Plugging away
Matt’s TR6 is now leak-free and out and about at last!
Iexplained in my most recent communiqué (Practical Classics, June 2019) how an errant core plug had foiled the plan to use my newly-restored and Mot’d TR6 for our wedding in April. With the big day and immediate mini-moon now just a happy memory, it was time to ‘plug’ the TR’S gap – quite literally.
But unlike the little Dutch boy of lore, I wasn’t on my own with a finger in the figurative dam. Engine whisperer Jason Wright paid me a visit on the way home from his day job at specialist TRGB to see what we could do ‘in situ’.
In fact, much like Baldrick himself, Jason had a cunning plan. The plug in question was at the rear of the engine block, above the back plate, meaning access was limited. But Jason reckoned we could avoid taking the engine out.
Instead, he suggested that we positioned a chunky piece of angle iron in front of the engine bay bulkhead (having removed the battery) and used a hydraulic ram and wedge cylinder
attachment to press the plug into place. I was up for giving it a go and, with a suitable socket seated neatly inside the plug, we gingerly went for it.
The plug was daubed in sealant and, after a couple of false starts, was carefully eased into place and seated properly in the block. For some extra piece of mind, we also bolted a sturdy piece of steel to the engine block and across the back of the plug, complete with an indent to sit slightly within the plug itself, so it definitely can’t escape! After examining the original plug that came out, Jason was certain that it hadn’t deformed correctly as it went in originally – just one
of those things.
Tuning tweaks
Flushed with our success, Jason helped me give the engine a quick once-over to check how well it was running. The ignition timing and carburettor mixture had been set backstage during the Practical Classics Resto Show at the NEC in March, but then untouched ever since.
Happily, Jason was able to report that the timing was bang on and the mixture wasn’t far off the optimal setting, while also agreeing that the BDM needles I’d selected for the twin HS6 carburettors were entirely appropriate for the engine’s non-standard state of tune.
With the TR finally back on the road after an unexpected five-week hiatus in the garage, the game is now on to get the engine properly run-in, ahead of a 2000-mile adventure on the Club Triumph 10 Countries Run this coming September. As I write, I’ve successfully completed the circa 30-mile round trip from home to PC Towers on six occasions, racking up nearly 180 miles with no issues encountered (other than running out of petrol, but we’ll gloss over that), which is a good start. Given that the car was off the road and entombed in an Ohio shed for 34 years, before being effectively built up from scratch back home in the UK, there have been a few niggles along the way, but that is surely part of the fun. I have also discovered that the TR Register Camb Followers group has a regular meeting in Warboys, just five miles away from my base in Ramsey, so I’m hoping to get down to a meeting soon.
Once the car has got 500 miles under it’s wheels and the piston rings have settled against the cylinder walls, I’ll drop the running-in oil and go for some good quality 20w50 mineral oil, then continue the careful bedding-in process. I’ve been sensible and tried to keep the revs down where possible so far, but even so, it is obvious that the engine has plenty of poke on tap and will offer the level of performance that I aimed for when putting it together.
Wheel appeal
I’ve also made one further critical amendment to the TR, namely replacing the original steering wheel with something a little more svelte. As I stand 6ft 6in tall and am longer in the leg than the torso, a standard 15in TR6 steering wheel doesn’t really work for me and is actually rather unwieldy. I end up feeling like an octopus – legs and arms everywhere, all generally getting in the way, which doesn’t exactly assist one in the quest to swap gear ratios swiftly and change direction both neatly and with purpose.
After considering a few different options, I ended up plumping for a Mountney ‘Traditional’ wheel in 14in semi-dished flavour. I also specified a black anodised finish to the three-spoke centre section, in order to minimise the blinding bursts of glare that I occasionally suffer with in my 2000 saloon, due to the polished centre four-spoke section of the Mountney wheel that it has fitted.
The weather has been favourably clement of late, too – I can see me using the TR as much as possible over the next few months. Bring it on.