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Question: I have a '73 GT6 with a '71 TR6 2.5L engine. It's got dual 175 CD-2 Stromberg carbs. When I run the engine, the exhaust spits out oil and it seems like theres an awful lot of fumes and smoke, even when idling. I briefly mentioned it to my mechanic and he said I should get a performance exhaust to increase the backpressure on the engine. (I havent had him thoroughly inspect the problem). What's you input?

If the smoke is blue it is burning oil. If it blows more blue smoke when accelerating it is either a stopped up crankcase vent system or bad rings or over filled with oil. Also you need to check to see that the oil is not diluted with gasoline.

Pull the plugs and the distributor cap and either put a wrench on the front crank pulley or just put the car in 5th gear (brake off) and have someone push the car forward while you put your thumb over #1 plug hole. as soon as you feel the pressure of compression stop and insert a coat hangar or welding rod in the plug hole and slowly roll or bump the car forward until the piston is at TDC. If you pass it just push the car back a little. You are then at TDC of the compression stroke and the rotor in the dist. is pointing to #1. Then just plug the rest of the wires in the firing order around the cap in the direction the rotor turned when you were pushing the car forward. Then set the ignition timing. This works on all engines that use a distributor.

Question: I am re-assembling a Triumph 1147 engine and forgot which way the cam cam chain oil slinger should face when re-installing it on the crankshaft. Can you tell be which way it should go or does it not make a difference?

The slinger tries to keep some of the oil away from the front seal and most engines have the cup of the slinger face the oil seal (forward) I have opened up many engines that had it turned around and did not seem to cause a problem. The early Spitfire has the cup face forward as most do.

It could be several problems but first remove the door panel and lube the glass to runner area with a can of clear silicone spray. If that don't help, look at the glass as you try to raise it to see if either the front or the rear of the glass is trying to go up first causing to glass to bind. Also examine the tracks to see if they are worn out and need replacing. If the glass is going up front first or rear first and binding you will need to loosen the bolts holding the assembly and move it which ever direction makes it align better. There is not much free play in the mounts but sometimes just enough to get the window to move up straight.

I have a 69 gt6, last summer I experienced some problems with my gt6. It wouldnt start, or run. I finally figured it out that the distributor drive had slipped a gear or two on the cam shaft. I have since gotten it running again by changing the distributor wiring to the plugs accordingly. I was told that I will likely need to pull the motor to replace the gear for the distributor and oil pump. Is this correct? Hopefully it is this gear that is worn and not the cam shaft! Thanks for your advice. Stan

The distributor drive gear can not slip a tooth unless the gear teeth are broken off of the cam or the oil pump drive gear (which also drives the dist.) You can look at it by removing the dist. and the distributor mount (two nuts) and with a light you can see if the gear teeth are stripped off or broken. You can even lift the gear up out of it's recess and examine it. (Note how the dist drive slot is oriented so you can reinstall it in the correct position. This can be done without removing the engine, However, if the cam gear is stripped or broken you best remove the engine as metal is most likely all through the engine and it needs to be cleaned out and damage to other parts examined.

Question: my friend has a 65 triumph herald, with a 1980 1500cc spitfire. he is currently having issues with how it idles. it'll be either too fast or too slow. my question is how do you measure the compression? And where should it be? if you could contact me by my e-mail address i would greatly appreciate it, also any info on how to make it run smoother and a good place to look for parts, would also be of some great use.

Be sure to hold the throttle open when doing a compression test. Parts can be purchased from Moss Motors, Victoria British, The Roadster Factory and Engel Imports. There are many others but those come to mind. As for making it run smooth, the compression test is the first step. Let me know what reading you get.

Question: QUESTION: Well my footwell isn't really flooding, I have a 1500 Spitfire, brought it with a refurbished engine but needed spraying. I've just completed this myself, but whilst being sat outside in the wet for 2 months the drivers side foot well has quite abit of water in.

The only way you will find your water leak is to dry it out and set up a sprinkler over the car while you lay inside with a light and backtrack where it is coming from then look under the hood if it really is running down the pedals. You may have to put sealant on the rubber boots over each pedal and look at the hood to body fit and install a extra soft seal on the edge of the cowling.

Question: QUESTION: We have a 1975 tr6 in our shop for clutch problems. The issue is that the clutch lever on the transmission is about 1 1/4" away from the pin hole on the slave cylinder by the time it contacts the pressure plate. It is to the point where the piston popped out of the slave when the clutch was disengaged. this is all with a brand new clutch kit installed. Is there an updated release bearing carrier or transmission front cover?? Any help will greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

First make sure you don't have any forward/aft movement in your crank shaft. Then you need to look at the fingers on the pressure plate to make sure they are not too far in, meaning the wrong pressure plate or wrong disk was installed.

The TR-6 is also noted for the bolt that pinches the fork to the shaft not in correctly can give you the extra clearance. Was the fork removed from the shaft while the trans was out? Check the outside arm on the shaft also.

QUESTION: The clutch kit was installed at another shop so to be sure it was correct we ordered a new kit ourselves and it was identical to the one installed in the car. the shift fork was cracked and the shaft was worn so we replaced both with brand new parts along with a new pinch bolt. We found an article that talked about such a problem and it had part numbers for a new style bearing carrier and tranny front cover. The new front cover has an overall length of 4.25" ( part# 154975) whereas the old one has an overall length of 3.22"( the one we have). The new style carrier has a part# of 154976. the trans has a part# of 28570. is this even the right trans. there are so many unkowns and this car has been to several shops before us for this problem.

Your part numbers did not do me any good, but I can help you track down the problem. This is what I would do if I had that car in my shop. First I would determine if the fault was inside the bell housing or outside the bell housing. Look at the geometry of the lever and push rod. Meaning, ideally the operating rod (rod that goes into the slave cylinder) should be 90 degrees to the lever it is pushing when it is about half way out of it's travel. This is easier to check than it sounds. Push the lever forward until the release bearing hits the pressure plate fingers and hold it there. Place a long rod of any kind into the slave so it is in position like the real operating rod would be. Now look at the degrees of angle between the lever and the rod. It should be more than 90 deg. on the slave cylinder side. If the slave piston were to push the rod out and move the lever a little, the angle between the lever and the rod would approach 90 deg. If that is how it is or is close to that, all you need to do to correct the problem is to lengthen the rod and forget what the cause was.

If you have to go back inside, look at the fork and the pinch bolt to see if the fork can be put on backwards. I don't remember if the pinch bolt will allow that or not. Look at the fingers of the diaphragm pressure plate to see if they are too far in (compressed) This can make you run out of travel on the release bearing and slider and the same outside. The distance between the face of the release bearing and the surface that the fork contacts on the bearing carrier is critical and you may want to measure that distance and call Moss Motors and ask to measure their's to see if you have the correct part.

Question: My '72 Spitfire is incredibly difficult to start...many cranks and starter fluid and tweaking distributor needed. Once warmed up, runs fine. Timing chain replaced correctly. Ignition tuneup and timing does not seem to help. Carb rebuilt twice, temp compensator taken apart and re-assembled did not know how to set, guessed.

When an engine will not start you need to look for what is missing with no thought of what could be wrong. All piston spark ignited engines need only three items to start and run, Compression, fire & fuel. There are conditions on each but all three are easy to test. Compression can be easily tested with a compression gauge and the readings should be about 125 to 165 PSI and little difference between cylinders. Be sure to do the tests with the throttle open.

Fire (spark) must be close to the correct time and be strong enough. Timing must be set to factory specs and not altered unless the engine is highly modified. If there is still a sticker under the hood, those specs over rides what any manual states. The firing order must be correct too, which must be correct as you say it runs ok once running.

As for a strong spark, you can tell roughly by just removing a plug and put the wire on the plug and lay the plug on a metal part of the engine and spin the engine over and watch the spark. It should be a thick blue spark. (not in the sun light)

Fuel must be available to the combustion chamber in roughly the correct mixture for starting. This is much richer than the running mixture. An enrichment device on the side of the carb supplies the fuel for starting. If an engine does not start and requires spraying starter fluid or something like WD-40 into the intake to get it to start, then that enrichment device (choke) is not operating correctly.

Name: Hector

Subject: Triumph TR7

Question: QUESTION: I have had difficulty in getting my 1979 Triumph TR7 to pass a CA smog check. It has the dual stormberg carbs.
It fails the CO check. The mechanics say it's running to rich. No one so far has be able to adjust the CO to acceptable levels.

Need help.

I am willing to do the repairs my self at this point.

Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Hector,
CO is fuel mixture but you need to state what the CO was and what is the CA limit. It should be on the report sheet. If it is just out by a small amount you should try to adjust the needles with a 3mm Allen wrench down in the center of the oil after removing the top caps with the piston on the ends. If it is off a lot, check the coolant operated choke, they are prone to failure.
Other items to look at are float chamber venting
and broken diaphragms on the pistons.
Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Follow up. Unfortunately I don't have the report with me.
I'll have to go by my memory.
Limit, I think was about 2 and the reading I was getting for CO was about 8.3 to 9.

Thank you again.

Hector

ANSWER: Sounds more like a coolant operated choke problem. A common fault on that car.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I was able to find some illustrations on the choke mechanism and it seems as though the problem may be the the Thermostat bulb within the choke mechanism. That being said, I researched the part and found that it is no longer available or manufactured. If so, can the choking mechanism be by passed or is there a source for replacement that I was not able find.

Thank you again,

Hector.

Answer: Try this first, Remove the bulb and you will see a pin goes into a socket to operate and take the choke to the off position. Most of the time wax in the bulb leaks out and as you say it is no longer available. Find a small ball bearing that just fits into the socket and then install the pin in on the ball. This will extend the life of the choke for a time. In the mean time check with Moss Motors for a complete choke conversion to a manual choke system. I think they use to have one.
Howard

Name: mark

Subject: stromberg rebuilt

Question: Howard, 1972 spitfire IV When do you know it is time to rebuilt the carb? What kind of issues start to happen? Thanks Mark

Answer: Sorry Mark, there is no sequence of events that tells you it is time to rebuild a carburetor other than when you find a carburetor is at fault while diagnosing a problem. Dozens of things can go wrong with a carburetor making it necessary to repair it.
Howard

Name: Bert Foote

Subject: TR7 Heater Matrix Replacement

Question: Where can I find some really good istructions for removing the Heater Coil and Installing a new one. I have a Haynes Manual. Not that good. Have the Facia partially out.

Answer: Hi Bert,
Unfortunately, they just about built the car around the heater core and just about everything has to come out to get to it. Send me your e-mail address and I will e-mail you what I have on it.
Howard