Enter Henry Frye. Not that he wasn't there helping all along but his
first eureka moment was when he put two and two together in a way I
might never have. I had the trans most of the way out [with no
replacement yet in hand] when he enlightened me as to the cause of
the failure - Yes, I was under lots of power in 2nd when I got hit.
Yes, my rear is locked. YES, second must have taken tremendous
loading when the wheel got hit. Solid conclusion. Begin the hunt for
a trans. Tony Garmey had a 6 box but no clutch disk [my C/R disk
doesn't have compatible splines]. No worry - I drilled and eventually
cut the already FUBAR fork shaft out of his trans. knowing that I
would somewhere come up with a compatible plate and use my fork and
shaft. Got dressed in funny cloths and went to the Vintage Dress
party. We were there about 5 minutes when Bill Babcock tells me he
has a disk if I want to follow him to the house. Great! Connie and I
grab a couple plates of BBQ to go and follow him out. Thus begins the
most hair raising drive of the weekend. Following his Ferrari [F355?]
on regular surface streets was fine, but challenging. Then comes the
hill country of his home track. I'm driving a well loaded Chev PU
while Connie is doing her best Human Gimbal act with two heavily
loaded plates of food. I've put maybe 75,000 miles on that truck and
have never before broken traction on bare pavement. Gee, maybe it's
the racer in me but damn if I'm going to poke along to find a
giggling Ferrari driver waiting for me at the top of some unknown
hill. Stuck with him as best I could - sliding blind corners, on
coming traffic, Connie balancing plates and all. OK, so I did manage
to roll a cigarette but that's not the point! Upon arrival at Casa de
Babcock, Bill proceeded to give me a brief tour while searching for
the needed disk. Diane poured drinks and fully entertained Connie.
Barley sat down in the front seat and enjoyed 2 big plates of BBQ.
The needed disk proved to be elusive. Finally Bill took me up to a
trailer full of TR parts, picked the best looking 3 box he had and
said 'bet we'll find a disk for this! He did. Used but as near new as
one could hope for. Life was good again and down the hill we went.
Minus two plates of mediocre food but plus one [donated] transmission
and clutch disk. Henry was going to meet me at 7 A.M. to help with
the install and, like I said, life was again good. Hungry but good.
Woke at 6 with the certain realization that I still didn't have
compatible parts. Called Henry at 6:15 and told him to go back to
bed, I'd call if I found the compatible disk. I've been thru so many
instances of TR4 pressure plate/ 6 disk, 6 plate Dolomite/7 disk etc.
etc. that I'm easily confused. 7:08 A.M. enter Henry again. There to
SHOW me that I've got the right stuff. Right he was. Before going
further he pointed out that the TR3 T/O carrier would NOT work with a
diaphragm pressure plate - something I never would have got until I
installed it and it didn't work. Swapped it from my old trans and we
were on our way. Made up a crude pilot gauge [no alignment tool
handy] and let Henry eyeball the fit. After one 3 minute false start
[with Henry up top and me under] the bellhousing found home and it
was just nuts and bolts after that. Had to admit to Henry that rarely
have I had a trans hit home so easily. Also had to admit that he was
the first person to EVER turn a wrench on my car before! [Note to
self - GOOD help is actually helpful]. Still turning wrenches during
the FoT family photo and passed on practice but was good and ready
for the first race of Monday. Had a pretty good run going until the
meatball. Thought sure my oil leak had finally caught up with me but
NOO! I think what happened is that they somehow thought that the tail
pipe on the track [Mordy's] was mine. Regardless of how quick my
Black Flag Station stop was, it didn't matter, the car knew the race
was over [here I am giving it human qualities again] and refused to
go but 100 feet further. Now I'm stopped in a very bad spot - off
line but exactly where an errant car would go if blowing the last
turn. Thanks to a strong Optima batt., I was able to back into the
grid on the starter. Back to the pits and troubleshooting a
electrical glitch. Seemed likely it was as simple as a bad condenser.
Easiest to just pop in the spare distributor. Started right up. Once.
Second time it ran a bit, died, and would not re-start. Back into the
spares box for a coil. That did the trick [was that my mystery mis
all the time?] Henry's mounting it while I'm getting suited up. Off
to grid. 100' short car dies. Henry buttoned everything up but I'm
the one who unplugged the fuel pump while troubleshooting. Out of the
belts, out of the car, hood up, plug in pump and reverse the last few
steps, start car and arrive late to grid. Last in line. Meanwhile,
Connie and Henry have staked their places in the grandstands at the
chicane. Cars come on track and Henry is going into conniptions
trying to figure out where I am /what happened. To me, starting from
the back with a strong car often produces the must memorable runs.
Being last gave good opportunity to really warm the tires and I took
full advantage. Also gave the opportunity to get a good run on the
start which I took full advantage of. Best run I had all weekend.
Started at the end of a 26 car field. Ended up 16th with a D-P
victory. After a hard battle with Tony the last 4 or 5 laps, it was
the 911 we were both trying to get around that finally gave me the
pass him. Great stuff Tony! Hope I can make it to Hallett. Babcock's
donated trans. did exactly what it was supposed to - lasted ONE race
and was also popping out of gear towards the end.
I think it's hard for any of us to say with a straight face that
Triumph's are the best cars, but no doubt in my mind that Triumph
People are the best people around.
Hey Henry, Did I say THANKS? Perhaps I Could have done it without you
but more importantly I Wouldn't have done it with out you setting me
straight. As Connie told you, the trip home was much more pleasant
than another outcome might have presented.
The trip home was exactly what we wanted... Hot tubs separated by
short periods of driving.
What a blast. All the best to you all.
Greg "Lunker" Hilyer
TR4 #314
Albuquerque NM
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
http://www.fot-racing.com
Fot@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
|