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TR4/4A TR4A Perfection

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KVH

KVH

Obi Wan
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Hey, I complain a lot, so why not also brag somewhat. So, here goes: I've got my Black '664A running so incredibly well I cannot imagine a better driving experience. I have the slightly over-sized piston kit from Moss, rebuilt about 5 years ago, and the car just moves out. It purrs through the dual mufflers, shifts like butter, and has good linear acceleration in all gears. It idles smoothly at 950 rpm. Get this--it shuts down with no preignition and doesn't overheat (my Red twin sister doesn't operate so flawlessly).

I'm having trouble believing this bliss will last. It's a TR, after all. I'm thinking of making notes of the exact carb mixture settings, tabulating the precise point gap, noting the exact timing mark with a timing light, and recording each valve clearance precisely (like Cormac McCarthy's "Judge" might do), all so that I have committed to history this perfect combination of adjustments for future reference. This car runs like new, no question about it. No one test driving from a British Leyland shop in the '60s had a better experience.

That's how it all is today. Thanks for the band width.
 
:encouragement:

How 'bout sharing what you've done to bring it this close to perfection!?!?

Tom
 
My 1958 TR3A is also running smoothly like yours for about the last three years. I love it. It starts on the first blip of the starter button and idles about 400 RPM. Even the hand crank will start it on the first 2/3 turn of the crank. I have 20.000 miles on the engine since I replaced the rings and honed the liners in 2007. The oil I use is Castrol 10W30 for this "new" engine plus a bottle (4oz) of ZDDP every oil change (3000 miles). I have replaced the rubber hoses feeding the fuel to the carbs. I stick with two kinds of gas that I know will not cause me or my TR any problems. I add 4 oz of Lucas Gas Saver (Upper Cyl Lube) to every tankful because the fuel may contain 10% ethanol. Marvel Mystery Oil will do the same if it is available in your area.

I use Autolite plugs set at 0.025". I bought these because they have no resistor in them which Champions now have to suppress radio static. I have no radio. I bought these plugs from Rock Auto about the time that all my troubles disappeared.

But it took me 56 years owning my 1958 TR3A from new and experimenting with all the parameters to get it to this point. The odometer reads 194,000 miles from new and it's very original with many parts (coil, starter solenoid, wiring harness) still the ones that came with the car in 1958.

BTW, in 2007, I took 2nd at VTR - Valley Forge, PA with 384 points out of 400.

And every time I drive it, I'm 20 years old again.
 
Now you're ready for a drive... Sunday the 24th is our annual 100/100 drive where we cover 100+ miles at 100+ degrees.

109_zps4b0b3e75.jpg


And yeah, good idea to note all possible settings for a 'benchmark' of what worked so well.
 
Just make a note of how much fun you are having - don't touch a thing!! Plenty of time to touch things when you need to!
 
Congrats on it all working well, my 4A ran really well like that and pulled well too, but I think it always had a tendency to diesel after a hard run on a hot day.

Don-Wow, 400 RPM Idle, that is pretty amazing, I was going to say I might get a car to idle at that speed, but it would die until the oil fully warmed up, then I noticed you said you run 10w-30, oil, I always run Castrol 20w-50, which slows the idle speed quite a bit until it warms up. How is the oil pressure with the lighter oil, I remember I used to run 10w-40 in my cars back when they were daily drivers (and 10w-40 was sort of the catch all universal weight oil).
 
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Prior to extreme heat in phx. my 67 4a was also running great. Glad to see another one running well!
 
Glemon - For the first 20 miles or so at 60-70 MPH, my oil pressure reads 70 psi with the Castrol 10W30 oil. This is on a cool morning about 70 deg. F. After this as everything warms up, the oil pressure will drop to about 50 psi while driving at 60 MPH or 2500 RPM.

If I come to a stop light, the oil pressure drops to 15 psi, but I'm not concerned.

Guys who race their TRs say that everything is fine if you have 30 psi at 3000 RPM, 40 psi at 4000 RPM, 50 psi at 5000 RPM and so on...
 
Guys,

I can't resist. I always have a list of mini "projects" on my car. But, at this point (after 14 years) most are minor cosmetic issues which I care less about than mechanical function. I've been doing my own mechanical work for the past 10 years and slowly but surely got it to a point where it runs as close to perfect as possible (of course, now I just jinxed myself!). I run 10W-40 oil with a little ZDDP, spot on oil pressure, temp is smack in the middle of the gauge, hi-test gas with 3oz of Marvel Mystery Oil in each tank, idles between 750 and 1,000 RPM (I'm pretty sure I need to adjust the butterfly valves), ignition system is powerful and car fires up instantly. Oil pressure is 70-75psi at 2,000 RPM and nearly 50psi at idle. The driving experience was really topped off this year when I replaced the original and badly worn rear axle shafts (massive clunking gone) and replaced my clutch slave cylinder. The clutch slave the PO had installed was 0.75" diameter and after I installed the correct 1" diameter the clutch became amazingly smooth and light - a real pleasure compared to the "on-off" switch I had in there.

I also attribute alot of this to annual maintenance I do religiously on the car. I check a lot of the engine items yearly to be sure they are in spec, including ignition voltage, cleaning all the ground contacts in the car, lubing/greasing everything. Every other year I also flush the cooling system and bleed the brakes. I also track my MPG to monitor any differences as an early sign of trouble.

My main issues left are oil leaks at the timing chain cover oil seal, the oil pan and fuel pump. I'm pretty sure these started when my PCV failed and was pressurizing my crankcase. I never could get that valve to work correctly.

I am 100% stock except: Pertronix ignition, Ignitor coil, hi torque starter, PCV valve removed and running a vent hose off the valve cover. Oh and a 6-vane waterpump.

Cheers

Bob
 
Great reading all the thoughts, stories and input. In my case, I really don't know what I did other than balance the air flow in the carbs, re-set the point gap carefully, adjust the tappets, and static time the engine with slight dial adjustment based upon timing light readings. I guess I also monkeyed a bit with the mixture, making it slightly more lean. I just feel like I lucked-out. I love driving these cars. In my case I feel like I owe some debt to an owner back in the chain. He repainted the car, installed a hand sewn carpet set and had the seats re padded and "sprung." It's so darn fun. Thanks all.
 
After a few really bad "British" car mechanics did more harm than good to my car, that's when I started to do my own work. Now it's 1/2 the enjoyment of this hobby for me. One particularly bad example was a very bad hot start problem I experienced for years. I burned out a starter and battery cranking the car endlessly. I screwed around re-routing fuel lines thinking it was vapor lock. I could never take the car anywhere for fear I couldn't get it re-started.

I finally traced it back to an OVERLY rich carb mixture. It was like having the choke on all the time. This occurred after I asked one of these "mechanics" to set/adjust my mixture. Once I figured this out (again I suffered with this problem for 2-3 years) I picked up a Gunson Colour Tune and now my mixture is set perfect. Haven't touched it since and it idles without a single "sputter" at the tail pipe.

Small victories. Or in my case, this was a big one.

Thanks for listening

Bob
 
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RJS said:
...I started to do my own work. Now it 1/2 the enjoyment...
Click to expand...

And sometimes it seems like 1/2 the time.

I drive the cars a lot yet I often think I spend as many hours working on them as driving them. Of course, part of this is that I am a slow worker (lots of breaks, lots of thinking, etc) and I also look for things to do in addition to the immediate task.
 
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