BarryG
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Posts posted by BarryG
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No you have'nt lost me - i'm still taking it all in. And thank you all very much for you input.
Just a quick recap, when I bought the car some 4 years ago, the first thing I did regarding the hydraulics was to replace both front calipers as it failed its first MOT, owing to
an unbalanced front brake reading something like 10% - 60%. So I would have thought that the rubbers in the brand new calipers should last for 4 years. At that time I replaced the fluid with DOT4. (I ran one litre through the system)
As the Clutch was leaking I replaced both the slave and master cylinder and filled it with Silicone, the blue stuff.
A few months ago I was told by a garage doing some work on the car that I had water in my brake fluid, no mention of a mix of Silicone and DOT 4, so again I replaced all of the fluid with DOT 4. Then a few weeks ago doing a regular inspection I noticed that the fluid in my master cylinder was a tad muddy looking. So at this stage I replaced the rubbers in the master cylinder and replaced the fluid with another litre of DOT 4. The only old rubber now that could be left in the system is the four flexible hoses at each wheel and the rear slave cylinders. The rear cylinders do look like new, I checked them when I first bought the car, the external rubber looks like brand new and the metal looks shiny clean as though they were both newly fitted by the previous owner (I cannot guarantee this of course).
I think the route I will take is to replace all four rubber hoses, and yet another litre of DOT 4 and see how it goes. If there are still issues then I will replace the rear cylinders.
This surely must resolve the issue as everything will be new. I have never put silicone into my braking system, so if there is any in the system it must have got past several changes of fluid.
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I have owned my TR4A for about 4 years now. And last year I attended a garage inspection day organised by our group.
This has resulted in a fair amount of work being done to the car. One of the smaller issues was that there was a fair amount of moisture in my Brake Fluid. I immediately replaced the brake fluid by running a litre of DOT 4 brake fluid into it, when finished I could see the bottom of the brake master cylinder ie clean fluid.
Since then I have done about 750 miles and all of a sudden the fluid in the master cylinder resembles the bottom of the Thames, all muddy/dirty. So yesterday I ran another litre and a half through the system and was shocked at what came out. I have a jam jar where the bottom half is black and the top half is clear.
I hasten to add that all during this time the brakes have always behaved themselves, worked fine every time and no sponginess.
So somehow on the first attempt I could not have replaced ALL of the fluid - puzzled.
Looking at the forum I see members mentioning the brake restrictor valve and what a waste of time it is, it seems that the best advice is to throw it away. Would I assume that this would be a simple case of removing the internal spring and seal? Could the restrictor valve be responsible for blocking off part of the system and some how I have freed this up by replacing the fluid twice?
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks
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Thanks Roger
I think a little bit of fettling is in order then ;-)
Thanks for your help.
Barry
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Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Air Intake flap in the centre of the car between the wipers.
I have been trying to get mine to sit down flush with the surrounding bodywork, I have renewed the rubber seal but it is still sitting to high.
Has any one had any success with this? and if so what is the workaround.
Many Thanks
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Finally all finished, it would be an understatement to say that it has been a bit of a mission.
So all went well except for the following:-
The right angle drill bit I really did not expect to last that long, the reason I got this particular one was that it had the smallest profile.
Costing a mere £5 odd from Fleabay (inc postage), it lasted till I had a hole drilled - see photo. At one point towards the end the drill bit bit extra
hard and totally wrecked it - fit for the bin now.
The second problem was that the Plug Extractor straddle had nothing to rest on squarely. The face of the block might be flat but around the core plug hole it has a raised section. I got a short piece of exhaust pipe and modified it as per the photo. This meant that the straddle of the extractor had something square and firm to push against.
I was concerned about swarf entering the chamber, I used liberal amounts of grease on the shortened drill bit towards the point of penetration.
When the plug finally came out I was suprised that the plug was about 20mm deep but the channel it was in was getting on for 40mm so quite a safety margin, I was able to very carefully clean the core plug hole, without anything falling in.
I then modified the original pipe (again bought on Fleabay) so it was just a right angle, jubilee clipped to a 30mm diameter rubber pipe, up the side of the engine to an oil catch tank behind the wheel arch. Depending on how things go I may move the catch tank position to next to the battery and get a bigger/better catch tank.
Yesterday I put a litre of oil in when it was 1/2 way on dip stick, I then did a 50 mile drive including motorway driving, when I checked the oil tonight it is about 1/8" down from full.
Too soon to say I know but I am quietly optimistic, will see what the consumption is like after a week or two.
Thanks for everyone's help and guidance.
Barry
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Thanks Stuart
Finally got the plug out about half hour ago, it was a great feeling. Just sorting out pipework and routing. Will report back later today.
I have the bit between my teeth.
Barry
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Thanks Chris, that's very good oil consumption. That's the sort of consumption I would like to try and aim for.
Today I decided to go for it and take the crankcase breather plug out as I think that is where my main problem lies, excess crankcase pressure. I am at the point where the core plug extractor is partly screwed into the plug. That has taken all day
My question now is, does anyone know how wide the oil way is directly behind the core plug?, as I don't want to go in too deep with extractor.
See what tomorrow brings.
Barry
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Hi Roger
If you have access to a forge great, if you need any close ups just let me know . . .
Failing that have a squiz here
Not sure how succesfull it will be, but it certainly looks good and strong, it needs a 9/32" pilot hole.
Barry
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Thanks Roger. I always thought that the oil cooler probably wasn't doing much of a job as it had been fitted behind the front valence so zero air flow.
Chris the extractor I bought from fleabay, came from the US. So how many miles do you get between 3/4 down and 1/2 way down on the dip stick?
Barry
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My mission continues. . . .
Continuing on from previous inputs, By venting my rocker cover to the carb intakes my oil consumption is about 850 miles
to a litre, previously it was 2 litres in 1250 miles, so big improvement.
As a recap I have ditched the PCV valve, but feel a lot more could be done.
I have bought a vent pipe, a core plug remover and a right angled hex drill driver.
Yesterday I shortened one of my drill bits and experimented drilling through a core plug from a Frogeye Sprite, I placed a
white card underneath to check for swarf and placed grease on the drill bit, the card was clean - I think the trick is to let the drill bit cool off prior to putting the grease on and finally piercing the plug.
So today I thought I would go for it. I put the car up on the stands and the access from underneath is far better than down from the top. Then I offered up the pipe with the plug to find that the pipe is too close to the base of the oil filer. I must point out that I have an oil cooler fitted with a filter adapter (fitted by the previous owner) and it is this adaptor that is extending the filter downwards. So tools downed for today to get advice from more knowledgeable people than I.
1. Do I abandon and use a electric pump and vent from the manual fuel pump orifice? I take on board Rogers earlier comments about this not being a good route to take and the preference being to vent as per the TR4.
2. Is a oil cooler really necessary? I don't do track days, drive sensibily and have an electric fan fitted. Without this adaptor there would be room to change the filter with the vent pipe in place.
3. Do I conceed with the general opinion that it is not worth running the car with oil up to the MAX mark, as it will only blow it out anyway, may as well run the car at about half full?
I have attached a few photos.
Thanks for bearing with me.
Barry
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Hi All
Been following this with great interest.
I am probably getting on for halving my oil consumption since ditching the PCV valve. I now vent the rocker box cover to the back of the air filters.
I am currently running a mechanical fuel pump but believe that there is probably more I could do to improve things.
I have been thinking of switching to an electric fuel pump then using a plate with vent to take excess pressure to a oil catch tank.
A pump that comes highly recommended is
http://www.webcon.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=48
it seems to have good reviews and does not run at too high a pressure, apparently a regulator is not required. Has anyone got any experience with this make of pump?
Also reading back through this long thread I have just read Rogers comment about venting from this position is a no no as it could suck the engine dry. Roger any chance you could elaborate on this. Was this in case a pipe was simply sent to below the chassis rail causing suction or some other reason?
This afternoon I thought I would try just as an experiment running the engine on the drive and take out the dip stick, I was surprised to see oil splashing out and when I put my thumb over the hole could feel a slight pressure and this was at tickover! (Just for the records, plugs are clean and no smoke out the back). My wife was also surprised when I showed her and revved up to about 1500 rpm, unfortunately she was right in the firing line and wearing a white shirt ????
To me fitting an oil catch tank would reduce the pressure in the sump. So are many running an oil catch tank and what are the improvements or otherwise experienced?
Again sorry this is a bit long.
Barry
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Hi John
Have now fitted brand new wire wheel adaptor nuts and all seems fine, no marks on the inside of the wire wheel. I think the nuts that were on there had seen better days.
PYU940F in answer to your question 'Does anyone know the size of the shorter ww studs' and what is the thickness of the wire wheel adaptor.
I took the opportunity to measure before re-assembly (not official figures - just what I have fitted).
Wire Wheel Adaptor 6.5mm
Studs (from tip to tip) 29.46mm
Hope this helps
Thanks for all of your help - now on to the next issue ;-)
Barry
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Hi Rich
I am based in Bracknell, thank you very much for your kind offer. I ordered a new set of nuts about an hour ago.
I think when I get them I will (a) see how they compare to my existing ones and (
see how well they do up.I personally think that my nuts have seen better days (can't believe I just typed that ;-) , so will be interesting to compare.
I think with new nuts if there are still problems then yes I agree probably pointing to the studs, but on examination I do reckon
the studs look OK.
See how it goes.
Once again thanks for your input.
Barry
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Hi Roger
Now that the garage has warmed up again I have just run the checks you suggested.
Yes I can get 8 full rotations for each nut across all four studs, I have noticed that it is easier if I start with the taper in the nut facing away from
the hub, if I start with the taper inwards it is very tight starting off. I have also counted the number of threads down each nut, all have 8 'peaks', one nut has 7.
Have examined the stud threads and I cannot see anything wrong with the threads, so am begining to think the previous comments of the threads being buggered probably apply to the nuts. I think I will try and get 4 new ones today and see how they all compare.
Barry
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Hi Roger
Yes you are right the photo shows it without the splined adaptor.
The strange thing is that all 4 nuts are exactly the same, one side has a kind of taper and the other side does not. It suggests to me that the nuts should only go on one way, which up until now I have not really noticed which is a worry.
As the garage is a tad cold right now I will check the number of turns/visible threads first thing in the morning and let you know.
Many thanks
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Thanks Mick and Simon for your input. Look forward to seing the photos for comparison.
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Here is one side of the nut.
Sorry I haven't uploaded photos before. Hope this shows my observation.
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Here is one side of the nut.
Sorry I haven't uploaded photos before. Hope this shows my observation.
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Here is one side of the nut.
Sorry I haven't uploaded photos before, so for now 1 photo per post. Hope this is OK and shows my observations
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Here is a photo of the stud.
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Dont know if anyone can shed any light on this one.
I have just finished changing both wheel bearings on the front off side. I noticed when fitting the wire wheel adaptor back on that the nuts appear to have some sort of taper in that the threads on one side of the nut go all the way to the edge, yet on the other side of the nut the threads taper off leaving a small unthreaded collar.
When I look at the studs the threads are fine however they appear to stop short slightly off the hub face.
So my concern is are they worn out? Are they as designed? And presumably the nuts should go on the studs the same way around ie tapered towards the hub face.
Sounds a small point but the thought of something horrible happening sends shudders etc.
Many thanks
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Just in the throws of replacing my engine mounts on my 4A.
I guess it is better to continue on the same subject than start a new topic.
This is going to sound like a silly question, but confused.
The mounts were the rectangular ones. It has been recommended that I go for the Landrover round mounts which I have.
However I have just removed the nearside rectangular mount (which is well bu**ered) and there is a large circular washer between it and the chassis.
Looking at all my parts catalogues, they both say use as required.
What would the verdict be? Naturally the new round engine mount is deeper than the old rectangular one sp should I not use the packing washer.?
Many Thanks.
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Try Coverdale Carpets.
Had a full set from them, excellent quality at a good price.
Barry
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Hi Roger
As you know I ditched the PCV valve a few weeks ago and ran a hose to a plastic milk bottle alongside the radiator.
I experienced an immediate improvement in tickover (more consistant) comfortably ticks over between 600 - 700.
This week I have ditched the milk bottle in favour of drilling the airfilter tops and inserting 2 x 90 degree plastic elbows,
these are connected to the rocker box take off via a 'Y' splitter. This I think is copying the TR4 venting method, in fact
your photo you posted previously of your TR4 gave me the idea.
All I ever got in the redundant milk bottle was water, I have been wondering if this has basically been condensation maybe
mixed in with a bit of oil fumes. I strongly think this is probably down to the engine getting hot and then cold, as
did the old fashioned single glazed windows.
Whilst I havent done the mileage you have I think I may be on target in halving my oil consumption which I am pleased about.
I have ordered the core plug remover I mentioned previously from the US which is still in transit, if when I receive it, this may
become my Christmas break job, in between the turkey and mince pies ;-)
As regards the colour of my plugs, I have been running a Petronix system with a Flame Thrower coil. I set my plugs to a wider gap
as somebody on this forum has mentioned you get a fatter spark. It certainly helped my plug colour.
As this oil consumption issue seems to have affected so many members, I have been wondering if it would be worth conducting some
sort of survey. Maybe if all the right questions were asked the answers would help others. eg.
What is your oil consumption over 1000 miles?
Do you have a PCV valve?
If not how is the rocker box vented?
Do you have a crankcase breather?
Has there been any modifications to the engine etc skimmed head, fast cam etc etc
I appreciate that the TR4 and TR4A left the factory with certain configurations, however over the years many users have made numerous
changes.
I believe with Google you can set up a questionnaire and just publish a link to it. The replies may then give us a definative solution.
Sorry to waffle on.
Barry
Brake Fluid Issues
in TR4/4A Forum
Posted
Hi Peter
Just tried carrying out your suggestion of separating the clear fluid floating on top of the crud and mixing with water. The answer is that it does'nt, two layers clear water and misty liquid.
So i am not totally sure how what i think is a silicone based fluid is still in the system after several changes of fluid using DOT 4.
I said previously that my rear slave cylinders looked like new from previous owner. Have just gone through my receipts of work recently done on rear suspension rebuild and found that the rear cylinders have both been replaced. So now the only old rubber in the system must be the four flexible pipes.
So I think now my only option would be to carry out yet another flush and replace all 4 rubber pipes.