Hi
Just a few things 'bout me & my TR4:
Regular readers may recall in the last episode that I had an overdrive
installed, which worked fine `till it got hot once or twice whereby
the "grab" coil in the solenoid wouldnt disengage, thus it presents a 15A+
load on the car. It did this a few times until I was prepared to catch it in
the act - its been fine since ...
Undeterred by this lack of co-operation, I've pressed on with the next
phase, namely the conversion to Right Hand Drive. I brought the car
back with me when I worked in California, and its been running around
here in the UK in its LHD mode & I've got quite used to it. However, I
always said when the steering rack got overtired I'd consider the conversion.
I had previously purchased a RHD dash at great expense - within a couple
of months they were remanufactured and were available for almost half what
I paid!
Anyhow, the rack had become very worn & the
steering was terrible. The conversion is more fiddly than difficult
and some welding and cutting is required. You need RHD dash trim
parts (which are unbelieveably expensive), speedo & tach cables
and a handful of grommets & plugs, plus a rack. The clutch & brake
pedals can be moved over, but the accelerator linkage needs some custom
work. The wiring loom can be pulled about & will fit.
As ever, I farmed out the work to a friend of mine with the "knowledge"
and I helped out on the weekends.
The result is workman-like job & overall I'm pretty pleased with the result.
A front sway bar was also fitted & for the 1st time ever the car steers
properly. Some minor mishaps did occur, noteably the oil pressure gauge
pipe was forgotten to be reconnected hence oil went everywhere, plus
brake fluid had got severely spilt around the pedal box. The carpet
in the footwell must have suffered a welding-induce fire too!
I was not too sure about taking cutting gear to the car as it (was) quite
a nice example of an American spec. TR4, but I live "over here" now
so its more convenient - going round corners at speed against the
"wrong" camber in a LHD vehicle can be interesting, as I discovered,
plus its a hassle to lean across to get at car park ticket machines &
so on. So, there you have it.
Obligatory Sworking: Getting the gearbox tunnel off & on is a real
pain but I'm getting pretty good at it now; but I must have Struggled
for about 2.5 hours trying to fit the mid-point exhaust hanger; just
a simple loop of aluminium round the pipe to attach to a point
by the gearbox ... good grief ... finally did it ...
A couple more things:
1) I'd like to recommmend the
Northern TR Centre
Sedgefield Industrial Estate
Cleveland
TS21 3EE
England,UK
tel: 0740-21447
as they provide prompt & generous service & were kind enough to
give me credit for a number of surplus parts I had. Part exchanging
is the way to go!
3) Grose Jets - worked fine for me.
Regards, Adrian
asj@dsbc.icl.co.uk
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