Nick Webster
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Posts posted by Nick Webster
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Bit shocking to re-read this thread. I've just checked and at least I am still alive, so please do post some pictures of your trim.
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Cork is in the list of materials than can be adversely affected by ethanol in fuel. I have no experience myself, but have read that some older car owners have experienced shrinkage of cork seals. Some kind of non natural rubber seal seems to be the way to go.
Nick
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This car was owned by Martin Stalley, a member of the Essex Group in the mid 1970s. I have a photo of it at a meeting. It was a bit ruff. Perhaps someone from the Group will know what became of him and possibly the car..
Nick Webster
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Aside from the discussions about axle modifications, Stan's car does not sound to be particularly "hot" and still suffers wheel spin. I too have had this - Stan calls it Leadfoot. I call it Triumph linkage. I have run side screen cars modified to a cable throttle and very nice they were too. My car currently on the road has the standard set up and I have the dickens of a job feeding in the power from a start. This is all down to the linkage, relatively new components which I have adjusted till I am blue in the face. It is acceptable though is still a bit on or off and a smart geataway at junctions will still break traction. I am sure there could be ways of improving it by changing some parts - partuclarly the bell-crank, The ultimate would be to fit a cable again but I am loath to do that on this particular car so I just live with it.
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Mention had been made of the fabric piping. The reason this is not much advertised is that most trimmers will make it themselves from off cuts. It can then be color co-ordinated to choice. There are various thicknesses of piping cord available and then vinyl or leather is simply sewn round it. It can even be done on a home machine, but for best results will require a piping foot which compared to the standard foot is off-set. Cost about £15. Whether round piping or flattened is correct for TR2 wings has been the subject of previous debate in this forum.
Nick
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I have trimmed out complete classic buses - some pictures to be found in this album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21640011@N07/albums/72157630287399370
My tips would be:
Under no circumstances paint the panel before hand because the glue will eventually disolve the paint and even if it stays stuck, lumps can appear much later.
I use Alpha glue, previously made by Dunlop. In their range is a high temperature glue that will not be affected when the Sun shines directly on it. This is what professionals use.
You do not say what kind of vinyl you are using. So called "expanded vinyl" which has some stretch and is on what appears to be a fine knitted backing is the LEAST satisfactory and is intended to for seat covers i.e. areas that are not stuck down.It is also the most easily available because that's what everybody tries to sell on fire resistant grounds. You can still find vinyl with the same backing as used by Triumph. This is thinner than Expanded. Avoid so called "Rexine" which is quite thin but actually these days intended for book binding. I have not seen trimming spec Rexine in a long time.
Even the non stretch vinyl will become stretchy with glue on it. Handy but sometimes a worry if you have cut out instrument holes. Don't panic, it wil shrink a bit when the glue dries and small air bubbles will go.
I don't like spray glue from a can although a proper glue spray gun is a different matter. The can glue sits on top of the hairy fibres of the backing and fails to bind. I use a spatula thinly spread.
Prime the vinyl with glue. Let it dry and when you are ready to go pop a bit more on to activate. After this, when the the glue faces seem almost dry to gentle touch, that is just right. You might want to experiment with this.
Hope this is of help.
Nick
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Mind your eyes now...
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I could not tell you how much wear is too much slack as a measurement, but I was taught to assess chain wear against a new chain by gripping a link of the chain and holding the whole thing up flat (i.e. link face upwards) and compare how much it droops compared with a new chain. Takes a bit of finger strength for larger chains but is a good way of spotting how much wear has taken place on each link. Ultimately it was just common sense judgement of course. The worst of worn things were always archived in a black museum.
Nick
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You could also consider sealing with a Dowty washer, which is a metal washer with a bonded oil proof sealing insert. This will enable you to get a good seal without having to turn down so tight that an ordinary rubber washer oozes out or as in the case of a harder sealing washer so tight the rocker cover starts to deform.
Nick
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Make sure that there is definitely meant to be an O ring. If you have an early TR2 gearbox with overdrive on top gear only. it might not have one. When filled to the correct oil level they just leaked until the level goes down a bit. I tried fitting an O ring and the overdrive did not drop out of gear properly and stayed engaged, even in reverse which can be fatal to the box if you don't realise. I don't think the parts manual illustrates the early box. Also sometimes early boxes have been modified. Just take care. As recommended an overdrive expert should know.
Nick
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As I recall, Triumph were very concerned about continuity of supply regarding SU carburettors because the company had bad labour relations and was being badly affected by strikes in the early 1960s. Delivery was patchy. The Stromburg CD (constant depression) was actually part designed and developed by Standard Triumph who I think went so far as to put money into the firm along with Zenith. Having gone to the effort of doing all that (carefully avoiding SU patents) it is of course logical to use one's own product. I would suggest that a return to SU occurred partly because that company continued to update the detail of the design and security of supply was resolved.
Nick
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This car does not look like a "barn find", but I wonder if you know of its history? Has it been on the road continuously in South Africa? Being a hot climate, old fuel in the tank might have part evaporated if it has been laid up for any length of time. I'm not at all sure of the sulphur levels allowed in African petrol, but I know that it has not been as low as we have enjoyed in this country, even before latest legislation - especially given the age of the car. As a result there will be a certain amount of chemical sediment best described as varnish. Modern fuels will leach this off the tank sides and it eventually gets on the spark plugs and renders them useless. Spitting and farting and loss of power when the plugs get up up to temperature is the symptom. You can try cooking the plugs over a gas ring and you might get some life back but it won't last. Before you spend too much money on filters or distributors, try running the car until it starts spitting and farting and then quickly pop in a new set of spark plugs before it gets cold. If it then runs OK it is a good clue that the old plugs have got the lurgi. Keep running and the new plugs will probably go the same way. If this is the problem you cannot filter the fuel - you can't even physically see this problem - you will have to do something drastic like steam clean the tank.
Nick
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An oddity may be, but I find that it does provide an interesting window into Walter Belgrove's design philosophies. To clarify, when I say " Design philosophies" I mean the lines that make a particular designer recognisable even without knowing they "did it" . I don't think for a moment that he was trying to make a modern Triumph Roadster, a design he had nothing to do with anyway. If you draw it out simply in "lumps", similarities between TRX and TR2 are very evident. Looking front to back, there is a bulbous centre section flanked on either side by slightly less bulbous areas containing the wheel space. Same with TR2. In fact the TR2 revision of the rear end from the original TR (known as TR1 - sorry Bill) is very much more like the TRX than the first effort. The original bob tail, and the cut away doors were I suspect some kind of order from on high to "make it like a Morgan and MG". Belgrove's problem, if one might make so bold, is that he seemed to like everything a bit plump. Hence the phase I Vanguard was not a million miles away from where many other car designers thought shapes were going after WW2; it was just fatter than everyone else's design. The same can be said of TRX. At the 1952 London motor show there were quite a few open car designs that were broadly similar. Indeed the Autocar's correspondent devoted a few column inches to what they called the "slab side" issue. This recognised the difficulties designers had in getting some kind of style into the side aspect of a car without recourse to swooping wing lines. In praising the Healey 100, he even suggested that MG cutaway doors were dated, but conceded that the Americans liked them. Thus if one takes a truly unbiased look at photos of cars displayed at shows circa 1952 /53 it can be seen that TR2 was a little bit dated even before it went into production and a slimmed down, smaller TRX might have been much more like what some of the "bespoke" design houses were suggesting for the future. Of course not everyone will agree with me...
Nick
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That has reminded me that the Foden 4 litre two stroke diesel, into production 1948 featured an alloy crankcase with wet liners. Mk1 engines featured two heads for six cylinders and driven hard the heads might warp if the engine was shut down before being allowed to cool by ticking over for 5 minutes. Hence on the Mk2 Foden introduced individual heads for each pot. This was assembled to the liner by sustantial studs, and then bolted down to the block. The liner was sealed with a rubber O ring just below the top of the block face and another lower down - a complication being that as it was two stroke, blower air entered through the side of the liner. It was top seated in so much as it was hanging from the head and there was nothing at the bottom of the liner to hold it up.
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The Jowett Javelin had a wet liner engine - flat 4 to boot - with an alloy crankcase. Prototypes were running in 1945 with sand cast blocks and production in 1947 swiftly turned to die cast. It was not a stiff as it might have been and they never caught on to the long head studs that Triumph were quick to discover. Hence blown head gaskets were a problem. Le Mans Jupiters used Wills rings. As did some Imp engines I think.
Nick
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Well actually, if "TR" simply stands for Triumph Roadster, which it does, the first "TR" was of course the 1946 Triumph Roadster, built until 1950......incidentally the 1952 prototype must be called the 20TS, not TS20 (that was the 20th TR2 built)....Bill P.
What strikes me as most remarkable, considering the commission plate designation of TS - sports - is how the subsequently developed prototype came to have a badge on it saying TR2. Why not TS2?
Nick
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Sorry, rather a case of standing back and expecting that someone else will reply. To confirm: the "hockey sticks" are indeed birch ply and sanded round at the edges.
Nick
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Seems an opportune time to mention that although these days we all seem to be obsessed with a healthy charge (trying to avoid the word positive here) and the subsequent need for an alternator, it was not always so. Even when the TR was new which in the grand scheme of things is not that long ago, it would be expected that a night time drive would involve some discharge by the battery to supplement the dynamo. The useful ammeter would help you calculate how long you could keep this up before the battery was so low you could not expect the starter motor to turn over the following day. Most of the time all was well if you had a healthy battery. In ye olde times cars were not even fitted with voltage regulators and the ammeter would help you calculate when to swich off the dynamo to avoid over charging the battery. You would then proceed with a discharge showing on the ammeter and armed with the knowledge of the amp hour rating of your battery and a little mental arithmetic could calculate when you would need to turn the dynamo back on. Or just guess which seemed to work reasonably well. Personally, it worries me not at all that my ammeter shows a modest discharge as I cruise along at night with lights and heater in operation.
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Well overdrive should be to the far side (in this case extreme left) of the heater switch, but as far as I can tell that knob has a short word on there - probably fog. There's something very odd going on around the gear lever area though, with a leather gaiter and what looks like some kind of lever pointing backwards. Could this be a manual overdrive lever? There have been discussions on manual overdrives on this forum in the past. I note also it has a late speedo with a large main beam indicator light, but that is a minor point. It is very red isn't it?
Nick
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Water has a higher specific gravity than oil so sump contamination will result in a higher oil pressure reading on the gauge. It does not take a lot. Water is of course a rubbish lubricant so in this case a healthy oil pressure is not a good thing. It is not likely that you will detect any deterioration with the running of the engine, but mechanical wear rates will be severe. It may be nothing but it is worth keeping an eye on it in case it persists. Statistically things are most likely to fail at the beginning or end of their life (Google "bath tub curve" for the detail of this). It is not normal for condensation to build up in an engine that is running at correct temperature. If you detect moisture - likely places are in the oil filler gauze, dip stick or breather vent you should question whether something has gone wrong with the fitting of your head gasket or figure of 8 seals. I trust the head nuts have been re-torqued at some time since the rebuilt engine was first run?
Nick
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Last time I sprayed cellulose - which is a while ago now - I used a sealer coat first to avoid the dreaded wrinkle finish because it wasn't bare metal and I was not too sure what was on it already. It was a bit of a pain to do, so I'm interested to learn that the suggested 2k primer is not affected by cellulose?
Nick
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To judge from my Flickr viewing stats a few people are looking at the photos so I had a look for some more and have turned up a couple taken at the same time, though only one of the TRS. The other is Reg Woodcock's TR3A. The are in the same set ("Cars") if you scroll down.
Nick
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That advert would have been 1979, Rod brought the car to IWE Donington one year, '78 or '79, I can't remember which - he had the car for a long time, it started off around £12K if I recall correctly, eventually sold to the Willhire collection later in '79 for closer to what I'd offered in the first place, around £8K.
I'm not convinced it was quite as original as the advert suggested, but it's always difficult to know with such an unusual car and so little contemporary detail record.
Cheers
Alec
I took some pictures of the TRS at Donington which I have posted to my Flickr account. This link will take you to one of the pictures and if you look in the set there are a couple more plus Reg Woodcock's TR5. Bit grainy I'm afraid and in these digital days of course I would have taken dozens more!. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21640011@N07/8354936863/in/set-72157603399503386
Nick (Faded Image).
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Well despite all the dire warnings about not contaminating brake components, if you read deeper into brake servicing literature you will more or less find you can clean metal components with whatever does the job... providing it is absolutely decontaminated when you have finished. And of course the reservoir has to be taken off and given a good shake. You can't do it in situ. Depends of course what the inside is like . Ironically, brake fluid itself would be my first port of call. It strips paint after all. Let it soak over night. I then might consider a bit of cellulose thinners, which will evaporate dry. Follow up with clutch and brake cleaner, preferably from a new pressure spay can with a tube on the nozzle to swoosh about. It should be pretty clean after that but I always, repeat always, finish with several generous washes in Methylated Spirits. This does not attack rubber but unfortunately, being an alcohol, does not dissolve hydrocarbon oil either, which is why I would not use anything like petrol or a heavier oil, which might be quite effective but also might carry the risk of leaving a residue. The Meths should shift the last bits of rust dust. Never be tempted to drop anything into the container to agitate the rust. Or as I have actually seen, grit blast the inside. The inside was originally tinned against rusting and if you can see that this is breaking down badly then you really should consider a new reservoir.
Nick Webster
(Lockheed high pressure continuous flow servos and hen's teeth a speciality).
Engine colour
in TR2/3/3A/3B Forum
Posted
Another vote for FRE in light blue Hammerite. Was definitely a "hammer" finish. My father had one in 1965.