I did most of what you speak of last year. About ten years ago I did
the cowl off for a radiator recore job (also without the crank hole) and
added an electric fan - along with the factory one. I then ended up
totally redoing the whole car, thankfully (or not) I wasn't on the list
then or I would have done a frame off - still took me 2 years!! Then
last year I developed a front oil seal leak - off with the cowling
again, but this time - replaced the timing chain and tensioner, rebuilt
the steering (at TRF) painted the engine bay, rebuilt the front
suspension, replaced the now worn out electric fan with another, this
time with a thermostat (external) - all in six weeks!!!!! A major record
for me. So have at it and have fun
Tom Fansher
DeBary FL
61 TR3A
62 TR4
Bill Brewer wrote:
>
> Listers,
> Many thanks for the advice on removing the radiator from a TR-3A. Now I
> understand that the cowl should/must come off to get the radiator out.
> Thanks for the responses : Bob Kinderleher, Randall, T.R.Householder,
> Fred Thomas, Tom Fansher, Henry Frye, Mike Thompson, Dennis Cambell, Richard
> Triplett, Bob Westerdale, Bob Labuz, Tony Rhodes and Ed Woods.
>
> I am still not sure what T.R.Householder meant by "NO", or if he really
> meant it.
>
> I knew it was a dumb question, but miracles do happen and the listers
> are a pretty ingenuitous lot (that might not be a real word) and you never
> know what they have come up with.
> There were several accusations of heresy for my wanting to put in a
> recored radiator with no hole for the crank, and also on my wanting to
> install an oil cooler. My local British car club meets in Bakersfield (an
> awful place, but not as bad as people think) and I have a 5,500 foot climb
> to get to my home in Bear Valley Springs (Tehachapi, CA), which must often
> times be done on days when the temperature is over 110 degrees fahrenheit.
> The White Wolf Grade (AKA Tehachapi Pass) is a really motor overheater and
> transmission fryer, and a force to be reckoned with. That is also why I have
> been asking questions about insulating the transmission hump!
> I also like to eat lunch with a good friend that works at NASA Dryden
> research facility at Edwards AFB in the desert, and I have been known to try
> to replicate Ken Richardson's Jabbeke Hiway run and scorching desert days.
> The real reason for not wanting to take the cowl off is that I have
> found that everything is connected to everything else in a TR and once you
> start taking them apart, it is hard to stop. Someone did that to TS75407L,
> which they eventually just gave to me to haul away in a million pieces. For
> them, it started as an engine rebuild and they discovered that everything
> else needed rebuilding too, so apart it came (in 1980!). If I pull the cowl
> of TS72747LO for the radiator, I am liable to pull the engine and rebuild
> it, and repaint the engine compartment, then while that is all out, I might
> pull the body off of the frame and paint the underside.
> What I really want is to just enjoy my car over the spring & summer
> (fall & winter too for that matter).
> Happy and safe motoring.
>
> Bill Brewer
> Heretic TR pilot
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