Andy Moltu
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Posts posted by Andy Moltu
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Yes, that was the scandal that hit Austrian wines years ago.
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If we park the competition cars to one side as this is different to the way most cars are used, the consideration is what sort of driving you might do on the road.
if we assume a thermostat is used to mitigate the potential impact of overcooling, there is a case for fitting one if you plan to do a lot high speed motorway driving in warm weather. The motorway networks were less when our cars were current and probably less likely to do continental blasts. If the stat opens then the cooler is probably helping. If it rarely opens then your cooler is just bling.
Coolers can fail (generally come off poorly in badger impacts) so worth carrying a 1/2” but connect the pipes if the cooler fails.
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If you haven’t got an overdrive box you can fit a J type or an A type to your car.
However your car would originally had an A type. If you fit a J type you need to be aware the chassis mounts which take the weight of the rear of the box are different for the two. Not a problem as such but you would need an adaptor if you fit a J type to your car.
Does it matter whether you have overdrive on 2nd & 3rd & 4th or just on 3rd & 4th is about how you choose to use it. The appeal of a 7 speed transmission is countered by the spacing of the gears. If you have a close ratio box it allows 7 gears. However the torque band of the 6 pot might render this superfluous. O/d 3rd useful in traffic If otherwise in and out of 4th and o/d in top is good for motorway cruising.
Triumph/Laycock dropped o/d 2nd to limit the torque through the J type. Some assume this is a suggestion that the J is weaker but is almost bombproof in reality.
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The 3 pin plug output on most out alternators is meant to carry an intended maximum of 30amps to the loom. This was why alternators with significantly higher outputs such as the A127 have an additional output post to take some of the current. In theory you take this to the solenoid.
As has been mentioned already some have a terminal for directly sensing the battery voltage so the output voltage can be slightly different to that sensed by the wires going to the main loom, especially if the run to the battery is long and carrying significant current. Probably not significant on our cars where the runs of wire between battery, solenoid/starter and alternator are pretty short.
Additionally some have a terminal to drive an electronic tachometer, not normally relevant for TRs.
The benefits of high output alternators for our cars are limited. If it can deliver enough current to supply all the electrics, more output becomes irrelevant. Even with an electric fan, Bosch pump and heated seats the current draw is finite. Having a spare 30amps alternator capacity won’t charge the battery much quicker as the voltage is regulated.
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Looks like a Reg Bowler linkage.
He borrowed my Revington linkage and re-engineered it to make it less floppy. I never fitted the fast idle mechanism when I put the linkage on originally so wasn't there to copy
Personally I use my right foot to control the idle speed when on choke.
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I wondered if it was an April Fool but it’s dated 12 April!
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The parts catalogues May seen good but lead to a near uniformity of prices with less scope for shopping around.
The jumbles were using the catalogue and price lists.
I guess this is too small an issue for referral as creating a near monopoly.
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It's flammable, doesn't cool as well as regular glycol/water mix.
Having a higher boiling point isn't that relevant as by the time the engine gets that hot it's in big trouble.
By those criteria you could fill the rad with brake fluid.....
Antifreeze mixed with water and corrosion inhibitors has stood the test of time because it is effective at its job of cooling the engine, taking that heat to the radiator where the heat is lost to the atmosphere whilst at the same time preventing corrosion in the waterways and not freezing when it gets really cold. Too much antifreeze in the mix and cooling is compromised for no gain in corrosion protection and in most climates an irrelevant increase in level of frost protection. When did it last get down to -30C in England?
Yes it might not boil if you forget to put the rad cap, on but that's about as much as I can say in it's favour.
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I know Allan Westbury modified a set of these TR6 ones to fit his 4A.
The 4's A frame is a bit more curvy as I recall and likely to even more tricky to adapt and look half decent. Nothing to stop you making a set using flexible board covered in foam and vinyl and forming a lip out of metal to hook behind the H frame sides.
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Given compression, cam timing likely to be OK. Being a tooth out probably not enough to make it spit and bang, merely move the power band up or down the rev range.
Ignition timing - is that 11degrees btdc on the correct side of the distributor cam lobe? It's easy to put it at 11 after or rotate the dizzy the wrong way so you are on the closing ramp of the cam.
Have you got the firing order correct?
Butterflies mis-aligned butterflies or manifold air leak.
Metering unit being mis-timed probably isn't enough to explain this. If injectors are spraying you probably have adequate fuel pressure but no harm in checking it.
Fake plugs? **** condensor, cap or rotor arm? CP (3ohm) coil in a CR (1.5ohm) car?
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I remember an exchange with BT when my email address was “hacked”
They just wouldn’t accept that it must have been at their end in spite of the address it bounced back from one only being on my but webmail account and not one that was in my Outlook address book on my PC.
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BT email seems to have woeful security.
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Old tyres can be scary and I would guess UV related deterioration would be greater in Australia than the UK. Too many people assume that low mileage classics’ tyres will be fine because they have minimal wear and no obvious cracks. However they tend to go hard, less grip in the dry and truly dangerous in the wet. The handling/grip argument becomes irrelevant in these circumstances.
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Blue Hylomar (like Red Hermetite) isn’t intended for permanent contact with fuel so I wouldn’t use it in this situation.
The key thing is to get the mating faces clean and do up tight enough.
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Re torquing shouldn’t break the seal. Composite gaskets to compress with time and heat cycles. Most of this happens early on.
On a newly rebuilt engine, My preference is to do the 20 min run if breaking a cam in. Then a few miles up the road.
Off with the rockers and retorque. Do the nuts one at a time in the sequence in the workshop manual. As Mick says back of the nut a little so that if it’s stuck down you don’t have to break the static friction when tightening up.
Do again after 500 to 1000 miles. Most of the movement is at the very first retorque.
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Half of the time the rubbish parts are sold by most of the TR suppliers as their is only one manufacturer of that item!
Setting up a parts supply business is beyond the TRR - it simply couldn't compete with the established suppliers who have established supply chains, warehousing and staff.
I'm not saying it couldn't be done but the costs would render it impractical for a club run by volunteers. The spares development fund has historically worked with the parts vendors to use their clout and supply chain and the clubs cash to pump prime initial production runs that would not make commercial sense for the suppliers to do.
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I guess it was too expensive for a road car and the benefits of mid range torque were less relevant to the racers for whom top end power is more important.
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That looks to be be an example of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!"
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Just bear in mind that the original system was cobbled together by Triumph pinching every penny they could to get the Lucas PI system down to the budget allocation! So often the original in factory condition was marginal and as a consequence small deterioration can be enough to mess things up.
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Puzzled me.
I contacted several oil manufacturers when I wrote a article on ZDDP levels in the different 20/50s marketed for classic for the Leicestershire newsletter (TRipe).
They (Morris)were the only one of many to decline to divulge the ZDDP levels. Got a message back saying it wasn't just about ZDDP levels and how detrimental to catalytic converters it was. Missing the point that at the time there were very few classics fitted with cats and camshaft longevity was more relevant. Snotty tone to the email so I no longer buy my mower, chainsaw oil and other oils from them.
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Just looked on Ebay and westway list high zinc 20/50s in mineral and semi synthetic forms.
Whatever oil you get, it's worth checking it's got enough zinc.
Morris lubricants market a classic oil but we're not willing to divulge, what the zDDP content was(if any).
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I was advised by a family member who used to work in the petrochemical industry that not all oils are the same size in spite of the same designation. Different base oils with different viscosity modifier and detergent packages.
Poorer quality ones used cheaper base oil with a heftier modifier pack to meet the designation required. The concern is how the modifiers held up in use. Perhaps this isn’t that relevant for low mileage cars where oil changes are at lower mileages than when the cars were current.
The theory behind synthetic engine oils is that they use base oils that are an optimal fit with the grade of oil required and that they are less dependent on the modifier package and are less likely to altered by ageing in use and the viscosity changing. Semi-synthetic is a tricky one- what proportion is synthetic and is it blended with a quality base oil?
I used to use Valvoline until it’s price rose substantially & then went to Millers but when their local distribution centre closed, the deal the manager used to give the club went. Then went over to Westway, initially for their running in oil and then their mineral 20/50 when I rebuilt the 4a engine and then the semi-synthetic. The semi-synth seems to hold its pressure when hot better than the mineral. In the 6 the semi-synth gave the same pressures as Millers semi-synthetic did.
They happily state their ZDDP contact and decent prices which is a factor when you have 3 classics and their deliveries are prompt.
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That does illustrate the amount of time and expense it took back in the day to test tuning parts on the car and given the diminish size of the market, it’s not likely to be done again for the TRs.
John’s graph makes interesting reading. Could it be interpreted that the shorter the primaries the more likely that (at least on that engine) the more likely you will hit dips in the torque curve? Rather than fancy manifolds achieving the effect of the beneficial scavenging being desired, could it be more a case of less less destructive being the aim . The much longer primaries seemed to perform better in mid range but all were pretty similar otherwise. A curve for 50 or 60 inch primaries would have been interesting.
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Autoglym do a protective spray to reduce brake dust sticking to the wheels.
Not tried it so can't vouch for it, but have a spray that came with a gift pack to try in the future.
Waterless engine Coolant
in TR6 Forum
Posted
Probably the reason for the caveat with Forlife was the corrosion inhibitors used.
It is recognised that mixing some blue non-OAT inhibitors with some red OAT antifreeze can cause problems including gelling if the cooling system isn’t flushed properly.
The OAT ones currently used in modern cars have considerably longer working life durations than your standard blue antifreeze which required replacement after 2-3 years as the inhibitors become less effective/used up.