[TR] TR3 Cooling

[Rye Livingston]

I have found with my 1960 TR3A, when the car is at full operating temperature and I stop to say get gas.  When I'm stopped for less than 10 minutes, maybe even up to 15 minutes, it will start right up and away I go.  If it's longer than 15 minutes, say to go in the grocery store, then I've got some sort of vapor lock problem.  I can still get it to start, but it's barely running on 1-2 cylinders and it might take about a minute of it limping on 2 cylinders for it to get plenty of gas and rev up and I'm good to go.  If it's roughly 30 mins or longer that I'm parked, then it's all good and starts right up.

If I'm in a spot where I can coast it down hill, I can pop the clutch and it clears out pretty quickly and away I go.  I had an experience 2 years ago coming back from Triumphest in Arizona.  With a few other Triumphs, we stopped to check out this cool church up on the hill in Sedona.  It was high 90 degrees.  I didn't given it any thought when I pulled into an angled parking slot, nose down, and a steep hill.  We walked around and it was about 20+ minutes later everyone was ready to go.  Of course my car didn't start, and the others were already heading down the hill.  While I don't recommend this, it did work in a pinch.  I have a new high torque starter and I put it in reverse, and with the starter motor, I used it to back out of the parking slot.  Got the car pointed down hill and bump started it and it cleared almost immediately and away I went to catch up.

Rye
PH: 530-FIND-RYE

On July 26, 2019 at 3:08 PM, TERRY SMITH <terryrs at comcast.net> wrote:

One last question on this.  I went to a NH Fisher Cats baseball game last night.  Thinking the car would cool enough through the game, I switched off the manual override switch on the electric fan.  I came back after the 7th inning, and the car was starved for gas.  Everytime I use the fan, car starts right up.  So how long after shutdown might a "vapor lock" or that other thing Randall told me about but which I promptly forgot because, hey, it was complicated, affect  fuel delivery?????

Of course I had my daughter's new mother-in-law in the car for a ride, who has a 25 year unused mid-engine Porsche sitting in her garage, so embarrassment was max.  

Thoughts?

Oh, and I found on driving with the fan in the "on" switch left my battery dead.  So learned to only turn it on after shutdown to cool the engine bay, since engine drive temp is perfect.  

Anyway, problem is solved with the electric fan, but how long can this "lock" thing persist before re-start?  Overnight, it always starts fine!

Terry Smith, '59 TR3  TS 58667
New Hampshire
On July 24, 2019 at 9:38 PM TERRY SMITH <terryrs at comcast.net> wrote: 

First, thank you Randall.  I'd been experiencing a proper temperature during driving, but upon shut down, the float bowls overheated and made restart chancy until the float bowls cleared.  I installed a Spal Fan with a temp switch (with a manual override) not spliced to the key, but to the battery.  Drove on an errand, and my worry that the fan woul impede airflow through the radiator was unrealized.  Car ran at 180 perfectly.  But imagine my surprise coming out of Wally World with a new gallon of Prestone coolant concentrate, then heard this roaring sound coming from the car next to mine.  Nope.  It was from MY car.  The engine bay on shut down had overheated and the temp switch had kicked in like it was supposed to.  The fan was cooling the engine bay.  Car started right up.  Love it!

Randall suggested putting a T connector in the heater return hose, but I did change that to put it under the heater control valve.  See attached.  I worried the temp switch would crowd coolant flow to the heater, but test driving the heater showed not an issue, at least yet.  Good hot air coming out.  (I couldn't completely swap the fan for the heater (forgoing the heater control valve) because NH is spurious in its climate.  I'll need that heater come October.)  Note:  all connectors were 3/8ths NPT.  

So again, thank you all.  We're on pace for the hottest July on record.  An electric cooling fan is exceedingly timely.  

Car is completely sorted and running awesome.

Terry Smith, '59 TR3A
New Hampshire

 
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