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Drivability Upgrades


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I have a TR4 that has been in the family since 1967 and am getting ready to start restoring it.  It’s the car i learned to drive in and my dad got when he was still in high school so its seen some hard miles.

I am looking for advice on what I might want to upgrade to improve the car’s day to day drivability.  I am thinking about the following changes:

  • Adding an overdrive unit.
  • Converting to an alternator.
  • Adding an oil cooler.
  • Converting to telescopic rear shocks.

I would also be interested in any feedback on the benefits of converting to polyurethane bushings, braided steel lines for the brakes, etc.

I don’t have a ton of mechanical experience but I have pulled the head off a couple of times to repair blown head gaskets and sheared rocker studs.  I also have friends and family with experience working on American cars.

Thanks for your input.

Darby

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Hey Darby,

You say drivability, so i guess you wanna enjoy it on the public road, not turn it into a race car.

The proper overdrive with OD2nd gear is a valuable upgrade.

Depending on the conditions you drive in, the alternator may help with slow speed city traffic at night, but if its open roads at daytime I doubt you'll notice a difference.

The oil cooler is just bling on a road car- a fan shroud and maybe additional electric fan (and then alternator) may help keep the whole engine temp down (I drive daytimes in malaysia, dynamo, no additional fan, at 32C ambient 80RH, with no overheating, but car does get hotter - not in the red - in traffic and drives less well when hot)

Telescopic shocks is probably a good thing to do as original-quality levers are hard to find. Changing the bushings to urethane likely a drivability negative, braided lines a neutral.

additions: Diaphragm clutch (less heavy), brake booster, electronic flasher unit, serviced windscreen wiper motor, electric screenwash...some form of radio

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Welcome Darby.

You could ask around locally to you what other owners have done.  Get out on a ride and drive day.   
we all have our favourite mods.   
Reliability is the one thing we all love about the TR.


On side screen cars in the 70’s we fitted electric radiator fans, halogen headlamps and radial ply tyres.

To some extent that is true today.  
Good fresh tyres will transform the overall feel of the car.   Lots on this forum about tyres.

LED headlamps are pretty cheap (same 7 “ unit as Jeep uses).  They reduce the power consumption so the dynamo copes better.

Cheers

Peter W

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..........as above but I would stick with period width tyres (Tires) no bigger than 165.

I find the  suspension poly bushes work very well. But that is compared to the old rubbish I took out.

In-car music on long miles is nice.

 

Rohger

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57 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

All of the above, except I would not change to teleshocks.

Nothing wrong with well maintained levers.

John.

+ 1 teleshocks don't do well on a TR, it's expensive, cumbersome, adds stress to the body... you name it.

Alternator conversion a must as it opens a world of opportunities for new electrical appliance. 

 

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Darby, are you in the hot part of CA? You could always add the oil cooler later, if you find the oil pressure dropping when hot. If you don't need it though it's just something else to go wrong.

Pete

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Another consideration is if you want factory originality or not, especially in the engine bay.

Upgrading/changing certain components from original factory will make the car more reliable and add power.

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Beg to differ on the teleshocks.

Only the early brackets that only bolt to the wheel arch add stress to the body. Some just go back to the original shocker mounts. Some have  mounts that either go through the body and back to the original mounts or have an arm that also bolts to the inner wheel arch. Arguably these brace the body to the chassis.  

Few people argue the 2000/2500s and Stags would be better with lever arm shocks and they utilise a very similar trailing arm with the damper mounted in the same place on the trailing arm. Never seen any of those being retrofitted with lever arm dampers and rebuilt lever arm dampers are hit and miss in terms of quality before factoring in the limitation of being old technology.

Some argue the the location of the telescopic conversion puts the damper in the wrong plane and putting it inside the coil is better, possibly ignoring the fact that this is similarly aligned but closer to the pivot. This isn’t necessarily better but does require a stiffer damper as it operates through a shorter range of movement. This means the forces applied through the trailing arm and the chassis are greater with neither designed with taking those forces at those points. I haven’t come across trailing arms failing as a result but the front diff bridges have been known to crack.

My suspicion is that those dissatisfied with the telescopic conversion have set adjustable ones too stiff and or fitted too firm springs at the same time.

An alternator conversion is worthwhile as the charging is marginal. (Are new cars fitted with dynamos?)

Overdrive makes for more relaxed cruising and fuel economy. The suggestion that the A type gives 7 gears overlooks the gear spacing and wide power band of the TR cars. If you are a racer with a close ratio gear set and a wild cam with a narrow power band then maybe.

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If you do not want or need to install an alternator in place of the dynamo, I would recommend replacing conventional bulbs with led ones. I have changed my headlamp bulbs for leds from Classic Car Leds in the UK (their advice was invaluable). Replacement with leds significantly decreases the amount of current drawn. One word of warning is not to change the ignition warning light bulb.

You will find all the lamps significally brighter too adding to road safety. I followed a classic car recently on the motorway with standard rear lights and it was very difficult to spot in the twilight compared to all the modern cars and I felt sure it was dangerous. It was a rare and expensive car and it would have been tragic had it been rear-ended.

Andy

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2 minutes ago, Ocheye said:

One word of warning is not to change the ignition warning light bulb.

 

Just to prevent confusion - that requirement does not apply if the dynamo is being retained - an LED will work fine.

For an alternator it must be an incandescent or an LED with a parallel resistor to pass sufficient current to the alternator field. 

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1 minute ago, RobH said:

Just to prevent confusion - that requirement does not apply if the dynamo is being retained - an LED will work fine.

For an alternator it must be an incandescent or an LED with a parallel resistor to pass sufficient current to the alternator field. 

Thanks RobH. I didn't know that

Andy

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Picking up on the tele shocks bit of this thread, a guess the question to be answered first on that is "why?" The lever arms look archaic but seem to work fairly well in practice. I think getting the right springs to suit your local conditions and how much weight you tend to carry is more important, and considerably cheaper given the chassis mods needed to fit telescopics.

(Also, if you modify to fit teles, your car won't be eligible for HRCR events... quite likely not an issue for the OP but worth being aware of for anyone planning to take part in classic rallies).

A chassis/suspension improvement not mentioned above but I would say very important for 'driveability' is a negative camber conversion. 

Nigel

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