Book Review?

[TR4A_IRS]

Do any of you own the book <span style="text-decoration: underline">How to Restore Triumph TR4 and TR4A</span> by Roger Williams?

I have been thinking of picking up this book as a reference book, but I am unsure of it's usefulness. Roger Williams has numerous other books to his credit that cover the earlier and later TRs. I suspect the quality of his other books would be reflected in this tome as well.

 

[PeterK]

An excellent must have. Also "How to Improve" is highly recommended.

 

[Dale]

I found his book on the TR7 useful, enough so to buy one for my daughter and son-in-law for their TR7.

 

[martx-5]

I have the TR2, TR3 & TR3A version and it is excellent if you are going to be restoring a TR or doing any extensive work. Worth having in my opinion.

 

[rustbucket]

I received a copy of it for Christmas. It's okay as far as a general overview of TR4s and what to look for when restoring one, but I was a little disappointed that it was not very in depth technically. In hindsight I would have rather gotten the Owner's Workshop manual, or a Haynes manual.

It's still interesting reading though.

 

[TR4nut]

Yes, it is definitely not a replacement for a shop manual. But there isn't much better out there if you need to do bodywork I think.

Randy

 

[sail]

Don't have that one but just got used Haynes on Amazon for $10 plus $6 ship so look around for any book. Also have TR shop manual new from ? a while ago. I am doing mechanics and don't need restore details as car is pretty much intact. Need a pict let me know.

 

[Popeye]

Terrible book.

Ha, and I have some oceanfront property to sell....

Seriously, it is a very good book. Along with the shop manual, it allows you to piece the puzzle together. Also gives a little history / storyline which makes for some entertaining reading.

Mike
66 TR4A

 

[sail]

I have some oceanfront property to sell....

Mike
66 TR4A

Is it warm on that property, if so I will pay asking price

 

[Lou Metelko]

Take a huge grain of salt with any of the books by Roger Williams. He has done more to harm Concours TRs than he realizes. Concours is not just spit and polish, it is "as it looked at the end of factory assembly".

Lou Metelko
Auburn, Indiana
54 TR2LD

 

[TR4nut]

Take a huge grain of salt with any of the books by Roger Williams. He has done more to harm Concours TRs than he realizes. Concours is not just spit and polish, it is "as it looked at the end of factory assembly".

I think I know what you are saying Lou, but I'd suggest it is indicative of the mindset I saw with a lot of the TR crowd in the UK. They dearly love their TRs, but have had to maintain them in an environment where the cars can quickly turn to rusting hulks in an eyeblink. I really enjoyed the 'these cars are built to be driven' attitude I saw in a lot of the enthusiasts, and the clever modifications. Not to say I endorse hacking into a concours capable car though.

Randy

 

[swift6]

Concours is not just spit and polish, it is "as it looked at the end of factory assembly".

Lou Metelko
Auburn, Indiana
54 TR2LD

Tell that to the Jaguar crowd, that concours crowd seems to be more about perfection than "factory correct". The most exacting guidlines I have ever seen about "as it looked at the end of factory assembly" is in the Corvette Bloomington Gold competitions. You even need to replicate the correct factory orange peel in the paint finish.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

Thanks for all the replies. I already have a shop manual and several other good books, but thought this might be a good additional to the TR library. I think I will pick one up. I am not planning any major work, but I think it is always good to have an idea of what you would do if you were doing a restoration, so any repairs I do now will benefit me when I eventually do decide to restore.

 

[DougF]

The more books you have in your Triumph library, the better. I have several TR6 shop manuals. Whether there are photos from different angles to additional wiring diagrams, one little tidbit of information can make the book priceless.

 

[Geo Hahn]

I am often an 'armchair mechanic' enjoying just reading about the work almost as much as doing it. I found the Williams' books to be good reads and they added to my knowledge of the cars.

 

[emmett1010]

The BEST thing that I found is TRA's Judging guide. It tells you what goes where, and what is correct for your car.
It's a free download from TRA.
Emmett

 

[CinneaghTR]

The more books you have in your Triumph library, the better.

Yes, knowledge is power, even if you do not ultimately agree with the philosophy. The major weakness for me was that it was obviously written for the British enthusiast so you have to decode a lot of the references and figure out what is available in the US.

 

[CraigLandrum]

If the TR4 book is like the TR2-TR3 book, it is useful and covers basic recovering of seats and carpet, bodywork (but assumes you will farm out the painting), and engine rebuilds, but not a lot of the nit picky smaller detailed stuff that takes some research to dig out. Some of the minor stuff is covered in the Triumph shop manual. However, there are questions that arise during a complete restoration that I found impossible to find answers for. For others, I got excellent guidance here on the forum. Some of the questions that were hard to find written down in black and white (for me) included stuff like:

- Do the rear lift-the-dot pegs go through the back capping as stated in several printed resources, or does the edge of the capping end just above these studs as is shown in every picture I've seen? (they end above the studs)

- What is the correct orientation and installation methodology for the sealing rubber on the boot and spare tire area? (still have no clue)

- Exactly what size screws and cup washers are used to affix the interior panels and where are the screws placed in order to come close to the originals? (I just ordered a bagful of Moss screws and cap washers and gave up trying to find them in my hardware store bin).

- Are there original factory upholstery patterns available for the seats? (I never found them so I created and published them myself).

- What is the correct orientation of the leather straps and buckles in the spare tire well (I think I puzzled that one out using pics of an original car)?

- Were there standard dash positions for mounting optional accessories such as the windshield wiper pump and cig lighter? (used pics found on the web and generous forum help to answer this one).

- How does the stator tube mount up to the steering wheel and steering box and why isn't this part shown on any maintenance or Moss diagrams? (still don't know for sure, but I have one installed now)

- What is the proper factory trim for inside the boot, and how should it be installed?

- What color should stuff be painted (silver, black, body color, etc)? The concours judging manual available on the web answered that one).

You get my point here - the popular books and even the maintenance manual covers things in broad strokes. But when you are dealing with a complete frame-up restoration where you literally must restore, rebuild, reinstall, or buy new every part on the car, expect to do a lot of research to answer questions that you expected to be easy, but aren't. My guess is that this is where the real art of restoration comes in - the amount of time and effort you are willing to spend to get close to the original - assuming that this is important to you. While I'm certainly not doing a concours car, I did want to make it close to correct and in my experience the devil was in the details.

 

[Dale]

The more books you have in your Triumph library, the better. I have several TR6 shop manuals. Whether there are photos from different angles to additional wiring diagrams, one little tidbit of information can make the book priceless. [/quote
May I recommend "Triumph Cars in America" by Michael Cook. Not a shop reference, but an excellent historical study and fascinating read. Clears up some of the mysteries regarding transport and shipping by someone who really has "been there, done that"