After a fair amount of hemming and hawing I finally broke down and am buying a
59 TR3 Racer (with small mouth apron) that came up for sale in Venice CA. It
will be a couple of months before the car is actually in my hands due to
transportation issues and the fact that I'm still out of the country.
I'd like to publicly thank Ken Gillanders for taking the time to personally
check the car out for me. It was his expert opinion that finally pushed me
over the edge!
As for the car itself, the frame needs some crack repair work and the right
lower control arm mount needs repair work to correct the repairs already done
done by the PO. Although I may just build up a replacement frame since I have
a couple of them laying around to work with already.
The head has been removed from the engine for upgrade work and is ready to go
back on the car. Aside from re-assembling the tub back onto the frame and the
associated work involved with that along with the re-installation of the head,
the car is basically a complete and running TR3. Currently the only wheels
available with the car are welded TR6 wheels so I'm looking for ideas on what
to use as replacements. Anyone have any suggestions?!!
There are some definite mods that will be needed before I ever put the car on
the track, chief among those is a new roll cage mounted to the frame to replace
the roll bar that is currently mounted to the tub only, and replacing the rear
axle with one of the Southwick rear axle conversions.
It was last raced in 1998 at Willow Springs. Apparently the car started 36th
and finished 12th. Ken told me it has been set up pretty much according to
Kas's book.
Now that I've actually made the move to buy this car you can be bet there will
be a "few" more questions coming soon!
Brad
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