[TR] TR3A Overheating

[Randall]

FWIW, I went the recore route and I'm very pleased with the result.  Didn't
make it to TRfest this year, as I still haven't got the rear axle rebuilt
yet (and I don't trust the one I'm running for long trips); but I have gone
out in the desert with it several times.  110F ambient and the gauge never
went higher than the '5' in '185' (which is where my fan comes on) except
once when I came to a stop light after running 70+ mph for some time it
crept a bit higher before the light turned green.

I did have the radiator shop make several improvements:

No crank hole (which they said would increase cooling by about 10% since the
crank hole actually blocks off the tubes completely).

Installed a modern filler neck (so I can buy caps in various pressures at
FLAPS).  ISTR I've got a 10 psi "Lev-R-Vent" cap on there, but maybe it's 7
psi.  I don't really need the increased pressure now, but I like having the
lever so haven't bothered to change it.

Added reinforcement around the extension tank, and inlet fitting.  I've had
the joint to the extension crack several times in the past so I wanted to
stop that.  And after several failures of the reproduction upper hoses, I'm
running the heavy duty Gates upper hose, which had me worried about cracking
the upper fitting.  The reinforcement was simply a length of small copper
tubing, shaped and soldered to both the upper tank and the
extension/fitting, but so far it seems to work well.  The shop I use works
on a lot of old cars and they say this technique has always worked for them.
Painted black, it is nearly invisible on the car.  There is a photo of the
extension reinforcement at
http://goo.gl/Tnj9q but I forgot to take a photo of the inlet.

They also soldered on some brackets to hold the Hayden electric fan.

I've kind of lost track, but ISTR the core was about $300 installed this
time, plus tax and another $30 or so for the "improvements".  This is the
radiator (well, tanks and frame at least) that was in TS39781LO when it came
to me in 1984 and might have been original to it.  With the new core, and no
longer any need to run stop-leak all the time, I'm confident it will be good
for another 20 years at least.  If I can remember to keep the coolant
changed, anyway.

Still the standard water pump, bypass not blocked at all and an ordinary
"unsleeved" 185F thermostat.  I did add a TR4 style recovery bottle when I
had the apron off last, tucked in between the radiator and inner fender.
That way I don't have to wonder if I'm losing coolant, the radiator stays
full to the top all the time instead of the extension being only half full
or less.

-- Randall