[TR5 Sump Gasket Oil Leaks]

Thanks John. Very useful. Any thoughts on which sealant to use? 
regards,

Denis

[TR5 Sump Gasket Oil Leaks]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply and your useful suggestion. I'll check for belling when I remove the sump. I'll search for your post. I have tried to remove my duplicated post but there doesn't seem to be a way of doing it. For now I have made it clear that it is a duplicate and will phone the office on Tuesday to sort it out.

Thanks,

Denis

[TR5 Sump Gasket Oil Leaks]

Hi All. I accept that this topic has been covered before but would like to get the latest thinking on how to cure it. On inspection, a lot of the sump retaining screws have blobs of oil on their heads, which presumably then drip and are replaced in an ongoing process. During driving oil is flung rearward onto the plate that is between the engine and gearbox. What is the best gasket to buy and which sealant should I use with it? Any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Denis

[TR5 Sump Gasket Oil Leaks - Please Ignore as duplicate]

Duplicated!

[Engine coolant Gasing]

58 minutes ago, stuart said:

I hope the cap you bought is a proper recovery cap with the two seals.

Stuart.

Hi Stuart,

Yes it has the two seals and correctly allowed coolant to be drawn back into the radiator as the system cooled down. In my case the problem might have been caused by heat soak, as suggested by MikeC...

Denis

[Engine coolant Gasing]

Hi John,

I experienced something very similar with my TR5 recently. I took it out for a run and then left it idling for a while in my garage. On checking around the car I was greeted by a pool of blue coolant (it has a water and Bluecol antifreeze mix) by the nearside front wheel. The expansion bottle had overflowed. I checked the radiator cap and it was not in great condition so have replaced it with a good quality stainless steel cap from Tudor through BBclassics on eBay. I have since run the car up to normal temperature with no issues. So I would try that first. The TR6 may run at a higher pressure that the 5 so you need to get the correct cap.

Good luck,

Denis

[Repairing a thread without removing the sump?]

The end of the helicoil tap is tapered and slightly less than 8mm in diameter. In all probability, as you say, an 8 mm drill held in an extension and mounted in a hand held drill will probably cut larger in diameter particularly at the start. I was fortunate to have the use of a pit and had a friend stand behind me and to the side to ensure that the drill entered the hole at right angles to the sump flange as possible. The aluminium alloy used is quite soft and with a little upward force had no difficulty in getting the tap to start, again whilst being guided by a friend. I took my time turning the tap half to three quarters of a turn at a time then reversing it slightly to break off the cut metal. It is worth noting that a stripped 5/16" UNF internal thread is going to be close to 8mm in diameter anyway. 

I hope that this helps!

[Repairing a thread without removing the sump?]

Quite possibly they are! It is often worth shopping about 

[Repairing a thread without removing the sump?]

Hi Casar66,

Just adding to the advice you have been given. A few years ago I did a similar repair on my TR5 using a helicoil at the front of the engine where there is an aluminium bridge piece. The biggest problem I faced was getting access to drill the tapping hole and tapping the thread.

For the tapping drill, the special helicoil drill is 8.3 mm in diameter. I bought an 8.00mm diameter drill, which has a 1/4" hexagonal drive (Bosch HSS Impact), then used a long extension in a drill similar to these that a friend had:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166437203294?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=132-gjzjq1i&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=dRwPbWsuRay&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Although the drill was 0.3mm less in diameter than the helicoil tapping drill, tapping into the soft aluminium was fine. 

I bought one of these extensions from eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155376972079?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ieousdxtq-u&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=dRwPbWsuRay&var=455580083734&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

This enabled me to mount the tap and tap the hole for the helicoil thread insert, swinging it beneath the sump. I used grease on the tap to catch the swarf. I did the same when I broke off the helicoil tang and managed to remove it from the hole, washing it out will some WD 40.

I hope that this helps and good luck.

[Sealing an interference fit]

Hi Jonny,

I suggest that one of the Loctite products, as already mentioned, would be the best solution. Going back to basic engineering there can be an interference fit, which will always require pressing in or a transition fit, which, depending on the actual sizes, can range between a light interference fit to a hand push fit. Perhaps you have the latter or an interference fit where the mating parts aren't round.  

Good luck!

Denis

[tyre age]

Thanks again for your helpful suggestions. I found this article from 2016 yesterday, which is quite interesting:

http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=63364c64c1bea2953642596e66a2463a&subId=2095273&u=https%3A//www.cinturato.net/images/test-classic-tyres-0716.pdf

Denis

 

[tyre age]

Hi Mick and Mike,

I use a tyre pressure of 30psi all around the car. The previous owner advised it. Mike, what pressures do you use?

Thanks,

Denis

[tyre age]

Hi All,

Thank you for your helpful suggestions. Having done some research into how tyres age I understand that they become stiffer and less compliant with time. As mentioned, my tyres are dated 2005. Could this explain why my steering is heavy at low speed rather than the tyres being the wider section 195/65 R15?

Denis

[tyre age]

Hi there,

If I might be permitted to join in....I have a TR5. My car is fitted with 2005 BF Goodrich Profiler 2 tyres and I am planning to replace them for the reasons given here. The size is 195/65 R15 and I find the steering heavy at low speed. I have been advised to switch to 185/70 R15 tyres to improve this. I am looking at Blockley tyres. Has anyone had any experience of these? Also, legally, do I need to change the spare wheel tyre to 185/70 R15 or can it stay at 195/65 R15?

Thanks

Denis

[TR5 Door Pulls]

Thank you all very much for your helpful replies and kind offers. I should have said that a previous owner had fitted the 4A chrome door pulls, so already have them. It seems that the standard black door trim is glued in place, which would work well for me as I won't use them to pull the door shut. I'd better start saving up for the more expensive trims or perhaps try to find some good second hand or NOS original trims.

Regards,

Denis 

[TR5 Door Pulls]

Hi All,

The door pulls on my TR5 have a gloss walnut finish that matches the dashboard but they are rather chunky and have started to split. Each is held in place with two self tapping screws and screw cups. I am considering reverting to what was fitted originally. Moss and Rimmer offer them under part number 812311 and 812321. However, there are two types with the vinyl/foam type being twice the price of the polyurethane versions. Has anyone had any experience of the two types? Also, how are they fixed to the doors, which is not apparent in the parts diagrams?

Thanks,

Denis

[TR5 rear trailing arm lateral location]

Hi All,

An update on this. I was at the Classic Car Show at the NEC last week and visited the Polybush stand. I explained my issue to one of their team and he confirmed that I should have assembled their bushes with soap and water and not the Superpro grease. He explained the way the bush is supposed to work. The outside diameter of the bush should be gripped by the trailing arm bore and the bore of the bush by the steel tube that is clamped in place. With this achieved, as the trailing arm moves up and down the bush works in torsion. in other words, the material twists. For this reason he stressed the importance of finally tightening the bolts that clamp the steel tube in place with the rear suspension at the normal ride height, i.e. with two people in the car. He also suggested that with the training arm rotating on the bush by virtue of the grease that is present then road dirt will contaminate the grease and it will work like a grinding paste. Looking at the car there is evidence of grey dust is accumulating in the grease that is visible. 

So, as a winter job I am going to remove the trailing arms, push out the bushes, degrease everything throughly and reassemble them with just soap and water. I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards,

Denis

[TR5 at Auction]

Hi Neil,

I have enjoyed following your threads on the TR250 and TR5. I bought my TR5 in August 2019 after looking for about two years. Along the way I saw some poor cars and some good examples and had one professionally inspected after which I decided not to go ahead. In the end my car appeared on Car and Classic along with another one and had a mad Saturday driving around the country looking at them. Pleasingly, the vendor of my car held it for me while I had it professionally inspected and he accepted a £1000 drop in the price due to a fractured door check strap bracket that had to be replaced. Whilst I have had to do further work on the car it has been great and have really enjoyed owning it. There are signs that the price of TR5s (and I guess also TR250s) has currently dropped so my advice to you is to keep looking and I'm sure that the right car will appear eventually.

Denis

[Seat Belt Retraction]

Thank you for your suggestions. I am relieved to read that I am not the only person with this problem! I thought that a slightly longer belt guide might help to stop the belt dragging so much on the vertical face of the wheel arch. I did source some from a company that makes motorsport safety restraints, but couldn’t remove the original guides without undoing the stitching so returned them for a refund. 

[Seat Belt Retraction]

Hi All. My TR5 is fitted with three point inertia reel seat belts. The reel assembly is bolted to the face of the wheel arch where it meets the rear floor, there is a belt guide fitted to the top of the wheel arch and then it is connected to the sill. It works fine as a seat belt but annoyingly doesn’t retract well due to friction between the belt and the leather upholstery that is on the vertical face of the wheel arch. Obviously, the return spring force is at its weakest when parking the belts.  The belts date from 2000 when the car was restored. Other than replacing the belts, which may not help, does anyone have any ideas to improve this? One suggestion I did find was to spray the surface of the belts with silicon spray…

Thanks,

Denis

[TR5 at auction]

It is interesting to note that the 2023 Practical Classics price guide has the price for a Concours/Dealer car at £52500, whereas a Condition 1 car is £39500. These are the prices you would expect to pay after negotiation. Condition 1 means well presented cars with no obvious faults. The guide can be found by searching for Practical Classics Price Guide.

Denis

[TR5 at auction]

Hi Tim,

During the auction in the live update it stated that the red TR5 sold for a disappointing £32k. I have checked and it didn’t sell as you say. Presumably, the three cars didn’t sell because the reserves were not met. Probably a good thing for those concerned about the market price of their car.

Denis

[Door Window “slip back”]

On 7/29/2023 at 11:58 AM, stuart said:

That will be slack in the winder cog, as you wind it up you take the slack out and then when its up and you release the winder then the weight of the window slops the slack back the other way. They can be repaired, just be aware if you swap it for a new repro the stub for the winder handle is slightly short so makes it difficult to get the pin back in unless you either delete the trim spring or cut it down.

Stuart.

Hi Stuart. I have a TR5, which I believe has the same doors as the TR6. Your comment above regarding the winder stub on the repro mechanism is interesting as when I bought my car in 2019 I discovered that the conical springs were missing. I bought new springs but simply could not fit them. In the end I concluded that there was enough “spring” in the door card to take up the slack.

[Knocking at the rear end of my TR4a]

Hi Paul,

Regarding your request for the tightening torques for the four nuts that secure the diff on the mounting pins, I recently helped a friend refit the diff to his TR6. I believe it is essentially the same looking at Moss. If I remember correctly the four pins have a shoulder so that when the nuts are tightened the large washers are clamped against the shoulders meaning that this has no bearing on the loading of the poly bushes. We couldn't find a tightening torque either but as it is a  "hard" joint with no stretching of parts to be expected it is secure at quite a low torque.  The nuts are self locking.

My best wishes at finding the cause of the knock!

Regards,

Denis

[Triumph TR5 Pinking]

Hi all.

Thanks you for your continuing suggestions and other information. I found Peter Cobbald's articles fascinating and consequently have learnt a lot more about the Lucas PI system. I am a professional engineer (retired) and actually joined Lucas in 1978, albeit Lucas Girling, and not cars but truck brakes and brake control systems. 

Back to the plot, I retarded the ignition timing by 2 degrees as suggested by Tom. On the road this seemed to reduce the pinking although I had just filled up the car with Shell V-Power, which is 99 octane. I also took out No 1 and 2 plugs and to me they appeared to be a good colour. Here is a photo.

I'll see how the car goes on runouts over the summer.

Thanks again,

Denis