Nigel Triumph
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Posts posted by Nigel Triumph
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New wiring, relays and Osram Nightbreakers will sort you out.
Totally agree, using Lucas reflectors on my TR6. I have the same setup with NightBreakers and relays on my GT6 but with Wipac reflectors. Not as bright/focused as the Lucas reflectors, and the silvering on the Wipacs has started corroding then flaking off after a few years.
Nigel
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Speedy Cables refurbish all types of gauge, pretty well anything from the dawn of automotive instrumentation onwards. They did a great job on my speedo and rev counter.
www.speedycables.com
Nigel
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Don't give up on your PI, when set up well it performs well. SU's, Strombergs or even Webers can't match the low down torque plus top end power of a well set up PI system.
Enginuity in Acton have a good reputation, my brother has used them for work on his TR5 and was happy. They should be well capable of sorting your PI problems:
www.enginuity.co.uk
Others here who are based in your part of the world are sure to have other suggestions.
Nigel
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Hi Bob.
I would do the test again but hot, if the readings are still out put a drop of oil in the bores and test again. If the readings come up it's rings if not valves.
Good luck Mark.
Good advice from Mark to do the compression test hot. Also remember to have the throttles wide open while cranking for the compression test.
I would expect a healthy engine to show somewhere around 140-150psi hot, with no more than 10% difference between cylinders. The difference between cylinders matters as much at the actual figures. Looks like No.3 could be a bit down on compression but the hot test figures without then with a few drops of oil will show more.
Nigel
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To add to the above, for a road engine, I would do only the following to improve flow through the ports:
- Match the inlet manifold precisely to carb venturis and inlet ports.
- Triple angle cut for inlet valves/seats.
- Match the combustion chamber volumes.
- Possibly a light skim to raise compression ratio slightly but don't go too far because of the low octane rating of modern petrol (even the super unleaded stuff).
Nigel
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David Vizard has been the guru of cylinder head modification for
yearsdecades, I well remember buying his books in the 70's then modifying a Mini head.You could try this book of his:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-Flow-Cylinder-Heads-Design/dp/1934709646
It's generic, not specific to TR's unfortunately, but covers the basic principles well. Be warned though, it's easier to make a head flow worse than better when modifying, and what may suit a racer certainly won't improve a car that spends its life on the road.
Nigel
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There are plenty or options to upgrade the feeble standard brakes on the TR7. S&S can supply kits for vented front discs with 2 or 4 pot calipers and a range of disc sizes depending on your wheel diameter. They even offer a rear disc conversion.
http://www.ss-preparations.co.uk/
Nigel
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Option 2 - I've seen it said that you can reverse the lower wishbone arms (to lower the front). But I have never read a practical account of it being done. So again - has anyone actually done this and if so are there any snags to be aware of?
Re Option 2, I have scaled off the WM drawing and reckon that this would effectively increase the bump stop gap by about 16mm. Since I only want a 10mm increase I could then add a spacer of 6mm thickness to the spring.
It's fairly common practise among the Reliant Scimitar fraternity to flip the wishbones over then bolt the lower shock/spring mount to the underside of the wishbones to lower cars at the front. It's TR front suspension on Scimitar Coupés and GTE's of course.
I haven't tried this on my Scim or TR, as I didn't need to lower either. I've tried searching Scimitar Web but couldn't find any definitive advice. If you're seriously thinking of going down this route, you could try joining at http://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/(don't need to be a club member to join) and I'm sure someone will give you an answer.
Nigel
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Glad you've got to the root of the problem.
As for Polybushes increasing diff noise, from my experience on a GT6, the blue bushes made no difference.
I recently replaced old rubber with new blue poly. The new bushes seemed softer or more compliant than the old when fitting them. There's no discernible difference in noise from the diff, and that includes some hard driving. Perhaps the red competition bushes would transmit more noise, as they are much harder.
Nigelk
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Corrosion to the front corner of the wing and sill should not be an MoT fail. Had the problem been at the rear of the sill, it's a different matter as it's close to a seat belt mounting so definite MoT fail.
To repair properly, the wing must be removed. The sill behind the wing will almost certainly be rotten. Water runs down from the plenum drain, behind the wings and sits on a ledge on top of the sill. Best built in rust trap ever!
Good luck,
Nigel
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Simon
Did mine on my own on my driveway earlier this year, my drive is gravel based so placed some sheets of galvanised still on ground to stop ramps/jacks sinking.
My method was
1. Drive on to ramps
2. Raise off these with jack and support with stands (wood between chassis and stands), i increased height about 50mm (2") above ramps so wheels can rotate.
3. undo three drive shaft points
4. remove middle and read section of exhaust
5. manufacture a wooden crate to support diff & mount on end of trolley jack
6. Raise to support diff and remove 4 mountings
7. Lastly lower to ground and slide it out on trolley jack.
Only real issue i had was angle of the car was at, versus angle the trolley jack raises the diff on re installation, i did it on my own but had to wiggle it & sweat a bit to make it align up.
Pictures attached
Andy
Did it exactly this way last month. Works a treat and takes less than an hour to remove, same to refit.
Nigel
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Interesting feedback - thank you.
The Indian chain I've purchased is not Renolds, who have an excellent reputation for motorcycle chains. Transmitting the power of a bike engine whilst covered in road dirt is surely more demanding than the life a a timing chain, sheltered inside a casing with plenty of oil.
I've examined the Indian replacement chain and there is indeed a little roughness on the edges of some links; it seems likely this could hasten wear to the tensioner blade. I will look for a better quality chain, Renolds or similar.
Nigel
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Here are a couple of observations from fitting new exhausts on 6-cylinder cars.
I have a Phoenix 6-3-1 on my TR6 with a single transverse silencer under the boot floor, same shape as the original. It fitted easily enough, though a tiny bit of filing around the manifold mounting studs was needed. When brand new the silencer gave (to my ear), a nicely muted yet sporty note. After a couple of thousand miles it started to get louder. 10,000 miles on, it's settled down but really is louder than I expected, borderline irritating on long runs.
On my GT6 I have a semi-sports system from Bells.I ran it first with a single box at the back, and the exhaust note was fairly loud with a pronounced rasp. Later I fitted a small centre box, and now with two silencers, the rasp has gone, leaving a sporty exhaust note which isn't loud enough to irritate on a long run.
If you have the choice of one or two boxes in the system, I would advise two for the sake of long-term peace and quiet. Or maybe I'm getting more critical with age!
Nigel
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I need to fit a new duplex timing chain on my TR6.
The one sold by a leading parts supplier is made in India. I'm undecided whether to go ahead and fit it, or source a UK or German made replacement. Any experience or views from the forum experts on the quality Indian timing chains?
Nigel
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Either pink OAT or traditional blue silicate can be used but a word of warning is in order.
Most likely your car will have been filled with blue antifreeze before. If changing to pink, all traces of blue must be flushed from the system (including the heater matrix) before filling with pink, as they are incompatible. The advantage of pink is long life, as much as 10 years I believe. Blue needs to be changed every 2 years as the anti-corrosion additives have a limited life.
Unless you can be sure of flushing out all the old antifreeze, stick with blue. However, I did a complete flush on my TR6 8 years ago and switched to pink. It's been fine ever since but probably needs changing soon.
One final thought... I've heard mixed feedback on waterless coolants and am not tempted to take the risk.
Nigel
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Compare and contrast with classic Triumph bikes...
Like TR's, 80-90% were sold overseas when new, mainly in the USA. Today, many Triumph bikes have been brought back to the UK. I know, as I have a 1970 TR6R 650 originally sold in New York state.
In the bike fraternity, it makes no difference to value or desirability where it was sold when new. True, there were some differences in specification, for example the US-spec bike has a smaller fuel tank. But today, they are all appreciated and valued for what they are, lovely old machines.
So why are TR5's so highly valued? The law of supply and demand. Relatively few TR5's were made, punters want them, then the market takes care of pricing.
As for the TR250 supposedly masquerading as a TR5 on eBay - anyone who has done a little research can see from the listing that it's a US car converted from carbs to PI. If a potential buyer isn't prepared to learn enough about his target purchase, caveat emptor applies.
Nigel
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The fit & forget solution is to get the tacho converted to electronic. Speedy Cables did this for my CP-sseries TR6. They fit a modern electronic package inside the original instrument. Looks totally original and works perfectly with none of the usual needle flicker.
Nigel
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+1 for POR-15.
Nigel
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Hi Marc, besides the fact that there is no diaphragm to break at the SU
there is no real reason to swap.
But if you remove the pollution control on the US cars or do something good
to the power of the engine in most cases it is necessary to change the needles
and there the Zenith Stromberg offers very limited choice of needles.
Although only very few people will do the serious investigation with AFR
measurment on the proper needle. This may still be the reason to pray for SU.
In the WWW we can find many recommendations for a better needle instead.
Totally agree with Andreas' comments.
I have the original twin Stroms on my GT6. After rebuilding them about 10 years ago and setting up carefully, they have held their tune well and perform fine on my near-standard engine. I would only switch to SU if tweaking the engine and needing a larger carb and/or a wider range of needles.
Nigel
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Fitchetts have a lot of panels, including for TR's.
Old Tony (now sadly passed away) showed me around their warehouses a few years ago. Amongst all sorts of buried treasure he a had a part of original Stanpart front wings for a TR6 - and this was literally a week after I'd bought a pair of Heritage wings for my 6 from another supplier!
Must be worth a phone call.
Nigel
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Many modern rubber replacements are poor and don't last like the originals, radiator hoses, suspension bushes, steering rack gaiters and so on. If a fellow Register member has found a source of good rubber components, it's definitely worth following up.
Nigel
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Try pressure bleeding. Gunsons Easibleed uses the pressure from a spare tyre to force fluid through the system at about 15psi. The Easibleed reservoir keeps both parts of the master cylinder full throughout the process. It's worked for me on many different classics, including my TR6.
Nigel
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And another plus one!
It was a great day and Pete Cox is certainly the guru of gearboxes, if not everything TR.
Well done tothe TRR for setting up these seminars.
Nigel
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Thank you for your thoughts guys. Thanks also to Alex for excellent advice from the HSE. I will let you what I decide but rest assured, it won't be the "cheapramp"!
Nigel
Classical Dash
in TR6 Forum
Posted
I've used Classical Dash for my TR6. Excellent dash, door tops and they veneered a panel I made for the H frame to match.
Not the fastest though. Work in this industry seems to proceed at about the same rate as trees grow!
Nigel