Back in '79 a friend had a TR3 in Illinois that was undergoing a
restoration. Company went under and the car sat in a lot for over 2 years
untouched. Friend told me that I could have the car for any storage fees.
Turns out that the city took over the business and just wanted to get the
car gone - no fees! I flew from Minot ND to Ill with a new battery (sans
acid), got a cab, filled the battery and got a gas can and gas and went to
the car. It had been outside for at least a year and the top was mostly
non-existent as well as the rest of the interior. Put the battery and gas
in got it fired up in a few minutes. With no cell, AAA, or most anything
else, I set out to drive back to ND. Made the first 100 miles when it
started to mist. Turned on the wipers, no problem. Then it started to get
dark so I turned on the headlights. The wipers froze. Turned off the
lights and the wipers worked fine again. After a mile or two I decided I
needed both to make it back if I was going to drive after dark. I turned
both on the see what would happen and within 30 seconds I had smoke pouring
out of the hood. Identified the source as the wiper motor but couldn't
troubleshoot as I had no tools, books, etc. Found a hotel and drove only
during the daytime. Made it back with no further problems and had a
wonderful time. What an adventure! Not sure I'd recommend doing the same
to anyone, but I must say I had a blast. BTW, I found out later that TRs
have two different wiper motors. One that has a ground and power is sent to
activate and another that has power and a ground is made to activate. Mine
was the latter and the DPO had used the light switch to supply the ground.
Worked fine until the switch was turned on. No perminate damage - just
needed to find a proper ground.
I say go for it - but be better prepared than I was.
Pete
> Sure, I didn't take this advice myself. In 2000 I drove mine home out of
> 33% spirit of adventure, 33% cheapness and concern about finding a good
> transporter, and 33% impatience.
Sounds about right. I once bought a 56 TR3 sight unseen (spotted sitting in
a field by a buddy of mine), then flew to Texas, spent a few days fettling
and headed for California in it. No cell phone, no AAA, but I did have my
buddy driving a chase car.
We didn't even make it out of the subdivision before the engine quit !
Rode back to his place to rob a point lead off one of his MGA's, and the TR
ran just fine all the way to CA. Except for a brief bout of overheating
which proved to be a leak where I'd capped off the thermostat bypass.
(Original thermostat housing was ruined, so I was using one from another car
that didn't have the side fitting for the bypass. Didn't leak much water,
but was sucking enough air to airlock the water pump.)
Ironically enough, the chase car lost a front wheel bearing and spindle 100
miles from anywhere in west Texas. We had to run parts in the TR.
Sure am glad the wives opted to fly home ... <G>
But in spite of everything, I had a blast, and wouldn't hesitate to do it
again.
Randall
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