April 1998
March 16 - April 6, 1998: Ah yes, the "more power" numbers 3331281948.4...... it has
nothing to do with cars but without it I couldn't do this site. It's just a new PC: a
P-333, 128 meg of ram, a 19" monitor, 4 meg of video and an 8.4 gig hard drive. But
it's taken about two weeks to move 3 years worth of files from the old PC to this one.
What a pain but what a nice PC!
March 26 - April 6, 1998:Same car, same picture...... well PhotoShop does let you flip the
view. The left picture is the right side while the right picture is the left side. Got
that? Take a close look at the rear wheel. See anything different? On March 26th I found
the alloy wheels I ordered from Victoria British sitting on the front porch. I put the car
up on jack stands, pulled all 4 wheels, put them and the alloys in the Subaru Wagon for a
trip to the Firestone store. I arrived there about 8AM Friday morning and explained to the
manager that I wanted 4 alloys back in the same perfect condition that he was getting them
in. Let's just say I've had baaaad luck with wheels and tire stores...... 3 wrecked Audi
alloys, directional tires mounted backwards etc. and to think they earn their living doing
this stuff! Picked up the newly mounted alloys an hour later and put them back on the
TR6. The first two went on with no problem, but number 3................. what the heck? A
different mounting surface for the lug nuts. Three of the wheels have a flat surface for
the lugnut and washer to snug up against. The other wheel had a tapered coned surface,
plus when mounted it almost hit the upper control arm. Definitely WRONG! A call to
Victoria British results in a weekend wait for "inventory control" to verify
what went wrong and correct it. Guess what?! They sent the wrong wheel and said they'll
send the correct one overnight at no charge. Guess what? It's a week later (April 6) and
no wheel. Guess what? They "forgot" to send it overnight! I also found that the
control arm would brush the correct rims at full lock so I installed Cragar wheels spacers
on the front. I've still got a full 1/2" plus of thread so there should be no
problem. It's been a pain but I love the look. Until wheel number 4 arrives it's 3 alloys
and 1 steel wheel (on the left rear).
April 1, 1998:
The other back order arrived today and I guess it is April Fool's
Day. It's the new valve cover and I'm not sure I like it!
April 6, 1998: Alloy wheel number 5 arrived today and is loaded into the trunk for
a trip to Firestone. When I pulled into the parking lot, the manager came out to
greet me and to check out the car. After explaining what had happened, he directs me into
a bay and puts one of his guys on changing the tire over to the new rim. Twenty minutes
later it's on the car and he refuses to charge me anything. And it wasn't even his fault!
That's great customer service.
April 12, 1998: The Easter Bunny brought some Triumph treats: Triumph logo carpet
mats and stainless logo door sill plates. Boy did I marry a great bunny.
April 14, 1998: I've been shopping for a new steering wheel and settled on a Grant
black leather wrapped stainless 3 spoke wheel. The spokes and the billet (?) are shiny
stainless and match the bezels on all the gauges. It should be in in about 10 days.
April 15, 1998: The car's been idling high and running a little rough lately so I
tried adjusting the carbs per the Haynes manual. Little tiny turns of the needle valve,
lift the air valve, listen to the engine....... by the time I'm done, it's running richer
than it was when I began......... which I know is wrong. It runs OK, but I know it should
be leaner in the warmer weather. I leave Bob Wanta an email and he gets back to me "immediately" telling me
to stop by for a free adjustment. What service!
April 18, 1998: Time for a ride to UPS to drop off the Alloy wheel and valve cover
I'm returning. I found out that the valve cover won't fit by calling Moss and asking about
their valve covers. As soon as the guy learns the year of my TR6, he tells me it won't fit
without modifying the EGR valve mount. WHY couldn't Vic Brit tell me this when I ordered
it from them?? I think I'll follow Bob Wanta's advice and just get
the existing cover chromed. After shipping the stuff back, I head on down to Bob's for my
carb adjustment. Bob uses 3 things to tune carbs: an Allen wrench, his ears and his touch.
No special Stromberg tool, no hose to listen with, no tiny adjustments........... just
years of experience and a great knowledge of these cars. Ten minutes later he's done and,
as usual, the car runs great. Boy is his shop packed with great cars in various stages of
restoration: 2 red 67 Healeys, a couple of TR3s, an XKE, MGA, MGB, Midget. Everything from
frame offs to engine rebuilds.
Let's see May's
work......more
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