Part 3
I replaced the springs, trunions, bushings, tie rod ends and ball joints.
I sent my steering box to The Roadster Factory to have it rebuilt with
new worm & peg. New calipers went on the front. Apple Hydraulics
rebuilt the rear shocks using heavy duty valves.
When I was driving the TR I was just starting to get into auto crossing
so I decided I wanted to build the engine with a bit more power and
strengthen the weak areas. About that time I met Ken Galanders, learned
about the stuff he was selling and got carried away.
The insides of engines need to be very clean. Working outside in the dirt
I decided that I did not have the facilities to rebuild the engine and
keep it clean. Since I know that "The Engine Room" specializes in
Morgans
including racing Morgans that use the same TR engine, I decided to farm
the rebuild out to them to have it done right and clean.
About this time I made a "dumb" decision. I just LOVE the look of
multiple DCOEs. For years I have WANTED a car with DCOEs. I just HAD to
have a set of DCOEs. I say this was a dumb decision for two reasons.
One, SUs are simpler, I know how to get them to work and I have a pair.
Two, I can not auto cross in a stock class with DCOEs. So I made the
decision to have a set of Webers for street driving and touring and keep
my SUs for auto crossing. The plan was to switch between carbs,
manifolds & linkage depending upon what I was doing. There was no logic
here. Just pure & simple desire. So I ordered a new pair of DCOE45s
built down to 42 specifications.
When I got enough money ahead I asked my local automotive paint store
owner for recommendations for a local company that did a good job of
painting at a reasonable cost. The recommended Felton Auto body.
I had the car flatbeded over for them to do stage one of the painting.
Stage one was to sand, reprime and paint the interior of the car. This
included engine bay, boot, spare tyre compartment, fuel tank area
underside of the bonnet, boot, spare tyre compartment lid, door interiors
and painting all the body and wing overlap seams. The painter complained
that the "mud" applied by the body company to even out manufacturing
panel waves was way too thick. He said that it would probably crack from
vibration. SO I got to pay extra for the new company to undo some of the
work from the old company.
I brought the car home and plumbed the new hydraulic system. I have
lived through four hydraulic failures caused by pinhole rust through
leaks in the steel tubing. On the first, I pulled a James Dean imitation
and bailed out of my car just before it went over a cliff. So the
Triumph got stainless steel brake lines.
I installed the refinished instrument panel, fuse box, solenoid, voltage
regulator and the wiring harness. Next the fuel tank was installed.
I installed the newly rebuilt steering box and discovered that the
steering was very hard. I disconnected the rods and isolated the problem
to my new steering box. So it want back to The Roadster Factory for a
warranty fix. It came back working properly and I installed it with no
problems.
TeriAnn Wakeman Border to Border
Santa Cruz, California Expedition Society
twakeman@cruzers.com "Live the adventure"
http://www.cruzers.com/~twakeman http://www.bordertoborder.com
|