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Hi Folks,

Today I fitted the exhaust system. My grand plan was to fit two small boxes instead of the large one and the small one.

Firstly though I attacked the rear small box. I don't know if it is standard but the tail pipe was sticking out the back at a rather squiffy angle. This is because the front box is at an angle. So, I had a cunning plan. I cut/welded/shaped the inlet of the rear box so that it ran straight back from the front box. This allowed the tail pipe to stick out square to the rear of the car.

 

My next plan was to remove the front box and to insert the new small box. I had some pipe to connect it all together so the idea is practicle.

However time was whizzing by and I need to get the MOT sorted this month so I made a decision to stop the mod, put it back to standard (sort of) and concentrate on more important things. I can mod the boxes after my leg gets sorted.

 

Then it rained. It's a shame really because I had planned on mowing the lawn (honest). Instead I'm having tea and biscuits.

 

Roger

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Well the Wildebeast havn't migrated yet I can see them now, they must have been hiding in the long grass! :)

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Wow, a large green area inside the M25 ....think how much that will add to the value!! :lol:

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Hi Folks,

this morning rain stopped play. So I have been hiding inside the garage refurbishing my 48 spoke wheels - yes a set still does exist.

 

What do you chaps use for paint stripper. The stuff from Wickes is as good as shaving foam.

I bought a small tin of Nitromors this morning - it is now green. It doesn't seem as good as it used to.

 

Roger

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Hi Folks,

this morning rain stopped play. So I have been hiding inside the garage refurbishing my 48 spoke wheels - yes a set still does exist.

 

What do you chaps use for paint stripper. The stuff from Wickes is as good as shaving foam.

I bought a small tin of Nitromors this morning - it is now green. It doesn't seem as good as it used to.

 

Roger

 

 

My local powder coating merchant will blast a wire wheel clean and powder coat it for £60. I wouldn't bother trying to do it myself. Am I being too lazy?

 

Rgds Ian

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Roger I hate to say this but 48 spoke wires wont last five minutes on a TR4 especially if used on anything more than 5.60 crossplies. 60 spoke are much more user friendly. Starchem do a good paint stripper FWIW. New Nitromors has been "health and Safe-tied" and doesnt work anymore.

Stuart.

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Hi Stuart,

I'm determined to use the 40 spokers (even for the 5 minutes). When the first spoke goes 'ping' then I will go to plan 'B'.

I could tell the Nitromors would be useless when I poured it from the can.

It used to be a violent insipid pale colour now it is a very pleasing shade of green - no good at all.

 

Roger

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The problem is it wont just be one spoke going ping its the amount of movement of the rim in relation to the hub with the extra weight and power of the 4, They were entertaining enough on 2`s and 3`s :wacko: (remember the cartoon in the Moss catalogue of Pete Buckles TR3 ;))

Stuart.

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Roger, got it in one. ;) I would only use them to keep a car off the ground in the workshop or to put on a car at a show for correctness but not on the road.

Stuart.

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Hi Roger,

Keep up the good work, I've been reading your progress reports and found them most enjoyable,sorry I mean instructive! :rolleyes:

Phil

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Heavens I've got a fan club - I will have to re-print this in hard back form. B)

 

The last few days I've been plumbing in the fuel pipes for the carb. (can you plumb copper!!! :blink: ) :blink:

I'm using one of the Automec kits. In general very good but the pump to carb pipe is significantly short.

I've had to add apprx 6" to the correctly numbered pipe to reach the carbs. I may get some pipe and re-do it myself.

 

A few weeks ago I had to buy the two door check straps. These are not cheap (apprx £25). The first thing I noticed was that the receptical in the door end of the strap is 1/4" diameter but the door clip is 3/16". The other end of the strap has a 3/16" receptical but can't be fitted the 'wrong' way round - me thinks somebody has done ot wrong. :o:o surely not.

Anywho, after opening and closing the door about half a dozen times the rubber coating on the strap started to peel off. These are now back

with the supplier - I wonder if they will contact the maker to say what an achiement he made. :angry:

 

This PM I'm going to fit the front and rear bumpers - wish me luck

 

Roger

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This PM I'm going to fit the front and rear bumpers - wish me luck

 

Roger

 

Why bother, they look so much nicer without!

Stuart.

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Hi Stuart,

two good reasons for fitting them -

1, it helps to clear stuff out of the garage.

2, they cost a fortune to rechrome.

 

So, they are going on.

 

Had a little play with the wipers today. The wheel boxes appear to be in good order, as are the tubes and cable.

The outside bits are not so good. The small rubber boots that keep water/muck out of the spindles were completely perished/dead.

Some heat shrink sleeve sorted the problem.

 

The aluminium fluted bushes that hold the wipers onto the spindles look rather iffy. This will take some head scratching.

Otherwise in fair condition.

 

Roger

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The aluminium fluted bushes that hold the wipers onto the spindles look rather iffy. This will take some head scratching.

Otherwise in fair condition.

 

Roger

 

Passenger side one doesnt matter so much if you can get the proper wiper arm with the screw clamp. It is possible to "pop" the flutes up a bit with a small sharp chisel but you need the boxes on the bench to do it, not really recommended but an "If all else fails" type of thing.

Stuart.

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Third good reason for fitting bunpers - if some bar steward rams you, they teach him a lesson, modern front and rears made out of crapiti tend to disintegrate big time in conflict with Canley steel.

 

In the early '90s my Super Snipe was punted up the backside by an errant 5-series Bavarian Bum Bandit - England won, not so much as a broken light, Germany was destroyed all the way back to the front turrets . . . . OK, so it absorbed the shock, big deal . . . . it was a write off. :lol:

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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Third good reason for fitting bunpers - if some bar steward rams you, they teach him a lesson, modern front and rears made out of crapiti tend to disintegrate big time in conflict with Canley steel.

 

In the early '90s my Super Snipe was punted up the backside by an errant 5-series Bavarian Bum Bandit - England won, not so much as a broken light, Germany was destroyed all the way back to the front turrets . . . . OK, so it absorbed the shock, big deal . . . . it was a write off. :lol:

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

 

now that I've stopped larfing, I wanted to thank Alec for the new words I've added to my vocabulary.

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Hi Folks,

todays most intersting installment concerns the rear bumper and the little cage nuts on the ends :angry:

 

However before we go there I had to nip along to the suppliers for some much needed bits and pices to finish off the front bumper.

 

Arrived home with the bag of goodies and duely fitted them to secure the front bumper. The only thing missing was the two struts for the over riders. Never mind, I have a stock of 1/2" stainless steel piping (courtesy of the super sonic pointed thing) that would do nicely.

Half hour later all done and saved £40 ( I wish I could make wings like this).

 

Now for the rear bumper. ooops no dished washers for the irons. Off to the supplier again. This time I took in two suppliers as the first had no stock.

I was expecting a fight with the rear bumper but it went as good as gold. It even lined up pretty fair as well - except for the little cage nuts.

Now, if you have never tried to insert one of these little devils then you will not know how bloody frustrating they are.

The square nut is in a square cage. One face of the square cage as two curled lips that latch onto the bumper. However these curled lips are bigger than the hole they go in - even when fully squished, squosed, squeezed and compressed. In the end I had to open up one of the :) lips very slightly. This allowed it to pop in :blink: I say pop in, I actually mean struggle. How can such a small thing be so darned awkward.

 

Next thing on the agenda - take wheel and tyre to tyre shop to have them seperated in order to paint strip the wheel.

I am going to use the stripper that Stuart recommended Starchem PS50.

I think it should work as small splashes on ones arm produced the correct amount of panic and sloshing with cold water.

 

Tomorrow more stripping (it's a slow process) but the main thrust will be getting the engine started.

This one sounds easier said than done as I need to fit an additional filter to the engine bay fuel pipe, then Fuel in the tank, Oil in engine and gearbox, water in rad, new battery.

Who knows it may even burst into life :)

 

Roger

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Hi Roger,I'm awaiting tomorrows report with baited breath! By the way I had my wires stripped and powder coated metallic grey , all five for £240 last year but then I'm neither patient nor talented.Can we expect to see the fruits of your labour at the IWE? :rolleyes:

Phil

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Hi Roger

 

I love reading your updates/posts and more often then not envious of what your doing, especially now, as you consider firing her up for the first time:P all the very best.

 

Alec, classic as always

 

Cheers Carl

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Hi Phil,

the original push to get the car sorted in July was to attend the 50th anniversary of the TR4's.

Unfortunately other things have scuppered that plan.

Old age (61) and a dodgy hip has now got me attending the butchers shop on the Monday following IWE.

The surgeons refer to it as selective surgery - I selected a new head (complete with brain and rather good looks) but they said no.

 

I still want to finish the car to MOT standards by the end of the month as the tax runs out at the end of August and I don't want to SORN the car.

 

I was planning on getting the engine ready for blast off today but I think I will put the dash and instruments in instead.

The logic of the that is that the dash requires more bending and flexing and if I over run my time limit then it wont go in until mid September.

Whereas I could probably work on the engine whilst recouperating.

 

Roger

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...so much for planning :(

 

I had every intention to fit the dash today, but!!

I had a thought :blink: why not put the wiper tubes etc into the plenum whilst it is accessible.

 

The wheel boxes are in good condition. All except the plastic angled tube that holds the boxes at the right angle. One of them split in two.

All I need is a small piece of 1" plastic rod - no chance. So I used a piece of 1 1/2" ali. It didn't take long but it eats into time I don't have.

 

Fitting the boxes and tubes was fairly easy but I noticed a fair degree of up/down play in one of the spindles.

Out it all comes, do a bit of fettling and the play was rteduced to infinitesimal (that is very very small).

Put it all back into the plenum and it appears to be OK.

 

Now to do a trial fit of the dash. The trial fit was success - hardly suprising as it all came from the same car last year and was probably made with it. Still a success is a success.

I now try the dash top crash pad - suprisingly this doesn't fit as the dash is in the way.

Off comes the dash - this also was a success. It is amazing how successful it can be to take the dash off having put on only minutes earlier.

 

Aligning the dash top crash pad showed that my car was not made on the Triumph factory jigs as a number of the holes in the pad did not align.

Never mind, I shall drag the dodgy holes slightly. This means that I now have a unique dash pad as I'm sure nobody else has had to move/align any of the holes.

Having surgically manipulated the dash pad holes (and cut out relief spaces for the five anchor nuts) it looks not too bad at all.

 

Whilst all this faffing is going on I'm also paint stripping a wire wheel..

I'm using the stripper that Stuart recommended - does it work, this would actually remove sh*t from a blanket no matter how well stuck.

 

A good indicator of how good a stripper is is to get some on your arm. Actually it would be better to get it on someone elses arm.

Anyway if it starts to iritate/hurt after about 5 to 10 seconds then it will not remove paint.

If after 2 seconds the pain starts with a red spot forming and the brain starts saying things like 'you burke' then it may soften paint.

 

Stuarts witches brew has no time delay before the pain starts.

In fact I believe the pain starts before it hits you as your brain bypasses the 'you burke' statement and goes direct into panic mode. It knows the arm nerves will be sending through a message pretty damn soon and this will require action -

where is the stripper heading for - if it's the arm, good. If it's the face, duck. where's the water.

 

Anyway, I managed to escape from the garage with most of my bits still in tact. The paint is coming away quite nicely and tomorrow it should be ready for rust treatment and painting.

 

Many many years ago when I started as an apprentice at BEA I was told sanitary etiquette when going to the toilet.

1, wash hands

2, have a pee

3, undo zip

4, mop leg

5, do up zip

6, have a cup of tea.

 

I put in 3,4,& 5 for a giggle but the point was wash hands BEFORE - why.

In the mid 60's a new Hydraulic fluid was coning into service - Skydrol.

If you got it on any sensitive skin you would be in agony within seconds. Winkles are sensitive, honest.

 

Tomorrow I finish the dash (high hopes)and see what fate brings my way.

 

Roger

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Roger

really enjoy reading about your rebuild when continuing with mine.

 

Makes me realise i do not have the only TR4 that was not built by Triumph when fitting new parts. just bought a brand new grill that has more chance of fitting a Morris oxford than a TR4 and an anti roll bar kit that says suggest you use "our" sump guard as a mounting point for this and if you don't want to,well assume i am on my own again as with other up grades that leave you wondering!!

 

luckily i have the support of my old mate Barry Hodson motorsport just down the road and Simon at Tr Ent when i fell like throwing the towel in out of frustration

 

 

Carry on with the good works and the updates

 

regards Adrian

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He He,

my planning is getting better. I planned to fit the dash today and believe it or not it happened - just.

Firstly I had to wash the stripper of the wheel and put some rust converter on it.

Then off to Wembly to pick up my over delayed odds and sods that should have been ready at the beginning of June - but the bits are stunning.

Rocker cover, Handbrake, and door handles - £200 for the lot and in perfect condition, well worth the wait.

 

The dash top crash pad was trimmed to allow the air out of the vents, a thin bead of adhesive along the front edge and bobs your uncle all done.

 

The wheel is now painted in a silver type colour. So tomorrow we take it and the other previously prep'd wheel to get tyres fitted.

Only two to go.

Maybe over the week-end I may concentrate on the engine - perhaps it will start, perhaps not!.

 

Roger

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Today was a rather bitty day, but I got few things done.

 

Firstly I took the annorexic wire wheels (two off) to have the tyres fitted.

The fitting went fine but the balancing was another matter. Everybody has been telling me that these 48 spoke wheels are a bit feeble for a thoroughbred like a TR4.

However nobody told me they do a mighty good impersonation of a Smith's crisp.

I think part of the problem was the balancing machine/technique the chap was using. At one point he was using the spokes to give a flat datum!!!

Anyway I've decided to use these wheels to hold the car up while I'm putting it together and then get the MOT.

I've had an offer of some 60 spoke wheel - so things are progressing.

 

Last month me and Sue took part in the TR (one)Isles Tour of Scotland. Absolutely great 14 days, even the weather behaved itself compared to the rest of the country.

Anyway upon returning home I put the car to bed and left the headlights on :o Believe it or not after three days the battery was completely flat.

It appeared to charge up OK bit I noticed that the ammeter would do a good 30+ amps on start up and then remain at 10amps (from alternator to battery). This battery is an expensive Halfords 4 year guartantee jobbie. So, I took it back expecting the third degree and a slap on the bum.

But no! The man tested it and the gizmo said 'battery - good' with 63% life. I explained the battery is 4 months old and should be 100% life.

He then phoned Bosch and the man explained that the battery could get damaged if it had a prolonged drain. He asked me 'had it had a long drain such as a boot light or courtesey light' - 'what! on a 1962 TR4, you're aving a larf'.

Bingo, new battery - thank you Halfords.

 

My next bit of fun was to rebuild the door handles. These have just been re-chromed and are beautiful.

Now I have two handles (quite normal for a TR4) but I had the bits in a pot containing enough for three handles :blink::blink:

How does that happen after every rebuild you end up with a bucket load of parts that could only have come from the car!!!

The body of the handles are not handed but the bits inside are. The back plate actually has NS & OS stamped on them but the other parts haven't.

The lock barrel is handed and the internal lever thingy.

The process for building a handle is as follows -

 

Insert tubular thing into lock barrel

Insert lock barrel into handle plunger

Attach lock barrel return spring

Insert barrel locking pin

Place washer over spring

Place big spring over plunger body

Place lever into back plate.

insert washer onto lever.

Assemble backing plate onto plunger and insert the two fiddly screws.

 

Dead easy B)B)

 

So why did I do the following -

Insert barrel into plunger.

Attach return spring

Remove return spring

Remove plunger.

Insert tubular thingy into barrel

Insert barrel into plunger

attach return spring

Assemble the springs and levers

Attach backing plate.

Remove all the above

Insert pin into plunger to lock the barrel

Reassemble all the above

 

I even had to re-do things on the second handle :angry:

 

However they look the dogs do-dahs fitted to the car doors.

 

I wonder if I will ever get around to the engine.

 

Roger

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