Well, after some recent sheetmetal work prior to the "show" on Father's
day, I've been having lots of fun with the TR4. Until today...
Good news: Removed exhaust system, patched all holes in it, welded
together all parts except 1, re-attached. Removal process broke 1
manifold stud. Bummer. Gonna be lots of fun fixing that, I'll probably
do it when I do the carbs. In the meantime I'm going to use a C shaped
piece o' steel to "fake" the third stud. However, even with the (slight)
exhaust leak, my mileage went up to 29 MPG from 22! That's a big bonus in
my books, I have to drive a *long* way to get anywhere.
Which leads me to tonight's misadventure (moral first: do not drive when
tired). Went to meet with my brother and a few of his cronies to discuss
software development. I'd picked up a power steering pump for his Camaro
this afternoon (junk yard special), but forgot I had it until 5 minutes
*after* I left the meeting. No prob, quick U-turn, back to university,
he's gone home. D'oh. Proceed to his place (in town), he's not home.
D'oh. Stash power steering pump in not-so-obvious place, stick note on
door, about to leave, brother comes home (hmm, I'm not quite sure how I
got there first...) Talk to brother, yadda yadda. On leaving, my
headlights don't turn on right away. I chalk it up to minor gremlins
(HINT HINT... THERE ARE NO MINOR GREMLINS).
OK, everything's going smoothly, except I ran a red light (didn't see
it... see moral above) and drove the next 30 miles or so on the edge of my
seat... didn't want to do any more stupid stunts. The TR4 solved that one
for me - halfway between nearest town and my home, the headlights go out.
All of 'em. This is a bit disturbing as 1) I don't think the guy in front
of me is going to my house and 2) there's no moon tonight.
Luckily, (er) very luckily, (ahh) extremely (no,) PHENOMENALLY lucky am I.
The car behind me is my next-door neighbor. He used to fly in the Air
Force (and crashed his jet off a carrier) and also had a stock-car, so is
no stranger to minor incidents. He noticed my plight (probably due to me
wiggling every switch in the car in an effort to get my lights back),
passes me, makes hand signals. So, it's just a simple drive home in
near total darkness, with me tailgating. Needless to say I'm still all
wound up.
Next project will be patching in a Chevy headlight switch. And relays for
the 100W headlamps I'm going to get. And driving lights.
-Malcolm
* There is a FAQ for this list! Its new home is:
http://www.islandnet.com/~walker05/triumph/trfaq.htm
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