First, thanks to this *great* group of people for all the recent advice and
information concerning my canceled trip to Phoenix to look at that TR3.
After 27 years, I'm now a Triumph owner again. I bought an extremely nice
'72 Emerald Green TR6---a lovingly-cared-for and low mileage (80K) original
with documentation. Nine months ago I started searching for a TR6 and soon
after began to look for TR3s as well. And TR4s. I'm afraid I finally had
to give up on the overpriced (?) TR3. But then, I love the whole TR
series.
One problem is that the original Delco alternator is going bad. I'd like
to pull it out, have it rebuilt, and replace the fan belt. But I noticed
that the belt seems too wide to slip past the gap between the crank pulley
and a tubular frame member in the engine compartment. I see in the
archives that this topic was addressed some years ago, but I wonder if any
consensus has been reached in the meantime about the correct way to replace
the belt. One would hope that no extreme measures would have to be used.
Another issue that arose was a slight miss in the engine under load. All
the tune-up components looked nearly new, but I went ahead and changed the
plugs. This ostensibly cured the problem---but there's still a very subtle
inconsistency or hesitancy in the smoothness of the engine while at steady
speed on a flat road. One thing my mechanic noticed was that the choke
cable wasn't always quite shutting off the choke. I'm going to replace the
cable. Could running the engine slightly rich cause this subtle hesitation
at steady speed? Or do the carbs need rebuilding? An MG of mine once had
a similar problem, and it was fixed by replacing the needle valves. Any
comments? The components in the distributor look fine. I can't think of
what else might be causing a slight lack of cruising smoothness---unless
it's just the nature of the car. It's not really a big deal, but as I take
care of one little thing after another, the more I'd like it to feel just
right!
Phil Haldeman
haldeman@accessone.com
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