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The Lobby
Enjoy the blog this week with The Tymes, Miss Grace
Beach music takes on various meanings around the world. In Eastern NC, this was a Motown sound, and this song, and many others continue into shag dance contests, parties, and concerts. All day at the beach concerts. Easily one of my favorites, and takes me back to my 72 car. Not sure how I’ve missed this era of music in the blog lead in before. I’ll bring some Embers, Tams, and others in future weeks.
Our celebration for Yvonne Brown was Thursday – a nice send off to a woman who touched so many in my local community. Slowing down this week, like everyone else, preparing for fireworks and other celebrations. My oldest has a birthday Saturday, and that will include a dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant, her choice. I’m getting closer to getting my youngest into drivers Ed, which will include some home taught, and tahoe prep to make it less embarrassing.
Whats new
Finishing up my gearshift knob. The girls suggested I carve out the top, and add a british pound coin in it – so I did. I’ve just poured a layer of epoxy resin flood coat on it, waiting for it to cure now. After that cures, I’ll sand and polish it a bit, finish some light extra wood work on the finish, and then coat that with sealer varnish from the wood world store. Here is a quick pic of the knob, with brit pound, tail up, under my resin, and ready for that pen sealer.
Dash is next, and I’m getting acquainted with this epoxy resin product. A few tests, and then I’ll add this to my dash project.
More hurry up and wait – but down to the final stuff. At this point, I want to the car back so I can start putting stuff back on it. Which reminds me to get to work on my windshield frame restore. That shouldn’t take long – just need to pick out a durable black paint for that frame.
Did you put gas in your car? Go do that, even if it’s a gallon.
The Wax
In my next installment of what still needs attention. Fuel rubber
We are at a point where everyone really needs to get to the parts store, and buy, I don’t know – 40 feet of modern fuel line. Im sure it’s a fraction of that, as we have steel pieces in the frame from front to back. But know this – Any rubber part that is involved with delivering fuel from the tank to our intake area – is slowing dying. We take solace in touching a fuel line, and mumbling – “its fine”, when all we are really doing is touching a layer of rubber that may not have had any fuel on it or near it in years. Sure, 1/8 inch away from running fuel, but the outside of our fuel lines might last for another 20 years, but the inside diameter is bigger now – with this fuel running past it. Like a rock in a river, all polished up over time with debris rubbing against it.
If this were gasoline that had zero ethanol in it, we probably wouldn’t be chatting here right now. But I have shared this before, and I will keep beating this drum- each year, each season, these refineries continue to change their blends on a scale that dummies like me really don’t understand, but understand it well enough to know it is changing, and nothing that is being changed is good for a vintage car. This new fuel works like sand paper to our old fuel lines. New fuels? New lines? Developed for each other, so to speak. But new fuel in our old lines, isn’t good. I mean, I guess they can rot out while driving, but the worst part of this, to me anyway, is this constant flow of liquid, eating away at the inner linings of old rubber. Into the fuel filter, thru the fuel pump, into a carb float bowl, or EFI system – most of that is ok if you are driving a lot. But the lines – I mean, subtle, and corrosive gremlins attack that stuff all the time.
Is it keeping us from driving? No. Is it affecting driving performance? Not necessarily. But it is a housekeeping item, and one of the problems we have today, and will continue to have down the road. I mean, its rubber – so it should be renewable anyway, right?
Up next week. wheels and hubs
Tech: Fuel Lines
Celebration
Throwback. The Fuel Storm
Tech: Updating
In the wax above, we talk about all fuel lines being replaced, but here is something you can do in an hour, under the hood. And speaking mostly for the carb audience, this will help clean up the fuel delivery, at least from the pump.
I did this recently. I bought the correct new fuel line with the right inside diameter. What I didn’t take into consideration was the structural difference. Dang, that was fancy speak. New fuel lines are hard, old lines are flexible. When I replaced the lines? The line from the steel line near the motor to the inlets of the carbs? Gas spit everywhere. Why? I don’t know exactly, but I think its due to that hardness. I should note that with my old lines, I simply had them pushed onto the steel fittings. The old rubber had a way of grabbing the steel and creating a seal. Not the new stuff. So, get some small clamps, and clamp all the areas where you replace the line.
The goal here was to take away debris that would potentially get into a float bowl and get into the jet, or in the system somewhere, starving the system. So far, so good.
Good luck.
Gracias
I was thinking this week about those that give so much to this community. Sure, profit motivated, but where would we be without…pick one, but don’t worry, I’ll share a few here shortly. It all starts with a conversation. You know what? A Ford Fiesta alternator will work with our cars and bolt in, giving more amps, and will be cheaper to replace. A guy, with some jaguar knowledge, pops in one day, and asks how to adjust the needles on a Stromberg. This same guy later becomes the go to in Stromberg carb repair and knowledge.
I’ll mention Rick Patton below in the throwback, but think about how a Napa dealer, with a CNC machine, decides one day – you know what? I can gather pieces, and support, and put together a gen1 EFI system for a TR6. A kit, with clear instructions that over a weekend, converts your TR6 to fuel injection. Or how about Rainer Bastuck – who, starts a small, family owned company in Germany, supplying high quality after market Triumph parts. I don’t know who this guy is until I mistakenly receive a work of art flywheel for a clutch job. Racestorations, Rimmer, The Roadster Factory, Moss Motors – all these great suppliers, not only providing consistent parts, but improving their stuff along the way.
Over recent years, we have seen a burst in research and development. I’ve always touted this mark as having this, where other marks didn’t. I own a 1988 Ford Escort, which was car of the year in 88, millions produced over the decade, and finding parts for that rig is kin to Indiana Jones finding a gold statue in a dirty cave. While some suppliers come and go, that they were here in the first place is inspiring. We, as consumers, benefit, right? That a new header is developed, and carried somewhere, helps. Stateside, we look at Goodparts as this – wow, I am so glad Richard thought of that. I get drunk reading up on Racestorations, and what looks like a street TR4, tearing up the Ring or Spa. Support out there to not only coddle a garage car, but there to help you throw something around, break something, and replace it. Pamper it, or beat on it – you’re choice, but biting your nails wondering if your car will survive should not be because people aren’t out there looking for a better way for you.
Let me finish this segment with a shout to Ramin Mirshab. This Detroit intake engineer, has developed a great EFI, but now is on the aluminum head journey. And here we are – after years of watching those gearheads pull a ford 390 apart, and bolting on edlebrock heads, then dyno’ing a motor, we are almost there – with what will eventually be a top end system. A tuned EFI, bolt on CNC’d head, with flowed ports, cc’d domes, and a header? Pull this, pull that, and pull that. Replace this, replace that, and replace that. And hit the starter. Can you imagine? You should, because that is where we are. This journey continues. It doesn’t stop with any of these folk.
Throwback. 2008 Fuel Prices
I’ll miss some bits here, but its fun for me to try to remember details, knowing full well I’ll move some timelines around. But I wanted to share this throwback to a more recent memory on how we as TR6 owners, tackled 4 dollar a gallon gas at the end of the Bush Administration. Most of this from my thoughts around the 6pack mechanical forum, and how so many of us were tackling the problem then. You can sense most of this returning, just not in those same forum walls from that period.
I’ll start this chunk with the condition of the school car then – on jacks, if memory serves, but in the middle of many projects. Tired, and leaking Stromberg CD-2s, and I was busy with math to give my car the best RPMs on the road for mileage. The HDVA was discussed heavily, as was a T5 gearbox, but a lot of chatter surrounded fuel delivery. Rick Patton had a lot of interest then, with many converting to EFI and his setup. BobbyD had it, has it, and I hear zero complaints from him on that setup to this day. An adjusting system, delivering efficient mixture, and improving mileage. And that is what most of us heard – sorry, what? Better mileage? When you talk 30mpg to a US driver, paying 4 dollars for gas, that tends to get attention.
Poolboy was hitting his stride then. At that point, he was the go to in the forum for almost anything carb related, and many on his program. I was still window shopping, but listening to him more than he thought I was. I know someone encouraged me to give his program a chance, so I did, and I tell people to this day, one of the best decisions I ever made with the car. Instant reliability, instant fuel mileage. At the same time, I’m upgrading my overdrive, lowering my RPMs with volvo internals to save something like 70 RPM at speed over what I had before. Then tires. A 205 pirelli on my original 15 inch rims, and my revs per mile with that tire was close to the Michelin redline. The only last thing for me to tackle was the diff, and at this point, the r200 program was still young. 3.71 down to 3.45 if you could find a EU diff, but anything would be better than 3.71, unless you were racing and needed the 4.10 or taller.
I sponged all this intel like everyone else reading, typing, researching. When you are in high fuel prices, you think it will last forever, and it lasted a while for sure, but it forces you to get creative, like Apollo 13. We chatted taking buses, and how to avoid gas as much as save it. And later, gas dropped back down, and soon, no one cared about mileage. You think, in the middle of a storm, that the storm is bad. Until it stops, and the landscape is clear and nice. Cleansing. Painful, but better. This storm, while different, will be give us a better landscape. Don’t ask me to expand further than that – I am not that smart.
See you on down the road,
That’s enough for today
Thank you for caring for your Triumph TR6, and a special thanks to those considering one. Owning this car isn’t scary and you have an amazing network around to help you. Your TR6 helps people around you, without even knowing it. You bring happiness to the father and son at breakfast. Please start your car with it out of gear and foot off the clutch to save your thrust washers. Please pop your hood and have a good look around the engine bay. Please put fresh gas in your car each week, even if just 1 gallon. Please have good insurance, and review your policy regularly. And please drive your 6 defensively, as if it was a 4 wheeled Harley.
And remember. Smile when you drive, and whenever possible, take a kid driving.
Please join me and the journey here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/d6tr6
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSg...Mlp-Og-07C0FTQ
I am the steward of CF50460UO, born September 1975 with current paint code 19 and 11 black interior. Nicknamed “the school car”, is now over 100K in miles, in the paint shop, moving to Cayman Blue Mica 2 stage paint. I am the 3rd steward. Car was delivered with original hard top and factory overdrive. Current upgrades include Volvo overdrive gearing, König Rewind 16x7 rims, Falken 205s, 4Runner calipers and 7/8 rear wheel cylinders. Poolboy carbs, FlexAlite electric fan, Patton Machine Fan Eliminator, Pertronix ignitor ignition, TR5 cam, pacesetter header, 70amp Lucas direct fit alternator, Silverstar Halogen headlights, WBC blueprinted oil pump, Bastuck 9LB flywheel, Goodparts suspension on all 4 corners, Goodparts sway bar, Goodparts trailing arm brackets, Uprated Armstrong lever shocks with cycle fork oil, JVC audio with 4 speakers, high torque starter, solid state Rheostat, pending LED dash gauges. Adding Vietnam bumpers, flip up scuttle vent, hidden antenna, window tint, and several more bits
The to do list
New carpet, new panels, dash almost done.
r200B diff with goodparts cv joints and hubs
fresh head with roller rockers.
At some point, a fresh motor with lightened crank, cam bearings,
Hard top inside insulation, and dome light.
Oh, and AC.