Chasing that flat spot
The Gentry has suffered from a flat spot somewhere above 2000rpm ever since the day I bought it; I believe the timing is okay and the car is fitted with electronic ignition, so has no contact breaker points to give problems. After a chat with Tim Brotherton at Lucas Electrical Products, I availed myself of a new set of Lucas LU4373 stainless steel, wire wound plug leads. To get the best out of the new leads, I also replaced the Unipart coil with a top of the range Lucas Gold-Sport DLB105S version. Fitting was a straightforward swap of course, and the new coil seemed to help cold starting and at least slightly reduce the flat spot. I think the next thing I’ll do is investigate what jets are sitting in the side-draft Weber 40. I wouldn’t be surprised if they could go up a smidge.
The car is fitted with a battery isolator that helps to prevent the battery draining itself when not in use and is also an asset in the event of an accident. I’ve been trying to obtain a sticker to identify the isolator position and have now managed to get one from a Triumph specialist. Even for that small order (47p) the service was first class, my sticker arriving in the post the next day.
The Gentry is fitted with aero-screens, a roll-over assembly and is painted in Brooklands Green, which was basically Triumph’s version of British Racing Green. It reminds me of a period advertising shot of an MG TF, on which of course the Gentry was based. However, in that old shot, the TF wears a white number disc on the side, which I’ve always felt compliments the car and breaks up an otherwise rather plain area of green. With that in mind, I recently ordered two white stick-on number discs from Europa Spares, and have now placed one on each door exactly as in that old ad. Although not originally in my thoughts, now the discs are in place I am considering taking the car to the Kop Hill Climb next year. Hopefully the flat spot will be sorted by then…
As previously reported, I borrowed a digital flasher unit
The new coil seemed to help cold starting and reduced the flat spot
from Bob Lee at Car Electrics in Edgware, in order to get the LED indicators working. Since then I have been unable to find a replacement unit with a pilot connection for the repeater light on the instrument panel. In desperation I finally called Ross Bond at Gordon Equipments of Dovercourt. Fortunately, he had the appropriate Durite digital flasher unit in stock. Once I’d fitted it, with the repeater now illuminating on the dash, I will not have to worry about this issue causing a problem when the car next goes for MoT.
One of the most frustrating things holding up work on the Gentry has been the problem of finding a simple way of constructing a strong, light and weatherproof “body” for the glove box area that I’ve cut into the dashboard. I want that in situ before the covering process is carried out. Recently, during the weekly shopping expedition to Tesco’s with she who rules, I discovered the perfect answer, in the form of a PVC food container on offer for the princely sum of £1.40. Once home, I offered it up behind the dash and, to my delight, found it fitted perfectly. The next thing step will be to construct a basic support frame from slotted strip, so that the assembly can always be removed for access. Then, hopefully, I’ll be able to complete the dash at long last.