Mike,
don't trust your gauche, my one shows 1/2 with a warm engine and I had the same
symptoms at my TR6. Try to measure the water temperature while the engine is
warm. Take care when you open the cap, hot steam may burn your fingers! Use
gloves and a towel and slowly unscrew the cap. I bet, the water is close to
boiling.
At the time the TR's were build, traffic was still not that heavy as today (at
least in Europe), so the normal air vent was sufficient. After 20+ years, the
radiator has lost 30 to 50% of its cooling capacity and the fan does not
produce
enough air flow during idle to cool the water.
This is what I did:
1. Added an electrical fan (scrap yard)
2. Bought a new water return pipe (lower connection at the radiator)
with a welded nut for a temperature switch (from Moss)
3. I got a Temperature switch from the scrap yard (actually several with
different operating temperatures)
4. Replaced my voltage stabilizer with a solid state type (10Volts) to get
a correct reading for temp and gas (that's optional, it has nothing to do
with the overheating)
If you are riding a long time at stop and go (+1 hour), I recommend a stronger
alternator. I got a Ford Fiesta (maybe its called different in the US) with
75Amps output. The late TR6 only has 35Amps. This gives me enough power to use
my head lamps as well. The car is pretty tiny and too many idiots driving
around.
Hope that answers your questions,
best regards,
Jochen Saal
Munich/Germany
TR6 74 US Model
Mike HIMELFARB wrote:
>
> I'm looking for some advice re a heat problem which affects idle and
> acceleration in my 76 TR6. Here's the scenario:
>
> 1) Cold start and normal highway driving are fine. Normal running is
> fine under most conditions.
> 2) When I'm stuck in traffic and hot air builds up under the hood I
> start to get uneven idle and, when I try to accelerate from a stop, the
> car jackrabbits and the engine behaves like it's starving for fuel.
> 3) This behavior appears once the temp gauge creeps over the 1/4 mark
> while idling. If I'm running on a very hot day and the temp creeps up
> while air is flowing no problems appear, thus my conjecture about hot
> air buildup under the hood.
> 4) When I turn off the engine when hot it is very difficult to start
> again, until it cools down below the 1/4 mark on the gauge.
> 5) Carbs are balanced and mixture is correct and set when warm. The
> carbs were cleaned and checked out a year ago so should be ok.
> Diaphragms are intact.
>
> I checked vtr.org and found an article related to calibrating the
> temperature compensators on the carbs which described most of my
> symptoms. I followed the instructions and calibrated both of them to
> start opening at 115F and fully open at 140F but no change in operation
> occurred.
>
> Obviously, because the tuning is done with the hood open the air temp
> never approaches stop and go conditions so I can't replicate the problem
> standing in the driveway.
>
> Here's what I'm considering:
>
> 1) Blame it on the temp compensators again but validate by loosening
> the adjusting nuts so they operate at a much lower temp. This way I
> should be able to replicate the problem standing in the driveway. If
> this works then I'll tighten them down so that I don't approach their
> opening temp until way beyond the 115F current setting.
> 2) I'd like to think an electric fan would help but I don't think the
> engine operating temp is excessive as it never goes beyond the 1/2
> mark. If I did use one I'd have to trigger it at a low enough temp so
> that it ran at the 1/4 mark.
> 3) Plug the passage being metered by the TC's to eliminate them from
> the equation and start troubleshooting elsewhere.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated as I don't want to waste anymore time
> than necessary on this. Can't drive the lbc to work right now because
> of this problem which is becoming frustrating with the beautiful weather
> we're getting in Toronto...
>
> --
> Mike Himelfarb
> Manager, Office Network Services
> Shoppers Drug Mart
> (416) 490-2754
>
>
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