Subject: [TR] How hot is too hot?

From: Chris Simo <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 23:23:33 -0400

We made it to the Shenandoah Car Club British car show today. Not as
smoothly as I'd like but we made it.

Temperature ran in the 195 to 200 range the entire way. But that's not how
it ran 3 days ago.

This spring, I took the radiator to the shop and he said it was great. I'm
beginning to think maybe my radiator guy is not so good.

I'm not sure the distributors behaving correctly, though. I set the timing
static and then I adusted from there. I think maybe my vacuum advance could
be intermittent could that cause overheating?

** [email-masked] **

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From: "Randall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 05:47:58 -0700

> beginning to think maybe my radiator guy is not so good.

FWIW I had the exact same problem.  I've dealt with this shop for many
years, and rarely had a complaint, but they sure got me this time.  They
twice pronounced the radiator "fine".  On the third round, I insisted that
they "rod out" the tubes and they discovered that the insides were coated
with "mud" to the extent that they could just barely force the rods through.
Afterwards it leaked in so many places that I opted for a new core instead.
All of my cooling problems promptly vanished.

The strangest part is that this was the radiator from my wrecked TR3A, which
had already been recored about 10 years ago and was working just fine before
the wreck.  There was absolutely no physical damage to it, but apparently
just sitting idle for a few years had allowed the coating to build up inside
the tubes; and all my efforts at backflushing, chemical cleaning and so on
had failed to dislodge it.

>  I think maybe my vacuum 
> advance could

In theory, yes.  But a TR3 doesn't run a lot of vacuum advance, and at least
in my experience a bum advance module doesn't seem to show up on the temp
gauge.  I've always caught it because the midrange throttle response seems a
bit sluggish.

-- Randall

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From: "Jerry Van Vlack" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 10:15:18 -0400

Another thing that can get overlooked is the deterioration of the bond 
between the fins and the tubes themselves. Without a good bond there the 
heat transfer can not happen efficiently.
It's hard to diagnose as well. But a new core will fix that problem nicely.
JVV

-----Original Message----- 
From: Randall
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 8:47 AM
To: 'Chris Simo' ; 'list Triumph'
Subject: Re: [TR] How hot is too hot?

-- Randall

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From: "Wbeech" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 09:30:25 -0500

If you vacuum advance is leaking air that can lean out your mixture and
cause a hotter engine.  Pull a spark plug and check the color.

Did your radiator guy actually check the flow of the radiator or just
pressurize it and confirm that it does not leak?

My thoughts,
Bill

Bill Beecher
'58 TR3A TS/30766L "Tarbaby"
'62 TR3B TCF/2549L " Aunt B"
www.triumphowners.com/1566
'68 Land Rover Series IIa 88" "The Beast"
"If you think you have everything under control... You're driving too slow"
M.Andretti

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked]
[mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Chris Simo
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 10:24 PM
To: list Triumph
Subject: [TR] How hot is too hot?

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