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Please don't ban me for this...

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BwTR3

BwTR3

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I am tring to get some opinions on this. I am sure I might upset some purest, and for that I am sorry. I was curious about switch my TR3A's wide mouth front apron with a small mouth. From reading I have found that the small mouth was better for cooling then the wide mouth. I am not worried about having the car in concourse condition. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
The biggest problem I can foresee with such a swap is that good small-mouth aprons and especially the grilles and grille surround trim pieces are all quite difficult to find and likely will not be cheap.

Beyond that, though, there really isn't any significant difference in cooling so long as you have the original type of millboard shrouding (or an equivalent replacement) in place...and the rest of the cooling system is as it should be.
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif What he said. The biggest problem would be finding a small mouth apron, and grill, and bits. I say just stick to the bigger mouth, and enjoy, less headache trying to track down parts that way. And if you really want to decrease the size of the the mouth, simply block it off from behind, and make a shroud. It will still look the same, but have a smaller opening that way.
 
I saw this sort of humorous "display" last year at the Lime Rock Vintage (in the flea market area).
It was really used to sell the belts, but I'm sure if you offered them a few bucks for the nose, they would have taken it (and actually, although it looks pretty crappy, it was probably salvagable).
Speaking of flea markets, The Carlise Import Show was last weekend....I wouldn't be surprised if there was a TR3 nose somewhere in the market area. Check it out next year.
TR-3_nose.jpg
 
Not sure if you were serious about the getting banned part, but you'd have to do something much worse than suggest you want to change you car to get banned.
 
I put 56 small mouth on a 1958 because I thought the small mouth looked cooler and I had a nice small mouth extra bonnet that I pick up cheep in the 70s. They bolt right up, but you have to drill a couple of holes in the inner fenders for the lights. They do help with the cooling, but only when you’re moving sooooooo. In addition, the bumper is different and so are the brackets and the guards.

Regards George
 
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