Hello Triumphs list!!! It's been a long time since I've been on the
list. Some of you remember me as "scotty". I owned a 1975 TR6 that I
drove from Maryland to Boulder Colorado back in 1993. That was an
amazing trip, as I stopped with many of the british-car list members on
the way, and developed some life long friendships on that trip. That was
also the year that the Mississippi river flooded to record levels,
closed route 40, had to reroute on I-70.. I then sold my beloved car
before moving back to east to Virginia in 1998, with every intent on
getting another triumph some day. Well the day finnally came. It was
yesterday.
A close friend of mine sold me his 1974 1/2 TR6 after 18 years of
ownership. It was difficult for him, and I can truely respect the long
relationship of man and machine. In fact, I tried to back out of the
deal 3 times, but he insisted that I would drive it more than he.
Ironically, buying my friends car was a difficult thing to do, but I'm
really happy to have a TR6 again, especially when I know it's story.
It's a nice runner, and very original, as it only had two owners, and I
know them both! It's recently had a complete engine overhaul (top,
bottom, clutch, etc) so it's in a very decent driving condition, with
about 118K on the clock.
So I pick the car up yesterday. We gathered all the collective stuff,
spares, manuals, etc... I waved goodbye and headed out to make the long
30 mile journey to the cars new home. The car wasn't so sure about it's
new owner. Like a well trained horse with a stranger on its back, I
believe it wanted to let me know who was boss. So on I-495, the
Washington DC beltway, the car started running very rough. I was sure
that there was a vacuum leak, as it seemed to be running very lean, and
was missing. I pulled over and the car died.
After fiddling with the linkage, carbs, ensuring the chokes were off,
unseating the stuck EGR valve and looking for vacuum leaks, I went to
restart the car. NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. Just dash lights... No click, no
starter, NOTHING. *HEAVY SIGH*
I called my friend, and he says, "oh yes... I forgot to tell you, you
need to jiggle the key sometimes to get the starter to engage." It was
obvious that the car was letting me know who was master. I rolled on my
back to expose my belly, (just to let the TR know it's the alpha), and
it started right away. It ran like a champ the entire way home!!!
So as I stated above, the engine had been completely reworked by a
professional shop, but like most major rebuilds, it looks like some
vacuum lines are wrong / missing, etc... I'm slowly tracking these down,
but it's getting better all the time! Quite frankly, I think it just
needed to be driven.
So I need to order some stuff. I'm dying to ask all my questions at
once, but thought I'd start with the simple questions first. (there are
simple questions, right?)
I'm going to put an electronic ignition module in. I notices that TRF
has one for sale made by Pertronix. Any good? Get the coil too?
It's good to be back.
-Scotty
'74 1/2 TR6 (2 days old to me)
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