Replaced the points and gaped them. Turn her over and no spark. What the heck, keep in mind that the original ones had melted and there wasn't really an example to go by. So I posted on a few sites and talked to a few people to find out what was up. I got and old guy down the street that knows a bit about cars to look at them( he had a triumph years ago). Anyway after looking a while we notice that the way that I had hooked them up that there was no contact on the non gaped end to the terminals (i.e. I put the plastic washer between the terminals and the points, so there was no way to make contact. So we changed that to see if that was indeed the problem and as I reached to look at the spark tester he swung her over and it was very obvious that we had corrected the problem. My arm was numb for an hour or so.

We cranked it up and no go. So now it's a fuel issue. But got her to fire up on some carb spray so that was encouraging now what's the fuel issue?

After cleaning a old stinky fuel and associated parts time to get some clean gas in her and try again. So I start cranking and nothing. Irritated, I've run down what now appears to be a bad battery. So hook up the charger and crank some more. Not even a pop, But do notice that there's smoke coming from the distributor. lift the cap and the points are melted and the two wires leading to them glowing like a heater element. Yikes! I turn the key off and try to figure out why. Talked to a number of people about what might have happened and the gist was that the points had stayed open with the key on and got really hot. Huh? Well now I get to learn about points, this is a big part of why I am doing this learning basic car mechanics so I'm excited. Oh ya and if the key is on everything is Hot so be careful.

After a few days I decide to start to do what was necessary to start her up. I knew that anything related to fuel was going to have to be drained and cleaned.So I siphoned the tank removed the sediment bowl and carb. bowls to clean them. The so called gas was thick and orange and smelled horribly.I thought that it was worth a try so I put some clean gas and tried to start her up. Of course the battery was dead so I had to hook up the charger and give it TRY.
Turn the key on and push the starter and it turns over but no fire. So check for fuel flow and nothing out of the fuel pump. Also nothing out of the inlet or tank, I eventually figure out clogged fuel line. I might as well do this the best I can. So pull and clean tank and replace the lines all metal and rubber, filter, everything.

My dad is now 77 years old and has had some health issues. He has had a TR3 since she was a few years old. I think that it was 1963 when he took it as a down payment for a small house that he was selling. I wasn't born until a year later. He drove it daily for 20 years or more. In the last year I had started hinting that I would like to start trying to get her back on the road. It's been sitting for four years. He had gotten it running at that time but had sat off and on over the last 10 years.
He finally agreed, and after digging it out from under boxes and such, after airing tires my son and I were able to push it on to a trailer so I could start to get it back on the road.
It was July 3,2009
It was a tedious hour drive from Ponca City OK to Derby KS but finally made it home.