[Wheel studs for minilite replicas?]

I have been regularly using a 12v ratchet gun to tighten the wheel nuts on my 4A fitted with minilite replica alloys . Taking off the wheel today to ease sticking brakes I noticed the studs were all stretched at the neck. Obviously too much torque from the non adjustable gun so I need to replace and hand torque in future.

Question- which wheel studs do I need for the alloys, those for wire wheels or steels? I would guess the wire wheel studs are longer to allow for the thickness of the spline and that would be similar to the thickness on my alloys but is that correct?

Advice please.

Thanks,

[Carbs]

i agree with the linkage theory. In my case the nut on the carb spindle that the linkage fits into ( very scientific description- apologies) was coming loose allowing air ingress which bu**ered the fuel mixture and gave higher tickover.

These nuts should have a tab washer to stop them coming undone.

[Thinking of giving the 4a a bit more punch]

Hi Osbert, as you may have guessed there is more than one way of skinning a cat!

When looking at upgrading my engine a bit as you are I was advised to look at the'breathing' first.

I have kept the SUs but fitted uprated air filters, a sports manifold and Phoenix straight through exhaust.

Next step was enlarged pistons, fast road cam, balanced crankshaft, flywheel and propshaft. When fitting an uprated camshaft you will need to change the SU needles,this was done on the rolling road.

I have kept the mechanical water pump but replaced the mechanical fan with electric.

When tuned on Wiltshire Garage's rolling road it pulled 140 HP but will still pull away happily at 30mph in top gear.

I was led to believe that there is no point on spending money on the engine internals until the airflow is optimised.

As far as brakes go I have seen no need to upgrade the rear drums, just make sure you have good pads in the front.

Cheers,

Ollie

[Fan Belt Pulleys]

Hi Jonathan,

I converted from wide to narrow belt some years ago as part of an alternator upgrade. It is a move I would definitely recommend. Among the supposed/actual benefits are:

 

Easier to change the fan belt. The wide belt fouls the cross beam/ steering rack on removal and you have to either move the rack or jack up the engine. No such problem with the narrow belt.

 

The wide belt puts more strain on the water pump bearings

 

Replacement belts are heavier and more expensive than the narrow ones.

 

Because they are thicker and heavier wide belts are more prone to slip and I have heard absorb more power.

 

I bought one of the Moss kits which includes both water and alternator pulleys but despite using their'special' alternator adjustment kit had to adapt it to fit.

Talk to one of the suppliers about this before you buy if possible.

Cheers,

Ollie

[Oil cooler TR4]

Loved the "useless upgrade" thread but also love my Ali radiator and leccy fan. Probably the fan is the most effective part of the 'upgrade'. You are right though that copper conducts heat better than Ali, so why do modern cars all have Ali radiators? Cost? Cant just be that surely?

[Oil cooler TR4]

Hi Mark,

I was also thinking of an oil cooler on my 4A and was advised to forget it for normal" spirited" driving. I have upgraded to an Ali radiator and electric fan and while I appreciate this is an indirect and probably more expensive way of keeping the oil cool it does allow the oil to work at normal temperature in colder weather while ensuring I never( dangerous word) overheat.

 

 

What I have learnt is that it does not pay to use cheap oil. One question though, while I now use Millers classic 20_50 the Penrite .au site recommends 20_60 for TR4 & 4A.

I know this is all down to choice but was is the difference likely to be?

[Battery Conditioner Cream Crackered or Not?]

Can reinforce the recommendation for the Aldi charger. Have two they are great. Wouldn't be seen dead in a lidl!

[Armstrong Lever Arm Dampers]

Hi Andrew,

I had been following the CV thread without realising it was started by you. An interesting and informative thread.

It has certainly convinced me to stay with my Teflon coated splines particularly as I have gone for the shocks rather than lever arms.

I can now see your predicament having already converted to CVs and wish to stick with lever arms.

Doesn't it show that upgrading one component can have unforseen consequences on another.

[Armstrong Lever Arm Dampers]

Unless you are an originality fanatic my advice is replace them with one of the shock absorber replacement kits. I bought the relatively cheap TR Shop kit and have been really happy with it. The ride is much better. I have read that some of the much more expensive kits are better but I guess the more you pay the more you have to justify it!

If you do go down this route make sure you get a kit that uses the existing mounting holes, much easier to fit and you can always change back if you wanted to although I don't know why you would.

Ollie

[Locked up brakes]

Have only found one dot no. 0907 but presume others are on inside. Not too bad I wouldn't have thought. Interestingly I find I have Vredesteins on the rear and Firestone on the front. I obviously wore out the Firestone's on the back!

Cheers,

Ollie

[Locked up brakes]

Two questions:

1 Peejay where did you get your Hawk pads from & any idea of the correct part no? I see Cambridge Motorsports are stockists or Hawk sell direct online.

2 Alec any idea how you tell what ratio you have fitted? I will look up the receipt and see if it is mentioned but I cannot see any marks on the unit itself.

 

Tyres are Firestone F590 185/65 R15 and I generally run at 26f 28r. They have plenty of tread and have a good 'feel'on the road.

Thanks,

Ollie

[Locked up brakes]

Thanks guys,

From memory I bought the servo from TRBG so it should hopefully be reasonably matched to the car. I am loath to ditch the servo as I have uprated the engine modestly and had it showing 140 HP on the rolling road at Wiltshire Garages. Another well known supplier specialising in road/rally cars thought this was highly optimistic, but who am I to quibble!

I remember reading somewhere that the first job when upgrading an engine is to improve the brakes so will probably follow peejay's advice and try the Hawk pads.

Cheers,

Ollie

[Locked up brakes]

I have a 4a that I have fitted with an aftermarket servo but kept the standard pads. This has served me well for a number of years other than a tendency to lock up all 4 wheels under heavy braking.

I am now looking to change the pads in an effort to get more gradual braking and would welcome suggestions from anyone who has solved this particular issue.

Thanks,

Ollie

[CV Hubs]

I thought that!!

I called on their stand in Harrogate and was impressed with the look of the CV hubs. They also had some splined joints that they recommend for the race cars that obviously take more hammer. Having already fitted Teflon coated splined drive shafts that I am very happy with I will stick with what I have but would like to ask the benefit of the alloy front hubs?

[Fuel shut off valve]

Thanks guys,

I agree that anything electrical can be hot wired in a flash - including the fuel cut off valve unless well hidden. Whereas 6 owners often disconnect the fuel pump we do not have that option so feel a hidden valve should stop all but the most persistent thief.

It seems there are a number of suitable valves out there and you pays your money and makes your choice.

[Fuel shut off valve]

I am looking at fitting a shut off valve to my 4A as an anti theft device. I have come across the Greenfield Engineering TDA47 12v solenoid valve at about £35 - apparently supplied as an OEM part on some deisel vans but also used for petrol, or the Car Builder Solutions #FUVAL fuel shut off valve at £94.80.

Has anyone any experience of these or other solenoid valves?

[changing steering rack boots]

Hi guys,

You obviously have more perseverance than me!

In the end I removed the rack from the car. After that it was relatively plain sailing so advice to all - remove the rack first!!

[changing steering rack boots]

Any advice for getting new rubber boots on a tr4a steering rack?

[TR Workshop Manuals for FREE]

An interesting idea, but one I am sure Haynes would not welcome due to loss of income, particularly since they have upped the cost of their 'classic' manuals.

I am sure I could arrange to have the manual scanned overseas to avoid copyright problems & posted "illegally" on the Internet. I guess that this would then reduce the incentive for people like Haynes & other suppliers to stop supporting our older & presumably less profitable models.

Surely the best solution would be for such publishers to make PDFs available at lower cost & increased availability to owners worldwide.

Any thoughts anyone?

[Sagging rear end!!]

Any idea where to get the spacers?.i presume these go at the bottom of the spring?

[Best way of removing wet liners?]

No 4 is always the worst as all the crud seems to get stuck at the rear of the liner. I agree that time , patience & oil are the three best ingredients but you will still need to get fairly brutal. I used wooden blocks plus a club hammer but when this failed resorted to club hammer with socket extension directly onto the bottom of the liner, going round the edge one belt of the hammer at a time. resulted in a chipped but removed liner. chips & dents on the bottom edge are not a problem providing the liner is not cracked as the bottom portion of the liner doesn't actually do anything once it is in situ. I ended up with a triangular section probably an inch deep chipped out of the liner but it has subsequently been bored & used for around 9000 miles with no problem.

[agreed valuation on tr4a]

Can anyone suggst a reputable valuer in the Leicester area?. i have my 4A at an agreed value of £8500 with towergate but other members have suggested £10k would be a more appropriate figure.

[Lower wishbone bracket collapse]

Willl do as you suggest thanks Graeme.

 

Peter

 

Hi Guys,

Had my 4A aligned on Jigsaw Racing's 4 wheel laser kit about a month ago. Expensive but well worth it, the car now sits on the road much better. At the time they commented that they were suprised I only had one bolt in the lower front wishbones as most IRS cars had two. Didn,t think anything of it as have already strengthened the attachment points.

Have just returned from the european tour in Germany having done 2000 miles, much of it at speed or pushing hard on 180deg mountain bends. Great fun & some of the best roads have driven in owning the Tr for the last 30 years.

 

Should I be worried?

Would replacing the bolts help?

Can I drill an additional hole either side?

If I do replace the bracket with a two hole mod will i have to have the alignment redone?

 

answers on a postcard please!

 

thanks,

 

allan

[TR4 GEAR SELECTION]

1. When decelarating and choosing 3rd gear, 9 times out of 10 it crunches when it goes in. It does not jump out and 3rd is fine when going up the gears. Reverse is also a right so and so to get without crunching but is OK if I select 4th and then reverse. I wonder if it is a syncro problem?

 

Almost definitely.

I had exactly the same problem which disappeared when the synchro's where changed. Why it is always worse when changing down rather than up I don't know but guess it has to do with the relative speed of the gears in the gearbox.

There seems to be a different problem when selecting reverse as there is no synchro on reverse. It could be worn reverse shaft, selectors or anything. Jumping out of gear is a clear sign of worn or chipped teeth on the gears themselves & sounds very much like a complete rebuild for both you & Richard. Once you have the box out & stripped it is crazy just changing synchros & not doing the job properly.

Mine has been done twice in the last 25 years, firstly by me, which was fun, a great learning experience, not as difficult as I thought & I was pretty pleased with the result.

Secondly was last year when I took it to Overdrive Repair Services in Sheffield who did a fantastic job on both the Gearbox & overdrive. They are real experts who make a new layshaft out of hardened steel as a matter of course as the original one is apparently not up to the job, are selective as to their synchro suppliers as apparently there are/ used to be some dodgy ones around & have boxes of secondhand but perfect gears if these are needed.

Best of all - they are very reasonable on price & only charge for what they have to do. No, I have no connection other than being a very satisfied customer!

 

Cheers,

 

allan

[Cylinder head removal]

Sounds like figure of 8,s to me. I have just changed mine with the engine in the car without too much hassle. The biggest problem is having the car jacked up high enough to work underneath to remove sump, pistoms & liners, but not too high so that you can work on the top end as well.

Cannot stress highly enough the need to clean out the waterways when the liners are out. Not only does this improve cooling, but stops any 'crud' getting into the seal when replacing the liners.