>> Do you have a factory grille or a reproduction?
>
> That is an excellent point, and one I had forgotten about. What Teri
> is
> referring to is that the reproduction TR3A grilles have smaller
> openings
> than the factory ones did.
I just uploaded a jpeg
www.cruzers.com/~twakeman/TR/TR3Agrills.jpg
The top grille is the reproduction, the lower one is the factory
original.
They seem to use the same amount of metal in the replacement grill but
do not fold the 'V's as deeply. Result less area for air to flow
through and more edge interference with the flow. The after market
grill has holes 7.2 cm(2.83 inches) by 1.3 cm(.51 inches) for a 9.36
cm^2(1.44 square inch) opening. The factory grill has holes 7.7
cm(3.03 inches) by 1.6 cm(0.63 inches) for a 12.32 cm^2(1.91 square
inch) opening, providing 24% more area for air to flow to the radiator.
I spent part of a VTR meet measuring a bunch of TR3A grilles to verify
the measurements were uniform. My 3A runs cooler since I switched
back. Of course replacing the broken generator mounting bracket that
allowed the front of the generator to move inward when the engine was
running, causing the fan belt to loosen helped too.
I have a web page on how skirted thermostats work that may help:
www.cruzers.com/~twakeman/TR/thermostat.htm
T. J. Wakeman
1960 Land Rover 109 Dormobile owned since 1978
1961 Triumph TR3A owned since 1986, the new car
Check out the new British Cars Forum:
http://www.team.net/the-local/tiki-view_forum.php?forumId=8
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