TR4/4A Vintage TR4 racecar?

[jplatel1]

Hello everybody,

My Father and I bought this car a few years ago, I forget exactly where, but i believe in Connecticut. I was curious if anyone who was involved in racing during the 70s-80s in New England/the north eastern US recognizes this car. At this point its just a curiosity, but i figured it was worth a post!

The car is pretty banged up, and a roll bar has been cut out, there are modifications to the rear of the frame, there is a sway bar up front, and the suspension seems to have been beefed up considerably. There are also interesting modifications under the hood including a strange vented valve cover, and what looks like a screened off gearbox vent tube. This being said, I do assume it did see some track time. Where and when, I don't know (previous owner didn't have much information to share)


Thanks in advance
-Jake

 

[TR4nut]

Cool looking car. The breather on the valve cover looks like it may be an Offenhauser add on - check the screen tube, my guess is it may be actually going to the engine block, probably the road draft tube has been reworked? Looks like they put on a 4A intake setup, the PCV valve is there, is it hooked up?

 

[jplatel1]

you're right, it is a TR4a manifold. I didn't notice it before... It does still have SUs on it, where every tr4a engine ive come across has had strombergs. Is there any advantage to that? its a TR4 block though. also, never really checked too closely where that breather went to, I just assumed it was to the gearbox as the TR4 already has a crank case breather on the block, correct me if I'm wrong.


in the pictures provided, it shows the modifications to the frame. it is attached to the frame before the rear wheels where it looks like it is allowed to pivot on a bushing, and goes back and attaches to the center of the leaf spring. Any idea what this would accomplish? Should i cut it off?

 

[TR4nut]

Neat, ladder bars - take a look at them before you rip them out, the factory actually had those for competition, if they look something better than homemade you should hang on to them. For that matter, unless you are worried about clearance, I'd leave them there for a while.

On the engine block, look below the fuel pump - do you see anything hooked into the side of the block? That would be normally where the crankcase is vented, usually through a stock road draft tube. I was thinking they pulled the tube and put in something else, maybe with a catch tank at some point.

Nothing wrong with the SU HS6 TR4A setup - that is considered very good.

 

[jplatel1]

I didn't mention that the engine turns over by hand without compression! One of the very not cool things about the car. Oh well, I guess a worn out drive train is to be expected of a beat up old race car.

Other than road clearance, there should be no issues with the "ladder bars"(which i still don't quite understand the function of) remaining on this car when we get it moving under its own power?

 

[TR4nut]

I may be using the ladder bar name incorrectly, a better term is traction bar - here's a writeup on what they do:
https://www.ehow.com/how-does_5077023_traction-bars-work.html

If you aren't driving hard, they probably won't do much for you so main value may be keeping some of the history of the car.

 

[jplatel1]

makes sense! thanks for the link. I guess i'm going to need to rebuild the engine with the 89mm kit and supercharge it, otherwise those traction bars wont be used to their full potential. :highly_amused:

 

[HerronScott]

you're right, it is a TR4a manifold. I didn't notice it before... It does still have SUs on it, where every tr4a engine ive come across has had strombergs. Is there any advantage to that? its a TR4 block though. also, never really checked too closely where that breather went to, I just assumed it was to the gearbox as the TR4 already has a crank case breather on the block, correct me if I'm wrong.

Triumph went back with SU's on the later TR4A's (HS6's though). Both of my TR4A's have them (original as well)

Scott

 

[PeterK]

I have an original set of traction bars, made by TractionMaster, IDd by "M-1" on the cast T fittings at each end. They're for my project so I don't have any experience real world with them but check out the tractionmaster.com website (yes they are still in production but not for TRs.)

Sunbeam Tiger used two varieties made by TM. One is a LAT-5 bar that bolts to a welded bracket at the front chassis mount below the spring-eye mount. Late spec is a LAT-6 bar that is nearly identical but insitead of a fixed welded mount to the chassis, the front if clamped to the front of the leaf springs.

I have several photos of various interpretations on a couple different cars.

 

[jplatel1]

mine look rather homemade to my eyes, it doesn't look like the bar will pivot at the leaf spring attachment point. The car is in my fathers garage, ill take a closer look at that when i head back for my holiday break.

still, nobody in New England recognizes this car, or may know someone who does?

 

[mike_h]

I don't recognize it but on Monday I'll cross post this thread on our Historic Racing Group news group. Bunch of the guys there have been Northeast racers for years. I've only been doing vintage for 8 years and I don't recognize it. My guess is it's not a road racing (limerock, or Watkins Glen) car but was autocrossed. Too much of the original stuff left in it, normally removed for weight. Also, the class on the number circle (meatball) isn't a class I recognize, more like a temp, autocross or rally designation.

mike

 

[jplatel1]

thanks mike_h! I appreciate the help.

Hopefully this car will be on the road by spring, I was considering autocrossing my other TR4 for fun, but this car seems a much better candidate.

 

[aeronca65t]

Nothing to offer, but I would advise you try to contact your local SCCA region and see if anyone knows the car (Mike may be reaching out to some of the same people).

https://www.ner.org/

And I agree with Mike: the "number" looks more like an autocross or hillclimb class than a road racing class.

If you can restore it to semi-original and gather some of its history, you may add to the value of the car.

I knew I had seen another purple TR4 somewhere and after a little Googling, I found this, current vintage racer. The car is owned by someone named Greg Hilyer, who seems to race it in the mid-West USA.

 

[mike_h]

The only reply I've received so far.

"I don't recall ever seeing a purple TR4 at an SCCA road race. Agreen one yes. From the looks I'd agree with rally or a hillclimb car."

It was forwarded to a former CT Triumph racer who did hill climbs and ran Autocrosses. I'll let you know when I hear anything else.
mike