Hello Listers,
My beloved TR3B project finally arrived home last Friday night after nearly
5 months (don't ask!) at the paint and body shop. She looks absolutely
gorgeous. So now I have to get back to work on it, and you'll probably start
seeing lots of questions again. I need to finish up some more custom wiring
issues, build the interior, re-install steering wheel, dash, assemble and
install windshield, all the lights and trim, build the doors... and she'll
finally be on the road. I'm shooting for next month, but with these 60 to 70
hour work weeks that may be tough.
For all the originality folks out there -- best to stop reading now. I'm
afraid I've strayed quite a bit, but pretty much always in ways that could
be (relatively) easily undone if I ever make the conversion myself. So today
an LBC mechanic buddy came by and we knocked off the remaining mechanical
issues. Found the source of the leak in my left brake caliper, rebuilt it,
and keeping my fingers crossed. I was mildly impressed that after all that
time in the body shop the brakes were still hard with the very first pump.
Also installed a gear reduction starter from Ted Schumacher. Looks really
nice, installs very easily, provides great cranking power, and even gives a
little more room down there. Quite happy.
Along the road of my restoration I discovered that I actually have a TR4A
head and intake manifold. This made the SU H6's a rather tight fit, and
completely excluded the possibility of adding K&N air filters -- even the
stock ones rubbed against the engine bay wall. So in talking with Ken
Gillanders (British Frame and Engine) he said that with that head and
manifold I should try to find a set of HS6's to go with them -- felt I'd get
a little more performance in the low rpm range -- plus I'd pick up some room
in the engine bay because of their shorter bodies. So for my Christmas
present I bought a brand new set from Dave Anton at APT. They look great.
Throttle linkage was a problem though (configuration seems to be designed
for racing MGB's).
The biggest issue is that they need to be pulled in an "upward" direction
instead of "downward" with the stock TR3 setup. Plus, they are designed for
the accelerator to pull from the center and not from the front end. So we
had to come up with a whole new method of doing it. And it came out great.
Basically, got two generic 79 cent brackets at the local hardware and
attached them into a downward "V" pattern from the manifold (made longer
replacements for the normal carb mounting studs that stick out back of
manifold to attach the brackets). Used all the other stock TR3 linkage
components, except had to cut down and re-tap the long connecting rod from
the accelerator. So it ends up with a center pulled accelerator linkage that
ends us pushing the carb throttle "up" instead of pulling it "down". I've
got pictures if anyone wants to see how it looks -- pretty clean really. I
may want to spruce up those 79 cent brackets we used, but other than that,
it looks and appears to operate quite well (I have not yet fired up the
engine). One other change is that these carbs have the float bowls towards
the rear which interferes with the feed line for the heater. I've blocked it
for now while I figure out some re-routing. What the hell, there's about 15
unaccounted for holes in the firewall from the DPO, I might as well put one
to use.
Sorry for so long, hope you're still awake.
Dave Moag
62 TR3B (finally back where she belongs)
77 Spitfire
La Canada, CA
|