A Numbering Curiosity

[Tugboat]

I was ordering parts from TRF (to replace two chewed up push rods) using the Triumph Spare Parts Catalogue Randall so helpfully provided some time ago and I ran across the table asking for engine number. I guess I had never focused on it before but my engine number is TS 3225E which would make it a mid-50s TR2 engine. Everything about this car, save for the engine number, says 1959 TR3A (Commission Number 44139L), literally everything including body numbering, etc. As to the engine, it is a mixed bag. The carbs are SU HS 6s, not HS 4s (as originally came with the 2's), and it is a high port cylinder head rather than a low port. The Lucas distributor model 40480A first came out in 1956 but was superseded shortly thereafter.

I realize there was a certain amount of slop with the numbering, but this much? In the alternative, is this the time to spring the $40 to get a British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate to find out if this is the engine the car shipped with (and I am not sure it makes a difference in any event)?

As always, your thoughts appreciated.

 

[Darrell_Walker]

How long have you had the car? Most likely explanation is that it was swapped at some time in the past.

My 1966 TR4A, which I got in 1981 (so it was only 15 years old then), had an engine and transmission swap before I got it (and both from older donors). Neither was in great shape when I got it, so I can only guess the originals must have been in really bad shape!

 

[TR3driver]

Unless there is some mistake with the number, that is almost certainly not the original engine block. From the sounds of it, everything else got moved over from the other engine, including cylinder head, manifolds and so on. You could also look at the oil filter (TS3225E would have had a bypass type oil filter rather than the later full-flow); and the oil pan (hex head drain plug with a gasket instead of the later square head pipe plug).

Offhand, the only significant difference I can think of would be the cam bearings; early engines only had a bearing in the front, the other cam journals ran directly in the block. Possibly it would lack the baffle in front of the road draft tube, but that won't matter unless you are going racing.

You might get dinged at a concours show though, if that matters to you.

 

[Tugboat]

I bought it 20 years ago when it was in pretty sad shape. The fellow I bought it from had few details to add about its past but now I think I might track him down and ask.

Checked the number four times because I could not believe it. Not going racing and definitely not interested in concours. Drain plug is the later square model, will check the oil filter tomorrow morning.

Appreciate the input and I suspect you are correct in how it happened, the engine that came with it goes belly up and another, earlier, block is located and then the ancillaries are bolted on.