[Seasons Final at the Nurburgring GP track]

Thanks for that, Chris!

Almost satisfied my need for some Brrrmbrrrrrm in mid-winter!

 

JOhn

[Rocker cover gaskets]

Before resorting to glues and sprays, check the shape of the cover.

Lay it face down on a flat surface - a Formica tabletop will do - and check that the rim is flat.

If it is twisted, or has irregularities in the straightness of a side, correct that.

Correct any dings or bends in the surface that takes the seal.

A light hammer and a suitable 'stake' will be needed.

Check the top, where the studs and nuts go.

DPOs will have over tightened the nuts, indenting the cover and weakening the thrust down onto the head.

Beat out the indentations with a ball pein hammer, onto a firm but not hard surface, such as a sand bag.

 

Hope that helps!

John

[You won't believe this !]

Someone showed me this in an email recently:

_________________________________________

This is a true story

 

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping, and upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her voice, " I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!"

 

The four men didn't wait for a second invitation. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and get into the driver's seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and then it dawned on her why. A few minutes later she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into the car and then drove to the police station. The sergeant to whom she told the story nearly tore himself in two with laughter. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.

 

No charges were filled.

___________________________________________

 

I hadn't seen it before, and I enjoyed it very much, but it's an urban myth that has been doing the rounds since 1998.

Fortunately for mollygotz and Alec, and possibly for us, we aren't allowed carry handguns in the UK, or mg might have had more than a police caution.

 

John

 

PS 'mollygotz' - mg. MG???? Are you a spy?

[Alternative starter RV8 engine]

All,

Not Triumph, but a Rover V8 related question for the assembled gurus, please.

 

I'm fitting an ex-Range Rover engine to a space frame chassis, with not a lot of space.

In particular, the starter solenoid that sticks out horizontally from the starter has less than zero clearance from a strut, that I don't want to cut or carve.

 

I need an alternative starter that has the solenoid projecting downwards, where there is plenty of space.

 

I've searched this forum, and found a thread where the poster refers to his new starter, that is like mine, but "unlike the original one" that stuck out below.

No other ID, but I presume that some car that had the RV8 engine had a starter like that.

 

I have no 'orginality' issues, just need a starter that fits!

Advice please?

 

John

[Starting problems when warm]

Fraggle,

How long does it take to run smoothly after it fires?

Does the time bother/inconvenience you?

 

I have a similar engine, that starts up every time like that from cold.

I can count the cylinders in as they fire up; 3/4-5- - -6!

And I rather like it, as I rouse my dragon from sleep.

Makes it seem somehow less a machine, more an animal.

 

Are your injectors new/reconditioned?

Have you inspected their spray cone?

And that they don't dribble?

If they are the ones with a needle sticking out, then pull on that, until the spray is even, and doesn't dribble.

Mine are fine, but a leaking injector will need to be pumped up before it fires, or a poor cone may not atomise properly until warmed.

JOhn

[Endurance Rallying]

John,

Endurance - 2000miles in 48 hours endurile enough for you?

At least 6 TRs, inc. Mike Sloan's TR4, and 7 TR7/8s took part in the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run in October this year.

Suggest you contact the organiser, Tim Bancroft, throught the CT website to contact the drivers.

 

John

[Classic Le Mans 2006 Pics]

Have these really not featured here before?

I'm amazed - I did a search for 'Classic Le Mans' and they haven't.

 

They are the work of Ace snapper, Kevin Rochfort, whose website includes albums of several other Triumph events, in particular the recent RBRR. Kevin can help you with prints if you so wish.

 

As you have been so deprived of CLM delights, may I recommend some videos?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=48...ns&hl=en-GB

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...433470404300035

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...at_Le_mans_2006

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...Classic+Le+Mans

 

All Triumph, except the last.

The first is a hoot, if only for the sound track and opening titles.

 

John

[Fitting a 4 point harness]

Hope this helps. It's from the MotorSports Association 'Blue Book' that sets out the regulations for all forms of motorsport in the UK, and the "Q" section on safety. Okay, its motorpsort, not road driving, but this shows very clearly the angles at which seat belt straps should run to their anchors.

 

Please also note that the lap strap, whether three, four, five or six point, should run across the bony points just above and to the side of the groins. NOT across the waist, where compression in a crash will cause severe damage to soft internal structures (See above - correct use!)

 

Hope it helps,

John

[Stuck Cylinder Head]

DON'T!

[Stuck Cylinder Head]

Dex,

Take the studs out.

A head is rarely 'frozen' to the block, and even the traditional freeing methods - oil in the chamber etc. - will only move it a fraction, make a mess and cause damage. The hold up is **** down the stud holes in the head.

 

Stud removing methods:

1/ double nutting - barely room for two nuts and it usually only b*gg*rs the threads anyway.

2/ Stud extractor - may b*gg*r the threads, unless you have a fancy stud extractor.

3/ The Weapon of Stud Extraction. WELD the nuts to the top of the studs. You should fit new studs anyway!

 

Good luck!

 

John

[TSSC]

Bowman,

You asked for TRs - "There is not a single mention of TRs"

The TSSC provides them.

I repeat, get your facts right.

 

But like Alec, who offers the olive branch, I too find TRR, and TSSC, members and drivers pleasant and interesting people to meet. And why should either magazine go out of its' way to feature cars that the members don't drive? I took offence at Arrowboy's needless and inflammatory remark, but my response was also unnecessary. My excuse is that my pleasure, at seeing that TRaction had gone the extra mile to feature non-TR cars, was dashed by his negative attitude.

 

Likewise, he throws down the gauntlet again with another negative comment, moreover one that is untrue.

Having picked it up and delivered my riposte, I shall, in the interests of friendship, respond to his taunts no more.

 

John

[Fuel injection]

Triumph also did this with the later Spitfire engines too (& presumably the Dolomites)

And many of the 2000/2500 engines, but no idea as to which series.

 

John

[TSSC]

You talkin' to me?

You talkin' to me?

You talkin' to me?

Then who the hell else are you talkin' to?

You talkin' to me?

Well, I'm the only one here.

 

But in fact I don't believe that you have read it at all.

 

The six cylinder TR engine is discussed on p.29.

A TR7 is shown on p.46.

A TR6 on p.49 (background, admittedly, the foregound is filled with a Triumph Acclaim!).

Page 52 discusses the merits of a TR7/8 restoration guide.

Hugh Maund and Martyn Adams, both drivers of TR7V8s, are lauded in the Combe race report on p.56.

 

Get your facts right!

 

John

[Recurring overheating worries]

Eli,

If you can isolate the leak, and can take out the radiator, lay it down and dry the surface thoroughly (hair dryer!), then a very good repoir can be done with Araldite! Just trickle the liquid mix onto the offending part, with a mtachstick or toothpick, poking it into the hole and around. I did this as an emergency reapir after an 'off' at Oulton a few years ago, when the fan hit the rad and holed it. This 'emergency' repair lasted several years, until a bigger off sent the rad to the Great Repair Yard in the Sky.

 

Before that, I had struggled with overheating, trying Holts AND Halfords Rad-Flush kits to no avail. Eventually, I twigged to the fact that significant parts of the rad took ages to warm up, because there was no water flowing through them. Where no water flows, there is no hope of flushing through, either physically or chemically. A recore did wonders - I recommed it.

 

You can have either 'three-core' or 'four-core', referring to the number of tubes in the core, the latter being more expensive, but offering more cooling capacity. Maybe not necessary for a road car.

 

Good luck!

John

[Water Temperature Probe]

Phil,

No, but the sensors are universal on all Triumph six cylinders and readily available from any Triumph supplier. New sensors are variable in their thermal response and not reliable, but here is the proper response of a new one.

 

Does that help, or was your question directed at something else?

 

John

[TRaction]

rarbowman,

I got mine yesterday.

Reading it, I was delighted to see that the Editor has presumed a lack of TR chauvenism in his readers, featuring a Herald convertable on the front cover, a GT6 as the lead picture for an article on the Lakes Tour, another article about the 10CR that is a Club Triumph effort not a TRR exploit at all, plus a picture including a Spitfire for the Race Championship report.

 

Then you come along and spoil it.

 

Compare your remarks with the attitude of the MG clubs, where every car from original Morris Garages products to the very last to leave the bankrupt Rover factory gates is welcome. Compare the economic power, status, breadth of interest and size of International meeting of the MG clubs - theirs is at Silverstone, not some piffling County showground. Look at the RBRR itself, that CT organise, where Triumphs of every post WW2 model took part, to the great enjoyment of all - dammit I took part in an Acclaim!

 

Now please, take your parochial, outdated, small-minded prejudice to any Triumph model save your own and curl up in shame. Then cultivate a more open attitude to Triumphs. For as a great American said, on the signing of their Declaration of Independence, and which we should take up in respect of the future of the Triumph Clubs, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."

 

John

[PI calibaration and set up]

A8ard,

You're replying fine!

But no need to quote the whole previous message - we know who we are and can remember what we said.

Mostly.

JOhn

[Bosch Fuel Pump conversion]

Badshead,

Wow!

No more faffing about for me, then!

Thanks for that - it's nice to DiY, and satisfying, but not that satisfying.

 

John

[Bosch Fuel Pump conversion]

Robin,

For a pressure tester, I use a simple oil pressure gauge - much cheaper than a 'real' fuel pressure gauge. The oil gauge is light enough to follow the normal oscillation of the pressure in the fuel supply, and will ocillate itself to death - the needle falls off. A 'real' fuel pressure guage is fluid-filled to damp that out.

 

I don't know how to fluid-fill an oil pressure guage, but there is more than one way to damp it. Make a small metal disc to fit into the connection between the guage and line to the T-connector on the supply line. Piece of copper from a flattened central heating pipe was easy to work. Bore the smallest hole you can in the disc - I drilled from both sides with a 1mm drill until the two bores just met. This tiny orifice will damp out the oscillations.

 

John

[Seasons Final at the Nurburgring GP track]

Marvmul,

This is grabbing the steering wheel and sending the thread down a different course - hijacking? - but please will you advise someone in the UK with French friends who want a race in the UK?

See graeme's posts, and my attempts to advise him at Ten-Tenths website: http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread...9520&page=2

 

You will be ina amuch better position to help.

 

Thanks,

John

[PI calibaration and set up]

Clibration of the metering unit seems to be largely a bench process.

See http://www.lucasinjection.com/Lucas%20Mk2%...%20CONTENTS.htm

In my experience, RR adjustments are confined to those of the max fuel screw.

 

Malcolm Jones of Prestige (http://www.prestigeinjection.fsnet.co.uk/) calibrated mine after asking dtailed questions about the engine, state of tune, exhaust,style of driving etc. and got it spot on, IMHO.

 

John

[Fuel, compression]

Roger,

125bhp at the wheels - very respectable!

That's what I get from my 2.5 engine, that started in a saloon, now with 10.5CR, flowed head and ports, 6-3-1 exhaust manifold, no fancy lower end mods but balanced crank and flywheel. CR inlets - couldn't get any CPs!

John

[Fuel, compression]

Roger,

A CR of 11 is pushing the limit with 98 octane.

For a road car, you will not notice the difference from + 0.5CR.

IMHO.

CR is not like timing - over do it and you can't pull back and readjust, so don't push too far.

 

You can raise the octane of pump fuel with additives for trcak days, but will you never, ever, have a little go on the open road?

 

What work has been done on your car?

The 'breathing' options can release far more power, by raising the CR towards the theoretical, than a minor increase in theoretical CR.

 

John

[Stage 3 head compression ratio]

Yes, John, I have no reason or knowledge to contradict you

Another TR difference from the whole of the rest of the Triumph range of contemporary engines(Herald, Spitfire, GT6, Vitesse, 2000, 2500), of which I wotted not.

 

42 teeth on the sprocket=8.57 degrees/tooth.

So a "quarter tooth"=2.14 degrees

So the more adjustable of the four and six cylinder cam sprockets can be adjusted to within +/-2 degrees.

And yes that's +/- 4 degrees of cranshaft rotation.

 

So next time get yourself a 2500 sprocket!

 

John

[Fuel, compression]

Roger,

What an interesting site - thank you!

 

MON and RON do not necessarily correlate, MON is considered the more severe test, as mixture temperature and spark advance are greater. Premium unleaded 995 octane RON is equavalent to 85 MON

 

Strictly, and by chance as the apparent matching of numbers is a coincidence, a CR of 10 needs 100 octane fuel. But the volumetric inefficiency of most engines also means that a calculated CR of 10.5 can survive and thrive with fuel of 97-98 octane (RON). For a Triumph engine, the possibilities of increasing that efficiency are limited, so I'm happy to use that.

 

John