TR2/3/3A Fuel Shutoff Valve

[CJD]

JP...long time! We missed you 'round here! I hope Christmas is good to you and you can start moving forward on the restoration. We moved and I've been setting the garage up as a shop. I'm finally lowering my expectations and realized I'll never have a formal shop...but a garage has worked this long, so it's not all bad. Anyway, since it'll be a while before I will be ready to take on a project, I have to live through you guys...so get to work!

For the rest waiting for the new fangled seal...

The lathe came with a bad lead screw selector gear. For a onesy project I can hand feed, but with the "backlog" above, I need to get the auto-feed working. Not to worry, I can make the gear, but I have had a devil of a time getting the cutter to do it. Long story for it may take a few weeks to get the production line rolling...

 

[sp53]

Yeah nice to hear from you JP, I actually thought you sold your car. Plus, I thought John was going to live in his motorhome longer, and that gave me some ideas I have been trying to bring to fruition. I figured John could convert his motorhome into a mechanic on wheels deal and then travel up the west coast and pick some of us up each week, all the while working throughout each U.S. State maybe even Canada to insure everyone who wanted could ride along and work as time permitted. The History Channel would have been naturally contacted, and we would have all been TV stars, traveling and fixing up old sport cars along the way throughout America. We would have killed those picker guys with hands on learning, guiding, and helping in a benevolent money free system.

 

[CJD]

Wow...I should have thought of that!

 

[Tr3aguy]

Yep....well could we sell that idea to the people at Motortrend because I am guessing with a decent fan base the per show amount would be enough to supplement the motor home and then some. Plus how many little british cars have been represented in any of the car shows.

Yeah nice to hear from you JP, I actually thought you sold your car. Plus, I thought John was going to live in his motorhome longer, and that gave me some ideas I have been trying to bring to fruition. I figured John could convert his motorhome into a mechanic on wheels deal and then travel up the west coast and pick some of us up each week, all the while working throughout each U.S. State maybe even Canada to insure everyone who wanted could ride along and work as time permitted. The History Channel would have been naturally contacted, and we would have all been TV stars, traveling and fixing up old sport cars along the way throughout America. We would have killed those picker guys with hands on learning, guiding, and helping in a benevolent money free system.

 

[James A Martin]

John
Elegant piece. Please put me on your mailing list when you catch up on orders. (patenting? HUM....) singingwelder1@yahoo.com It'll probably be awhile, I cant think of a reason for any older (older british car or older owner?) not to want one after seeing your post. There is a piece of orangish tubeing where the valve should be on my fuel line and I have a bucket of fuel to deal with.

Jim
1962 Triumph TR3B
TCF2326L

 

[CJD]

Added JP and Jim!

Still putting my spare time into the lathe...busy making an arbor to hold the gear cutter.

 

[TR3MT]

Hello John--Great idea. I got my 59 TR3A new and drove it 50 years without a leak. Then I replaced the cork with an after market one and it started leaking soon, so I by passed the valve but I would love to re install it and see it work. Please add me to your list. PM sent.
Thanks,
Perry
TR3MT

 

[CJD]

Got you added, Perry.

I got the arbor made yesterday and today I start working on the selector gears...which are the last parts I need to get the lathe up to speed...

 

[sp53]

Well yes that is what I am saying JP. Maybe we should leave Randall at home. That way all he has taught me over the years, I can vaguely take credit for and keep my poker face. Plus the East coast could be a destination for Eastern thought.

 

[Frank Canale]

Hi John, after seeing so many request for your part I was curious if my engine had the cut off valve on it. The valve was not on the frame when I did the repairs to it first of the year and is not on the engine. The mechanical fuel pump and the fuel filter with the glass bowl are there but the PO cut the lines and added a temporary electric fuel pump. My question would be when or if they stopped using the brass fuel cut off valve. My car is a 1960 #TS61324. A very innovative solution, great job. Frank

 

[CJD]

I've now also got Frank, John and Joe on the list.

The good news, I finished the selector gear for the lathe. Here's what it envolved for those interested in this sorta' thing:

This is the bad gear, that was totally worn out. One is ground so the teeth are short, and the entire gear wobbles on it's shaft...so it had to go.

I am fashioning a new one on a bridgeport using a rotary table to step through the teeth. Notice the new one is in brass...an easier material to "cut my teeth" into machining. It took me 2 months to find the correct cutter, since there so many different profiles. The lathe is from Belgium, with a strange mix of metric and British standard parts (reminds me of the Triumphs with their miix of Whitworth and BS?!?). Then I had to make the arbor to hold the cutter. Finally I had to learn the CAM programming to be able to put together the "G" code to fashion the gear.

What these particular gears do is control the feed for the lathe. As you spin the metal, you have to move the tool along the work at a steady speed to make a clean cut. Depending on the type material, the size, and the smoothness you need, you adjust the speed of the tool using this little selector gear. Much like a car transmission with no synchros. You move this gear from one gear to the next of differing sizes to "pick" the correct speed. Without them, the feed is inop, so you have to move the tool by hand and do the best you can. Pretty tedious, to say the least. Anyway...the lathe is up to speed so I should get to cutting next weekend. Let's say I NEED to get these cut before there are so many requests this turns into a real job!?!

 

[sp53]

Hey Frank I read through Piggott’s book in the change area and could not find an exact date when they deleted the shut off. My experience has been they took it off in OCT of 1959 around TS-60001 when they deleted a whole bunch of other stuff. I believe some of the 1959 frames still had the bracket, but the fuel line changed to what you see on tr4 in the Moss catalog on the later ones and does not has the hard plumbed in pipes; the late ones are much easier to deal with especially if you get a leak in the line because it has some rubber fuel line connectors that can be plugged.

 

[Frank Canale]

Hi Steve, I did not think to check Piggotts book. Thank you for the information. My car was built 3 October 1959 (TS61324) and the frame does have the bracket for the fuel shutoff valve. My car probably did not come with one but I like the way it works and looks so if I run across a shutoff valve I will probably use it. That is a long way off but fun to plan how it will be built. Frank

 

[Suncoaster]

Outstanding work on the selector gear, John. You are truly a man of many talents. I'm jealous!

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Pretty cool John...just following along :wink-new:

Happy New Year.

Cheers
Tush

 

[DavidApp]

What No Dividing head?
CAM is the way they do things today. I was so much fum trying to remember to move the fingers on the dividing head plate.

Great job on the bridgeport.
I worked with a guy a long long time ago who would cut gears with a single point cutter when he could not find the correct profile gear tooth cutter. He was real old school and did some scary stuff on his big lathe. A 4' diameter manhole cover job comes to mind. He used a car jack behind the cover to get it to run true and left the jack in place as he faced the cover. It was only turning about 75 rpm.
The lathe was heavily modified to do the big jobs and had a car gearbox in the drive line as it was originally a flat belt drive machine.

David

 

[LionelJrudd]

Access to a Bridgeport?????
Now I'm getting jealous. Oh to have a milling machine!

 

[Hill Billy]

John, I'd love to have the plans/dimensions for this. My brother has a lathe could make this for me.

 

[CJD]

I should start cutting tomorrow and get these out...all 15!?! In the mean time, here are the final plans for those wanting to craft more in the future. O-rings required are nitrile or other gas resistant with hardness of 70. You will need 2 .5" OD by 1/16" and one .25"OD by 1/16".

Link to a google drive pdf:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NJICjkeIFXvl9tfs6_XL1oHuw001AcTz

Edit: I see I missed total length...should be .48"

 

[Hill Billy]

Thanks John!