Addendum to Little Car Story

I talked to brother Dan about my recollections about the TR-3 and he reminded me of a few things. The water jackets, the channels water travels through from the radiator to the cylinder walls to cool the engine, surrounding the back two cylinders were clogged with deposits. No cool water to them equals overheated engine.

Add to that the radiator had a hole in it for a hand crank to start the engine in emergencies which took up space for more water for cooling. I remember the hole in the grill for the crank, but not the radiator.

Here's what Dan said much better than I can: "The reason for the overheating was the space for water to the back cylinder and a half was clogged with deposits and water was not allowed to circulate as it should have. There was also a hole in the radiator for a crank starter that took up valuable water capacity. We replaced it with one without the hole. It was easier to push start than crank. Fun car. When I was looking for the Harley I told Brenda if I found a TR3 I would buy it instead."



This is a 1960, ours was an '59. If you look close you can see a slightly larger hole in the grill for the hand crank.