Here's something of an epilogue on the timing problems with my
Triumph ('74 TR-6). When I last posted I had tried setting the
timing and found that while the car idled a little more smoothly
it still had very little low-end power and backfired upon rapid
acceleration. The vacuum advance was a bit flaky, but did not
seem to be responsible for the problems.
Since then I had noticed a lot of carbon/soot buildup in the
tailpipe, which I took to be a sign of a too-rich mixture. While
I didn't really feel like creating an opportunity to learn about
the carbs I did want to squeeze some more power out of the car, so
I ordered a flow meter and color tune kit.
This past weekend I started out by trying to sync the carbs and
found that the front carb was providing very little (if any) power.
The plugs looked OK, so I started poking around and found that the
"wonder piston" in the front carb didn't lift up when the throttle
was opened (as did the one in the rear carb). A quick disassembly
found that the rubber diaphragm was full of holes (I just love obvious
problems). While I was happy to find the problem, I was more than a
little annoyed in that last month I paid one of the local LBC shops
$125 to tune the carbs, and one of the claimed services was the
replacement of both diaphragms. This week I'll go in and see what
kind of an explanation they can come up with.
I picked up new diaphragms at Scotland Yard in Denver and found out
that they are closing up shop (I got my parts 5 minutes before they
closed on their last day of business). I don't know how long they've
been around, but within two months of my buying a Triumph they went
belly up. Hmmmmm. They said something about an auction this week,
but I didn't catch the details.
Back in the garage I installed the new diaphragms and noticed a world
of difference. The carbs balanced nicely, and the engine accelerated
well. There's still an occasional backfire through the rear carb on
rapid acceleration, but I can live with that for now. The road test
was great -- the car actually moves!
Next weekend I'll try my hand at the color tune kit. As usual, any
and all suggestions are more than welcome.
Ron
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Ronald C. Hood U S WEST Advanced Technologies
hood@uswest.com Boulder, Colorado
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