PAGE 1 - Motorhead Tech Inspection; PAGE 3 - Roadtrip to Richmond; PAGE 4 - Tech Talk – Dashpot Oil; PAGE 5 - Juke Box Diner; PAGE 5 - Garage Spot - Wheels and Tires;

Down the Road; PAGE 6 - Classifieds, Events; PAGE 7 - Club info; PAGE 8 - Associate Membership

THE STANDARD The Official Publication of the

Capital Triumph Register Volume XIII Number 5, June 2001

Motorhead Tech Inspection Rich Townsend

(Continued on Page 2)

Saturday, May 19th, 2001 began as a warm drizzly spring morning. I was tempted to force a top-down trip east on I-66 from Manassas to Motorhead Ltd. in Fairfax. I thought better of it, and when the drizzle turned to a soaker, I was glad.

I arrived early because my TR6 was to be the subject

of today’s inspection demonstration by Motorhead techni-cian, Dave Schillerstrom. I caught Dave tidying up the ga-rage area for “company,” com-pany in the form of CTR loyal and curi-ous, which he was to entertain with his thorough analysis of the good and bad of one 1975 TR6.

Dave first took

the car for a test spin, popped the hood upon his return, and promptly made the following observa-tions (throughout this article I’ve numbered all the observations that correspond to a part that needs repair):

(1) Sloppy clutch pedal / clevis pin (2) Throttle opening – linkage adjust (3) Horn inoperative (4) Hot idle oil pressure 15 – 20 psi. Dave suggested

worn bearings or valve wear. (5) Spark plug color (white) indicates lean adjustment.

Charlie Brown, we need to talk. All this before the class had officially convened! It was

going to be a long day.

Now with the attention of the crowd and the plugs pulled, he set up for the compression test. This proved to be on the low side– 60 90 90 90 95 105 – (6) but the starter did not crank the engine fast enough for a valid test. This revelation

prompted more diag-nosis. An ammeter was connected across the starter leads, and indicated the starter was drawing 300 amps just to turn the motor with no plugs. CHA-CHING! Chances are the bearings in the starter motor were on their last legs, and re-placement is warranted (7). Most of the remainder of the inspection was

spent under the car, with the TR up on the lift. We moved front to back, the first item of scrutiny was the steering rack bushings. Mine are loose (8) which Dave says is typical, but not worn. He showed us a special spreader tool he had de-vised to make installation of new rack bushings an easier job.

We had a brief discussion about thermostat temperatures

(180 stock vs. 160 summer) which led to radiator questions.

Dave Schillerstrom (2nd from left) causes Rich Townsend (right) to cringe.

The Standard Page 2 June 2001

Motorhead Tech Inspection (Continued from Page 1)

One of Motorhead’s basic tenets is don’t run your engine hot. Dave noted my throttle shaft bushings are non-existent. I

knew that! The new ones are still in the plastic bag buried somewhere on my workbench (9).

(10) Fan belt too tight. (11) Water pump bearings worn (but not worn out). (12) Fuel filter installed backwards. (13) Front wheel bearings need adjustment. (14) Ball Joints maybe (15) Replace trailing arm bushings (16) Replace brake hoses. (17) Get a lube job on gear case and differential (on gen-

eral principle) (18) Rear axle bearings worn (but not worn out) (19) Differential is sloppy (takes after its owner). Here’s the one

we’ve all been waiting on – the Bank Buster (20). A hush fell over the garage, my armpits grew damp, a huge lump in my throat……

Dave reached

for his dentist mir-ror and called for uninitiated to draw near. The crowd crushed forward. Be-cause I was now near the back of the tightly bunched mob, I could hear only muffled segments of the commentary “right front………..left rear……….loud ka-chunk noises………differential mounts……….” Oh, the humanity! Say it’s not true!

But, alas, I have the beginnings of Differential Mount

Crackitis. I got my turn to peer into the dark recesses that are not evident at car shows or in the classifieds. In the mirror I could see that across the flange of the right front mount was a hair crack – no mistake. My mind flashes back to the drag strip at the 2000 Roadster Factory (TRF) Summer Party. One foolish dalliance, and now I must pay for it with……………money.

AAARRRGGGHHHH! That concluded the inspection of my TR6. I came away

with a confidence level in my car that I had not had before. I bought my TR6 three years ago mainly because it was gorgeous in my eyes, and the price was what I had in mind – strictly an impulse buy. I often wondered what gremlins were hiding under the Pimento enamel. Had I known when I bought the car, I could have had Motorhead do this in-spection, and armed with this knowledge I may have nego-tiated a lower price or even declined the purchase. Dave gave me the assurance that my car and the systems that make it up are basically solid. With TLC and a lottery win, I should be able to keep it on the road indefinitely.

You may remember way back last winter when Dennis

Eckhout made a cameo appearance at the awards din-ner………everybody remembers that. He waltzed out with the Oscar, no, wait, not the Oscar, it was a Motorhead gift certificate for $100 for making appearances at numerous CTR events in the year 2000. What you probably don’t remember was that I sat through the entire evening and gra-ciously accepted 2nd place to Dennis for my tireless com-mitment to having fun at CTR events. Well that commit-ment earned me a Motorhead gift certificate for $75, which to the more mathematically inclined is precisely 40.5% of a Rebuilt Starter Motor.

I whipped out that gift certificate faster than you can

say “three busted knuckles on a Saturday evening.” I could go and on about that evening, but suffice to say I made the switch, the new starter cranks very rapidly, and all I have left to do is return the core to Larry Rittinger.

Dave imparted many valuable tips to the shade tree me-

chanic, and recommended several brand name products that work well for him. If you would like to get the same in-spection on your TR or Spitfire, call Motorhead Ltd. di-rectly for more details. The inspection is well worth the peace of mind you get from knowing that your car might be suffering neglect in one area. The inspection gives you a good idea of where to start or in the case of this TR6, which parts will most likely be going to the TR graveyard next.

BOG Reprise – Road Trip to Richmond Paul Edelstein

The Standard Page 3 June 2001

(Continued on Page 4)

Those of us who did not have our fill of early-season car shows at CTR’s BOG embarked on an adventure to the Richmond Triumph Register’s annual show, the British Classic Car Meet at the Boulders, on May 6. While Rich-mond seems a little far to travel for a one-day show, RTR stalwarts (and Tidewater Triumph Register stalwarts, for that matter), routinely trek to our area for BOG, the Hunt Country Classic, and British Car Day. So, we figured we’d return the patronage and have some fun as well.

Our day began at 8:30 at McDonalds in Dumfries – a

convenient meeting place for fellow adventurers Rich Townsend, Don Burns, and I, since we all come from dif-ferent directions. Rich and Don met up in Manassas, then cruised down Route 234 to the meeting place. After scarf-ing down some of McD’s culinary breakfast delights, we hit the road. We arrived at the Boulders on schedule, at about 10:00, after an uneventful trip down 95.

The Boulders is a very large (and growing still) subur-

ban office park just west of downtown Richmond, reminis-cent of, say, Fair Lakes. In past years, the show has been located in a grassy field surrounded by trees and a pond. This year, however, it seems that the show was a victim of overbooking (a wine festival occupied the field), so the show was relocated to a parking lot.

Ugh, you say, parking lot? Not too bad, really. As

parking lots go, it was pretty nice. Brand new, lined with trees on two sides and a new mid-rise office building on a third. The weather actually made it a good choice – having been very dry, it was said that the wine festival was very dusty. Being cool and overcast all day, there was no “baking on the tarmac” effect. So, they made lemonade.

And, the best feature was that the office building provided marble rest rooms with running water and paper towels. It also provided the club with an office to count ballots – a nice feature that I, for one, can appreciate.

The show itself seemed well attended. It had a differ-ent demographic from BOG. Where BOG had scads of Rolls Royces and Minis, they had Jaguars too numerous to mention as well as an eclectic assortment of vintage Land Rovers. Unlike BOG, they also had a very good turnout of TR2s and 3s. Included among them was CTR members Jack and Carol Schmelyun’s long-door TR2 (which, by the way, was one of only 2 side-curtain TRs at BOG). They sure do get around.

There were a surprising number of cars that were also

at BOG. In addition to all of us, Mike Jones (from VA Beach) was there with his TR7 (“Black Widow”) (he really gets around), David Williams and Jim Coleman (from DC and Richmond, respectively) with their TR6s, and at least four other cars that I noticed. I guess we’re in the same neighborhood after all.

The show also had a number of vendors, including

Fourth Gear, Ltd., CTRs regalia supplier. There were a couple of vendors with spreads of treasures (as in one per-son’s garbage is another person’s treasure). One of these vendors had several boxes of items labeled “anything in this box $1.” You get the picture.

Jack Schmelyun and his TR2.

Paul Edelstein and his TR8.

The Standard Page 4 June 2001

Tech Talk Dashpot Oil and Peformance

Sherman Taffel

Rich, Don, and I reconvened for a tasty lunch of North Carolina Barbeque, served from a unique walk-through trailer. Shortly thereafter, Rich and Don headed home. I decided to stick it out for the remainder of the day. Voting closed at 1:30. The awards presentation be-gan roughly on schedule at about 2:45. RTR President Ken Nachman distributed the day’s spoils in a unique manner – instead of calling the winners to the dais, he used a wireless microphone and went around to the indi-vidual classes to hand out the awards. Jack and Carol got a first with their TR2, as did I with my TR8.

The trip home was swift, and not nearly as enjoyable

as the trip down. I-95 was bumper to bumper at 75 mph. It’s no wonder the number of traffic calamities on that road. Best I can guess is that there are a whole lot of out-of-state people anxious to get where their going, and there really isn't much between Richmond and DC. I ob-served many NC, MD, and FL cars (in proportion to VA cars), not to mention the long-haul trucks, and U-Hauls doing 60 or less in the left lane causing 12-inch following distances across the board. You can't even drive in the right lane, because that is reserved for Bubba in his pick-up, Dad in his SUV trying to impress the kids, and gen-Xers in their tricked-out Civics doing 90 trying to pass the U-Haul. If you get in their way, boy do they get, well, irritated. Road rage waiting to happen. In sum, it’s not fun. At least it didn’t rain and there were no traffic jams. I did not stop, and made it home in less than 1:45.

Rich Townsend’s observations:

The TR6 classes, early and late, were represented by approximately eight cars each. Since I did not get a prize, obviously mine was #4 on the voting.

I thought the Spitfire turnout made for a real study of

those cars, at least for me. I took some time to inspect the early ones, which goes back to my misspent youth and high school days. The first British sports car I ever drove was a new ‘67 Spitfire, which was bought for a neighbor friend by his parents for HS graduation. It was their way of saying, “Giving you this car will give your friends something to talk about when they're 50.”

I guess they usually have a better setting. I much prefer

the setting of BOG, Hunt Country, or BCD in Bowie. Don and I had wall-to-wall 75 mph on I-95, too, on the

way home.

Roadtrip to Richmond (Continued from Page 3)

I am very interested in the issue of engine response with different weights of oil in the carburetor dashpots. Since 1968 I've always used 3-in-1 oil in my Stromberg-carbed TR4. I've always been conscientious about checking dashpot oil level and rarely have ever found the level completely “non-existent” - although I have found that diaphragm condition would effect the relative level.

When hesitation or sputtering occurred which, when stud-

ied, was NOT related to choke setting when the engine was cold, I usually found replacing the weakened diaphragms solved the problem.

I also remember that the race tuned TR4s specified NO OIL

in the dashpots. Of course, we are talking fine distinctions here, and saying

that, if I am interpreting other’s opinions correctly, a heavier weight of oil in warm weather-lets say 80-100o OAT, will give a better “immediate” acceleration when throttle is applied, but the lower weight oil will provide a “smoother” acceleration across the RPM range as one increases RPMs. So if I was plan-ning to take the car for a “rally” around country roads, I would choose straight 40 WT to induce a “spirited” response, but if I were to be in and out of “stop and go” city, or on an interstate drive where smoothness and minimal “startling” experiences are expected, then 3-in-1, 20WT, marvel mystery, ATF, or 10-30 would be more appropriate.

Treasurer’s Report Joe Cannon

CTR treasurer Joe Cannon provided the following report on our club’s finances: the balance on February 28, 2001 was $5,125.89 with net change of $2,806.56 yielding a balance of $7,932.45 on June 13, 2001. The net change is the result of $10,595.13 income and $7,788.57 expenses, both largely a result of Britain on the Green (BOG).

Down the Road (But not too far)

Art Fournier

The Standard Page 5 June 2001

The Garage Spot Wheels and Tires

Ira Schoen

Check your tire pressures -- I don't think many of you are driving your Britmobile on Firestone ATX M/S, but tires do loose air, just sitting. I won't bore you with my racing experiences, but suffice to say, it's not unusual to loose several psi a month (or a week/day if you have porous alloy wheels without tubes.) Changes in ambient tempera-ture also affect the pressure, as well as normal (and fast) driving. Check the manufacturers' recommendation -- but never start with less than 20 psi cold -- I would say 24 psi cold all around is a good base line. Checking hot tires is a whole other story.

I want to remind those of you who have wire wheels to

periodically check them for trueness, and whether all spokes are tight and accounted for. Check those hubs for play, confirm the hub threads are still serviceable, and make sure you are tightening the knock-offs in the opposite direction of forward rotation. When replacing tires with tubes, replace the tubes as well. Generally speaking, you should replace your tires with the same size as originally equipped, especially if you have the original size/type of wheels.

Reprinted with permission from the British Touring Car Club

(BTTC) Newsletter, March and April 2001

CTR Regalia

Golf Shirts $27 (M, L, XL ingreen, blue or red)Caps $15Patches $6

Prices do not include shipping -- itemsmust be picked up at a CTR event!

Contact Charlie Brown at (703)527-3298 or cb1500@erols.com

CTR has several events planned the summer and fall months. Some of these have been on the books for awhile; some are brand new.

Information on the Juke Box Diner impromptu car

show in Annandale were provided in the May issue of The Standard, but as a reminder the Triumphs will move in on muscle car turf on Friday, July 13th. Look for complete information on CTR’s web site (www.geocities.com/cap-triumph), or contact Paul Edelstein at (703) 914-0507 for details.

Want a chance to prove to your friends in CTR that

enough of your lights work that you can safely drive your Triumph in the dark? Paul Edelstein is organizing a Lucas Evening Tour for Saturday, July 21st. Details are still being developed, so we can’t use the newsletter to give you more than this “heads up.” Again, look to the web site or contact Paul. (But beware! Lucas, Lord of Darkness, lurks behind the 3-position switch on your dashboard: off, dim, and flicker.)

Tuckers aren’t little British cars, rather they’re the re-

sult of one of the more interesting experiments in American post-World War II car production. Of the 50 (or 51) pro-duced, 48 remain. Of these, 3 are in a private collection in Alexandria, Virginia. The collection also includes a test chassis, hardware, videos and other memorabilia. We’ve arranged a tour on the afternoon of Saturday, August 25th. Art Fournier is the point of contact; details will be in next month’s issue of The Standard. If you’ve seen the movie, this is a tour you won’t want to miss!

The good people at The Washington House in Arling-

ton, Virginia, have asked our support for their Antique Auto Show on September 15th. They’d like to have 5 or 10 of our cars come out for this event that supports their non-denominational, nonprofit continuing care facility. Keith Dunklee is CTR’s point of contact.

Dates have been set for some of our recurring events —

look to the events calendar on page 6 for these. The sum-mer and fall of 2001 are shaping up to be busy for CTR!

The Standard Page 6

CLASSIFIED

C.T.R. assumes no responsibility for quality or condition of merchandise listed herein. All transactions resulting from listings are strictly between buyer and seller. NOTE: Ads shall run on a space available basis for 3 issues. To rerun, please resubmit your ad at end of period. TR6 Parts, OEM Alternator, Rear shoes-new, oil cooler-dirty but new, yellow set spark wires, OEM chrome air filter cover, two electric radiator fans, green hose set-used, spin-on oil filter adaptor-new, radiator fan (red, 13 blades), OEM steering wheel, 3 wheels and 4 sets of inner wheel hubs, radiator fan (yellow, 8 blade), plug wire set, green, used, mechanical fuel pump-new. Smiths tach-used, level shock (left side with connecting arm), electric fuel pump, Bill Miller, wmiller4@gscyclone.com Breaking 1978 Spitfire 1500. Body shell is brown. No windshield. Contact Eric Hagerty (703) 370-4253 evenings or parkave@pressroom.com WANTED - Factory TR6 Hardtop. Contact John (301) 421-9638 TR6 Diecast Models - 1/18th scale - new in the box - only 2 available - black with black hood (top) in the up position. Hood opens, wheels steer, excellent reproduction. $25.00 each plus shipping. Contact Rich Townsend at

EVENTS All listings including “*CTR*” are events at which club points will be awarded. Jun 20-23 - TRA National Meet, Hunt Valley Jun 24 - NEMGTR British Car Day (and CTR Picnic) Allen Pond Park, Bowie (Sign up early!), René Burcksen, *CTR* Jul 13 - MACC “Cruise-In at the Juke Box Diner,” Annandale, Paul Edelstein *CTR* Jul 21 - Lucas Evening Tour, Paul Edelstein *CTR* Jul 29 - British Car Show at the Virginia Scottish Games in Alexandria Aug 10-12 - TRF Summer Party, Armagh PA, Paul Edelstein Aug 22-25 - VTR National, Breckenridge CO, Glenn or Terrie Sorensen, (303) 220-9742 or tsorensen1@earthlink.net Aug 25 - Tucker Collection Tour, Alexandria, Art Fournier *CTR* Sep 8-9 - 7th Annual British Car Festival at Altoona PA, hosted by the Central PA British Car Club, Jim Pastore, (814) 942-7742 or mgnut@msn.com Sep 9 - Cruisin’ for Crustaceans, Art Fournier *CTR* Sep 12 - CTR Business Meeting at Bentley’s Restaurant on Rt. 50 in Falls Church, open to all members - we welcome inputs from all CTR members, Joe Cannon Sep 15 - Washington House Antique Car Show, Arlington, Keith Dunklee *CTR* Sep 29 - Wings and Wheels at Hummel Air Field in Uptown Topping near Richmond, (804) 758-2753 or wingsandwheels@hotmail.com Sep TBD - CVBCC British Car

703-257-5697 or email retwizbang@aol.com TR6 Hardtop - Aftermarket fiberglass, good condition. $300.00 Call John Boston 301 421-9638 1973 TR6 plus many spare parts (transmission, rear end, 2 doors, gas tank, guages, axles, etc., etc.), $3,500. Contact David White at 410-867-0562 WANTED - Vacuum Control Valve for 1969 TR6 Emissions Control System. (Not available here in Europe). Contact Andreas Gomoll at gomoll@b.igh.com TR6 Model Kit - Apollo metal kit, approximately 3-1/2 inches in length, right-hand drive, new (disassembled), $10, contact Art Fournier (410) 535-0690 or fournier@ chesapeake. Net Spitfire Parts – Full hood (no rust), fiberglass hard top, bumper, headlight rim, etc., Eric Rollins (703) 768-0039 or zmanfanatic@juno.com 1972 GT6 MARK III – A restoration project: Color is Damson Plum. Overall body in good condition but floor-pans in the foot-well only are rotten from a windshield leak. Otherwise the car is solid. Engine will need work, transmission is pulled and needs a clutch. Have a box of new parts including new muffler, brake and clutch master as well as front end rebuild kit, carb kits, etc. Car is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia and would need a flatbed transport to its new home. This is a great – father/son project car. Asking $400 but will consider other offers such as a trade for MG parts. Contact: Brian LeCouteur, daytime phone:202 962-3393 or e-mail: blecoteur@mwcog.org 1969 TR6 - Partial restoration, white with tan interior, +/- 8,500 original miles on title, engine rebuilt to 0.03 oversize, rust surface only, all panels with extra doors, overdrive, H4 Lucas headlamps, restored original dash, complete new exhaust, etc., $6,500 negotiable, Chris Daucher, (703) 451-5292 or cdaucher@hotmail.com

June 2001

Show, Richmond Date TBD - CTR’s first Ladies’ Choice event *CTR* Oct 4-7 - SVRA Blue-Gray Challenge at Summit Point WV Oct 6-7 - Deep Creek Lake Overnighter, Paul Scuderi *CTR* Oct 21 - Hunt Country Classic, Middleburg Nov 3 - Go-Karts, Paul Scuderi *CTR* Nov TBD - T4 Tech Tour *CTR*

The Standard Page 7

Membership Renewal / Application For renewals with unchanged status, return your mailing label.

Name ____________________________ Address____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ Phone ____________________________ E-mail ____________________________ TRIUMPH’s owned__________________

Annual Dues - $20.00, or 2 years for $35.00 SAVE $5.00!!!

Checks Payable to C.T.R.

Please complete this form and return to:

Don Burns 43264 Clearnight Terrace

Ashburn, VA 20147

CLUB OFFICERS President Paul Scuderi (301) 353-0903 Gaithersburg tr6_guy@hotmail.com Vice President Paul Edelstein (703) 914-0507 Annandale pgedelstein@hotmail.com Secretary RJ Fortwengler (703) 243-6426 Arlington fortwenr@nasdaq.com Treasurer Joe Cannon (703) 280-4104 Fairfax jpc8904@yahoo.com Events Directors Bill Wemhoff (703) 471-8276 Herndon wemhoff@erols.com René Burcksen (301) 963-4518 Montgomery Village rburcksen@aol.com Club Liaison Charlie Brown (703) 527-3298 Arlington cb1500@erols.com Membership Don Burns (703) 724-0678 Ashburn spitfiredjb@aol.com Members-at-Large Karl Johnson (703) 978-4968 Fairfax ktjark@aol.com Terry Sopher (540) 729-4268 Tampa FL Trs62tr@aol.com BOG Coordinator Keith Dunklee (703) 521-2245 Arlington kdunklee@egginc.com

Updated CTR website

www.geocities.com/cap-triumph with members’ photos and a lot more!

The Standard Published by the Capital Triumph Register

Editor, Art Fournier 4729 Willows Road, Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732-4221

Phone - (410) 535-0690 E-mail - fournier@chesapeake.net

The STANDARD welcomes any submitted material for publication, however, neither it’s Editor nor CTR accepts responsibility for accuracy of article content or any damage or injury resulting from suggested modifications. Articles may be submitted in writing, by mail or FAX, or on MS-DOS disk. Photos also welcome. If any material must be returned, please include self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Model Advisors

TR2 & 3 Larry Rittinger (703) 812-9620 lrtrbits@erols.com TR4 Keith Dunklee (703) 521-2245 kdunklee@egginc.com TR250 & 6 Arleigh Cottrell (301) 627-6637 RaceNutz@aol.com Joe Cannon (703) 280-4104 jpc8904@yahoo.com TR7 & 8 Paul Edelstein (703) 914-0507 pgedelstein@hotmail.com Spitfire Charlie Brown (703) 527-3298 cb1500@erols.com GT6 George Earwaker(703) 204-1104 Stag Glenn Minucci (301) 862-5433 gminucci@paxr.veridian.com

June 2001

The Standard 4729 Willows RoadChesapeake Beach, MD 20732-4221

Postmaster, Dated Material Enclosed

CTR Associate Membership Signs of the Times

NOTICE Deadline for articles for the next issue of The Standard - July14th (Bastille Day).

PHOTO CREDITS Pages 1and 2 Art Fournier, Page 3 Paul Edelstein.

Is there someone in your family who would like to become more involved with your Little British Car hobby? Or someone you’d like to see more involved? Someone who is a little too young to drive or have a regular CTR membership of his or her own?

The CTR Executive Steering Committee has authorized Associate Memberships

for young people in the families of our regular members. There is no extra charge for associate memberships, which will cover the same period as the sponsor’s mem-bership.

Associate Members will receive their own CTR membership cards — just let

CTR Membership Secretary Don Burns know the names of the young people to be recognized.