PROBLEM
You would be driving along at 70 + and the engine would suddenly start cutting in and out. Drive along for a few more miles and then the engine would cut out completely. Wait about 2 minutes without doing anything, restart the engine and everything would be fine. Initially this would only happen once in a while but eventually it happened on a regular basis. So I took the car to EFI expert and all the sensors on the engine were checked and all were fine. Of course, the engine never evidenced a problem whilst been checked.
In spite of all this checking, the final straw was when the engine cut out three times on the way home from Shrewsbury during July 2000. The next evening I sat down and analyzed the thing. I was convinced that there was nothing wrong with the sensors. The only thing that remained to be checked was the ECU, I knew that the previous owner had changed the EPROM on the ECU many times. The next evening I removed the ECU from the car and dismantled it, I removed the EPROM that is only secured with sticky tape and is a push fit on the ECU printed circuit board. The EPROM turned out to be extremely loose.
FIX
With a soldering iron (and making sure that you are wearing
wear an earthing (ground) strap so that you do not damage the ECU PCB components)
carefully re-tin all of the EPROM contacts with solder. The PCB is double
sided so the contacts on both sides of the PCB have to be tined. Re-assemble
the ECU, refit the EPROM and now you will find it is a very tight fit.
Secure the EPROM with new sticky tape ( I used tank tape). Fit the ECU
back into the car and start the engine. Since I did this, I have had no
problems with my engine on this score.
It's pretty simple, really. Take a pound or so of paraffin wax and grind it up with a cheese grater. Soak it in a half gallon of mineral spirits until all of the wax is dissolved. This might require allowing it to sit in a closed container for a couple of weeks. Stirring will cause most of the wax to dissolve, but soaking should take care of the rest. Generally try to dissolve as much wax as the mineral spirits will hold.
After that, dump in a couple of pints of mineral oil ( less of a bad smell than other oils )or a cheap non-detergent motor oil. If the mixture is thick, thin it further with more spirits or oil until it is of a sprayable consistency.
Buy one of those inexpensive cheap engine sprayers at the local auto or tool store that carries air tools. It is a metal wand with an air fitting, a spray button and a rubber tube to dip in whatever you are spraying. Rent or borrow an air compressor.
Safely elevate your car so that you can get at the underside. Spray this solution you made onto and into every crevice, crack, hole, and surface you can get to. Then let the excess drip off. The beauty of it is that the stuff will soak into any spots rust can happen. It will also bleed into the smallest cracks and folds of the body and protect there, too. (It should be done with new cars or those which have had all rust removed. If you repeat this carefully every year, rusting may be reduced.
N.B. Please note that waxoyl has no impact properties, lasts for a very limited period and cannot deal with existing rust. If used over rust, it will seal in moisture and hastened the rusting process.
SETTING THE TIMING ON A TR2/3/4
The TR2/3/4 is designed to have its timing set statically. Set it this way:
With the ignition OFF for safety, always turning the motor over by hand in the normal direction of rotation and position the crank at 4 degrees Before Top Dead Center (BTDC).
Use the vernier adjuster and a 12 volt test light to set the points so that they are just opening, with the light clockwise, and with thumb pressure on the rotor. Mark the crank pulley for 4 degrees BTDC (as the diameter is 5.55 in. 4 degrees = .1936 in (as in 0.2")
This is much easier and more accurate than the manual's TDC-and-fiddle instructions. Good tuners actually check that the TDC mark is accurate. If you choose file a notch in the pulley as an indication, radius the notch so that it is not a place for a crack to start.
A dwell meter and/or dynamic timing light are fine diagnostic tools for this vintage distributor, but NOT the way to set these adjustments.
ADDENDUM: In TR 2/3/4 Workshop
manual published by Scientific Publications, Sydney, (1965) it gives
the TR2/3 distributor (type: DM2P.4) cam angles (dwell) as:
Open 30° +/-
3°
Closed 60° +/- 3°
The points gap is given as 0.014
- 0.016."
TR4 Overheating Issue
by Michael D. Miles
Like many TR motored Plus 4s, mine seemed to like to run very hot (needle just kissing the underside of the Hot marker on the scale) but I recently observed something.
The half-dozen times I've been out this spring the car has run well for an hour and then seems to start running rougher and hotter. It appears to have little to do with traffic but it manifests itself in rough running and sputtering under load (starting at traffic lights). Once up in the RPMs and steady, it smooths out.
Knowing that I have leaky throttle shafts got me thinking about whether it was running lean which got me poking around the SUs. I then noticed that the forward carb piston had almost no damping on the upstroke. I squirted in some damper oil (how much is enough? I simply loaded it until full stroke produced a drip out the breather hole) and drove for almost two hours without any abnormal events.
My speculation is that the forward carb may have been running lean without the piston moving properly (under-damped) and the extra lean running was causing the occasional sputter, still more heat, and low torque.
I am pulling the TR4 engine
out of my '63 plus four for some serious fun. It's all ready
to go (I think) everything is disconected but there are three studs at
the top of the bell housing that seem to be holding it to the engine and
I don't want to break anything at this point since.
Cheers, Scott
They are fixed studs, with nuts off take a wide blade screwdriver and lightly separate the two units and then pull the engine forward or you can "rock the block" with a bit of tension on the engine pull chains and separate it that way.
VERY IMPORTANT, you are also doing a separation of the "long prop shaft" that connects your trans to engine. You must come straight out until the shaft clears the back of the crankshaft and clutch assembly or you will bend the "QUILL" which is te two inches that plugs into the pilot bearing in the end of the crank. BE CAREFULL, as to replace that shaft you will spend a few bigger bucks. It is hard to make straight when bent. Go easy and take your time.....Sincerely, John H. Sheally II
The TR engined cars never came with aircleaners, no room. They can be fitted with a carb change. Your car should have the short intake manifold. If you change to a HS6 carb in place of the H6, you gain enough room for something like a Stellings & Hellings unit.
Here is a picture, from Arto Peltonen in Finland, of a '59 Plus 4 with an aftermarket aircleaner. There are listed, as well, in some Morgan Agent's catalogues.