Cooling System Refurb Continued

So where I left off with the Cooling System, my radiator was at the radiator shop being boiled out and soldered up where it had a leak.

Unfortunately, I got a call from the shop and they asked me to come in. When I got there, they had the radiator off to the side. Boiled out, but obviously not soldered up. They basically told me that it had a header leak, and because it was a 40 year old radiator, they would not solder it up. They offered to re-core it for $400, but a new rad is only $260, so I said no thanks and went on my way.

When I got home, I had to figure out how to seal the radiator. I had read that using a vacuum to pull the epoxy into the joint would make the repair much stronger. Talking with a buddy who works on vintage Volvos confirmed that this repair could work.

With all that in my mind, I pulled out the automated vacuum pump I built a few years ago for building composite airplane parts. I sealed up the radiator and then hooked up the pump system and pulled a vacuum. I could hear the leak 'sucking'.

I worked up a batch of JBWeld and spread it around the leaking area. I could actually hear the epoxy being pulled into the leak and then there was silence! After letting the epoxy cure overnight, I pulled a vacuum against the radiator and it held for several minutes. Definitely a successful repair.

Next up, I needed to install the fan on the radiator. I used some self tapping screws to mount the fan to the outer edges of the radiator shroud. This is a definite measure twice, drill once type of job....

With the fan mounted to the radiator, it was time to install the whole assembly back in the car. The fan motor did not clear the frame crossmember. I elongated the holes in the radiator braces to get the fan motor off the crossmember, but will eventually make new longer braces to pull it completely off the crossmember.

To be continued......

Too Busy To Post!

Well, I've been too busy to post much lately, but that is definitely a good thing!

I've had several projects brewing for quite some time, and finally, I've had time to knock some of them out.

The first project was a re-working of my cooling system.

I was really wanting to install an electric cooling fan on my '73, but had not had the time. I was also interested in flushing my cooling system, getting a leak in the radiator soldered closed and then putting the whole thing back in much better shape than it came out.

After getting all the right parts together - Electric fan (16") and thermostatic switch, new hoses, and fan eliminator kit, I was ready to go.

I started by pulling out the radiator. Came out easily and I managed to not make much of a mess either.

As soon as I got the radiator out, I took it straight to a radiator repair shop to be boiled out and soldered up where I knew it had a leak.

Next up, I pulled out the old fan. It came out really easily, first by removing the fan, then the puck it mounts to, and finally the fan extension. I expected the extension bolt to be very difficult, but it popped right out.

With the fan extension off, I was able to install the Fan Eliminator kit. Doing this eliminates 6 or 7 pounds of metal and plastic from the end of the crankshaft. The supposed result according to the collective wisdom of the internet forums is that this is good for approximately 6 horsepower on the dyno- Sounds good to me!

Unfortunately, the radiator shop was not able to complete my radiator as expected, so I went to work changing out the hoses and painting everything I could. The paint work in the front of the car makes all the difference in the world and ensures it won't begin rusting again for at least a while. While I was in there, I also took the time to replace the fan belt.

A few days later, I got a call from the radiator shop and they had bad news. They said they found the leak, but refused to solder it closed for me. They did offer to re-core the radiator however for $400! That is $125 more than a brand new radiator, so I picked up my freshly cleaned, but leaking radiator and headed home.

To be continued........

OVERDRIVE!!!!!

In an earlier post, I mentioned working on the J Type Overdrive in my TR6. It was jumping in an out of overdrive rapidly, and without any circumstance (like a pothole) which would cause an electrical disconnection.

I topped up the oil in the gearbox/OD unit which was low. I also checked all the electrical connection, none of which were loose. Unfortunately, when I did the work, it was not driveable for other reasons, so I could not test it.

Well, late Friday night, I finally got it driveable again and I was able to find out if my fix worked --- Success. The fix worked very well. No popping in and out of overdrive repeatedly.

Interestingly enough, when I was in the process of making the fix, I talked to my father about it and he remembered that low oil in the transmission would cause just the problem I had back in the early 80's with his '74 TR6.

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.