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TR2/3/3A The engine sounded great

sp53

Yoda
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Well I rebuilt the water pump and was able to run the engine at 1800 rpm for 20 minutes. The engine sounded great with no major leaks or knocks. The rear main appears fine with no leaks and the front seal is not leaking yet either. In fact the pan is not leaking. I am not sure it is even a Triumph anymore after putting on the Mad Max seal. My old buddy Larry use to say you know why the English do not make toasters? Because they cannot figure out how to make them leak oil. This guy actually had a Ferrari that he thought he got kinda cheated on,wow. He bought at the Pontiac Dealer in Tacoma in 1970 for like 4 or 5K and it had this gold plaque on the dash that said,” Made for Jill St John by so and so Ferrari. “Plus I bet the plague was real gold. The car actually looked like a Triumph Italia 2000. I will try and find a picture and I have not seen Larry for a couple of years. I wish I knew then what I know now.

Anyways I am totally happy so far. What are the suggestions? Change the oil and water and re-set the valves? They sounded nice, but I will run through them and read the plugs for carbon and fuel burn. The motor is stock with a tropical fan and never went past 180F after 25 minutes of fast idling and the oil was at 60 psi. I used a set of mechanical gauges I bought years ago that were unused. I wanted two frames of reference on the oil and temp because the old stock gauges cannot be trusted. I have tried many oil gauges over the years with a lot of variance in calibration. I have this one stock oil gauge that works fine until the engine is completely warm (say after a ½ hour) and then it drops to zero idling traffic.

I used figure 8 gaskets with 3 coats of silver spray paint and that permatex red goop stuff on the oil pan and timing cover and permatex aviation sealer on the half shells of the rear main. I actually used the 2 cork pieces with the red goop on the bridging piece out of respect for Randall because he said he could make them work, but I had to trim them to fit, and moreover because I like to keep things stock.

Now it is on to body work with my rolling frame set up. I plan to sand blast, cut weld, and work the tub and then move it to the other frame after it is painted. Again thanks all for your help I could not have got this far without your help.
 
Great, Steve! I've got the Jag back on the road, so I can start to catch up to you...

I see you had the OD connected. Did you try engaging/disengaging it?
 
No John I did not completely test the OD. I tested the solenoid to make sure it operates, but did not actually engage the OD. I am going to take the gamble that it works because it came out of running car (before the firer) and kinda finish the car and then hook it up drive it and see.
 
All it takes is to put the tranny in gear and run a jumper to the solenoid while you have the motor purring. Only takes a minute to check it since you are all set-up. In fact, you can just manually move the solenoid with no electrics to check it!
 
I am so unexperienced in the area of ODs that I would not know what to look for. Can you add some input on what I should expect?
 
Sp53 - Likely there have been earlier threads, but wondered what you're restoring there ?

Scott
 
I am so unexperienced in the area of ODs that I would not know what to look for. Can you add some input on what I should expect?

With the tranny in one of the forward gears, preferably 3rd or 4th...but definitely NOT reverse!...just lift up on the solenoid while watching the tranny yoke. It should make a slight thump, and the yoke speed will increase just a bit. Release the solenoid and the yoke should slow back down. You could even use your speedo to read the yoke speed, if you hook it up.
 
Looks great. I wouldn't expect to change the oil until you've run it a bit more. I know how good it feels to see and hear it run for the first time. Ahhh, the smell of a fresh engine starting... good job. Nice choice in frame color.
 
Hello Scott I see you live in Tacoma I am over in UP. The car is a 1958 tr3, and Tex the frame color is that primstone yellow triumph used when they painted the frames with what they had in the paint gun. I try and keep things stock otherwise I get too creative and paint water pumps red and stuff like that.
 
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