british-cars
[Top] [All Lists]

Jacks, Lucas, & Oil

To: british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Jacks, Lucas, & Oil
From: Ron Hood <hood@advtech.uswest.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 92 13:08:22 MDT
My seemingly endless stream of questions continues....

        1) Are there any "official" jackpoints on a TR-6?

           The first few times I jacked up the car I did it a side at a
           time, placing the jack on the frame just forward of where the
           rear trailing arms connect.  This worked (sorta), except that
           my jackstands are tall enough that I really had to torque the
           frame to get them under the car.

           Recently I've been lifting from the center of the car where the
           frame members come to within 6" of each other and a corrugated
           plate bridges the gap.  This lifts the car without the side-to-
           side torquing, but the plate deflects more than I'd like under
           load.

           Once I've got the car in the air I've been putting the jackstands
           under the frame just forward of the rear wheels.  This is stable
           enough to make me happy, but it puts an "unnatural" load on the
           frame (i.e., a lifting force at the center of the car as opposed
           to the usual gravitational downward force).

           Anyways, I'm not entirely happy with the approaches I've been
           using to date, and I'd really rather not trash the frame in the
           process of putting it in the air.  Neither the owners manual
           nor the two service manuals I have access to address the subject,
           so I'm left in the dark.  Any more experienced Triumph owners
           care to enlighten me?

        2) Is it typical for cars using Lucas electrics to "melt down"
           various (expensive) components?

           I've had to replace the dimmer switch because the high-beam
           contacts got so hot that they softened the body of the switch
           and recessed themselves to the point of inoperability.  During
           the replacement I found that the wires feeding the switch had
           also melted, but not to where I couldn't reuse them.

           While investigating the lack of panel lights I found that the
           panel light rheostat had also been fried.  I don't think it
           actually caught fire, but it was literally cooked black.

           I don't know the history of these failures, but I do have to
           wonder what the fuses were doing at the time.  Also, I'm a bit
           reluctant to start replacing parts when the standard price for
           anything from Lucas seems to be in the $40 to $50 range.  Any
           clues as to what is going on here?

        3) Finally, as I've been playing electrician I've found that the
           entire center portion of the backside of the dash is coated
           with oil.  I don't know if the previous owner was in the habit
           of adding oil via the ash tray or what, but it is a real mess.
           Where'd it all come from?

Thanks for the help.

Ron
--
Ronald C. Hood                                  U S WEST Advanced Technologies
hood@uswest.com                                 Boulder, Colorado


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>