Sunday outing

We took a trip out to Matching Tye today, thought we would find a nice pub to have a spot of lunch and happened to come across an informal Tractor show. The show was in the field behind the Fox inn, so we decided to stop off and have a look. I have been to the pub before with the Triumph club so Knew that it served good food, so what could be better a quick look at the fore runner of the engine used in the TR4A and a good sunday lunch. When I got chatting to the tractor owners they told me it was a charity run in aid of the St Francis hospice (please see their link below). This is a regular charity run taking place every May day bank holiday Sunday at the Fox Inn, Matching Tye, Essex.As you may well be aware the engine used in the ferguson tractor in the late 40's and beyond was the fore runner of the TR power unit. the following qoute tells how the link between the Triumph car company (then Standard motor co) and Ferguson came about.

"The automotive industry at the time was looking for other projects due to the completion of wartime contracts. Harry found a suitable works at Banner Lane Coventry owned by the Standard Motor Car Co. With Government restrictions on raw materials Harry Ferguson approached the government of the time with a request to purchase the raw materials necessary for the production of tractors. This was approved due to the necessity of work in the area and the fact that it was a bid to increase food production for the country. In July 1947 Standard were about to develop a new engine for the new post war family saloon car - which became the Vanguard. Harry Ferguson decided that this could be adapted to fit A tractor design he had in mind"

http://www.stfrancishospice.co.uk/default.asp - St Francis Hospice

TR4A Brakes

The seal kit came today to for the rear wheel brake cylinders so after work it was off with the rear wheels to change the seals. The drivers side brake drum was pretty wet with brake fluid where the seals had been leaking and the brake shoes have had a bit of a soaking, I think I will order a new set of brake shoes to be on the safe side. There were no dramas in changing the seals, I had my usual fight with the brake shoes to get the springs back on but it wouldn't be any fun without that. I gave the suspension and handbrake mechanism a good clean up while I had the wheels off. I found a great degreaser in a local pound shop called Astonish engine degreaser, what ever this stuff is made from it shifts dirt and grease with no problems, I hate it when my wife is right she said you can get good bargains in pound shops personally I hate them, but on this occasion she was spot on.

These brakes are a bit damp!!

One of those days!!

I took the TR4A to work this morning and on the way dropped my wife off at the Holiday Inn at Brentwood, this is not a normal day but my wife was on a course and she was getting a lift from the hotel, so rather than leave her car at the hotel for a few days I gave her a lift. It was all going well when I dropped Mel off and I pulled away merrily. Nothing to out of the ordinary so far, then the engine decided to die. Luckily I was just pulling in to a petrol filling station when it happened. I spent the next hour delving about under the bonnet looking for the problem. I soon found the cause of the unexpected stop, a rivet had fallen out of the rotor arm and allowed the metal contact plate to fall off. This was a touch disappointing as I had only fitted the new rotor arm a few weeks earlier. Well to add insult to injury the rivet which held the plate in place had fallen into the distributor body and I didn't have any tools or spares with me in the car (a tool kit and spares are now kept in the boot - I know its shutting the door after the horse has bolted, but at least I will have them in the future). Luckily a few passing motorists lent me some tools to retrieve the rivet, a Phillips screwdriver to remove the distributor base plate to access the rivet and after some temporary repairs the car got me home.

Toolkit for the TR4A

I found the old rotor arm in the garage and put it back on and the car was back to normal. Looking at the failed rotor arm it does seem rather cheaply made, the only fixing for the contact plate is a small rivet which is pressed into a serrated hole in the plastic rotor arm body, the old rotor arm is much more substantial with the contact plate moulded into the rotor body.

The original rotor on the left and the failed unit on the right

Carburettor overhaul update

I finished off the refitting of the carbs today. I set them up using the guide printed on the vintage triumph register website. First of all balancing the air flow then setting the tickover. I adjusted the jets using the lifting pin and listening for changes in the engine rpm after I was happy with the set up this way I checked the mixture with the colourtune and the front carb was spot on, the rear carb was running slightly rich so I adjusted the jet up about a 1/4 of a turn. The colourtune now stays a light blue shade throughout the whole rev range, only turning slightly yellow when the revs are dropped rapidly and the pistons take a few seconds to settle. I took the car out for a run and what a difference. The car runs so much smoother at tickover and right up through the rev range. The engine pulls much better and there is no hunting when the engine is coasting.
On another note I was going to take a run up to the TR Register club night at ramsden Bellhouse tonight but when I came back from the quick test run I noticed a patch of fluid around where the rear wheel a was sitting on the drive. I checked the brake fluid and sure enough it was rather low, so another shopping trip on the internet for a rear wheel cylinder kit and the next chapter on the weblog.

Carburettor overhaul update

The carbs went back on the TR4A today. Once the linkages were fitted and the petrol pipes put back on it took about 10 seconds of turning over on the starter and she fired up. I balanced the carbs roughly by ear and then set the tickover after adjusting the jets to richen up the mixture. I will balance carbs and set the mixture correctly tomorrow. I don't have a lot of experience balancing carbs so I will be following the procedure on the vintage triumph register web page

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/carbs.shtml

The carbs back on the car.

Club Triumph eastern run to Finchingfield

Today was FBHVC drive your classic day and Club Triumph Eastern arranged a run out to the pretty Essex village of Finchingfield. There was a good turnout of cars despite the slightly inclement weather. Among the cars present were several Spitfires, Heralds, Vitesses, an Etype jag and Lotus. The run up to Finchingfield was very pleasant, anyone who thinks Essex is an industrial site really should take a run into the countryside of north Essex. Apart from a unscheduled stop to repair a broken low tension wire on a vitesse the cars performed without fuss. Once at Finchingfield we stopped at the Red Lion Pub for lunch and a few drinks. The pictures show the cars in the car park of the pub and the village in all its glory.

Carburettor overhaul update

I had a go at removing the bushes for the butterfly spindle's, the bush on the non linkage side of the carb body seemed to be moulded into the casting although on the linkage side there was a pressed in bush. I had to machine out both bushes in the end. It took a bit of setting up in the drill to get the holes aligned. Once I had the new bushes pressed in I reamed them out with a 5/16 reamer to make sure the holes were perfectly in line. When the spindles and butterfly's were replaced the play was completely gone. One thing to remember is to only tighten the butterfly's mounting screws once the linkages have been fitted or the butterfly can lock up on the side of the carb body. The linkages took a bit of working out on how they went back together, thank goodness for digital cameras a few photos as the carbs were stripped have paid dividends. I will finish off rebuilding the carbs tomorrow and then fit them back on the car and hope for the best!

Carburettor overhaul update

I stripped the carbs down today and gave them a good clean up. The general condition of the carbs seems to be good. I have posted a couple of pictures of the cleaned bodies. Tomorrow I will remove the old butterfly spindle bush's, the hole the bush sits in is stepped on the inside edge. I may have to machine the old bush out if I can't get a punch to move the old bush's.

TR4A carburettor overhaul

I took the carbs off the Tr4A today as I was having trouble adjusting the carbs to achieve the correct mixture across the whole rev range. Once off the car there was obvious play in the butterfly spindles. This would lead to a weak mixture at higher revs. The floats were also set to high at about 10mm gap between float and top edge of cover and there was a lot of debris in the bottom of the float chamber. One good point is the pistons and damper assembly's look in good condition and the Piston lifting pins are both free. The photos below show the general condition of the carbs.

Club Triumph treasure hunt

Melanie and I took the Spitfire to the north london branch of Club Triumphs monthly meeting on Easter Monday. The night included a Treasure hunt organised by Ellis, this consisted of a quiz with questions themed around the route the treasure hunt would take and the treasure hunt itself. The route around the Hertfordshire countryside was very pretty. We were one of the first cars to set off although a few wrong turns later we were soon overtaken by some of the other cars. We were caught in a three way cat and mouse game with two 6 cylinder spitfires belonging to Fredrique and Vin. We managed to hold our own - just! The spitfire was running is well and was ideal for the tight country lanes. Once the points were counted we came joint second, just one point behind the winners. Thanks go out to Ellis for making such a good job of organising the event.

However the next day was a different story. I took the spit to work and she was running really rough at idle and miss firing when accelerating. When I opened the bonnet there was petrol coming from the vent hole in the top of the float chamber of the rear carb. I had run the petrol really low the night before and I think I must have pulled some dirt into the carbs. Once I had taken the float chamber top off and cleaned out the needle valve the car returned to running well again. I won't let the petrol go as low as that again.

Easter weekend

We took the TR4A away for the Easter weekend for a trip to Cambridge. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as good as the Weatherman promised so the top stayed up for most of the trip. The car drew some admiring looks from the tourists in Cambridge, especially the Kids. She performed well and now the thermostat is working again the temp remained at the half way mark on the gauge for the whole journey. We stayed at the Moat House Hotel in Cambridge which is located only a short walk from Kings College and the main tourist attractions. The highlight of the trip though was a visit to Duxford air museum on the journey home. The museum is a great day out with so much to see. The displays of aircraft, road vehicles, boats and even submarines is wonderful. The work that goes into maintaining, restoring and conserving the aircraft is just breathtaking. How the full time staff and volunteers remember where all those parts go is mind boggling.

The D Day landings exhibition was especially poignant, the entrance into the area was through a landing craft with the sound of gunfire all around, it was humbling to think what the men who fought there went through. The exhibits included monty's field caravans, staff cars, heavy vehicles etc. The exhibit also had a hands on area where you could handle the kit that a soldier would have carried, it was so heavy, how they carried it all for so long is incredible. We left duxford a little wiser and with a whole lot of respect for what those soldiers did for us all.

Spitfire Steering wheel

I have just fitted a new steering wheel to the Spitfire. It was my birthday this week and was bought a new mountey steering wheel for the car. The old wheel was only 11" across and I found it difficult to use, especially at slow speeds. The new wheel is 13" across and as well as looking a whole better is much easier to use. Fitting was easy just drive the car forward to line up the steering then remove the nut that holds the wheel onto the column and give the old wheel a tap from behind to release the splines and it was off. Fit the new wheel onto the new boss and then line up the wheel and push onto the splines and refit the nut, and as they say, job done. I might put the old wheel onto eBay as it may be just the ticket for someone else.

Before
After

TR4A radiator cowl

Today I Fitted a new radiator cowl I bought off ebay. The old cowl was looking a bit tatty so I swapped it for a metal replacement with TR4A laser cut into the top. It was a bit of a job to fit as I had to undo the radiator side supports, let the bottom fixings go, along with removing the thermostat housing and top hose to get enough movement on the Rad to remove the old cowl and fit the new one. As I had the thermostat housing off I fitted a new thermostat, the car had barely been getting warm over the last few weeks. The new cowl picks up on the original mounting holes and uses the same screws. It looks a lot better now. I also took the opportunity to tidy up the wiring along the front edge of the bonnet, I used some spiral wrap to secure the wiring, unfortunately I could only get clear spiral wrap and would have preferred black so I might do it again when I can get the black spiral wrap. I took the car for a spin after fitting all the parts and she warms up to normal temp reading on the gauge now.

Before



After

Spitfire distributor follow up

I have looked up the distributor in the Parts book and it certainly looks like the original part. I think I will order a new cap for it tomorrow to see if that fits better then the one thats on there at the moment. I have also noticed that the shaft that the rotor arm sits on has about 6mm of end play in it. I'm not sure if this is normal or not I am going to post a question on the Club Triumph forum tonight, if anyone has the answer it will be one of those guy's. Talking of Club Triumph I have just filled out my entry into the Historic counties rally taking place later this month. I have decided to take the TR4A as it is a bit more comfortable on a long run than the Spitfire. I don't know what to expect as this is the first time I have done one of these runs, I am looking forward to it though.

Run out to the Ace cafe

I went along to the ace cafe with the guys from Triumph club eastern this morning. I even managed to persuade my Wife to get up early on a Sunday morning to join me. I decided to take the TR4a as the weather was fine but rather chilly and Melanie (my Wife) doesn't do early mornings and cold weather with the soft top down, and that's the only way to drive the Spitfire. We met up at the services at 9.00 and had a pleasant drive through Epping forest and then onto the north circular round to the Ace cafe. We were joined by a Spitfire 1500 (Jim and Sue), vitesse (Ken and Margaret) and a Ford Capri (Neil and Karen)- I hope I got all the names right. Once at the cafe we met several other members of the club who made their own way. The Ace cafe is a great venue for any car or bike enthusiast, the decoration is just as you would imagine it would have been in the 60's, and the breakfast was spot on. There were plenty of Bikes parked up in front of the cafe ranging from an early Royal Enfield right upto 2.3ltr Triumph Rocket 3's. There were also a few interesting cars, including Ford mustang, MGA and ours of course. Well after an enjoyable time in the Ace we all went our separate ways home. We headed off to do some looking around the garden centres at Crew's hill on the A10 and on our way followed a very nice Mk2 GT6 for a part of the journey. All in all another good day out and all down to owning a Triumph car.

Club Triumph Eastern night

Well I have just got in from the Club Triumph eastern night, it was a great turnout there must have been over fifty people and a good selection of Triumphs in the car park. Amongst the cars parked outside were several Spitfires, a Stag and a Herald. The club night is always the first Thursday of the month, so as they say, come on down if you would like to meet a friendly bunch of Triumph enthusiasts. It was a quiz night with a general knowledge theme. Amazingly we came joint third just one point behind the joint winners. There was also the usual raffle and club announcements. There are various events and club runs coming up in the near future but the one that interests me is a run out to the Ace cafe in London on Sunday (9th April) We are planning to meet up at the Boreham services on the A12 at 9.00am then drive on down to the Ace cafe for breakfast. I think I'll take the Spitfire as she is running well at the moment and after recently coming back from her respray is looking particularly good. Anyway she could do with a few run outs as she hasn't been on the road for 3 years prior to the work being carried out.

Click below to visit the Ace Cafe website

The Ace cafe

I spent the afternoon washing and polishing the spitfire. I thought I would invest in some Maguire's car shampoo and polish. As they say it does exactly what is say's on the tin, both products were easy to use and the car looks gleaming. After washing the car I decided to have a look at the distributor cap as it doesn't seam to locate onto the body to well. The locating lug on the cap doesn't appear to be the correct size for the cutout in the body and the cap just spins on the base. I'll have to check what the correct distributor and cap are for the car as I'm not sure if either one is correct or not. I guess I'll have get out my guide to originality tomorrow.

Spitfire oil pressure switch

Took the Spitfire out for a run today and about 10 miles from home the oil pressure light came on. I pulled over to check the oil and there was plenty in the engine. I took the oil filler cap off to have a look in the rocker cover and there was oil coming through the rockers, I decided to drive her home at a steady pace. Once i got home I found an old gauge from a compressor I have and removed the pressure switch and fitted the gauge. When I started the engine the gauge went up to 30 psi on tickover and once the revs went op to 1000rpm the pressure went up to 60psi, luckily it looks like its only the switch thats faulty, another thing to buy. I will order a switch tonight.

Sunday drive

Got up really early this morning so I could take the TR4A out for a test run, after fitting the new ignition parts yesterday. It was a lovely sunny morning so I decided to go along to a boot fair. Its about a 10 mile run so a perfect drive to blow the cobwebs away. It was top down and wind in the hair time. It makes me smile from ear to ear every time I drive the TR. I stopped along the way to tweak the ignition timing on the vacuum advance unit. The car was slightly hesitant pulling away from low revs. A couple of degrees of adjustment made all the differance. When I got home my better half was still in bed so I took the oppertunity to take the spitfire out. What a difference between the 2 cars, the spitfire is so much lighter and really sticks to the road. When I had the car resprayed recently I had a reconditioned Differential fitted from a mark 4 spitfire. It seems to have had little effect on the acceleration but the revs are definatly lower when cruising at 70mph. I love this car and I had an even bigger smile than when driving the TR. As they say though all good things have to come to an end so it was back home to carry on with decorating the lounge. Still at least I had a big grin on my face whilst painting the skirting board.

TR4A Electronic ignition

Fitted the electronic ignition and flame thrower coil this afternoon, very quick and easy to install after removing the old points and condensor fitted the backing plate for the new electronic pick up put the sensor unit on and the magnet over the distributer shaft. Replaced the rotor arm and the igintion was fitted. The new coil was fitted to the exisiting bracket after shortening the clamping screw after finding the coil was slightly smaller than the original and the screw fouled the bracket retaining bolt. Plugged in all the wires and fired her up. The car started first time and after setting the ignition timing to 4 degrees btc took her out for a spin. The car seems to run a lot smoother and the tick over once warm was a more even. I even managed to set up the carbs, balanced and set mixture using a colour tune. Number 1 & 2 cylinders were running too rich. The car feels a whole lot differant now much more responsive and pulls well throughout the whole rev range. I may have to take her out for an early morning blast tomorrow so I can enjoy the afternoons efforts.

First posting

Well here goes, I thought its about time I started to record whats going on with the Triumphs I run.

The first is a Mark 3 Spitfire.

I have owned this car for about 10 years, although the car hasn't been on the road for all that time, I have recently had this car resprayed back to the original colour (Valencia blue). I have made some minor modifications to help cope with modern traffic conditions, electric fan, alternator, reconditioned diff from a mark 4 spitfire etc. I plan to use this as my everyday car during the summer.

The second is a TR4A

The second Triumph I own is a TR4A, as you may have guessed from the imaganative user name for this Blog. I have owned this car since July last year. I plan to carry out a few modifications as time and money allows, The first of which happened just after I purchased the car, after a minor electrical fire under the dashboard - a dodgy repair to the steering by a previous owner trapped a wire, a new wiring harness was fitted. I have just bought an electronic ignition and Flamethrower coil, which I plan to fit tomorrow.