Tuesday brought a kind offer from a friend to put TS2 up on his lift.
Evie and I met him through TR Register Dorset, which is exactly what the club is about. Like-minded souls, sharing a passion for these wonderful cars. He’s an ardent fan of early TRs, and I frequently see at least two that he’s rebuilt. Naturally, he jumped at the chance to have TS2 in his garage. His first car was a TR2, and he was keen to see how TS2 had fared over the many years she’s lived.
On the four-post, we got a proper look at her glorious underpinnings. We were pleased to note a reassuring spooge of fresh gunk sitting atop every grease nipple, and conspicuously clean surfaces around each drain plug and filler. Our friends at TRGB.co.uk had clearly given her a good pre-event service. The tidy, tight and clean underside (marred only by the traditional slow weep of oil anointing each low point with a single tear) really evidenced years of careful custodianship by Julian.
As with all mechanical things, there’s always a risk of unexpected wear or failure, and as these things have a habit of announcing themselves at the worst time, we dug through the spares box supplied with the car to check we had the common risk items.
We jacked up the front to check the wheel bearings and linkages for play, and found both sides very tidy. The off-side front had developed a bit of a bind over the last few hundred miles, but a quick adjustment freed the wheel and restored a matching pair. We opted to replace one of the lug nuts, as it seemed somewhat over-zealously fastened, and accordingly down on threads.
Evie made quick work of cleaning up the threads on the studs, and re-torqued all four correctly. We will go around the car again and check all are at the correct tightness as neither of us know the French, German or Italian for “do you have a breaker bar and a piece of scaffolding tube?”
The sump was dry, and there was no real sign of oil escaping the engine. Potentially she’s burning it. We will keep an eye. Up into the engine bay and with some advice Shackford had sent regards the erratic idle, we started pulling plugs. The front pair were an encouraging biscuit colour, but the rears were both very light. We enriched it by one flat and retorqued them. We’ll check again after the next decent drive.
TS2 seemed to have been sipping at her dashpot oil, so we topped them up to even. Whitworth spanner time. Got to protect those beautiful brass cap nuts.
Evie knows from her own adventures that the Brothers Rimm will sell you a clutch slave cylinder for a TR2-4a, but neither of us recognised the unit installed under TS2, nor its front-mounting setup. A little further investigation suggests models before TS13045 used a cast iron Lockheed unit, rather than the smaller bore aluminium Girling model. TS2 could be different, of course. The very early cars used combinations that were still being refined. No spare in the box, so I think this is something we will want to resolve and source asap.
The only thing we are hovering on is the brake lines. Currently resplendent with period correct hoses, I’m tempted to fit braided versions. Julian rightly warned us that this could increase the chance of locking up under braking. Decisions, decisions.
Evie drove the outbound leg, so I get the treat of driving TS2 back home.