Triumph Page 3

7/25/98 Finally got the tachometer mystery solved. The replacement cables were too long and pushed the mechanism together. I was driving up in Blue Ridge, Ga. (in the mountains, great driving) when the tach wound itself out and stayed completely pegged. Took it apart today. Here is what I did. Remove the face plate and two screws from the rear and remove the mechanism. Gently pry the needle off, careful not to bend the pin. Unscrew the face plate and what's left is in the photo at right.Remove the four screws holding the needle mechanism to the drive and clean it all up.

Careful setting the needle mechanism down as there is a pin in the rear portion you don't wanna bend or dull. You can see the point sticking out in the picture at left. What's left is the magnetic drive portion. Grab the magnet and see if it slides up and down some. It shouldn't. If it does, stick a Phillips head screw driver down the hole that the cable goes in and take a hammer and give it a couple good whacks from the top. When there is no more play, you're done. I put some graphite in the center of the hole on the magnet where the pin from the needle mechanism goes. Reassemble the mechanism and face plate but leave the needle off. The pan attached to needle mechanism (in where the magnet drive sits when assembled) should now move freely and spring back like it ought to. Set the needle in place lightly, but don't press it back on tightly. I used my electronic dwell/tach to calibrate. Attach the mechanism to the drive cable in the car and start your engine. Note the reading from the electronic tach and grabbing the needle pan in the rear at the magnet, so it doesn't move, set the needle to that reading. Rev the engine to some higher reading and verify accuracy. I found that I am reading 30 or 40 RPM high at 1000 RPM and maybe 20 or 30 RPM low at 2500. Close enough! Press the needle tightly in place, again holding the pan from the rear to prevent movement. Reassemble the case, don't forget to clean the inside of the glass while you're there.

Other days activity. My disk brakes have taken to squealing. I bought a can of spray "Brake Squeal Stopper" and applied to the pads as directed. Worked wonders.

08/07/98 I am in a deep state of withdrawal. Its been 5 days since I took the 6 into the body shop to have the tree damage and all the other nicks and dings taken out and a brand new paint job. Same Color. Today was visitation day at the hospital and I brought home pictures of the patient. It's around the corner from the local parts store, Atlanta Imported Auto Parts, and I took advantage of the summer sale to get the new dash top. Since I got that I also got a new rubber seal for under the windshield frame.

Also, last weekend one of the straps attached to the top frame came apart, so I got two new straps. The patient is expected to be released from the hospital in two weeks.

8/14/98 Here is some more pictures from the body shop. We're ready to paint. I have thumbnailed these last four pics so you can click on 'em and get full 1024x768 images if you want to.

8/22/98 Its Friday again so I dropped in on the body shop. Ready to shoot tomorrow. These are thumbnails too.

Well, here is the finished product. It looks GREAT! These pics aren't as good as I'd like. It was late afternoon and the light wasn't very good, too contrasty. But I just had to get some photos up. There are a few finishing touches left, such as the badges need to replaced and the decals too. I'll get 'em on this weekend. Still a little clean up left to do too. I stopped by the friendly neighborhood service station and blew the dust out of the engine compartment, the cockpit needs a good wiping out and vacuuming, dust everywhere. NO OVERSPRAY though.

8/30/98 Got the new dashtop and seal under the windshield frame installed. Put a new weatherseal all around the doors at the same time. Quite a pain getting the windshield frame

off, but the results with the new dashtop are well worth the pain. Also installed new webbing on the top, one of the old ones had broken. The entire effort has been well worth it, it looks and runs great. The engine compartment had become quite dusty during the body work so I thoroughly cleaned and degreased it. Can't imagine why that made the engine run better, but it does! I don't think the engine has ever been so smooth and powerful.

9/5/98 Picked up the parts to do the rear suspension. The springs were back ordered so I did it all but the springs. It was easy, and going back to get the springs will not be a problem. Put in new shocks and shock links, new bump stoppers and new bushings on the trailing arms. I used a 6 inch C-clamp with a piece of pvc pipe and some washers to press out the old bushings and press in the new ones. It was pretty easy. Only tough part was on the inside bushing, the bolt head faces the frame so it is necessary to remove the bracket from the frame. The nuts for the brackets are awkward to remove. I ended up using a deep-throated socket with a u-joint to the ratchet. Awkward to use and hold the bolt still. I had to conscript my son's help. The outside one faces the right way and can be removed without removing the bracket. I was going to get some pictures of it, but I was SO DIRTY I didn't wanna touch the camera. It'll be easy to go back and get the springs. I don't think I'd want to do the front springs without a spring compressor, but the back ones are easy without a compressor. Once the car is up on jack stands, use the regular jack to push the arm up, disconnect the shock arm and then lower the jack. Put new decals on the rear fenders. I'm glad the 69 had the "TR6" instead on the Union Jack. I never did like that as a rear decal.