[TR] Without the radiator?

[John Macartney]

Certainly wouldn’t disagree about running the engine without coolant. That said, the old wet liner four could take an enormous amount of abuse. I sold a new TR4A to a guy in the States just after the TR250 had been announced. He couldn’t wait for the 8 week build process and so took on a 4A to US spec that we had in export stock. The car was driven under its own power from Coventry to London (about 100 miles) for preparation and on arrival, it was discovered the engine had never been topped off with anti-freeze, the core plugs had blown out after a very heavy frost and there was very little coolant left. London Service Division pulled the head to see if the cylinders were scored and then dropped the sump to check the main bearings. All OK. The guy took delivery and disappeared never to be heard of for a long while. Two years later, I received a letter from him. Seemingly he’d caned the car all over Europe and had ventured as far as the edge of the Sahara desert in Algeria before shipping it home. He’d never bothered to break it in and said he’d done several east coast to west coast and back trips in the US and had red-lined the engine all the way, but as he was married, the car had to go as the first baby was on the way.

Personally, I wouldn’t have treated any engine as he appeared to have done but to have done 100 miles with effectively zero coolant indicates the wet-liner four was a tough old thing and could take (almost) any amount of abuse. I don’t suggest anyone tries to imitate this exercise!

 

Jonmac

 

From: Triumphs <triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Geo Hahn
Sent: 10 September 2018 00:42
To: Paul Dorsey <dorpaul1 at gmail.com>
Cc: Triumph list Team.net <triumphs at autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [TR] Without the radiator?

 

I drove mine w/o a radiator but probably less than a minute (times two).

 

I really don't remember doing it but looking at photos the other day, that is the only way it could have ended up in the street looking like this (just pressure-washed the front bits prior to timing chain work):

 



 

 

On Sun, Sep 9, 2018 at 8:09 AM, Paul Dorsey <dorpaul1 at gmail.com <mailto:dorpaul1 at gmail.com> > wrote:

Thanks!

 

On Sun, Sep 9, 2018 at 11:06 AM Randall <tr3driver at ca.rr.com <mailto:tr3driver at ca.rr.com> > wrote:

>  Another dream :  Can I Crank it up and run it for five 
> minutes without the radiator attached?

5 minutes is way too long without coolant; a sure recipe for a cracked head
or worse.

You might be able to get that much if you find a way to fill it with water
and top it up when it starts boiling.  But even that is a risk, IMO, both to
the engine and you.  It may eject boiling water just as you look at it and a
face full of boiling water can ruin your whole day!

-- Randall  


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