[TR] Shaking TR3

[William Brewer]

     So the entire time I have driven my TR3A (19 years) I have been trying to
get it to ride smoother, especially in the front end. It is very smooth to
about 45 mph and then it gets shaking and wobbly from 45 to about 60 or so and
then smooths out again. The car has been a rolling restoration and things have
been changed out and upgraded continually. It has new rear springs with solid
bushings, new wheels and balanced tires from British Wire Wheel, R&P steering,
new trunnions, shocks, urethane upper A-arm bushings, new upper A-arm mounts,
ball joints, new lower bushings, alignment, more wheel balancing, steering
column bushings. Nothing has proven to be the silver bullet. The only thing I
haven't changed out or checked recently is the wheel bearings themselves or
maybe the shocks and shock bushings (although they look fine to me). I am
thinking of putting a dial indicator on the wheel hub and wheels to measure
runout. I may check the rear wheel
 alignment, but I bet there is
nothing wrong with it. 
     ISTR some
Australian website where the guy made a welded steel frame to reinforce the
firewall to minimize cowl flex. That seems a little extreme and unnecessary.
 
   I can't imagine that they rode this rough when new. Back in the 50's with
the American land yacht cars rolling down the road it seems like people would
have expected a smoother ride out of a new Triumph. 
     Among other things,
I do flight test data acquisition systems. I've been crazy enough that I have
thought about setting up a labjack system (http://labjack.com) to measure
acceleration, but the accelerometers  are too expensive (the cheapest are
about $500 apiece). Maybe I can borrow some from work...
     Any other ideas?
I may borrow another TR3 that was recently ground-up restored to see if it
rides better.
     ISTR threads on this in the past.
          
     -Bill in
Tehachapi