While the Jaguar has been enjoying its long spa treatment at the paint shop all has not been quiet in the garage.  I have undertaken some work on the TR3 which included

Removing TR3 tranny through floor of the car.

fixing a pesky leak at the aluminum plate that joins the transmission to the overdrive and putting in a new clutch and throw-out bearing (which was getting tad noisy).  Pulling the TR3 tranny is done by removing the seats and transmission tunnel and lifting it up through the floor.  If you do not have overdrive it is really easy because the tranny case is aluminum and they do not weight much. With the overdrive it is a pain.  The overdrive on this one was intermittent – to non-functional, so the extra weight was really not appreciated.

TR3 transmission separated from overdrive and kept in alignment using hoist and motor stand.

The aluminum plate between the overdrive and the tranny has a habit of warping and leaking. It is a real devil of an issue because most people do not know about this weakness and  it is very hard to see where the transmission oil is actually coming from. It seems to be seeping from the large brass access plug at the base of the overdrive (below the overdrive pump). So, people over tighten this and can break the aluminum casing of the overdrive OUCH!  Moss Motors makes a replacement adapter plate that you can use to fix this leak. However, it requires separating the transmission from the overdrive and the reassembly is somewhat difficult as the alignment is tricky and you have to compress the springs in the overdrive unit.

Whilst I was at the tranny-overdrive leak I also replaced the clutch and throw-out bearing as it was all wide open and easy at that point. Once it was all done and back in the – not a drop more leakage!

Replacing clutch plate on TR3 using clutch alignment tool – no garage should be without one!