Upper radiator stay rods black or body color?

[bnw]

57 Tr3

 

[Kleykamp]

Mine were blue (body color), but My post are not warranted to be accurate. Maybe there is an expert that can say with total certainty.

 

[Tr3aguy]

At TS1201E the radiator and thermostat housing were changed (ref: Service Bulletin Sports/1/C, June 1954).
"When the new Thermostat Housing was introduced the water outlet was off-set from the centre line...". That is, the
upper hose shifted off the center line of the top of the radiator about the width of the inlet. The distance between the
filler spout and the inlet on the radiator is roughly 1.5 inches on the early style radiator; it is about twice that on the
later radiators. Radiators and thermostat housing must be of the same era or they simply won't line up without juryrigging
installation of the radiator or using a long flexible upper hose.
TCF TR3B radiators may have crank start holes but if fitted they do not align with the grille-crank path to allow
crank starting. Securing hardware did not change.
Overflow Hose. No changes documented (ref: SPCEd4, pg. 63). Overflow tubes were often ribbed like the heater
hoes inside the firewall and secured to the inner finder by a unique clip (cannot be seen from above).
<span style="font-weight: bold">Radiators and securing hardware should be painted black. The brass tap should be unpainted.</span>

 

[TomMull]

I have several old stay rods, all apparently black. From p.UH24 of judging standards, "Radiators and securing hardware should be painted black. The brass tap should be unpainted."
Tom
Sorry for redundancy, I guess Randall got up earlier than I. T

 

[bnw]

Wasn't there a discussion about that mysterious overflow tube clip at one time? Rings a bell.

 

[Kleykamp]

hum. Mine, which are the way the car came from the factory are light blue, which is the original color of the car. I guess maybe I have a warranty claim against Standard-Triumph. The car had one color change and repaint, which has been sanded back to original primer and I did not see any signs of a repaint on the front end of the car,nor did they repaint under the hood. Maybe I should see if Standard will pay for painting my car, since they had the wrong color of radiator stay rods on it. And, No, it's not overspray. However when all is done mine will be black. I also just went out and sanded off an area of the black paint on mine to verify that they were in fact originally body color. But, the experts know best. Maybe some of the parts were replaced early in the cars life and someone did not adhere to the concourse judging standards. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[CJD]

Funny, they forgot to give Triumph a copy of the judging guide!

John

 

[mallard]

Mine are black. bnw if you google (TR3 drain tube clip) the forum topic will be there. I don't know how to make a link or I would.

 

[TomMull]

My assumption (not based on much) would be that the stays were installed with the radiator at the factory. This would happen after painting the bodies and In that case it would be most expedient to paint them black. However, I suppose it would be possible that they were attached to the body and painted body color before the radiator and mechanical components were installed, but that would seem rather complicated, at least to me.
It has become quite difficult to find original examples as frequent re-sprays were common. I suspect that those who have body color stays would find black underneath, although that probably wouldn't prove anything. Finding red primer, of course, with no black, would lend a lot of credibility to the body color side. I'd also be interested to know if the judges would actually deduct for car color stays.
(The judging standards by the way, though still subject to corrections, have undergone substantial research and scrutiny over the years and should not be dismissed lightly, in my opinion.)
Tom

 

[CJD]

From pictures I have seen, the radiator was mounted on the completed chasis. The body was then lowered as a unit. I think they were as afraid of removing the apron to install the radiator as we are!

John

 

[TomMull]

That certainly seems right, John. Do the pictures show the rods attached to the radiator (black) or to the body (body color) or perhaps popped in later (still black)? Tom

 

[Kleykamp]

I guess I am ,somewhat making light of the judging standard, only because I am not attempting a nut and bolt, concourse, restoration. So, many of these things are of no particular concern to me, but I certainly understand the value of those standards for persons who are interested in having that 100 point car. This has just gotten more and more interesting to me as I have looked now at mine several times and...if I were doing a nut and bolt restoration...I would still paint the stay rods body color, as well as the nut that holds it onto the radiator and apron. I would take pictures of it prior to build and argue with anyone who tried to tell me they were not originally body color. Since the brackets on the apron are welded on, I would think the stay rod could be attached to either the radiator and chassis, or to the body, at the point the two came together. This being my third TR3 project, I have a minimal recall of the previous rods being the same(body color).I remember this,because I knew it was the nut and bolt for the stay rod, due to color. I wish I was better at posting photographs so others could share what I'm seeing. Mine have been painted over, at some point, with black due to a poor spray of the engine compartment after a partial color change. But when I sand with fine paper the last thing to come off before bare metal is blue and the nut/bolt at the radiator is also blue. I'm not disputing anybody here...it is just very curious. Even more curious, is why a restorer would take a car that was originally blue and paint it red and then be concerned if anything else was original...but I guess that's a whole other thread.