When I purchased the car the previous owner had been quite straight with me about the car having low oil
pressure. The engine had been subject to a full overhaul less than 10,000 miles previously with all bills to
prove from CTM. The trip home from Southampton was around 100 miles and but took some time due to a closure
of the M3. By the time I arrived home the oil pressure was struggling to get above 20psi even at 3000rpm.
Action was definately needed.
I put the car up on ramps a removed the sump. The oil pump was then removed and on investigation looked like it had been
used to pump sand! Seeing the state of the pump I thought that the rest of the engine would also be damaged. You can see
from the pictures that not only were the lobes worn but the oil pump shaft had also been badly scored. I removed a main
bearing cap and found to my relief that the crank journal was exactly what you would expect from a low mileage engine -
perfect. I checked the other journals and all was OK. Whilst I was lying under the car I could see that the camshaft
looked badly worn. What seemed to have happened is that for some reason the camshaft had failed depositing particles of
hardened steel into the oil. These passed through the pump but were prevented from getting any further by the oil filter.
So for now I fitted a new close tolerance pump from Chris Wittor and reassembled the car. The new pump restored the oil
pressure to something more reasonable. I ordered a new cam and followers from Chris Wittor which I fitted over the next
few days. The cams on these cars run directly in the block and on my car there was slight wear in the cam
journal bores. When I have time I will remove the engine and have it line bored and fit some cam bearings. But for now
with the new cam and oil pump the oil pressure is within tolerance and the car runs a whole lot better.
Electrical Mods
These cars were built with minimal fusing fitted to their electrical systems and fairly delicate switch gear handling the full power of whatever they were switching.
When I rebuilt my GT6 I fitted a 10 way blade fuse box and relays for high current devises such as the headlights. I decided to do the same for my TR.
The original fuse box was four way with only 3 of the fuses in use. Someone had fitted a Kenlowe fan and the connections for this were showing
signs of overheating. I had already fitted a relay for the fuel pump and run a larger capacity feed. I purchased the new fuse box from Autosparks
as it can be configured to split a single supply into multiple circuits. The connection can be crimped but I also soldered them to ensure that
they were both mechanically strong and low resistance. I used stackable relay bases and again crimped and soldered all of the blade connections.
I mounted the new fuse box and relays on an aluminium back-plate that picked up the original mounting holes on the inner wing. I ran a new high power
cable to feed the fuse box and fitted a master fuse to that circuit. Where possible any new cables required were added to the existing loom by stripping
it back and rebinding once the new circuits had been added. As can be seen in the photos there are 5 relays. Ignition, fuel pump, dipped beam, main beam
and cooling fan. I also fitted a new 96 degree fan switch in the thermostat housing for the cooling fan. Where joins had to be made in any cables, connecting the fan
for example soldered bullet connectors were used. Correct assembly pliers were used to push the connectors into their sleeves.