Okay, this is ALMOST on topic....
Father's Day:
How about a thread for what you got for Father's Day to be used on your
TR?
I've been eyeing a set of these Craftsman wrenches that have a ratcheting
box end and got an SAE set for Father's Day. (They finally went on sale)
I've already found several places on my TR4 where they work better than a
socket wrench, and they're much faster than a regular combination wrench.
Aluminum Flywheel:
The last few weeks, I have been driving around my TR4 with its 'new'
aluminum flywheel that sat on the shelf for 2 years before I finally
installed it.
I got this flywheel from a man named Joe Donnato that Uncle Jack turned me
on to. It weighs around 10# with the ring gear. I used a diaphram-spring
pressure plate on it that is the one from the 'TRF Magic Clutch Kit'
though it is drilled for both early and late style pressure plates.
The Magic Clutch Kit's pressure plate is actually a Sachs unit for a
non-turbo Saab 900. I used a stock B&B driven disk and 4a Throwout Bearing
and Sleeve. (Details to be found on the Buckeye Triumph website) The 4a
sleeve and TO bearing were mounted on the early TR3-4 transmission 'front
cover' which the sleeve slides on. I was concerned the diaphram 'fingers'
might foul the front cover, but I seemed to have enough room on the test
fit while on the bench so I took the chance and fitted the gearbox to the
car. No problems with that yet....
Aluminum flywheel driving impressions: I've heard people say that the
aluminum flywheel will 'take a lot of torque' out of the motor and make it
harder to launch off the line. I've heard they idle poorly too. Well, I
did not find the car difficult to launch AT ALL. This is certainly due in
part to the new clutch, but the car will still launch and pull smoothly
from idle with no fuss. You don't have to rev it up to get it off the line
any more than with the boat anchor it replaced. The idle changed slightly,
and I did have to adjust the idle a small amount to get back to 1000-1100
RPM.
In terms of driveability, let's put it this way, if I broke into your
garage and put an aluminum flywheel on your TR, you wouldn't notice it
until you got out of the neighborhood and jumped on it. (You DO wait until
you get out of your neighborhood, don't you?)
When you did jump on it, you WOULD feel the effects of the aluminum
flywheel quite clearly. Between the aluminum flywheel and pressure plate
which was much lighter than the early three-finger type that came off, I
probably shaved in the order of 30# off the reciprocating mass of the
engine. The overall effect is a LOT more 'punch' during acceleration in
EVERY gear.
Caveats: My motor was rebuilt (by me) a few years ago. It's a healthy,
strapping motor, and I balanced everything on the bottom end. I fitted the
car with a mild reground cam from Iskenderian and a bunch of little
Kastner mods here and there. It's probably somewhere in the Stage II -
III tuning range. Fitting the flywheel to a stock motor would still
provide a lot of benefit, but since it does make the motor a bit more
rev-happy, it would be good if your motor was balanced well.
Conclusion: I don't think I could have spent the $325 on any other
performance part that could contribute more to the engine's output.
Finally, the California\Louisiana debate....
I felt like I just HAD to weigh in and say something, as I am something of
a native to both California AND Louisiana.
See, my parents are both from Louisiana. My pop was working on SR-71
blackbirds at Beale Air Force base when I came along. Not too long after
that, they wanted him to go to Japan to support the aircraft. He didn't
want to leave his family, so he retired from the Air Force.
My mom wanted to go to grad school at LSU so we wound up in Baton Rouge
where I grew up.
I first laid eyes on a TR4 (here's the LBC content, folks) at an SCCA solo
series autocross in at Bon Marche' mall when I was 13 or so. It was
already a race car sporting a Union Jack paint job. I Never knew the
owner. (You out there?)
I think what made an impression on me was the hood bulge. I never got over
that singlular styling feature. 35 cars later, I finally got one.
I found out when I got old enough to buy cars that Louisiana is REALLY
hard on cars. I looked at so many little LBCs that had no floorboards or
spare tire wells. It's normal for rusted fasteners to break off during
removal. When you called somebody on the phone there about a used car, it
wasn't 'Does it have any rust?' but 'How bad IS the rust.'
When I moved out to 'the republik' of California in my 20s and saw all the
rust-free cars, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I didn't know which
way to jump!
I don't miss the incredibly intense heat, the racial disharmony, smoking
in restaurants, the general lack of caring for the environment or the
politics, but I do miss the food, the warm water, the really, really
friendly people and the quick to celebrate culture.
As for California's faults........well, there are many. But contrary to
having people's opinions and values forced on me, I feel that California
is extraordinarily tolerant of a hugely diverse set of lifestyles.
Don't fall for the generalization that California is a bunch of leftist
'fruits and nuts.' They're here, for sure, but the massive wealth in this
state tends to be pretty darn conservative. We've got ultra-rightest
fruits and nuts too!
Anyway, there's more than you wanted to know, but shoot, how many times
does a California \ Louisiana debate come up in THIS forum?
-jeffrey
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