Ralph Whitaker
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Posts posted by Ralph Whitaker
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16 minutes ago, RobH said:
Decadence ! This is a sidescreen car
. A period radio would be manually-tuned and any clock would be wind-up.
Seriously, if you leave something like that connected you haven't really isolated all the electrics, so it depends on what you are trying to achieve. If there is a radio which needs continuous power you can't put the battery switch in the earth lead because the radio probably earths through its mounting bracket.
Only suggesting !, I don`t know what Bob has wired up.
I do have a clock in my 3a , though no radio.
Ralph
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54 minutes ago, Charlie D said:
Bob,
I notice that you have a small wire that goes off somewhere that is connected directly to the battery earth even when the switch is switched to “off” .
I would guess tracker or something similar, but what other devices may need to always be alive?
Charlie.
Clock?, or memory to a radio.
Ralph
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On 4/23/2024 at 9:32 AM, ianc said:
Have just read this clip from the Daily Express:
Last year, Adrian Flux warned ethanol is "corrosive" with E10 fuel offering a higher risk of damaging metal, plastic and rubber in the fuel system.
This can lead to many problems such as issues with the carburettor and may even lead to broken fuel lines.
The motoring group also stressed the extra water consumption found in E10 fuel could also backfire for those who store their classic cars.
They added: "Water absorption is a problem if your classic car sits idle for long periods of time, as many classics do. The longer you leave it, the more moisture will build up and this can cause serious issues for driving and safety."
Always try to use E5 from Esso or Shell, as the Esso version may actually be E-Zero, if you are in the right part of the UK.
Also helps if tank kept pretty full rather than near empty in periods of little use - especially in cold, damp weather.
Ian Cornish
Saw something last year about Shell, in some areas it was ethanol free, but that was coming to an end. I used to use only Shell, but now use any brand of E5 but always use an unleaded additive that includes an ethanol stabiliser, Classic valvemaster (used to be Castrol), and recently got a bargain deal from MGB Hive by buying a case of 12 bottles of Duckhams Classic fuel treatment. The Duckhams brand used to be owned by Castrol, so I suspect the bottle contents are the same.
Ralph
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9 hours ago, chastr4a said:
When fitting an alternator instead of the original dynamo, do you need to change anything at the voltage regulator?
Don`t forget also that the Alternator is Negative earth, so you need to reverse the battery connections if you are not already Neg earth. Also radio if fitted will be affected .
Ralph
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On 4/21/2024 at 1:17 PM, RobH said:
It sound as though you may be emptying the float chambers more quickly than they can replenish, though 5-10 seconds is pretty short for that so perhaps just emptying the jet tube . Are you sure there is good flow from the float chamber to the jet, through the bits you have replaced? Have some particles of that old ptfe tape caused a blockage?
+1
I would take the jet tubes out and check they are clear. Problem starting sounds like classic weak mixture, will start but as soon as it does the pistons lift and lets more air in and the mixture goes weak.
Ralph
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I would think that would be OK. My own is a Clarke Industrial from Machine Mart, 3hp, 50litre tank, 14cfm. Cost £450 ish pre Covid, but see it is now over £700 for the same one, yikes. I find that with the smaller tank it obviously switches on and off more frequently, but is quicker to fill the tank again. I did all the painting on my car using this compressor and it kept up with my spray gun well. On the limit when using air tools though, only short bursts possible, but when using impact wrench it is generaly short bursts anyway, but the DA sander drained it.
Ralph
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Rob beat me to it, I had just been looking on ebay and came up with the same Durite relay. Or go with Rob`s other suggestion if you want the original look.
Ralph
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13 hours ago, Nigel C said:
I've never hear of a rattle and would totally agree with the feedback on here, replace if uneasy. I do have references to "other" filters that fit, can I run them past the collective to make sure they are correct?
Bosch 0451 103 033
Mann W719/5
I can add to that Mahle OC21. A short filter that fits on my TTR3 spin on adapter. Good quality filter made in Austria and an OE supplier to auto makers. Have been using them for years on all my vehicles .
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I had a brand new relay from one of the main suppliers, which looked original from the outside and was quite expensive. When it failed after 12 months I took it apart and found that inside was a tiny modern cube relay about the size of a sugar lump. The outer tin container was just to make it look like an original. I went to my local auto store and bought an accessory relay for about £5 and fitted that. Has been working fine for the last 3 years, and my overdrive gets used a lot as a 5th gear as I have the low 4.1 back axle fitted.
Ralph
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On the early type control box as shown above the fuse is not "in" the control box, it is quite visible on the outside connecting 2 terminals. To my knowledge there are no changeable fuses inside later control boxes.
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Bin the Grosse jets. Caused me no end of flooding problems which were all sorted when I went back to standard .
Ralph
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Most filter elements are bonded in to the cases, there is a good chance that the drop has broken away some of the adhesive so it is probable that your filter has become partially detached. That would be like poking a hole through the filter element allowing unfiltered oil through and into the engine. Do you still feel happy leaving it on?, I know I wouldn`t.
Ralph
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18 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:
...and the extra peg gets close to or touches the sidescreen?
Yes it is close but the sidescreens just miss them.
Ralph
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I never realised that there were different covers for the hood sticks. My car is a 3a and I was sent a cover with the long ears, so just added the missing peg to the B post.
Ralph
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Had a run on Sunday to my first show of the year at Elvington Air Museum. Great day and entry included to the museum. Lots of aircraft to drool over, but I had to take a photo of this. Surely designed by Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame.
Ralph
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Mine has 12. In fact 14 if you include the ones under the corners of the hood sticks, though these were impossible to use with the cover I bought so I used them along the back edge instead, about 18 inches apart, to stop the cover billowing up. The pic makes it look as though these extra studs are right in the corner but they are not, they are 9 inches either side of centre. I attach these first, then put the hood sticks down and wrap the cover up and over to attach the back studs.
Ralph
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16 hours ago, RMP NC said:
Maybe I am wrong but I did not put in an "interior plinth". First, my mirrors were further back behind this open area where everything was inside the door. Second, I used rivnuts with washers on the back of them and inside the door skin. This provided strength for the rivnuts, to mount the mirrors. I could access the area behind the mirrors inside the door by rolling up the window and removing the door card. Admittedly there were no instructions in my Tex mirrors but I did not take it that any part of the kit was for interior plinth.
Whoever drilled that original big hole made a bold choice. As they say go big or go home.
Seriously, you may be better to just reuse the big hole, unless you plan to fix it somehow. Clearly a proper fix would require metal work and painting the door at least. Maybe you get by with putting in a rubber plug or something that is not too visible. Maybe paint the plug the same body color.....
+1 That plastic plinth is the same as the fitting used on the Tex mirrors as seen on the red car. I just fitted one on the passenger side of my Dolomite. The plastic block and base gasket are held to the door with the self tappers and the mirror is then attached to the block with a grub screw. The originals had an alloy mounting block which was much better, but now we have these cheap plastic items. Somewhere I did read that they now have to be able to detach in case you hit a pedestrian which is why they are plastic, but I think this is just an excuse for cheapening the kit.
Ralph
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I would hesitate to use anything magnetic, the reason being that I used to use a couple of magnetic strips, the type usually seen in commercial kitchens for holding knives etc, on the inside of the back doors of my van. Very useful for holding screwdrivers etc. However it was not long before the shape of the magnets on the inside could be seen on the outside as they attracted minute particles of metal, presumably cast iron from brake drums and discs, which started to rust. Also could not be simply rinsed away with a hosepipe without first detaching the magnets from inside the panel.
Just a thought,
Ralph
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15 hours ago, TimG said:
Ralph do you have photos of the two mounting points in the floor & tunnel? Do the re-enforcement plates need welding in or are they just sandwiching the structure?
I will check later but I am sure I have a picture of the tunnel mounted stalks, as I stated before the outer mounting I used one of the body mounting bolts which is a smaller diameter than ideal, certainly smaller diameter than the bolts supplied with the seat belt kit, but at least picks up on a stronger area. I had the advantage that all my body mounting bolts were new as I had only just put the car together, however I found later that it does interfere with the seal travel with standard seats and I cannot slide my seats fully back, by about 2 inches. As I am a shorty it doesn`t really bother me.
In an ideal world yes the re enforcing plates should be welded in to the shell for extra strength, it would certainly make fitting the belts easier, but you could drill a small hole in one or two corners of the plates and bolt them in place with a couple of small bolts, in fact I have seen some on ebay that already have a small hole in one corner. This does nothing for strength but has the advantage of holding the plates in place while you screw the anchor fittings in.
I didn`t weld mine in as the bodywork was already finish painted and trimmed, but it needed an extra pair of hands to hold the plates in place especially on the tunnel.
Will look for the photo`s later when I come back from work.
Ok I found a picture, it`s a bit hazy, but if you look closely you can see the centre stalk at the bottom of the picture mounted into the side of the tunnel, the carpets are in place but the mounting hole is about 1.5 inches up from the floor and forward of the rear heel board. Across the passenger side you can see a right angled bracket bolted to the floor with the outer body mounting bolt.
Ralph
Ralph
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2 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:
I think ….The original clutch flex for TR4A was a bit of plastic tube with a steel fitting at each end, like the really moderns have (5~250~6)
Moss do show an alternative braided hose, part no TT3141, that does look a lot like Phil`s set up, so perhaps it was one of these that has given way.
Ralph
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The clutch pipe should be a proper flexy pipe, same as a brake flexy pipe. It is a wonder that didn`t blow off the first time you used the clutch. It looks like someone has just cobbled it together with plain pipe and rubber hose so you may not have the correct fitting on the other end of the rubber pipe either.
If the hole only goes in to the bell housing for what ever reason, then a suitably sized rubber grommet should suffice.
Ralph
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Aldy, I`m not sure which TR you are working on, but some have a motorcycle type fuel tap low down in the engine compartment. It is there so you can disconect the fuel line without the high mounted tank draining. If you have this tap check that it is open (pulled out).
Next, have you got enough fuel in the tank?, may sound obvious, but if the tank was completely empty just putting one gallon in may not be enough to cover the outlet pipe which is generally raised off the bottom of the tank as a guard against sediment getting in the pipe.
Try putting a length of pipe direct to the pump inlet and the other end in a can of fuel and see if the pump primes then using the priming lever, at least then you will know that the pump is OK.
You should not need an airline to check that the pipe from the tank is ok, you should be able to push a rubber pipe over the end of the pipe in the engine bay long enough to be able to blow down whilst listening for bubbles in the tank (open the filler cap). Lung pressure alone should be enough to achieve this, although if there is sufficient fuel in the tank and the tap is open the usual problem is stopping the petrol coming out on it`s own under gravity, and if this is not happening then you almost certainly do have a blockage somewhere.
Hope some of the above helps,
let us know if you find the problem,
Ralph
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10 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:
Racetorations do the windscreen stay you are mentioning
https://www.racetorations.co.uk/product/windscreen-top-rail-brace-tr2-3a/
This looks like one would have to dismantle the windscreen frame to drill and fit the top mounting unless you already had the hardtop brackets.
I use a sucker mounted mirror all the time, I do not have the original dash mounted mirror. I have it at the top centre of the screen and although it drops off sometimes it is fine. On my Vitesse I had a similar mirror which was stick on which was better. Why not just get a sucker mounted one for the times when you have the boot bag fitted.
Ralph
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I have the Securon 500/30, the reel is mounted low down on the side of the wheel arch, actually mounted through the rear seat floor on my post 60,000 car, using one of the right angle brackets provided in the kit. (I don`t have the rear seat). The belt then goes up to the swivel part mounted on the top of the wheel arch where it comes easily up over my shoulder and across to the buckle arm mounted on the side of the tunnel. I picked up on one of the body mounting bolts for the lower attachment of the lap strap.
You will need at least 3 re-enforcing plates per belt, or 4 if you fasten the bottom of the lap strap through the floor.
Using the inertia reel belts does mean you can lean forward to reach the hand brake when you need to, and they recoil out of the way when you take them off unlike the fixed type that end up dangling out of the door.
Ralph
Front disc &caliper conversion
in General TR Technical
Posted
Would a 6mm spacer between the wheel and hub not provide enough clearance?
Ralph