T minus 500 to Amos

[kodanja]

Awesome Dale!

Do I hear 100 miles?

 

[DNK]

that's the spitit /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif

 

[Brosky]

Power to the Tinster!! Amen, Brother and keep the pedal to the metal!

 

[DNK]

Power to the Tinster!! Amen, Brother and keep the pedal to the metal!

Paul, caution to what you say, Dale takes us literally.

 

[swift6]

Dale how close are you to Guayama. A chap there with a 1973 TR6 that he is rebuilding just posted on the 6-Pack list.

 

[Brosky]

Ohhh...Good point Don.

Dale, keep it within the limits....

 

[Adrio]

Alignment is acceptable until the appointment with
the machine. Ben and Ron both instructed me how to
get pretty darned close.

Tinster,
was that instruction via a post here or verbal. I would be interested in seeing it. My TR4 has never been aligned since I finished it but it does not pull all the way up to as fast as I am willing to take it.

 

[14dna]

Dale
Congrats to you and Amos. I've known all along that this car would be making record runs. Soon this will be an everyday occurence. Now all I want is that car full of gas in two weeks when Annie, the girls and I get down to annoy you and Wendy.
Dave

 

[Banjo]

Alignment is acceptable until the appointment with
the machine. Ben and Ron both instructed me how to
get pretty darned close.

Tinster,
was that instruction via a post here or verbal. I would be interested in seeing it. My TR4 has never been aligned since I finished it but it does not pull all the way up to as fast as I am willing to take it.

Adrio,
The instruction we gave to Dale covered setting his toe only.
You need a shop with an alignment rack to set camber and caster, but toe is easily set at home with basic tools.
Moss sells a really handy guage that makes setting toe quick and easy, but you can make one yourself.
What it all boils down to is 3 steps.
1 Jack up the front end of the car and mark the centerline of the tire by holding something like a tire crayon, or a piece of chalk agenst the center of the tread while spinning the tire
2 use a measuring tape, or some other type of measuring device (look at the picture in the Moss catalog to get an idea) to measure the distance between the centerline in front of the tires, and again behind the front tires.
3 adjust the tie rods until the measurements are nearly equal. On rear wheel drive cars you want the front measurement to be about 1/16 of an inch less than the rear (Or having "toe in" of 1/16" ) this varies from car to car. but for a home setting that'll do.
If all settings are in doubt, like when the front end has been rebuilt, I'd highly reccomend having a proper alignment done. But this little trick can get you on the road and in decent shape, till you can get it done.

 

[TR3driver]

You need a shop with an alignment rack to set camber and caster,

Camber can be measured with reasonable accuracy at home as well, if you have a nice flat floor. I make up a gauge using a carpenter's square, (2) 6" rulers, and a couple of C-clamps. The idea is you set one leg of the square on the floor, then check the horizontal distances between the vertical leg and the bead area of the rim at the bottom and top. For zero camber, the distances will be equal. Each 1 deg of camber means about 1/4" difference in the distances.

 

[Tinster]

Thanks Shawn!!

We have prelim contact now thru the forum PM.

Victor lives 1 1/2 to 2 hours away so I might pop
over in the Grey Ghost one day and see how Victor
is coming along. 55 miles on Amos does not a reliable
car make. I told Victor how great the Forum is.

I just hope and pray he did not purchase his TR6 from
DPO Pedro.

tinster

 

[swift6]

Great, he seems to know of more TR and MG owners. Something about a big group on the east side of the Island. Whatever that means. I should pull up a map of PR and get the lay of the land a bit. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/computer.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

 

[Tinster]

Shawn- Yeah, I know the group on the east side.

DPO Pedro's drinking buddies. I'll stick here with BCF.

thanks /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif

dale

 

[Tinster]

Ok,

I'm gonna break Amos in the right way- as a daily driver.

I've got a Honey-do run to the hardware store. I might
as well introduce Amos to places other than parts stores,
repair shops or tow trucks.

If Amos starts- today will be five days in a row of starts.
I hope to post MUCH later-

tinster

 

[RonMacPherson]

I gave him a quick synopsis of how to set toe by "stringing" the car. Not a very difficult procedure. Used to do it all the time, every race weekend, on the Formula III's and other Formula car's I helped with.

 

[Adrio]

I gave him a quick synopsis of how to set toe by "stringing" the car. Not a very difficult procedure. Used to do it all the time, every race weekend, on the Formula III's and other Formula car's I helped with.

This sounds like a simple geometry question using string to draw straight lines from the front wheels? The part I would love to know is how to get the strings to be parallel with the wheels. I was thinking of rigging up two cheap laser levels for this but I have the same issue of the wheel attachment issue.

 

[tomshobby]

When I repaired military vehicles we used a toe-in gage like this example.
https://www.quickcar.net/chassis/toe_in_gauge_assemb.html
It was spring loaded and was placed against the inside of the tire a set distance from the floor and in front. As the vehicle was moved forward until the tool was again that set distance from the floor the toe was read on the scale on the gage bar. I suppose one could be made with a small amount of effort.

 

[PeterK]

I gave him a quick synopsis of how to set toe by "stringing" the car. Not a very difficult procedure. Used to do it all the time, every race weekend, on the Formula III's and other Formula car's I helped with.

This sounds like a simple geometry question using string to draw straight lines from the front wheels? The part I would love to know is how to get the strings to be parallel with the wheels. I was thinking of rigging up two cheap laser levels for this but I have the same issue of the wheel attachment issue.

Just tie a string around the top of two jack stands on each side of the car (total 4 jackstands). Position the jackstands at each outside corner of the car.

Then adjust the height of the jackstands so the the string is roughly at the center of the wheels. Move the front/rear stands until the string touches the rear and front of the rear wheel on each side. The front wheels should be parallel to the strings at zero toe.

 

[Tinster]

Adrio:

For DIY wheel alignment: Follow the text instructions
and you can make a tool from stuff around your home.
I purchased a 6' piece of aluminum C-channel at
Ace hardware for $6.95. I fixed a mason's square
to one end and used a carpenters cut square as a
slider to mark the alum. C-channel to get measurements.
A tape measurer is needed but not shown..

Cool! I was in a store and when I came out this old Caddie
was parked next to me. He looks like he is smoking two
cigars.

PS: 81 miles driven in past 24 hours. That exceeds all of
year 2006 with 67 miles total driven during that 12 month
period.

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[Brosky]

Holy timing chain covers, Dale!!

How in the world did you get your car to Havana so fast????

You must have found the tunnel!!