| 1959 Triumph TR3 |
| "Hmmm, I'll be that spring clip shouldn't be spead apart like that. Let me get my ChannelLocks and squeeze it back together." |
| Hey, who would have thought 50 year old rusty metal wouldn't just squeeze back together? |
| Memo to myself: Don't do this again. |
| Two bolts on each side behind the grill. |
| Two bolts on each side under the bonnet. |
| Six bolts under each wing. |
| So the six or seven bolts across the front piece (right side of the picture) all need to be removed? |
| Any others hiding anywhere? |
| Sucess!! Apron was just tightly wedged between the fenders. |
| The steering box will get removed and rebuilt. |
| With the apron off, the radiator is the next thing out. It will be taken to a radiator shop for cleaning and testing, then painted. |
| Along with the front suspension. And that's just the beginning . . . |
| Indeed, it looks like perhaps the coolant in the radiator froze at one point. |
| Hmmmm, the bottom tank doesn't look quite right . . . |
| With the radiator out of the car, I could give it a closer inspection. |
| Looks like a replacement radiator is in the works. While a nice shiny aluminum replacement radiator would be nice, I think the budget will dictate a used stock replacement. |
| With the radiator removed, you can see the damage to the engine fan, which was the main reason for all this work to begin with. Of course, once I'm this far, I'll naturally have to spend hundreds of hours and dollars fixing/improving things while I have the access. |
| If the fuel tank is out of the car but you still need to run the car? A dirtbike gas tank to the recue! |
| Some fuel line from the motorcycle tank petcock to the TR3 fuel line, and you're good to go. |
| I found another stock radiator on eBay, and will send it off to be tested and cleaned. Assuming it checks out, it will replace my damaged radiator when the car goes back together. |
| Despite what the manual says, the crank pulley proved impossible to remove without using the gear puller as pictured. I had to remove the cross-brace to get access. |
| By the way, the timing pointer makes an excellent point to slice your finger when spinning the ratchet while loosening the timing chain cover. |
| Close up of the timing chain and gears. |
| Timing chain and gears. |
| Shot of the top of the camshaft gear and timing chain. |
| Checking for chain wear. |
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| Checking for chain wear by noting the deflection. |