Unlike moderns with EFI there is no load or temperature compensation enrichment available at idle to help stabilise/increase to target. On a TR6 it should be around 800-850.

All my lights are LED apart from the fogs. Other loads are the heater fan and rad fan (both Spal types) and the fuel pump.

On experimenting my optimum stable idle is very sensitive to timing and mine sits around 900-950 with no electrical load and she otherwise drives really well. But the second the Rad fan kicks in the idle is dragged down to 750-800 and lumpy pull the choke out slightly and it will stabilise around 900-950.

I was wondering if the alternator was of too low an output to cope so I took a few measurements.

At a stable 950 I get 14-13.9v 

With the rad fan on 13.4v 750-800

Rad Fan, heater fan and all lights on including fog 13.0v 700-750

I'm not sure of the alternator output but was expecting 14.3 - 14.5v at the battery at 950 with no load other than the fuel pump. Battery is new and kept on a trickle charger and the Rad fan takes its feed direct from the battery +ve via a relay.

Question would fitting a 70amp Alternator perhaps help prevent the idle been pulled down as load increases? 

Or is there another trick I could try?

Thanks

Andy

Thanks for the advice.

Chris

forgot to mention quality looks very good but time will tell , fast delivery and as l had play in one rear hub and had a worn spline on one shaft thought for the money give them a go …..hope this helps 

I was hoping to avoid separating them but it seems unavoidable now.  Is this likely to be a problematic exercise?  Any pitfalls to watch out for? I’ve heard that spline loading can be an issue.

cheers.

on my TR4A I have silver painted wire wheels and want to paint the black with spray cans.

Does anybody have experience with this? How successfull will the black paint cover the silver?

I don't want to notice this doesn't work on the first wire wheel....

This is my TR with black dusty wire wheels.

Ciao. Marco

However, I assumed that to release the pipe from the block a spanner would be needed. But, it is round. So it must be undone with molegrips ??

It doesn't seem right so I thought I would ask. Perhaps I am missing something.

When I used to run my TR in the 70's I had one of the original square grill badges (see photo)

Since then the car was sold, & then recently re-purchased, but it has lost the badge in question.

Does anybody have one of these they don't want, & would like to sell?

Happy new year to U all

Bob.

so a clean up and electroplating is needed

what colour were they when new is it a goldish colour or silver ??

thanks

David

only really need 1/4 1/2 and 3/4 

The 7/16 plug was rounded and I've made it worse. Tried mole grips and ( careful) heat which is the limit of my engineering skill.

Any suggestions and why was it so tight in the first place?

For those who might be interested Im just about to order some more engine oil from Westway and have noticed they now advertise 15w50 semi synthetic high ZDDP ( 1500ppm) oil , as l understand it gives better cold start protection at a very good price for 5 lts

Chris

TR6 with triple 40DCOE, 32mm chokes.

Fuel is forming just under the joint between the front flange of the carb body and where the trumpet feeds in, then running back under the carb body.  Its not massive amounts but enough to be a concern.

I have checked float level = 8.5mm closed (Spain model Weber with plastic float).   Also have fuel pressure set to 3 psi 

I've tried sealing the trumpets into the carbs temporarily just to see effects but fuel still gets out. Its not happenning every trip and not to every carb each time. Mostly its the forward carb thats worse which is where the fuel enters the rail on my car.

Carbs were fully professionally stripped & rebuilt with new float cut-off valves a year ago and can't say I noticed this back then - but I did notice an increase in fuel consumption about that time.

For filters I currently have a set of Ramair sponge socks fitted but also have a set of mesh trumpet end caps which I abandoned after being advised they don't allow good air flow into the trumpet.

Any previous experiences like this and the solution much appreciated.

Bob

Pink 

As the loose lead was not visible (it had dropped down the side of the engine) this fault must be one of the most difficult to diagnose!

Test lamps and voltmeters don't work too well when its the earth that gets disconnected everything tested healthy.

I am posting this message to strongly suggest that Dizzy to Coil connections should be ring terminals a bit less convenient than spades but mostly imune to failures due to heat cycling.

Tim

some of you might remember the anti run (petrol) valves I use since years on my TR4A with SU HS6 carbs,

inspired from what most (all?) German (and others) did on cab cars, started as I know with the VW Beetle.

I switch off the fuel directy in the way to the main jet, as Mercedes did that on Stromberg CD175 carbs in the mid 1980-ies.

A number of TR club mates know this and it worked on Michael for 1 year, until he asked me to make a pair for hin.

Sadly the valve is very rare and two are needed, a quick look at the mobile I found ONE at Italy for 250 Euro!

 AND below a model I've never seen, 4 to sell, each 30 Euro!

I had a chat with the seller, bought 2 of them and they arrived today.

Great! I'm very optimistic!

RH on the photo you see the difference to a standard ilde switch off valve (left).

Not only the fuel for idle must flow through, but all the fuel.

I guess that works because it is from a 1 carb car, while I us it on 2 carbs.

Not only the valve is differnt: it must be fitted IN Strombergs for a TR6, a pretty interesting new project.

Ciao, Marco

I've just recently bought an old jag,  .. but this topic is pertinent to most classic cars ...   

During general maintenance,  I'd noted the antifreeze was a very light pink colour (HOAT) whereas on this age of car it should be blue (IAT).  However it was clear of brown sludge.  And so this weekend, I drained the pink out (removing the bottom hose) and flushed the radiator out with the garden hose.  In doing so.,  I noted unusual (to me) mix of coloured bits in the catch tray .. pink, blue and dark coloured particles (the latter of which were probably rust from the old cast-iron block).  I took a photo . . .
 

When refilling the radiator (with 50:50 blue antifreeze) I noted that it was annoyingly slow filling. I've also have issues with the heater not working, and so I bled that by removing its top hose. I noted the heater matrix (as I pumped water through) was already full of coolant, with a blue tinge to it. But even after bleeding and restarting the engine - hot water doesn't flow through it (its pipes remain cold).  

I been led to understand the issue to be ; the car's original antifreeze was blue IAT, and sometime before I got the car its been refilled or topped up with pink HOAT, which is not compatible.  ..suggesting that the mix of these two chemicals creates a sludge.   Adding 1 + 1 to equal 3  I'm having to presume this is the cause of the coloured particles in the catch tray, and more importantly the very slow refilling of the radiator core ..and the lack of flow through the heater matrix.   Alternatively of course someone might have tried to seal a radiator leak with a chemical solution. 

There was also pink crystalline particles around the thermostat gasket. . .

I've also noted the thermostat's gasket face is corroded away. . .Being the new owner-mechanic I don't know whether that corrosion is related, but the gasket face now needs redressing smooth and flat.  

And again, although possibly unrelated.. the water pump bearings are on their way out.  A NOS pump is on its way. 

Furthermore, I don't know if the situation has been aggravated by the wrong thermostat being fitted (it should have been of the sleeved type, to close off the bypass hose).  As a consequence there's been lesser flow was through the radiator itself (..the bottom of the radiator was cold, when the top and the thermostat were at 83 degrees).  I've now sorted the by-pass issue / lack of thermostat sleeve.. by fitting a restrictor disc in the bypass hose. I'm told this is not unusual practice.  

The car had only driven (..according to MoT records) just 310 miles over the past ten years.  I have been recommissioning her since mid January, and last month drove 380 miles. Normally, the temperature stays at 83 degrees (when the thermostat opens) but soon rose to 95 degrees when stopped slow crawling n traffic for ten minutes.     

So to reiterate - Please - how do you clear the sludge, of mixed antifreeze types, out of the radiator and heater matrix ?    I can flush again, I can back-flush, and even remove the radiator to shake it all about, but is there a chemical cleaner that will help dissolve the sludge blockages  ?  

One contributor to another forum suggests Fernox F8, domestic central heating cleaner .. "a super strength, fast-acting cleaner for heavily contaminated, dirty and problem central heating systems. Its citrate-based, pH neutral formulation removes debris, sludge and scale without the need to neutralise. "   

As my car's radiator is a brass one, with soldered joints, and the engine's cylinder head and catch tank are both aluminium, I'm naturally keen not to dissolve these parts and end up with more of a problem than I already have. 

Your experience / advice would be much appreciated - Thank you 

Pete 

Can anyone send me the colours on the cables in the steering column and the main loom so that I make the correct connections. I have done it before but I kept notes, now lost.

Thanks Richard

…… I know that the radical opinion on line is that the rubber component s will react. However, how realistic is this that this will really (immediately?) occur?

Thanks as ever for your considered feedback…

https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

we have one thick and one thin wire, does it matter to which of the two large spade terminals the thick wire goes too?

Thin is obviously the smaller terminal- yes?
 

John.

Ralph