Its been an interesting weekend:
The Land Rover:
I found some interesting things in some series III Land Rover manual pages that
were FAXed to me (THANKS!) There are indeed two duel master brake cylinders for
series III power brake equipped Land Rovers. The one for the short wheel base
88s has a 3/4 inch diameter piston, and the one for the long wheelbase 109 has a
1 inch piston for the larger wheel cylinders. The easy way to tell is to look
for the placement of the larger diameter brake line connector on the cylinder.
The 88 master cylinder has it closest to the bulkhead (actual placement of the
openings are identical). The 109 master cylinder has the larger connector
closest to the radiator. Of course now the one I got from Merseyside Land Rover
services in Liverpool is the correct one for an 88 & I have a 109. No wonder I
have been having problems.
I think I'm going to get a new 109 master cylinder ASAP. ANyone want to
purchase a brand new duel master cylinder for a power brake equipted 88?? I'll
let it go for 1/2 Rovers North's price plus shipping.
The BGT:
I finally got the BGT fired up. I have been putting this off because it
wouldn't fire the time I tried it and I did not want to hassle it with
everything else I was doing.
Some history: I had the head rebuilt for unleaded (burnt valve), installed a
new fuel tank (old one was leaking) and when I was putting on the carbs noticed
that the throttle shafts wobbled. I sent them of to TRF for rebushing and
rebulding. Meanwhile I replaced the brake pads & shoes and the front calapers
and rear brake cylinders. The wrong carbs came back (my fault not theirs).
When the correct ones came back, I put them on & the car refused to start other
than for a second at a time when i sprayed some started fluid down the carbs.
I revisited this last weekend. TRF set the float level properly and the jets
were properly adjusted. Looked like TRF did everything perfectly. I tried
firing it up again & it still didn't fire beyond what the started fluid was
causing. Well I disconnected the fuel line from the front carb and turned on
the ignition to see if there was adequate fuel flow. I did the same for the
fuel feed to the rear carb. Everything looked OK. I tried to fire it up again
and it fired right up. I also noticed that the fuel in the filter was a lot
lighter in colour. My best guess is I was trying to start the car on ancient
gas and just needed to clear the lines. All I need to do now is retorque the
head, adjust the valves, get it SMOGGED and licensed.
The TR3A:
Not much headway here. I got the rear shocks (rebuilt at Apple Hydrolics to
heavy duty specs) mounted, and the instrument pannel mostly recovered. I'm
covering it in stages. The first was to glue it down around the notch for the
steering column to give it an anchor and make sure it was lined up properly.
After that dried, I went after the front. I carefully shaped the vinal for the
center instrument pannel and the cubby box opening. I applied the vinal with the
contact cement wet so I could shape it, then weighed down the indented areas. I
placed the center pannel, inverted in its proper place and weighed it down with
two TR3 brake calapers. I had the part of the panel with the cubby box opening
hanging over the edge of the table. I weighed that down with two tie rods and a
large pipe wrench. So far its looking very good. Next, I will glue down the
outer edges where they curve 90 degrees from the pannel and cut out the holes.
I have all but one of the instruments cleaned up, and all the switches cleaned
up and ready to reinstall. With any sort of luck, the instrument pannel will be
back on the TR by new years.
The crank is out being nitrited now. I'm told this is a 3 week process. ETA on
the professionaly built engine (Greg Solo) is end of Jan. That means I need to
have all the hydrolic lines run by then. I hope to just mate the transmission
to the engine and drop it directly into the 3 as soon as it arrives.
One of these days, I'll have 3 cars on the road again, but now I'll settle for
one,
Take care,
TeriAnn
TeriAnn Wakeman One of these days, I'll be old enough that
twakeman@apple.com people will stop calling me crazy and start
LINK: TWAKEMAN calling me eccentric.
408-974-2344 TR3A - TS75519L, MGBGT - GHD4U149572G, 109 - 164000561
|