Looking forward to meeting TR owners here
Hi all,
My name is Chip Bull, long time TR owner from Central Massachusetts. Owned a
TR3 in high school, a Spitfire in College and purchased a 1976 TR6 back in
1984. Used the car as a daily driver throughout the 80s and into the early
90s. As life and family commitments (not to mention a recurring mechanical
problem) began to increase, the TR found itself in a period of long-term
hibernation (wow! Can it really be almost ten years?) in the back of the
barn until just this month. In a mid-life career change that now finds me a
Middle School teacher with a good portion of the summer off; I have been
re-bitten by the TR-Bug. The barn got a long over due cleaning and is now
in the process of being transformed into a restoration center/workshop for
Toby Triumph.
The parts packages have begun to arrive on a daily basis and the FedEx and
UPS guys and I are now on a first name basis.
The mechanical problem mentioned above, continues, but through trial and
error I think that I am beginning to get it figured out.
As this is a Triumph forum I am eager to get some advice from the wise sages
among you who might be willing to lend their expertise on this problem.
Basically it has all the telltale signs of classic vapor lock but there
may be more to it:
Car starts up perfectly, runs fine at idle, motors well on the highway, BUT
if the trip has been any longer than a quick trip to the center of town for
a quart of milk, once the engine is turned off.. and the car is left with
its fully warmed-up parts percolating under the hood.. any attempt to start
the will meet with immediate failure and any additional attempts in anything
under one and a half hours will result in nothing more than a warn down
battery.
Wait the obligatory 1.5 hours, however, and it is an entirely different
story. car starts up just fine. While this technically makes the car
usable (as long as I bring along my lesson plan folder and am willing to
sit and work for and hour and a half on getting ready for my new classes in
the fall). it sort of takes the spontaneity out of the phrase Lets drive
over to the cruise night at the Drive-in for an Ice cream.
What I have discovered so far:
DOES NOT appear to be vapor lock in the metal fuel line. I have installed a
heat shield all the way around the engine. This made no difference.
Fuel supply from the mechanical pump to the carbs is fine even after shut
down.
What has worked, although this trick would be a wee bit embarrassing to do
in front of all those muscle cars at the ice cream place: If after
shutting down the car I place sandwich baggies full of chipped ice directly
on top of both of the Stromberg carburetors and two along side of the
temperature compensation unit located on the side of the carburetors the
trouble will not occur and the car starts with no problems.
My assumption is that the problem can now be narrowed to;
Floats in the fuel bowls that are set too high and allow for expansion of
the gas reservoir once the carbs begin to heat up, (this I understand can
result in a vapor lock of sorts within the carburetor itself.
Temperature Compensators (which operate off of a bi-metal strip) sticking or
not set properly.
Does anyone out there in TR6 land have any suggestions regarding this
problem?
Thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to meeting the members of
this well constructed forum.
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