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Three generations of Graham's family are helping to rebuild this TR4A californian import. Graham's dad is providing a lot of the technical expertise and his son Bradly has been helping strip everything out.
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The story so far...... The car arrived pretty much intact, with no serious rust problems, but in need of some serious renovation. All the mechanics have been taken out and sent off to be overhauled and rebuilt as necessary.
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The panels came off in a day and none of the bolts was rusted - What a relief!
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The tub has been primed ready for painting and has been sent off for its new coat!.
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Here you can see that the Diff mounts have been welded and reinforced plates put above for extra strength. The front wishbone rear mounting brackets have been replced, realigned and reinforced. The whole chassis has been sand blasted before being primed and painted black.
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While the tub is away being painted, Brian has been getting on with the mechanics. Here we see the rolling chassis on our stand at the Battlesbridge Show. Brian takes up the story......
"When removing the bottom radiator hose a large semi-solid worm of rust slowly came out of the hose.
I had already decided to strip the engine and overhaul as necessary. After draining the oil and filter I removed the cylinder head and was pleasantly surprised to see the honing marks still on the liners. The down side was that the water jacket was solid with rust and No.1 and 4 Piston Crowns were black and oily. Turning the engine over and removing the sump revealed the inside to be very clean.
The Crank-shaft had been reground to –10 on the mains and –20 on the Big-end Journals. The shells of which were very badly scored due to the engine not being cleaned properly when it was assembled. The Timing Chain looked to be original and was very worn. Looking at the Cylinder-head No. 1 and No. 4 Valve Guides were worn to excess and one or two of the inlets were not much better, so while I was cleaning-out the Water Jacket and the sides of the Liners the Cylinder-head was away at Gosnay’s Engineering at Mawney Road, Romford, having all the Valve Guides replaced and the seatings reground. Gosnays also supplied a new set of valve springs, 1 Exhaust Valve and 1 Inlet Valve.
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When assembling the Cylinder Head after lapping in all the valves and cleaning thoroughly, I fitted four Ford CVH engine valve stem oil seals on the inlet valves to stop oil draw-down. I fitted new Oil, Petrol and Water-pump’s obviously new Crank-bearings (the journals of the Crank were perfect), new Timing Chain, Geared Starter Motor and Clutch Assembly.
Then Radiators (Main and Heater Matrix) were both cleaned and reconditioned by Southgate Radiators of Barkingside. A good second-hand Heater-box was obtained from Rob Sport. The Heater was then re-assembled and sealed.
We bought a Stag Gearbox fitted with a type ‘A’ Laycock de Normanville overdrive, so I had to strip the Gearbox and replace the First Motion Shaft (Spiggot Shaft) with the original TR4A shaft, because the Clutch Spline is different on the Stag , I also fitted a new Torrington Needle Bearing in the Rear of the Shaft, new Oil Seals and Bearings were also fitted. The overdrive unit I sent away to Triple A Gearboxes of Plumstead to check that the Unit was OK, as I had never had the occasion to work on these units during my working life.
The Differential was cleaned and all new seals fitted, the back-plate was also removed and the interior inspected.
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When we first started the Engine it fired almost immediately and sounded OK even though I had deliberately left the valve clearances loose, I always do this because valves can tighten up when first run, plus the fact the Head will be re-tightened to 105 ft/lbs once the engine has reached operating temperature, one thing I did over-look was the rear Core Plug on the Cylinder Head which duly started to spray a fine jet of antifreeze over the rear of the chassis which meant at trip up to the TR Shop in Chelsea for a replacement, then all was well.
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We were able to collect the tub in early January with the proviso that we could complete everything under the bonnet area, which did not give us much to do.
Firstly I fitted a Lockheed remote servo on the nearside Bulkhead. We drilled and fitted the pedal box and accelerator pedal assembly to the offside Bulkhead then we were able to bleed the brakes and clutch. We also fitted a battery Tray and a temporary battery.
I made up a loom for the overdrive and reverse lamp after fitting a lucas 6RA relay to the offside inner wing. I fitted two new horns and three earth straps so that everything was able to be electronically tested.
Graham has made an offside trap for the tunnel cover to enable access to the speedo- cable and angle drive. I will not fit the cover until I can get the Engine running again to make sure the over-drive is working perfectly.
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All cables and connections are in place in the engine bay and all the threads have been tapped out ready for the Wings, Boot, Bonnet and doors to be offered up and aligned to the tub. I have now returned the vehicle to Morris Avenue Garage at Manor Park to be finished off and painted.
I have received all the Chrome work back now and the interior is virtually ready for the car when we get it back from the spray shop.
Graham has made a solid oak Dash-board and solid oak door-cappings and they are currently away at the wood finishers to be varnished.
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Bradley and I collected the car from the bodyshop, where it had been for nearly seven months, on the Saturday before the Battlesbridge Show in September 2007.
The doors had been painted as had the bonnet. The wings were still in primer and fitted temporarily.
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I was given the OK to build up the cabin which we have now completed as far as we can.
The first item I fitted was a new loom which I purchased from Rimmer Bros. December 2005 shortly after purchasing the vehicle.
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I then fitted the heater unit, I was then able to run the Engine to temperature, check the timing and balance the carburettors for idling and choke speeds. Check and adjust the Overdrive Solenoid and make sure the Overdrive Unit was working correctly.
All the Air Ducts and switches are now installed and working,
The metal Dashboard Backing Mount, both tunnels over the transmission are now in place and a few Gauges are wired in and also working.
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We were not happy with the condition of the near-side front inner wing gutter, which was badly distorted from a ding that had happened in the USA before we purchased the car. Graham cut-away the top edge of the inner wing and made an insert to the correct shape which will be welded on soon. The gutter has now been reworked and back to its original shape.
The front wings and the boot-lid are away for work to be done on them.
The Rear Quarter panels and Surrey Top are back from the paint shop and fitted and I think look really good.
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We are now waiting for Arthur the body-shop man to make full and complete recovery from his heart operation to be able to paint the front wings and boot-lid. He will then be able to spray over the complete car.
We can then build-up the door interiors and have the interior trimmed’
With a bit of luck we should be all systems go for the Spring Time, but as they say “Don’t count your chickens” ah well never mind !
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