More Rear Suspension Progress !

The trailing arm brackets are mounted to the frame, and the Nylatron bushings and sleeves are installed in the trailing arms, so let's bolt them up !  Wait a minute not so fast...first I need to measure and fit spacer / washers provided in the Good Parts rear bushing kit.
These special washers/spacers, sized from .010 to .080, are stamped "1" for the .010, "2" for the .020, etc., and go on each side of the sleeve/bushing assembly. They are designed to provide a clearance of  .002 to .012 between the spacer and the bushing...try different combinations until the spacing is correct.  Bobby D has an excellent explanation on his web site.   http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/TrailingArmBushingInstall.htm

The sleeve fits against the inside of the spacer (on left), and the outside or "top" of the spacer (on right) will tighten against the bracket. (The sleeves slightly extend out beyond the bushings.)

 All buttoned up

I got to admit, getting both trailing arms back on the frame made me feel pretty good !

Well, now that the T/A's are in place, I can think about installing the rear shocks and springs.  Last winter I sent my lever shocks off to Peter Caldwell at World Wide Auto Parts for rebuilding. Peter got good reviews from the 6-Pack gang and rebuilds shocks for many British / European cars...old and new !

Just torque down two new stainless steel bolts on each shock and your done! Oh, from the lessons learned department, be extra careful about the threads on the frame when putting on the POR-15...you would be amazed how hard it is to get the bolts into those threads once the coating has set up !

 Ok, now comes the tough part...getting the new springs back in place.



 I ordered  new stock height springs, urethane packing for them, and two urethane rear link assemblies from TRF.  My spring compressor was again called on to compress the new springs once I had them in place with the new packing.  The rear link assembly is fastened to the shock first, then as the spring is compressed, the T/A comes up high enough for the lower bolt on the link to be fastened in place on the T/A.

Once the fasteners are torqued down, you're ready to move on !

Rear Suspension and a Cool Canopy

It's time to move on to the rear suspension, but first, wife Rhoda is concerned about me working in the afternoon sun.  The Man Cave entrance faces west, so by 4pm I'm getting the full sun effect, and even with a fan running it gets pretty hot. A trip to Lowe's provided the answer...a pop-up  8' X 10' canopy that was inexpensive, is easy to put up and take down, and takes a big  bite out of Mr. Sun's rays.

Once the heat issue was addressed, it was time to mount the new adjustable trailing arm brackets from Good Parts. These brackets control the rear camber and are a big improvment over the stock non-adjustable brackets.

I forgot to take pixs of just the brackets mounted to the frame, so we have to settle for photos that include the trailing arm!

The rear trailing arms were cleaned and painted last fall and have been waiting to be re-installed.  New rubber plugs from TRF were ordered to close up the casting holes, and new Nylatron bushings were ordered from Good Parts. Nylatron is self -lubricating, moly impregnated bushing  that doesn't compress under load like rubber or polyurethane, improving handling / steering response.  Some folks point out that a car equipped with Nylatron bushing rides harder because of this lack of compression...hey, this is a sports car, it's supposed to ride a little rough !   Below are two of the Nylatron bushings and the stainless steel sleeve provided in Richard's kit.

When Triumph was manufacturing these parts, it was far from a exact science, so the new bushings are made slightly oversized to accommodate the variances in trailing arms. It's up to the installer to hone the T/A mounting holes for the correct fit. 

Another complaint I heard about Nylatron bushings was that they would squeak. On one of the 6-Pack threads, a pre-lubricant made by Energy Suspensions was noted for it's ability to eliminate this problem. I had to order it from a local hot rod shop, and it's really sticky, but I'm hoping this will stop any unwanted noises. 

 Honing the mounting holes in the T/A for the bushing to fit is a very tedious process. You want the bushings to be a tight fit, but not so tight that the stainless steel sleeve can't be pushed in by hand. Well, I ended up with two of my bushings being too tight for the sleeve, and there isn't a way to remove the Nylatron bushings once both are installed without destroying them. Now what ?! 

It seems I'm not the only guy to have battled with the Nylatron bushings.  Bob M. (BM80), from the 6-Pack, also had problems, but he was smart enough to come up with a fix. Bob figured out that a 23/32 adjustable hand reamer from MSC Industrial Supply can be used to shave the inside of the Nylatron bushings enough to allow the correct fit for the .751 sized sleeve. Bob even checked with Richard Good to confirm this wouldn't be a problem. Thanks Bob !!

This is a hand reamer, but even so, be very careful how much material you take out.  I was amazed that the little bit I removed allowed my sleeves to fit perfectly.

With shipping and tax, the reamer ended up costing me $42.00, so if any of you 6-Pack folks find yourself  in need of one, send me a PM and I'll loan mine out, your only cost will be shipping it back to me.

Parts That Help You Stop and Turn !

There is nothing like spending a few hours at a British car show to inspire working on your own car !

I'm at the point where front brake calipers and the steering rack are ready to be installed.  Last winter I sent my front calipers and steering rack off to TRF's C.A.R. shop for rebuilding by Tom Spadafora.  Tom takes your original parts, completely disassembles, cleans, then  reconditions them into better than new with things like stainless steel pistons in the brake calipers. 

I elected to upgrade to the EBC "green stuff" brake pads.  Made with Kevlar, these pads provide 20% better braking (claimed) and users report better initial bite when braking, plus less brake dust.

Hey, this is starting to resemble something automotive !

My rebuilt steering rack from TRF and Richard Good's solid machined aluminum steering rack mounts. I don't have a pix of the rack before, but it wasn't pretty !

The rack in place ready to be fastened tight.

When I first started reading the 6-Pack threads, I came across a post that was talking about the steering rack "button" and how you mustn't loose it.  I never did find the original one on my car, so I was glad to see my rebuild included the white button that controls the feel /tightness of the rack.

All done except for inserting the tie rod ends into the steering arms.

British Car Show Time !

 June is prime time for classic car shows, and sports car folks can enjoy a very nice show put on by the Lake Erie British Car Club called "The British Return to Fort Meigs".  For those of you not familiar with Northwest Ohio history, Fort Meigs is on the Maumee River in Perrysburg, Ohio, and was the site of a very decisive battle during the War of 1812.  American General Anthony Wayne convinced the Brits they really didn't want to stay in Ohio after all !  Today, Fort Meigs is a historical site complete with a  re-created fort and lots of grass fields to park British sports cars, motorcycles, etc.  Here are a few pics of some of this year's cars.

Below, a really nice '68 TR250 !

For you non-Triumph folks, the TR250 was a one- year only car that had the body from the older TR4A mated to the new six cylinder engine destined for the TR6.

What says British sports car better than wire wheels !

One of several beautiful Jaguars

I don't think I'll get too much argument by saying the MG TC/TD cars of the late '40's are really responsible for the sport car fever that swept the US for the next 30 years.

Here is a wonderful example.. a 1949 MG TC.

What's a British car show without a Rolls Royce ?

Complete with dining fine china and silver !

I'll finish up with a very nice TR6 in British racing green.

Front Brake Rotors, Wheel Hubs, and Jack Drews Axle Upgrade

Well, it's June and I'm finally back in the Man Cave. 
Wife Rhoda ordered this sign for over the garage door....  :-)

The new EBC brake rotors from TRF bolted to the front hubs with grade 8 bolts, lock washers, blue locktite, and 35 lb ft on the old torque wrench.

Here are parts for the front hubs:Timken wheel bearings, Chicago Rawhide (SKF) seals, and Mobil One wheel bearing grease

Installing the new bearing races in the hubs should be a walk in the park, right?....well ,almost.

The 6-Pack guys said to use the old races to tap in the new ones....ok, that was easy, but wait, when I trial fit a hub, something was wrong...the axle stub didn't seem to be long enough.  Ok, you sharp eyed folks see the problem right away, I only tapped the race down flush with the top of the hub ! ( Hey, I said I was a novice!)

Let's try this again.

 That looks better.

One small upgrade I made over stock was the SKF, a.k.a Chicago Rawhide, grease seal. The stock seal (on the left) is a felt type material that you need to soak with oil, while the modern seal uses a flexible lip to control the grease from flying around. Thanks to H.G. on the 6-Pack for this tip !

Here is the seal installed on the axle stub

The above photo has a spacer installed on the axle stub because this is part of the upgraded axle kit from "Uncle" Jack Drews. A set of shims is sent with the kit, and it is a trial and error method of fitting the hub and bearings against the spacer until you get the correct size shim. Bobby D has the complete "how to" for this upgrade on his excellent web site:  http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/StubAxle.htm

By the way, the tab washers (above pix) were bent up against bolt heads before I buttoned things up!

It's pretty hard to tell a .004 shim from a .007 shim without a caliper! 

The axle upgrade requires 50 lb ft of torque be applied to the castle nut. If you have the correct shim in place, you can still spin the hub. In my case, .007 was the correct shim size.

The above photo gives an idea of how the bearings and axle spacer will live together. The .007 shim goes between the spacer and the outer bearing.

Packing the wheel bearings....my Dad showed me how to do this back in the early '60's and nothing has changed, except Dad didn't have cool gloves!

All buttoned up !  Please note: if you are using the stock axle stubs, you don't torque down the castle nut to 50 lb ft.  That is used only with the upgraded axles.  Check your shop manual for details. 

Here is a small item that I needed to find a replacement for....the plug that goes in a hole on the top of the lower wishbone. I only had one left, and this plug is used to keep rust/gunk out of the top portion of the wishbone...the lower portion has a stud that is used to hold on the spring pan. After some looking around at my local hardware, I came up with this solution:

These plugs are just about the right size, but first, I filled the cavity with wheel bearing grease....

Now the plugs go in ,and the excess grease gets wiped away.

The plugs could be a bit tighter fitting, but the next larger

size is too big.  I guess only time will tell if this works out ok, but it looks pretty good, and the grease will stop any rust from forming inside the cavity.