[TR] TR4A - Tuning Update

[John Macartney]

A wry smile crossed my face when I read of Guy Huggins' issues in seeking to
have a 4 pot Standard-Triumph engine "purr" at idle. We all know what Guy's
seeking to achieve though (with respect to him) getting his TR to "purr" is
perhaps the wrong adjective?
May I recount one of my little stories, Gents?
When I was about 7 or 8 years of age, I sometimes spent Saturday mornings with
Dad in the factory at Canley. Saturday mornings were working days, although
the tracks weren't running. I was always on my best behaviour (I hope?)
because we always encountered senior members of the Company's management team
and perhaps this wasn't surprising because Dad was part of that same team.
On
one day, we ran into Ted Grinham (the wet-liner four's designer) and he and
Dad talked to one another as though I wasn't there. Well, why shouldn't they?
On such visits I always carried a little red notebook and jotted things in it
that I'd seen and wanted to ask Dad about when we got home. What I jotted in
the book was Grinham's observation about his own engine in which he said,
"it's as rough as a bear's ***e - but it's certainly durable!"
I'm not sure if
I ever did ask Dad what an ***e was - whether it was unique to a bear or not
but as teenage years approached, I speculated whether anyone had ever made an
official ruling on the natural condition of a bear's ***e and whether that
examination had been made when the bear was alive or dead. A year or two
later, I came to realise that bears are indeed quite dangerous creatures and
under any circumstances might not take too kindly in someone touching them in
that area to form an opinion on smoothness - or not.
So it would be churlish
to deny Guy what he *seeks* to achieve but I doubt whether anyone from Ted
Grinham downwards could ever agree the wet liner 4 can ever purr. It's a
lumpy, rough old blighter and smoothness was never its second name - but don't
we all love it?

Jonmac