Hello All--
For those curious, I took the bus to Austin, TX yesterday to pick up
Michael Noerregaard's GT6, which I recently purchased, largely through
the net.
Let me say only that the trip to Austin, TX from Roswell, NM explained
to me in great detail why no one wants to ride the bus these days. <g>
The four young fellows who turned on their boom box to play mariachi
music for three or four seconds every twenty minutes from midnight
through 4 am explained a great deal to me. <g>
Michael's friend, Nicolai Tvermoes, was very helpful when I showed up,
giving me a ride to the local Western Auto for fluids and odds and ends,
and admitted, as I was about to leave, "well, I'm happy to see it gone,
but looking after it is what friends are for."
Departing, however, was an old experience made new. The last time I was
in a car this small was when driving my `63 Spit 4 (a new Mustang passed
me at significantly higher speed, and I kept wondering at how tall the
car seemed compared to the GT6--after all, the GT6 is only a few inches
taller than a GT40). I'd forgotten that I was twenty-one then, not the
fifty I am now. <g> I have a goose-egg on the right side of my head from
not ducking quickly enough when entering the car, and a pulled thigh
muscle from trying to avoid banging my head each time afterwards. <g>
Michael said he had a "pretty good" mechanic working on his car, but I
have to wonder what "pretty good" is these days. The car was not
well-kept, and I don't fault Michael for either not knowing the
difference or not going to better shops. Those of you in Austin, TX,
however, ought to be doing the work yourself... you'll do no worse, and
save a lot of money. (!)
Richard Ceraldi graciously offered his help and phone numbers if I was
there when he was around (wasn't, Richard... left about the time you got
back in town).
As it turned out, all the things of which I expressed previous concern
were inconsequential--the fan belt belt was new, but Michael's mechanic
had cobbled up the alternator mount so that the alternator was about ten
degrees off from normal orientation; the Rotoflex joints were
serviceable (the halfshaft u-joints, however, weren't). Hadn't expressed
any worry about the engine per se, because of recent head work, but it
has serious problems... most of which can be fixed, except for the
possibility that the head was over-shaved during the valve job... even
with 92 octane fuel and a field bump-back of the timing, the
pre-ignition above about 1/3 throttle is significant (although I
understand this is rate-dependent and dependent upon timing, which I
couldn't check on the road).
Of course, the usual comic situations presented themselves, as are wont
in such. Three blocks from where the car was stored, I hit a bump and
the horn button fell out of the steering wheel into my lap. Young
Hispanic men in a Maverick at 10 pm in San Angelo, TX (no aspersions
directed--it's my mother's birthplace) pointed at the car as if it were
used on moon missions, eighteen-year-old girls in San Antonio, with
beehive hairdos (no aspersions directed--it's my birthplace <g>) driving
a Dodge, swerved across three lanes of traffic to plant their car five
feet from the back bumper at 60 mph, hoping to attract attention. <g>
They did. <g>
And, yes, for all those who know better than I, yes, it was bloody hot
in that car in southern Texas in the last of May (especially in San
Antonio Friday rush-hour traffic)... I drove across the border into New
Mexico at 4 am with an ambient outside temp of about 50 deg. with the
windows down without need of the heater.... <g>
It's curious, however, the difference of the feel of the car with a TR6
engine in it, even if that engine was not running anywhere near optimum.
A bit more raw-boned and visceral than I would have thought. The shifter
seems to have been cut down to fit the GT6, and requires more work to
shift. Changes in throttle, even with the engine not running well,
produced torque steer I didn't expect. Nothing of the implicit energy of
the TR4 I onced owned, and none of the slightly prissy, patient wait for
the revs to come up in the 1147cc Spit 4. This thing felt like a
backyard-built stock car, with problems, but with potential. Despite its
obvious problems, this may be an interesting car... as Leo Kottke once
said about one of his 12-string guitars which had been damaged and
converted to a 10-string, "this thing `sturbs me." <g>
To that end, I have no info on TR6 engines... what years does the engine
number prefix CC cover?
Cheers.
--
My other Triumph runs, but....
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