North London Mike Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 OK Guys Who else is using their TR through the winter months? Cheers Dazzer Hi Dazzer Quick follow on, ref all year driving. Took the 4 up to B'ham on Monday. Trip via the M40 to Junc 11 and then across country to Redditch. First part of the drive was awful rush hour traffic and then rain and HEAVY spray on the M40, enough to cause a cut out at one stage with visibility down to 50 yards and the engine bay effectively under water, it was worse than the drive to last years Intenational, must be a motorway thing . A quick WD40 had her on her way, always have it ready to hand. The 2nd half was much nicer on a mix of A & B roads flicking in and out of overdrive, excellent. So could she handle it, YES. Rush hour, headlight on, intermittent wipe (godsend) and the hard top & heater keeping me snug. Ref 'flow through ventilation' the 4 has enough gaps to allow it to work Can she keep up in real modern conditions, yes but you do have to drive defensively, the North Circular takes no prisoners! 75-80 on the motorway where visibility allowed, arrived on time, 200 mile round trip Recovery: 15 minutes at the local car wash with a jet lance to sort the under body, 3 hours wash and polish and then 2 hours detailing the engine bay, then some preventative maintenance, stripping the fuse box and checking for contact corrosion (old problem if you have the fuses in the engine bay), wiping down all the electrics etc. Only real winter damage is slight pitting on the aluminium Aston LeMans style filler cap. The chrome has stood up well though. The other problem is stone chips, an ongoing high mileage problem. We may not like risking them and abusing them in the bad weather but I sense she prefers to be out playing in the rain rather than being locked up in a dark garage. Really, the only downside to taking them out in the winter is cleaning them afterwards. But I do love to clean my TR so maybe its a win win Anyone else got some good driving stories............... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bennem Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 (edited) Hi Dazzer Quick follow on, ref all year driving. Took the 4 up to B'ham on Monday. Trip via the M40 to Junc 11 and then across country to Redditch. First part of the drive was awful rush hour traffic and then rain and HEAVY spray on the M40, enough to cause a cut out at one stage with visibility down to 50 yards and the engine bay effectively under water, it was worse than the drive to last years Intenational, must be a motorway thing . A quick WD40 had her on her way, always have it ready to hand. The 2nd half was much nicer on a mix of A & B roads flicking in and out of overdrive, excellent. So could she handle it, YES. Rush hour, headlight on, intermittent wipe (godsend) and the hard top & heater keeping me snug. Ref 'flow through ventilation' the 4 has enough gaps to allow it to work Can she keep up in real modern conditions, yes but you do have to drive defensively, the North Circular takes no prisoners! 75-80 on the motorway where visibility allowed, arrived on time, 200 mile round trip Recovery: 15 minutes at the local car wash with a jet lance to sort the under body, 3 hours wash and polish and then 2 hours detailing the engine bay, then some preventative maintenance, stripping the fuse box and checking for contact corrosion (old problem if you have the fuses in the engine bay), wiping down all the electrics etc. Only real winter damage is slight pitting on the aluminium Aston LeMans style filler cap. The chrome has stood up well though. The other problem is stone chips, an ongoing high mileage problem. We may not like risking them and abusing them in the bad weather but I sense she prefers to be out playing in the rain rather than being locked up in a dark garage. Really, the only downside to taking them out in the winter is cleaning them afterwards. But I do love to clean my TR so maybe its a win win Anyone else got some good driving stories............... Great story. I have also been driving through the rush hour and have adopted a very defensive style of driving. The scariest thing that has happened to me was a the misty/foggy morning in the last couple of weeks. I choose to drive the lanes to work rather than face the carnage that is the A34 and while I was happily bowling along a nice straight lane a large tipper truck decided to start pulling out. It was obvious he saw me as I could see him and I did have my headlights on. I had a blinding panic as at the distance and speed I was doing, about 50mph, there was no way I could stop the TR on a wet road. I think the truck driver then realised that what type of car I was in, which lacks ABS, crumple zones and airbags, as he aborted his manoeuvre leaving the truck half way out of the junction. He then followed me for the next 4 miles at a respectful distance which is more than I can say for most "modern" drivers. As an aside does anyone else find that when they are out in the TR or other older car that modern drivers drive very close behind you? Personally I think that is due to some mistaken belief that you are travelling at 25mph or have some guy with a red flag walking in front of you. The worst occasion I have had of this was on the M4 in the Spitfire where, and no word of a lie, some guy followed me on the inside lane at no more than 6ft behind me regardless of how fast or slow I went. Couldn't get rid of the idiot. In the end I pulled off the motorway at the next junction and rejoined. ETA The only trouble I have had is I am slowly developing a misfire above 3000rpm which the old WD40 trick didn't solve. Expect it is the rotor and distributor cap. Edited January 15, 2009 by bennem Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dazzer Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Yes on the odd occassion I've had cars right on the tail of the TR, I've always put it down to curiosity, in drivers trying to see what type of old classic is in front of them. Now I've got the Revington suspension set up and a blistering set of sticky sportrac 3 vredesteins I can usually lose most modern stuff, especially in the wet. During the recent cold snap up in North Yorkshire snow laid overnight on sheet ice and the morning traffic was carnage. Modern Volvos, BMW 4X4s! with plonker drivers, stuck, going nowhere on slight inclines... funniest moment, despite the advice of an RAC chap informing drivers not to venture up a hill into Harrogate... where several vehicles lay scattered abandoned, was the sight of me in the TR4 nonchalantly trundling by on my way to work, revs low, light throttle, no drama. Bloody cold though, at least they could sit in their nice warm cars waiting for help. Reminds me I must replace the heater with one of those high powered three speed jobs. Later that week coming back into the village with headlights dimmed from the muck off the thawing snow, I failed to notice that the road surface was actually flood water sitting in a dip, best described as a small lake. I hit it doing thirty. The wake was huge... impressive to watch I would imagine. The TR did not miss a beat... the fan belt screeched for a moment and steam billowed everywhere. Amazingly no misfires. The cleaning of the once pristine engine bay was another story however. Cheers Darren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Badfrog Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'll tell you this: driving below zero is a piece of cake. Rebuilding the distribution in a freezing garage with total loss of fingers sensitivity, now that's hard. Cheers, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR4Geoff Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Cheers Hi Dazzer, Happy New year to you and all the other 'Winter Gentlemen'. Can't say I use the '4' every day (although the wife thinks I do). But she (the car) does between 7&9K miles per year and is certainly used regularly in the winter although I do draw the line at 'wet' salt. You probably think our winters in Surrey are a bit 'sissy' but we did have -9.5 for a couple of nights and one night at about 10-45pm my good lady rang to say she was stranded with a flat battery in the eurobox in Epsom. So I got the '4' out, the hood at that point hadn't been up for a few weeks and as we all know they are not the easiest/quickest to put up so I left it down. Off into Epsom, jumped the Vectra and told the missus to drive on to the Downs to give the battery a bit of a boost. Thought I better follow her in case she lost the engine, so there I am at approx 11-30 on a freezing night on the Surrey Downs with the top off - it was brilliant - thousands of stars and some funny looks from other drivers! I have some Revington wing shields to fit - Neil seems to recommend pop rivets. Would be interested to know what you used and how many fixings per wing as I am keen not to make too many gratuitous holes in the '4'!! Cheers Geoff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hi Geoff, when you refer to the 'wing shields' are you meaning the wheel arch liners. If you are don't use pop rivets try to use RTV silicon sealant or such like with the odd clip here or there. If you need to remove them it is easier than with pops. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dazzer Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hi Geoff The Revington wheel arch liners are affixed with no more than three rivets or screws. Ours were riveted, but whilst re wax oiling I re affixed them with screws. I'd say that's pretty 'hardcore' with the roof off, near midnight, on the Surrey Downs! Bring it on! Cheers Darren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR4Geoff Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Hi Geoff, when you refer to the 'wing shields' are you meaning the wheel arch liners. If you are don't use pop rivets try to use RTV silicon sealant or such like with the odd clip here or there. If you need to remove them it is easier than with pops. Roger Hi Roger/Darren. Many thanks for your thoughts/advice on fitting the wheel arch liners. Cheers Geoff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shroptr Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 we use our TR's (3a,4,4a,and tr6v8) all year round plenty of old engine oil onthe under body and power wash every few weeks, making sure all heaters have been flushed every couple of years and electrics are tip top,silicon spray on all chrome, you still get the odd rust bloom just need to deal with them straight away here is a link to playing in the snow 2 weeks ago http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=elW-hAM4DO0&...feature=channel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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