Hi all -
Thanks for the advice on getting the title changed and the great stories.
It's nice to know I'm not alone. I haven't had time to look into this
options, I'm half-way through the tune up and boy and I glad I got started!
I'm a self thought mechanic. In college I bought a '74 VW thing (only
convertible I could own) & delivered pizzas with it. I quickly learned how
to do the 3,000 valve adjustments myself and my skills grew from there (with
the encouragement of a local VW parts dealer, Bow Wow) to the point that I
bought a '69 VW bus and rebuilt the engine from the bottom up.
When I got my '63 Triumph TR4 it ran OK, I had never heard or driven another
Triumph, so I wasn't sure what running properly sounded like. It made the
140 mile trip, and that is what was important to me at the time. The car
was a gift from my dad, so I wasn't going to quibble over how well it ran.
I've driven and seen this car in his garage for the last four years & fell
in love with it. Dad gave me the LBC bug when I was young, but never had
the money to go out and get one as a second car.
About a month after that, in July, I ran the 12,000 mile tune up, stopping
short of setting the timing. I wanted to see what new plugs, wires,
distrib. cap, valves, air filters, etc. would do. In that process I found
that the plug wires were set up wrong and that the plug for the no 1
cylinder was VERY fouled. After the setup, it ran smoother (amazing what
all four cylinders firing appropriately will do) and it has been fun to
drive the 10 miles each way to work. In town car at this point only.
I decided to do the timing and a carb rebuild this winter or spring, and let
the car run as is. By this time it was August and I didn't want to make the
investment so late in the driving season. (Ends in October in Idaho)
Well, I got the Emissions test notice and decided to run it through just to
see what would happen. The HC was high at idle and the CO% is double the
acceptable limit. I talked with the attendant and we agreed that the carbs
were probably lean and the timing was out of whack.
Armed with Randall's suggestions, I tackled the timing and carbs last
weekend. The timing was way off. Remember the plug wires that weren't set
up right? Turns out someone has been inside the engine and re-set the
timing mark the timing mark (hole in crank) is perfectly lined up, when # 3
is supposed to fire. Fortunately, a new timing mark was provided. The
Distributor was several degrees off and the vacuum advance was set at fully
retarded.
I re-set the timing and took her for a drive. My LBC began to run even
better! On the freeway I took her up to 85 miles an hour, running like a
champ all the way.
Deciding to press my luck I went after the Z-S 175 CDs. I couldn't get the
air to stay balanced (sticky butterfly valve) and the mixture wouldn't
adjust from lean (I bought a colortune, a MUST for a home mechanic). After
trying for several hours, I broke down and decided to rebuild the carbs.
I have spent the week in the garage disassembling, inspecting and cleaning
the carbs. The jets were so gummed up the spring were compressed to fully
lean & not unbinding, the build up around the valves was high enough I could
feel it & the throttle shafts were warn enough to cause a vacuum leak.
I now sit, patiently waiting for my $200+ in rebuild kit, needles and parts
(I'm replacing most of the guts that Moss offers) so I can spend another
weekend, finishing the job.
It has now become a personal mission to pass the emissions test and THEN
have the title changed from '65 (when the car was sold) to it's rightful
'63.
Thanks again for the help and support!
Dylan Pedersen
Inferno Red '63 Triumph TR4
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