Fellow Trimph Owners,
I'm putting this out on the web so others don't fall into the same logic trap.
It almost cost me my life.
Our '79 TR7 FHC (I call it The Infidel, my wife calls it Snot) needed to have
the carbs rebuilt and those rubber carb-mounting flanges replaced. Even
though it's been sitting in storage for 17 years, time has took it's toll.
The car is hard to start when warm, and has stalled in traffic several times.
I've never messed with TR7 carbs (Strombergs) before, but have rebuilt every
other type of TR carb including '76 TR6 carbs, so I figured "what the heck".
Press on regardless.
This wasn't one of my better days. Getting the carbs on and off was sheer
hell. No clearance to remove and replace nuts. Too many tubes and wires
around the carb linkages. Items on the car did not match workshop manual.
Too many autochoke gizmos in the way. I had to drain the radiator to remove
the water choke section so I could put the carbs back on (try to find that
instruction in the workshop manual). One nut took me nearly 45 minutes to
get back on the car. I was at my limit. I shouted for all to hear:
"Damn those Triumph engineers, how dare they subject me to this!"
At that point I realized that it wasn't the engineers fault. They were just
trying to respond to upper management at BL to produce a car withing cost.
They probably could have figured out better ways of doing things, but
maintainability costs money. Now I knew who the culprits were:
"Damn those BL execs, how dare they subject me to this!"
On further thought, BL was producing this car for the USA market. The cars
the rest of the world got were far less complicated when it came to the carbs.
The BL execs were responding to USA emmission requirements. It wasn't their
fault.
"Damn those EPA bureaucrats, how dare they subject me to this!"
That's it, blame those tax-sucking Washington "fat-cats". But wait, weren't
the emmission standards placed on the EPA by an act of Congress? It wasn't
the EPA's fault (although I know a few would disagree), it was Congress's
fault!
"Damn Congress, how dare they subject me to this!"
But wait, Congress is just responding to what they think the rest of us want.
We voted for them to represent us. So they`re doing what we ask them to do
(again, I know some would argue this point...). It struck me:
"Damn, I'm responsible for this contraption that confounds me, how dare I
subject me to this!"
I was the problem. It was me who made myself miserable. At that point I knew
that I must kill myself to save face. I must execute the prime directive. I
was trying to find our ceremonial suicide knife (hidden in the steak knives
somewhere) when Alice (my wife) wondered what I was doing. Flabbergasted, my
wife opointed out how silly it would look if I let a TR7 get the best of me,
and besides, we had just run out of concrete cleaner - how would she get the
blood off? I had to agree, and went back out to put away the ceremonial
suicide rug for another occasion.
The car is running fine now. Easy start, good acceleration (well good for an
automatic car), and no stalling. I have soothed my soul by blaming the whole
thing on Ralph Nader, very topical two days before the US elections. Be
careful when cussing and swearing during maintenance actions lest you become
ensnared in a similar logic trap.
I must be off...
Bruce "I drink too much coffee" Clough
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