[TR] Explain This Overheating

[Randall]

> I've found that TR's have perfectly adequate cooling systems (not great but 
> adequate) and if you have overheating problems it is because something is 
> amiss.  Fix it.

I tend to agree, but I am curious: Does anyone with a totally stock cooling system on their TR3 not have trouble with the temperature creeping up on a hot day stuck in stop-and-go traffic?

I initially installed the stock fan and radiator on TS13571L (except the radiator had no crank hole, so I'm assuming the previous owner had it recored).  It worked great under most conditions, but coming home from TRfest 2009 I found a big traffic jam where we averaged under 20 mph for roughly 40 miles.  (Yes, that's over 2 hours stuck in traffic.)  The gauge kept slowly creeping up, until I started shutting the engine off every chance I could, to keep the heat down.  That was when I determined to go back to the electric fan I had used on the previous TR3A.

Even the factory started supplying the almost legendary "tropical" fan to overcome this problem, so I have to think it is 'normal'.  Later TRs of course had much more aggressive fans (and a popular fix for the TR3 is to fit a TR6 fan).

Randall