Tony:
I also believe that you could order from the factory the 4.1 gears on a
non-OD TR3A, but that it had to be a direct dealer order. Even though
the Service Manual indicates that the 'high speed' kit included the 4.1
gears, overdrive, and a suitable speedo, the gears and speedo could be
ordered without overdrive - although it was definitely contrary to the
advice given in the Service Manual. This I was told back in the early
'70s when I was getting parts at the dealership for my TR3, so I never
bothered to ask about the TR4. So, it seems that the TR3 experience and
the TR4 experience may have been slightly different where the 4.1
availability was concerned. It may also reflect different priorities of
the Canadian versus American distributor(s).
So, for the TR3A at least, I guess that there were 4 possible factory
diff/OD combos:
3.7/no OD
3.7/OD
4.1/no OD (never seen this myself though)
4.1/OD
Although I can't imagine the 4.1/no OD combo being used for anything but
competition, and even then - why not have OD?
I agree that the 4.1 ratio axle is rare - factory or otherwise!!!
The (early )TR3As only came with the single mph speedo available for
each diff ratio, as bias-ply tires were all that were available from the
factory. Like the TR4A speedos that you have mentioned, the later
TR3A/Bs may have also had a 'radial'-specific speedo available, but my
parts book edition (4th) doesn't go that far. Perhaps someone else with
a later edition TR3A/B parts book could chime in here.
Dave Q.
Tony Rhodes wrote:
>
> Dave,
>
> You make great points. It is funny that there is so much controversy
> regarding what parts were available in what way! We are only talking
> 35-40 years here, not 240! It tells you something about the woeful record
> keeping at Standard-British Leyland, etc. I suppose that with all those
> changes in ownership, no one ever thought that anyone would CARE what
> differential was available and how many were actually fitted.
>
> You are correct, the 4.1 came from the factory with OD fitted only. Your
> experience indicates that they were delivered to the customer, and
> presumably, that car was fitted with 4.1/OD from the factory. BTW, my
> TR4A manual does not say that the 4.1 was OD ONLY, it does not comment
> at all about the combinations possible from the factory.
>
> You could also get the 3.7 with OD fitted too.
>
> I guess that there were 3 factory diff/OD combos:
> 3.7/no OD
> 3.7/OD
> 4.1/OD
> Now the dealers and owners could fit ANYTHING they pleased after the
> factory was done with the car, but I agree that it was probably an unusual
> request. In my limited experience, the rarity of used 4.1-calibration
> speedometers tells us that the factory 4.1/OD option was rare.
>
> You are correct, there were 4 (or 8 if you include KPH) speedometers,
> two for 3.7 and 2 for 4.1. This depended on your selection of Michelin or
> Dunlop/Goodyear sizes. The 3.7-calibration (especially 1184
>(Dunlop/goodyear))
> are plentiful. I have 2 sitting right here on my desk.
>
> Your input tells me that the 4.1 appears to have, in fact, been available
> from the factory to the US. Too bad we will never know _how many_.
>
> I'd love to get the proper speedo for the 4.1, unfortunately, even that
> would be slightly off due to the 185 tires, but it ought to be closer (at
> 2.38 % high) than my 1280 partially refurbished mbg innards(at 4.76% high). I
> of course really need 1344 wich might have been fitted to SOME smiths/jaeger
> speedometer somewhere/sometime!
> -Tony
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