Author Topic: British Car Day / 2004 Bronte Provincial Park Oakville (Read 643 times)

Torque · « **on:** September 20, 2004, 01:08:44 AM »

Over 1000 British Cars of all makes and models. Ranging from a 1927 Austin to Cobras. I was late getting there cuz the GF is a tard.

crowMAW · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2004, 07:17:54 AM »

Nice pics...

I have a '67 TR-4a (non-IRS), my father has a '63 TR-3B (the car in which my pregnant mother was taken to the hospital to give birth to me, and the car I rode home in), and one of my brothers has a '72 TR-6.

Replicant · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2004, 09:09:34 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by crowMAW
Nice pics...

I have a '67 TR-4a (non-IRS), my father has a '63 TR-3B (the car in which my pregnant mother was taken to the hospital to give birth to me, and the car I rode home in), and one of my brothers has a '72 TR-6.

Very nice Torque!

That MGA sure looks sweet!! What motor do you have?

CrowMAW, I take it you're all Triumph fans then!?

I used to be a mechanic at a garage that used to be a Triumph dealer (along with Jaguar, Land/Range Rover, MG, Rovers, Austins etc.) and although it was no longer a Triumph garage many customers would still bring their Triumphs in. I was fortunate to work on some old Triumphs.... TR4, TR6, TR7, Dolomite Sprint, 1500, Toledo... I adore the TR6 and GT6.... very nice looking cars! Never got to work on a Stag though!

What changes did the Triumphs have to under go to be used in the States? I worked on a US spec Austin Healey once and what with the US emission controls it had entirely different carbs among other 'concessions'!

That reminds me of when I was taking day release to attend college during my apprenticeship. They had a TR6 2.5 P.I. engine on a stand. It had a very small exhaust... about 2 feet to be precise with no bafflers! Our teachers wouldn't allow us to run the engine because it was too noisy but one week we managed to convince them to start her up. Wow... this engine sounded beautiful and with the short exhaust it had about 6 feet of flames coming out the back. The rest of the college soon came downstairs to complain about the noise but it was well worth it!

lazs2 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2004, 09:19:01 AM »

went to a meet a few years ago for Austin Healeys in tahoe.. I drove the my Healey.... there were like 800 big healeys... unreal.. All driving around tahoe... even about 25 v8 ones like mine. We were treated like red headed step children tho.

lazs

crowMAW · « **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2004, 09:50:04 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Replicant
CrowMAW, I take it you're all Triumph fans then!?

What changes did the Triumphs have to under go to be used in the States?

Yeah...we are a Triumph family.

There really were not many differences until after 1967. We didn't get the fuel injection like Europe did. So instead of the TR5 we got the TR-250, which was a stromburg carburated version. And then our TR-6 was a carburated car as well. A popular conversion is to at least switch to the SU carbs or to a triple weber set-up. The PI was sweet though. I got to drive a TR-6 PI and what a difference in the driving experience it made. Very smooth...no stumbling and stellar acceleration for the time period.

I love the orbital electric overdrive on the TRs. It turns the car into a 7 speed simi-automatic. A downshift for passing is just a flick of a lever away.

Replicant · « **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2004, 11:09:06 AM »

Yeah, the TR6 was PI here yet the GT6 remained carburated. I almost forgot the Spitfire as well, which used to be a very reasonable and cheap car to run; most spare parts readily available here.

I never liked stromberg carbs, I preferred the SU since it was such an easy carb to work with. Webers were great for performance but a biatch to tune.

Habu · « **Reply #6 on:** September 20, 2004, 01:02:03 PM »

I had a friend with a Spitfire in HS and knew another guy with a TR-6. Fun cars to ride around in. Kind of small for a guy my height. But they did not accelerate too good with two big guys in them.

Based on that I am sorry you will have to give up the name Torque in this group. I drive an 2002 250 diesel Ford Crew Cab, so I really deserve the name more. Perhaps we could call you torque-less.

Torque · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2004, 01:37:36 PM »

Definitely a good show for TR enthusiasts, they had a big selection from every genre, close to 500 TRs. Going from the original TRs right up the the 8's.

Huba what do you take me fer, i drive a GMC P/U with a 5.7 litre minus the crew cab, i'd smoke ya.

Sikboy · « **Reply #8 on:** September 20, 2004, 03:37:37 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Habu
But they did not accelerate too good with two big guys in them.

Odd, My Spitfire won't accelerate too good unless you drop if off a cliff.

-Sik

Habu · « **Reply #9 on:** September 20, 2004, 06:12:09 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Torque

Huba what do you take me fer, i drive a GMC P/U with a 5.7 litre minus the crew cab, i'd smoke ya.

The only smoke would be that from your spinning wheels as I dragged that lame bellybutton truck wannabe effortlessly down the road with my Ford.

Torque · « **Reply #10 on:** September 20, 2004, 08:46:14 PM »

Well Habu, the intent of this post was for a little bit of nostalgia fer the Brits on the board. I dinnea wanna turn it into a "my P/U is bigger than your P/U".

Btw, take me for a spin in that aeroplane and i'll let ya drag my P/U all over Parliment Hill if you so desire.

What is a "Habu" anyhoo?

Habu · « **Reply #11 on:** September 21, 2004, 06:51:37 AM »

Hey I was only jokeing. I have no idea if my truck would outpull anything. In my last truck I installed a full Banks kit and it had huge amounts of torque and HP. It was a Dodge with the Cummins engine. I fried the tranny in just under 1 year so now I just keep them stock. If you decide to upgrade the engine you then have to get a modified transmission and drivetrain and the costs just get too high.

If you ever want to go for a flight let me know. I keep the plane at Buttonville in the summer but own a hanger at Collingwood where I will keep in in the winter. I am tied up for the next few weeks but after that I have some free weekends.

I love to go to all the fly in's in the summer where you fly to Haliburton or Hanover or where ever and grab a hotdog and look at all the other planes for a bit then take off and head back.

Do you fly?

beet1e · « **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2004, 10:41:39 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Replicant
I used to be a mechanic at a garage that used to be a Triumph dealer ...... Never got to work on a Stag though!

LOL Nexx! With the reliability of those Stags, I'd have thought you could make a career out of working on those and nothing else!

They had a 3.0 V8 engine, which was notorious for having poor design for cylinder head cooling, and the heads would warp. Many owners exchanged the original engine for the Rover/Buick 3.5 V8 engine.

The Triumph 2.5PI engine was equally notorious for reliability problems. In standard tune in the TR6, it couldn't meet US emission control standards, which was probably why some detuning was done. Then Triumph brought out a new saloon, basically a carburated version of the 2.5.

As for the carbs of those days - SU were very reliable; you'd always get a first time start. Stromberg CD - had diaphragms which were prone to failure. Weber - I had a Weber twin choke progressive on a Cortina 2000E in the 70s. Good setup, but there was always a stutter at half throttle as the second barrel opened up. Ford was never able to tune that out.

crowMAW · « **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2004, 11:49:49 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
The Triumph 2.5PI engine was equally notorious for reliability problems. In standard tune in the TR6, it couldn't meet US emission control standards, which was probably why some detuning was done.

Detuned is too kind...castrated is more like it.

We got 109hp...everyone else got 150hp.

And of course it had reliability problems...Lucas made the injection!

Mini D · « **Reply #14 on:** September 21, 2004, 11:56:13 AM »

Wow... I see all those british cars sitting on a grass field and can't help but think about how much oil was leaked. The only way it could have been worse is if there were harleys there too.