Have been enjoying the dickens out of driving my new TR6 since picking it up on
Monday. It rained on Monday but cleared by Tuesday AM and I've had the top down
ever since. Nothing like riding to work at 6:00 AM with the cool morning air.
Have only had to fix three things so far. The brake servo adapter (for the
vacuum assist on the brakes) was loose at the manifold so I tightened it up (one
less vacuum leak). The line doesn't have a clamp but has clamp marks so I
suppose I should clamp that line to the adapter.
The idle was a little fast so I adjusted the chokes to make sure they were full
open when warm. Didn't have an effect on the idle speed, so I backed off the
slow idle screw 1/8 of a turn and that seemed to help. I noticed that the tach
kept jumping around and between 1000-1200 RPM but that the engine was actually
running smoothly. Puzzled on that one until I noticed that the tach needle
stuck at 1000 RPM with the engine off. A light tap on the tach glass made it
bounce back to 0 RPM. Which leads to:
Question 1) Is it the tach (a Smiths) or the cable sticking? What's a good way
to diagnose that? Can either of them be cleaned (always my first inclination)
or lubricated?
Question 2) Can cables be "renewed" by soaking them in something to make them
turn, pull, etc. better (assuming they haven't been bent), e.g. tach cable, hood
cable release, air distribution cable, heater cable, etc.
I also topped the dashpots (ZS carburetors) off with (on the advice of my local
LBC mechanic) ATF (because it has a viscosity of 10) but noticed that the
gaskets for the dampers are missing and that may be why they were low...I topped
them to within about 1/2 of an inch from the top but later saw that the fluid
leaked out a little (I'll find a temporary gasket at ACE Hardware until I get my
parts order list together).
Question 3) How full should the dashpots be?
Drove around last night for the first time and noticed that the panel light
rheostat switch apparently is non-functional as my gauges all were very dimly
lit and no amount of spinning the rheostat would change that even after I pulled
the knob off and turn it with my fingers.
Question 4) Any thoughts on testing to see if it's indeed the rheostat switch
before I add a $67 item to the list? Any hope of cleaning, fixing, adjusting
the rheostat.
I knew that the engine in my TR6 wasn't the original block but in checking the
engine # (CC57465HE) (anyone know what the HE is for?...I've seen the E before
but not HE) it appears that I have a rebuilt 69 engine in my 71 TR6. No
complaints as it runs great but I do have a couple of nagging concerns since the
vacuum unit (there is one unit and it is located on the side of the ignition
closest to the firewall) on my ignition was not connected and the inlet on the
front (closest to the radiator) carburetor was plugged.
Question 5) Why does it have only one vacuum unit when the catalogs all show
both an advance and a retard vacuum unit for my engine #? Should I care since I
don't see any power loss at high RPMs (or would I get even more power)?
I would like to add my thanks and praise to the fine people in this group of
Triumph enthusiasts who remain a source of knowledge and encouragement. It is
truly a comfort to know that there is a storehouse of technical knowledge and
common sense to rely upon when those creeping doubts of "what the hell do I do
now" set in. Knowing this group is there made it a lot more comfortable to buy
a 27 year old car.
Bud 71 TR6 (CC25365L)
Lakewood Colorado
|