Busy weekend! Had to do SOMETHING with my new toy since I wasn't able to
get insurance or registration taken care of yet. Needless to say, that
didn't stop me from spending the weekend in the garage! My Honey-Do list
consisted of , "Honey-Do you think you'll be leaving the garage at all
this weekend?"
Thought I'd let you know what I accomplished and ask a few questions.
A puzzle...Idle speed is about 1200. I adjusted the set screw on the
linkage so that it dropped to 800 - engine runs well at both speeds.
After a short while, untouched by human hands, RPMs back to 1200.
Manually move the linkage so it goes back to 800. Soon, back to
1200...it appears the throttle shaft has a mind of it's own. Is there a
return spring missing? I sprayed all linkage pivot points with WD-40 to
see if they loosened up, but no luck. It just seems to be sticking
somewhere. I tried the carb-cleaner-on-throttle-shaft test. No effect,
so I assume I don't need to re-bush. Any suggestions?
GREAT NEWS! My oil-soaked engine cost about $2 to fix! Cleaned the oil
off the engine and watched to see where it was coming from. Oil
literally pouring from under the valve cover! Took the cover off and
discovered the gasket was about 1/2" shorter than the cover! Couldn't
find a replacement so bought a roll of gasket material and cut my own.
Not a drop now! By the way, several parts places said they could get the
gasket on Monday (of course, I couldn't wait)! For your reference, one
gave me a Felpro part number, VS2156-5. I plan to buy one of Justin's
silicone gaskets when this one starts to leak again. While I had the
cover off, I took some 2000 grit w/d and some polish to it and the
ribbed, cast aluminum valve cover looks REAL good.
It's amazing what a little grease will do to cure creaks and groans! A
few strokes with the grease gun and, voila...quiet! (well, relatively
quiet.)
Also discovered why my car was so hard to steer...another really cheap
fix! Seems the PO (jury's still out on whether or not he becomes a Dpo)
looked in the manual and found that the air pressure was supposed to be
22F/24R, so that's what he put in. I pumped 'em up to 32 lbs all around
- problem solved! (Well, it's still a bit stiff, but it IS a '3 after
all.) What's the consensus on proper air pressure on a TR3 with
165R15's?
Found an unopened box of TRF coolant hoses and clamps in the boot!
Installed some, not all, and will get to the rest soon. Waxed the car
too, just to see if it would make much of a difference. It does look
better, but it didn't cure my paint job. Oh well.
Salvaged a remote starter switch solenoid from one of my old wrecks. Car
came with a new Lucas solenoid, but without the remote starter button.
Removed it and installed the old one and surprisingly, it worked!
Cleaned it up (actually looks pretty good!) and now I have a spare. I
knew I'd get SOMETHING from those wrecks!
Removed minor surface rust and road grime from the 48-spoke chrome
Daytons. My wheels definitely now look better than my fingers! Actually,
they look virtually new! (the wheels, not my fingers...
Anyway, insurance today, DMV tomorrow. On the road tomorrow night! Look
out!
--
Michael Ferguson
Vernon CT
1959 TR3A TS53990L (Finally!)
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