Close but no cigar

Hmmm, the trip out to the Triumph World picnic did not go according to plan - Oh we got there OK with both cars and had a good day there. Catching up with old friends was good and although the morning looked wet, the weather turned out to be great.
As I pulled up I heard the fuel pump noise change and the engine stopped - cavitation!


Arse!


So with lots of people having a look I canvassed opinion from the gathered PI intelligenci. There weren't any new ideas but some rationale for old ones.

The tank set up probably needs revising - it's a syphoner at the moment and that could be changed to a drainer by adding a union. Dave at Canley's recommended making a swirl pot inside the tank - I like this idea but I'm not sure my welding is up to it - maybe braze it. Also, heat in a petrol tank could be fun :-)

A helper pump could be one solution rather than the above surgery but that's two pumps = twice the potential for problems.

Also, the spill from the PRV and the Metering Unit currently go back through the filter housing - like the early TR5 plumbing. One of the theories discussed was that the fuel, warmed from the Metering Unit and PRV (as it's gone round the pump in the cooling coil) could be one of the problems. The warm fuel should really go back into the tank - the rationale being that with such a large volume of cool fuel it will absorb the heat. I could use the syphoner outlet as a spill inlet from bother the PRV and Metering Unit using the current "T" piece.

So, armed with all this info I set off for home, yup, she started to stutter and was in danger of dying on me - I knew the next thing would be the engine would stop death. HOWEVER! I was prepared, I had a fully built up spare pump, cooling coil and PRV - I plumbed in the spare pump (2 minute job if you leave it all unsecured) and was ready for the off again. So I got home with the spare but it's still not right. I have a slight misfire and I suspect that's No6 or No5 and that could be those troublesome banjo unions on the Metering Union - I have new ones but fitting them is a pain as you need to pull the Metering Unit out and then re-time it.

So now I'm sat with a cup of tea thinking "What the hell am I going to do and when? I've got 5 weeks!!!

More tea I think.


J

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Lucas PI info - some pearls of wisdom here :-)

Over the years I've collected loads of info and books about the PI system, some better than others. I have always meant to scan and post up some of the more interesting stuff. I had my scanner working recently (but not on my spanking new Vista equipped PC - incompatible!) so I thought I'd scan a few things when I came across an old trio of A4 sheets held together with a rusty staple. They appear to be pages from a magazine article but from where I don't know. The last page has a few small adds on it but no clue as to where it first appeared. The opening paragraph suggests and owners club and the adverts are 1990 vintage - if you know where this came from please let me know and I'll give them the credit. Anyway, I scanned it and OCR'd it and here it is. I've been through it to correct the OCR errors but if anything doesn't make sense shout up and I'll check the original. THE LUCAS PETROL INJECTION SYSTEM - MARK II We are very fortunate to be able to publi...
Read more

Worried about your trunnions? Relief is to hand!

Image
This is an bit of an infomercial for my mate Dave and his company Canley Classics. I know Dave well, I get most of my Triumph stuff from him. I sometimes work on the Canley Classics stand at shows, I own a Canley Classics T shirt and I have spent many hours driving Triumphs with him. Other Triumph parts suppliers are available, your mileage may vary and this may contain nuts. If you don't like what I say, ignore it :-) - It's a well know fact that the small chassis Triumphs have some design frailties. One of the more spectacular failures you can suffer stems from the front trunnions. When you get a failure here you can loose a front wheel - this isn't a good thing. Often incorrectly known as "trunnion failure" what actually happens is that the vertical link that sits in the trunnion snaps - it does this for a number of reasons, lack of maintenance, fatigue, corrosion, previous trauma, bad luck. Most often it's the nearside that goes, it's the side that ...
Read more

TR6 Clutch investigation (and interior replacement)

Image
Blimey, it's been a long time since I did anything serious in the garage. Having found myself with some time on my hands - I'm currently looking for paid work again - I decided it was high time I sorted out the TR6 interior. When I got the car it was the interior that let it down, a bit of a mix of old and repro trim, mostly past it's best, carpets stick directly to the floor and sagging seats. I did the seats immediately and then gathered the parts to do the rest - new carpets, underlay, a trim kit, H frame cover, clips and fastenings, glue, etc, etc. So it seemed like a "cheap" job as I had all of the big cost items. It was just time - and now I have that. So I stripped it all out and there it sat earlier this week, looking all empty and then I thought what a pig of a job it would be to have to take it all out again to fix the clutch! You see I've always had a tricky clutch in the car, not awful but occasionally when warm it gets quite "off/on...
Read more