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Hi all, I am putting together an emergency toolkit for my 1962 TR4 . I will include the usual set of spanners, an adjustable spanner, hammer, gaffer tape, screwdrivers, pliers, length of wire, points, condenser,feeler gauges and torch. Is there anything you can think of that I might need, something that you've stood by the roadside thinking "I wish I would have brought that" Please don't include welder,compressor,engine lift or competent mechanic etc. as they would be too big for the bag :D

Regards

Ron

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I hope your spare points and condenser are from the Distributor Doctor (if not, should be), but add one of his rotor arms.  Distributor caps, for some reason I have never understood, can crack, bringing the car to an immediate halt. 

Plastic cable ties of various sizes can serve for a number of fixes.

I carry jump leads, too, but they seem to have been used to start other "dead" TRs (including TS2 at Kop Hill one year)!

Ian Cornish

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if the vehicle has no volts it isn't going anywhere John , so the multimeter battery will not help much. Where you are doing simple voltage tracing on a classic car with its uncomplicated electrics, a test lamp is the better device because it draws a reasonable current - so will show up poor connections which are often the problem.  

I would add a  couple of lengths of electrical wire to the tool-bag for making temporary repairs and a reel of gaffer tape too as that is useful for electrical insulation and mechanical get-you-home lash-ups. 

Edited by RobH
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19 minutes ago, Harbottle said:

Spare ignition barrel and keys. Mine broke once .

You mean you couldn't just 'hot-wire' the car? :ph34r:

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Hi Rob

Had trouble getting pump to work as well as ignition. its much easier to pull out the wires with connectors and push onto spare barrel. you don't even have to unscrew the original key barrel, just leave the new one on top of the tunnel until you get home or whatever. It never happens on last day of a trip either so having a spare negates trying to hot wire every time you get into car.

Paul

Edited by Harbottle
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Pump?  Ah - not a 4/4A then as per the thread ^_^

I see what you mean though, but I doubt many people would usually consider carrying one of those....... How often do they fail?

 

 

 

Edited by RobH
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I never said it was a 4/4a ! my suggestion applies to any vehicle,  and people may not consider carrying one is the reason I suggested it under this topic. It only has to break once. As it happens it was the key that broke on mine but this still made ignition unuseable. you also may be unfortunate enough to loose your key.

Paul

 

Edited by Harbottle
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3 hours ago, RobH said:

if the vehicle has no volts it isn't going anywhere John 

On the contrary, Rob!   For example,   last time I went to CLM, the ramp off the ferry had been 'reinforced' with lengths of rebar, welded on. Very bumpy!     I set off into deepest France (I prefer  to enjoy la campange not rocket through it on the autoroute).     About an hour later, engine just stops.

Multimeter showed instantly that voltage was down, insufficient to run ignition.    The ramp vibration had shaken the alternator plug off!    An hour later, and a most enjoyable piquenique, and the battery had recovered enough to start.  We were off again!

A test bulb could not have shown the voltage, or the recovered battery state.     Could you tell the difference between bright and glowing, in sunlight

John

PS Ron (OP),

Leave out the condensor.    You ignition will run perfectly well without one.    Their 'fail mode' is by becoming conducting, and shorting the points.      Without a condenser at all, ignition is fine, but the points have a reduced life, a thousand miles instead of six K.  J.

Edited by john.r.davies
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My ammeter would have shown the lack of charge John long before the battery got too low - no need for a separate test-meter to diagnose there was something wrong in that scenario. B)   I think a dashboard voltmeter would give a prior warning too. 

You are right that it is iffy to judge voltage by the brightness of a lamp but in my experience electrical faults are usually broken connections or very bad ones and a lamp is the best tool for diagnosing those. I can't think when I last needed to measure the actual voltage for a breakdown repair (but I have to confess to carrying a small moving-coil voltmeter too,  mainly from habit. )

 

 

 

Edited by RobH
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Hi Ron - I carry some ethanol resistant fuel hose and a fuel pump repair kit, after having so many fuel woes last year.  I also have a disposable boiler suit should things get messy.

Space wise - I keep the 'likely to use' stuff in a tool bag and the 'just in case' stuff around the fuel tank, behind the trim panel.

Mark

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Hi Ron

Where to start? If you are driving in the UK then your tool kit can be smaller. If you are in continental Europe or Ireland then I carry loads of spares such as dynamo, fan belts, fuel pump, points, condenser, coil, brake parts, UJ's, electrical wire, Stromberg diaphragms, brushes for starter and dynamo, light bulbs including sealed beams, spare fuses, fuel pipe, radiator hoses, rear light lenses, spare wheel nuts, etc the list goes on. Also a bottle of dot4 brake fluid. Useful to know that tractor garages often have parts that can fit a TR. WD40. Radiator stop leak. Small can of engine oil.  Also have emergency plastic windscreen but don't know if that would be any good. Most of this can be stowed each side of the fuel tank if you remove the panel at the rear of the boot. There is also room around the spare wheel.

Tools - as well as the usual spanners, sockets, screwdrivers I have a hand drill and imperial size drills, soldering iron and solder, hacksaw, various threaded rods and washers and nuts to remove suspension joints, torque wrench, adjustable wrenches. Also have an electric pump for tyres that plugs into lighter socket I have fitted. Also have the stuff you can put into a tyre if punctured. Warning triangle. A couple of good torches, spare batteries and another that plugs into lighter socket. Hi-viz jackets. Boiler suit. Cable ties. Jump leads, Multimeter. Test bulb. Metal epoxy glue, superglue, gaffer tape.

Next problem is locating where all these are in the car so make a list of where you have put them. Nothing worse than needing to find a spare fuse and having to empty the boot to find it.

All the best

Keith

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Keith,

You are the ultimate pessimist!

"dynamo, fan belts, fuel pump, points, condenser, coil, brake parts, UJ's, electrical wire, Stromberg diaphragms, brushes for starter and dynamo, light bulbs including sealed beams, spare fuses, fuel pipe, radiator hoses, rear light lenses, spare wheel nuts, etc the list goes on. Also a bottle of dot4 brake fluid. WD40. Radiator stop leak. Small can of engine oil.  Also have emergency plastic windscreen"

Why not fit a new fan belt, hoses, brushes etc before you go?  Or does your pessimism tell you that a new one is just as likely to go wrong?   If you are that concerned about your UJs, then ditto!     You do not need a condensor, the ignition works perfectly well and the points will last at least 1000 miles, without one.    Brake parts?   What brake parts?  If the pads wear out en route, you should have replaced them at home!      Fluids?     Remarkably, foreigners have service stations every few miles just like we do!   So you can buy WD40, oil or brake fluid - although DOT4 might be hard to find, so change to DOT5.1, the non-silicone one, before you go!   A rear light lens?   Gosh, you do fear the worst possible!    If you must, rear light mending tape:  

image.thumb.png.83aaaa0cd496058b04c48cd269114a52.png

I like your tool list!  Especially the multimeter!!

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Hello John

After 30 years driving the TR around UK and Europe I have had to fix several things such as dynamo in France (got one from a tractor garage), fan belt twice in France, Stromberg diaphragms after Shepton Mallet meeting years ago, radiator top hose (France - got the top hose for a Massey Ferguson), rebuilt a friends rear brake system (France again) which required clean brake shoes not soaked in brake fluid, new piston seals and dot 4 fluid in a remote village, repaired horn wiring in lakes using soldering iron, used up spare oil in remote French village in friends car. Just a few of the roadside fixes. So that is why I have assembled a collection of spares. I once had two possible breakdown companies for travel in France. One never turned up and the other shrugged their shoulders when they saw the car. Left me going round local tractor garages for bits and fixing the car myself. 

Not pessimism but far easier if you have the spares to hand and can fix the car by the roadside. It is little use having the spares sat in a drawer in the garage at home if you are stuck miles from anywhere in the alps. Different in UK where recovery and/or repair by the roadside isn't such a problem. As I say all these bits are squirrelled away either side of the fuel tank and in the spare wheel area. Not a problem to have them in the car. And surprising how many times I have been able to fix friend's TRs when we have been out and about because I was one of the few to carry the necessary spares.

Just put it down to experience

Keith

 

 

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