No News Is Good News - Right?

So, its been over a month since my last post. Since that time, I've been enjoying the TR a good bit. Lots of driving to work and to the pizza place, and generally anywhere my little girl wants to go. Its a lot of fun having someone else as excited about riding in the TR as I am!

However, things have not been perfect in gearbox and overdrive land. about 3 weeks after my last post, the overdrive began jumping in and out of gear again. However this time, it was not when hitting a bump, and tapping on the switch lever had no effect on the problem.

That leads me to believe the problem is elsewhere. Once again, I checked all the leads, and the lead to the solenoid connection was somewhat loose. To remedy that, I tightened the connector with a pair of pliers and reconnected it. After that, I checked the gearbox oil level.

My theory on the oil is this - the Laycock J overdrive is hydraulically actuated via a pump which picks up gearbox oil from the bottom bottom of the gearbox. It then pumps that oil at around 4-500 lbs/in pressure to drive a mating pressure plate which causes the overdrive sun gear and planetary gears to spin.

Back to the theory- If the oil pressure is low, then the pump will cavitate and pump a small bit of air into the piston system and the pressure plate will jump out of the locked position. Needless to say this 'in-out-in' cycle is hard on the overdrive to say the least and not something I want to continue.

So, while I was tightening the connections on the overdrive solenoid, I checked the transmission fluid oil level, and sure enough, it was low. It took approximately 1/3 quart to top it up and I think it overdid it just a little bit. While I mention this, I should say something about oil plugs.

#1 Don't overtighten them. They have a tapered fit, and overtightening them widens the hole just a fraction each time.
#2 The best wrench to put on one is a square socket on a ratchet wrench.
#3 Failing that you have the right square socket, a 7/16" box end wrench.
#4 See #1

I have the car in the air on stands for another couple days, so it will be a couple days to say if this works.....

Intermittent Connections

So, I've been driving the TR6 every few days to work. This is a 13 mile drive over some billiard smooth roads and some trashed, worn out potholed roads.

The drive has gone well most of the time. However, those potholed roads are a bit of a mess. When I'm riding down those roads, I've found that the car regularly jumps out of overdrive when going over bumps. Pretty annoying, but more than that, it possibly is tearing up the driveline of the car. Definitely a problem I want to get fixed quickly.

To that end, I checked out the 6-Pack forum and only found one picture of the switch disassembled.

I figured it was a connection somewhere between the switch and the solenoid. The quickest thing I was able to check out was the column mounted switch. I checked it and quickly found that one of the two wires was loose. It was riveted to the switch, and the rivet was loose.

I pulled out my pistol grip Weller and some solder and soldered the connection up. Interestingly enough, I found that I had done the other connection years ago. I guess I should have done the second one when I did the first.

Buttoned everything back up and it works perfectly again.

Bonnet Closed!

Its been 3 weeks since I've posted. I've driven the Six a lot since then, and I'm proud to say that the bonnet has stayed closed during all that time. I enjoy working on the car, but it is definitely nice to get a break every once in a while!

With that being said, I present the famous Top Gear episode! If you're a TR fanatic, you know the one......

Let There Be Light!

As I've been getting the TR6 back to the kind of condition I hope to get her to, I've been re-doing the trunk.

In earlier posts, you can see the set of trunk panels I've made for the car as well as the effect they have had on the trunk. It definitely looks better.
However, the trunk is really dark. Really DARK! And if I have a flat or other issue out on the road, I'm going to have a real problem on my hands trying to see what I'm doing. To that end, I decided to upgrade the lights in the trunk.

The original setup was a little plastic plinth with connectors jammed on it and a bulb stuck between the connectors. The bulb always popped out easily, the connectors made poor contact, and you'd get more light in your trunk smearing the tail of a lightning bug on your hand.

LED technology has improved significantly in the past few years. You can now get a nice set of bright LED's for very little money. They don't really look the part though on a vintage car, so I decided to figure out a way to install them and not have them stand out terribly.

The bracing inside the trunk has some nice edges to it, so I found that I could install the lights on the inside edge of one of the braces and it would look pretty doggone good. The lighting is good, and they don't look terrible when you don't need them.

Another Fix, and a Great Reference!

First off, my wipers have not been 'parking' lately. They'll turn on, I just can't get them to turn off! I've had the problem before, so I knew where the problem was, but never understood how to fix it.

It was really pretty easy. I popped the wiper motor out, and quickly found that was not necessary. Instead, the 'parking switch' unclips from the bottom of the motor gearbox. It just slides out after unplugging the connections from it.

Once out, I took my favorite wiring tool, my stainless brush on my Dremel, and brushed all of the connections off completely. Then I sprayed rubbing alcohol inside and worked the 'finger' that sticks out of the switch. This 'finger' is pushed on by the lump or cam to disturb the circuit and 'park' the wipers. I then hooked the switch up to my multimeter and began triggering the switch with my hand. It did operate as expected and the switch disturbed the circuit when tested on the buzzer in my multimeter.

I plugged everything back up and she runs and parks like a champ.

The other thing I found this evening (thanks again to the guys on the 6-Pack forum) is the wiring diagrams at Advanced Auto Wire. Check them out, and if you own a Six, then bookmark this site!

http://www.advanceautowire.com/tr2506.pdf

Detail Work - Refinishing the Grill and License Plate Lights.

Like I've said in other posts, getting the details right really makes the difference between a nice car and a so-so car. They make the car look better to others and make it feel better to the owner. Plus, much detailing work does not need to cost much - It just takes elbow grease.

So, I was looking over the car's electricals. Most everything works and works well. I noticed the other day however that the license plate lights were no good.

I pulled the assemblies from the car and it was no wonder they did not work well. They were solid dirt!

Here is a picture of both. One which has been washed in warm dish soap, and then polished with Mcguiars plastic polish, and the other which is untouched.

I also spent some time with my favorite LBC wiring tool. A stainless brush on the end of a Dremel tool makes fast work of cleaning up the connections that Lucas originally made for us. The results are great!

The other work I managed to sneak in this weekend between poopy diapers and Disney movies was pulling the grill and detailing it. I pulled the grill itself, then polished the stainless edge at the top and bottom with Simichrome polish in 0000 steel wool. The results again were great. I did the same with the front emblem.

I then dug into the alloy rail which goes across the front of the grill with some fine Scotchbrite pads in warm soapy water. Again the rail cleaned up beautifully and really sets the grill off.

After all the cleaning, I pulled the bottom trim piece and after sanding the painted areas down, I laid a nice even coat of semi gloss black on both the grill and the trim piece. Gotta get a picture of the completed assembly to put up here!

Hardtop!

Based on some plans found on Brosky's site, I made up a stand to put my hardtop on.

While I was at it, I checked out the condition of all the seals and the rest of the hardtop.

There is a lot of work to do on it to bring it up to usable status again....