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The TR3 started up this weekend. It hasn’t been started for a couple of years, and after removing the tank, rigging up a motorcycle tank as a temporary fuel tank, charging the battery, cleaning the pump bowl, and priming the pump, she fired right up! I’m constantly amazed at how this car continues to run with almost no maintenance.
A bit of background: I bought this car in Sept. of 1985, shortly after graduating from college. I bought it from a doctor in Webster City, Iowa, for $2,000. It was British Racing Green with a black interior. It looked good if you didn’t look *real* close, it ran well, and it was only a half-hour from my house. It’s a 1959 TR3 pre-60001.
I drove the car a bunch the first couple of years. With my career taking me to different cities and different states, however, the car spent a lot of time in storage over the past 23 years. Still, it never took more than a battery charge and fresh gas to get it going each time.
Over the past few years, I stopped driving the car. We’re on our third old house (this one is a 1911 Foursquare), which means a lot of my time and resources goes into renovating our home. I also started racing motorcycles about 12 years ago, which also eats up a bunch of time and money. So, the TR3 sat in carriage house under its cover, usually with various boxes of motorcycle stuff sat on top of it. Out of sight, out of mind.
The planets aligned earlier this year when I finally finished up our kitchen additional/renovation, and I found a friend had a three-car garage for rent just a block from my house. Now, instead of the Triumph being packed into the carriage house surrounded by motorcycles, it’s in a roomy garage with plenty of room to work.
With racing over in October, I spent a couple of months wiring the garage for electric and lights. Kerosene heater gets the temp up to about 25 degrees over outside temps, which isn’t exactly toasty, but workable.
So the winter plans for the car are to overhaul the brake/clutch hydraulic system, clean the fuel tank and have a pinhole welded up, install new fuel lines, possibly get the carbs rebuilt, tackle the front end (already have the TRF Magic Kit), and rebuild the rear shocks (already sent out to Peter at World Wide). The original fan has a broken blade, so I’ll probably replace with a plastic fan, and have the radiator boiled while it’s out.
The car’s not mint – it’s had a total respray at some point (changed from pale yellow to BRG), there’s some bondo in it (the rear fender beads have been filled in), but the paint looks good, and the rust, despite Neal Young’s assertion, actually does seem to at rest). The floors are sound. It’s looked the same since I’ve owned it, so I can’t complain.
While someday I may do a complete restoration on the car, for now the goal is just to renovate the mechanicals over the winter and enjoy driving the car next year when the weather turns warm.
So look for more questions from me over the winter. So far the advice has been helpful and very much appreciated!
A bit of background: I bought this car in Sept. of 1985, shortly after graduating from college. I bought it from a doctor in Webster City, Iowa, for $2,000. It was British Racing Green with a black interior. It looked good if you didn’t look *real* close, it ran well, and it was only a half-hour from my house. It’s a 1959 TR3 pre-60001.
I drove the car a bunch the first couple of years. With my career taking me to different cities and different states, however, the car spent a lot of time in storage over the past 23 years. Still, it never took more than a battery charge and fresh gas to get it going each time.
Over the past few years, I stopped driving the car. We’re on our third old house (this one is a 1911 Foursquare), which means a lot of my time and resources goes into renovating our home. I also started racing motorcycles about 12 years ago, which also eats up a bunch of time and money. So, the TR3 sat in carriage house under its cover, usually with various boxes of motorcycle stuff sat on top of it. Out of sight, out of mind.
The planets aligned earlier this year when I finally finished up our kitchen additional/renovation, and I found a friend had a three-car garage for rent just a block from my house. Now, instead of the Triumph being packed into the carriage house surrounded by motorcycles, it’s in a roomy garage with plenty of room to work.
With racing over in October, I spent a couple of months wiring the garage for electric and lights. Kerosene heater gets the temp up to about 25 degrees over outside temps, which isn’t exactly toasty, but workable.
So the winter plans for the car are to overhaul the brake/clutch hydraulic system, clean the fuel tank and have a pinhole welded up, install new fuel lines, possibly get the carbs rebuilt, tackle the front end (already have the TRF Magic Kit), and rebuild the rear shocks (already sent out to Peter at World Wide). The original fan has a broken blade, so I’ll probably replace with a plastic fan, and have the radiator boiled while it’s out.
The car’s not mint – it’s had a total respray at some point (changed from pale yellow to BRG), there’s some bondo in it (the rear fender beads have been filled in), but the paint looks good, and the rust, despite Neal Young’s assertion, actually does seem to at rest). The floors are sound. It’s looked the same since I’ve owned it, so I can’t complain.
While someday I may do a complete restoration on the car, for now the goal is just to renovate the mechanicals over the winter and enjoy driving the car next year when the weather turns warm.
So look for more questions from me over the winter. So far the advice has been helpful and very much appreciated!
