Green Eggs and Ham.

[PriceLes]

[Lebro]

Posts after this one deleted following the creator's request. He will "start again" to make it less confusing.

Bob

[PriceLes]

Thanks Bob. 

[PriceLes]

This will be slow going as I am away from home more than not with work.

1965 TR4A bought as a restored car even if there were a few red flags but not enough to put me off. 

I drove it for a year then elected to take it off the road mainly due to being slow and using oil by the gallon. On strip down all of the exhaust valve seats were pitted, when I checked the clearances not long after purchase they were around 0.002” EX and 0.005” IN along with 24 degrees of static ignition advance. No wonder the poor old thing pinged. The engine was said to be rebuilt but was done poorly, I will rebuild it myself retaining the GP roller rockers, bare cylinder head, engine block, main caps, crankshaft and sundry covers. 
It will be a 2288cc TBI engine so full engine, gearbox and overdrive rebuild, the differential is a R200 LSD (rebuilt) 4 wheel Wilwood disc brakes along with many of the parts Richard and Lucas Good (Good Parts/USA) manufacture. By trade I am a Boilermaker/welder but have built engines for some time along with mechanical in general and have a lathe, mill and Tormach 770 CNC mill so should be able to cobble something together. End goal is ultra reliable and long distance capable.

The body has been off for a while now, the interior might get some bits from John Skinner. It’s a keeper car, every mechanical item will be addressed and when this current work commitment is completed will work on it full time. ( Sent from Perth airport Australia while waiting for my next flight back to work for 20 days, 5500kms by days end)

[PriceLes]

I elected to get the Good Parts CV half shafts which I think was my first major purchase. Partly also for the splined hubs. Of course the choice was  either, to suit the stock Triumph IRS differential or the Nissan R200. I ended up finding a 300ZX VLSD R200 unit which has a 4:08 ratio (close to the factory option) It should be OK combined with the Overdrive reduction.

[PriceLes]

The front hubs and spindles are also being replaced with the Good Parts big bearing version along with replacing the Hilux 4 piston calipers with Wilwood items. The car had a remote servo/booster but I want to get rid of that for all mechanical.

 

Did I mention being a keeper, sensibility went out the window long ago being replaced with overtime. (Work)

[PriceLes]

What I will be looking forward to but a long way off, is building a 4 into 2 into 1 header ( to replace the existing 4 into 1) and exhaust system based off the Newman PH1 specs and writings of A. Graham Bell.

[john.r.davies]

Les,

Do you have a copy of  P.H.Smith's "The Scientific Design of Exhaust and Intake Systems"?   Even the latest editions are 50 years old, but so are our cars!

John

[PriceLes]

I am not familiar with that author John but will google him. I bought a new revised copy of A. Graham Bell’s book ( I lent my 1980’s copy out many years ago and… ) 

[john.r.davies]

"I am aware" of Bell's works, and value them!

See: https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TcwS0kpqSg0YPTSL07OTM0ryUzLTFZISS3OTM9TyE9TSK3ISCwtLlFIzEtRyMwrScxOVSiuLC5JzS0GAI3qFg4&q=scientific+design+of+exhaust+and+intake+systems&oq=scientific+design+of+exhaust&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEC4YgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyBggCEEUYOTIHCAMQABiABDIICAQQABgWGB4yDQgFEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgGEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgHEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyBwgIEAAY7wUyBwgJEAAY7wXSAQkxNjIzNWowajeoAhSwAgHxBU-WkRkLInml&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Smith's book was orihinally published in the 60s, and there is little since, probably because manufacturers consider the subject a commercial secret!

John

Edited May 27 by john.r.davies

[PriceLes]

More filler. 

[PriceLes]

When I bought the Good Parts CV half shafts, the flanges that bolted to the trailing arms had the option of being drilled 5/16” to suit the stock studs or 3/8” to suit GP studs. I had noticed the GP/Wilwood rear disc brake kit previously which used 3/8” studs so ordered that option just in case I had some form of lunacy moment in the future.

It occurred to me, the half shafts and brakes would be with the exchange rate, freight and duty taxes about the same cost as the S code 390 BB 4 speed Mustang I bought in 1980.

For whatever reason I bought the brake kit which in turn meant some accurate way to modify the trailing arms to take the bigger studs. I elected to use the mill over the popular method of a drilling jig. With the mill I was able to keep the tolerance under 0.0005” 

[PriceLes]

It took a lot of set up time to mount the arms vertically on the mill table and get the flange clocked level to the quill. 
Oddly the second one was much quicker to do than the first, the hole pattern was done with the DRO function after numerous prior checks.

3/8” UNC for the fixing end with no drama as far as material available to drill in the trailing arm.

[jerrytr5]

Fascinating thread. I know I can be a bit dense sometimes, just what does "green eggs & ham" mean? Apart from Dr Seuss book title.

Jerry

[RogerH]

Perserverence.   Keeping at it.

 

Roger

[Hamish]

1 hour ago, jerrytr5 said:

Fascinating thread. 

Jerry

Nah !!

it just 3/8” UNC

 

 

but love the engineering prowess.

 

from someone who at best can use a battery drill 🤣

[PriceLes]

7 hours ago, RogerH said:

Perserverence.   Keeping at it.

 

Roger

Exactly Roger and also keeping an open mind free of prejudice besides the fact the TR4A is green. (Jaguar BRG)

The hidden agenda being, if a boilermaker can bluff their way with machine tools, anyone can, be it a small lathe or mill (mill/drill). 

[PriceLes]

To some degree the snowball started when the alloy plug in the cylinder head was found weeping, not enough to stop driving the car but something to address eventually.

The original plug was milled and collapsed for easy removal followed by tapping to 3/4 NPT.

A brass hex plug should stop any future problems or easy replacement at the least.

The head (besides the pitting on the exhaust seats) seems to be in good order, I did buy a set of oversized valves (from TST) but wonder if that was a good idea given the limited space. Perhaps stock sizes with the option of hardened seats on the exhausts might have been a better idea even with the 89mm bore unless chamber and port modifications were added. That in itself might go against the long distance reliability.

[Ralph Whitaker]

The head I got for my car was a later type chamfered combustion chamber. I was going to have hardened exhaust valve seats put in, but the fact that the head had just had all the valves re faced and the seats re cut decided me against. That and as the valves are so close together and known to crack between it seemed to me that machining metal away and pressing in a steel seat was probably going to weaken it even more. As you say, the inlet valve is masked anyway by the wall of the head and a larger valve would mean even more material being removed from the chamber wall. I haven`t done it myself, but from what I read it seems keeping existing valves but doing some head work to open up the area around the inlet valve is the way to go.

PS, loving the thread.

Ralph

[PriceLes]

Thanks Ralph.

Here’s one for Royal Mail. I bought some bits (UK) to give the rack and pinion a birthday, sent UPS Express and at the door in seven days. After reading a post the other week I bought a pair of the ‘escort universals for the steering column via UK eBay, sent by good old Royal Mail for under $15 (£7+) and at the door in eight days. (Arrived the day after I flew out) A bargain and great service.

 

[PriceLes]

It’s a long way off but looking forward to the TBI installation. This is the Patton Machine version which at the time seemed the more user friendly.

[PriceLes]

Very good, just got off the phone with ORS and my sliding drum with new friction linings should be on its way back to Australia this week. Quite a jaunt at nearly 33000 kms return.

[PriceLes]

I might add, even though the differential is being replaced I elected to stick with the 4 speed gearbox and A series overdrive even though the cost in new parts is in excess of a 5 speed conversion. 

[Chilliman]

On 5/28/2026 at 3:20 AM, PriceLes said:

More filler. 

Hi Les, I've been away competing & just catching up with this & other threads. Just a word of caution about the crank sprocket shown here, It bears the same number & looks identical to one I fitted new at the beginning of this season. Following a gearbox bellhousing being detonated by a broken starter ring gear I had everything apart to repair & replace but when the engine went back in it wouldn't start despite fuel/compression & a hefty spark. So I took the timing cover off to eventually work out that my duplex chain had skipped teeth on the crank sprocket throwing the timing completely. On removal of the sprocket it was clear that although it had only done a few hundred road miles & a handful of competitions the teeth of the sprocket had changed shape. Some of them were deformed & razor sharp. It's difficult to capture with the phone camera but I've tried to show the difference between the new damaged sprocket & and old Stanpart one. Out of interest I also tried popping the surface of each sprocket with an auto centre punch (I accept - highly unscientific) but needless to say the new damaged socket had a distinct crater which could be easily felt with the finger tip & the old one did not indicating a distinct difference in the hardness of the materials. Needless to say from now on I shall be running with old stock sprockets.

[RogerH]

Hi John,

 that sprocket is junk. They should last a little longer than a few revs.  Will you speak to the supplier as others will fall foul of this issue.

Another simple way to feel the hardness is to stroke an edge with a smooth file.

 

Roger