TR-6: The Saga Begins
Well, I am finally official. I bought a British car. And as
I expected, it's not a car, it's an adventure...
It all started when a friend told me she had seen a Spitfire sitting
on the street in San Mateo with a "For Sale" sign on it. I go looking
for said Spitfire the next day, to no avail. However, I did see this
blue TR-6 with a "For Sale" sign on it. Upon closer inspection the
car has a "Miracle Auto Painters" $99 paint job on it, and seems to
have had some rust. The body is basically straight except for what
looks like a little bit of accident damage on the left front. There
is no convertible top, but there is a tonneau. The guy is asking
$2500. I figure TR-6's around here have been going for $3500 and up
in the local papers, so I'll check it out and if it runs I'll offer
him the $1500 I have budgeted myself.
I finally get a hold of the seller the next day and go to look at the
car. It has moved several blocks since the day before, I figure this
is a good sign. He says there is a problem with the throttle linkage
and the carbs don't open all the way so max speed is about 45 MPH.
He tells me it has a new alternator and the radiator and heater have
been recently repaired. He also has the remains of the convertible
top, and an aftermarket hardtop. We start it up, and sure enough,
the linkage has so much slop that stepping on the gas pedal doesn't
even bring it above idle. Working the carbs. directly under the
hood (bonnet?) gives some hope as the engine revs willingly. We idle
down the street a block or two and things basically seem to work, at
least as well as one can tell at 5-10 MPH. He already has one offer
for $1400, and another buyer will be looking at the car later that
evening. I tell him I'll call him the next day.
The next day he tells me he still has the car, the other buyer never
showed. I offer him $1500 and he complains that he has $1700 plus
his time already invested in the car, but grudgingly accepts. I then
race over in rush hour traffic since he has to get to school. I check
all of the numbers on the paperwork and the car, everything looks OK,
so I give him a check and he leaves for school, leaving me and a friend
to jury-rig the throttle linkage so I can get it home. After tightening
a few things up and taking up up some of the slop in the linkage, I try
to start it. Nothing. Try it again. Still nothing. It's starting to
turn over with less and less enthusiasm. Before I run the battery down
completely my friend and I run over to a local K-Mart and pick up some
jumper cables (I never had any, I never needed them for the MR-2) and a
gas can (the tank was nearly dry), get some gas and head back. By now
it is beginning to get seriously dark. We pour the gas in and hook the
cables up to the MR-2 to get some more juice. After several tries the
engine finally comes to life, revs up to about 2500 rpm for a couple of
seconds and then promptly quits. This happens several times. Of course
after each few tries we have to stop and let the starter cool off. At
about 9PM it is pretty black outside, and I finally give in and call the
tow truck. I pay the $35 and have it towed to my friend's house in
San Carlos since it is only about 5 miles away and mine is more like 25.
My friend thought it was going to be an easy evening, just drive over,
turn the wrench a few times and limp home. I'm laughing all the way back.
So the adventure begins. Today I head over to try and get it running
again by giving it a tune-up, although I am guessing there may be some
kind of fuel starvation problem judging by the way it would run for a
few seconds and then quit. The plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter, oil and
filter all look like the could use a change, so I'll see what effect
changing these will have. Anybody got any other suggestions/hints?
Luckily the car came with a Haynes manual in the trunk so I have
something to work from. It also came with the remains of the $200 TR-6
parts car the previous owner bought at the same time he bought mine.
There's another tonneau, an alternator, a starter, 2 Zenith-Stromberg
carbs, a steering wheel, dash parts, etc. If anybody needs TR-6 parts,
I'll look and see what extras I have.
Until the next installment of the Saga of Jeff's TR-6...
...getting greasier by the day...
Jeff Lo
jlo@elan.com, ..!{ames,uunet}!elan!jlo
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