The TR2 grill is recessed and made from a solid piece of aluminum plate with punched holes. The early TR3 grill sits flush with the sheetmetal and is made of formed aluminum slats. Both use the same grill opening however. as opposed to the TR3a with the wide grill opening and full width grill. However, since the front valance is just a bolt on, all three styles can be switched around if an owner makes repairs for a front end accident. This comes up on the various Triumph forums a couple of times a year as we try to figure out the actual year a TR 2/3/3a is based on the front valance, the door handles, the trunk (boot) lid, the seats, etc. All are different and all can be switched easily.
'73 was before the slap-on emissions control equipment seen on later models. Motor was strong and the Stromberg carbs easy to work on.
Motor was a joy to work on. Lifting the bonnet also raised the wheel wells and gave incredible access to the works.
Electrical system was a constant problem. While driving, smoke would pour out of the dashboard then mysteriously disappear. I learned how to remove the center section of the dash while traveling down the interstate to investigate.
Transmission was one of the problems. Even though 1st gear had a syncro cone (unlike my prior Austin Healey Sprite), going into 1st resulted in the reverse idler gear being engaged about 1/3 the length of the teeth by the 1st/2nd gear hub. Very poor design that should never have been released into production. I got to know the guts of the tranny very well. Fuck British Lealand!
Independent rear axle but very poorly executed. Used a transverse spring as the upper arm. Had two bearings at the hub for the rear axle shaft: A strong roller bearing for one side of each rear hub and a weak-ass caged needle bearing for the other side. No mechanism to add grease but this was not a problem since you never went long enough between repairs to require greasing.
Most comfortable cockpit I ever sat in. Except for the poorly-insulated pressed fiberboard transmission tunnel that only had carpet and a bit of insulation between your leg and the exhaust pipe that ran on the left side of the transmission. I suppose right-hand drive models had no issue.
I had a GT6 when they were introduced in 1967 - my first new car. I agree with the rear axle bearings. That whole system was left over from the Triumph Spitfire which had a 1500 cc 4 banger. The lusty 2 liter six cylinder torque made short work of those damned needle bearings. I snapped two axles due to the needle bearings wearing out the shaft although I was autocrossing the car fairly often.
I never had any problems with the reverse idle gear and I don’t recall it as a GT6 issue. That was the gearbox out of the Dolomite sedan. I suspect a problem with the shift rails. They should be totally unable to move except for the one being shifted. Maybe a detent ball or spring was missing.
Searching the forums it appears the early reverse gears had a circlip to lock the idler gear in place, perhaps it had failed? Other problems causing an issue with reverse lockup were installing the synchro ring wrong it seems. I think by 1973 you had a MKII which I believe no longer used the early gearbox.
Oddly enough I have never had any electrical problems with my Triumphs although I know I am in the minority.
The '73 was a bit of an oddball. Mine was a Mk 3 but one had to be careful when replacing parts. For example, every parts manual I’ve ever seen had a particular set of rear brake shoes yet none of them matched mine. Had to order '74 parts for this and I suspect the line ran out of the prior batch of parts and simply started using the next model year.
I spent quite a bit of time inside the tranny! With the first gear properly engaged and the reverse idler gear fully retracted, there was still the overlap of the teeth on the 1st/2nd hub and the idler gear. I solved the problem by milling the reverse gear to eliminate the overlap.
Loved driving that car, even in hot texas summers with a blazing exhaust pipe inches from my leg. Pop in an 8-track and enjoy the experience!
My parents live in England in’68, and Dad brought his Spitfire back to the states as his commuter car. All of us kids looked forward to the day we turned 16 so we could drive it, but no luck. Dad got tired of having to be shade-tree mechanic on it every weekend, and sold it when it was 13 years old. I suspect that if I could have driven it, I would have learned to like driving a manual transmission.
The TRS 80 was the first home computer we owned. He taught us BASIC so we would always know how to use a computer. If I learned nothing else, it was that computers are only as smart as their programmers.
You’re right! The guy I bought the car from in '68 called them Smith Union carbs and so that’s what I’ve always thought. Interesting. He told me some other stories too. Nevertheless, it was a great little car.
