BritishRacingGreen
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Posts posted by BritishRacingGreen
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Lots of good advice on which parts to take already. Sufficient to say in my experience, spare parts are like lucky charms. The ones I take I never need. It’s the parts I leave behind on the bench that I want.
Parts aside - If you plan to drive in Europe then take the TR Register Euro Breakdown Directory (which I believe the Register is updating) either as a hard copy or as a PDF on your tablet or phone
When we came to a halt on the recent Liege-Brescia-Liege Rally with a loose drive shaft, we found an excellent British Sports Car Garage in Treviso Italy on page 42 of the Directory. Moreover as we were 60 miles away, RAC Euro Assist agreed to trailering us to the Garage – MG Autofficina, rather than the local Fiat franchise. MG Autofficina fixed our car in an hour.
And, if you're not multilingual take a hard copy of a parts Catalogue for your car – the Moss Catalogue for example.
When you get to the garage of your choice it solves the language problem of how to describe the fault to the proprietor/mechanic who may not speak English.
You can point to the part on the page – a picture speaks a thousand words. It worked for us.
However after our impromptu pit stop I can now remember the Italian for “my nuts are loose”
Bon voyage.
Martin
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Pete's (aka bfg) advice makes perfect sense.
With regard to gaskets and gasket materials I’d like to pass on the following contact whom I had the pleasure of meeting and competing against on the TR Register Liege Brescia Liege Rally very recently.
John Hicks is the owner of Ram Gaskets – based in Cornwall https://www.ramgaskets.com
Ram gaskets are gasket manufacturers and gasket material suppliers.
Moreover John is a fellow Triumph enthusiast and drives a beautiful TR4A.
When we got into conversation during the rally I found him very knowledgeable and very helpful.
Check out their web site – they offer technical advice, material samples, bespoke solutions and there is no minimum order quantity.
I will definitely be beating a path to John’s door in future.
Martin
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Roger H
We’re also thinking of visiting the IOW and I’ve now added Brading Roman Villa to our list of places to see.
However we may wait a week or two for the air to clear since its rumoured the last old roman to visit left a malodorous impression.
Veni Vidi Flati indeed.
Martin
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On 20 July 2019 at 7:41 PM, John Morrison said:
Just curious,
going to be taking the TR4 up 2500M, thats 8,000FT plus.
Can I expect running difficulties, on Strombergs and a pretty standard set-up?
John.
John
You asked if you can expect running difficulties at high altitudes.
I don’t expect your Strombergs to give you any problems but that’s potentially the least of your worries.
I found that I was back-firing all the way to the top of some of the high Alpine passes on our recent European rally.
The cause? – Drinking too much carbonated water before the ascent because the bubbles expand at the higher altitudes….
And so in the interests of marital harmony, in the close confines of a TR cockpit – stick to plain water if you want to avoid those embarrassing bottom burps…
Or take a dog so you can shift the blame…
Martin
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This is by way of a testimonial to a British Sports Car Garage in Treviso near Venice:
MG Autofficina 31100 Treviso, Via Brigata Marche 13. Tel 0422 303258 – the owner Mauro Michilin and his enthusiastic mechanics helped get us back on the road when we had a drive shaft work loose on the recent Liège Brescia Liège Rally.
We were recommended to the garage by the President of the TR Register of Italy, Federico Zaffalon, who was extremely helpful when we limped to a halt miles from anywhere, near the village of Claut off the SR251.
When we arrived at the garage we immediately knew we were in safe hands. To the left of the entrance was an MGB, to the right a TR3 and at the back of the garage a 60’s Jaguar saloon…
A picture speaks a thousand words and so using the exploded parts diagrams in a Moss catalogue we were able to convey in limited Italian, the area of the car that we felt needed attention.
The car was fixed in a couple of hours and the invoice embarrassingly small.
If any club member is touring the Veneto area I recommend you make a note of this garage just in case.
Treviso incidentally is a beautiful city too, well worth a stop over and exploring – while your car is being attended to…
Martin
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On 20 July 2019 at 7:41 PM, John Morrison said:
Just curious,
going to be taking the TR4 up 2500M, thats 8,000FT plus.
Can I expect running difficulties, on Strombergs and a pretty standard set-up?
John.
We experienced no engine difficulties at all on the recent Liege Brescia Liège Rally, a 2200 mile plus course including 8 Alpine passes.
We have twin 175 CDSEV Strombergs on a standard US spec 76 TR6.
However perhaps this Porsche driver couldn’t say the same as we watched him trailered away down the Passo di Pennes (7254 ft) …
Martin
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There are some great bargains.
Thanks for this Conrad.
Martin
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Matt thanks for that.
If your lawn mower has twin Strombergs, no wonder its called a Suffolk Punch.
Yours must be the fastest lawn mower in Somerset by a country mile.
Martin
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Thanks for your comments Stan. That’s very reassuring.
As well as packing spare diaphragms for our European trip, as an added precaution, I’ve now also fitted a stainless heat shield from Moss to lessen the likelihood of vapour lock reoccuring since UK motoring organisations report “Ethanol's higher volatility can contribute to 'vapour lock' issues in older vehicles when operating temperatures are higher”.
Which they will be in July in Italy no doubt.
Fingers crossed and thanks.
Martin
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Graham
Yours is one of the last TR6s made on the last day of production.
FYI I came across this recent article in UK Classic Car Weekly about the oldest surviving TR6 up for sale.
Number 15 off the line, made on the the first day of production, 19 September 1968.
The UK owner imported it from Canada.
Martin
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Graham
My guesstimate is that your car was built on Monday July 12th or Tuesday July 13th 1976.
My US spec car was built on March 6th 1976, a Saturday, which suggests a 7 day working week and it was the 4226th last car! I doubt if the production line stopped for bank holidays so there are approximately 130 productive days between the March 6th and July 14th the last day of manufacture. The average output therefore was 32 cars per day in the last four months of production.
The last car off the line was 58328 and since your car was 47th from last it suggests it was made a day and a half before the line closed on Wednesday July 14th if output rates continued at the same 32 cars per day to the very end.
An easier way to be sure is to contact The British Motor Museum at Gaydon, Warwickshire and purchase a Heritage Certificate for your car which will list details such as build and despatch dates, engine and body numbers, colour scheme, and details of factory fitted equipment.
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
e: enquiries@britishmotormuseum.co.uk
Martin
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Just released -
Martin
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Nigel, Paul
Thank you for your encouraging comments.
I didn’t think the fuel came into direct contact with the diaphragms.
However during last year’s hot summer (certainly in the SW UK), the TR6 under bonnet temperatures were often very high, so much so that I experienced vapour lock several times and so wondered about the effect of ethanol fumes rather than liquid fuel.
I now doubt the quality of the two diaphragms I originally fitted. I can’t recall the supplier except to say they weren’t from Burlen, so perhaps the quality wasn’t up to scratch.
BTW the split diaphragms caused a drop of over 15HP at the wheels when the car was tested/tuned on a rolling road this week so I’ll definitely be taking spares to Europe this year.
Martin
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The last pair of diapragms I fitted to my California spec car only lasted 2 years before splitting, over which period the car covered less than 10000 miles. It got me wondering about the quality of the rubber and the effect of modern fuels.
The Triumph TR6 Repair Operation Manual (brown book) recommends the Carburettors are overhauled every 24000 miles to keep them in good order. But that advice was published in 1976 long before fuels containing ethanol became common place.
Burlen Carburettors in Salisbury England, supply diaphragms made from Hydrin which is a high quality rubber but as ethanol levels in fuels are rising, how long do Stromberg diaphragms typically last now and so how frequently should they be replaced?
For example, should I be thinking of routinely changing the diaphragms annually/after 5000 miles whichever is the sooner to mitigate the impact of modern fuels?
What are other users experiences? I’m particularly looking to our friends in the USA for comments.
Martin
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Hi Rob
A bit of a trek (120 miles) but one option would be to contact Revingtons TR in Somerset.
They supply a range of windsreens for TRs and fit them too.
https://www.revingtontr.com/tr4/triumph-catalogue/an
No connection, just a very happy customer who can vouch for their helpfulness and expertise.
Martin
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6 hours ago, astontr6 said:
Hi Martin,
I have a 1973 CR TR6 built in Jan 73 it came with the vitreous enamel badge which it still has! Derek, I expect can tell us the full story on these badges and I expect that JRT used up all their old stock before going to the foil type?
Bruce.
Hi Bruce
You’re probably right. Your January 73 TR6 was one of the first CRs and one of just 2246 CR cars made in 1973 according to Bill Piggot. Whereas BL made almost 13000 CF cars in 1973.
You can imagine if the BL managers miscalculated stocks, even a box of 200 of the old style vitreous badges would keep the CR production line going until February 1973!
Martin
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Alan, on page 163 of Bill Piggot’s book “Triumph” you will find the badging details by model year. The vitreous enamel TR6 medallion on the front grille of early TR6s (part number 717060) changed to a cheaper metal foil decal with the introduction of the CR/CF series cars.
I believe RENAMEL was the name of the company based in London which made the early vitreous medallions but I stand to be corrected.
It would appear all you have left is the aluminium backing.
Moss have the vitreous enamel TR6 medallions listed (£216) https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/badge-plinth-assembly-enamel-badge-grille-717060.html but they are out of stock.
The later foil badge and plinth assembly part number ZKC1224 is in stock and considerably cheaper (£71) https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/badge-plinth-assembly-foil-badge-grille-zkc1224.html
Hope this helps.
Martin
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I replaced my 42 year old US hood cover this year with an original quality cover (complete with reflective stripe and zip out rear window) – purchased from Rimmers UK. The quality was exactly the same as the original fitted to my car in 76. I then had the cover fitted to the original hood frame by Revingtons in Somerset who made a first class job. If you wanted to see the quality of fit and finish, I’m happy to meet up for a coffee and a chat somewhere between Hampshire and where I’m based in Dorset.
Martin
Dizzy Doctor contact?
in General TR Technical
Posted
Andy
Just over a week ago (4th September) I collected a distributor from Martin. He said he was going on holiday the following day.
I’m not sure if he said how long for but the impression I have was a couple of weeks.
Martin