Car Headed to Atlanta

We put the car on Craigslist to see if we could sell it prior to doing any major bodywork, ie let the new owner deal with the paint issues.  We have gotten everything else into very good condition.

Got quite a few inquiries about the car.  We priced it at $5500.  After two weeks on Craigslist we ended up selling the car to Santiago from Atlanta.  Today Santiago and his friend Oliver drove to Boonville and picked up the TR6.  They were very happy with the car.  See their smiles?

They plan to finish up the bodywork.  Ray and I spent almost two hours with them explaining all we knew about the car.  Santiago and Oliver are new to British cars, but not to classics in general.  Also, Santiago is a Mechanical Engineer, so I'm sure he will be able to figure out the weird things that British cars do sometimes.  Good luck, Santiago, and we look forward to pictures of the car when you are done with it!

Head Scratcher - Turn Signals

The turn signals would not cancel, ie they would continue to blink after you had completed a turn.  Little internet research showed there's a bump on the steering column that is supposed to line up with the turn signal switch that flips the switch off after a corner.  The position of the bump should be at 3:00 as viewed from the driver's seat, instead it was at 12:00.  After some thought, turns out this also explains why Ray had such a large difference in exposed threads on the two ends of the steering rack when he installed the new steering rack boots.  I positioned the column with the bump at 3:00, then adjusted steering rack arms until the wheels were going straight in this position.  Used alignment gauge to fine tune to 1/8 inch toe in and then re-positioned steering wheel on column to be straight up when car is going straight.  Now turn signals cancel.  Botched alignment job drove lack of turn signal cancelling - who would have thought!

Progress slows, but going again now

Ray and I took time out for travels plus completing an MGB in support of the local Shriner's for a raffle.  But recently we got back to it.

Ray worked on the carpet kit install and refinished the wood steering wheel.  Vince rebuilt the seats, finished the carpet kit install, and installed a new water pump.

Here's some picture of the seats.  The frames and mechanism for reclining the seats were VERY rusty, took a lot of time and PB Blaster to get the mechanisms to work again but finally had success.  Mice had enjoyed eating the foam material at the sides of the two seat backs, they basically left all other foam alone.

This picture compares the seat after rework on the right with the sides at least partially inflated with internal foam while the one on the left is dead flat on the sides at back.  Also the wooden pieces at the bottom ends of the seat back at the sides have been replaced with new wood, old wood was completed rotted:

I also glued a patch of vinyl behind every tear or rip in the seats, plus sewed back together a tear in the driver's seat bottom.  The seats are not like new, but they are very serviceable.  Considering that new seat covers and foam costs just under $1000 plus installation, seems like our expense of under $10 for a can of spray adhesive is a good compromise.

I have now taken the car home and am driving it a lot.  I love the power and smooth acceleration of the 2.5 liter straight six.  Numerous small issues surface, which are being fixed.  Speedometer needle oscillated around a lot, lubed the internal cable and seems much better.  Drivers side mirror was floppy, dismantled and found corroded loose screw attaching mirror head to body, now fixed.

Here's a nice picture of the interior:

Not only runs, but runs well!

Finally resolved the terrible hesitation on acceleration.  New diaphragms in carb and adjusting carb mixture did not make it better, although turning mixture more lean did make it worse.  Installed all new plug wires and distributor cap, no change.  Installed new points, condenser, and rotor and runs great!  Looking at old points they were not in very good shape, so we suspect this is the root cause.  More fine tuning to be done, but it's very driveable now.

Found it interesting that the in line spark tester showed intermittent spark on #1 cylinder with old points.  Continued same with new plug wires and cap.  But now has a nice even spark cadence with new points.  Also had difficulty getting timing light to fire with old points, but now fires fine with new points.  Interesting observations to keep in mind for diagnosis challenges.

Pretty Dash

We fixed the last remaining under dash electrical issue - no turn signals.  As suspected, the broken hazard warning switch did not allow voltage to continue on to the turn signal circuit.  We elected not to replace the hazard switch (costs $100) and instead jumper around it to make turn signals work.  After the jumper was installed the turn signals worked fine.   Did not seem worth $100 for the extremely rare occasions when you need hazard flashers.

The wooden dash that we ordered from a guy in Michigan who makes them was then installed.  This went pretty well but is time consuming - every gauge and switch in the dash must be removed and reinstalled.  And access to those gauges and the under dash wiring becomes more difficult after this point.  We think it turned out pretty well:

All gauges and their lights for night driving work.  To keep costs down we also elected not to replace the missing rheostat for dimming the interior lights (another expensive item) - none of us have ever dimmed these lights because they are too bright at night.  Instead we just let them burn at full voltage.  This is the knob in the middle of the gauges mid dash, it's there but is not functional.

Becoming Drivable

Got the manifolds reinstalled but still have a slight exhaust leak at the exhaust pipe/manifold connection (we can get this resolved).  With engine operable again we confirmed the charging system was not working.  Took alternator and external voltage regulator to local Woods Battery - turns out it's a Delco alternator and regulator, and the regulator was bad but alternator was fine, putting out 60 amps.  Was really cheap to replace the regulator.  Charging system works fine now, over 13 volts on the dash gauge.  Also removed the oil pressure light from the wiring and installed it as the ignition light, much more important since we also have an oil pressure gauge.

Here's some video of Ray driving the car:

It's got a significant hesitation on acceleration, probably carb related.  We've checked dwell and ignition timing, both on spec.  Will order new diaphragms for carbs, typical failure for Stromberg carburetors.  Cooling system works fine, stays cool, had a few small leaks on heater hoses that were resolved by adjusting hose clamps.  Oil pressure continues to look good.

Took time to clean up remaining wiring in engine compartment now that we've got the charging system working.  Also completed installation of demister/heater hoses.  Ray did a nice job of cleaning up and painting the valve cover and air cleaner:

Good Work Day

Resolved some more electrical issues.  Prior owner had separate wiring direct from battery to fusebox, then supplying all exterior and dash lights.  We found reason for this (bad internal connection in fuse box for dash lights), and were able to go back to original wiring.  Really cleaned up the engine area:

Also cleaned up some wiring associated with alternator.  We are now sure the original alternator (internal regulator) was swapped out for one with an external regulator.  We also see evidence the signal going to the alternator light on the dash (ie. ignition light) has been damaged from excessive current.  In british terms this is also called letting the smoke out of the wires.  :)

The bulb and it's socket for the ignition light are gone.  The car can function just fine without it, esp since it's got a voltage gauge, if alternator quits then voltage drops.  But we may be able to get an ignition light to work once we better understand the current alternator setup.

Completed more radiator hose installs:

Also installed small heater hoses and air flow hoses under passenger side of dash:

Leaving glove box out for now until we refinish air ducts on top of dash, much easier to reinstall without glove box in the way.

Ray has valve cover and air cleaner housing off and in process of being painted a nice aluminum finish, like from the factory.  We'll check valve clearances before putting valve cover back on.