Well, the TR6 _is_ back on the road, though I didn't take it to the
reunion. I worked on it 12 hours straight friday night (5pm to 5am), and then
took it on a shakedown drive. It started first try (after 10 months
without running)! It drove, it steered, it stopped! And the wheel didn't even
rub on the suspension.
5 hours sleep, and start the final check (running 4 hours behind
schedule, and in danger of missing the reunion dinner). Find a loose wheel
bearing, and decided that was the final straw, and took the honda. I was
already leary of driving 500 miles after a total of 3 miles of shakedown,
and I really didn't want to push the speeds. Oh well.
It does seem to work reasonably well. I drive it to work today (perfect
convertible weather). Brakes might need more bleeding, and a bit more bedding-
in, alignment was done by "yup, the wheels look like they're pointed forward."
Now some hints on TR6 (and probably other TR's as well) front
suspensions. First, the jack trick for putting springs _does_ work, but it's
a real pain getting the bolt holes lined up (and DON'T try it with a bottle
jack - floor jacks work pretty well). Screwdrivers are good as guide-pins and
for levering the plate into position. The inner studs usually come out with
the nuts (3 out of 4 in my case). If this happens, I advise getting the nut
off the stud and re-inserting the stud BEFORE fitting the spring plate.
Otherwise it's hard to get them lined up, even if you loosen the other bolts.
I got 1 of 3 in, left the other two off for the moment (one on each side).
Second, getting the lower pivot bolt back in after fitting the spring-
plate can be REAL tough if you have new bushings. The problem is getting the
thrust washers in on either side of the trunnion. One usually fits fine,
but not both. The solution I finally found (after MUCH cursing), was to loosen
the outer spring-plate bolts, and use a tie-rod separator to pry the a-arms
just a bit further apart.
Third, when putting in new lower outer bushings, put the metal sleeve
in them BEFORE pressing them in. Otherwise, the bushing deforms, and you can't
insert the sleeve. (This is for the first half - the other half goes ok once
the first+sleeve is in.) I also found that running a file round and round in
the hole removed a fair amount of old rust and crud (small wire wheel might work
well also), and made things easier. A c-clamp or vise is useful in pressing
the outer bushings in; a vise is essential for the inner lower bushings.
Soapy water helps with the inners, as does a 1-2 inch piece of pipe, about 1"
ID.
I need to pull the upper a-arm mount soon, drill out the old cotter-
pin remnants, and put new cotters in. (The old ones were rusted in place, and
I had to drive the nuts over them to get it apart.) I have my new spax in,
they'll need to be tuned (both set to softest right now). It needs to be
aligned badly: toe-in is by eye, and camber is screwed up on the right for
sure (to try to fix the accident damage the previous owner's mechanic put
aluminum spacers between the suspension tower and the the crossmember - I
swear it has positive camber right now). The tower needs to be checked for
straightness as well, and perhaps have a weld or two re-done. I also my
take a shot at resetting the backlash on the steering rack.
The timing needs setting, etc, and probably the strombergs are dry
after 10 months. Then once I've done all that, I can look at the rear (I
dread that!)
Question: My clutch _barely_ disengages. The pushrod is attached to
the middle hole in the fork lever. I tired the outer hole (to reduce pedal
effect) but it wouldn't disengage fully there. I haven't tried the topmost
hole yet. Note that the previous owner installed a new clutch soon before
I bought it (supposedly) and appears to have put in a new clutch master cyl.
For the time being, i'm getting good at rev-matched downshifts. :-) Any
ideas? Should I bleed it, try the upper hole, something else?
Randell
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