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New Triumph Owner.

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John_Progess

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I just picked up my first Triumph project, a 1960 TR 3 number 68585. I have done total restorations on 4 MGA's, an MGTD, an MGTF and an Austin Healey 3000 BJ8. In my parts I have a radiator with the hole in it for the hand crank and one without the hole. The one with the hole looks like it has had a leak and repaired poorly. The other radiator looks ok. Which one should I try to use? The car is in parts so I don't know anything about how it ran. I have been reading this forum in anticipation of getting this car and will be asking many questions in the future. I have the factory parts manual for an MGA and a Healey. Is there such a book for the TR 3? Thanks and have a good day!
 
Which radiator you decide to use is up to you and whether or not you want to be able to use the crank that originally came with the car, or how original you want to keep it. Some guys like to keep the feature, others (myself included) opt to buy or re-core an original radiator without the crank hole, as it does offer some increased cooling of a system that , at best, is barely adequate. Estimates of anywhere between 10%-20% have been cited, but any increase is an advantage.

There are reprints of the original parts catalog available. One source is "The Roadster Factory". They have it listed under the original part number 501653. In fact, TRF uses the original part numbers in their catalogs. See the link below for that publication and others...

https://trf.zeni.net/TR2-TR3Handbook/35.php
 
Myself -- I prefer having the crank hole and have had no problems with overheating even in a Tucson summer. I did finally get a new core for that radiator (hole retained) when I had the apron off for other work.

John_Progess said:
...The other radiator looks ok...
Click to expand...

With all the restos you've done I'm sure you know that you can't tell much about a radiator from it's appearance.
 
The tubes above and below the crank hole are totally blocked by the hole. My radiator guy said it would reduce cooling capacity by about 10%. As Geo says, it can be made to work with the hole, But I opted to leave it out for the extra cooling. Modern cores are visibly different than the original anyway (the fins run zig-zag instead of horizontally) so anyone that cares is going to know it isn't the original radiator. And since I've never owned a crank that worked, I've never missed it.

Regardless of which you choose, I would suggest taking it to a radiator shop and insisting that they "rod it out". On my latest go-round with overheating, the radiator shop twice pronounced the radiator "good" without rodding it, and the engine would overheat no matter what I did. When I finally insisted that something had to be wrong with the radiator; they found that although none of the tubes were blocked, they were all coated inside with some sort of "mud" that was interfering with heat transfer. Very likely the remains of the stop-leak that I used to run because the extension always cracked where it joined the upper tank. But by the time they finished forcing the rods through, it leaked in half a dozen places, so I opted for a new core. The difference was like night and day; all my overheating issues just vanished!

You might also want to consider having them add some reinforcement around the extension joint. As I understand it, they bent a piece of small copper tubing to fit into the corner and then soldered it to both the tank and the extension. With a coat of paint it is practically unnoticeable but so far at least it seems very effective at preventing cracks at that joint. Others don't seem to have as much trouble, so maybe it's just the way I drive (or the distance, I still commute to work almost every day in my TR3), but I've had cracks at that joint many times over the past 40 years.
 
Another thing to consider regarding the radiator and really keeping the engine cool during the summer months, is to install a water pump that has redesigned fins to circulate more coolant. These are available at Moss Motors and I expect at the other British parts suppliers as well. This way if you want to keep the radiator hole for the crank, and help address any potential engine overheating issue.

Steve
 
Congrats on stepping up to restoring a REAL car!

Be sure to update us on what you decide and how it works...I'll be making the clean/record decision in a few month on my restoration...
 
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