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Finally, this thing is starting to run ok!

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jdubois

jdubois

Jedi Warrior
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Some of you may remember that I was having trouble getting my TR3A to stay running after many months of storage.

Well, after cleaning the fuel filter mesh, replacing the front float chamber cover due to stripped threads for the valve body, (then replacing the starter solenoid which happily fell apart on me while I was trying to fix the fuel problem), replacing the plugs that kept fouling with hotter ones, syncing the carbs, re-adjusting the mixture with my trusty colortune, adjusting the points, and then replacing the entire clutch hydraulics (which was almost completely shot), I was finally able to take her out for a bit of a drive today.

She still hesitated a bit on acceleration while warming up, both with the choke halfway out and all the way in, and she occasionally didn't want to idle when coming off of hard throttle unless I blipped the throttle again before she died, but other than that she pulled smooth and strong, and I was able to actually enjoy her for a short 15 mile drive.

So I'm getting there! Thankfully, the Spit has been a rock while I was getting the TR3A fixed, so I wasn't without a Triumph. I hope that she can't smell the TR3A on me now!

Ta muchly to those of you who gave me suggestions that led me to the bad float bowl cover, which was clearly the main problem.
 
That's great news. Take it for a good half hour drive and then pull #1 and #4 plugs to see how they are burning.
 
It probably wasn't long enough a drive, but I pulled the plugs anyway when I got home. They had a bit of what looked like white ash deposit on them, but otherwise they looked good.
 
If they're really whitish, that's not a good thing, as it usually indicates lean running...and you do not want to run too lean for too long. Years ago, I ruined a very nice B-18 Volvo engine: I'd ignored the whitish plugs/lean running...until I burned a hole in a piston in such a spot that the cylinder wall got badly scored. :frown:
 
Congrats on the "maiden voyage". I remember well my first successful drive, after Paul (Brosky) stopped by and helped diagnose a failing starter.

The drive wasn't perfect of course, but just getting the engine going (*before* I even started fixing the whacky "choke" jet system), putting it in gear, and sliding out onto Rt 44 and driving a few miles sure did feel great.

Minor detail that the top was off, and it was still about 30° in February. But it was fun!

Best wishes to you for many more miles!
Tom
 
Andrew Mace said:
If they're really whitish, that's not a good thing, as it usually indicates lean running...
Click to expand...

I'll put the colortune back on and recheck the mixture. I'm just happy they're not dead black with soot like they had been!
 
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