TR4 Rebuild

[ntc]

Edit 

Edited August 4, 2021 by ntc

[RogerH]

The GB has had oil in it for three days now and looking underneath today there are no leaks.

Some time very soon I shall take it for a long test drive and see what happens then.

I think the front of the diff has a small leak and possibly the rear axle where they join the brake back plates.

Should be able to finish the carpets today - 

 

Roger

Edited June 9, 2023 by RogerH

[MichaelH]

I made the "inner" wheel arches on the 4A cutting and gluing cardboard  to get the right shape then I riveted the the plastic shapes on to the inner wings but also made short bars across the rear lower ends of the wheel arches to support the mudflaps

not doing rallies now so removed the flaps but the residual inner arches reduce the mud/water thrown up behind the wheels into the body work

The thing most people would pick up on would be the rivets through the wheel arch... not drilling the bodywork etc

Michael

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

quite an eventful today. The BlueRacer is gong for an MOT on Thursday so today I took it for its longest run yet.

I was concerned that #3 plug may foul up as it usually does. I weakened the mixture slightly as I'm sure it it way too rich.

It did about 10 miles and went very well. When I got home I weakened the mixture further and also slackened the rear brake by one click.

I took it for another shorter run and it went a little better.  Tomorrow I shall weaken it another flat and see what happens.

Hopefully the brakes are bedding in.  It ran very smoothly and due to its stiffer chassis didn't have the little squeaks and rattles that the 4A has.

It is slowly coming together.

 

The week before the IWE I ordered a set of wheel arch liners from Honeybourne. The chap on the phone said they would be two to three weeks as they are made to order. I explained that I needed them by the end of that week. He said he would see what he could do. They turned up on time but I simply couldn't fit them in time.  So that is a job for October.  Honeybourne are certainly  customer orientated - very good.

 

Roger

Edited August 25, 2021 by RogerH
typo

[stuart]

12 hours ago, RogerH said:

 

The week before the IWE I ordered a set of wheel arch liners from Honeybourne. The chap on the phone said they would be two to three weeks as they are made to order. I explained that I needed them by the end of that week. He said he would see what he could do. They turned up on time but I simply couldn't fit them in time.  So that is a job for October.  Honeybourne are certainly  customer orientated - very good.

 

Roger

Ive found them good to deal with too.

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

As mentioned above I found that the rear brakes were binding and so slackened then off one click on both sides.

When I pushed the car into the garage last night with warm/hot brakes it was really a hard job.  This morning when pulling it out it rolled quite easily.

So a question - can heat affect the brake lining, their position etc.

I shall undo them one more click and then take it for a drive.

 

Also I have been fitting door mirrors. I fitted the Moss GAM1001. They look quite nice and reasonably easy to fit.

Sadly Moss only stock the flat glass variety. These have quite a limited view.

Today I googled Tex. They had a decent website and it had the convex mirror that I needed (M50101).

They answered the phone immediately and the deal was done in a matter of minutes. Should be here tomorrow. - Excellent.

 

This afternoon I shall be washing and polishing for the MOT tomorrow. This will be the first time that the MOT man has seen it 99% finished.

 

Roger

 

[stuart]

Heat will affect the clearances for the drums of course but it will also affect how the cylinders slide too so make sure they do.

You didnt fancy the last mirrors I showed you then Roger?

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Hi Stuart,

I'll check the slaves to make sure they move OK.

The last mirrors were a bit too flash Gordon for me. 

So I went for a basic Tex curved arm with round glass. 

They look about right and with the new mirrors turning up tomorrow they should be fine.

I'll post some pics soon.

Roger

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

I have just spent 3, 4 hours trying to understand why my rear brakes are sticking on.

And I think I have found the answer.

When you apply the brakes (both foot and hand) one side of slave cylinder will push the shoe against the drum and the reaction will then push the other shoe against the drum - this requires the slave cylinder to slide back and forth.   

If it doesn't slide then the first shoe will stay in contact with the drum = binding brakes.

About six years ago I took the car for an MOT. It failed  due to a leaking slave cylinder.   

Instead of sorting the seals I bought two new cylinders.  I changed one immediately and one after the other side failed the following year

I am now of the understanding that the grooves in the sides of the cylinders are trooooooo narrow and making the three captive plates grip the cylinder too tight and stopping the sliding action.

So, tomorrow I shall remove the cylinders and widen the 

Does anybody know what the correct width of these grooves should be?

 

Roger

[stuart]

16 hours ago, RogerH said:

Hi Folks,

I have just spent 3, 4 hours trying to understand why my rear brakes are sticking on.

And I think I have found the answer.

When you apply the brakes (both foot and hand) one side of slave cylinder will push the shoe against the drum and the reaction will then push the other shoe against the drum - this requires the slave cylinder to slide back and forth.   

If it doesn't slide then the first shoe will stay in contact with the drum = binding brakes.

About six years ago I took the car for an MOT. It failed  due to a leaking slave cylinder.   

Instead of sorting the seals I bought two new cylinders.  I changed one immediately and one after the other side failed the following year

I am now of the understanding that the grooves in the sides of the cylinders are trooooooo narrow and making the three captive plates grip the cylinder too tight and stopping the sliding action.

So, tomorrow I shall remove the cylinders and widen the 

Does anybody know what the correct width of these grooves should be?

 

Roger

11.07 mm Roger.

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

I took the slave cylinder off this morning and found that the groove for the attachment plates was 0.196 on one side and 0.186 on the other.

I opened them up to 0.230" and the plates went in a lot easier - still a battle though.

The slave now has movement and the drum no longer binds.

Thankfully the OSR drum does not bind. So, although the cylinders were bought at the same time there is some degree of variation  within batches.

These grooves are a cast finish not machined - may explain the variation.

 

Roger

[stuart]

Original cylinder slot is 5.03 mm

Stuart. 
 

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

 

today  I had a breakthrough. I thought I had sorted the dragging brake drum but after Thursday evenings run put the drum was very hot.

I double checked the slave cylinder and it moved OK.

Pressing the brake pedal only produced a small amount of fluid. Odd I thought.

Mistakenly I decided to have a look at the restrictor valve. This proved a waste of time.

Eventually I took the flexible hose off that is near the rear axle.  This was seriously blocked. Haven't a c;ue of its age but it could be from 1962.

All other pipes and joints are clear .

 

So Tuesday morning I shall buy and fit an new hose, bleed the system and then take for a test run - with a possible celebration.

 

Roger

 

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

 well, that was a battle.

 

That rear flex hose put up a fight all the way.

The replacement pipe is not and exact copy. However it will fit OK if you don;t panic too much.

I replaced the front hoses as well  They looked old but not the same vintage as the rear pipe.

I tried to use a suction pump to bleed the brakes and no matter what I tried it din't want to play ball.

So my wife Sue is still employed - and I doubled her wages  =    £0 x2 = not a lot.

I hope tomorrow goes well at the MOT.

I shall take it out for a test drive tonight and pray it all goes well.

 

Roger

[Bfg]

Well done Roger and Sue ..excellent and very worthwhile progress. 

My own car's flexi-pipes have just been replaced because of their indeterminate age but crusty rust around their end ferrules.  I think I must be getting close to having replaced all the cooling, mechanical and safety important rubber bits of the car now.   

Sincerely hope your test drive this even went well and that the car breezes through its MOT tomorrow.

Pete.

[RogerH]

Hi Pete,

 the test drive went well. The brakes worked well and did not bind. After 30 minutes driving the wheel spinners were cold.

The other day the NSR was very hot and the OSR was very warm.

The MOT should be interesting.

Roger

[Bfg]

Brilliant,  worse case tomorrow is that you might learn something new &/or go home well-chuffed

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Bfg

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

Phew!!  well it passed and did well. The brakes came up nice and even and well within spec.

The tester did comment on a rubber pipe on the fuel run out of the tank - the rubber is starting to craze. So with the advent of E10 I shall replace in a couple of weeks with R14.

I can now set about finishing off all the little twiddly things.  Heater cables etc.

 

Roger

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by RogerH

[stillp]

Good news Roger!

Pete

[RogerH]

Doesn't time fly. I never did look at the crazed rubber fuel pipe.  That is now on my 'to do 'list

I was repairing another boot lid last month and needed to take the boot lid off the BlueRacer. I placed it on its side whilst offering up the repair lid.

There was an awful clatter and the boot lid was lying on the block paving. Annoyingly the nice tidy shiny paint work had numerous scratches. Bugger.

However this now allowed me to sort out the repaired inner rib that I never liked. It was always wrong form the moment that I fitted it.

So off with the rib and a new one will go back on.   And then I can replace the crazed pipe.

 

Roger 

[stuart]

This rebuild is getting like the painting of the Forth road bridge now Roger

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Once they finish the Forth bridge it will be fabulous.

[Peter V W]

56 minutes ago, RogerH said:

Once they finish the Forth bridge it will be fabulous.

Forth bridge was last painted in 2002.

when they used red oxide it was continuously painted.

not anymore as modern paint lasts longer.

Peter

[RogerH]

.............anyway, a year later   

I didn't do a lot last year except damage the boot lid (dont ask.... stupidity to the 1st degree)

My goal now it to sort the bootlid out.  Apart from damaged paint the internal rib at the bottom flange  was not made as well as I would like.

So I replaced that last August and then found that the gap between boot botton lip and lower  valence was a little wider than I would wish.

So today I started to weld a 3mm welding rod to the bottom edge lip to fill the gap.

Then the fun started.  The 0.8mm mild steel wire in the MIG welder got jammed just after the power wheel. This involved taking the gun to pieces and unraveling the wire where it passed from the drive wheel into its tube up to the gun. This took about 30 minutes.  It proceeded to do this 2 or 3 more times..

I go  to Machine Mart to see if they have another wire feed tube.   They have the standard plastic. Or a Teflon tube. Or a tube with a steel liner (like a curtain wire 

I decided to buy both theTeflon and the Wired tubed.

At home I find that the wired tube is slightly bigger diameter than the original plastic tube - but I want to fit it

But it doesn't want to fit (bu99er)

In the end I dispense with the big fat outer casing for all the wires and pipes and keep them together with Spirwrap   sleeving.

Did it work ????  You bet your bippy it did.  I think the springy steel inner liner will give a smoother flow for the welding wire.

Tomorrow I shall give  it a blast and hopefully progress the boot.

 

Roger

Edited June 10, 2023 by RogerH

[stuart]

15 hours ago, RogerH said:

.............anyway, a year later   

I didn't do a lot last year except damage the boot lid (dont ask.... stupidity to the 1st degree)

My goal now it to sort the bootlid out.  Apart from damaged paint the internal rib at the bottom flange  was not made as well as I would like.

So I replaced that last August and then found that the gap between boot botton lip and lower  valence was a little wider than I would wish.

So today I started to weld a 3mm welding rod to the bottom edge lip to fill the gap.

Then the fun started.  The 0.8mm mild steel wire in the MIG welder got jammed just after the power wheel. This involved taking the gun to pieces and unraveling the wire where it passed from the drive wheel into its tube up to the gun. This took about 30 minutes.  It proceeded to do this 2 or 3 more times..

I go  to Machine Mart to see if they have another wire feed tube.   They have the standard plastic. Or a Teflon tube. Or a tube with a steel liner (like a curtain wire 

I decided to buy both theTeflon and the Wired tubed.

At home I find that the wired tube is slightly bigger diameter than the original plastic tube - but I want to fit it

But it doesn't want to fit (bu99er)

In the end I dispense with the big fat outer casing for all the wires and pipes and keep them together with Spirwrap   sleeving.

Did it work ????  You bet your bippy it did.  I think the springy steel inner liner will give a smoother flow for the welding wire.

Tomorrow I shall give  it a blast and hopefully progress the boot.

 

Roger

Why don’t you lead fill the bottom edge of the boot lid, that’s what I do, much easier and a lot less grinding etc.

Stuart