Triumph - That was a year that was..

[Bfg]

Having changed the road-spring rates on Katie,  I think probably back to standard TR4A spec,  as opposed to TR6 rated springs, and driven the car a hundred miles or so to settle those - I next wanted to check the tracking and cambers . . .

^ nine old night storage heater bricks weighed in on my bathroom scales at ~68 kg (150lb) x 2 seats ..because I do refer to the workshop manual, before I rolled the car back into my getting rather restricted workspace.

^ Using the cord around the wheels (shimmed out on each tyre to accommodate difference in front & rear track widths) I first checked the car's present tracking. The front axle was fine, and the back was close but for the rear left having 0.29deg positive rather than toe-in.  I don't think I'd notice less than 1/3rd of a degree crabbing sideways, but as that wheel also has just -0.35 degree of camber, and it should be -1 +/- 0.5 degree on the IRS TR4A - then I'll swap out one of the arm-to-chassis-brackets (one notch difference probably)  and at the same time slip in a shim to correct the tracking.

As you can see from the above photo I checked the wheel cambers against a spirit-level (..distance from the wheel rim top and bottom to that vertical datum).

I'm glad to see that the car is sitting evenly now side to side.

^ I drew these out in AutoCAD, to scale, so that I can see what is what and to measure the angles accurately. 

^ Today I added to that with a rough sketch of the front suspension wishbones. Several dimensions are not given in the workshop manual so I've estimated them, but still it ought to be close enough for my needs.  I need to adjust the LHS front-wheel camber, which presently measured at +0.94 degrees, whereas according to the workshop manual it should be 0 +/- 0.5 degrees.  Personally I prefer just a tad negative camber. Katie's  front-right wheel measured at -0.22 degrees ..which is what I'd like on the LHS. 

On the RHS is of drawing above shows the end view (in this case of the LHS so as if viewed directly from behind). Behind the circle representing the lower fulcrum bush, now mounted into a two stud bracket, I've added three shims (5mm) behind each of those bottom brackets. This according to the drawing swings the upright and hub, and therefore the wheel, out by 1.29 degrees. Given that the car presently has +0.94 then -1.29 degrees ought to give me -0.35 degrees.  And that's pretty darned close to what I want. 

 

But. . . because the rear of this chassis' fulcrum mounts has been plated over (..so I suspect the suspension's castor is out as well) - I'm presently just fitting the three shims behind the front bracket.

Btw the drawing on the left (above) is my plan of the lower wishbones, with three shims behind just the forward lower-fulcrum-bracket.  This both swings the lower wishbones backwards - which shorten the wheelbase on this side, by 5mm, and at the same time lessening this side's steering castor angle. It also advises that I'll need to wind-in the track-rod-end by 2.5mm to correct the steering's tracking.  . .

 

 

^ If logic is anything to go by then by fitting the shims behind just the one bracket (above the shim can just be seen as it was being fitted ..just under under the steering rack) - then instead of those making 1.29 degrees difference (to negative) it ought to make just half that difference.  1.29 / 2 = 0.645 degrees.  This side's camber measured at 0.94 degrees positive, so if my calculations are correct - then I'll end up with +0.295 degrees.  It's not really what I want but (because of the slapped on plate repair) the studs are too short to also fit 5mm of shims behind the rearmost fulcrum bracket. 

I'll just have to try it and see. Hopefully I've miscalculated or miss measured something ..and it will all be fine in the daylight   If not, then it will still be within design tolerance ..just not as right as I'd like it.

Pete

- - -  

for reference  should anyone want to know about what difference these shims make to camber angles on the TR4a (TR250, TR5 and 6 are probably the same) ...

According to what I've drawn.. one new / probably standard shim (1/16" / 1.67mm thick) behind each lower fulcrum - chassis bracket approximates to 0.43 degrees additional negative camber.  Two shims double that, so ~ 0.86 degrees.  Three shims ~ 1.29.  And if you fit three shims behind one of the brackets and two shims behind the other - then I guess you should achieve very close to 1 degree change in camber (to negative).

[Bfg]

I hope all those selling and equally those shopping at Stoneleigh had a great day of it.  I didn't go but instead went across to Sutton Hoo, which for those who don't know is the burial ground of an Anglo-Saxon king, along with his long ship and precious artifacts which he would undoubtedly need in the afterlife.

^ The weather was dry and still aired, but dull and with 10/10th cloud cover all day. Katie's  steering seemed to be tracking much better around Suffolk's B-roads subsequent to the shimmed suspension adjustments I made to her front left corner.

Sutton Hoo is strange for a museum insomuch as the exhibits are mostly reproductions of those now in the hands of the British museum.  Many years ago I visited the Viking Ship museum in Oslo, which houses (I think 3 ?) magnificent longboats (..well the original timbers and most of the frames supported into their correct shape) which you can walk around to admire their incredible lines and stature.  I've also visited the museum on the shore of Galilee, which houses the timber remains of a first century A.D. fishing boat (..colloquially known as the Jesus boat), so coming here - I guess I'd hoped to see something of the original ship &/or the archeological diggings, perhaps showing its imprint in the soil.  Alas not . . .

   

The notice explains and illustrates the position of the burial mounds, which actually doesn't make much sense as the large one illustrated on the plan (partly over the track to the right) is "the Great ship Burial - the King's mound burial chamber is inside the ship" but then the large mound (2) at the bottom of the site plan is "Ship Burial - burial chamber underneath the ship. Robbed about 1600 and 1860. Excavated in 1938 and 1988. Reconstructed to original size" (my photo right).  Seven of the 18 mounds are "Un-excavated, Probably robbed", another was "thought to be a burial mound, but this is now in doubt"

Each have been robbed, probably robbed, or unsuccessfully robbed.  And most are little more than undulations in the coarse grass, where . . .

^ odd looking sheep graze freely over the burial grounds. 

^ There's a pretty impressive sculpture in the car-park depicting (at many times the scale) the buried king's helmet.  And also a tubular-steel full-sized depiction of a long-ship's frames. Unfortunately they are broadly spaced and so don't really give a clear impression of the ship's lines or its stature. There was no model of the ship in the museum, nor a model of the burial site Disappointingly then, this museum is not even a dim shadow of those in Norway and Israel.  For the National-Trust's gate price I had expected more.

Still, even on a dull February day - it is a very pleasant park to walk around. . .

   

   

 

^ easy to walk paths in pleasant countryside. I liked their stylish idea of a garden seat, and the views over the Deben to Woodbridge.

I took the long way around to get there, and with so very little traffic it was a pleasant open-aired drive.  An hour or so's walk was a little Sunday afternoon exercise and I bought what I hope will be an interesting book 'the Red Prince - John of Gaunt' by Helen Carr, in the museum's second-hand book store.  

All in all a pleasant afternoon to drive out and have a walk around. 

Bidding you a good evening,

Pete.

 

   

[Bfg]

Carrying on with my adjustments of the front-left suspension's castor and camber, c. 9th February, the measured results were not quite as much as my sketched geometry had implied they would be.  I suspect that when making the drawing - I must have pick & mixed TR4 versus TR4A wishbone and chassis mount dimensions from the workshop manual.  In short I got it wrong and had to re-do the work again ..in my own time and without pay . . .

^ the LHS of this drawing shows my revised sketch (for TR4A and later models) versus the previous sketch (RHS of this drawing) which is much closer in configuration to the TR4.  I hadn't realised the front suspension changed so much between models, but perhaps a clue was in their spec'ing a 2-deg positive camber angle (static laden) for the TR4, versus the TR4A being 0-degrees camber. 

The most notable differences between the above drawings is where the bottom outer-fulcrum pin attaches to the upright (steering trunnion) and the relative position of the ball joint of the top wishbones (which I'd roughly guessed at before but later found clearer information to work from).  With the suspension's  unequal wishbone lengths and different chassis mounts - the swing in geometry is mostly seen the angle of the lower wishbones, and of course that different geometry alters the results of adjustments made.

Bottom line, is that (according to the earlier geometry sketch) - fitting x3 (5mm) of shim (..behind just the front) lower fulcrum bracket should have altered the camber by -1.29° / 2 = -0.645°  but (when measured) it adjusted by just 0.43°.   The camber was (without the shims) +0.94° and with those shims it measured at +0.51°. 

As it was Katie's  LHS wheel leaned out and the RHS wheel camber leaned in, albeit each (now) by just a tad.  The RHS measured as -0.22° which is fine. The W.S.manual specifies  0° +/- 0.5°  so the result was very close to tolerance, but I'd prefer both wheels to each have a slightly negative camber of -0.5° to -1°.   This preference is founded on what Stuart and Marco (TR Register's forum) have said, and again what seems right to me ..insomuch as I'd prefer to lessen wheel tuck-under in cornering. 

The car's overall stance is not helped by the rear wheel's cambers.. which on this car measured at -0.15° on the rear LHS and -1.31° on the RHS.  so again the LHS wheel is very close to vertical whereas the RHS rear wheel leans in.

For the IRS TR4A, for the rear wheels camber ; the book specifies  -1 +/- 0.5°.   So again Katie's  rear RHS is correct and the LHS would benefit from another degree of negative camber.  As set up (both front and rear wheel cambers) the car ought to handle slightly better around left rather than right handed corners    ..not that I, or any other average driver, might actually notice the difference.  But, perhaps like with the brakes ~ being slightly out of adjustment is barely noticeable in normal use ..but in an emergency situation, that little bit of fine adjustment may make all the difference.  Aside from that ..as I'm a retired engineer I'm 'having fun' with my hobby.

So.., and from what (I thought) I'd read from Marco, reversing the top fulcrum pin would take that inwards by 2.5mm. . . 

  

^ removing the upper wishbones was done without taking the spring and damper off.  As the lower wishbone is sprung against the chassis, the top wishbones only provide the location for the top of the upright.. ie., the upright and steering trunnion., so with the chassis on blocks, the trolley jack was used to support the hub and raise the wishbone arms to level.   The two top arms have a different offset ..which facilitates the steering's castor angle, and so when the upper fulcrum pin is reversed (to alter their offset relative to the mounting bolt holes) the arms also have to be swapped around.    

^^ I had issues with the screw threads of the upper fulcrum pin into the chassis when I had the suspension off before. I cleaned out the threads with a tap, and it did go back together again - but was not happy when the thread in one of the rear fastenings bound up tight.  While the top wishbone was off again, I chose to correct that previously crossed and now part stripped thread by tapping the hole out for the next size of bolt.  In this case I succumbed to using an M8 .  That is the very next size up and was used because it avoids needing to enlarge the hole through the fulcrum pin's casting.  I've deliberately used an Allen headed set screw in that hole to differentiate it, and I've marked the chassis next to it with 'M8' so it's obviously different to whomever next takes this suspension apart. 

Job done.  However according to my revised sketch and the 2.5mm change in offset of those pins - this should have altered that front-left camber from +0.94° to -0.03°.   Whereas doing so resulted in the camber to change to -1.31° ..way too much !   Either the top fulcrum pin's offset was different to what I'd understood from Marco (who perhaps meant 2.5mm from a centre between the bolt holes),   &/or my drawing's geometry,  &/or my measurements were in error.  Things were now becoming a little more frustrating.  

Back to the drawing board . . .

  

^ from the W.S.manual, the axis of the upright (vertical link) ie. between the bottom steering trunnion and the top ball joint, is notated to be 9° from the vertical.  You'll note that the top wishbones are shown horizontal. In engineering draughting, unless otherwise stated, it is usual practice to draw such assemblies in their designed working / static load condition.. and this situation is confirmed to be the case by the hub's axis also being shown horizontal ..which in turn corresponds to the wheel camber's specification of 0 +/- 0.5°.

But that drawing's horizontal top wishbone does not match what i see on the car, so revising my ACAD drawing again - I've tried to 'reverse engineer' the overall geometry to reflect the 0.94° positive camber measured at this wheel.  As the angle between the wheel (the hub spindle) and the upright us fixed - I started by swinging the wheel and its hub to the measured wheel camber. This swung the upright's axis to 8.06° from the vertical. 

And then the only way the rest of the given dimensions (ie., the wishbone lengths and the positions of the mounts on the chassis) link together was to drop the wheel (which is the same as raising the suspension's ride height).  The drawing reveals the ride height is much higher than designed, and as a consequence the top wishbone swings down from the horizontal to about 11° , and the bottom wishbone swings down by 7.4° (..because of their different length).   Naturally this ride height is seen when looking at the car, and yes.. the car has been high since the chassis change and although it's now a little lower than it was, there's (vertically) still 3-1/2" (88mm) between the top of the tyre and the underside of the lip of the wheel-arch. 

The difference in geometry between my first and last drawing permutations is obvious, and of course any changes made by shimming, &/or reversing the upper fulcrum pin, would show different results from each.  I've now taken one of the three shims out from under the bottom wishbone's inner fulcrum bracket. Now there's x2 under that polybush bracket, and non under the rear wishbone bracket ..which instead has a repair / reinforcing plate on it. 

I've not rechecked the car yet with the 150lb (68kg) load in each seat, but I have roughly reset the toe-in and then driven the car another 100 miles or so ..to settle things, and today checked this front wheel's camber (unloaded).  It presently reads -0.44°  ..which I am happy with.

NOTE : Unequal wishbone lengths - when cornering and when the suspension is compressed ...

With Katie's  suspension sitting too high at the front ; the upper wishbones are not horizontal, so when the suspension is compressed the upper ball joint swings through an arc outwards by 5.24mm, until it is horizontal with the inner fulcrum pins. The bottom wishbones raised by the same distance as the suspension is compressed, and the outer fulcrum pins swing through their arc outwards by 9.94mm. In terms of effecting camber ; the sum of these changes are (9.94 - 5.24mm 😃 4.5mm ..which would similar to 3 more shims under the bottom wishbone brackets) which alters the camber angle towards negative.

However, if the ride height were correct (ie. lower ) ..so that the upper wishbone started off horizontal (as shown in the W.S.manual) then the upper ball joint would swing inwards by 2.97mm, for the same amount of vertical travel cited above.  The bottom wishbone's outer fulcrum pin (still not horizontal with the inner polybushes) would swing outwards by  4.38mm.. The sum of change is (2.97mm + 4.38 😃 7.35mm to alter the camber angle towards negative even more. This when cornering hard would angle the wheel and tyre out at the bottom

It'll do for the time being ..but I really ought to try again to lower Katie's  front suspension ride height.   That said, checking the effect of lowering the front of the car by 20mm, and it seems that it would be much the same as if I fitted just one extra shim behind the bottom wishbone brackets.  so it's really not worth the effort.  

- - -

As is said above "The car's overall stance is not helped by the rear wheel's cambers.. which on this car measured at -0.15° on the rear LHS and -1.31° on the RHS.  so again the LHS wheel is very close to vertical whereas the RHS rear wheel leans in. "

This wheel also had a slight toe-out, by 0.29°. The resolution of each was to swap out the outer bracket and remove one of the two shims between it and the chassis . . .  

 

^ This bracket was also swapped out without removing the spring. With the hub supported on the trolley jack and the front of the trailing arm resting on blocks, the bolt pulled out smoothly to the inside, and with that out, and the arm pulled back a bit to get the spanner onto the top through-chassis bolts, those were undone and the bracket could then swing downwards and be pulled off the polybush. NB. The inside bracket's chassis-through-bolts were loosened just a little to give a little free movement of the arm, so that the bracket could more easily be pulled out and be replaced.   

Referencing the chart I'd used before - I swapped this outer bracket from 2D (two notches facing down) to 1U (one notch up). This raised that outer polybush by 1/8" ..to tilt the trailing arm and the hub, and therefore the wheel inwards at top.  According to the chart (bottom LH corner) this ought to alter the wheel camber from -1.02° to -1.63°   ..or 0.61°.  And as it was -0.15° then that should result in the wheel camber now being -0.76° ..which is within the specified tolerance of -1 +/-0.5°.   Again I have not checked this with the car loaded, but am confident that it's now better than it was.

Removing the shim corrected this wheel's toe-out tracking. 

Job done.  

The front of the car is still sitting an inch higher than I would like.. but I think the body is high at the front on the chassis by half an inch, as the chassis has just 1/2" greater ground-clearance than it should have.  The softer (standard) front springs can be noticed though..  as being better balanced with the standard rear springs.  

I felt beforehand that the car's rear quarter would squat down around corners whereas the front did not, and that felt uneasy / a little unpredictable.  Now the front and rear spring rates feel much better matched with less load on the steering and the tail end feeling less squidgy.  Quite probably the car rolls a tad more but that's much better than the tail end going down and feeling as its rolling under.  I'll need to wait until my sprained wrist has healed before I push my luck around corners and find myself drifting, but Katie  already feels safer.  For me, the effort has been worth it.  These are just my impressions of course and a better driver or another person following might see how things might still be improved.

Pete 

 

[Bfg]

Another task which I've been wanting to do for some time..  was to swap out Katie's  carburettors.  I'd bought a set complete with linkages and manifold way back when, and had them refurbished by Glen Watson, down in Chelmsford, ready for the engine I was rebuilding ..in anticipation of buying the American project TR4A 'Chance'  from Arkansas.   Glen's invoice is from 22nd March 2020, so they've been sitting boxed-up and in storage for almost two years now.  Mid February seemed a good as any time to get my butt out into the cold and to get on with the task. . .

  

^ as they were.  Note if you will - the choke arrangement, which was similar to when I bought the car but for my changing the cable run from over to under the carbs. I did that simply because I don't like cables and pipes flaying around the engine bay, but otherwise it worked well enough despite a knackered cable. 

^ the old n' tired versus the newly restored.   I'll let you guess which is which. 

I honestly don't know how Glen does such a brilliant job ..his restored carbs look like new.  

You might note that the rear carb of each is where the fuel pipe to the float bowl is fitted.  That's something I prefer as again it tidies and better secures the fuel pipe from the pump situated on the rear LH side of the engine. Originally it was around the front of the engine uncomfortably close to the fan belt, and then dangling across space to the front carb.   Glen also obligingly removed the triangular blocks that are cast into the top of the inlet manifold's balance tube.  I couldn't find a reason for them to be there and so chose to go for the smoother look.  At some point I'll probably polish the top of that pipe just for the sake of  * bling *

  

^ I removed the nuts of the lower clamping studs as I removed the old manifolds, but then very loosely refitted them before offering the new carbs up. As you might gather from the second photo, having a start on those threads is much easier than trying to get my fat fingers in between those manifolds.   I also removed the studs protruding from the underside of the inlet manifold, which go into the exhaust manifold, so that the inlet could be pushed onto the studs from the cylinder head.  The bottom studs weren't fitted to the old carbs and they seemed to have managed well enough without, so I guess I'll leave them off this set. 

This car's unusual choke mechanism was the biggest nuisance in fitting these . . .

  

^ Below the cable's brass ferrule, through the flange next to the dash-pot, is the choke cable's lever.  Shown in the above photos in its 'off ' and then 'choke on' positions - the cable outer is fixed but the bottom cable connector swivels in the hole in that lever.  As the lever on the one is pulled up the cross rod is then turned and the choke lever on the other carb is activated. There's a bit of play between each and so that needs to be adjusted out if you want both chokes to open by the same amount. 

^ the old carb's choke cable was from the plate between the carb's dash-pot flanges (blue arrow) and the choke's cross-rod. The latter has a plate welded on for the purpose (red arrow). Unfortunately the refurbished carbs did not have this plate and so I tried to make one which clamped on. . .

     

^ sophisticated and well equipped machine shop - not !  I drilled and roughed out the clamp-on bracket, together with a swiveling ferrule for the cable's outer

^ shaped and fitted onto the replacement carburettor's cross rod.    The design theory was fine but.. using sheet aluminium for the bracket didn't work. I couldn't get sufficient clamping onto the round rod, even when I fitted it with two screws. The aluminium edge buckled.  But what a great opportunity to do it again !  

  

^ this time using a piece of steel (up-cycled of course) and using the aluminium prototype as a template. 

^ OK., this bracket works well. And with just one screw it clamps onto the cross rod securely. The outer cable's pivoting ferrule can just be seen. It's fitted with a metal cross tube for its hinge (rather relying on the set screw) and the cable inner is into its usual bowden-cable clamp, which also pivots in its own bracket.  

It's reasonably neat ..without cables flaying around over the carbs, and it works ..but not so well because of the old cable. . .

^ the old bowden cable is passed its best-used-by date, and the replacement inner cable (with the solid wire) that I bought at Ambergate, is way too short. 

The old cable works until I get or make a replacement.  How MUCH for a new choke cable ! ??

^ Task done (but for replacing the 41" cable inner).  The fuel feed is again around the back of the engine.   

When I started the car with these carbs the engine coughed and spluttered, seemingly struggling to cope on two cylinders. The engine breather tube was into the manifold, and when I blocked that off ..taking the breather pipe into a pot next to the radiator's expansion bottle, the carbs worked.  I had issues with debris in the fuel pipe ..seemingly bits of rubber - so I'll soon need to check and replace the flexi fuel pipes from the tank. In the meantime I've cleaned out the pump's glass bowl and the pipes to the carbs, and have added an in-line filter.  That seems to have sorted the issue out ..for the time being. 

The breather pipe has been to the atmosphere since I got the car, and only clear water is in the pot.  The big black pipe is ugly though, so I'll review it sometime.

The carb's throttle operating rod from the throttle pedal goes to a quadrant plate (on brackets under the carbs) which turns the throttle's rod motion through 90-degrees, from forward n' backwards to up n' down.  That quadrant plate was not as tight as I like and so twisted a little - so I've fitted a wavy-spring-washer (of shim thickness) behind it.  I've greased the connectors with lithium and so they all works nice and smoothly now.  

The carb's linkages were not accurately synchronised, so I've adjusted those to pick up on both carbs evenly.  Subsequently I've driven the car to our TR group's monthly meeting and again to their breakfast meeting.. and my first impression was GREAT -  I've gained another 20bhp !        The engine's response, which was hesitant to pick up and overall 'saloon-car mellow' is now instant and the engine's power has noticeably more gusto throughout the rev range (..up to motorway-plus speeds).  The car's annoying vibration at 65mph has halved - and that's now tolerable, even though it seems to have moved up to about 68mph.

When I turned up at the breakfast meeting, my friend Rich noted that the car's exhaust smelt like a TR6,  ie., she is running rich, and that seems to be the case.  I've subsequently wound each SU's underside nuts up by two flats (to lessen fuel richness).  I'll now run the car like that before settling down to more accurately tuning them.

In short, another job (mostly) done and the results are pleasing. The car now feels more sporting.  In short - it's the best money ..in terms of noticeable effect, I've yet spent on the car.

Pete

 

 

[DSdriver]

I had fuel starvation problems on my DS which we eventually found was the rubber hose on the supply side to the electric fuel pump, whilst looking fine on the outside the inner part of the rubber under the reinforcing had delaminated and was closing up when too much suck was applied.

[Bfg]

39 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

I had fuel starvation problems on my DS which we eventually found was the rubber hose on the supply side to the electric fuel pump, whilst looking fine on the outside the inner part of the rubber under the reinforcing had delaminated and was closing up when too much suck was applied.

Yep I reckon all the flexi-rubber bits of the fuel pipe need to be replaced, right the way from the tank..  I had asked M&T to do that with ethanol proof tubing but suspect the mechanic took a few short cuts.  More trouble (road-side &/or diagnostics) than it's worth not to do the job properly. 

Pete

[Bfg]

Last Saturday the East Saxons group of the TR Register had a get together breakfast at Poplar Nursery ~ Marks Tey, nr Colchester. Thanks to a few like Rich and Ron always making newcomers feel welcome, the groups successfully attracts a good turnout. Thirty or more members and guests is not unusual. . . 

 

^ Although a cool and later damp day (25th February) we had eight Triumphs and a number of other interesting cars in the car-park.  Mat & I took the opportunity to look at his 4A's surrey-top back-light, with regard to its distance from the windscreen header rail. Lucky so and so has an aluminium one but the holes have been elongated forward, so we tried half of my own roof on his car to check the length.  I'd taken a mould off an original steel lid and fit for fit his backlight seemed to be some 10 -12mm further back than mine. In the middle the lids overhang is quite generous, but the distance from the top corner of the windscreen back to the top corner of the backlight was clearly greater.  Katie's  backlight is a fibregalss after market one, but its glass is original, so I'm guessing the grp over the top isn't that far out. And I have mine push back with the rigid T-bar middle section.    Mat's car's door gaps are just a little more than mine but look good (Katie's are just a little tight) and the positioning of his car's windscreen also seems to be good, and the angles match the door glasses well on both sides.   It's still a mystery why his surrey-top dimensions are different, and so why a prior owner felt it necessary to elongate the surrey-top frame holes in the backlight forward.

Of course just as we were deliberating the peculiarities of Triumphs ..and how the cars may have been restored over the past 55 years, the very fine drizzle became heavier. . .

  

^ borrowed my car's half-roof back and Matt reverted to his alternative. 

It was a good breakfast meeting and the weather soon dried up again as cars headed for home, or wherever.   As for Katie  ..with her new carburettors and more fun performance, and myself - we took the opportunity to go for a good drive . . .

 

^ heading north and then west from Little Tey are some of the best Suffolk country drives, I was going to Clare but first stopped off at the East Anglian Railway Museum < www.EARM.co.uk > to pick up a schedule of their 2023 events. In brief, I'd like to visit when they have a steam day. Aside from their static museum they also have Diesel days, but tbh that just doesn't float my boat.   I then passed, and again stopped, at the Colne Valley Railway for their schedule.  Next up i was driving through Earls Colne and noticed their unusual church tower . . .  

^ St Andrews, Earls Colne.  Unfortunately it was closed but still quite extra-ordinary in detail as well as stature. . .

  

^ one of the first things I noticed as I got out of the car were cast iron gravestones...  "In 1824 Robert Hunt, a millwright from Soham in Cambridgeshire, settled in Earls Colne and set up a millwrighting and wheelwrighting shop and smithy at what was to become the Atlas Works."    ..Even I had heard of the Atlas works

"The business soon gained a local reputation for making general agricultural equipment and after exhibiting products at the Royal Agricultural Show in 1851 the company's products gained a country-wide recognition."   "..by 1900 employing approximately half of the male working population of the village"  "When Sir R. H. Hunt, the founder's grandson, died in 1970, the firm was still the village's chief employer with some 300 employees and works covering 10 acres"

It's a great tribute to that family that they remembered the people who worked to build their company's fortunes and excellent reputation  ..unlike my own (all too frequent) experience of being made redundant and getting nothing or at best the minimum in pay. 

Perhaps because there is a strong family heritage here (I spoke with an old gent who kindly shared that his family was one of the oldest names in the village) ..the church is so well preserved . . .

        

   

^ It's so unusual to see intact carvings that have not been defaced  ..and these shown are mostly within hand reach.  Of course a huge amount of church and religious image destruction happened during the years of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, priories, convents and friaries ..in the c.16th - but vandalism, as well as acid-rain erosion has long since also taken its toll.  Among two and three hundred year old stone gravestone was a wooden cross  ..I think cut from a plank 2" thick oak.  Its engraving, or perhaps hand painted inscription, has long gone - but I do wonder how old it is, and who was worthy of such a unique remembrance ..perhaps the village carpenter ?

 

^ The detail on the gate post carving is still exquisite (click on the image to enlarge it) and you can clearly see the carving of the acorn kernels.

By the bottom gate, opposite a primary school, is a recent memorial, a sapling has been planted with snowdrops and spring bulbs around it as a kindly thought to those in village who have affected by covid.  I cannot remember the wording exactly, but the impression I'm left with was.. compassion for the volunteers, key workers, the businesses, and the families and friends of those in the village who suffered and/or died.

^^    And this wall plaque, inbetween the church's two main door is also rather special, not because it dates from almost 200 years ago.. but because it's not so much a remembrance stone as an affection, expressed by neighbours.  It is not for a lord, an aristocrat, war veterans, nor even a member of the clergy but for a man who was a servant & gamekeeper. Wow !   I'll be soon dead and gone and my family will not even notice I've gone, let alone express such an epitaph. 

This church is humbling, not at all because of the grandiose tower which first attracted my attention, but in the details that the community has valued enough to preserve.

Pete

 

 

[Bfg]

moving on..

My intent was to revisit the town of Clare, a historic market town on the north bank of the River Stour in Suffolk, that I'd come across and briefly stopped at on the way back from a very hot n' dried grass Saffron Walden 'Car Show on the Common' on Sunday 14th  2022  (blogged on August 23, 2022). 

 

I had only visited the church of St Peter & St Paul when I was here last July, but I'd noted the abundance of listed building and had been recommended to visit the priory sometime. And so (last Saturday afternoon) that's what I hoped to do.  Rather than just quaint old buildings - Clare was  more interesting that I'd imagined. . .

  

it seems to be a town on the way to n' from nowhere, but its history (which interests me) goes back to the old stone age (paleolithic age) with flints and stone axe heads of the neolithic period also found within Clare Priory's grounds.  Apparently, according to finds, it was occupied and fortified by the Romans, and the Domesday Book records it as 'always a market (town) of 43 burgesses' (free-man possibly aristocrats). This from a period when many Suffolk towns had no free men. It records that the lands around Clare belonged to a Saxon Thane, William the Conqueror re-granted the land to one of his closest supporters Richard fitz Gilbert, who in turn made Clare Castle the capult of his feudal barony (ie. his administrative centre). Clare castle, I didn't even know about but it is first recorded in 1090. . .

  

There's not much left of the castle but the motte and curtain wall embankments are still very impressive. To the left of the first photo is the River Stour, diverted to power mills, and to the right is a moat.  This castle and this town's defenses were taken serious ..Just imagine trying to cross rivers and marsh beds, and then scaling up those slopes in full armour under a heavy and continuous downpour of long-bow armour-piercing broad-head arrows.

 

The influential links and support of religious fraternities began before the Norman, and the titled Earls related to this town and its surround rich arable land reads as a medieval who's who.  In short it was a power house and very prosperous seat ..sometimes fighting for and with the crown, and at other times trying to keep the King in check.  Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hereford, and his son Gilbert were two of the 25 barons appointed as guardians to the Magna Carta of 1215.  Political marriages and their leverage, wealth and sheer military might, were benchmarks of the power held by these feudal Lords. And religious piety was sought ..and bought by means of founding as supporting priories. 

And after all the battles and the bickering - those names, the riches and their power are mostly lost ..to anyone but the history buff. 

Still, the castle ruins and the river embankment is a wonderful park. Clare maintains a wonderful park, complete with its Stour Valley line's station (and coffee shop) of the Great Eastern Railway ..which is well worth a visit should you be passing by in your TR . . .

  

^ Katie  parked behind the old goods-shed, which I think is now partly a museum. Behind her you can see the River Stour. Excellent signposting throughout the town, up on the castle, and through the park.  Parking was just £1 per hour, which I was glad to pay as the castle and park was otherwise free.  

^ Motte embankment to the castle left, with the diverted River Stour serving as a moat.    It's nice here.

^ the carved wooden sheep are clearly popular with the children, but probably confound the Welsh    .  Bearing in mind that wool was the most valuable export in the Medieval days of Chaucer.. these little sheep are a fun monument to the wealth of Clare's former residents.  The wool was of course used for clothing and bedding, as well as for tapestry screens and wall hangs, multiple layers packed under chain-mail and armour, and mutton was an important meat. The bits inside were also food and 'skins' for carrying fluids &/or for for villagers to kick around the field. The oil from the sheep's wool was valuable and even the bones were boiled for glue, used for implements, and otherwise shaved into thin wafers before glass became commonplace. And apparently around ten sheep produce much the same amount of milk as a single cow.  Not many people know that !

With access from the car-park but not really obvious is a path to the priory . . .

    

^ although the gardens and the church is open to the public Clare Priory is still a priory occupied by monks. They live in the house and they now have a beautiful modern extension to the old church which is open for respectful contemplation and prayer.   Most of the old priory buildings and walls have gone and what used to be the cloisters is a now a walled garden.

    

^ Even the gates are pretty old, although judging by their shape being different to the arch in the wall I suspect they may be have previously been elsewhere. 

  

^ Within the walled garden, formerly the cloisters (which would have been partly enclosed, there is this plaque.  On the other side of the wall is the easier to read, but somehow emotionally-cold version. The priory and its gardens are also the last resting place of its patrons.

    

And so with a rain shower stretch across the skies as a vibrant rainbow, it was time for me to close the gate and go home.  The drive home, about 30 miles was good, the evening fresh but clearing, and Katie's  new carburettors added a spring to our step ..After all my breakfast with TR friends was great, the unscheduled stop at Earls Colne an unexpected pleasure, and my afternoon in and around Clare - rather exceptional.  It only sad to think that some people had to go shopping on Saturday !  . . .

Bidding you a good evening and a pleasant weekend

Pete

 

[Bfg]

  

 

Happy Anniversary to Katie  this week. 

It was during a brief gap between covid restrictions  ..start again...   It was on a bright and sunny day  (although it rained during our test drive) two years ago, on the 5th March 2001 (..which also happened to be the anniversary of my Dad's birthday) I'd driven across to Bury St Edmunds to view and agree to buy Katie  < posted about here > from Bob & Pat Bell.   And then, on the 8th March, my new TR register friend Rich C-R and I went to collect her ..and we only broke down once on the way back.

 

  

 

Although we've seen just 3410 miles on the clock since then, it's been a long journey with many up n' downs in that time.  

     

   

 

And so we've she's  had to make some changes . . .

   

       

   

    

      

    

   

      

         

    

 

  

^ ^ ^  to cite but just a few !  

      ...but Katie and I are still together and I'm sure things are all the better for it.  And thankfully we've recently been seeing more ups than downs . . .

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

.... and so on ..

Happy Anniversary to Katie  ..who I think now looks younger than she did   ...and an especially BIG  THANK YOU  to all who supported and helped us get this far.

Pete.

 

p.s. hopefully these piccies will encourage others who, with their auto shite, are on such a journey.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

i mustard mitt i prefer the with bumpers look

but

the pic with both roof panels on did highlight that a grey/silver finish looks good with the red

[Bfg]

4 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i mustard mitt i prefer the with bumpers look

Most owners do too

.. I wonder if that's why I don't ?    

[Asimo]

Just copied from DarkWob

 

[Bfg]

Katie  suffered an electrical affliction on Sunday morning, insomuch as soon after I drove off to go to Hedingham Castle - a fuse blew. The first I knew of it was that Tom-Tom's power was cut and a screen notice came up asking if I wanted it to shut down or resume. I then noticed that the fuel gauge read zero, despite the tank being filled the previous day, and also the temperature gauge read zero.  I then discovered the indicators didn't work and nor did the overdrive   ..and yes, I did check the power lead connection into Tom-Tom 

Ooh, this was annoying, not least insomuch as I was booked in (read ; pre-paid) to an jousting event at the castle (an hour's drive away) rather than my usual day out in the sunshine of getting in the car to go somewhere where I'd pay on the door.  Naturally, the main event was going to happen at midday whether or not I was late.  In addition, I was faced with a car that worked but which without instruments and indicators wasn't roadworthy.  One cannot blame Katie  for this, it must have been something the plonker (me) who checked the wiring didn't do right.

I pulled into a filling station and checked.  Yes it was the fuse for green wires (..ignition switched-on power). There was no wire obviously shorting out to be seen under the dashboard, so perhaps it was just an iffy fuse that had blown. I had two spare.  I replaced the fuse and all seemed fine

Now, with with just one fuse as a spare - any diagnostics would require a methodical approach..  A fuse blows when the component draws too much power too quickly or else when the wiring circuit shorts out to earth.  The latter is more usual, particularly on a car that had been reliable for the passed 2000 miles in six months.  So., with the new fuse in and the engine started . . .

• The fuel gauge was now working, as was the temperature gauge.
• I had not used the wipers, the screen wash (converted to an electric pump on this car), nor the heater's blower.  So the blown fuse was unlikely to have been caused by an overload through any of those circuits. 
• The indicators flashed ..all is good so far !
• I put the car into second gear (foot on the clutch) and even though were were still parked I could hear the overdrive's solenoid click to activate.  So that too was OK. 
• I touched my foot onto the brake pedal and the new fuse blew.  The fault, by deduction my dear Watson, was somewhere to be found in the brake-light circuit. 

Following this simple but systematic approach - I very quickly knew where to start looking for the fault ..it was going to be somewhere in the brake-light circuit.

Because i was still nearby, and although I had the tools in the car - I drove home to sort it out ..and to replenish the car's spare fuses . . .

^ This photo (turned on its RHS because it seems clearer that way around) shows the ex-motorcycle brake light switch I'd fitted in Katie's  footwell, not far from the fuse box which along with the voltage regulator is now also under there.  This switch is a very simple pull-the-rod ..connected, via a spring, to the brake pedal, to bridge the electrical contacts.  The green wire to the right (middle of photo) into the switch, is the green switched-power from the fuse lead.  That was not going to be at fault ..because the fuse doesn't blow until the switch is activated ..so the fault must be in the switch itself, or anywhere thereafter ..all the way back to each brake-light bulb (which btw are now low-amperage / high luminosity LED's on this car). 

The switch's bracket attachment of the brake-light-switch had fluff in the screw hole (centre of photo), which at first I thought must be fine wire filaments that would short from the electrical connection to the screw / to the bracket / on the underside of the bulkhead / to the car's body / to earth.

My screwdriver's blade attracted the fine filament, which again implied magnetic.  However when pulling the filaments out I found that they broke, and were mostly trapped under the screw head.. They were probably filaments of the felt underlay, I'd used over the gearbox tunnel, and were most likely attracted to the screwdriver blade by static rather than magnetic.  Even when pulled out and the surrounding area wiped clean (..of Vaseline smeared into the wiring connections), the next fuse I tried also blew.  The fault was not there then !   

I pulled the switch and visually inspected it, ensured that its body was clean and not cracked (which can cause electrical tracking). I refitted it and tried again.  Another fuse blown, so the fault was not there then either.  Nevertheless, the methodical approach of working my way along the circuit made good sense, if only in eliminating the power feed wire and the switch itself from being at fault. 

Nevertheless, although I'd just traced the wires between the fuse holder and the brake light switch ..for obvious sign of fault, I checked them again.  Satisfied with my logic, I proceeded to check the wiring, wrapped as part of the loom, as it drops down the front corner of the bulkhead and then back along the inside sill corner of the floor (under the carpet).  No fault could be identified in that stretch of the circuit either. 

Thereafter the wires disappear up behind the B-post's trim panel.  The wiring harness is next seen is within the top corners of the boot space, as it leads from behind the fuel tank covering board to the rear lights.  Again all looked fine.

I then pulled each rear light bulb to check for anything obvious (like a bulb that had half fallen out or otherwise blown to bits ..and those bits were shorting against the bulb holder).  But no each were very clean, and the bulb holders lightly smeared with Vaseline to minimise corrosion.  There was no tell-tale sign of anything having arced an electrical short. 

The one connection I couldn't see was that hidden by the boot / fuel tank covering board.  This is a double-bullet-connector which splits the brake light circuit to both left and right hand rear lamps of the car.  So out with my overnight bag and the car cover (which I take to hide the car under when I'm parking overnight away from home) to unscrew that end of the covering board. With that pulled forward on just that one side I could, ease the wiring connector into the boot space. 

I had replaced & Vaselined that double-connector just last year and it looked fine.  I made sure that each of its three bullets were thoroughly pushed into the connector and refastened the lining board, but this time with the connector still inside the boot space, rather than hidden behind the board. 

When checked the brake lights now worked again ..without blowing the fuse.  Success  ..but I still don't know for certain where the fault was.  It may have been one of the bullets into that rear double-connector was just touching / shorting against the angled bracing under the rear deck ..in there besides the full of petrol fuel tank ~ which on reflection is not at all a happy prospect.  Or was it that in pulling that section of the car's wiring loom out of the corners, and twisting it to inspect all around its insulation for a fault, that it was shorting in some other place.  I cannot be certain.

I'll sometime revisit this wiring. in the meantime I wanted to get to the Spring Joust at Hedingham Castle.  I was almost 2-1/2 hours late and so just missed the first bout of jousting, but still in good time to see the castle, and other attractions before the second bout of the day.     

- - -

Although long-winded - I've written out this episode in the hope that it may be helpful to those who are less-than-comfortable with vehicle electrics &/or those of us who can generally fix things ..if only they can find / identifying the fault or faults (ie., what to fix).

Methodical approach ..checking one thing at a time in order, and then as required changing and retest before moving on.  It may seem slow and laborious but in the end it's inevitably quicker and less frustrating. So ; 

• When several things are not working - what's the common factor to those ?  - in this instance ; it was the power feed that came from the same source  ..one fuse
• in looking for the fault - start by looking for where there was not  a fault.  ie., eliminate what you can, so then you can hone-in on where the issue is.  In this example ; the things least likely circuit to draw heavy electrical current, and also the least likely to be faulty, were the instruments.  With a new fuse, turn the ignition on and start the engine ..with nothing else turned on, and check the gauges worked.  No fault there then. 
• You can also mentally eliminate (check off ) those things that were not being used (in this instance ; the screen-washer pump, the wipers, and the heater blower). 
• Then systematically try other things...    Indicators = check.    Overdrive solenoid clicking in = check.     Brake lights = FAIL.
• Acknowledge that the brake lights caused the fuse to blow only after  the brake pedal's switch was activated.  So the fault was not before the switch ..otherwise the fuse would have blown when the ignition was turned on. 
• So - after the wire, which feeds power to the brake light switch, comes the switch itself.  I checked this and then checked again to see if the fuse still blew when the brake lights were switch. They did = FAIL     ..the fluff seen in the screw hole by to the wires terminal-connector was my chasing a rabbit down a blind hole.  It happens.  But take heart ..not finding a fault is progress as it eliminates that component. 
• I then methodically followed the wires and any connectors, looking for any sign of fault (cracked, slit or otherwise broken or chafed insulation) or perhaps signs of arcing (very localised burn marks on adjacent metal) ..all the way back to the bulb holders and the bulbs themselves.
• I couldn't find any sign of fault, and so I retraced the route back to the one connector I couldn't see, without first undoing pulling it out from behind the boot's trim panel.
• Had I not found the fault then I would have gone back to the start and gone through the process again, perhaps with better lighting &/or with my reading spectacles, to see what I'd missed.

If you are not intimately familiar with your car's wiring, then please do carry a diagram - that you've previously checked is accurate to that particular car.  Note ; having a diagram doesn't tell you the route of the loom as it runs through the car, so have a look beforehand and then also recognise that certain coloured wires only go to certain places.

Lucas tracer-colour wiring codes are particularly easy to work with, and it's worth becoming familiar with those colours ; for your own car's primary earth and live wires, for each of the different light & indicator circuits, and for the horn.  Any of the others can be looked up, if and when you need to know what they are.  In the meantime those tracer-colours you are familiar will allow you to say, " it's not that wire because it's an earth wire, or for the headlamps, for the side-lamps, the horn, the indicators " which immediately eliminates 50% of the wires in the loom.

A compact torch is necessary to see clearly in the footwells and darker corners. I keep a small (waterproof) flat but adjustably bright rechargeable  LED one (..a beanie-hat head-torch) for such purposes in my car's tool kit.

A lesson I learnt - was to carry lots of spare fuses (..of the right type for your car).  Although a multi-meter (which I do carry with me) can be helpful to trace faults (in this instance ; it would be used across the fuse holder to see if there is an excessive spike in power when different things are switched on, when the fuse blows).  I'd say that fuses are easier, cheap, small to pack into a corner of the car for touring ...and absolutely definitive.

When this happened, I immediately kicked myself that I hadn't fitted a multiple fuse holder, allowing one for each circuit.  But then I thought, well if the Tom-Tom's power hadn't been lost, and then I'd been alerted to the instruments not working, then how would I know that the brake lights had stopped working ?  Or the windscreen wipers ?  ..which I mostly I use when it's miserable weather ..and not a time time when I'm happy to trace a wiring fault.  

As it was - I was alerted to something being wrong within half-a-mile, when Tom-Tom didn't (audibly) tell me which way to go.  Surely that's an aid to road safety.?  

Isolating each circuit with a separate fuse wouldn't have done that.

It's useful to note ;  that had I been unable to trace the fault, to get back on the road - then I could simply have pulled the wiring connector to that particular circuit off the fuse box.  In this instance ; I would have had no brake-lights, but everything else would still work, to continue the journey &/or until I was in a better situation (perhaps in an illuminated service station if it had been at night) to trace the fault.   

So I now ask myself - Are more than just three standard fuses such a good thing ?  Perhaps yes.. I think..  If so is it best to add more fuses, for individually fused circuits, after the existing main fuse holder (which has a 10amp fuse in it). ? 

Katie's  wiring has (deliberately on my part) not been complicated with additional relays.  She now has just one horn (and it's loud) so no relay is necessary for that (the original one I've removed along with a few meters of wiring and their x-number of connections).  I think now, only overdrive solenoid has a relay in the circuit.

- - -

Katie  has driven a hundred miles since this incidence, including some pretty horridly wet weather where the instruments, brake-lights, indicators and wipers were all on at the same time ..from that single 10amp fuse - and it hasn't blown again.  Unfortunately since however the overdrive has stopped working, despite the relay or solenoid clicking. That's on the menu as the next job-of-the-day.

Hope the above notes are useful to some,

Wishing you happy and reliable motoring, 

Pete   

 

[Bfg]

On the TR Register forum, the above post prompted more than a few owners to share their 'multiple fuse solution' to not having to do those first steps of switching one thing on at a time diagnostics, which I did to hone in on the brake light circuit.   One chap has now 17 fuses and five relays on his TR6, and yet if his brake lights failed he still wouldn't know about it.   A couple of responses said that their and my opinion was that the wiring loom's three fuses were inadequate.  To which I replied . . .

Semantics perhaps, but I never said that the original wiring design was inadequate, I simply said "Are more than just three standard fuses such a good thing ?  Perhaps yes.. I think.. "

In my mind, anything which has served well for 55+ years, on tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of vehicles of all marques, and which has generally been neglected from maintenance, cannot honestly be said to be inadequate.  Could it be improved ?  .."perhaps".   But then one might possibly say that about any aspect of any vehicle ever built.  My Sunbeam motorcycle has just one fuse from the battery, and 70 years on it still starts easily, is remarkably reliable, and in a worse case scenario is usually easy to fix at the side of the road, as was Katie when this fault occurred.

I did go home to fix it, but only because we were just a few miles away and I was carrying an inadequate number of spare fuses with me.  My objective with the car was to make it as reliable for touring - as economically and time-invested practical.  But then to be prepared for roadside repairs for those other niggles.  i failed in the latter respect, as that type of fuse is no longer stocked by most filling stations (on a bank holiday Sunday). 

As an aside ; other things like fat tyre valves, the wide fan belt, and a selection of bulbs, all need to be carried - if even minor roadside / modern garage repairs are to be made.

I look at Nigel's and Rob's, very neatly done, eight fuses and think of the latter - where's one or two for the lights ? - it or they must be on yet other fuses.  And then I think what is the real benefit of having that many fuses ?   If your own car's brake light fuse blows - then would you even know about it ?   This is surely a deficit to be balanced against the benefit of it not having effected other circuits.  So., could those multiple fuse wiring systems be improved ?   " perhaps "  

The benefit of multiple fuses it seems - is in isolating and therefore in tracing the fault to a particular circuit.  Seems a lot of effort to save me putting a new fuse in and then trying one switch at a time ?  That is after all - all the diagnostics came down to ..in tracking the fault to the brake light circuit. And if I hadn't found the fault - then I could simply have pulled the brake-light's wiring connection off  ..then all the other circuits still worked fine.  

What am I missing ? 

- - -

This then prompted the comment that "ALL modern cars have multiple fuses ..so it must be right". 

- - -

I replied to that with a long list of electrics that even my 2002 Chrysler Voyager has ; with engine management and fuel injection, fault sensors on all sorts of things, and limp-mode, electric windows, mirrors, fobbed central locking, electric side and tailgate doors, six interior light plus one under the bonnet and another two in the boot, plus rear screen wash and wipe, and two dozen other things, which account for its addition fuses ..and a host of diagnostic fault codes  - None of which I want on my Triumph.

- - -

Nevertheless the conversation carried on and I did learn that the Triumph lighting fuse did not actually include the headlamps ..which remain unfused. That to me is unacceptable so I will add a fuse for those, and I'll use a lower rated fuse for the sidelights.  I'll not add the headlamps to the side-lamp's fuse because I wouldn't want to loose all lights at the same time.

On reflection ..because I do actually listen to other people's opinions,  I looked at how this car's wiring was protected and how it would be a nuisance if for example the brake-light fuse blew which stopped the windscreen wipers from working, or vice versa. 

Still, I liked the fact that within just half-a-mile, my Tom-Tom turning off alerted me to a fault (my brake lights not working), but things like the indicator / hazard warning light might easily be on a separately fused circuit - because they do of course have their own tell-tale light. . 

I'm presently thinking . . .

• I don't want a voice activated or any other diagnostic computer telling me, or the car, what to do   Nor do i want more complication than absolutely necessary.  I like NASA's philosophy of KISS.
• my car's headlamp wiring and its switches are not fuse protected. That to me is unacceptable.  But it'll be best not to have the headlamps on the same fuse as the side lights, as I'd not like to loose all the lights at once,
• The side-lamp's fuse (presently 35A) is way too high for this car, which now has LED bulbs. 
• I also think it would be prudent to have the brake lights and indicators / hazard warning lights on different fuses.  As the indicators have their own tell-tale then it seems logical to leave the brake lights on the same fuse as the instruments, because those instruments not working would alert me to the likelihood of brake light failure.
• The Indicators / hazards can have their own fuse, which again because of the LED bulbs can be a low rating.
• Having the screen wash, wipers, heater blower and cigarette lighter (aux power to Tom-Tom and phone charging) all on the same fuse as 'safety items' ..like brake-lights and hazard warning light, also doesn't make good sense to me.  I think it would be worthwhile to fit another two fuses for those four circuits.  probably screen wash and heater blower on one, and wipers and auxiliary chargers on the other ..as Tom-Tom will alert me to any problem in the wiper's circuit ..even when they are not turned on. .

So, I must admit that I've moved to think that perhaps six to eight fuses might be wiser.  Katie  already has three and so a block of just four more would not be difficult to fit in.

Thanks to all,

Pete

 

[Bfg]

From Sunday. . .

On another note ... Overdrive not working.

Professionally rebuilt just last year / 2000 miles ago, I don't know what's wrong.  It was working fine until last weekend when I had the fuse blow due to a fault in the brake light circuit. Since then, although the solenoid clicks and seemingly operates fine, I have no over-drive in any gear.

Following previous advice to other owners having the same or similar issues - I've checked the gearbox oil level, and it took a topping up of between 30 and 40ml. The oil is Dynolite Gear 40  non-hypoid & non-friction modified gear oil.

I've also check the solenoid's operation (audio and then visually only. I have not made any adjustment to it).  It seemed to be working fine.  and while driving I can just about hear it disengaging and reengaging as I change gear.

^ peekabo for overdrive perverts

  

  ^ off  and..   activated ^^

Note.  I can hear this, and could see it from underneath the car,  but I've lifted the rear half of my gearbox cover off,  because i wanted to visually check what-was-what under there now, and to access the operating valve.    

  

^ Following the suggestions in the workshop manual - I've  removed the valve operating cover (the top of which is painted red, centre of this photo), pulled and checked the spring, it plunger and ball.   As expected of it having been professional restored, the ball's condition looks brand new.  The spring wasn't broken, nor did it appear to be unduly weak. 

With the ignition on, but the car not started ; I engaged a higher gear and clicked on the overdrive switch. The ball lifted (against a 1/4"-drive-socket screwdriver) as prescribed.  I haven't measured it but it seemed more like 1/16" to me rather than the 1/32" specified in the book.  

Is too much travel an issue ?  or perhaps the solenoid's lever arm needs to taken down a bit ??

 

 

^ To test the operation of the pump, which is inside the overdrive unit  ..with the rear wheels of the car lifted  (timber blocks under the trailing arms) and the front wheels chocked,  I started the engine and engaged 4th gear at engine tick-over speeds.  When the overdrive switch was operated..  oil very quickly welled up to fill and overflow the valve cover flange.  According to the book, only if this doesn't happen the pump is at fault.

However, I did note a ring of small air bubbles inside the hole's oil. Perhaps there was air in the pump and/or the valve that has stopped the overdrive unit from working ??

That's as far as I've got.  I have not subsequently driven the car to see if the overdrive is now working or not ..but aside from letting those air bubbles out, I can't see that I've actually done anything.  The car is still up on the blocks with the rear wheels lifted 1/2" off the ground.  

And I'm very much open to advice as to what to check next.

Thanks, Pete

[Bfg]

  On Monday :

 

On 4/17/2023 at 11:48 AM, stuart said:

Just try when your driving with the cover off and overdrive engaged to just push that lever slightly forwards and see if the overdrive does engage. Obviously oil levels do affect overdrive operation but it wasnt down that far was it?

Stuart.

Hi Stuart, thank you again.  No the gearbox oil level was a little down but only by 30 or 40 ml, measured with a family size syringe. 

As you suggest I've tried pushing forward on the operating lever, but with the back wheels off the ground rather than when driving down the road.

I tried this in each of the three upper gears, pushing hard forward with a screwdriver blade on the operating lever, but the overdrive did not seem to operate. There was no suggestion of the drive-shaft rotating at a different rate and although the speedo was only reading 10mph, there was no sign of rev's dropping when overdrive solenoid was activated.  

Having read of an air-lock, but having not yet identified what an accumulator, nor where a choked air bleed might be  ..in must be the worse workshop manual I've ever used, I've subsequently tried to bleed the bubbles out of the operating valve hole.  If only because I reason that anything hydraulically operated doesn't work very well with air bubbles in the system ...

 

Without the ball valve in place, I've been running the engine at tick-over speeds in forth gear, with and without the overdrive switched in.  The book tells me that it is correct that oil wells out of this hole if the pump is working.  Using the syringe I've been pulling out what comes up.

After doing that three times I tried the overdrive again, with the ball valve, plunger, spring and cap back in place ..but still Katie's overdrive doesn't appear to be working.

Lifting those components out again, I started and engaged overdrive in forth and clearly are still bubbles in there. Surely that means there are bubbles within the closed hydraulics from the pump, &/or else the pump is sucking in air ? . . .

^ mostly the bubbles are smaller than these, but any bubbles don't seem right to me. 

Admittedly I might be on the wrong track so I'll now try reading the Haynes manual.  Perhaps that's written in clearer English than Triumph's own WSM.  I'll also do a search through this websites pages and see what else I can find.   The link I saw to Buckeye  threw my old computer into a right wobbly (..opened numerous tabs), so I'll need to dig out the horrid HP with its later windows version on it before I try that link again.

I don't know anything about overdrive units, or how they work, so please excuse me if I'm not asking the right questions or otherwise seeing the obvious. 

Pete

 

[Bfg]

On Monday afternoon :

I had good but still confusing advice from several kind persons. including this from Tom Cox who restores gearboxes and overdrives. . .

Hi Pete,
When you push the operating lever (I presume you're referring to the one on the same side as the valve with the red paint), is there any resistance or does it feel like you're pushing against nothing? You should be able to feel a "barrier" of pressure that once overcome, the lever moves quite easily (and the overdrive should engage). If there isn't any pressure in the system then you wont feel anything. The fact that oil is pumping out of the valve with the plug removes suggests the pump is working, but the accumulator may not be generating enough pressure to engage the OD. 
Tom

- - -

My friend Rich C-R invited me to call Tom, which I ended up doing twice, and he was exceptional generous with his time and patient in his explanations of how things should work. . .

Thank you Nigel and Charlie, and again to Stuart and Peter, to my friend Rich who phoned me in support, and especially to Tom Cox who I called again today for a second round of advice.   GREAT NEWS is that the overdrive now appears to be working, albeit spinning away inside a breeze shaken and quite chilly poly-tunnel rather than yet tested on the road.

Today, Following clearer advice in the Haynes manual, I fished the operating valve out with a bent piece of wire . . .

  

^ That to me is an odd looking valve, but I'm sure there's good reason for that. The bottom end, of the plain shanked length, is closed off but the drilling inside this tube otherwise goes all the way to the bottom. You'll see the small hole by my index finger which needs to be clear.  After blowing through that, and it appeared to be clear, I washed it out inside and out in petrol.  It is possible that a tiny flake of something was laying across the inside of that hole, but I cannot say for sure.  

 

^ While that was out, I found a length of clear pipe with a sleeve of rubber pipe on the valve-cap-hole's end to seal it, and ran the car up to speed in top gear.  Fine bubbles came out but surprising little trickle of oil, even at 2500rpm  ..I was getting braver doing that sort of speed (50mph) in such a confined space with a garden seat and brick wall in front of me. 

This is when I phone Tom again.  He reassured me that ; oil coming out showed the pumps was working, and they tend to work or not. And that the slow rate did  seem rather slow but it was pressure rather than flow which counts.   Next, if it didn't work.. would be to find a pressure gauge and check what it read. Above 100psi and it should just about work, 200psi would be much better.  And if the pressure was Ok then things pointed to a mechanical fault ..and most likely the circlip (item 21 in the parts manual, page 2-302) on the thrust race which has failed or come out.   Without that - the thrust ring assembly (item 19) can move rather than it engaging the overdrive. 

It's so helpful when a kind man explains what should be happening and why it may not.  Thank you Tom.  I'm close to the end of my tether after a catalogues of 'experiences' with this car.

I'm surprised at the dirty state of the oil after just 2000 or so miles, so I'll order some more and change it very soon.

In the meantime, I reassembled the operating valve and tried it again ..using the lever on the RHS, and with the solenoid lever still disconnected, the overdrive engaged..  and although the revs didn't drop (because there's no load on the spinning rear wheels) the speedometer showed a marked increase.  As you might imagine I was delighted.

So what was the issue ? . . .

• I get the impression that the solenoid's operating lever was not moving far enough, just a tad out of adjustment, perhaps having slipped on the cross shaft.
• One of the solenoid's two mounting screws was a little loose. It tightened by screwdriver more than 1/2 a turn. 
• I'm not sure where it came from or if it were part of the problem, but I caught a fleeting glimpse of a tiny metallic flake inside the operating valve, when I was flushing it out in petrol. 
• I think Nigel's observation that tick-over rev's might not give sufficient pressure (to overcome the eight springs on the thrust ring assembly) might be right.  Taking the engine up to 2000 rpm, in top gear - clearly registered the overdrive engagement on the speedo.

I'll now reset the solenoid's lever and try the car on the road.  I need to shop for groceries anyway.  In case that lever needs slight adjusting, I'll just rest the rear half of the gearbox cover in place while I do that. 

My gratitude to those who supported and educated me through this episode.  A tid-bit of information from here and there and between us we got the hoped for result !

Thank You. Pete

- - -

Postscript :  the overdrive now works again on the road.  According to the Haynes Manual one might have checked the current across the solenoid to ensure that when switches the current reduces to a 2amps holding current, rather than 15 - 20 amps as the solenoid is activated.  I don't know how to do that measurement, but the ammeter is not showing a discernible discharge when the overdrive is engage ..which I would expect it to if there were 15 or 20 being drawn, so I guess then the solenoid's lever arm is now adjusted OK.  

 

 

 

[schonker]

Pete,did you buy this from Fornham St Martin?I live in Bury and I think I remember seeing used a lot and I think it had a flag on the back where the aerial was or is?

[Bfg]

Certainly the car came from Bury, I bought her two years ago in March from Bob and Patty Bell.   It had white wall tyres and wire wheels then, and its red cover over the folded hood frame is unusual. It also had a wooden dashboard, original seats and black carpets, whereas now she has a black dashboard and green carpets, with black leather MX5 seats.

Pete

[Bfg]

 

Katie seems to be afflicted with annoying (to me !) little issues, one after another. . .

^ the spring coming out from under the gear-lever cap was one of them.. The car still driveable like this but with a very floppy gear change.  I removed the rear cup screw and just loosened the pin going through across-wise and was able to wind it back in using a pair of long nosed pliers and a screwdriver (to hold the bottom end of the spring up ..so it could turn clockwise without snagging).     I hadn't touched it, when I had the gearbox cover off to adjust the solenoid relay's lever, so I can't explain why it happened, just that it did.

 

^ this was another.. The high-tension lead between the coil and the distributor cap (aka the 'king lead') has a slit in it, or more correctly several close together although just the once was cut down to this lead's silicon core.

I spotted it a week ago, when I had the spark plugs out to clean them, which I needed to do to assess their colour in accordance to the carburettors' adjustment.  This in turn followed comments that Katie  smelt like a TR6 - when I turned up into our local group's breakfast meet several weeks ago (ie., Rich suggested - it was running rich). This in turn was subsequent to fitting the reconditioned carburettors.  so I'd borrowed a flow meter and tried to balance the SU carbs.  At the time I just taped it up, but now I replaced the lead for a new one (with copper wire core). 

Last Thursday when I went down to the East Saxon group's club meeting, the car appeared to be running pretty awfully ..but then it was also p***ing down with rain, and I had the roof on.  That's 23 miles for me, so it's the furthest I've driven the TR with a roof on (either the fabric one or Katie 's fibreglass Surrey top).  With unfamiliar noise levels it was difficult for me to assess anything much regarding carburettor tuning. 

On the way back from the meeting the roads were wet but the rain had cleared.  Nevertheless some of the finest brains in Essex had decided to close the A12 again, whereby all traffic is diverted into the north of Colchester, around it, and then out the north-east side of the city to Ardleigh, Manningtree to cross the River Stour, before cutting up to the south side of Ipswich.  Of course I live on the north side of Ipswich, Suffolk.! 

It was only another 8 miles added to the journey (a third as far again !) but it takes another 20 minutes more because of the nature of those country roads.  I was not in the most relaxed of moods, in part because this diversion has happened to me half a dozen or more times too many ..over the past two years of going to this group's meeting, but also because I happened to be the last to leave the pub. I'd lost the car keys.   I eventually found them wedged behind a radiator, next to the seat where I'd original taken my coat off.  Hey ho., Pete's a plonker.

And then, just because Essex is such a nice an d welcoming place.. the assigned diversion route had a mobile police speed-trap.  I was one of a stream of cars driving along at 34mph (when checked on the gps) through a sleepy country village.  Of course the next village has a 40mph speed limit ..and all the houses otherwise along that stretch of road cope with a 60mph.  But here where it 30mph we ought to have been watching our speedometers rather than the wet and dark road and any pedestrians who might be dancing along from puddle to puddle at 11:30pm on a cold and miserable night.  Perhaps Britain's finest think it lessens traffic noise, with the car in 3rd gear.?     Anyway, bottom line is that again I couldn't sensibly assess the carburettor's tune during that drive.  

As it happens last week I'd decided to try Katie with a new set of plugs. I'd not changed them in the two years since I bought the car and as I was trying to assess the carb's tune I thought it easier to start with bright steel. The plugs fitted were NGK BP6HS and as she's always been just a little sooty, I opted to try a set of BP5HS.  Without changing anything else driving across to and back from Hedingham again yesterday, and following the rough running on Thursday evening, I wasn't expecting any improvement, but a new set of plugs following a 65mile round trip ought to give me a much clearer idea of what was going on. . .

The car was frustratingly lumpy driving across there, but the weather was nice and the driving across country pretty easy. However.., after an enjoyable day there I headed back, again in no rush. Just a few miles later the engine cut out completely.  The place that happened was soon after a sharp left handed corner, up an incline through a cutting between fields.  With no more that 50 foot visibility in either direction it wasn't a comfortable place to stop and absolutely no grass verge to get off the road. If I'd tried to roll back down the hill, then I'd be rolling down to that blind hard left-hander corner.  It's at times like this you're glad you've fitted hazard warning lights and LED bulbs.

Open the bonnet, again a useful thing that it's bright red, and there's fuel in the pump, fuel in the in-line filter inbetween that and the carbs, and no fuel flooded out anywhere.   There's also no oil nor water all over the place or under the car.  Electrics then, the HT leads and low tension leads on the coil all appear to be fine, unclip the cap and there appears to be no spark happening at the points.  Power to the ignition, if I remember correctly comes from the ignition switch. I try to twist under the dash to have a look, but I don't want to be sitting there with my legs out in the road for very long. I can't see anything wrong but I try the car and she starts.

Let's get out of this cutting and off the side of a hill.  Of course as I pull away a car comes right up behind.  The instruments check OK except of the ammeter which is now reading off the scale - over charging.  I can't do much about it in that situation, so not wanting to melt wiring nor boil the battery I put the headlamps on and then also the heater's fan blower to burn off some of the current.  With a car up your jacksie it's not terribly easy to find somewhere to pull off, and in any case there were only small private driveways to be had. a mile later I spot a turning into a field on the other side of the road, hastily indicate and finally get to pull off the main road.  Big, deep water filled pot holes don't make it a smooth landing.  

Open the bonnet, check the dynamo's wiring connections, tucked in behind the exhaust down-pipe's heat shield. Naturally they are hot but no signs of looseness nor melted insulation. I feel the battery leads for excess heat. Nope they feel fine.  Next I've got a piece of carpet out and am kneeling next to the driver's foot-well, trying to see if anything is amiss with the connections on the back of the ammeter. I'm glad to be carrying an LED lamp, even though the evening is light there's not a lot of light behind a dashboard (..aside from the red glow of the oil warning and ammeter warning light bulbs).  Nothing seems astray, nor any sign or smells of melted insulation. 

30 miles to go, 5:30 in the evening, I decide to carry on back with the headlamps and heater's fan blowing as required to try and save the battery. Keeping the engine revs down as low as I can, I head off and the ammeter is still reading high, but at least it's not off the scale. Things settle down at 40mph in top gear and overdrive and I turn the headlamps off.  after another couple of miles I turn the fan blower off and the ammeter settles back down to reading its normal 5amp charge.  It's then fine all the way home even when pushed to 3500rpm. 

Today . .

 

^ Number 1 plug is sotty, #3 a little too sotty still but just starting to turn brown, #4 plug a little less sotty still and turning brown.  Oh yeah.. #2 light soot around the steel threaded rim but otherwise pretty much unused.  There's a clue there somewhere !

     

^ number 2 HT lead as it was in the cap.  I think the dark marked hole through the orange insulation was where it had been fitted sometime in the past, and the dark marked hole through the white insulation was where it had been refitted, and has been like this since I bought the car.  As I said I've not touched the distributor or the HT leads, aside from routing them more neatly, since I bought the car, although I did fit new connectors to the low-tension wires.  I might only guess that when I had the cap off, to get to the forward two cylinder's spark-plugs I mush have pulled the lead, the end of the split orange insulation has broken off and the lead was loose in its hole, although when I pulled on it it didn't appear to be.   

For anyone who doesn't know, it's important to undo the pin screws (on the inside of the distributor cap) all the way when you refit these leads.  Only when the screw is right the way unwound, and after you'ved checked there no debris inside the hole, should you push the lead in, hold it securely pushed into the cap, and then refit and tighten the grub screw.  If however the screw was still partly in, and even you push the lead hard into the cap, then the sharp end of the screw can catch the insulation and the lead doesn't go all the way in.  It only just held there. Even when tugged it feels secure, but over the years the lead is also twisted and that can break it out.  As has happened here.

Those grub screws by the way can fall out of the cap when they are fully unscrewed. they look like this . . .

^ you can just see the pointy ended screw (..just a little down from the centre of this photo) which I dropped (i being the twit who inverted the cap) !  It dropped down by the oil filter to the chassis (silver painted on this car).

For those astute enough to notice, that screw is above the brake pipe ..and there's no shadow from or around it.  That's because it is suspended in space.   No, it wasn't that I was incredibly quick with my camera ..it's simply caught in a cob-web.   It might be worth remembering this image next time you drop a small screw or washer and you simply cannot find it anywhere on the ground.

Moving on, with the end of this HT lead cut 1/4" shorter and carefully refitted, I have since retried the car down the A14.  When first started the ammeter shot around and off the scale, but tapping it and turning the lights on again restored it to read normally.  I guess the control box is forewarning me that it's about to die.   Engine ticked over more smoothly and at all speeds things are back to normal again ..running on four cylinders.  Vibration of the engine is still very noticeable above 3000rpm, so I guess there's a still a little more carb tuning to happen, as well as a difference in compression between each cylinder. That is something I am not going to check because I do not want to know !  As 3100 is 70mph I can live with some vibration as I work through the gears, and otherwise it is not a problem.

It is noteworthy that the vibration period of the engine has moved from 3000 - 3200rpm to now peak at 3300 - 3400 rpm. This I might attribute to the points gap being 0.008" ..which I've now corrected to the handbook's specification of 0.015".  The gap effects exactly when the points open (when the spark happens), so by increasing the point's gap by another 0.007" .. I've retarded the ignition a little.  This in turn can be felt as a slight drop in the engine's gusto, as well as in the rpm change of its peak vibration. 

Why the engine cut out completely ..and when checked there appeared to be no spark across the contact breakers - I do not know.  I think that intermittent faults reveal themselves in time, or else I've corrected something without knowing it.    It's my local TSSC club night tomorrow, at The Sorrel Horse, Barham, so we'll see if she runs OK for that.

Frustrating issues these past few weeks, but all in all really nothing very major. 

One thing to be noted here is that ; while my focus was on carburettor tuning, having previously (..and deliberately) changed absolutely nothing to the ignition side of things, aside from cleaning the spark plugs - the engine's rough running after I adjusted the twin SU's mixture.. was mostly due to my inadvertently twisting the one poorly attatched HT lead.

Pete       

 

[Bfg]

I've not driven Katie  for a couple of weeks now, due to general despondency & cold wet weather, floods, my own health and my working afternoons on my boat, but this Sunday afternoon I pulled her out for a drive across to  Rendlesham forest and over to my local castle at Orford.  She's not running well, seemingly running too rich with these carburettors, but I'll address that in due course.  The weather was a beautiful mid-May day with blue skies and that's something we both needed to be out in. . .

 

^ did I mention floods ?  This one was particularly muddy and I guess only about 6" deep ...although it felt much deeper than that as we went through it.

^ The faces of this castle's keep look very 'blobby' now that they've spent a cool £-million (which even then I'm led to understand ran over budget) to render over the coralline red crag stone < more about that here >  in order to prevent it from further crumbling away.  It's odd that a castle built 1165 on the order of Henry II should all of a sudden be crumbling but for sake of popular reasoning let's blame that on global warming - as it seems to be responsible for everything else.  It's noteworthy at nearby Framlingham castle too that the limestone stone carved coat-of-arms above its gatehouse has suddenly and badly eroded in the past 80 years (photographs over this period showing its loss of definition are indisputable), so it's a good thing that the English Heritage and other such organisations are working to preserve our country's heritage.

I enjoyed good conversation with the English Heritage staff regarding details of the castle's design and construction, before walking down to the quay, via the very pleasant 'Jolly Sailor' for a quick and rather good a half a pint of ale. . .

^ Orford, Suffolk - once a small but busy sea port, sheltered by the ness (..the shingle beach) is now some 5-miles from the sea. That is but a reflection of how things that may seem timeless have in fact changed ever so slowly through the centuries.  Even before this, the shingle moved by the action of the sea's waves ad tides, long ago formed a bar across the river Alde, and that diverted it's flow down the coast across marsh land to Orford. The mouth of the River Alde has long since been completely cut off from the sea and it's name changed to the River Ore.  Orford's name (which was cloned after the doomsday book) was I guess was derived from the rust coloured sand ..the iron ore in that red crag, and the shallow ford across to the ness.  What is now Quay Street, Orford used to (just 150 years ago) be called Bridge Street. As you might gather from the above photo the River Ore is wide and so for very many years a ferry has served the purpose of conveying animals and foot passengers across.  

    

^ springtime with luminosity through the leaves and bulbs of seed (nut ?) or flower yet to reveal itself.  Even the pines were in flower.  

 

^ Orford castle still has the quarry from which that red crag of the castle walls was hewn.  There's an incredible timeline if you were to think about it, not least perhaps because this is a particularly rare to Britain and ancient rock ..the remains of a causeway to Belgium & Holland.              

 

I opted for a slightly different return route through the forest (avoiding the flooded roads) and driving directly into the setting sun made for some wonderful glimpses of light through the trees.

A pleasant afternoon out in a TR

Pete

[Mrs6C]

On 16/05/2023 at 11:36, Bfg said:

^ springtime with luminosity through the leaves and bulbs of seed (nut ?) or flower yet to reveal itself.

It's a fig tree! Unusual to see one growing 'in the wild' if that is indeed where it was. The 'bulbs' are the figs themseves. If there is a decent summer with no late frost to come, then these should ripen to the point of being ready to eat.

[Bfg]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:55 PM, Mrs6C said:

It's a fig tree! Unusual to see one growing 'in the wild' if that is indeed where it was. The 'bulbs' are the figs themselves. If there is a decent summer with no late frost to come, then these should ripen to the point of being ready to eat.

Thanks, that's one I didn't know.. The young tree is in the castle ground's quarry (well sheltered from the sometimes cool sea breeze but at the right time of day a delightful sun trap).  Not far from a picnic table ..so one might reasonable assume a discarded stone from someone's lazy Sunday afternoon.  

[Bfg]

This past weekend Katie and I popped across to Old Walden Aerodrome, Biggleswade, SG18 9DT,  for the Shuttleworth Collection's 'Around the World 2023'  Air Show. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the Shuttleworth collection specialises in early aviation / pre-second-world-war ..so the pioneering days and also air racing and passenger aircraft of the 1920's and 30's that helped develop flying from the bicycle shed to international travel.  The biplanes of the first-world-war are of course very much part of this era.  Although rare, the collection is not unique in this specialty, but rather because most are maintained in airworthy condition and are frequently flown (wind and weather permitting) off the grass field.  Of course some of the aircraft are unique because they are original, and others are because they are accurate replicas. 

I happened to have lived quite near Old Warden when I was teenager, riding motorcycles and learning how to handle my mum's Mini Clubman or Simca 1000, but that is some 50 years ago now and both I and the museum's collection have grown larger since. The museum used to be in a couple of small hangers and an engineering shed, now it has five hangers plus one of those sheds and the engineering workshop. The other shed is now a good sized cafe. On Saturday afternoon the original car park and cafe were busy with what appeared to be the good natured Motor-Guzzi (motorcycles) V-twin owners club's visit ..perhaps fifty to eighty bikes having come along ?

 

^ There was also a gaggle of half a dozen very beautiful Gordon Keeble's accompanied by a TVR and an exquisite Bristol 403.  Otherwise of note was a very tidy Volvo Amazon (H-reg), a very appropriate Bentley 3ltr,  a rather too clean Morgan plus-8, and a fantastically restored Suzuki 'kettle' GT750 (late 1970's triple cylinder water cooled motorcycle) and a stunning Ariel Square four (motorcycle). . .

 

 ^ Oh and did I say.. there also a rather purposeful looking TR4A here too.    On the Sunday there was another TR but I didn't see it in person. it may have been a 4, a 4A or 5. There was also an early Mazda Mx5 and an interesting Morgan plus 4 with a 2.5ltr pinto engine, and twin webbers, said to be developing about 170bhp at its rear wheels. Nice chap to talk with and very informative about the different aircraft.

 

^ Within minutes an interesting fly-in visitor was ready for departure.  Note the motors and undercarriage are on a lower wing. Long live tail dragging bi-planes !

 

^ and a (Ruski ?) visitor along with an RAF chipmonk were doing some circuits.

 

^ just sitting there waiting for someone to jump straight in were a couple of biplanes including this Tiger Moth and also an Avro C19 Anson (built ; 1935-52)

And that was all in 15 minutes before I'd stepped into the museum to pay my money. 

  

^ Inside the museum was better than I might have hoped for. The exhibits were in airy skylight lit hangers and on the ground close enough to touch. These being hangers rather than static displays of the more typical  museum hall - the aircraft have of course to have room to be moved in and out. And those aircraft moved outside for flying or ground display leaves more room inside to stand back and actually see the aircraft.   I love Duxford museum, but it has so many aircraft, all tucked in between each other with others hanging above, that it's somewhat cluttered ..a totally different to what I found here.  

^ up close and in personal space with the truly gorgeous de Havilland DH88 Comet. This is one of the three aircraft ordered in February 1934 ..to be ready on 20th October that same year to race from Mildenhall, England, to Melbourne, Australia. The first of the three was first flown by de Havilland's on 8th September and received its airworthy certificate the following month. The certificates for the other two were issued on the 12th October.  This very Comet 'Grosvenor House' (entered by AO Edwards the manager of that hotel) was winner of the speed prize covering the course in 70 hours 54 minutes.  Outstanding !

After evaluation trials by the RAF (and several accidents) it was sold as scrap.  Fortunately it was bought and restored by an enthusiast F.Tasker and the Essex Aero club at Gravesend.  Then, in 1937 it achieved fourth place in the England to Damascus Air Race ..and the same year set a new record for the out-and-back time to the Cape. It also set a new record from England to New Zealand ..and back, in just 10 days, 21 hours, 22 minutes.  Bearing in mind there was no GPS in those days, these are incredible feats of ground crew logistics, navigation between fuel stops, as well as reliability, endurance and air speed.  This aircraft was all but abandoned then, at Gravesend, until it was restored for hanging-from-the roof-beams static display at the 1951 festival of Great Britain in 1951.  It was given to the Shuttleworth collection in 1965 and a program of restoration to flying condition begun.  After almost half a decade she flew again on Sunday 17th May 1987.  Based at Hatfield until its closure in 1994 'Grosvenor House' returned to Old Warden where the airfield was too short for safe operations. That was lengthened in 1999. After suspension damage in 2002 the design was found to be faulty for certain conditions. Certificate of approval was granted for modifications to that suspension / structure, and since test flights on 1st august 2014 she become a regular and somewhat spectacular performer at these air shows. 

   

  ^ 'Grosvenor House' was in the museum one day, and then on the next is up flying alongside a guest..  the polished aluminium 'silver Spitfire' (Mk.IV I think - 1943) which having seen extensive active service, has (in 2019) flown 22,138nm around the world "taking in some of the most famous landmarks on the planet from the Grand Canyon in the west to the snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji in the east".  It was promoting the ‘Best of British’ worldwide & showcasing the nation’s heritage in engineering excellence. 

In the photo's background is a little white racer c.1936.  it's the Percival Mew Gull owned by the collection, which won the 1937 Folkestone Trophy at 210mph, and then re-engined and with various other mods won the 1936 King's Cup at 236 mph. Again re-engined and with radio and long range fuel tanks fitted - it then broke the record for the out-and-home to the Cape in February 1939.  Taking just 4 days, 10 hours, 16 minutes to do so was 'not bad' for there and back in a pre-war aircraft, including fuel stops and navigating yourself to sometimes isolated air strips. That record held for over 70 years. After being hidden in France throughout the 2nd WW, she was refurbished in time to win the 1955 King's cup ..again 'not bad' for a racing aircraft which was even then almost 20 years old.

   

^ I make no apologies for my photography using an old Panasonic Lumix camera, when the Comet was 'giving it some' in a flypast. Naturally I took others, in which I managed much better composition, but then the aircraft was further away or heading towards from us.

I guess I took about a thousand photos over the day and a half I was at Old Warden, but I'll refrain from boring you with a whole lot of nerdy background histories. After my lunch I'll post a selection of photos for those who enjoy such things. In the meantime I'll leave you with these two, to illustrate the variety and beauty, of seeing these museum exhibits in their own element  ..the engineering prowess of the restorers, and the bravery of pilots who really do use them  . . . 

Pete

[Bfg]

More piccies of aircraft and my visit to the Shuttleworth collection < here >

Pete

[Bfg]

Hi y'all, I've not been around for a while but am still alive n' kicking. 

Being somewhat burnt-out with working on projects - I've hardly used Katie , but for the monthly club meetings throughout the summer, and have likewise done no more work on her, even though she's far from right yet. 

I've moved home (x3 times in less than three years) and now enjoy a nice little apartment in Kesgrave, Ipswich ..with central heating (..oooh, aagh ! ) ..and a garage ( ..yippee ) which although 'standard sized' is suplemented by a small but private garden where half my poly-tunnel now serves as decent sized (8ft x 10ft) garden shed to help keep the garage reasonably clear of clutter.   

From this ^                                                                                                    to this ^^

= Happier winter days

I've painted the ceiling white ( it was just plasterboard before) and fitted an LED strip lamp.  I may add another, but for the time being it's better than just the single bulb. Nice to have lighting ..and . . .

^ this is just a mock up but the apartment is upstairs and in its hallway is a radiator ..opposite the internal door to the garage. So.. the plastic sheet diverts warmth from said radiator into the garage.  Naturally, heat rises which in turn is under the floor in the apartment.  

And so now I'm back to tinkering. More about that later, save to say that I'm also just about to try leather TR6 seats in Katie. 

^ ..courtesy of Martin Gerrard Hill of the TR Register. Thank you Martin.  If I can get the runners to fit further back in the car then these may be more comfortable (for me) than the MX5 seats I've been using.  Naturally I'll advise how I get on in due course.

Pete

[Bfg]

A little maintenance and a little fiddling with an idea. 

Starting off ; Katie's oval air filters have been on the car for who-knows-how-long - certainly they were on the car when I bought her. They appeared to be pretty clear and I hadn't realised how dirty they were, within the folds, until compared with new air filters. Of course, super-fine dust particles and spores are somewhat difficult to see. 

Are Katie's old filters 10% constricted (clogged up) or 20, 30 or 40% ??  I really don't know.   And then again - is each filter equally dirty (part blocked) and so constricting air flow to both carbs ..or has one more clogged than the other, thereby starving two cyclinders of air ?  Do the original-type paper-air-filters have a huge margin of clogging before they effect performance &/or economy or is the air flow constricted even from new ..and swapping to something like K&N is a really good investment ?

I guess I could have configured some sort of air flow test but, without having new ones to compare results with, I had no datum.  So the easiest thing to do is to buy new, hoping they have been made to a similar standard as the originals.  I bought these off ebay, and tbh they were pretty cheap.  Only when I got them did I realise they looked different. the folded paper element is inside an outer sleeve. Hey ho, it's part glued in place and so tearing it off might have left an ugly mess.  Never mind as long as those sleeves don't constrict air flow too much, I'm sure they'll be fine.

Now for a bit of play . . . 

Ram Pipes .. The long & short of well designed Ram Pipes is that the air flow into the carburettor is smoother and, without the bow waves of hard edges, less restricted. This means more air-fuel mix is drawn into the combustion chamber at a faster rate. That faster rate adds a little inertia behind the air-fuel mix flow which rams more into the cylinder before the inlet valve slams closed and the compression stroke commences.  More air fuel mix in the cylinder = more powerful bang.  The illustration (below) suggests we may be talking about plus or minus five or six percent. 

^ I'd found this extract from a book on the internet ages ago.  I'd like to recognise the author for their illustrations and for providing food for thought, but alas I do not have the source. Thank you whomever.  ..nb. I've subsequently heard that it was in a book dedicated to tuning an MGA.

In short from the above page I surmise ; hard corners into a carburettor tend to restrict air flow. I reason this is because they are somewhat like the bow wave of a flat fronted lorry which seriously effects the air around and alongside it.  Two lorries travelling alongside each other would displace the air flow from inbetween them. The space inbetween being an analogy for the carburettor air intake.  

Apparently the author has discovered or is presenting the case that very sharp corners (lorry front corners or at carburettor intakes) cuts the air flow cleanly, which effects the adjacent air flow less than slightly rounded corner - where the air tries to flow around the corner but it is too sharp and so ‘bow waves out’.  This effectively lessens the inside diameter, and therefore the cross-section, of the carburettor intake.   

The author concludes ; Rounded corners less than R.1/8” on a carburettor intake can be detrimental (too big a bow wave). And cone shaped ram pipes might create more back pressure (a wedge of air will meet resistance in a rigid tube) than any benefit it offers.

Apparently also long ram pipes offer little or no advantage over even very short ones. The real benefit comes from having a beaded edge of more than 1/8” radius.

The air filter has a hard edged hole clamped to the carburettor flange. At best this would equate to somewhere better example 1 and 2 in the above chart. However accurate sizing and alignment is imperative to not making the situation even worse. The gasket may or may not be a good fit but almost certainly any protrusion into the air flow, or recess from a smooth joint will again be detrimental because of additional turbulence.

The challenge then was how to give the air filter a rolled edge.

^ a potential solution lay in a pair of cheap ebay ram pipes and a fat o-ring. In the second photo, I've further rounded and polished the inside corner of the die-cast ram pipe and reshaped the flange-side of its hole to better fit and align with the carburettor flange. The alignment of the ram pipe to the carburettor orifice was 2mm out on one side, which if fitted like that would have made this mod' worse than doing nothing !   It's still not perfect but then nor was the hole in the air filter.  Now of course the question is how to fit it.?

 

The hole in the air filter was approximate to the throat of the carburettor, but I wanted the ram pipe to fit inside it, so I aligned the bolt holes, then marked and cut the air filter's mounting plate. Naturally I didn't want any metal filings inside the air filter and so I used snips ..and even then I very carefully accounted for every last shard of metal cut.

  

^ With the ram pipe fitted into the air filter, the challenge then was to accurately position the fat o-ring right on the round edge of the ram pipe, inside the air filter.  I proposed to do this with a second o-ring (seen in second photo) behind the large diameter one. These would be inserted through the orifice and bonded in place with silicon sealer.

  

^ with goop applied to the outside of the ram pipe, and to the inside of the o-rings, it all went together fine. As you see I bolted the ram pipe and filter together to hold them as I fitted the o-rings and then while that sealant cured. 

I now have an air filter with a rolled edge ram pipe of 4mm radius fitted inside it. It will of course be bolted onto the carburettor as one.

Now just to tidy things up . . .

  

^ Small piece of mesh from B&Q cost almost £10 and it's ferrous steel so after I cut and shaped It I had to paint it. Aluminium would have been easier but I took what was available.  Warning ; cutting this mesh is like handling barb wire. It has very sharp prongs and springs back to cut your hands and wrists. After cutting, and before wrapping it around the filter, I ran back and forth along each edge with a metal file to dull those barbs off.  

Then, after pre-forming the tighter radiused wrapped shape with my fingers - I folded out (with long nose pliers) two 90-degree clamping flanges, and doubled those back down again for stiffness.  Wrapped around the filter and with the flanges = the uncut length of the mesh is as bought (ie., 50cm)

   

^ The flanges are screwed together and wired. Admittedly it's crude (..as I didn't have any small set screws and nuts to hand) but it's effective and out-of-sight (on the filter's underside) when fitted to the car.  

^ The old and the new

If the theory illustrated is correct ; the standard air filter's hard edges contribute to a 0.3% to 6.7% loss in air-fuel mixture flow into the combustion chamber compared to a bare carburettor.   My short ram pipe with a o-ring rolled edge of more than 3mm radius is very similar to # 8 of the illustrations ..which is said to improve air-fuel flow (compared to a bare carburettor) by 5.2%.  So an afternoon of pottering + £10 for a pair of ram pipes + £4 for the o-rings might improve air-fuel mixture flow into the combustion chamber by anything between 5% and 12%.  That seems like good value to me.

New air filters were due anyway, and although tarting those up with wire mesh was an extravagance - it is a pretty one

Bidding you a good evening,

Pete

[Bfg]

"Boing ! " said Zebedee ..

Children should look away because this week's episode sees Zebedee squeezing tightly into his black leather seats

Magic roundabout music plays joyfully out of tune.

"Once upon a time . . . Katie  had really quite ugly and uncomfortable TR4A seats in sweaty black plastic, but then a giant came along and uplifted those into ebay space and replaced them with Mazda seats.   Now said big friendly giant found these seats very much better, and relished the extra legroom he'd made for himself and equally the tilt backrest. ('reclining' is a misnomer when there isn't tilt space behind the seats). But to be honest he found then rather too firm and really not such good lateral support as he had hoped.  

But then along came a fine upstanding gentleman name Martin, who was offering to all the world a very nice pair of black leather TR6 seats. They are not quite standard insomuch as they had been professionally recovered with beautifully supple leather and their diaphragms and foam had also been replaced.  Alas, as the tale tells us.. it seemed as if very few others really appreciated them.  But then came along the most amicable Bfg    ..who carried them away and took them home to his Katie . . .

However before installing them, he had a few things to sort out, not least was whether they would fit as far back as the Mazda seats and equally if not more importantly whether the Bfg would still be able to get his big fat head into the car. . .

  

Aide memoire, you can see from the headrest just how far back these seats are placed. A measurement from the clutch pedal records 42-1/2". 

  

^ Side by side the TR6 seat look rather diminutive in comparison to those from the Mazda MX5 but, with a squarer backs, their width is very tight when pushed rearwards. Katie doesn't have the fibreglass cover over her drive-shaft tunnel but still it was all a little too tight for her., not least because the TR seat has a pokie-out-the-side tilt-locking mechanism.  On the runners its also sat high in the car, and the headroom already offered nothing to spare when occupied by a Bfg.  This was another one of those five minute jobs that wasn't going to be quite so quick.. Things would have to be re-thought.  

   

^ Firstly these seats tilt's locking mechanism would have to go - the TR4A never had such extravagances anyway. And the seat runners too ..to lower the seat by an inch or more.      ^^ That's better, over an inch further back, and now the Bfg can just about get his head in under the backlight frame.   There's such difference in style between the Triumph and Madza seats.  I do think the Mazda seats look fabulous, but on the other hand I'm content with the look of these TR6 seats in a 1967 sports car.  It's not everyone's choice, but for my use of this car - adequate driver support together with a comfortable ride outweigh the styling.      

   

^ because Katie's chassis has additional structure (a cross beam aligned to the gearbox mount), which coincided with where I needed a seat fastening, I drilled and tapped into that beam's flange.  And on the underside of the flange I was still able to fit a nut.  The fixed brackets are very simple 90-degree upturned zinc plated steel plate, which allow the seat to pivot forward for easier access to the rear space than the Mazda seats offered.  That was a useful bonus because Katie's Surrey top lid is usually stowed back there. Another worthwhile advantage is the far easier access for cleaning alongside and under the seat.  Those snozzcumber pips get everywhere.

  

^ Job done, on the driver's side anyway.  The TR seat measures, from clutch-pedal to seat back, about 1" less than the Mazda MX5 seat, but its cushion gives that much more - so overall my way-back seating position is the same.  For my long legs, the TR seat gives a little better under-thigh support.  Dimensionally its front squab is just 1" higher but, perhaps because that support is further back, it seems more ..and more comfortable to sit in.  Lateral support feels very much better in the TR seat ..perhaps again because I'm now sitting into the upholstery rather than on it.  Getting in and out feels much the same but the 4" more space in front of the seat gives me more room to pull my size twelves back.

- - -

I've just been for a short test drive, avoiding on my way out dozens of little devils and all sorts of ghouls ..out in the evening air searching for tears of the timid and tooth-rotting substances, and found the driver's seat to be comfortable, less draughty around the small of my back, and offering better support when going fast around a broad roundabout. The door padding offers all the bracing I need on that side but a little more on left side, for right handers, might be welcome. So I'll try swinging the seat's left side mounting forward by half-an-inch and also up a little.  As hoped the TR's ride / comfort is improved through the seat's softer suspension (diaphragm) ..which is of course the way Triumph designed the car, but to my mind was compromised when I fitted the firmer MX5 seats.

Mx5 seats may be better than sliced white bread but I prefer crusty doorsteps of wholegrain.   Everyone to their own eh ?

I'll let you know again, after a hundred miles or so, how I get on..  Knowing me, I'm just as likely to swap 'em back again. 

Bidding you all a peaceful evening,

Bfg

p.s. for a further bonus point ; Both in leather, the Maxda seat weighs in at 17kg whereas the Tr6 seats (without runners) is just 11.5kg. Times this weight saving by two seats and its the same as a full week of scrumdiddlyumptious breakfasts at Buckingham Palace

 

 

[Bfg]

t'other seat done today. . .

^ I also twisted / moved the driver's seat 1/2" further forward on its left side and up by 1/4" in the same front corner .. That may not seem much but first (static) impressions are that it's improved lateral support on the left side as well as a tad more support under that thigh. The task was easily done, but equally I think.. well worth doing. 

That doesn't look too shabby

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

and the stripey nature of the seats match the rear & door trims splendidly