2/14/99 Some inquiries came up over my alternator arrangement. I am using a Nissan alternator from AutoZone. The AutoZone number is 14185. Its a "Duralast Import". It cost about $44.00 and came with a lifetime replacement warranty. When I bought my car a PO had already made the conversion. My alternator replacement is not quite a bolt-on replacement, but the alternator does not need to be modified. What you need is an extension arm for the top attachment to reach further over toward the wheel well. I did have to remove the fan from the alternator to make it clear the top mount extension. It does not seem to have affected the life of the alternator. Save the fan and put it back on if it ever fails before you take it back.
I also had to replace the spacer in the bottom mounting with a couple over-sized nuts and washers selected in-and-out until it had the right amount of spacing. You can't really see it in the picture below, but perhaps you can get an idea.
2/22/99 A new problem surfaced. All was well on the streets, but spend 10 minutes on the freeway and the engine would start to cough and sputter and speed would drop to about 40 mph. It felt like it was starving for gas. Stopping even for a moment would clear it up, for another 10 minutes. I had noticed some crap in the fuel filter (its clear) and had picked up a new one. After a particularly annoying drive to Court in the suburbs I came home a bit early to swap out filters. The old one had a not insignificant amount of crud in it and the inlet was almost completely blocked. I stuck a pointy thing up into it and it was quite hard. I was able to poke through it, but the fuel flow through it had to be severely constricted. Yet I never saw the level in the filter to be low. Went for a cruise on the freeway and all is well.
3/6/99 Drove down to Savannah, Georgia a couple weeks ago. Its about 250 miles from here. My son and I drove down Friday afternoon and back on Sunday. I-16 from Savannah to Macon is extremely boring. The car drove well and automotively was uneventful. Tune up time. I have decided these things really need a full tune up every six months. New points, plugs, condenser, rotor, dizzy cap. Miscellany: New Drivers Door checkstrap, hood latch. Top running condition. Bring on the the summer. I am ready for top down weather. I have also checked the valves and pulled the carbs to check the float chambers for crap after the fuel filter was so dirty. I also changed the throttle shaft seals on the rear carb. I have the set for the front, but didn't get to it. Idles real smooth. I have decided that sync'ing the carbs is best done at a high rpm, as recommended elsewhere. Cranking the idle screws up to 2k or so is a lot easier to get good readings than at idle and 2k or 2500 is closer to where you want to be in sync anyway. Lock 'em together and back one way off and use the other one to set the idle, Bring the first one back to where the idle starts to rise again and back off.
4/8/99 My 69 is exempt from emissions testing, but I was curious about the readings, so I paid the guy $10.00 to do it in training mode. No reports to the state (BTW Georgia). It seems that had I been required to be tested I would have passed, but I am not sure what some of the numbers mean. I browsed through Bentley's looking for the CO numbers, but all its says is to make them normal without ever telling what normal is. My impression is that they are too low and that I am running too lean, which confirms my suspicions such has been the case. Anyway, here are the results, comments desired.
950 RPM |
2500 RPM |
|||
| Reading | Allowed | Reading | Allowed | |
| HC-ppm | 299 | 600 | 75 | 600 |
| CO% | .47 | 6.00 | 2.44 | 6.00 |
| CO+CO2% | 14.1 | 6.00(min) | 15.7 | 6.00(min) |
Of other interest was that the database did not have TR6 as a 6 cylinder, it insisted it was a 4 cyl. Otherwise the car is running great. No news on repairs as there haven't been any.
4/16/99 I have decided that the numbers above indicate I am, in fact, way too lean. My carburetors are the correct ones for a 69, but the pistons have been replaced with later year ones to allow adjustable needles. The stock adjustable needles run much leaner (it was after emissions control became more stringent) than the ones in the earlier carbs. Needles are needles, but the housings are different. I played with some junk needles from the parts store and found that the adjustable housing can be disassembled and the needle removed. I have bought two new needles that are the "correct" fixed ones. The fixed housing had it top end crimped, so I ground it down past the crimp and was able to remove the needle, but it destroyed the housing. That's ok as I have no further use for the housing. I then reassembled the adjustable housing with the new needles. Sometime this weekend I will install them and report back. I guess I could have gotten some photos, but I didn't. 4/17/99. Got the new needles in. It seems to start better and idles very smoothly. What's most noticeable is that it seems to be quite a bit cooler at full running temperature. Seems to be somehow gutsier in acceleration. Gave it a good wash and wax too. I am going to take it to the station in the next few days and get a new CO reading.
5/14/99 A veritable burst of activity. I decided to buy the CO meter JCWhitney's has for $120.00. My CO was around 8.0% I brought it down to 2.8% and think its a little lean to tomorrow I am going to set it to 3.5% and see how that is. The label in the car that supposed to tell me what the correct CO is, is missing. Bentley's doesn't give a figure, but my Autopress book says 2.5 to 3.5%. BTW the CO meter was bought online. Took exactly the seven days they said it would.
My differential started making a surplus of noise, so I swapped it out for the spare I had sitting around. I also replaced the rear right bearing housing that had developed some play. My brakes had developed a serious amount of vibration to the steering wheel when braking hard. The rotors had never been replaced so I replaced them, put in new pads, of course, and the improvement is quite remarkable, very smooth and easy to operate. Finally, as long as the front end was apart I pulled the steering rack, changed the rubber booties, regreased the whole thing. All this is prepatory to a trip to Florida in two weeks and a trip to Colorado in four weeks.
7/1/99
Just got back from Colorado. 5028 miles in two and a half weeks. Smooth
driving all the way. Had a stuck float valve in Glenwood Springs, CO. We sat in a
Harley dealers parking lot and removed the back carb and blew it out. Put it back
and all was well. The leak in my tranny also became more severe and twice I had it
toped up. The guy I found in Estes Park had Austin, Morris and Riley
mechanic certifications on
his wall. He was thrilled to have an LBC drive up looking for aid. Only saw two
LBC's the whole trip. An MGB between Mesa Verde and Cortez in southern Colorado and
an MG Midget somewhere between Tupelo, MS. and Birmingham, AL. The picture above was
taken near the top of Independence Pass (12,200 ft.) south of Aspen. I made no
adjustments for the altitude and none were ever needed.
As soon as I got back the non-return valve on the brake booster started leaking vacuum. Pulled the vacuum booster to clean, replaced the valve and all is well.
7/11/99 I took the car into the Doctor to let him pull the tranny and replace the front and rear seals and all the gaskets in the tranny. That portion of the operation went without a hitch, but the tapered pin holding the fork to the clutch shaft was broken (again). If you have been following this saga you recall I replaced it six months ago. Turns out that the pin had a little play in the shaft and was not tight fit. Due to the large pressures involved it didn't take long for a little play to turn into a broken pin. New pin and new shaft still had play in it. Therefore we used some JBWeld and welded the darn things together. No play now! I realize that will create some problems when it needs to be removed, but the pin's hole can be drilled out and the fork separated from the shaft. Both parts will need to be replaced. In the meantime, its probably the first time there has been no play there and the clutch does feel much smoother than it ever has before.
People have been to this page.