Hi everybody,
Uncovered some bad news a little while ago. I went home for spring
break
and started the process of trial fitting my new exhaust header and system
before sending it to High Performance Coatings for ceramic coating. Late
last year I remember having incredibly bad gas mileage and less than great
performane. Well, when I pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds off, I
found out why. The rear carb must have gone nuts and started dumping an
incredibly rich mixture into the combustion chambers. The intake runners
from cylinder 2 thru 6 were coated in crud, as were the valve stems. The
damage was worse and worse as I progressed to the later cylinders. God
only knows how the plugs were able to fire such a rich mixture.
Anyway, I obviously need to have my carbs rebuilt. It's been about 6
years, so they're probably due anyway. I had considered using Apple
Hydraulics, but they seem to be more of a mass rebuilder. What I'm looking
for is a smaller operation where they might be able to carefully dismantle
the carbs and tell me what went wrong, then rebuild them to a high
standard. I'd like to know what went wrong before putting everything back
together, as I hate unsolved problems. I remember hearing about a one man
carb rebuilding operation on this list a few months ago. Any details on
him or any other suitable carb rebuilders would be must appreciated.
Also, I am in need of an intake manifold. I have an early 6 with the
earliest style intake manifold (part no. 308088). This manifold has very
short runners which make sharp turns just after the cylinder head to intake
mating surface. This makes for poorish breathing I suppose, but more
importantly it means that the number 2 intake runner on my car makes
contact with my new header and doesn't allow the intake to seat properly.
There is a later intake manifold (part no. 311378) which fits on the early
head, but I believe it has longer runners that come straight out from the
head for more distance before turning inwards towards the carbs. This
manifold seems to be a bit rare, as it was only fitted to engine number
CC5000-CC75000, which is probably mid 1971 to 1972 model year cars.
Howver, if anyone has such an intake, please email me. Thanks so much.
Tim Holbrook
1971 TR6
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