In a message dated 98-10-03 09:30:45 EDT, gprtech@frontiernet.net writes:
>The tube must be filled with ether, so although it might be possible to
>do it, I can't imagine how you would.
>
>Michael Ferguson wrote:
>>
>> Is it possible to reconnect a TR3 temp gauge to the sending unit? I have
>> all the pieces, but PO apparently cut the cord at the sending unit end.
>> Thanks.
>>
While I can't imagine how it's done either (ether) it is done, and I've
actually watched it being done. MOMA of Albuquerque NM has the lad that does
most of these repairs in the US. (It's the son of owner Margaret Lucas, so you
also get to say that the gauge was repaired by a member of the Lucas family,
yeah, yeah I know it's not a Lucas instrument) I had one done there for the
59 TR3A and more recently had a TR3 unit repaired to install in the F2 Morgan
3 Wheeler. Moma's restoration includes a replated gauge housing, new face and
repainted needle and a good cleaning. Both look like new and work a treat.
The 'cord' is actually a tube from the bulb which is installed in the water
jacket at the TStat housing to the gauge in the dash. ( I know they have new
tubing and I think bulb ends too) As the ether in the bulb warms up, it
expands, creating a mechanical force at the gauge which moves the needle. The
more heat, the more expansion, the more the needle moves. These mechanical
gauges were replaced with electrical resistance types as found in the TR4's
(those modern TR's) where the heating at the bulb end causes a change in
electrical resistance which concurrent current changes cause the needle at the
gauge to move about with temperature fluctuations.
A real good fix to the problem of corrosion at the bulb installation is to
insert a brass fitting which resided permanently in the pot metal housing,
giving a brass to brass thread to install and remove the bulb end. MOMA has
the fitting too.
No I don't have an interest in MOMA, financial that is.
Bob Paul
|