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TR6
Weber Side draft Conversion August 29, 2009 |
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(Click on the pictures to enlarge) |
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| The Set Up | |
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As you all know, I have a 1974 TR6 that I traded the ’53 Sunbeam mentioned in previous articles. The car has up to this year been mostly dependable, and not a bad runner. It appeared to be mechanically sound at the time of trade, so outside of a rear brake job after a failure coming back from Big Lynn Lodge one year, and restoring the interior and a new top – there has been no major repairs to the car. That changed the first of this year. I’ve been dealing with an issue that for the most part made the car un-drivable (un-reliable) for any venture beyond a couple of miles from the house. A little time and money have finally made possible the ability to put the car back on the road. Assuming the big problem was an ignition problem, I first went with a complete ignition tune-up. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, points, and condenser were first on the list. These parts came in and I went about installation, and trying to set the timing. After a quick refresher course in why I prefer electronic ignition (I grounded the points at installation), I still was having severe problems in the running department. Actually I had made matters worse. This is where Larry S. comes in. After a phone conversation, we decided it was best for him to see what was going on. |
| The Conversion Begins | |
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Our
first efforts were to try to get the points and timing right. During the
process, Larry noticed we were running on one carb. It was agreed that
he would take them to his shop, disassemble and clean them up, and
adjust them more to his liking. I thought this was a great idea. After
another phone call, and the fact that he could not determine what year
the carbs were and a few other oddities, it was decided that someone had
reached in a big box of spare parts and built something that looked like
a carb, semi-worked, and had no hope of being right in their present
state. |
The Kit Arrives |
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I searched the web, and looked around for another set of workable or rebuildable carbs. I can tell you I’d much prefer to drive the car than work on it; so a little modernization didn’t sound like a bad idea. During my search of the web, I ran across the ad for the new conversion kit from Weber. More research revealed that the majority of folks didn’t have bad comments concerning the kit conversion and most were happy with the results. The price on the kit from Weber Direct was $299.99, free shipping. The decision was made and the kit was ordered on Tuesday morning with a delivery date of Friday. The kit actually came Saturday morning in time for a little conversion party I’d planned for Sunday. |
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The gang, Bill Sapp, Ron Jacobs, Larry Swinney and myself congregated
under the shade tree late Sunday morning with hopes of a test drive later
in the day. The kit was unpacked and the contents examined. Every thing
noted was included in the kit, the carbs looked GREAT! It was a nice day
for a little shade tree mechanic collaboration - nice weather, good
friends, lunch and a few brews. |
| The Real Work | |
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Since the old carbs were already off the car and in a box due to Larry’s attempt at resurrection, the process began with cleaning the mounts on the intake. All gaskets and mounting hardware was included and correct. I installed the gasket and adapters to later find out I had installed the adapters and lock-tite'd the screws in, but had not put the new studs in before mounting. A quick redo corrected this situation. Larry went about separating the top from the carbs and installing the choke cable set-up, which brings up the only disappointment so far in the kit. First, we thought they should have done this step instead of making the installer separate brand new carbs to hook the cables in. Second, I really wanted to retain the stock choke knob in the dash, which was impossible with the choke cable in the kit. The original cable has a single hard wire and not very flexible. The cable in the kit had a stranded more flexible cable to make the 90 degree bend over the top of the carb. Oh well it was lunchtime. |
| Lunch | |
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Rachel had
prepared us a hot dog lunch, brought it to the shop and served it up on a
Midget table. Can anyone else say that they have dined on an arch fender
Midget turned upside down and setting on the shop floor? More on this
subject in another article coming soon, about my son’s endeavors. After lunch it was back to trying to reengineer the choke cable which unfortunately took the better part of the afternoon, needless to say there was no test drive that day. We had mounted the carbs and adjusted the linkage with Bill’s assistance at the throttle by late afternoon and it was time to end the party. Although we did not get to hear it run that day, Ron did a good job as our photographer and I did some head scratching. Larry took the choke assembly with him to mill it out so we could connect my existing choke pull and knob to the dual setup cable end that attached to the carb. I put the tools and car up for the day. |
| The Second Day | |
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The next day after the grind, Larry came over with the reengineered part.
I had picked up the plumbing pieces and new hose to run fuel lines and we
continued with the operation. The choke worked famously and the new fuel
line set-up really looked good, all that was left was to see if the car
would run. As previously stated, I still had a firing issue, but we
twisted the distributor till it started and ran. After a minute or two of
getting the engine to fire, we noticed gas pouring from the rear carb.
Some more head scratching and separating the top from the carb again we
realized that sometime during the choke cable installation the float
setting had gotten readjusted to a position that would not stop the flow
of gas to that carb. Putting the float back in spec corrected this issue,
and a re-fire with a little tweaking of the distributor we could tell a
little more about the carbs. Again it was getting late on us, so again no
test drive. I still left the shop with a smile on my face that night after
pushing the TR back in the carport. The brief time the car ran I can say
the engine had not ran that smooth or sounded that strong since I’ve had
the car. The ignition issue is presently being worked out, and soon I hope
to get in that test drive. |
| The Rest of the Week | |
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The
following night, Larry’s Petronix unit for a TR6 came in, I had ordered
one that was put on back order for 5 weeks, and the best part of the night
was spent riding up to visit Larry and borrow his till mine came in.
Wasn’t all bad though, it was the second time my bike had been out this
year – I’ve seriously got too many toys. Wednesday
night came and the leaves haven’t fallen off the trees yet. I pulled the
distributor, installed the Ignitor system and static timed the motor.
Grabbed the fire extinguisher, fired the motor, which started with little
effort. Adjusted the timing by ear, looked back and I had soot-ed the
white wall in the carport behind the car. A spot about 2’x3’, that had
to be cleaned off. The linkage proved to be off a little between the two
carbs, and I could not get the car to idle down without pulling up on the
linkage on the front carb. It got late on me again and a man has to eat. Thursday night as soon as work was over, I was back at it. I un-hooked the linkage from the front carb and the car idle down where it was supposed to be. Playing with the linkage and a re-adjustment and the car idled at 350 rpm without trying to cut off. The spec was 800 rpm, so I adjusted the idle speed up. After I rechecked everything it was finally time for a test ride. |
| The Reward | |
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The first thing I noticed was the ease in pulling out of the driveway. The
car has always had to be pampered off the line. The rpm’s went up with
very little throttle movement. Through the gears was quick and
effortlessly efficient. Smoothness and power were greatly improved. It was
time for the big test, a sustained run at 60mph. Every since I’ve had
the car, when you were running it at 50 to 60 mph, it would be running
along and then a hard skip – almost a lurch. This happened every mile or
two and was an annoyance at least especially if you had someone else in
the car. Then you might go 5 to 10 miles before it would do it again. This
symptom did not show up when you were working the car hard up hills and
around turns, just when you were at a steady rpm. This did not happen
through out the 5-mile test ride. I am getting happier; it is running so
well that I noticed the suspension needs some attention now, and the
original radio sucks.
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| Kit Review and Club Acknowlegement | |
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As
far as I’m concerned the kit is exceptional. The fit and finish of the
kit (except maybe the choke cable set-up) was well worth the money. The
installation wasn’t bad at all (except for my desire to keep my dash
knobs correct), and the guys from the club were great. The car is running
better than it has since I brought it home. My thanks to the guys from the club, without their help and company this would not have been near as much fun. Larry is the resident expert on the choke cable conversion if you want to retain the original choke pull, Ron is a genius with the camera, Bill is the best throttle man I’ve seen in a long time, and I'm just happy to scratch my head over any project. |
The End for Now |
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