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TR2/3/3A TR3 starting with hand crank?

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The kick back thing is why old tractors and model t's had variable settings for the timing. Set it at TDC and twist away.

It only kicks if the mixture fires early. We have a little makeandbreak engine on a piece of equipment here at work that you start with a crank. Got the setting wrong, and wound up wearing a splint on my wrist for weeks. It kicked, tore my wrist up, then added insult to injury when the handle swung around and cracked me in the knee.

Up or down, shouldn't matter as long as your thumb is out of the way.
 
I never owned a TR (yet) but in my impoverished youth had several cars that I started by crank - or by "starting handle" as we called it in English English back then. Too poor to buy a new battery to cope with early-morning starts after being left out all night.

Have you ever seen a car started "on the switch"? I have seen it done with a Silver Ghost and it's eerie. The drill is
1- Set maximum retard (coil ignition)
2- Switch on
3- Advance ignition.
Magically, it starts running - no crank, no starter, no nothing.
 
I use to start my TR3 with the starting handle way back when, but since I got a new front bumper in 1988 the handle now seems to hit the bumper. I think the new bumper has more curve to it then the old one. ANy one have thoughts on this?
 
Straighten your bumper? My handle clears the bumper AND the license plate.
 
Cranks came in different lengths. You must have a short one. Or bumper is out too far. Or bent.
 
aeronca65t said:
I always backed the timing off about 15 degrees (I had it marked) and pull the choke out a bit (to raise the idle speed).
Worked well.
After it was running, I'd turn the distributor back up to (approximately) the correct timing position.
Always had the distributor *just* tight enough to move by hand.
Click to expand...
Love it!!!
Reminds me of my old 84 dodge caravan where the starter needed a belt with the hammer to make it work. My wife's vehicle.
She became very adept at hauling the hammer out, popping the hood and giving it a well placed whack.
After about 6 months she eventually hit it too hard (on purpose?) and I was "forced" to replace it!
 
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