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TR2/3/3A TR3A Bonnet Louvres

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M_Pied_Lourd

M_Pied_Lourd

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Hi Guys,

First an apology.... sorry to the concours guys out there but...

I have seen a few TR3's in photos with bonnet louvres. I have to say, on the right car, right location, right number of louvres etc...I quite like them.

Hope that Art Lipp doesn't mind, but here is a pic of his car and I dig it.

TR3008.jpg


If I am going to do it, now is the time.

Opinions are welcome.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
I'm no purist by any means... but even still I think it looks kinda silly on the TR3s. The lines of the TR3 are just too darn perfect and pretty to mess with. However, I am a fan of function over fashion. So if its going to give you some sort of performance gain due to fresh air over the intake, then maybe I can see it. Both sides like pictured though? No way. Not ever. Nuh uh.
 
Hey Pete,

Thanks for jumping in. I appreciate the input.

Cheers,
Dave
 
If you like it, go for it. After all, it's not a long-door TR-2 (is it?!) Of course, I'm sitting with a Rack & Pinion conversion in my garage... My motto has been "as long as it's reversible" and you can get repro bonnets. Kinda pricey, I'd imagine, to perforate it, though. Jim
 
If you decide to go that route do not have them extend back that far into the deadspace created by the windshield...counterproductive in cooling...also, since your brake cylinder sits there I know one gent that had a leak and the fluid was drawn up and out ruining his paint.
 
Thanks,

All good comments. Keep em coming.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
I have a spare hood for my TR3 and if I can find someone local in Houston I'm adding louvres. I like them. That and a cut down windshield and I'm going to be stylin at the next autocross even if my times are bad. In my opinion, they look quite nice on a flat TR3 hood. Go for it.
 
No my cup of tea... but they do cause me to remember a certain auto enthusiast who was visiting from Asia. Upon seeing such a car he said (really) 'Ooooh... Roovers!".
 
Marty Lodawer of So. Calif had a smallmouth TR3 which had 4 rows of louvers. He sold that car to someone in Germany.

Dave - If you are planning to race your TR3A some day, you should check with the different race rules regarding allowing louvers as they were not an original item. Check with the "Friends of Triumph" guys and gals who race Triumphs before you put in louvers.

https://www.fot-racing.com/
 
Have a spare hood and go with it. Its like using a spacer block for your wire wheels. You can change the look if you get tried of the same thing. Cheaper than two cars.

Marv
 
Check out these louvers. The wife was checking the contact patch on here car. Looks like it makes very good contact. I have an original picture of the car with it's 1956 AZ plates on it if I can figure out how to shrink it down from 23mb, it's a huge picture. I just got done adding some color back to it because color was degrading. I think it looked great with the louvers, Winchester blue paint, grey stripe down the center, hardtop, wire wheels, Dunlop tires, and driving lamps. All period stuff.
 

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Keith,

One of the color combinations that I have been thinking about doing is Mallard with a silver stripe.

I would love to see a photo of the car.

If you can't get it on here, can you email it to me at

piedlourdATrogers.com please (remember to replace the AT with an @)

Cheers,
Dave
 
Jeff Snook has lots of louvers, but just look at what it does to the handling!
 

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Had this one saved in my TR3 pic folder, but don't like the number/positioning of them particularily.

1960_Triumph_TR3_Roadster_Vintag-1.jpg


1960_Triumph_TR3_Roadster_Vintage_R.jpg


Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
M_Pied_Lourd said:
Had this one saved in my TR3 pic folder, but don't like the number/positioning of them particularily.
Click to expand...
I agree. While I really like louvers, I think the best results (as far as getting a high wow factor) are with the "less is more" approach.
 
Oh my gosh Kieth! What is the story about what happened to that hood?
 
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