A engine along with the HS6 intake setup.
5) Got my interior kit back from 2Tall - I'm very pleased for what its worth. Couldn't go with Targo purple which was original color scheme, so I picked a custom deep red with grey piping - piping will be close to Silverstone grey exterior. I figure if I don't like the car I'll drive it up to College Station where some Texas A&M alumnus will drool all over it!
6) Sent my dad some exotic wood samples and asked if he could make a TR3 shifter. At 86 years old I think he still can - he made me seven of them!
As you can see, most of my TR activity has been fun-based, or getting other people to do the real work. And I don't feel the least bit guilty!
Here's a couple of pics just for the heck of it:
4A head with new plug:
Interior pieces:
And my dad's creations (He's adding my club logo on a couple of them):