Graham's TR4A rebuild

			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. At last after many hours of hard work you can see the fruits of their labours. A truly magnificent car!
			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.
			The panels came off in a day and none of the bolts was rusted - What a relief!

			The tub has been primed ready for painting and has been sent off for its new coat!.

			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			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.
			At last we were in the final furlong, we collected the Car from the Body-Spray Shop minus the Boot Lid on the 11th June, 2008. The Boot Lid needed a lot of repairing.
			We then fitted the wings and re-aligned the doors, fitted the Head-light buckets, Front Grill and head-light wiring leaving off the Headlamp Rims to enable the units to be adjusted when is was MOT tested. Next we fitted all the bright Wing Mouldings and Lamps. As an added extra we decided to fit Foot-well Lights which I wired up ready for when the vehicle returned from the Interior Trimmer. I also wired-up and fitted an in-line fuse for the interior lamp in the Surrey-Top which can only be operated when the vehicles lights are on.
			We started to assemble the Oak Dash, that Graham had made, the surrounding pads including the switches and their mounting bracket. The car went to the Interior Trimmer on 30th June and was completed within Seven days just one day before my Leyland Transporter was to be banned from the Low Emision Zone. We then set about fitting the seats after we had fitted the runners. I took the Windscreen Frame and Surrey-top to ‘Budget Windscreens’ on the A1316 to have the Glasses fitted now that the Frames had been trimmed, we fitted both Frames to the Car and aligned the Windscreen Frame. Both Doors were then built up with the various mechanisms and trims including fitting two new Wing Mirrors.
			Meanwhile I had contacted Gaydon with the commission number and requested a build date, within a week I had a reply stating that is was assembled at Canley from UK Manufactured Parts on the 8th July 1965, which was a bit of shock as all the Paper-Work that I had from the USA stated that it was a January 1967 vehicle. The Car was then collected with Trade Plates on the 11th August to have an MOT Test (on the Commission Number) and to have the Headlights Re-aligned. Then the fun started with the DVLA resulting with four visits to the DVLA Office at Chelmsford, the last one being with the Car. Finally they issued me with an age related registration number and then I had to wait a further ten days to receive the pressed aluminium number plates. On 1st September the car went back to the trimmer so that he could make a Soft Top Section for the Surrey Top to Terry Blake’s Soft Top Pattern. Finally we are able to enjoy the fruits of our two years plus of very enjoyable work restoring our Triumph.