Well... all you crazy TR lovers.....
Tonight.... my TR4 is a car again with a living and breathing engine. IT
FEELS WONDERFUL!!!
I installed the engine in the car last Saturday with the help of 2 local
Massachusetts TR nuts.... Barry Fox and Craig Della Penna. We were a real
great team. Sunday, I started the "hook everything up" routine but got
strangely exhausted by the end of the afternoon. So I quit.... not wanting
to make a serious mistake.
By that night and all night I was hugging the bowl for all my life not
knowing whether living or dying was the better alternative. I was a
washed out rag.... good for nothing but sleep and moaning.... until
Wednesday night. A real bummer... I couldn't muster an ounce of interest
in the car.... that says a lot based on the hours I have put into this car
since taking it off the road in mid October.
Last night I fell into a trap you all must know about. I tried to hook up
my gas line to my reassembled fuel pump. Well I must have spilled a 1/2
gallon of gas. What a dumb system to not have a fuel shutoff somewhere...
or at least I could not find one. I should have gotten the hint, back in
the Fall, when I had to put 5/16 drill bit into the hose to remove the
pump.
While the fuel pump was apart in a plastic bag the cork gasket on the
sediment bowel dried out and was absolutely porous. Gasoline everywhere. I
cut a new cork gasket out of sheet cork and it sealed up tight.
Tonight I made up a new rubber connector with a fuel shutoff valve
inline.... the kind you have on your lawn tractor or snow blower. That
worked fine. Then just when I thought I was cool.... cranking over the
engine.... I smell gas again. Well this time the dummy never re-hooked up
the outlet pipe from the fuel pump... DAH.
I then double checked everything and choked the carbs and cranked. Bingo
the engine came to life in after about 10-15 secs of cranking... what a
feeling. And purring like a smooth kitten to boot.
Life is good. I could not have done this without the generous help of all
you folks. Thanks
Brian Sanborn
62 TR4 CT16260L - Groton, MA
My TR4 Restoration Web Site
http://www.net1plus.com/users/sanborn/Triumph.html (under construction)
E-Mail: sanborn@net1plus.com
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