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TR2/3/3A Black TR3

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Dr Evil

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Hi all, not sure this is the place to put it, but thought I'd make a thread to mark the progress/evolution of my TR3.

A little background, this 1960 TR3 popped up in FB marketplace in April in running but unrestored condition just a few miles away at a price about 1/2 of the advertised rate for restored examples, so I leaped at it with more with heart than head, though from a cursory look over, it looked solid. Originally a white car, delivered to Boston MA, it ended up somehow in Belgium with a color change which is usually not a good sign, but hey what can you do. The seller somehow got it through the Belgian technical inspection with a pass, meaning I could get it insured and registered for the road.

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First thing was to put the car up on jack stands and give it a once over. The roadworthiness inspection passed the car, with an advisory that it was leaking fluids... over here the car safety checks are pretty rigorous but word has it that they turn a blind eye to professionals who bring cars in for inspection... no comment on that, but I can say the rear brakes were leaking on both callipers and the brake shoes were absolutely soaked. Easy enough replace, but had to fabricate a replacement brake pipe as one of the unions was badly rounded.

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One fun job was to pull the oil pan to see what I would find inside. The oil pan was sealed to the engine with black RTV, no gasket, so it was really a PITA to free with the car on jack stands. A combo of hammer, thin chisel and a lot of swearing finally broke it free. No metal, just 60 years of accumulated gunk. I tried oven cleaner, but basically a wire brush drill attachment was in order. The outside duly painted in black, a new gasket and a bit of hylomar and it is back on. While in there, I pulled the oil pump but it looks good, and I replaced the screen which had a tear in it. I get an indicated 50 lbs pressure on the gauge on the starter motor, so probably good here.

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Being the optimist, I bought new tyres that look period enough as the old ones were balding and out of date. I think there is a theme of neglect going on here... the PO was a big spender but clearly not on this car... I also discovered that that some of the studs on the hubs had not been cut down enough to clear the wheels, so those got duly ground down. I mounted and balanced the tyres myself also being a bit of a cheapskate.

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as the rear lights where flopping about, I replaced the rubber boots and lenses. I put amber signal lenses being here in Europe. I also wired bullet connectors to make pulling the signal lights out easier. I don't know if NOS Lucas L594 are available/better than the repros sold by Moss, Rimmer etc, but aren't they god-awful?

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As one of the boot-lid hinges was broken, I put new ones on. I have the feeling these repros from Rimmer are so-so. You get what you pay for I guess. while we are at it, notice how the hinges don't line up with the pressing on the rear panel... the worker on the assembly line maybe had one too many pints at lunch. This was the most I was willing to go by reaming the holes

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Looks like it’s in google hands! The 3 looks good in black, I am sure it’s going to be a great car once you’re finished…!
 
charlie74 said:
Looks like it’s in google hands! The 3 looks good in black, I am sure it’s going to be a great car once you’re finished…!
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Looking at your picture of the hinge, I can not see the raised portion on the trunk lid. It should have one. Unless a previous owner has replaced the trunk lid with an earlier one that does not have the raised hinge area.
If this is correct then I would guess that your poor hinge match is a result of a mismatched trunk lid.
Charley
 
Handsome car!
 
charleyf said:
Looking at your picture of the hinge, I can not see the raised portion on the trunk lid. It should have one. Unless a previous owner has replaced the trunk lid with an earlier one that does not have the raised hinge area.
If this is correct then I would guess that your poor hinge match is a result of a mismatched trunk lid.
Charley
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aha... well spotted. The bootlid must be for a pre-60000 TR3. square pressed steel inner reinforcement, center locking handle. No telltale original white paint, just red primer underneath black so I'd guess it was replaced with a new incorrect bootlid when it was painted. Not the biggest issue to solve now, maybe if a good one turns up cheap I'll swap it out.
 
Yesterday removed the old filter and housing, fair amount of sludge on the bottom of the filter housing... Filter looks like it was well due for a change. Why is it no matter how well I prepare, my garage floor looks like the Exxon Valdez...

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The car had fixed 3 point seatbelts fitted but on inspection they were mismatched, missing some retaining nuts and attached with thick washers I replaced with inertia reels I had left over from another car and put in FIA spec 3mm backing plates. I found some 35cm length lap-belts with webbing which I've attached to the transmission tunnel behind the seats, again with backing plates.

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Awesome work! I'm curious about your wheel balancing setup. I'm contemplating a switch to wire wheels but I know that nobody in my area will balance them.
 
JHaydon said:
Awesome work! I'm curious about your wheel balancing setup. I'm contemplating a switch to wire wheels but I know that nobody in my area will balance them.
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I'm not sure why a tire shop couldn't balance a wire wheel, I assume they would just use cones on the inside and the outside of the wheel to center it on the spindle and balance in the normal way. Perhaps if you brought them a wheel to have a look they would be ok with it.

Anyway, to balance them I used a motorcycle wheel balancer I happen to have. I made up a couple of adapters that that slide inside each end of a spline adapter (3d printed them) so that the spline adapter would fit on the skinny motorcycle balancer spindle (the motorcycle balancer cones are too small to work here). Then I balanced the wheel + spline together just like a motorcycle wheel - basically find the low spot, tape some weights opposite, rotate the wheel, keep adjusting until the wheel doesnt move more than a couple of inches in any direction from any starting point. Then I marked and stuck the weights in the wheel. I didn't need more than 100g on any of the wheels if I recall. They don't vibrate at all, but then the car is currenlty on jackstands ;-P If I notice a vibration, I'll have them dynamically balanced. hope that's clear!
 
Just poking around to figure out whats going on with the wiring. My car has been converted to negative ground, and has a Lucas 17ACR alternator fitted and a Kenlow fan while retaining the original fan. The voltage regulator has been disconnected. The ignition, ammeter and dynamo output wires have been soldered to 2 parallel wires connected to one of the outputs of the alternator, but have been pulled and was wrapped so go nowhere. There is still the original yellow dynamo positive output wire connected to the alternator output, as well as the yellow/green field cable. I guess this isn't really a great setup, so I think I need to wire an 8 AWG wire directly from the alternator to the starter solenoid +ve connection.

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Today I received new NGK BP5HS plugs, so I quickly checked the compression all round +/- 160 PSI on a cold engine that hasn't run in 4 months. I couldn't resist to give it a try, and surprisingly it started up easily which is encouraging. The starter button on the back of the solenoid is a cool feature! Onwards...
 
Dr Evil said:
I'm not sure why a tire shop couldn't balance a wire wheel
Click to expand...

It amazes me the kinds of entry-level tasks that the shops near me insist they can't do. Honestly that happens at all kinds of businesses around here, I don't know why.

I had one local tire shop -- a shop that does everything from motorcycle tires to buses and heavy truck tires -- tell me that they couldn't balance tube-type tires on steel rims. (The clerk literally yelled at me when I asked, but that's a story for another day.) (It was McGuire Tire in Temple TX, I am happy to recommend that everyone should avoid them if you have a chance.)

So I had Coker ship my tires and tubes to the local Coker "preferred" shop, and when I picked them up I was told they couldn't balance them either. I pointed out that I had paid for balancing, and, miraculously, they were suddenly able to do it. It turned out they were just nervous about scratching the paint on the rims using clip-on weights. Even though the rims had clip-on weights when I had dropped them off. (Their balancing job was perfect and they didn't even scuff the paint.) (Discount Tire in Temple TX, I will be back even though they muffed a different job previously.)

I'm pretty sure if I turned up with a set of wire wheels the entire place would melt.
 
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