• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

new member and question

TFB

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
I have recently aquired a 59 tr3a, been reading posts and joined the forum.
My first car was a 61 tr3a in 1968, driven to high school and until 1970 when I got a 1964 TR4,sold in 74.
I am a member of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America and have been collecting and restoring Indian Motocycles for the last 30+years,and got the bug to get another tr3.
My new project is missing numerous parts ,including gen.,and cooling fan,so I am planning alternator conversion and electric pusher fan,with orig. radiatior.
My question is,why do I need to add an 8oz billet wieght to the front crank if removing fan and hub extension.
I can make this part myself but I am curious why 8 oz,as this mod seems no different than lightening flywheel.
Lots of other questions,hopefully I can contribute something also.
Tom
Tom
 
Welcome and congratulations on your new acquisition! There are a lot of knowledgeable people here and it's a great place to hang out and talk British cars.

Sorry that I can't help you though on the alternator conversion though.

Scott
 
Welcome- I hadn't heard about the 8 oz, where'd you pick up that info? There is some debate whether the fan extension provides needing dampening for the crankshaft, so you'll get plenty of comments pro and con I think. I'm putting a pusher fan on mine and leaving the fan in place, but if I removed it I think I'd only worry about adding a basic blanking washer in place of the extension and take my chances.
 
Randy and Scott,Thanks for replys.
Cant remember if it was web search or link from post on this list.Seems some just remove fan and hub.not sure how I will go yet.
Thanks
Tom
 
I agree, adding a billet weight makes no sense to me at all. The harmonic dampener idea makes a lot more sense; but I've covered well over 100,000 miles without one. The dangerous harmonic apparently falls somewhat above 5000 rpm, so the racers have trouble with it. My engines have had only brief excursions through there, though, so I've never had a problem.

That said, my next TR3 motor will have a dampener on the front. One of our local club members brought the rear main journal from his vintage race TR4 to "show and tell" one night; it was a rather graphic lesson. Compared to a broken crank, a dampener is cheap insurance, IMO.
 
Oh, one thing I probably should mention : if you remove the fan extension, you do need some sort of piece so the (new shorter) bolt can clamp the pulley hub firmly to the crankshaft. The keyway alone is inadequate; if the hub is not firmly clamped then it will work back and forth across the slight play in the key, and eventually wear out both hub and crankshaft. BTDT.

After learning the hard way that a stack of flat washers wouldn't work; I am using a filler piece made from a pipe cap that has worked well for me. But several vendors sell a better made piece that actually bolts to the hub.

Possibly that was the thrust of the thread you saw; and the weight was mentioned only incidentally.
 
Luke and Randall,
Annandale Nj,next to Clinton,west central nj.The billet 8oz kit link is eluding me now ,but will post link when I find again .Still wading thru 50+pages of posts.Lots of good info here.
Tom
 
TR3driver said:
Oh, one thing I probably should mention : if you remove the fan extension, you do need some sort of piece so the (new shorter) bolt can clamp the pulley hub firmly to the crankshaft. The keyway alone is inadequate; if the hub is not firmly clamped then it will work back and forth across the slight play in the key, and eventually wear out both hub and crankshaft. BTDT.

AND...it could end up looking like this.
keyslot.jpg
 
Peter,
Thanks.That is the exact link and kit I was referencing.The 8oz maybe was just what the spacer wound up wieghing when made out of alum.,rather than some math/balance factor.I will probably make one similsr.

Thanks again
Tom
 
Back
Top