List
Neither "The Vintage Triumph" article nor anyone on the overheating
string has mentioned retarded timing as a cause of overheating at low
speeds. I installed new points shortly before we left for Richmond (630
miles). The TR ran well, with the temp barely above the mid 70 band on
the gauge. We got into a concrete-bog nightmare on 495 and the temp went
right on up. The electric fan, water wetter and heater on full made
little difference. Once we got onto 95, things cooled down for the rest
of the trip, although it seemed the edge had gone a little off. The car
was harder to start and wouln't idle. I mentioned the retarded timing
idea to John Lye during tech inspection and he said yes that could do
it. We didn't have a timing light, which was just as well. The problem
was the point gap, which was about .006". The point gap has a major
effect on the timing, which is why the manual gives a .002 tolerance on
it. The rubbing block on the new points had "worn in" about .010" on the
trip. Took a feeler gauge and all of 4 minutes to tweak 'em back out to
.016". The car started instantly on the first turn and wanted to idle at
1500 rpm. I backed the idle screws down to 900 and let it idle for 20
min. The temp never went over 70, and the TR has run like a train ever
since.
Cheers,
Pete Fullam
63 TR4
FRED E THOMAS wrote:
>This is a quote from "The Vintage Triumph" issue # 90 Summer 2004= realizing
>that cooling problems usually arise from faulty parts somewhere in the system,
>rather than design flaws. The writer goes on to explain where and what to
>check out step by step. "FT"
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