INFORMATION REGARDING
1966 TR4A IRS
August 31, 1999
Commission Number CTC64342-L (1st week of January 1966)
Body Number 64412CT
Engine Number TS51430-E (1959 TR3A)(replaced in rebuild)
Transmission Number CD20976 (1969 TR6) (OD stamped 6/19/69)
Differential Number CTC58551 (~7/65 TR4A) (4.1:1)
Notable Options Overdrive (added by an owner)
Straight cut gears in the transmission? (see note 2/2/00)
Front Sway Bar
"Racing" (long) road draft tube (crank case breather)
Electronic Ignition
Alloy Racing Wheels (4) Compomotive brand
TR250 grille (destroyed 10/31/99)
TR6 steering wheel
Smiths Chronometric tachometer
TR250 front marker lenses, rocker chrome trim
Lightened Valve train?
Lightened moving engine parts
87mm Pistons
Koni Shocks
Current Owner Anthony Rhodes
11/14/98 - Present
Previous Owner 9/12/97 - 11/14/98
2nd Previous Owner 1995? - 9/12/97
3rd Previous Owner Somebody in New Jersey
"Owned it a few years" according to #2
Nth Previous Owner
Bought for $7500
Owned c.1984-1986
"Car is unchanged from when he owned it except for the new chrome plastic
hup caps installed by P.O.#1"
Sold it to an MD in Cherry Hill (sight unseen!)
Nth+1 Previous Owner Formerly of Absecon, NJ
Did restoration in 1980/81 to current configuration
Autocrossed it afterward
Assembled the car from a few parts cars. Body dipped to clean corrosion.
Body tub from Nevada: rust free
Time Line
1966-1980 Unknown history: formerly many cars!
c.1980 Restored, raced afterward for a few years
1998-Nov 14 Bought by Anthony Rhodes
1998-Nov 18 Following work done: New steering rack bushings. Drive shaft phasing corrected.
Did not have the wrong phase when raced.... Some drive train vibration persists. Further
inspection shows that the front universal joint has failed: probably due to the phasing
problem. A Jaeger tachometer was fitted so the Smiths Chronometric could be serviced. It
seems to stop periodically. The Smiths needs to have some form of illumination when
refitted. The speedometer was calibrated, but it still will have a problem with the odometer
due to the odometer being calibrated for 3.7 differential and 5.90 tires. Other items
needing attention soon: Brake M/C, Clutch M/C & Slave, rear shocks seem weak. Can the
alloy wheeels be balanced? The coolant needs flushing. Found that there was once a
header fitted because the intake manifold flange was thinned in places to allow fitting of
the header.
1998-Dec 3 More work done. The front drive shaft u-joint was replaced. The others look ok. The
brake master cylinder, clutch master & slave cylinders were rebuilt with new rubber. The
transmission (& Overdrive) oil was changed. The overdrive was adjusted so it will not
engage with such a "thump". Wheels balanced. Voltage regulator checked. Speedometer
cable lubricated. Coolant changed. Shocks probably need replacing.
1998-Dec-4 Played with the Chronometric Tach. I was able to rig up a light for the dial. I tried a very
bright LED, but it was too directional and not available in white. I found a miniature 12v
lamp which looks like a Xmas tree bulb. This gives sufficient light. It also has very thin
leads which fit between the dial edge and the case of the gauge. I had to devise some hood
over the bulb. I used black construction paper with tin foil glued on one side and the
otherside glued to the glass. This seemed to work well and was not terribly ugly.
1998-Dec-8 I contacted the VTR vehicle registrar. I asked about this comission number. He DID have
it on file and is contacting the (former) owner to see if his name may be released. I hope
he/she agrees, and that is is somebody other than the ones I know. I suspect that they were
not VTR members, so I have great hopes that I may have a new lead.
1998-Dec-11 The work on the 3rd helped the drivetrain vibration. However some remained. It was less
severe and pervasive. It occurred only in the range of 63-67 mph (or so) with a peak at 65.
I used Brian Schlorff's wheels and tires (known to cause no vibration) for the test. I then
tested the half-shaft u-joints intensively. I found that the passenger side (P/S) outer u-joint
had a subtle click and had a tiny amount of play. With some difficulty I pulled out the
outer half-shaft and changed the u-joint. Those things are terribly hard to change as they
are partially corroded in place. After changing the joint all excess play was gone and the
reassembly went easily. I checked the driver's side and found that the u-joints seemed fine
by feel. The trailing arm hub mounting studs must have been stripped out sometime. They
were fixed by drilling and tapping new threads to accept bolts. 3 of the bolts required
captive nuts in the hub. Unfortunately they just used round holes for the captive nuts. So as
you try to tighten them, the nuts spin. I found that on one of them I could get a wrench on
the nut. The other two I was able to wedge a screwdriver between the wall and a flat and
tighten the bolt that way. Some time the trailing arm should be replaced. No need to do it
now. Do it when the trailing arm bushings get changed, or possibly when the u-joints get
changed.
1998-Dec-20 Got the jack stands from Waverly. Couldn't get the trolley jack: no room w/ Xmas
presents. Used the bottle jack and the scissor jack to get it up as far as possible. Then was
able to remove the front and rear bolts holding the driveshaft flanges. The driveshaft slid
out easily. The small end is toward the engine and the nuts are away from the driveshaft.
Now to get it balanced and the other u-joint replaced. I think that is an old joint since it has
no grease nipple. At some point they were "greased for life" without any nipple when
delivered from the factory. I do know that the other TR, CTC73336, does have nipples as
original.
1998-Dec-23 The driveshaft is done. The rear u-joint was not too bad at all, and maybe original. The
shaft was way out of true. It was either bent or never manufactured properly. There was
15 thou of wobble (so bad it could not be balanced). The transmission end needed
straightening somewhere. That corrected it to 2 thou. Balancing did the rest. The
machinist says that the shaft could be expected to have been the source of major vibration.
I suspect that the misbalance was the reason the u-joint phasing was wrong, to try to
minimize the vibration. The residual vibration probably destroyed the front u-joint, which
worsened the vibration even more. This explains why the vibration was worse after
correcting the u-joint phasing. I bet the entire driveshaft is in better shape than it ever has
been in the last 10 years or longer! I hope this translates into complete eradication of
vibration. If not, I will have to strip out more parts of the rear end. Remove and check
both half shafts. Replace the D/S trailing arm while in the process. Restore the shocks
while in the process. Lots of work, moderate expense. Something to avoid unless
necessary. Tomorrow I test drive the car unless the snow expected tonight causes the use
of salt.
1998-Dec-25 Road tested the car. The vast majority of the vibration is gone. No more appears in the
driveshaft. There may be some, maybe, in the half shafts. It only appears at around 70
mph. Hard to tell the exact speed due to needle waver. Maybe due to some weak u-joint(s)
in the half shafts. I hesitate to chase these down as the vibration is minimal, and might due
to irregularities in the pavement! I did find one other thing to correct. The engine ground
strap is not standard. It is rather long and probably was changed when the cut-out switch
was installed. It might even connect to the battery ground lead inside the firewall via the
bolt throught the firewall. It goes to a bolt high on the wall next to the battery. The current
strap is 1/3 the width of the original! It was hot to the touch after some starter use! Must
change soon.
1998-Dec-27 After checking with the Internet list, I found the original strap in the proper location. I
checked the resistance of the body to engine circuit, and found that the original strap
appeared to have "high" resistance. I removed it and found that the restoration had put
wonderfully thick, tough paint under the ground mounting points. I sanded the paint off
and now the "accessory" ground strap does not get hot. The engine cranks better too!
1999-Jan-6 Have made a list of items to do on the car, along with their priority level. Pretty anal-
retentive, hunh? Well, nothing on the list was at the top level priority, so I ordered the next
level stuff from Power British. Ordered a tach cable, a speedo cable, and a thermostat
housing gasket so I can check the thermostat. It seems to take forever to get the engine up
to operating temperature. I wonder if the thermostat has been removed for racing, or if it is
stuck open. I will have to partially drain the coolant to get at the thermostat. I also took off
the lid of the vent so I can get a spectrophotometer paint match. Too bad I don't know
what color the paint is. However, the computer-match is going to be better than any paint
code-based match. I will get enough to do a reasonable amount of painting, not just touch
up.
1999-Jan-19 Checked out the car today when the weather let the temp get up to 50 degrees. I let it idle a
few minutes then felt the radiator. It was already getting warm when the engine is cold.
The thermostat seems to be stuck open or non-existent. I got a "Robert Shaw" model 330-
180 (180 degree). It has a wider outlet orifice but does not open as wide (1.5 vs 1.25
diameter and .275 vs .380 opening). Not clear to me that it will offer LESS resistance than
the other non-skirted types. I will try it though. Anything that closes will be OK in the
winter. Also got a clutch reservior cap that was supposed to seal better than the slightly
battered one on the car. It seems to seat the same. I changed the fluid in the reservoir to
see how long it takes to get cloudy. I also got pedal caps, tach and speedo cables, paint,
and various gaskets. The trailing arm was cleaned up and looks great. When I was letting
the engine idle for a few minutes, I found that there was gasoline dripping out of the rear
carb float bowl. I removed the float and cap and found that the float was set so high that it
probably did not shut off the needle valve. I adjusted it properly. Will have to check the
other one even though no gas is dripping. The engine seemed to fire more evenly with the
fix (less rich?)
1999-Jan-21 Installed the Rob't Shaw thermostat. There was NO thermostat in place. There was just
the shell of one with a 1.065" throat, but no valve mechanism. It now warms up normally.
The needle sits at "U.K", rather than the "M" in "Made in U.K." I guess this is the
"normal" place for the 180 degree working temperature. The heater now really makes
HEAT! Not bad at all in the winter!
Also installed the new tachometer cable and the Chronometric tachometer. It works fine
and the cable run is now straight, as it is "supposed" to be. I also installed the speedo
cable. It was not nearly as easy. I had to get under the car to route it around the engine.
The transmission end is nearly inaccessible. I got to it by removing the angle drive through
the hole in the tunnel. It was still tough, but I got it off. The angle drive was not working
properly. It was quite stiff. I soaked it in grease cutter and then oiled it with break free and
spun it on the drill press. It now moves almost perfectly freely. The speedo cable itself
was a problem. I did not know the length of the one that came on the car. (it was 66 or 67
inches). The proper one for a TR4A w/ O.D. is 96". I thought that the original was a little
long and it drooped and got burned on the exhaust. The 96" is way too long. This
transmission is set up as a TR6 and has an angle drive. Apparently the angle drive reduces
the required cable length down to 69". Also the new cable had a drive end that was too
long to fit properly into the angle drive. I had to shorten it by 1/3" and it is still just a tad
too long. Unfortunately, I damaged the original when removing it, but I got it working OK
by epoxying the end back on. I may revert back to original, but I will try to get the 69"
TR6 cable and see if it fits the angle drive better. Incidentally, now there is almost NO
speedo needle waver, and the tach and speedo agree quite well with each other.
I checked and set the float level on the front carb. The float was too low by 1/8" or more.
Now both floats are set right. It seems to run more evenly and idle better when cold. I
guess the rear carb was running rich and the front was lean.... Also installed the pedal
pads. Now to use the rust cutter on the underside of the vent lid then spray it when I get
the hardener and reducer from Brian. I will also pick up the new speedo cable at the same
time.
1999-Jan-23 Worked more on the car. The speedo has negligible waver, but the cable is not really right
at the transmission end and might damage the angle drive, and it looks bad in the engine
compartment. Checked the valve clearances. One was too loose (I could hear that one)
and two were OK and some were much too tight. I did not pay enough attention to which
were too tight, but of the 3 I remember two were intake valves. I will have to run the
engine for a few miles to let the valves bed-in, then re-check the clearances and then
compression test.
1999-Jan-27 Drove the car a few miles. Looked down and speedo was at zero. Got the angle drive back
off and found it to be toast. The flex shaft was broken and looked like a mop head. Will
have to check around for a new one.
1999-Jan-29 Took the car to Power British with the broken angle drive. Brian was able to disassemble
the "permanently sealed" angle drive and tack welded a new cable-end into the input gear.
The cable is a short piece (about 1.5") that is welded into a bushing that is pressed into the
shaft of the gear. It was beautiful. We then put in the proper 69" cable and went for a test
drive. Speedometer still did not register. Major problem. The angle drive had failed
again. Now it would require major work as the bushing was no longer good enough to
work. A new bushing needs to be machined. I may have a source of a used angle drive.
Needless to say, the angle drive itself was not the culprit. It was a seized speedo. I got an old
speedometer from Brian and transplanted my guts to it. All I kept of the donor was the
magnet wheel and its drive. We have no idea why it failed. Now when the angle drive is
fixed, I ought to have an excellent speedometer. Now I just need to find the proper 1280
speedometer.
1999-Jan-30 Re-checked the valves. None had gotten too tight again after a couple of hours of running.
They are all a tight 10 thousandths. They can be set to 8 to minimize noise. I'd rather leave
them set to factory specs to minimize any possible risk. Did a compression check. All
cylinders seem to be fine. 160-170 in all. Engine seems great!
1999-Feb-12 Summary of last few weeks. Got 2 MGB 1280 speedometers. One was "free" due to being
broken (coil spring broken), Two for price of one. I made a hybrid speedo. MGB guts and
Late 4A case and face. The MG speedos are probably early 70's and have essentially the
same inner guts as the TR6. For the 4A, the swap has to be entire works units. It works
acceptably well. I am not sure it is calibrated through the speed range, but the odometer
ought to be close. I am considering having a 4.1->3.7 adapter made. New speedometer
had odo reading of 65500 even and the old one read 65066. Car has 434 miles less than the
new odo reading says.
I got a sample OD cover plate from Brian. They are extremely rare. I made some plaster
molds and made 2 fiberglass cover plates. They are perfect. Now to cut the opening
properly and screw it down. Need to find the type of tarry-goop to use. Can't get hard over
time
I painted the vent lid finally. I had to do a moderate amount of preparation of the vent hole
to have it ready. In these cool temperatures the paint stays tacky for a long time. I put the
lid in a warm oven. That did it pretty fast.
1999-Feb-13 Pulled off the door fascia panels. It is easy. Greased the regulators. The driver's side
regulator binds when going up, but is unbound by reversing direction 1/2 turn then going
back up. Found some rusty seams inside. More rust than I like. Needs to be neutralized
and sealed. Extend(tm)? The rust that I see here and there and the repaired rust underneath
makes me doubt that this car was from Arizona, at least any DRY area of the state.
Checked the speedometer. Below 20 mph, it is way off. Any speed at all reads as about
20. At 24 it ought to be 20. At 44 it ought to be 40. At 64, it ought to be 60. Over a
measured 3 miles, the odometer read 3.125 miles or so. Error is about +4.2%. This
corresponds to a speedometer calibration of 1333. 1312 would be close enough (+1.6%).
Reduction gear of 37:41 would require a 1203 calibration (1184= +1.6%, 1152= +4.4%). I
think I will look into getting a reduction gear. That way I can have an accurate reading
below 20 AND I will be within 2% (twice as accurate). Before the work, the 1184
speedometer had an error of +12.6%!
1999-Feb-17 Yesterday I gave Brian the spare one of the two fiberglass OD cover plates. I had installed
the other one on the 13th. It fit well. Had to use "Plumber's Putty" to make the seal. It is
not as good as the original goop, but it is adequate. Brian gave me an original TR4A
scissor jack and crank. Also he gave me the hook, plate and wing nut to hold down the
spare. Now I just need 4 lug nuts for a standard steel wheel, and a lug wrench that will fit
in the spare tire well. He also gave me a lower transmisson cover plate. The plate was
missing and it allowed the clutch/flywheel to be exposed to the elements under the engine.
Now it is installed and sealed up. I flushed the clutch hydraulics in order to eliminate the
cloudiness. It appears to be suspended particulate matter. Rubber? Aluminum? New
Clutch master? On the way to the meeting I found that the odometer was high by 0.15
miles over a 3 mile trip. I will take a longer run to Quakertown (20 miles or so) and see
what it reads then. Speedometer definitely reads high for speeds under 20. Mystery to me
why. Probably a problem with the return spring. I am considering getting that reduction
unit fabricated. Just need to know what ratio. Looks like the correct calibration is around
1344 ( a perfect ratio of 32!) Looks like the correct adapter would be 37:42 to make the
1184 speedo correct.
1999-Mar-12 Have made a bunch of OD cover plates. Also recently made a web site. Listed the plates
on the site. Might break even on the fabrication! Recently did a 30+ mile odometer check
and found that I need 1344 as a calibration. That might be hard to find.... Called a speedo
shop. They were not too enthusiastic about making a cable adapter. They would rather re-
calibrate the gearing of the speedo. I might go for it if I can't find a "correct" speedo gear
myself. Also recently bled the clutch slave cylinder heavily. Now the fluid is no longer
getting contaminated as far as I can tell so far.
1999-Mar-17 Drove the car 10 days ago. It started to rain a little. The wipers functioned very poorly.
The slow speed wanted to stall all the time. The high speed just barely worked. I did a
little research on this. The Haynes & Factory manual only list the wiring diagrams for the
TR4, not the 4A. I checked the 4A owners manual. That one was correct. It was still hard
to tell what exactly happens inside the motor to provide 2 speeds. I then checked the
brushes. They looked OK and afterward it would not run at all! I proceeded with some
intimidation and removed the wiper motor and gearbox. It is a little tough to get the thing
out when the motor is stuck in the parked position. You can't pull any excess cable from
the wipers into the engine compartment. To get the gearbox cover off you have to move it
into the engine compartment. Without access to the gearbox, you can't maneuver the unit
to get to the cover, etc. I eventually got it out. The old grease was like tar. I cleaned
everything and used lithium grease (my favorite). I then guessed a little on the wiring and
used a low capacity gel-cell battery. The motor would run! I then checked it on the car and
goot good function after cleaning the bullet connectors. I then had to adjust the parking
contact. Now it is working perfectly!
1999-Mar-22 Spring arrived. Drove the car in the AM. Came out from a stop and the sky had clouded
over. It started to spit rain. The wiper motor worked perfectly. I ran it at high speed for
the 15 minutes it took to get home and everything was fine. May need to adjust the
parking a little.
Will attempt to re-glue the rubber steering wheel grip to the underlying metal without
slitting the rubber. Will try to inject thin CyA glue via syringe. If that fails, I will slit it
open and try that GOOP glue. Picked up a spare steering wheel from Brian @
PowerBritish. So the car will not be OTR while I make repairs.
Checked the clutch reservoir, it was cloudy again. I thought I might have the
contamination licked. Suspect it is coming from the slave. Will remove, clean, rebuild the
slave some time....
1999-Apr-7 Drove about 20 miles to a club social dinner. Top down all the way. The turnpike speeds
were about 75+ mph the whole way. Who am I to fight traffic? After the run, I was
maintaining a pretty good oil pressure of 20-30 idle and 60 at 2k rpm. I think this will be
acceptable. Oil use in about 400 miles is less than 1/2 of the range on the dipstick (4/10 of
a quart). Brian gave me the stripped guts of an MGA speedometer. I will check it out in
the upcoming days.
1999-Apr-14 It follows the "old" style rules perfectly. It has a calibration of 1408 (44*32). I think I
need 1344 (42*32), but until now I had 1280 (40*32). This is probably no closer to my
"ideal", but its error will read low by 4.5%. In addition, this speedo will use the original
silver (magnet induction) disk, spindle, and odometer wheels of my original speedo. I have
to bore out the trip odometer gear as it is different between the "old" and "intermediate"
speedometer styles. I will have to keep my eyes open for the "right" calibration at the flea
markets. The replacement speedometer reads 65906, so the original speedo will be 406
miles under the actual mileage I have driven (who knows WHAT the REAL miles are!). I
tried to get the assembled speedo to work, but it wavered VERY badly. Sometimes it was
smooth, sometimes it jumped really badly. After lubricating the HELL out of the
mechanism and fine tuning the pawl actuation so they were 180 degrees out of synch, I still
had the bad waver. OOOPS: if you have the top down and the glass off the dial, the
WIND will bounce the speedo needle!!!!
1999-May-1 Went to the show near Moss in NJ. I picked up a MGB speedo with 1376 calibration. (32*43)
Looks great except I have to use it in that old MG speedo that did not register speed up to
40 mph correctly. Since the calibration is not perfect (2.5% low), I will use the 1408 in the
proper TR4(A?) speedo until I look around for the exact gear I need (1344). I will also
calibrate this over a long run sometime as well. Got a new seat diaphragm for the D/S seat.
It was a moderate pain to install. Need muscles like Aar-nold to get the hooks in place. I
also re-indexed the steering so the turn signal will self-cancel.
1999-May-5 Getting ready to do the major suspension restoration: New left rear trailing arm, new
springs (front & rear), new bushings, new flexible brake lines. Removed the old bushings
from the "new" trailing arm. They will not come out without a lot of encouragement. I
used a drill to drill out much of the rubber, then a saw to remove the "lip". I failed to aim
the drill correctly and hit the aluminum of the ring holding the bushing. This ring is only
about 3/8" thick, and I took out 1/8" at the worst. It probably did not significantly weaken
it, but since that mount is the only thing holding the arm to the car, I was not at all happy. I
thought about using "JB WELD" to fill the defect, but the strength issue worried me too
much. I removed the filler and took it to a welding shop (CSE automotive). They seemed
pretty experienced with this sort of stuff and said they will have no trouble. Ought to be
done 5/11/99. What a major pain in the neck of an "OOPS"
1999-May-9 Did more work on the dashboard. I took the advice of a club member and used acrylic
enamel automotive clear coat paint. Got the NAPA brand. I sprayed it on as is, and it took
a long time to dry. It also tried to fish-eye. I sanded it down and then thinned it and used
some of the catalyst that Brian gave me for the vent lid painting. It did not work well at all.
It fish-eyed and crinkled horribly. I then sanded it all the way down and tried again. More
of the same. I then got the catalyst that is "supposed" to go with the clearcoat, if there is
any difference. Well, I think there is. This time it did try to fish-eye, but the paint seemed
to cure properly. I placed a drop of paint in each fish-eye and let it cure over a week. I
then sanded it down and put on 2 more coats last night. WOW, it looks good. A few dust
spots, but otherwise, no problems. Now I guess I will sand it out a little, place 2 more
coats then sand with 1000 & 1500 grit then polish. It ought to have a real nice finish. As
is with the paint, it has a very smooth, glossy finish. Looks wet. Great except for the
specks. I got a nice fuel filter today to supplement the sedimentation bowl. Surprised it
never had an aftermarket filter installed.
1999-May-23 The Whitemarsh Car show was scheduled for today but it was rained out. I decided to take
apart the rear suspension and do some updating. I replaced the D/S trailing arm since it
had the studs all ripped out. The new one is nice, and painted to look like raw aluminum,
but more protected. I took off the half-shafts and replaced the last 3 U-joints. The inner
joint on the D/S came off easily! All the rest were devils. The outer one on the same side
must have been damaged at some time as the C-clip on one cup was not engaged. I could
not get the new one to engage either. The inner joint on the P/S was stubborn, so I took the
two half shafts to Brian and he fixed them up. Now all u-joints are replaced. I also
replaced the old (probably original) sagged springs with the Moss/TriumphTune uprated
ones: Blue with 2 yellow stripes. I also replaced the brake lines with stainless steel
braided ones. Bushings are now TRF nylatron ones. Everything was back together within
10 days and it is wonderful. Maybe I need to stiffen up the shocks. The rear still has some
negative camber that I will try to dial out at some point. Probably will have Brian do it
when I have him do the front bushings.
1999-Jun-1 Well, that little fuel filter did not last long in the harsh environment under my hood. I may
have left a tool on the engine or something flew up under the hood. Where was a mighty
"CLANK" and something happened somewhere under the hood. No idea what. A week
later I happened to look at the fuel filter and noticed that it was cracked. Must have been
leaking fuel a little, but I never noticed it. I got a new one and everything seems fine now.
The car is running quite well now, and the suspension is just great. It will be even better
with the front bushings brought up to grade as well.
1999-Jun-5 Took the car to the first show: Horsham Day. Informal. No judging. Was nice to get it
out. Got a "trophy" and a T-shirt. Fun day at the fair.
1999-Jun-6 Noticed the rear float chamber leaking. Took off the float and cleaned it. Now seems
better. May have to get a new needle valve. The float seems fine. Decided I had enough
of the temp gauge showing 3/4+ when up to "normal" operating temperature. I tested the
gauge with fixed resistors and got a calibration curve, but who knows what is "right" I then
took my old sender from the junker's housing and installed it. It works fine now and seems
to ride just a pointer width above the middle. Just right. Problem solved? When running
at maximal (hopefully) heat, in traffic, the pointer just gets to the 3/4 range.
1999-Jun-19 Long (~100 mi) trip to NJ for a Southern NJ Brit Car Club ice cream social. Fun time.
Confusing directions. No solid food there at dinner time. Had to leave a little early to feed
the kids. Diane came with 1 kid in the "TSV", and I had one kid in the TR. Checked the
suspension and stuff the next AM and everything checked out A-OK. Now to get the front
done sometime when the parts come in.
1999-Jun-22 I was told that without changing the valve settings in the rear lever shocks, changing the oil
will have a minimal effect. I had changed the oil alone on 6/20, and found no immense
difference. The oil in the shocks (before I drained them) seemed to smell like HP gear oil
(sulfur). I used straight 30wt engine oil. I then took the shocks off again and changed the
valve settings. There are 2 springs in the valve assembly. A small one and a large one.
The small one is held onto a shaft with a nut. This nut gets tightened down by 2 to 4 turns,
but no more. It controls the bump or rebound setting. Then the large spring controls the
other setting that the small one does not control. I am told that you should install a 0.040"
to 0.080" washer under the spring (down in the well in the shock body). If you put in on
top of the large spring, it will occlude some of the oil bypass holes. I made the settings of
4 full turns on the little nut holding the small spring and I inserted 2 brass washers (after
modification) with a total thickness of about 0.073". The rear suspension seems more
controlled now. It is hard to say for sure, but I think it is better. I am shooting for the
suspension control of a Porshe 911. I know I won't get there with the flexible frame of a
TR, but that is my goal. Now to get the front done. I may have to get uprated shocks for
the front too.
1999-Jun-28 I stripped the spare transmission with some difficulty. The tail shaft housing did not want
to come off. Brian showed me how to get all the other parts off. I got new stuff for the
innards and am waiting for some stuff on back order (the story of my life). The
transmission will be quick to reassemble when the parts all arrive. Will switch
transmissions when the time comes.
1999-Jul-18 Went to the TR club summer picnic. Lots of fun esp. the "meadowcross". It was a blast.
The paths were rough on the suspension, but the new springs/shocks in the rear performed
well. I was hoping that I did not rip anything loose. On the way home, I noticed that there
was a "clunk" from the D/S rear when the brakes were applied, even at very low speed. I
am very nervous about the suspension now. I figure it is the suspension, or something
wrong with the wheel cylinder and it is sliding around with a clunk.
1999-Jul-20 I jacked up the rear of the car to check the suspension. At first glance the suspension
looked intact, but the inside of the D/S tire was wet with brake fluid. I found that the
wheel cylinder was leaking past the seal. Who knows how old it is. I had an old spare that
Dad got for the other TR 12+ years ago. The rubber looked fine so I used it. Works well
for now at least. The suspension was fine. I just tightened up some bolts holding the
brackets to the frame.
1999-Jul-22 I plan on a major service with the next inspection. Oil change, and replace the genarator
with an alternator (90 amp output). If the front suspension parts are in, then I will have
them installed then too.
1999-Jul-24 I was driving the car today. I came to an intersection and..... nothing. Engine stalled and
no warning light. All dials slowly dropping to zero. Turn key to restart, nothing. A few
tries of the ignition switch later, it started and ran as if nothing happened. A half hour
later, same thing. Only this time it would not restart. I had no power to anything. Nothing
was working, neither fused nor unfused. Neither switched nor unswitched. That
eliminated the ignition switch as the culprit. I checked the battery connection and it was
fine. I then had to whip out the owners manual and wiring diagram at the road side. There
is a spade connector on the starter solenoid that gives power to the entire wiring harness. I
moved that back and forth and then everything came back on. I got home and found it to
be pretty corroded. It is better (but not perfect) now. Happy motoring. I almost had to hot
wire the ignition and short across the solenoid with a screwdriver to get it running without
a wiring harness!
1999-Aug-14 The car ran great in the 40 miles round trip to New Hope. Still a clunk in the rear; worse
after backing up; associated with brake application. Got a new set of float valves. Saw
there a white TR250 that was the exact same color as my car, as far as I could tell without
the cars next to each other. He said the paint is "Old English White", a Porsche color,
apparently. Red interior. Seemed too light and bright a red. I'd prefer a more "blood" red.
I'll stay with the tan interior for now. His car was beautifully restored, and I overheard him
say to someone that it was the best TR in the country. That is saying a lot, and while it is a
great looking car, he _did_ trailer it to the show even though he lives fairly close by, and
there are a lot of newly restored TRs out there. I can't say it is the BEST, but it sure is nice.
He won his class. I was not in the running in my class. My class was TR3 and TR4 series.
The two cars which beat mine at Doylestown also did not get anything. There was a really
nice Italia that got first, and a TR3 fresh out of restoration that got second. I am not sure
what the third place was, but I think it was a TR4A that I once saw last summer. While it
is nice, the our green TR ought to handily beat it when it is out of restoration.
Had a major breakthrough today in tracing the history of the car. I now know the first two
owners of the car. The one who assembled it out of an assemblage of parts, and the one
who bought it from him. The second owner stopped by the car, and inspected the car in a
couple of unusual places. I introduced myself, and he said that he once owned the car! He
had it from 1984-86. The previous owner did the restoration and autocrossed it in the years
immediately afterward. He sold it to an MD in Cherry Hill. I lose the trail until 1995. I
was told no specifics about the engine, except that the car had noticeably more power than
other 4a's and he believed the engine was modified, possibly a substantial amount. It
sounds like it would be worthwhile rebuilding this engine (should the time ever come),
rather than rebuilding a different engine to minimize down time.
1999-Aug-30 Got more information about Mr. White. First name is Bill. Now lives in Edgefield, SC. I
will try to call him soon. Took the car to PowerBritish for inspection, looking inside the
innards of the engine, installing the bushings and springs and brake lines in the front,
installing the rear seatbelt mounts. Findings are engine thrust washers near wear limit,
moderate wear on crank. Koni shocks on the front. Can't tell about the cam for sure.
Alternator installed today, new furflex to be installed tomorrow. Pickup day after
tomorrow. Can't wait to speak to Bill White.
1999-Aug-31 Had a great talk with Bill White today. I thanked him for the wonderful car. He obviously
had enjoyed it as well. He assembled it from ground up with the specific intent to
autocross it. He routinely won the "fastest time of the day" across all makes. He kept it
sufficiently stock to race in the "stock" class. He had lightened the flywheel and rods. He
had to keep the stock cam. He used a standard dimension crank, so it ought to be able to be
turned easily. He assembled the modular wheels so that the overall rear track matched the
wire wheels. This way he would not be out of the "stock" classification. Interestingly, he
got the tachometer from a factory prepared race car, and wished he had pulled it back out
when he sold the car! He made up the interior himself. He had taken the car to a number
of shows, including the VTR, and won. What an interesting story he had to tell. He even
hooked up a video camera on a tripod to the rear of the car and videotaped some of his
races. They would be very interesting to see. He also has complete photographic
documentation of his restoration of the car. I'd love to see those too! Maybe some time
when I am in S.C.I will have the opportunity.
1999-Sept-2 Bill White emailed a bunch of pictures and filled in some details on the
history of the car. One useful point is that the color is a standard mix:
Martin-Senour NITRAM urethane enamel #94-4237. It might be cheaper to
use this mix rather than the custom matched mix. May not make a difference
except it might be nice to use the custom paint as it is 2 pack urethane.
I would be using it on the Surrey top I am looking for, hehehe.
1999-Sept-3 I talked with my brother, Bill, today. Discussed plans for the OD
transmission. He did not feel that strongly about moving the OD to
the green car, and also felt that removing it from this car would be
"sacriligous". I agree. Now I need to think of what to do with the
2 steel bushings that I have which will fit a TR3B-early TR6. I can
not get a steel top hat bush (yet). I may upgrade the box I was in the
midst of rebuilding with the straight cut gear set out of the white car's
transmission. Due to the steel bushing issues, I had planned on using
a late TR6 gear set in the white cars transmission. Now I will keep
the OD on the back of it.
Brian's Late '6 gears -> white car OD box
White car's straight cut gears -> spare TR4 box
TR4 gears -> back to Brian
1999-Oct-23 I got for my birthday (don't ask how many, too many) a neat computer to
be used in TSD rallies. It is the ALFA-Elite. Pretty neat. I had some
trouble getting it installed due to glitching of the computer. I installed
the sensor and magnets just off the differential. Great so far. I
installed the computer power coming off the hot lead to the solenoid relay.
This hot lead is directly off the battery, via the ammeter. No problem
yet. I got the computer counting very nicely and it was working fine. I
then started the engine and all hell broke loose. The computer display
was blinking and the computer just beeped at me. Major problem.
Afterward the computer did not work properly. I discussed this with
the builder of the unit and he told me how to reset the non-volatile
RAM. The computer then worked fine. He also aid that it was probably
noisy ignition wires (due to copper core wires), so I got some new
suppression-type wires and the problem went away! I then drove the car
and found that the computer would glitch when I turned the overdrive off.
Apparently when the solenoid is powered down, due to "self-induction", it
creates a big negative voltage spike. I was told to put a big capacitor
across the solenoid and to supplement this with a diode across the solenoid
as well. The OD solenoid is rather inaccessible (not impossible, just
tough), so I put a choke on the power lead to the computer, and that
has eliminated all the glitching from the solenoid so far. I have the
capacitor and 1Kv diode ready to go if I need to.
1999-Oct-25 Tried out the Alfa computer with a choke in its power line. No more
glitching. I find that the calibration is 6095. I also find that, when I
have an accurate speedometer, the transmission ratios are all "stock".
Is the transmision just exceptionally noisy, or are there square cut gears
in there? I like to think it is special gears....
1999-Oct-31 Well, the unthinkable happened. I was out for a drive in what is probably
the last nice day of the Autumn, and somebody made a turn across my lane
of traffic and severely cut me off. I had no chance to avoid impact, and
struck head-on into her car. The blow was a little less than perpendicular
and the right front corner took the majority of the hit. I had
Power British come and get the car. I was just at their shop dropping
off a tool and initiating some discussion of engine work, and was heading
home. Had my two kids in the car (used that rear seatbelt!) and everybody
was fine. Brian says it is fixable and ought to come in for less than
my insurance limit. However that ought not to be an issue since the
other driver's insurance ought to cover the costs. Will be steep, but
simply "totalling" the car ought to be even more costly. See the
PICTURE. The hood, fender, wheel arch, grill, valence, radiator appear
at this time to need replacement. Hopefully that is all. Luckily no
people were hurt! Cars can be fixed or thrown away....
1999-Nov-11 The insurance company for the other driver seems to have decided that
indeed, she was at fault. It seems that they will pay the bill for the
repairs. Will combine that time with the engine/transmission work.
2000-Feb-2 Well, things have been slow to start on the car. Still waiting for the
fender parts from England. The engine/trans. is out. The wheel arch and
inner fender will be trimmed back to the final location soon. Reassembly
will begin using the available parts.
The engine and transmission work will start very soon. The flywheel is
beautifully lightened. The transmission is in a sorry state. The Willy's
jeep-like transmission sound that I thought was straight-cut gears was not.
The cause is a rather worn out transmission. The big bearings are very
worn, which is surprising. They usually are still quite good. The 2-3
cluster has way too much movement. The roller bearing between the input
shaft and the main shaft must be trashed. This might mean that the main
shaft is ruined as well. I think I have a source for another one. The
fork and cross shaft were welded together, but the cross shaft bushings
were worn out, so I had to cut the cross shaft out. I have a spare for it.
I will begin to disassemble the transmission very soon. Reassembly will
occur as soon as possible afterward.
2000-Mar-17 The transmission was not in bad shape. The mainshaft is fine. The overall
condition was quite good. The layshaft has a spalled area at the rear
bearing. The 2-3 gear cluster had way too much play, but otherwise things
seemed OK. Not sure why it made such a noise. I will replace the big
Ball bearings throughout.
Things are still going slowly. The shipment from England is still not in.
Who knows when it is going to arrive! Brain and I have been brainstorming
about the issue of what can be done to remedy the two failure-prone areas
in the transmission. The first I think is licked. The fragile brass
"top-hat" bushing is being replaced with a steel 2-piece affair. The
top-hat brim is a separate washer.
The second failure area is atill an issue. Brian had the great idea of
using a Vespel (tm) bushing in place of the roller bearings on the
layshaft. This sounded like a great idea. The bushing would distribute
the load more evenly than rollers ever could. I checked the engineering
specifications on the material and found that while it is an excellent
replacement for brass bushings, it does not have the strength for use in
this application. I estimated the load on the bearing near first gear to
be well in excess of 2000lb. At that load, Vespel would only allow a few
hundred RPM. The laygear could turn at up to 4600 rpm.
We are considering the options now. Ine suggestion has been to deepen the
pocket in the laygear so we can install 2 roller bearings end to end.
Another suggestion is to service the transmission more frequently and
replace the layshaft routinely. A MAJOR pain in the neck. I am open to
other suggestions! (TREnterprises.com has "special" layshafts. Maybe they
are better than Moss???? I already have the Moss unit)
2000-Mar-18 I had a chance to pull apart the engine! Hurrah! It is now all apart
after an entire afternoon's work. Nothing really surprising was found.
The cam looks stock, but reground. The crank was .010 over. on the rod
bearings and the mains. The rod bearings were worn down to the copper
in some regions. Brian has a .010 over crank ready to go for me to swap
into the engine. Since the block is not original to this car in any way,
I will use a different block that Brian has ready to go. The rods are
lightened quite nicely, and I will use them after having them tested. Just
a little more work to get the rods perfect. The cylinder liners look fine,
but I will use new cylinders and pistons. I will also get a
hotter-than-stock cam from Ken Gallanders or possibly TriumphTune. The
head looks like some nice port and head work was done. I will simply
install hardened exhaust seats (intakes too?) and better valve guides with
seals. In a couple of days I ought to have the new bearing for the
transmission, then that will be done and ready to button up. Now just
waiting for the body parts!!!
2000-Apr-1 The body parts arrived from England by way of California. A very indirect
route! The parts are not at the sand blaster.
2000-May-6 Went to Britfest in NJ. I got a nice (MG, of course) speedo for $5. It
is a 1375 calibration. It is intact and I will use it in my alternate
speedometer. It is only off by 1 tooth, 43*32 instead of the 42*32 I think
I want. It is also closer to what I want than what I am currently
using (1408) At least it will read ever so slightly low on the odometer.
The benefit of using this one is that I OUGHT to be able to shorten the
spindle for the needle and get the TR pointer to fit nicely. Then the
speedo ought to be pretty good since the return spring will be calibrated
the same as the odometer.
2000-Jun-24 Well, the repairs are taking longer than I hoped. Doesn't everything.
Hopefully it will be done before the Fall. I finally DID get one thing
back together; the OVERDRIVE!! I had to order 3 unexpected parts. I had
Planned on replacing the 2 big race-type bearings, and did so. They seemed
OK, but why try to save a few (50?) dollars here? I was surprised to find
that the thrust washers to the front and rear of the sungear were rather
worn. Who knows how many miles they had on them? When I saw them, I felt I
HAD to replace them. They cost close to $15 each! Steep for some brass
washers. They were worn about 20 thou each. After replacing them, I then
reassembled the OD. Not a terrible task. When I was done I felt as if I
has made a real accomplishment. Don't speak so soon! I knew the manual
describes how to measure the sungear endfloat, but since I replaced the
thrust washers, it MUST be correct, right? Wrong. Well, just for fun, I
put my finger in the bore of the sungear after reassembly. I was able to
elicit a bunch of movement of the gear front and back. A definite CLICK
as it moved. I judged it to be a solid 50 thou or more! Well, apart it
came again. It is very hard to judge the actual endfloat of the sungear.
When doing it by the book (no other way to do it), it is very hard to
judge the endfloat within +/- 3 thou or so. I made my best guess which
correlated to largest sized shim washer available. After another week of
waiting for the part to arrive, I installed it. A test re-assembly
showed the endfloat seemd to be on the 14 to 20 thou ballpark. It is now
done at least for the moment. Now to get the last piece I need for the
transmission reassembly.
Total cost for the FULL OD and transmission rebuild: about $500
2000-Dec-4 Well, I can finally report some good news. Progress on the car is
commencing! The inner fender on the right is tacked in place, and the
valence is being trial fitted. The engine block is having new pieces
installed. I have used 2 new thrust washers for the 2-3 gear cluster,
but I still need a different size. Based on my guestimates based on
fitting a worn 0.118 thrust washer, I deduced that a 0.128 thrust washer
would give the requisite 6 thousandths of float. Wrong. The 0.128
gave approximately ZERO float. So.... if that is true, I needed about
0.122 as the thrust washer thickness. Well.... a new 0.121 washer has
somewhere around 10 thou float. Therefore I need a 0.125 washer. Now I
need to look for one.
2000-Dec-15 Well, I found out that the 0.128 was correct! Unfortunately a little
late. I could not get a 125 washer, so I took off about 2 thou or a
little less off the 128 (now 0.1265)and as I tested it, I found that
the washer did not drop down flush on to the splines for the 1-2 selector
hub. The washer did not have as much of a bevel on the inner edge as the
originals. The washer stood off the shoulders of the splines by 7 thou!
So, I used my dremel to make a deeper bevel and that got the right fit.
2000-Dec-20 Ok, so now the mainshaft is all assembled and mounted in the case along
with the layshaft/gears. I had a problem getting the front main bearing
off the input shaft. Had to have Power British do that for me. Then I
got that installed with a new bearing. I began to clean and install the
bolt-on parts. No problem. I used new gaskets and that spray-on red
gasket sealer. Works great. I then was bolting-on the OD adapter plate and
I found that the next-to-last bolt would not tighten. It was stripped!
I really can not see taking all the guts BACK out of the transmission, so I
installed a helicoil in the hole and TRIED to keep all the aluminum dust out
of the case. HA! Not likely. A major cleaning with brakecleen and it is
all spotless. Now to install the major components such as the OD.
2001-Jan-6 Went to PowerBritish with my mostly assembled transmission (in sections).
We put the OD on the case, added 20-50 racing engine oil, and put it
on the test stand. It worked fine.
2001-Jan-9 I started putting my "spare" transmission back together.... Hmmmm....
I wanted to trial fit 1st gear, the bushing, the thrust washers, the
bearing and the washer and circlip. Circlip and the skinny thrust washer
were missing. I also realized that the "fat" washer might not go behind
the bearing, but maybe in front of it between the bearing and 1st gear.
I found the missing circlip, and packaged with it were the bearing and the
skinny "thrust" washer. Odd.... I usually package these things in order,
so the bearing, washer, and circlip would go together. So, where does
that fat washer go if not between the circlip and the bearing? In front
of the bearing????! Well, yes it does! But how did I assemble the
"good" transmission???? I was 99% sure I had the fat and skinny washers
in the wrong positions. How to tell? Remove the OD!
2001-Jan-13 Back to PowerBritish. The transmission had been "run-in" in the intervening
week. It did well. N0 problems seen/heard. I drained the oil and saw an
amazing brassy haze in the oil. We removed the OD and found
that indeed the fat washer was behind the bearing, in the wrong place. So,
I dismantled the ENTIRE thing except the 2-3 cluster. Switched the 2
misplaced washers and reassembled it all. Put in more oil, and re-tested.
Works fine, and everything is in the right place! Took 4 hours to take it
apart and put it all back together. Next: engine reassembly. Brian has
done some of it, now I will do some more of the "easy" stuff.
2001-Mar-20 Today I saw a photo of a fender vent on a TR5 in England. It was quite
attractive, though not at all "original". Unfortunately, this got me
thinking (you know how that is!), and I recalled the "Works Rally-style"
fender vent I saw on a car in Richmond 7/00. I had been struck by the
appearance and took some decent photos of the vent with the expectation
that someone might want to take measurements off the photo. Little did I
think it would be me! I ran this by Brian Schlorff and he said that the
cost would be small considering that the fneders are off the car and that
everything is going to be repainted anyway. I decided to get more
information on the vent.
2001-Mar-21 Well, I got some information on the vent. I emailed the president of the
Richmond VA TR Club and got the name of the owner/designer of the car I
saw last summer: Dean Tetterton. I emailed him and he said he would
get me the measurements of the vent off his car. In addition he referred
me to the book by Graham Robson about the Works TRs. I am searching our
club for this book.
2001-Mar-22 I have found some period photos of the Works TRs on the internet. At first
they did not have the vents and the center driving ligh was in the middle
of the grille. By 1963 the vents were added and the light was moved up
to the nose of the hood on a special bracket. The vents have a recessed
grille and the holes in the inner and outer fenders do not line up
perfectly. I compared the old photos to Dean Tetterton's car, and the match
is not perfect. Dean's car is very nice nevertheless. I want my vent to
match the "original" a little more if possible.
2001-Mar-23 I went to PowerBritish to make some initial plans with Brian about vent
size/location. The inner fender has an embossed area just behind the wheel
well which is clearly the location of the inner vent. Brian will sketch
a vent on my "good" fender and I will check it tomorrow. We looked at the
photos of the original rally cars and Dean's car. The grille is not
precisely the same. Dean said that they (and he) used a Herald grille, but
the bars of the grille seem narrower on the original cars.
2001-Mar-24 I went back to PowerBritish today and checked the sketches Brian had made.
I agreed that we can take some "poetic license" with the exact shape and
size of the outer vent. Dean made rather tight radius corners. The original
cars had larger radii. Brian made the sketch very close to the originals,
but the upper front corner radius looked too big. I liked the smaller radius
in the other 3 corners, so we adjusted that one to have the same radius:
by eye it is about 3/8" radius. In addition, the oblique front edge of the
vent will be curved to follow the wheel well edge. More poetic license came
in the selection of the grille. We could have gone with the "original" Herald
grille, but I thought that is was too "busy" with a fairly small square
pattern. Brian suggested a Mark II Spitfire grille. It is period correct
and has a larger spacing of the vertical bars, while retaining the number of
horizontal bars. The problem is that the vertical bars are not actually
vertical. They are about 5 degrees off vertical. We considered our options
here. We made a template of the vent hole to lay over the grille, we then
taped it to the fender. We made the rear edge of the vent angled to parallel
the vertical grille bars. It looked good. It was far enough off vertical that
it did not look accidental, but the rake was subtle enough to avoid drawing
undue attention. We will have the grille painted matte black except for the
faces of the horizontal bars which will be polished aluminum. The recess
will be 1 inch, and the grille will come forward from that edge by its
depth of 3/8". The depth of the recess from fender to the grille will be
about 5/8" Brial will make the cut-outs soon.
2001-Aug-5 Today progress on the car took a turn for the better. The spray-on surface
filler was done! It cured in a brief time and I did the major protion of
sanding it all back off. There are a couple of areas still needing another
application of the filler, but it is going great. Brian also cut out the
grill sections for the fender vents. They got blasted, buffed and painted
(all except the front edges which will stay brushed). They look good. Now
for more sanding. I know I am too optimistic, but this job could really
move along and have me on the road in the forseeable future!
2001-Dec-8 Further progress (slowly occurring): The upper and lower front valence parts
were fitted and welded. These are new reproduction parts. As with previous experience,
the fit is less than perfect and required a moderate amount of fiddling.
In particular we had to mess with the amount for bowing toward the front of the car
in the lower portion of the upper valence and the entire lower valence panel.
A few hours' of work and the parts are fitted. I plan on the second layer of filler
to be applied soon (!) and sanded by me as soon as it is done. Design and fitting of the
fender vents will be more of a job than initially expected, but not really a big problem.
So... I am somewhat optimistic that the car will be on the road by the time nice weather
comes around....
2002-Jun-23 Work is slowly progressing. The rust damage on the left rocker (under the front fender)
was cut and patched. Brian got me a cleaned engine block to begin reassemby. I was
in the process of bolting it to the engine stand and saw that the web between cylinders
2 and 3 was cracked down the line where the mold halves had joined. So, I will be getting
a different block as soon as one gets cleaned up. Brian had tried to get me the cleanest
and best one he had in stock. Unfortunately the engine shop that did the cleaning had not
noticed the crack. So, I will begin the engine assembly onother day. By the way, this
block was a rather interesting one. Its serial number was TCF198x, indicating that it
came from the moderately rare TR3B series. Maybe someone with a TR3B is willing to pay
to have the block welded and then get a more original engine number.
2002-Nov-1 Another engine block is clean and ready for reassembly. Some stuff is in place now.
More to come.
2002-Nov-15 I have done some thinking and investigation on the issue of driving lights for the car.
I want to have some that were used when the TR4's were rallied. This would require some
Lucas SLR 576 driving lights. They are available at a price. Even NOS units are around
if you keep looking. However the cost is rather high: at least $150 each and possibly
considerably more. I would be willing to cough up this money, but I just wonder how GOOD
the 1950's-era driving lights really are! Certainly 1950's era headlights sucked compared
to modern units. I have updated the headlights to modern H4 units. I had been considering
using 55/100 light bulbs, but I think that If I had good driving lights, then I would just
use the standard 55/60 bulbs in the headlights, then plan on actually USING the driving
when I want goosd illumination.
Since I am not too worried about mildly anachronistic updates to the car (alternator,
electric fan, relays and circuit breakers inside the former generator control box, H4 headlights)
then I should apply the same standerd to the driving lights. I am sure that modern drvings
lights are rather better than the old Lucas Flamethrowers, so I just needed to find some modern
driving lights that preserve the look-and-feel of the original Flamethrowers. They need to be
6 inch diameter round units, very shiny, and preferably with a clear front lens. I looked high
and low, and finally decided that the Hella 1000 Rallye lights came pretty close. The new "FF"
design allowed the front lens to be perfectly clear! The body is magnesium alloy but the housing
is plastic. Fortunately some of the plastic is silver. When mounted, most of what you would
see is the large expanse of silver reflector. I bought a set of these (the entire kit for less
than what I might have paid for ONE NOS Lucas Flamethrower! I am very pleased with the looks of
these and I think they will fit-in perfectly.
2002-Dec-10 Well, I feel like a broken record. The shop was running slowly and the repair has been taking
forever and ever. BUT.... Things have really taken off at the shop. There has been
concerted effort to make the projects get started and finished. At this point all the
paint on the entire car has been sanded and surfacer applied. Most of the surfacer has been
sanded smooth, and the car is almost ready for some major painting. The "rally-style" vents
have been installed in the fenders and the job is just perfect. The surfacer now needs to
be sanded on the fenders. The only construction/repair left is to fabricate and install
the boxes on the inner fender. It really does look like there are just a few months left to
the entire project. With all this outside work, the inside will look tatty by comparison....
Light Tan Leather seats, here I come!
2003-Jan-25 There has been substantial further work on the car. It will be entirely repainted. Only
the hood and front fenders have yet to get the first coat. The ducts have been welded to the
inner fenders. The windshield has been removed to repaint the frame. It had been painted
black, and I am changing it back to body color (to more closely follow the TR4A paint scheme).
The engine is nearly completely reassembled. We are just waiting on a few parts. With the
seats out of the car the rug looked quite tatty. I ordered a new TRF Medium Tan wool carpet
with Light Tan binding. I will get a Light Tan seat and Panel kit to go with it.
2003-Mar-20 There was a hiatus for a few weeks in the body work, but the engine work is complete.
It is now ready to drop into the engine bay. The seats had the covers removed. The foams
underneath were totally rotten. As it turns out the frames were from a 250 and very rusty.
We decided to dump the frames and get others. We settled on later TR6 seats which have a
press-on back similar to the 4A, but also have a readrest and an adjustable back. We will
remove the headrest and keep the adjuster. The new tan leather seats are really nice.
With a little care the leather will hold-up for decades.
2004-Nov Well, as you can tell, the work was progressing at a minimal rate at PowerBritish. The
business is going down the tubes. Brian has a day job and works in the shop as time permits
(or not). After much effort I contacted Brian and arranged for him to hand the car over to
me. Thankfully the fender vents are complete. They were the significant fabrication work that
needed completion. The engine is assembled. Brian told me that after a few minutes of engine
running the special high flow water pump that I bought in England from Cambridge Motorsport
seized. The engine then overheated and hot coolant spewed everywhere. He then re-repainted
the engine. Now it needs to be re-reassembled and fired up. Also noticed that the paint is
not a match to the original, but is nice. Unfortunately, the hood and inner vents are not
quite the same color.
2004-Nov I got the car to Matt Bakes' shop, Triumph Rescue. He and his assistant Chip do excellent
and very timely work. First order of business: Fabricate the special rear mount for the
transmission (it is a special 29% ratio that will offset the 4.1 rear when cruising).
Then find and seal the transmission leak. Then assemble and run the engine. Then respray
the hood and inner vents.
2004-12-4 I went to Triumph Rescue and did some work on the car. I double checked the cam timing.
It is the TriumphTune "Road" cam. I have the settings. 0.13 valve lash. #1 intake max,
open at 108 degrees. I was not able to use a "degree wheel" so I did it the hard way. I
used tape to measure the circumference of the crank pulley, and then calculated the
distance to 108 degrees. I then reapplied the tape to the pulley and turned the crank while
watching the intake valve movement. I found that the cam is as close to perfectly set as
I can measure. Certainly accurate to a degree or better.
2004-12-11 Brian neglected to include MANY of the little bits and pieces for the car. Like the carburetor
linkage bars. Fortunately I had a spare set. I installed the rebuilt carburetors (including
SM rich needles). I assembled the distributor and set the points. We went to spin the engine
and found the starter was DEAD. Out comes the starter and in goes a spare. ZOOM it spins.
Foomp, up comes the oil pressure and GLUG GLUG goes the oil out TWO holes. Brian evidently
was planning on installing an external oil feed to the rockers (a good oil pump does not
really need one). I was wondering what that braided hose was doing in my box of assorted
parts. We put some spare plugs (actually bolts) into the holes, and the oil pressure is
fine. We hot wire the points and VROOM it starts. It runs really nicely. I have to enrich
the carbs and get the engine running a little on the rich side just to be safe. Now the car
is off to the painter this week. The week after I will be able to spend about 3 days straight
on the car and sort out the wiring harness in the engine compartment. I will run new headlight
wires (cables) off a set of relays I stuffed into the regulator box I will also run the power
(also off a relay) to the electric fan which replaces the crank-driven fan, and saves 5-15
horsepower of constant parasitic drag. (The fan runs at 10 amps or less, which means 130 watts
or less. Even at a 10% efficiency of conversion of engine power to fan power, this is at most
2 horsepower of added drag from the alternator, and only when the fan is ON!)
2005-2-5 Well, the painting was done well. In contrast to what had been done before at Brian's. About
80% of the car had to be repainted. Poor surface prep, fish eyes, THIN coat, etc. all combined
require an extensive respray to make it right. In the end, I probably would have been better
off just selling the car as-is. But I got it fixed up to the point where someone would WANT to
buy it. I sold it to a friend, and he is planning on carrying through the modifications I
had begun. Since the alternator puts put enough power to melt the wire it uses to feed the
rest of the car, and since several power hungry items will be added, we thought it wise to
upgrade the wiring. A wire capable of carrying the full juice of the alternator will be run
to the ammeter and then on to the battery. A new fairly heavy wire will be installed to run
the new items: powerful headlights, an electric radiator fan, and some other accessory lights.