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The control valve on the rear of the cylinder head never cut-off the feed to the heater,  So, in order not to get baked in the summer, I inserted a cut-off valve, of the type used to isolate water supply to washing machines & dishwashers, between the control valve on the rear of the engine and the feed to the heater.

In warm weather, I just turn the valve to "off".

The cockpit then is warm rather than roasting!

Ian Cornish

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I fitted the TR4 type valve while building my TR3a. Unfortunately the new valve will not fully turn off, it being very stiff right at the end of the travel. I have to open the hood and turn it the last bit by hand, however with the fan off and the flaps closed it is bearable until I get chance to fully turn it off.

Ralph

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On my TR3a I leave my heater valve on the head open all the time. I can’t recall ever being too hot although I do only have the original ‘grannies breath’ heater fitted. In summer the hood is usually off and the heater doors closed. 

Rgds Ian

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+1, same here, valve always open.

Without the fan going virtually no heat escapes from my original Smiths  unit, but with the fan going it is quite effective.

I hav almost never opened the vent, it does not seem to provide any benefit

Bob

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I previously thought that opening the vent directed airflow through the heater. But apparently it doesn’t ??!!

I sometimes use the cab heater to reduce engine temps.

dad used to say cook the driver not the engine. And if the heater runs cold you are out of coolant !!!!

Edited by Hamish
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+1 to running with heater valve open.....T7 Heater no issues. Its only when the fan is running that it gets too toasty!

Unfortunately my original Smiths heater needs massive surgery which it will get one day.

Iain

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I like the white grill surround and was considering it on my 3a but I think that highlight really suits the small mouth car.

a 10dial dash !!:wacko: sharing with the passenger helps.

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  • 3 months later...

Back from Le Mans Classic with lots of memories!:wub:

I was told: "You'll see, it's great, it's extraordinary there are so many things to see, to hear, places to go, things to discover..."

Certainly, I was not afraid to bother myself since old cars have been the object of all (or almost) my torments, my curiosities, my desires for about 35 years... :rolleyes:

But I must confess that I was amazed by what I experienced during these three days!

My feet were hot, my feet hurt and I had so many sunburns that my nose was peeling about as much as a stripper in a striptease cabaret… but it was great! :wub:

We left on Wednesday at dawn… or almost! We had an appointment at 6:45 a.m. in front of my house but my 83-year-old sidekick, when I was crawling in front of my gate, was still in his bathroom! 

Old age is a shipwreck and I will have the opportunity to verify it throughout our journey! :wacko:

Anyway, after being reminded of the agreed time, my old comrade arrived at the wheel of his BN2 15 minutes late... 

After joining our two acolytes in 3000 (the same ones from the Iberian journey, two or three weeks ago), we hit the road!

11:00 am later, we were at Le Mans, not without having weathered a fine storm during the last hour. Prudent JL had stopped after Tours, in a town whose name I forget, to put the top on his car and we had to insist strongly on obtaining a hood for the BN2, my old sidekick claiming a faulty hood and rainwears to avoid the difficult manoeuvre! 

Good thing we did because it's better to have the hood that cracks and pat your head like Benny Hill for an hour, than to arrive as soaked as a soup! :D

The next day, the circuit only opening in the early afternoon, we killed time by visiting Provost Automobiles, where we were able to see some very nice cars, conscientious craftsmen and our first Englishmen of the weekend…

The two and a half days inside the circuit were exhausting because the sun was beating down hard and the distances to be covered are significant between the different club spaces, the stands, the paddocks or even the village... 

The Triumph spaces were "light" and while I am unable to give the exact number of cars, I can safely say that there were quite a few of them... :(

Be that as it may, the atmosphere is extraordinary and you rub shoulders with pilots and "happy few" in complete relaxation: you turn around and your neighbor is Paul Belmondo, then barely 5 minutes later you come across Nelson Piquet accompanied of his little family! But the highlight of the show is in the paddocks as well as around them when the cars leave or return! Special mention to the Jaguar space which brought together a considerable number of ancient marvels as well as to paddocks 1 and 2! :)

Due to going on vacation, we hit the road again on Sunday morning to reach Toulouse… After many discussions, my comrades managed to convince my sidekick to leave me entirely behind the wheel for the return trip and so I made the 650 km of return at the wheel of the 100/4.

Like me, they had noticed that the 83 springs of the octogenarian had damaged some of his reflexes as well as his clairvoyance and that claiming to ride in the middle of the road and systematically cut his turns were not the best way to s ensure a damage-free return! 

Having driven nearly 1000 terminals at the wheel of an Austin-Healey 100/4 BN2 with an engine prepared for 131 hp and equipped with four discs, I can affirm loud and clear that if we have to admit that it works a little better than a TR2 or 3, with the exception of braking, it’s  not really better! 

The road holding is certainly better, especially since he has put excellent Avon in 185, but the engine if it is more torquey and a little more powerful, is not fundamentally different from that of our democratic small cars . The box is dreadful with a third to pick up at « Petaouchnoque » and the direction just as random as on a TR! 

In short, I would be offered an exchange… which I would not accept! I'm keeping my little TR!!! And I even affirm loud and clear that it is well worth a 100/4, yet twice as expensive!!! :P

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Edited by Teher
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In Arnage there are two shows: the first, in the town, where you sit for dinner along the main street.

We dine moderately well, along this same main street, in an atmosphere overheated by a fine and distinguished public who encourages motorists of the same ilk to wax their tires or end their clutch prematurely… In short, it smells of burnt rubber , stupidity and bad alcohol, it speaks as much French as English and it makes a lot of noise for a hyperesthetic like me! :ph34r:

The second show is at the Arnage bend, it makes even more noise, but a great noise! The rare modern ones show off their red-hot discs there, at the start of the Indianapolis curve and the less modern ones spit flames there as they accelerate in the short straight line before the Arnage curve. :wub:

We stand on the hill, in the curve of Indianapolis and we eat a bad merguez sandwich and yet another pint of beer while feasting on a visual and sound spectacle which confirms that we are finally only old little boys bleached under the harness! :rolleyes:
 


 

Edited by Teher
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Sorry to hear of your poor dining experience on the street at Arnage.

We did that on our 2008 visit to CLM. Eating steak frites with some bottles of red wine (we could walk from / to our hotel) on trestle tables outside. The restaurant gave us all a special T shirt which I still have. Certainly, cars were driving along the road beside us - watching the range of machinery go by was part of the experience - but generally in a civilised manner. Shame to read that the driving manners of visitors both French and English has deteriorated so as to spoil the experience.

Miles  

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  • 1 year later...

The Bolide is back on the roads! B)


After having rebuilt almost everything, namely, the cylinder head, the gearbox, the overdrive, the clutch, the wheel half-shafts, the steering bar pivots, reconditioned the steering box, the braking, the dynamo and the starter, designed and manufactured an additional fan, installed an anti-roll bar, a new heater and so many other things, this time it is the crankshaft which has decided to retire after 69 (so erotic) years good and loyal service, at the beginning of last May. :unsure:


As I didn't want any Indian or Pakistani junk made from shoeing iron, I preferred to buy an authentic old item from the days of the glorious British automobile industry that I love so much... 


Arrived, very poorly packaged, from Neil Revington, already tested and balanced, he joined all the mobile equipment, including a flywheel lightened from 10 to 8.2 kg for complete rebalancing!


Everything joined the bowels of the Bolide in mid-August and I am in the process of finishing the break-in! :)

 

IMG_8535.jpeg

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Wow you have been busy. But it looks a lovely car and I know you and the family enjoy it. 
great picture in a timeless setting.

enjoy

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2 hours ago, Teher said:

this time it is the crankshaft which has decided to retire after 69 (so erotic) years good and loyal service, at the beginning of last May. :unsure:


As I didn't want any Indian or Pakistani junk made from shoeing iron, I preferred to buy an authentic old item from the days of the glorious British automobile industry that I love so much... 

 

 

IMG_8535.jpeg

Hi Teher,

The new cranks from Moss are spot on.

The steel is identical to that used in the original cranks back in the 1940's onwards.

I had the metal tested on the British Airways X-ray spectroscopy machine - identical.  EN16.

When the bearings were machined there was NO evidence of porosity or inclusions - perfect surfaces.

There was only one teething problem and that was soon sorted.

I've been running one of the two prototypes for the last 50,000 miles.

This repro crank is as near to identical as the original.

Good luck with your old crank

You have a beautiful looking car there

Roger

 

 

Edited by RogerH
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As Roger has pointed out, one should avoid labelling everything which comes from the East as being "junk".

The Spares Development Fund (SDF), mainly in the form of Roger, undertook the analysis of the crankshafts being produced out East for Ferguson tractors, and determined that they are top quality, as the originals installed in our 4-pot TRs at Canley.

And this is why Roger has covered 50k miles trouble-free miles with one in his TR, and Moss are selling them.

Ian Cornish (Chairman, SDF)

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  • 3 months later...
Posted (edited)

Some news of the "Green Bolide" ! B)

I abandoned it almost two months ago now, due to unwanted "clong" at the rear axle. :wacko:

At Revington, I had to pay for a dismantling to check the condition of the diff carrier so I gave up...

At Pete Cox, I was assured that they had absolutely new Lokheed axle differential carrier. I obviously bought one and they sent me... a Girling!!! By offering to make huge wedges to compensate for the differences between Lokheed and Girling! :angry:

In the meantime, the friendly Laurence had sent me a message to offer me the Lokheed that he once had on his TR3. After a telephone interview, we were able to assess the apparent good condition of the cage and the axle was repatriated at the end of last week. 

I had an appointment with the mechanic this morning so that he could dismantle it and extract the carrier. You can imagine the impatience and stress because judging the real quality of a differential carrier without having removed it is impossible... :ph34r:

In the end, the cage is pretty good. Obviously, it is not new but by definition if this bridge was abandoned it is because there had been a problem and seeing the damaged pinion, we understand that it was stored... The axle crossing the cage showed no play and when placing a new one, only one side showed play which disappeared when the mechanic replaced the old axle. As for the bearings housing the satellite wedges, they are obviously marked but within an acceptable tolerance and far from the real thresholds presented by my original cage... :)

In the end, I can only thank the friendly Laurence who was kind enough to sell me this rare piece which turns out to be in good condition and which will allow the Bolide to be able, once again, to explore the Toulouse countryside at high speed in soon! B)

And now, it's going to be the "Yellow Bolide" turn to get a makeover on the rear end! :unsure:

 

Edited by Teher
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On 9/23/2023 at 9:26 AM, RogerH said:

Hi Teher,

The new cranks from Moss are spot on.

The steel is identical to that used in the original cranks back in the 1940's onwards.

I had the metal tested on the British Airways X-ray spectroscopy machine - identical.  EN16.

When the bearings were machined there was NO evidence of porosity or inclusions - perfect surfaces.

There was only one teething problem and that was soon sorted.

I've been running one of the two prototypes for the last 50,000 miles.

This repro crank is as near to identical as the original.

Good luck with your old crank

You have a beautiful looking car there

Roger

 

 

I have just opened up the engine with one of the first cranks from India in 1980’s.  It looks fine.  It will go back in after 40 odd k miles.  Using standard bearings    The pistons are worn as are the fig 8 that corroded away.  The Tony Dean 2 R cam and followers look like new.

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5 hours ago, Teher said:

Some news of the "Green Bolide" ! B)

I abandoned it almost two months ago now, due to unwanted "clong" at the rear axle. :wacko:

At Revington, I had to pay for a dismantling to check the condition of the diff carrier so I gave up...

At Pete Cox, I was assured that they had absolutely new Lokheed axle differential carrier. I obviously bought one and they sent me... a Girling!!! By offering to make huge wedges to compensate for the differences between Lokheed and Girling! :angry:

In the meantime, the friendly Laurence had sent me a message to offer me the Lokheed that he once had on his TR3. After a telephone interview, we were able to assess the apparent good condition of the cage and the axle was repatriated at the end of last week. 

I had an appointment with the mechanic this morning so that he could dismantle it and extract the carrier. You can imagine the impatience and stress because judging the real quality of a differential carrier without having removed it is impossible... :ph34r:

In the end, the cage is pretty good. Obviously, it is not new but by definition if this bridge was abandoned it is because there had been a problem and seeing the damaged pinion, we understand that it was stored... The axle crossing the cage showed no play and when placing a new one, only one side showed play which disappeared when the mechanic replaced the old axle. As for the bearings housing the satellite wedges, they are obviously marked but within an acceptable tolerance and far from the real thresholds presented by my original cage... :)

In the end, I can only thank the friendly Laurence who was kind enough to sell me this rare piece which turns out to be in good condition and which will allow the Bolide to be able, once again, to explore the Toulouse countryside at high speed in soon! B)

And now, it's going to be the "Yellow Bolide" turn to get a makeover on the rear end! :unsure:

 

Francois,

more than happy to help - really pleased to hear the carrier is in good condition and that you'll be on the road again soon.

If we go to Nogaro later this year, we can chat over a glass or two of vin rouge!

Best wishes, Laurence

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  • 1 month later...

The Bolide is back ! 
Here he is resting, under the watchful eye of his little cousin, after a drive of around a hundred kilometers yesterday, with Madame Teher… B)

IMG_9747.jpeg

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