That was a year that was..

[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 

       

 

[Pete Lewis]

pete have you tried the su lifting pins ?

lift the pin to just touch the air piston  then with a light touchy feely raise the piston a couple of mm 

youre looking for a hint of change at IDLE   ,  +50rpm for a few seconds  is  rich

a drop of 50rpm for a few seconds is lean

no particular change is just right 

dont just yank the pin up it wil  just stall   so a quiet touchy feely is whats needed 

and no tools 

Pete

[johny]

Anyone know what exactlys happening when using the piston lifters? Ive always wondered how doing that can indicate the state of tune...

[Peter Truman]

Bfg ref the pin screws and the black holes in the HT lead I had a problem with my Dolly Sprint with the carbon filled leads and the pin screws penetrating thro the insulation and the graphite/carbon the pin burnt around the carbon breaking the contact continunity and giving a poor spark and misfiring took me ages to determine the cause/effect in the end I changed leads for copper core problem solved

[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 Sunday there was another TR in attendance, 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]

 A selection of photo s taken. . .  

  

^ The event posters from the early days of aviation are particularly colourful and fun.  Flash photographs bought out their vibrant colours

     

^ Frolic and frightful ..the second extraordinary photo shows a burning hurricane's pilot climbing out onto the wing.

  

^ Beautiful and in flying, or at least airfield hopping condition.  They were programed to do so, but this past weekend it was too gusty for them to fly,

 

^ some fantastical clever designs were destined never to fly at all, but other pioneering designs did ..thanks to relatively lightweight engines like the Antoinette.

  

In leaps and bounds, box kites and the Bleriot type monoplanes became aircraft that served leisure and military roles.

 

^ although departure gates to a horse and buggy or launch might seem odd to us now.

 

^ one cannot dispute that the era had glorious helpings of style.  Where has that gone in today's world.?  

 

  

      

^ perhaps it was lost in the 2nd world war ?

  

 

[Bfg]

more piccies . . .

  

  

^ It was a spectacularly beautiful flying display of the c.1937 Slingsby Kirby Kite.  

In 1935 WW1 veteran redesigned the German Granau Baby II, which was a boxy glider, and used thin sheet ply instead of canvas. He altered the formerly straight wing to be gull shaped with pronounced dihedral at the centre section and refined in plan. The prototype then won the Wakefield Trophy for a flight of 54 miles.  The glide ratio was 1:21 (which means it drops 1m for every 21m travelled. Today's gliders have glide ratios up to 1:60, but in 1937 and for such a gorgeous design it was excellent).  During the war many gliders were commandeered and used as advanced trainers at Haddenham.  And a Kirby Kite was used during the war for radar trials, being towed by the collection's own Avro 504K. 

  

^ In the hangers there were children activities, like young 'un pedal planes, colouring pictures, and plastic model kit building. The pedal lane seen above was privately made for the child by his father who flies a Pitts. The child pedals and then steers with the tail-wheel. Alternative varieties of pedal machines were also to be seen roaming around ..at a gentlemanly pace.

 

  

Extractor exhaust system was on a number of these radial engines. I guess it was not only efficient but also collected the exhaust gases to one exit pipe that was not in the pilots face.  As you can see it was perfectly OK to get up close to these aircraft, and although volunteers were there in the background I never once heard "don't touch something you can't afford lad".

  

 

  

  

^ does that chap on the left need such a long lens on his camera when he's so close ? 

I like the old tractors being used to move period aircraft about.

  

  

    

^ old aircraft they may be, but many are still flown just as the designers intended. 

  

^ Their Shuttleworth steam engine, and just some of the collection's cars and motorcycles came out to enjoy the sunshine. It was good to see Edwardian cars with their bonnets open and an enthusiast to answer any questions. They set off on a parade show off their grace, if not pace.  The aircraft and car collection was started by Richard Shuttleworth, who was heir to the family fortune of steam engines and agricultural equipment. He was killed during a night training exercise in 1940.  The (blue above) Railton was one of his favorites..  

  

^ Dogs are allowed on the airfield too ..but not dog fights

  

^ in their engineering workshop are spectacular scale / working models (my hand shown as a reference to the scale) alongside, in this instance an original Bentley rotary engine.  Restorations / refurbishment / work to air worthiness certification, is happening on three aircraft at this time.

Pete   

 

[Peter Truman]

Thanks for that a great day you had and enjoyed by everyone even the weather came to the party!

[Gully]

20 hours ago, Bfg said:

 

   

 ^ '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)

Pete

 

 

 

It's a Mk IX Spitfire. Originally MJ271, now G-IRTY. Worth checking out 'The Longest Flight' story on www.silverspitfire.com 

Gully

[Colin Lindsay]

Great post and some great photos. I dream of shows like that...

[mark powell]

I went many years ago, they flew the box kite (?) and being unable to gain a good height, we could only tell where it was on the circuit by the birds flying out of the distant trees!

[Bfg]

TR4A - TR6 Parts

As I'm hoping to move apartment next month so I'm having a bit of a clear out.  

These parts were (unless otherwise stated) in Katie  (TR4A) when I bought her and were serviceable and acceptably tidy for attending local car show events..

o     x3  TR4A Seats   plus  2-pairs of seat runners ; There are two RH seats and one LH.  Original black vinyl with white piping. Used unrestored condition (in my car and used for car-shows). The seat back’s cover on one RH seat is marked and the seat base cover on the other RH seat is marked, so the two would make again one tidy drivers seat . The LH seat cover is in good condition. Seat runners & frames appear to be in good condition but would benefit from paint. Seat back boards are a little scuffed but these are hardly seen in a TR4A when the hood is folded down. Seat foams appear mostly OK but the rubber and under-seat springs might best be replaced.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   £60 for the three including runners  

o  Carpet set - black, which looked tidy enough when I bought the car.  ie., hardly faded.  Was screw fastened and bonded to the car and so some places not so good, but I think still would still be tidy enough for a driver.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               £10

o     TR6 vinyl hood (..previously fitted on my TR4A) complete with  frame ; The hood is Black vinyl, with zipped back window which is in pretty good condition.  The hood’s fit would benefit from the velcro strips along the side window being replaced, and also one tensioning web. The frame has been weld-repaired but its very tidy and serviceable on the car.  It's a perfectly usable top, and of course only seen if you use your car in the wet. On my TR4A it lived under a hood cover and I only used it a few times, when caught out by heavy showers on otherwise sunny days.

 I understand this will also fit the Triumph TR5, TR250 and TR4.  It was fitted to my 1967 TR4A  but I now use a Surrey top. 

As you can see it's a black vinyl hood, with a zip around its rear window. It is, I understand, from a TR6 and so has a different frame and front latches to the TR4A. This frame has rubber door seals for the top of the door glass.

Although it was in service on my TR4A since the car was restored in 2000, I guess for most of its life, it's been folded away under a hood cover on the car.  It appears lightly used and in generally good clean condition.

The hood-frame's side rails and fabric cover each have velcro strips, so as to secure the hood cover tightly above the door glass, and those velcro would benefit from being renewed. The hood works as it is but it could be a little neater.  Also one of the frame's tensioning webs needs replacing, as it's very nearly broken through. I'm guessing the webbing (seat belt straps like) straps are original to the frame.

The hood frame itself has had welded repair on a couple of corners, but is perfectly serviceable. The pin-joints are typical of an unrestored hood frame, insomuch as they are not as tight as new, and some have been replaced with nuts and bolts. But it all works.

The plastic rear and three-quarter-rear windows are reasonably clear and perfectly serviceable, but would benefit from a gentle clean and then leaving (hood erected) in the sun to smoothen out in the warmth.  The hood cover has, to my knowledge always been handled and folded with care, but the folding design does mean that they are not flat when stowed. 

In short ; This hood looks acceptably tidy when up and serves to do its job ..as well as any 1960's - 1970's soft-top might be expected to. By the TR6 the folding hood design and its sealing was pretty good. This one has been perfectly adequate for this car's generally light use, since restoration.  Most of the time it was out of sight anyway, under a hood cover (not included) and so has not noticeably suffered UV damage..

Please note that the front bottom corner press-studs on either side, just behind the door shut, had been removed (from the body) for my fitting of the Surrey top's back-light - so in the photos those bottom corners are not being pulled as tightly down as it had been. 

                                                                                                                                                               for both frame and cover                     £175

o     Steel wheels x4, standard 4J x 15” for TR4 / TR4A - used and looking rough, but they appear to be pretty straight. Would definitely benefit from blasting and paint.  These were not  used on Katie. I bought them for the car, but then found a set of five steel wheels already painted.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                £40

Also ;

o    pr of  Mini Metro seats and door cards. good condition in grey velour                                                                                                     £40

o    pr of  Caterham seats (they're narrow enough to fit most any derivative or replica / kit car). Fix back, Black vinyl with yellow piping. good condition.                                                                                                                                                                                                     £40

 

Please pass the word to any of your TR owning friends !

Collection only..  from Ipswich IP1 6TJ.,  or else the TSSC club meet on the first Tuesday of the month at the Sorrel Horse - Norwich Road, Barham, Ipswich IP6 0PG .. East Saxon club meetings on the last Thursday of the month (The Cricketers, Ash Green, near Marks Tey, Essex).

Please call me (oh seven nine five eight one-hundred six double-three) if interested,

Cheers, Pete

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Bfg

[Bfg]

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   Now listed on Ebay.  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Bfg]

The wheels and x3 pair of seats have gone, only the TR6 hood with frame is yet to be sold. 

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 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

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Bfg

[DJB350Z]

Nice little experiment that. I'm surprised the length of the ram pipes made little to no difference.

[Bfg]

1 hour ago, DJB350Z said:

Nice little experiment that. I'm surprised the length of the ram pipes made little to no difference.

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.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Bfg

[ed.h]

Nice work, Pete.  I'd be interested in your impression of any performance difference.

I ran across that same page a while back, and it inspired me to do something similar, though mine is a 3D printed piece with an elliptical curve, intended to emulate #11 on that page.  I don't have the engine running yet, so I can't say whether it was worth it or not.

Ed

 

[Bfg]

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

[ed.h]

6 hours ago, Bfg said:

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

Pete--

The filter housing is shop built, and the filters are "Ramflo" type.  They are foam media that can be used dry or with oil impregnation.

There are more pics and some description of the filters and housing here--> http://bullfire.net/GT6/GT6-98/GT6-98.html  (This is for a GT6 by the way, but would apply almost directly to the TR6.)

I've got an old 71 Triumph Daytona with dual Amals.  I've often considered a carb swap.

Ed

[Bfg]

On 20/10/2023 at 17:23, ed.h said:

Pete--

The filter housing is shop built, and the filters are "Ramflo" type.  They are foam media that can be used dry or with oil impregnation.

There are more pics and some description of the filters and housing here--> http://bullfire.net/GT6/GT6-98/GT6-98.html  (This is for a GT6 by the way, but would apply almost directly to the TR6.)

I've got an old 71 Triumph Daytona with dual Amals.  I've often considered a carb swap.

Ed

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

[Bfg]

On 20/10/2023 at 17:23, ed.h said:

I've got an old 71 Triumph Daytona with dual Amals.  I've often considered a carb swap.

Ed

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

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Bfg

[ed.h]

8 hours ago, Bfg said:

 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. 
 

Even at the time of that blog post, I wasn't really happy with that logo on the air box.  It seemed too loud.  I've been trough a couple of more sedate iterations since then.  This is where I am now, and even this one may not be the final answer.

Beautiful work on the Jag and on the Norton.  That Jag engine has to be one of the most beautiful around.  I've always lusted after a Commando, and if I had any space left in my garage, I'd be looking for one.

My Daytona runs great, but sometimes has trouble at idle, and I think it may be due to too much carb.  And the old fuel tickler seems out of date even for a 50 year old bike.  I don't really need another project, but I might revive the Mikuni idea.

Ed

 

[PeteH]

Talk About history repeating (reversing) itself, that is a "bast from the past". 1962(ish) I gave the head from my Norton 99, to a friend who worked in the Brough Aerospace plant. It was "converted" from single to twin carbs, gas flowed and polished, I rebuilt the rest of the engine from the ground up, and fitted a S-H cam which had been originally produced for Eric Oliver, (Side Car Racer). Never got the Bike power tested, but we reckoned that the increase was significant, and the "Magic" Ton came up far quicker and more often, and it stretched those 1/4" rear chains far quicker!!.. Sold it on to a Kid from Bradford, `cos I wanted a car (Girls by then). He trashed it within 3 weeks of having it! I think he walked away?. Historically, this was at least 2 years before Norton started to supply the Dominator with twim Amals.

I`d Take either of those two bike`s though, My last was a BMW 100RS, Nice but getting too heavy for an old guy. Still ocasionally have the "itch". Grandson, is threatening to get one, If he does I may just blow the dust off the helmet sat in the top of the wardrobe!. Just had an (Acompanied), Solo/hands on, Flying lesson as an 80th Brithday Pressy. So it may yet happen.

Pete