RogerH

Hi Folks, MVC575 is recognised as the TR2 that flew along the Jabeke motorway. It was saved (albeit in pieces) by John in North London and bought by Glen Hewitt of Protek. I'm sure he never made chassis's but did many very good rebuilds. The rebuild oft MVC575 was very quick, accurate and impressive. Although it looked like it was destined for a lock up over seas it has now been saved with Lottery grant money and will reside at Gaydon. Thanks to Glen for lowering the price slightly to allow the Lottery to fund, I believe, all the cost. As the lottery paid for it it is now in safe hands as effectively no one person owns it. Roger

Hi Dave , that is the point I am making. The £15 bearing may well last forever but something bought a month later from the same supplier may not even work properly. It is a mine field. The suppliers should get the feedback. Roger

I have a serious concern. Many members of car clubs attempt to fit/fix brakes, steering, you name it. In the same breath we use the word cheap. Cheap does not equate to quality. A bargain could be good quality but is not common place. As for the argument if they can make it bad why not good for the same cheap price. Simply quality usually takes time and possibly cost in raw materials. I know what I would buy if I had a choice between cheap and quality. But then we also have more variables. Take for instance a front wheel bearing. On Ebay you could probably get a pair of bearings for most of our cars for £10/15. But the same bearing from a bearing supplier may cost £50 for one. Could it be that virtually all bearings are made in different grades for different applications. So would the £10 bearing be any good - very possibly. But if it is fitted by a twerp and not maintained then it may fail early. Then we have the cry 'bloody cheap parts' So the answer is not easy but can be made easier. Roger

On a sister forum a two man group was formed to tackle just this sort of issue. A member has a problem. The member sorts the costs out with the supplier but the two man crew swing into action and ask the question of the supplier 'what is going on' Not everybody reports their junk and the system works on an attrition basis so is naturally quite slow. But!!!! we have had pretty good success. Too long front dampers causing the steering to lock up, TR6 GB layshafts not hardened etc etc. The suppliers are happy for us to get involved. But it is up to the member to report the issue. I appreciate that not every club can or wants to get involved. But in the absence of a club scheme the member MUST report it back to the supplier and possibly follow it up with an Email to head office. I'm not a great Rimmers fan but sadly ALL the suppliers have issues. Some more than others. Regarding the usual 12month waranty. If you go out of date then state it is not fit for purpose and your club will be notified. Roger

Hi Folks, MossUSA show this item#1 https://mossmotors.com/triumph-tr6-250/fuel-intake-emissions/manifolds-1 Looks a little similar. Roger

Hi Pat, the manifold is not off a TR2 -6. They do not have the water heating system like that. roger

Hi John, The TR2/3/4 had the phosy Bronze carrier and a fork with two round spigots. This worked well. The TR4A/5/6 have a steel carrier and a fork with two round spigots - this works well. A good number of owners believe the Phosy Bronze is better but I believe they are compensating for bad assembly and alignment. Recently the suppliers are selling Brass carriers. These do NOT work well with the twp spigot fork. They MUST use the slipper pads (saloon cars I think). Roger

Hi John, I posted a comment on Sideways for you. Roger

Hi Pete, I was doing some lateral thinking a few months back and was going to fit a plate on the diaphragm fingers and also use a flat faced bearing (similar tot he TR4). I mentioned this on another forum and I had some quick responses that the MGB clutch has this flat plate. So much for genius. Roger

Hi Pete, thanks for that. Interestingly the RHP release bearing used on most of the TR's is so stiff to turn that I believe it is that that causes the wear on the diaphragm fingers. Roger

I have a very nice pliers type rivnut thingy. However Mark's gun is very impressive. Roger

Hi Dave, many thanks for your clear explanation. I quite liked the idea of the bronze carrier spinning as it is self lubricating. Having said that I now have a steel carrier that I did not fit a pin to. All ok so far. Next time the GB is out I may well fit a pin. Many TR6 owners are under the belief that the steel carrier is the spawn of the devil and will only fit a bronze carrier. However that has gone pear shaped as there are soft brass carriers out there. Doh!!!!!! Roger

Hi Folks, can anybody explain more about the anti-rotation 'dimple'. On the early TR's, a Bronze bearing carrier, flat faced bearing and spring cover is used with no dimple. The carrier can spin on the GB extension and appears to work well/ On the later cars (4A/5/6) they have a steel carrier, coned bearing and diaphragm pressure plate. These tend to have an anti-rotation pin. I have seen a dimpled Bronze carrier in one of my rebuilds but put it down to 'damage' having not known about such a thing. A coupe of suppliers are now selling Brass carriers for use with the spigot pin fork - bad news - they wear very quickly. So. a question - why would an expensive Bronze carrier be stopped from spinning when a cheaper steel item would do the job. Roger

Generally 'buy cheap, buy twice' However it may still be a bargain. Roger

Hi Folks, if the supplier sent the wrong parts then why not get on the phone and read the riot act. Petrol systems and brakes are important systems. However if you are happy to fit bad parts then fine. Do not accept poor rubbish. It is easy to do it right. Often they just don;t bother. Roger

Definition of Smart:- Tidy Quick witted Tender or sore (after a slap etc) Alert Timely Sadly this doesn't include motorways because they truly are not smart. They remove dedicated safe lanes for dead vehicles not because it is SMART but because it is CHEAP These are CHEAP motorways. You are relying on a gimp in a far off control room to flick a switch to put a cross over the 'smart' lane - and you believe that is smart. They can't even control the above lane information boards half the time However if you say any lie often enough then it becomes the truth - ask any politician. Roger (cynic)

Hi Mark, I would have thought a 'deadman's handle' would be worse than the dozy driver. Imagine slamming the brakes on in the outside lane of a busy motorway. I think there must be an answer. Either heart rhythm or brain wave pattern Whatever the sensing system it must not affect the car as such ie sudden stopping etc. Roger

Many thanks for your replies. Sadly not quite what I was after. On one giant road run (2000 miles in 48Hrs around Britain) many of the roads do not have white lines, usually no 'other half' on this run. The driverless car doesn;t help but is the future. And as for flashing - I'm not even up to kerb crawling in the 4A. Roger

One safety feature that has never really seen the light of day would be a device for detecting if you were nodding off. Modern technology has made driving very boring and sleep inducing in a eurobox. But the manufacturers haven't, as far as I know, come up with snooze detector. Even in the TR4A on very long runs at the wrong time tiredness can ignore the bumps and rattles. I attempted to find a device (any device) to help, not stay awake, but detect a dodgy situation. I don't snore so a sound detector was out. The nearest I got was a pair of glasses with Mercury switches on the arms which went into panic mode if my head nodded. But I considered them something less than useless. It must be a very difficult thing to make as they ended up with the driverless car to circumvent the research Roger

Excellent link. Page 28 shows some good failures. Roger

I imagine that the stem is welded to the crown by spinning one on the other. This generates massive heat. The metal melts and the weld take s place. If the process is good (tried and tested) then you could be happy there would be 100% success rate. However who knows what the cheapo guys do. As for testing I would (again) imagine they do a destructive test (Tensile pull) now and again (not for the cheapo guys) to see where it breaks. As for Non Destructive Testing (NDT) you are seriously limited. An external flaw may show up with Dye Penetrant (DPI) or possibly Magnetic Particle (MPI) but don't count on it. An internal flaw may be detected with UltraSonic Testing (UT) but again don;t count on it. More likely the weld was poorly completed and was doomed from day one. Roger

Hi Pete, that is a nice pic. At the 3-o-clock position there is a small lump. This may be the last bit holding on - but not for long. Normally when a crack face propagates across the stem it will leave little ripples on the surface (Beach marks) until the stem fails. There are no beach marks suggesting it failed in one go There is no reason for the crack to go straight across the diameter as it has done if it was growing slowly. I don't know if two part fabrication is the norm but here is a simple article suggesting it is https://www.howacarworks.com/engine-valves It may be possible to test to see if they are two part. The stem may be magnetic (high carbon steel. The crown may not be magnetic (stainless steel) however there are magnetic SS's. I would suggest that the stem failed at the weld interface. This is not good as it is very difficult/impossible to inspect. Only quality production methods would avoid this issue. Roger

A decent photo of the cracked surface (square on and in focus) will greatly help to understand what has happened. A forging defect could well start the process but when the stem gets thin enough it will tear off with a raised edge (tensile failure etc) To go straight across suggests some sort of geometry process hence my question about how are they constructed. Roger

Hi Pete, it would be nice to see a good picture of the fracture face square on and in focus. That may show what happened. Are these valves made from one piece or is it a stem/crown fabrication. If the latter how are they welded together. If it is a one piece job then that is a strange failure - too square. Roger

Do not pay peanuts for the tool. The quality is in the mandrels. Something around £30 is a good starting point. If you are looking at 6mm stainless nuts then consider the pneumatic gun. Roger