Hi All,
I just wanted to throw out the latest observations of my 4A as it passed
through another MOT here in the UK. I dropped the car off at Manvers
Triumph (no connection, blah, blah, but they ARE excellent) and took the
loaner (Roger Renault) off to work. I had only covered 2999 miles (at least
according to my 3000 mile insurance limitation) since last year and didn't
expect too much to be found. As an aside, I asked if Nick, Ex-Caterham race
mechanic and overall Genius, could tune the ignition, valves and carbs as
well as replacing/adjusting the rear brake shoes. Why not?, I
said...splurge for once in your life.
I called Clive Manvers about 430pm and asked what the status was on the car.
The car failed with: The lower end on the right front suspension was worn
out, and the button on the end of the emergency brake was broken. It amazed
me,..What??(forget about the bushings)??, the button on the emergency
brake????? Well, it had always been this way. You know the button, Right.
It pushes the rod that engages the teeth, that... It appears that the
sourced out MOT tester in the local village is a right old bear who is
excellent at his job. Clive represents 95% of the testers work, and he
never cuts anyone a break. Luckily, for me, its a easy fix as Clive
actually has the part. In all fairness, the rod had pierced the button and
it caused a slight pain in the thumb upon application, but OH Well.
I passed the subsequent retest with no problems. The most amazing part of
this story is: Nick had tuned the engine and adjusted the brakes. No, I
mean really, he HAD. I have learned a valuable lesson, that may be for
some, but not for all. I am convinced that Nick unleashed about 10-15% more
power from the engine that I was incapable of producing (I had tuned it up
within the last 500 miles and those intimately familiar with their car will
KNOW how their individual car performs). He has also adjusted the rear
shoes on the brakes BETTER than I have ever felt on a TR. They are perfect.
What I am not advocating here is Manvers Triumph, but that sometimes
experience mixed with pride and professionalism completely stomp on my
amateurish enthusiastic attempts. Have I tuned a 2.2L TR engine
before?...Yes, about 50 times in the past 20 years. Is it hard?...Hell, No.
Perhaps, its the fact that after (Yes I'm American) years of Enforced
Do-It-Yourself in the States, when even the dealer (Yes, Triumphs did come
from them) couldn't tune a TR and people gradually came together and formed
Clubs and discussed their cars, and fixed the cars themselves, that I import
my car back to the country of its origin and the local Triumph shop I bring
my car to for a tune-up and brake adjustment performs it better than I could
ever hope to do. The lesson for me is: As long as I can find people like
Nick, I will do the grunt work on the TR, but I'll let Nick fine-tune the
bugger. It worth every penny/pence. Selah.
Also, I may be moving to Florida in the coming year. What are their
emissions tests comprised of? Are they moving towards California? I want
to know, because I plan on having Nick trick out this engine before I leave
the UK:->....Paul
Paul A. Carson PSC 37, Box 3244
SOFPARS Field Service Engineer APO AE 09459
Sanders, A Lockheed Martin Company or
RAF Mildenhall, Low Common Farm House
England Merton, Nr Watton
pcarson@lcfh.demon.co.uk Thetford, Norfolk IP25
6QG
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