Bfg

yes I've otherwise been told so. I like it because it retains the original horn button.

^ great photo Doug My TR4A has a wooden rimmed steering wheel, but having driven others I think it is much the same dimensions as standard. . . Outside diameter is a tad shy of 15" (around about 14-7/8 to 15/16") and as you can see in the second photo the rim is about 3/4". I wouldn't want much less diameter for car-park manoeuvring running on 28psi tyre pressures and 165/80-15 tyres. Harder pressure is lighter but you feel it in the car's ride. I've set my car's steering geometry to be responsive. I wouldn't want it any more so. Indeed I'll soon be checking and readjusting it.. to lessen the car's presently slight vagueness at motorways speeds. Do bear in mind, when you try a different sizes of steering wheel ; your reach to the column switches as well as visibility to both major and minor gauges. I'm 6'-5" and a little too broad for a TR4 but the diameter of this size of steering wheel and it's relatively shallow dish are not a problem for me either when driving or when getting in and out. Mind you I have discarded the H-frame so i have more room for my knee over the gearbox cover. I did modify the rear wheel arches to move the seats much further back, so my legs are straighter than with the standard geometry, and I'm now sitting in leather TR6 (tilt backrest) seats with good diaphragms and foam. They offer better under-thigh support (are higher in the squab) than the Mazda Mx5 seats I had until recently. Hope that helps. Pete

I was at our TSSC local meet yesterday evening, in Katie my TR ..which in the car park was accompanied by Mike's GT6 ( used daily) and Russell's Stag with Rover V8 motive power. Brian also came in his Spit-6 special which again he uses all year around. ..out of the 20 or so bod's, I'm not sure if anyone else came out in their Triumph. At one point, we at one end of the table were discussing the repaint of the Daimler 250 I'd recently bought. Repeatedly I was confronted with comments regarding my plans change the car from original, but as I said - I have no family, and very few life-friends interested in my cars or old bikes ..should they inherit any one of those upon my demise. The cars I have are not rare like a Bugatti ..they are cheap production cars that I choose to drive. So, I'll have what I enjoy owning, and like to drive. None too precious to be driven at this time of year, nor to be parked unattended when i go into a shop or restaurant. . If I want a sunroof, simply because I like driving through an autumnal avenue of trees with the roof open ..then I'll fit one. And if i don't like this or that detail of the car's original design (for example that car's lack of front under-valance panel, the style of half spats over the rear wheels, or even the heavy looking Daimler grille) then I'll change them. Likewise if I want a non-standard colour, then that's fine too ..My car is not a museum piece to be preserved until the apocalypse. Put another way, as per my footnote on the Autoshite forum "..its a bloody motor car ..not a Fabergé egg. ! " The pertinent point is ; I'm driving my cars because I want to. I don't go to shows for my car to be admired ..I go to see other cars and to enjoy a little time with their owners. It really doesn't matter whether others like my choice of car, nor agree with what I've done with it. I'm driving it even when the roads are wet and the weather is cold. On Sunday I was driving in the pixxing rain, and while stopped for petrol a complete stranger in 'a modern' took the time to politely comment on Katie ..saying how he really liked her bumper-less look. Colin, are you not old enough to do what you want, and to enjoy what you like.? Do that ..and others with like-minds will hone in ..and those who don't - well that's no real issue nor concern to you. There a huge number of people who will be admiring your cars, in part because of their good looks or perhaps in nostalgia of good friends and past family, or for an era which was somehow more personable than it has become. Most will not say anything, but using your Triumphs do make others happy, and surely all the hard work is worth it because of that.?

What does it matter if others are moving away from Triumphs, I've been into quite a few different classic cars and motorcycles and still enjoy a natter and a beer with anyone who's into older and more interesting cars, even those who are in a financial league that I might only have once dreamt of. I'm presently burnt out with working on my TR, but this Thursday expect to be taking the second engine in to be checked and reassembled by someone else. This is the engine I bought while still trying to buy a project TR4 from America. That purchase didn't happen, and I never got that engine back together because I was unhappy about the machining / crank balancing I'd had done. I was just about to have the work independently checked when covid happened. And then I was forced to move home into a studio apartment, so everything I could pack away went into a storage container. I've moved home twice more since ..and now it's time (I'm ready) for it to be dealt with (whatever the verdict on the work already done). I've got too many other things to do over the next 12 months that I've finally conceded to pay someone else to put it together for me. Better that than my friends inheriting a pile of bits which they don't understand so just take down to the council skip. My bottom line is that.., classic car chaps, particularly those with the more modest marques like Triumphs, are a good bunch to have a beer with even if they drive something else, and my Triumph and its parts can hang around until I'm in the right frame of mind to get on with it. During winter things slow down anyway, because work spaces tend to be flipping cold and too small. In the meantime my focus is on studying c.12th English history, as research for a book I'm writing. I'm otherwise gathering the necessaries for the Daimler 250 I've recently bought, and trying to choose a colour for its respray. I also have a boat, a trailer tent, and two motorcycles in the background just waiting for me to decide what to do with them. Do I allocate time and resources to doing them, or do I cut my losses and give up on those dreams. ! ? Take cheer Colin, wiring is easy to check for smoke ..just leave the battery clamp loose in case it needs to come off again - very quickly ! ..and then turning on just one thing at a time to check the circuit ..starting off with the lowest power items like side lights, before working your way up to ignition on and checking the gauges, and brake lights. Only after horn and lights do you crank the engine ..by hand first to feel and listen. Then crank the motor with plugs out, and also out of gear ..and with blocks in front of the wheels in case the clutch is seized on ! Crank the engine and check for oil circulation to top-end ..and non on the garage floor. Crank the engine and check for sparks at the plugs. All common sense and easy, even before you turn the fuel on or put the plugs back in. By which time oil has been pumped into and around all the engine's galleries, and any big, hard &/or sharp bits have flushed through and are settled comfortably in the bottom of the sump. Remember to look hard into the mirror and 20 times say "This is Fun ". Do that before the men in white coats turn up with their nice n cosy jacket and some sleepy medicines. p.

End of Season opportunity to enjoy clearer roads as yesterday I went back across to the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton, Suffolk, NR35 1NZ(which at this time of year is opened only on Sundays). From where I live it's some 35 across country miles away but, since moving home a few months ago, the route is different. I love this museum because it’s a local one and that makes it unpretentious. It might be noted that it’s a volunteer-run museum charity, and lacking the glamorous and glossy exhibits of well funded museums, but perhaps because of that - it is fascinating. In many ways it’s more like an old workshop packed with minute details. East Anglia was of course dotted with airfields throughout the 2nd WW, and the memorabilia and photographs reflects the true grit of it. More depth is found in the stories relayed by airmen, farm workers (who witnessed aircraft crashes of both friend n' foe) and of the air-sea rescued. These do take a time to read, but there’s humanity in there which isn’t reflected in the glossy paint of a restored museum exhibit, however awesome an aircraft style &/or its specs may be. My visiting on Sunday 12th, the day of the National Service of Remembrance, was poignant. ^ far right, yes behind the curtain in the anson is the ..... With so many artefacts found in gardens, along the coastline & esturies, and farmland across East Anglian counties - it may to the uninitiated seem to be filled with mangled pieces of metal, cloth or whatever, but to an engineering mind - those same objects are like cutaway illustrations ..or rather sculptures, revealing in life-scale the guts and the craftsmanship in engineering. Pete

I relate to that with my TR4A ..it's a fun car for a countryside blast, but sometimes one simply wants something a bit more relaxing, which is why . . . ^ mine's the one on the right. The link to Triumph (cars) is a little tenuous though, which is why she's not appeared in these pages before. Pete

Very nice too, Alan. I've long been harbouring a fancy to get a Moggy Traveller ..as a second car just for around town, but finally decided against it as I already have three cars and two old motorcycles, and now pay a premium for storage space. Aside from going to a supermarket every other week, I rarely go into town anyway ..other than to pass through to the other side and head off somewhere. The final decision was made, not to, when I discovered its interior width (48-1/2") was not much more than my Triumph, which is a little too tight for me. Relative to your Spitfire it does look quite big ..but a whole lot of that is in those gloriously bulbous wings and proud bonnet. Nevertheless, the Minor is a really wonderful step back in time, to what to me seems a nicer age, and if I had the space I'd have one anyway. 👍 Pete

Thanks Peter, I now understand.. rotor arm. I'd guess your father soon found out ..but realising you had the noddle at 14 to work out his deterrant and fix it, thought you were probably wise enough to go for a spin anyway.

what's a rotar button please ?

Thanks.. I'd forgotten they had those, and I bought the Autolok secondhand so didn't get the collar. I'll have to make one, as otherwise the argument of removing it by just unscrewing the gearknob is almost valid. As it is with the gear lever pushed forward - the angle up from the handbrake is not enough to get the lock off. Pete

Not much happening this week (aside from our local TSSC club meeting tonight at the Sorrel Horse, Barham, IP6 0PG and a breakfast meeting with the TR group at the weekend) but with classic cars it’s impossible not to notice how very insecure they are, so in addition to my everyday Autolok handbrake to gearbox lock ..for when the car is being left unattended in a more vulnerable location - I've just bought one of these. . . This steering wheel immobiliser is the higher security Pro model of the Stoplock range, which gets good reviews (NB. their Elite model of the same device has a deep offset for fatter steering wheels). After looking on-line, including for a second-hand one, I bought this new (with 2 keys) from Halfords. They presently have them with a £10 off RRP, and then another 10% off when buying on-line and free postage over certain order value. In total it cost just a few pence under £35 delivered. Either or both is of course only a deterrent, especially when steering wheels on classic cars may be wood rimmed with easily snipped through aluminium spokes, but it is quick n' easy to use, and an obvious nuisance to would be joy-riders, even though you may otherwise have an ignition immobiliser. ^ It's universal fitment also means that I can use it on other cars. And who knows I might even configure it around the frame and through the spokes of my motorcycle. Food for thought perhaps ..and a great price from Halfords. Pete p.s. I’m not telling the insurance company because they’ll insist it’s always on the car when parked.

Unless you can barely see out of the windscreen., the headrests on the TR6 seats are too low to serve their intended function anyway. Cosmetically I feel they add a little robotic humour to a car with a Surrey-top backlight ..but any car with its soft-top down (depending on one's preferences) may look better without them. Pete

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

"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's no 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 the 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

👍 That looks very much better to my old and rather conservative eyes Ed. Perhaps just a little heavier typeface ..but still a worthy echo of the car's badging. . .

The single Mikuni carb worked very well on the Norton, and its starting was easier because it uses a manual injector jet rather than dribbling fuel out of the ticklers. Of course one carb didn't need synchronising and the air flow through the single venturi kept things buzzing even at low speeds. Performance wise I never had reason to complain ..but then I did blue-print that engine and then some. Too much so - That bike was a missle ..quickest off the line I've ever owned or ridden ..not particularly suited to my riding style nor commuter needs at that time. Pete

Excellent work Ed., Thanks for the link - brilliant as always. I had considered making my own air box but haven't yet decided what would look right. Your's looks great on the GT6 with the rocker cover style ribs on it. I've never been into big bold graphics so personally I wouldn't use those. To my way of thinking it undermines your skilled engineering. ^ When I last made an air filter box to duct-in cold air, back in 2015, it was for my S-type Jaguar which originally had what looked like a pressed metal exhaust muffler spanning over the engine. On my rather smaller air filter box, I did apply small graphics showing the leaping Jaguar logo. I expect that's nicely faded by now and looking more the part on a classic car. Btw, the above pancake 'filter' you see was just an empty box (adapted from a Triumph Trident motorcycle) closed under the perforated mesh with straw-coloured painted aluminium sheet. You can see the air duct going out through the inner wing, which led to an XJ40 air filter box is tucked right up into the front corner of the wheelarch. It worked well and the boost in performance (drawing in cold air) was immediately noticeable in everyday driving. Pete

Looks good Ed, better even than illustration 11. ..and you have the advantage of drawing cool, more dense air from in front of the radiator. what's the air filter casing off. ? Btw when I converted my Norton Commando to from twin Amals to a single Mikuni carburettor - after fitting the adapter manifold to the cylinder head, I filled over its cap-head fastenings with sealant to smooth them over. Are you not using a fine particle filter ? Pete

yes indeed.. illustrations 7 & 8 are the same aside from their length. Of course that would mean, for the same carburettor size, the longer ram pipe would have a noticeably larger diameter opening. I too would have thought this to be more efficient. I might only assume its greater length, reflected in surface area and similarly an increase in surface friction, negates its larger opening. Illustration # 9 support this supposition insomuch as the open end is larger diameter than # 8 but it has less surface area than # 7.

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 very short ones. The real benefit comes from having a beaded edge of more than 1/8” radius. The stanard 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 the smooth intake will again add to the detrimental cause 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 off 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

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

Naturally one or both fuel filters being clogged would restrict fuel flow, which would only be noticeable under heavy engine loads. Your cruising speeds are low (perhaps the car would benefit from a good blast now and then ..an Italian tune up ! ) and so the fuel energy required to climb mountains might have been the first sign. Of course, fuel filters also give us an insight to what might be in the fuel feed pipes.! E5 ought to run fine in in your car ..which is not highly tuned nor driven hard. Pre-ignition is not the same as run-on. It is when the fuel ignites before the spark plug fires, or when the flame burns too quickly, or a combination of both. In the first scenario it is like a diesel, and in extreme cases the engine can rattle like an old diesel engine being started with easy-start. It can happen when the tip of the sparkplug, or carbon deposits within the combustion chamber, glow red to white hot. Fuel has an instantaneous-ignition / flash-point temperature and those hot-spots pre-ignite the fuel still being drawn into the engine (and before the distributor triggers the electrical discharge). The most dramatic indication is a flash of flame through the carburettor ..because the inlet valve is still open when the big bang happens. If however the valve is closed, and the bang happens too soon then the piston can be in the wrong position to be pushed downwards. The stresses within the combustion chamber, on the top of the piston and therefore through the con-rod, can be immense. Much the same can happen when fuel particles are very tiny, which can happen with poor grades of fuel or when gaseous spirits like easy-start or nitro-oxide are introduced. Then the burn rate / the flame-front from the spark happens too quickly and pressure builds up before the piston is in an optimum position to start its descent. Advance your ignition timing too far and you'll find the engine difficult to start, and noisily kicking back against the starter motor (very much more obvious on a motorcycle with kick-start !). The engine might start and run but under load you'll hear pinking (pre-detonation) ringing through the engine. I doubt though if you have these problems with your car, otherwise you'd have noticed and mentioned them, so to swap to the next hotter grade of spark-plug shouldn't be an issue. Pete

The oil on the spark-plugs' threads is excessive, or are you using grease or Coppaslip on those ? If the plugs are rather old then their compression washers are often flattened beyond being an effective gasket. New plugs might offer a slight improvement in compression. Unless your engine has experienced preignition it might be worthwhile swapping those plugs out for a hotter grade, to burn off carbon deposits (self-cleaning) and avoid fouling. Your fuel filter looks rather petite to my eyes (relative to the size of the fuel pipe) ..for a 2-ltr six cylinder, but the plugs do not indicate lean running. I wonder what grade of fuel you were using up the mountains, and if an octane booster / additive would be worthwhile, if only for that sort of driving. Puttling around town doesn't require higher octane but with worn rings and steep hills it could be beneficial. Pete

Lack of power, missing when the car is inclined / going up hills, fuel tank in the boot of the car might be a clue ? Dropping into second increases engine revs and therefore mechanical pumping rates. Subsequently I've noted that you don't use one but even an Huco electric pump may have an electrical fault which only shows itself on an incline, perhaps its earthing ? 2nd gear / higher engine revs also provides 14v generated electricity - which might otherwise be a little low on voltage for your accuspark + Huco (+ electric fan ?). Just a few thoughts. And of course - resist the temptation to change more than one thing at a time .. ( electrics, HT electrics and ignition, carburettors, fuel pump & filter(s), fuel pick up pipe and feed from the tank and the carbs, etc). Pete

but what's the other end of the chain attached to ?