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Triumph TR3A

I bought the car in April 2005. It was a going concern but in a fairly sorry state. The body was reasonably straight but riddled with rust. The mechanics were good though. The car had already been fitted with rack and pinion steering, alternator and a thermofan.

The car was completely dismantled. The chassis went to Smithees in Batemans Bay for refurbishing. The front springs, shocks were replaced and new adjustable upper wishbone fulcrum points and a new larger dia roll bar fitted. The rear springs were similarly replaced, the lever shocks revalved and a panhard rod fitted. The rack & pinion brackets were upgraded to a more secure design. The cruciform of the chassis was reinforced and minor repairs carried out. The whole unit was resprayed with 2 pack black.

The brakes have been completely refurbished. The original brake and clutch master cylinders were replace with self contained trailer units. The original front calipers were replaced with Hi-lux units for larger pad area. They bolt straight on using TR4 mounts. The diameter of the rotors had to be reduced by 5mm to clear the new calipers. I have used a Laser KB master cylinder and integrated booster to provide a twin circuit braking system. The booster is activated by a Falcon clutch slave cylinder. As the body was being completely restored I was able to make the battery compartment shorter to accommodate a standard 230 long battery thereby making space to house the booster in the traditional location on the bulkhead with the clutch slave cylinder inside the car. A proportioning valve was inserted in the rear brake line to prevent lockup under extremely heavy braking. The whole system works extremely well.

The steering shaft was replaced with a collapsible Holden VH/VK unit. The outer column and inner shaft were lengthened without affecting the overall collapsibility of the unit. The articulated section of the Holden shaft fitted straight on the R&P spline, and because of the size of the universal joints we gained clearance to fit extractors to the engine. I also retained the VH steering boss with the indicator, park & headlight controls and emergency flasher mechanisms. The boss was shortened and partly reshaped to clear the instruments

The original radiator and water pump were replaced with a Volvo unit, electric water pump and new thermofan (thanks to Brian Richards for the inspiration).

The engine was left as is except for the fitting of ceramic coated extractors, TR4 inlet manifold and electronic dizzy (again thanks Brian ). The carbys were completely rebuilt.

The car has been completely rewired with appropriate relays and fuses.

The body was stripped back to bare metal which showed up a lot of bog and crook repair work. There was also extensive rust in the sills, floors and around the rear panels. New inner and outer sills and floors were installed and a lot of repair work was carried out in general. The cockpit wheel arches were also “flattened” to accommodate the square backs of MX5 seats, which also required new seat mounts to be made. The body was finished in 2 pack “Harvest Moon” colour.

Finally the wheels were replaced with new 5.5” chrome 72 spoke units fitted with Dunlop 300E 195/65/R15 tyres.

As far as I am aware the car is a 1961 model. There was no commission plate, however the EB plate was still attached. The engine, gearbox and OD units are not original as replacement units had been rebuilt by the previous owner, thus their numbers are of no use for tracing purposes. The only original numbers on the car are those on the EB plate and diff housing. John Pike has tried to trace details of the car using this information, but has not been successful to date. May be at some stage we will find details of this orphan's birth.

The car was finished late December last year and I'm now looking forward to many years of TReriffic motoring!