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New 1962, whoops, 1960 TR3 A Owner


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Good morning,

Yesterday I became the very happy owner of TR3 A TS71769L.  The gentleman (a really honourable man) I bought it from had tears in his eyes when he drove it into the parking lot of the garage that will be certifying it on Monday.  It came with lots of parts which my wife and I will inventory over the coming weeks.

The previous owner had it for 5 years, before that it sat in storage for 25 years and just before that, the previous owner to me was told it had an engine upgrade to the B engine. He said it was definitely a new engine because he scoped it and could still see the machining swirls in the cylinder.  I will get the engine number on Monday and send it away because I would like to verify this.  It also has adjustable steering.  Lots of research to do. 

I live in Brantford, Ontario, Canada so I will have entire winters to work on the car when it is not sitting in garage waiting to be driven.  This summer I will spend getting to know it's idiosyncrasies.  Job 1 will be getting the rear suspension sorted out.  The shocks are an amusement park ride at the moment. 

I do have one question, is there a TR3 dictionary on this site?  I haven't owned a classic for 40 years, the last one was a TR6, and need to get up to speed on the terminology.

Cheers,

David

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Edited by David Owen
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Plus 1 on David Tushingham Cheftush. nice guy who's has done some restorations of seriously decayed TR's. In Ontario and knows a lot about the cars, can put you onto "Yank" terminology and also s

David, if you have registered and can log on to the members only part of the site you can access workshop manuals etc from there and should be able to find a wiring diagram. The horn button simply ear

Hi David, Nice car, pretty sure that there must be more TR owners in your area. Enjoy the TR! Yves

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David enjoy your car. A wise choice.

there are a number of North American and Canadian ( I like to differentiate between them !) participants on this forum.

you can learn a lot from your fellow countrymen who are generous with their time and knowledge on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cheftush
 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MBWMaGHLbGwDrrzbddevA

 

search their channels as they cover all the TR’s and more.

Edited by Hamish
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3 minutes ago, Hamish said:

David enjoy your car. A wise choice.

there are a number of North American and Canadian ( I like to differentiate between them !) participants on this forum.

you can learn a lot from your fellow countrymen who are generous with their time and knowledge on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cheftush
 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MBWMaGHLbGwDrrzbddevA

 

Thank you very much.

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Plus 1 on David Tushingham Cheftush.

nice guy who's has done some restorations of seriously decayed TR's. In Ontario and knows a lot about the cars, can put you onto "Yank" terminology and also spares sources and recommendations.

Welcome to the Sidescreen fraternity, the best of the TR's.

Rod

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Welcome David. As a fellow 3A owner I can but congratulate you on your acquisition of what looks to be a fine car. 

There is no dictionary as such but as well as those local experts referred to you will find a lot of good gen here, in the technical forum for the model.

One hint is that the forum search facility leaves something to be desired. A better method if you are looking for something specific is to use Google and include the words  "TR Forum" at the end of the search term.

 

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Welcome to the forum David, and congratulations.

If you don't already own a copy, the "TR2/3 Service Instruction Manual" is an invaluable addition to your glovebox. (Part no.502602)

Often readily available on eBay, from about $30.

 TRserA.thumb.jpg.e558cc23e04a2dfd9bb3441dad76dfde.jpg   

As is the "Triumph Sports Car Instruction Book".

TRinstructBook.thumb.jpg.031e8a6b5eda065ce086e2dcbadad14b.jpg

Alternatively, both books can also be found incorporated in one online PDF copy, available HERE.

Cheers, Deggers

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Great news! Welcome, David, for more free TR pamplets and books, search Bonanza on this site.

NB. Have added RobH's link (below) to Bonanza. Thanks for that. That way, anyone will find it in the same place. If you have other useful materials, do PM me and I'll add them too.

Edited by DavidBee
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Hello David,

Ask Moss (The spares company) to send you a TR3 catalogue.

It’s free (I think) and has broken down drawings of every last bit of the TR.

Because it is free you won’t worry about spilling oil (or beer) all over it.

 

Charlie.

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Welcome to your TR ownership again. 

I have a younger one, TS80117L.

I have had it for 51 years but still learn new things about it from time to time.

The advice above is great. I keep the current Moss TR3 catalog handy all the time. It has very nice exploded views of parts and their positioning.

And you found the best forum here as well.

Opie

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Welcome David, great car, great choice ..... the 3A is really the best of the best!

 

Looks and sounds like you have got a good un.... you’ll have a lot of fun, apart obviously from driving, putting the history together; doubt however, 1962 with that chassis number, 62 was into 3B territory.

 

Enjoy it all

Tony

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Welcome to the joys of sidescreens ownership. It’s worth Joining the club, lots of members only resources, like the “online workshop manual“, from which I regularly print pages to take into the workshop and get oily!

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Thank you all for all the terrific info!

And I will join right away.

Tony, I was wondering about the year but it is what it is registered as.  Maybe it had a really late in service/sale date? I won't know why until I send away.

 

Edited by David Owen
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Congrats David and welcome. Looks like another 1960 TR3a. Built in 1960 with 1940's technology. Lots to learn if you are new to these cars as the engine and steering have some idiosyncrasies that are a bit different from a TR6 but lots of expertise here willing to help you.

Stan

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11 minutes ago, foster461 said:

Congrats David and welcome. Looks like another 1960 TR3a. Built in 1960 with 1940's technology. Lots to learn if you are new to these cars as the engine and steering have some idiosyncrasies that are a bit different from a TR6 but lots of expertise here willing to help you.

Stan

 

Thanks Stan. That's great info.  Appreciate it. 

Just pouring through this site is enjoyable. 

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3 hours ago, David Owen said:

 

Thanks Stan. That's great info.  Appreciate it. 

Just pouring through this site is enjoyable. 

My TR3a is TS66329 built in January 1960 which is why I think your car is also a 1960 car since it was only 5000 or so cars later. The TR3B's which were built in 1962 are a slightly different animal with TR4 engine and gearbox and with totally different commission numbers. All great cars and we love every one of them.

Stan

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9 hours ago, foster461 said:

My TR3a is TS66329 built in January 1960 which is why I think your car is also a 1960 car since it was only 5000 or so cars later. The TR3B's which were built in 1962 are a slightly different animal with TR4 engine and gearbox and with totally different commission numbers. All great cars and we love every one of them.

Stan

 

Thanks Stan, that's a good reference point. 

I found this digging around this morning so I can at least verify the engine type when I get it into my garage:

Re: How to verify TR3 engine numbers

When you say "motor" the block itself has the engine number on the drivers side. So I am guessing that you are referring to components that go onto that basic block. If it was a TR4 block it would have a CTXXXXXXE number on it. A TR3 block would have a TSXXXXXXE and a TR3B block would have either a TSFXXXE or TCFXXXXE. Then the TR4 head does have some numbers ( like 510084 ) on the front passenger side of the top of the head. The TR3 head does NOT have any numbers in that location. The intake manifold has part numbers that are on the underside. These are part numbers that are particular to certain years of cars. It is not uncommon for people to interchange some of these components on cars. Sometimes for performance and I suspect more often just because they needed a replacement and that was handy. The history of the car ( which most of us do not know) would tell us a lot about the components on the car.
I have a TR4 that I understand was raced in the California bay area at one time. It has a early TR4 engine ( from the small numbers on the engine block) it is a mid production car with a "early" short bubble hood. And when I restored it I found fenders from a variety of paint colors ( the original car color was white)while sanding them down to original metal. Plus I also found a few frame cracks that indicated to me that it was run hard in the past. Oh yes, two more things it had HS6 SU carbs from a Volvo instead of the H6 SU carbs that came on these cars and it had an early TR3 distributor.

 

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?104515-How-to-verify-TR3-engine-numbers

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On 6/13/2020 at 9:44 PM, David Owen said:

Thank you all for all the terrific info!

And I will join right away.

Tony, I was wondering about the year but it is what it is registered as.  Maybe it had a really late in service/sale date? I won't know why until I send away.

 

Hi David,

Yep, mine was one of the very last (5th or 6th I understand) off the production line and despite being fitted with every conceivable extra I’ve got the idea it hung around quite some time before being registered due to the fickle purchasers of the time waiting for wind up windows and Italian style the 4 was (very soon to be) offering

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38 minutes ago, Tony_C said:

despite being fitted with every conceivable extra

Tony, which extras, please, I'm curious?

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Hi David, all,

 

Apologies if my post above came across a bit over dramatic, intention was not to shift the thread away from David O’s original post; nothing more than the ‘usual add-on’s, wire wheels, overdrive, spot lamp / badge bar with spot’s and other sporty bits etc.............Oh, and heater..... Although Bill Piggot many years ago informed me it was built and destined for Ceylon (Sri Lanka nowerdays)...?!

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Well surprise surprise.  It's a TR3 block and an early one at that if the numbers are sequential and are supposed to be within a couple of 100 of the VIN .  TS30734E.  Another myth busted.  :rolleyes::lol:

Edited by David Owen
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It ought to happen automatically after some little while for the admin cogs to grind David, but on the odd occasion it doesn't. An e-mail to the office then usually sorts it out. 

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