TR3A1959.nl

Exhausting!
January 22, 2008
It’s been a month since my last update. Work has progressed slowly: we had a fight with the exhaust. First the choice: mild steel vs. stainless steel. In the end, I’ve chosen a mild steel system. Luckily, I may add. Initially, the exhaust wouldn’t fit. It was not the J-type OD that interfered, but the chassis rails. In the end, Allen modified the silencer to fit between the diff. housing and the chassis rail. After my complain on the TR-Register Forum about this exhaust system, the definitive answer came from Down Under: Viv, who has been reading and commenting my restoration-adventure on the Forum, wrote that several suppliers sell the wrong silencers! Too large to fit. Anyhow, I know what I will be doing next time I need an exhaust: I will turn to motorcycle suppliers for a bespoke, sleek motor cycle silencer!

The tub is being prepped to be painted as we speak (well, that’s the expression). John Hurenkamp is busy in his workshop for the first part: painting the inside and underside of the car. The underside will be stone-protected with specially designed material: ‘Bodyschutz.’

New wiring harness for my car
December 12, 2007
Today the Power Block that Dan Masters sent me, has arrived. The final part of the shipment. A heavy box with lots of colour-coded wires.
What amazes me most, is the quality look and feel of the wiring. It's more robust than the original wiring and the Block itself is -imho- a work of art: all those wiring connected together correctly.
I've taken the bundles apart an labeled every individual wire: "from... to...".

Anti-roll bar
December 12, 2007
Last month I met a man at the Triumph TR Parts Sale Day overhere in Holland. He sold a whole lot of self designed upgrades for a TR. What interested me was his anti-roll bar.
I had looked into this before, but I found them too expensive or I didn't like the way they had to be connected to the suspension. Well, with his a/r-bar both issues should be over.
First: It's a well made, heavt gauge steel design, incorporating the chassis rail below the radiator. If you have seen the pics of my car's chassis, you must have noticed that this front chassis rail isn't there; my car came without one, I made one myself, but the quality was iffy. So I must buy one in the near future. That problem is over with a a/r-bar. In that way, it's the price of the a/r-bar minus the chassis rail.
Secondly, I've seen bars that had to be bolted to the suspension. With bolts through new holes! New holes had to be drilled for the a/r-bar. Well, drilling in suspension parts is an absolute 'no' when your car has to MOT'ed (APK) overhere Holland.
This man made a connection about similar to the a/r- bar as used on TR6es: clamped and bolted through an existing hole.

Engine, g'box and chassis back togehter
December 12, 2007
This is the part I’ve been waiting for! Engine, g’box and chassis are back together! Last week, the engine came back from the workshop. This week we’ve started putting it all back together. Not without any problems, I may add…

It’s been mentioned before on this forum: getting the alternator and water pump in line isn’t easy! In the end, Allen had to use a lathe for the water pump pulley and the engine-to-alternator mount. Allen had to widen the inside of the pulley: the water pump house touched the inside of the pulley before the pulley was as far back as needed to be in line.
The alternator mount had to be adjusted, because my new alternator is from a Suzuki Swift (MY1989) and there’s no off the shelf bracket available.