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TUNING STANDARD TRIUMPHS
OVER 1300 cc
David Vizard

SPEED
PORT
MOTOBOOKS

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FIRST IMPRESSION FEBRUARY 1970

85113-029-1

Printed and Published by


SPEED AND SPORTS PUBLICATIONS LTD
Acorn House Victoria Road Acton London W.3.
(c) Copyright 1970 by Speed and Sports Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

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contents
page
INTRODUCTION 7
chapter 1
OVERHAULING THE SIX CYLINDER ENGINE 11
chapter 2
IMPROVING THE LUBRICATION 21
chapter 3
BOTTOM END PREPARATION 25
chapter 4
MODIFYING THE EARLY 6 CYLINDER HEAD 33
chapter 5
BIGGER VALVES FOR EARLY HEADS 47
chapter 6
MODIFYING THE LATER 2000 AND 2500 cc HEADS 53
chapter 7
MODIFYING THE TR4 HEAD 63
chapter 8
THE ULTIMATE HEAD 69
chapter 9
PORT MATCHING AND DOWELLING 75
chapter 10
SPRINGS ROCKERS PUSHRODS AND TAPPETS 77
chapter 11
ENGINE INTERCHANGEABILITY 81
chapter 12
STRENGTHENING THE BOTTOM END FOR COMPETITION 85
chapter 13
LIGHTENING ENGINE COMPONENTS 89
chapter 14
HIGH PERFORMANCE CAMS 95
chapter 15
CARBURATION FUEL INJECTION AND MANIFOLDING 105
chapter 16
ASSESSING THE RESULTS 109
chapter 17
THE TRANSMISSIONS 111
chapter 18
SUSPENSIONS AND BRAKES 137
chapter 19
BODYWORK MODIFICATIONS 153

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INTRODUCTION
IT would appear that over the last be used, ones, that is, which vary con-
decade, Triumph’s policy has been to siderably in size, weight and power
introduce a car of a basically modern output, we must build the rolling chas-
design-and, over a period, develop it sis to cater for the most powerful en-
to suit various markets. This policy gine it is likely to have fitted. This
has been adopted in preference to the means the car can be a little over-
more normal method of introducing weight for the smaller engines, thus
an entirely new car for a given mar- resulting in a more sluggish car than
ket. is really desirable.
Up to a point, this type of thinking For an example, to take the Her-
must be commended. Since the ma- ald/Vitesse range of Triumph cars.
jority of Triumphs are endowed with The early Herald with its 948 c.c. en-
a respectable level of roadholding and gine and an all up weight of around
braking power, the only items which 17 cwts. could hardly be considered
become vastly changeable are the the spriteliest of machines, rather it
power units and transmissions. Since should be considered to be the heavy-
the non-sporting driver is unlikely to weight amongst 1 -litre vehicles. With
complain if the car has a far higher the introduction of the 1200 the weight
level of roadholding than he is ever to capacity situation improved but was
likely to use, the manufacturers have, still not altogether remedied. When
in effect, killed two birds with one the 1600 Vitesse came along things
stone. The two birds in question are, took a turn for the better. Here we had
of course, the sporting and the a car which was not unduly heavy for
nonsporting type of driver. its 1 1/2litre power plant. Not only did
There is inevitably a disadvantage the car have-a good weight to capac-
when going about things in this man- ity ratio, but also an engine whose
ner, and this can be easily summed output could be substantially raised
up as a weight penalty. If we design a to produce a relatively quick machine.
car in which a range of engines are to But for competition purposes the 1600

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Vitesse still lacked the edge needed number of us who could entertain the
to make it a successful race machine. feasability of such a project down to
When the capacity of the Vitesse was a very small minority. Our best plan is
increased to 2-litres and the G.T.6 to ignore such a scheme and stick
was introduced, one would have ex- with the more conventional pushrod
pected the competition scene to layout. If we really went to town with
change substantially. It would not down draft heads, fuel injection, etc.,
have been unreasonable to suppose etc., we could achieve a possible 190-
that these two cars would have domi- 195 b.h.p. from the engine, although,
nated the competition in their respec- might I say, this figure has yet to be
tive classes, but this has not been the realized. Straight away we find we are
case. Half the reason for this could down on the power of the F.V.A. en-
be that old ideas die hard. The thought gine by 25 - 30 b.h.p. To a certain
of one of Triumph’s products sweep- extent this deficiency can be offset.
ing the field and making hay with the By an intensive lightening programme
rest of the competition may not yet involving the use of as many
have caught on. The idea that it could fibreglass components as possible,
be possible and that they should do the weight of a Vitesse can be re-
so is not altogether unreasonable. duced to just under 15 cwt. so a little
Let us look at the situation in an of the lost power is made up for by
analytical fashion and compare, say, having slightly less weight. Even so,
the 2-litre Vitesse with some of its our power to weight ratio is still down
successful competition rivals pro- by 8-1/2%. There is a possibility that
duced by other manufacturers. For we can offset some of the disadvan-
our purposes a good comparison tages of this lower power/ weight ra-
would be to see if we can achieve a tio in the suspension department.
machine with a similar performance Unlike the F.V.A. Escort, the Vitesse
to an F.V.A. engined 2-litre Escort. If has an independent rear suspension.
this can be done, then without a This means we have less unsprung
shadow of doubt we can say a Vitesse weight to contend with which theoreti-
can be competitive. cally should result in better road hold-
The F.V.A. Escort has a 2-litre en- ing. Against this must be added the
gine producing a power output in the fact that the Vitesse is one of the few
order of 220 b.h.p. The overall weight cars which still utilizes a chassis which
ready to race is about 15% cwt. and in all probability is not as stiff as a unit
suspension is independent at the front construction body. The result of this
but not so at the rear. The rear end is that our carefully planned suspen-
on these cars is served by an ex- sion geometry may not follow the ex-
tremely well located live axle. How act motion it was intended to. In point-
would our hypothetical race prepared ing this out I may be leading you to
Vitesse compare with this ? First off, believe that even a fully developed
we should find it very difficult to match suspension will be inadequate for our
or even approach the power output purposes. This is not the case. The
of the F.V.A. engine without resorting Triumph rear end will give better re-
to very expensive twin overhead cam sults than a conventional solid axle
heads. Tuning Std Triumphs over but its superior
1300c.c. This inevitably limits the

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ity might not be quite as much as one ideas will be put forward which are
would expect. although untried based on sound en-
Having made our comparison, it gineering practice.
can be seen that a really competitive These ideas will show a gain in
Triumph is not by any stretch of the power but the amount gained can only
imagination impossible. It may be a be estimated. It has also been recog-
bold assumption, but I would predict nized that not everyone is bent on pro-
that we are likely to see far more ac- ducing an all-out racer, so all mods
tion in the next few years providing described will start from square one
no great restraint is placed on the situ- and progress from there. For those
ation. of you who are not fully acquainted
In an effort to encourage Triumph with your car, it is a good idea to pur-
owners or would-be Triumph owners chase a workshop manual for the rel-
on to greater deeds in the field of com- evant machine. This book is not in-
petitive motoring, this book has been tended in any way to replace an
prepared. In the main it will give tried owner’s manual but to supplement it
and proved methods of obtaining for the purposes of achieving a higher
more performance. Here and there performance.

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chapter I
OVERHAULING THE SIX CYLINDER ENGINE
SINCE the conditions of the bottom ment in their original position. Check
end of an engine can have a major the cylinder bores for wear. The stan-
influence on power output, we shall dard sizes of the bores are as follows:
discuss, thoroughly and in detail, how 1600
to go about building up the bottom end STD 2,6276-2.6287
with a view to extracting the maximum 2000
horsepower for a given state of tune. 2.9405-2.9416
If the car you are working on is sec- 2500
ond-hand and has seen a normal 2.9405-2.9416
mileage, then it is more than likely In the standard bores the pistons
below par. It is also noteworthy, since are graded in three different sizes and
we are on the subject, that 99 out of the bore clearance on a new engine
100 new engines can benefit as far will be between 3.5 thou and 4.2 thou
as power is concerned by a careful (0.00350.0042). If wear has taken
precision rebuild. In this chapter we place we must determine the amount
shall deal with the 1600, 2000, and of clearance which exists before we
2500 c.c. six-cylinder engines. The can say whether or not a re-bore is
2litre and 2.2-litre engines will be dealt required. These engines were fitted
with in the following chapter. from the factory with either solid skirt
or split skirt pistons. Ideally the bore
Degreasing clearances which we should aim for
are 0.005" for the 1600 motor, when
The first move is to take the engine solid skirt pistons are used, or 0.0055"
out of the car and degrease it with a when split skirt pistons are used. If
suitable cleaning agent. Then, giving the engine is to be used solely for
yourself plenty of working space, strip competition work, the bore clearance
the engine down and where neces- should be 0.0055" with solid skirt pis-
sary, number components for replace- tons. The use of split skirt pistons

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in a competition motor is not to be rec- umphs. In the event of the bores hav-
ommended. Also one should avoid ing less clearance than required,
the use of pistons with a ring below some honing should be done. The
the gudgeon pin as this creates extra bores, whether rebored or not, must
bore drag On the 2000 and 2500 c.c. be honed to a 20 micro inch finish with
engines we should have a piston to a cross hatch patter at 450 Do not at-
bore clearance of 0.0055" for fast road tempt to use any other type of finish
work and 0.006" for competition pur- other than this or it will cost you a drop
poses. Here again we must avoid the in power in the long run.
use of split skirt pistons or pistons
which have an extra oil control ring Piston fits
below the gudgeon pin.
When determining the bore clear- Having prepared the bores one
ance which exists, be sure to mea- should next ascertain whether the pis-
sure the piston diameter at right tons are fit for re-use. The diameter
angles to the gudgeon pin and at a of the skirt will have already been
point as shown in Fig. 1. The reason checked in connection with bore
for this is that the pistons are both ta- preparation. For reference purposes
pered and oval. Should the bore clear- the following chart gives the graded
ance prove excessive then ideally a sizes of the pistons.
rebore is called for. The best pistons The ring slot widths should be
to use are those supplied by Tri-
Grade F G H
1600 2.6264/2.6267 2.0968/2.6271 2.6272/2.6275
2000 2.9384/2.9388 2.9388/2.9392 2.9392/2.9396
2500 2.9380/2.9384 2.9384/2.9388 2.9388/2.9392

checked for size. If they are too tight to 0.0027'. For our purposes we
we are likely to encounter sticking should try to achieve a clearance of
rings and if too loose, the rate of ring 0.0015'.
wear will increase and cause gas Before fitting the rings to the pis-
blow-by. tons, they should be gapped. The
The ring gap can best be measured 1600 motor should have the gaps on
by using a ring and a feeler gauge. all the rings set at 0.010". The cor-
As new, the normal ring clearance ners of the gap when viewed from
varies for the compression rings from above should have a 0.005" - 0.010"
0.0019" to 0.0035". For our purposes radius stoned on to them. The gap on
the ideal clearance is 0.002". It may the 2000 and 2500 c.c. engines is best
be difficult to achieve this figure with- set at 0.012' and again a radius of 5
out sorting through a number of pis- to 10 thou. should be stoned on to the
tons which can make life a little diffi- corners of the gap.
cult. Whatever the case may be, the Finally, before fitting any rings,
ring gap should not be allowed to ex- check them for flatness on a surface
ceed 0.0035' which is the top limit of plate or a piece of plate glass. If there
clearance as new from the factory. is any detectable sign of warpage re-
The oil control ring should be a slightly ject them. Check the fit of the gud-
closer fit in its slot. The normal toler- geon pin in its bore. If there is the
ances for the clearance are 0.0007' slightest evidence of sloppiness

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then either piston, gudgeon pin or maximum error in bend when
both must be replaced. checked across the gudgeon pin must
not exceed 0.0005" and the maximum
Con-rods allowable twist should not be more
than 0. 001 “.
We will now focus our atten- To make things absolutely
tion on the con rods as these items clear as to what we are checking, re-
can cause a profound drop in power fer to Fig. 2. This shows the effect of
if they are not true. Since con rods bend and twist greatly exaggerated for
are amongst the most heavily the sake of clarity. If you do not bother
stressed items in an engine, it is a to check the rods, then you will surely
wise move, before using them, to pay for it in increased oil consump-
have them crack tested. Once they tion and reduced power output. Those
have passed any crack detection of you who have a lathe and a dial
tests, checks for truth should be car- indicator, can check the rods your-
ried out. First off measure the bore of selves. For those who have not, most
the big end (without shells). This must motor machine shops possess suit-
be 2.0210'-2.0215’dia. for all engines. able equipment to do the job. Should
The little end should be a any of the rods prove to be out by
snug slide fit on the gudgeon pin, i.e. more than 0.007", then it is a good
the gudgeon pin will not quite fall out idea to replace them with new rods.
under its own weight but can easily Even if you have had to resort to new
be pushed out with thumb pressure. rods, do not accept the fact that be-
The rods can now be checked for cause they are new
straightness. For our purposes the

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they must be right. Check them to be same size as fitted to the 2000 and
sure they are right. 2500 engines. The small diameter
Big end bolts can be a critical area cam followers can be a weak point in
on the rod assembly. Repeated torqu- the engine, especially if a hotter cam
ing up and prolonged use causes is to be fitted. On engines with the
them to stretch a small amount. To small cam followers, it is a straight-
avoid any unnecessary failures in this forward job to machine out the fol-
area, the bolts should only be used lower bores to accept the larger cam
once. It may seem unduly expensive followers.
to replace these bolts just because The 1600 and 2000 engines use a
they have been used once, but if a single row timing chain to drive the
rod lets go, then the chances are it cam. The 2500 c.c. engine uses a
writes off a whole engine. duplex timing chain. For the sake of
extra reliability on a tuned engine, one
The cam can use the duplex set up of the large
engine on either of the smaller en-
Moving on to the cam, we find that gines.
the standard journal clearance varies
between 4.6 thou. (0.0046) and 2.6 Crankshaft
thou. (0.0026). Ideally we want this
clearance at about 3 thou. (0.003). The crankshaft of an engine is just
Some blocks have cam bearings for about the hardest working compo-
the journals to run in and some do nent. Bearing this in mind, it is only
not. If you have one with bearings, fair that we give the crank every op-
then it is a lot easier to achieve the 3 portunity to show good service. If the
thou. clearance since new bearings crank has already seen a reasonable
are usually on the tight side. If you period of use, it will not take too kindly
have a block without bearings, these to all the increased loads brought
are usually the earlier ones, then bear- about by tuning and the use of extra
ings should be fitted. If you intend revs. If we hope to achieve a reason-
using a hot cam, then it is even more able life from the bottom end of the
strongly recommended that you use engine, then we must give it a good
cam bearings. chance to start with. This is not to say
When installed, the cam must ro- that the bottom end is in any way un-
tate freely. To put a figure on it, the reliable, but if we tune the engine we
cam should, when lubricated with thin are expecting the crank to withstand
oil, rotate when a torque of 1 oz. ft. is loads in excess of those it was origi-
applied. If you have your clearance nally designed to cater for. This
at 3 thou., and the cam seems stiff, means that we can accept no half
the usual fault is a bent camshaft. measures. The crank must be in A.1
Needless to say, it is not the done condition before we can consider its
thing to use a bent camshaft. Inspect use.
the cam lobes for wear. If there is any The 1600 and early 2000 engines
sign of deterioration, then replace the up to about 1966 use virtually the
cam. Early 1600 Vitesses had cam same cranks. The main bearing size
followers having a diameter of 0.687". is 2.0005"/2.001 “ dia. If the main jour-
These were later replaced by cam nals are more than 0.0003' below the
followers of 0.800' dia. which is the bottom limit, or they show

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any signs of ovality or taper, then the eter, and should the limiting tenth of a
crank should be reground. The crank thou. below bottom limit exist, then a
pin diameter standard is 1.8750"/ regrind must be done. If you are se-
1.8755". Here again we should treat lecting a new crank or having one
any discrepancy from the true size by reground, then you should go for
regrinding crank pin and journal sizes about
The cranks from the 2500 and the 0.0002" below top limit. When using
later 2000 c.c. engines differ inas- a reground crank, we should avoid
much as that they are endowed with going below 0.010' undersize if any
much larger main bearing journals. reasonable degree of tuning is envis-
These are some 3/16" bigger in di- aged. The following list gives the ideal
ameter than the lesser or earlier en- sizes of crankpin and journals to use
gines. The mains journals should fall with a standard crank and a 0.010"
between 2.3110' and 2.3115" diam- regrind.

Big end standard Mains standard


1600 & 2000 (up to 1966) 1.8753' 2.0008"
2500 & 2000 (after 1966) 1.8753" 2.3113'
Big ends 0.010' O/S Mains 0.010 “ O/S
1600 & 2000 1.8653' 1.9908'
2500 1.8653' 2.3013'

The above sizes for the crank does torque not exceeding 1/3 lb. ft. is ap-
make the assumption that the bear- plied. If the torque required to turn the
ing shells that are used are in the crank is appreciably above this figure,
middle of their size tolerance. The then you have either a tight bearing
main bearing clearance with these or bearings, or a distorted crankshaft.
cranks is between 1.2 thou. and 2 You can determine whether the cul-
thou. (0.0012 -0.0020-). We should prit is a tight bearing or not by loosen-
attempt to get an initial clearance with ing off each bearing cap in turn to see
new shells of 1.5 thou. When the if this frees the crank. In nine cases
shells have run in and everything has out of ten, tight bearings can be cured
settled down, this clearance will have by swopping the shells from one
opened up to about 2 thou., which is housing to another. In the odd one
just where we want it. The big ends case out of ten, you will have to get
should also be treated in a like man- some more shells. If you want to num-
ner as far as clearances are con- ber your bearing clearance exactly,
cerned. then I would suggest the use of
Assuming the block has been fully plastigauge clearance gauges. These
prepared, we can now install the crank gauges allow quite an accurate mea-
and in doing so make certain func- surement of the clearances existing
tional checks. Fit the bearing shells to be obtained. If each individual bear-
into the main bearing caps and block, ing clearance is correct, yet the crank
place the crank in situ and oil the main is still stiff, then this points towards a
journals. Fit the caps and torque down distorted crank. There is also a very
the bolts to 50-55 lb. ft. for 1600 and small chance that the block could be
55-60 lb. ft. for the 2000 and 2500 distorted which would also cause the
engines. Check that the crank spins crank to be stiff. If the crank you are
freely i.e. it should rotate when a using has been reground or is a new

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one, the chances of the crank being in a furnace after they have been cast
out of true are very small but never- to allow the stresses to quickly settle
theless should not be ignored. The out. Just once in a while it is possible
most likely case of a distorted crank to find you are the proud owner of a
will arise with those which have seen block which has not been properly
use but not enough to cause them to stress relieved. Unfortunately this
wear outside of the tolerances re- does not show up immediately but
quired. This means a regrind will be usually makes itself felt some twelve
required to rectify the inaccuracy. months after, or the first time the en-
gine is completely stripped. In the
Block distortion unlikely event that you have a dis-
torted block, the only remedy is to re-
Lastly we can on very rare occa- place it.
sions, get block distortion. When We have now carefully prepared all
blocks are cast they have stresses the major components connected
set up in them due to differing rates with the bottom end. Things like oil
of cooling when casting. Over a pe- seals, timing chains, etc. should be
riod this causes the casting to move replaced as a matter of course. The
i.e. small changes of shape occur. crank, rods, pistons, flywheel, clutch
This means that if the block was ma- and crank pulley should now be bal-
chined a short period after it had been anced. This will not only make an al-
cast, then over a period of a few ready smooth engine smoother, but
months it can distort itself by a num- give that little extra reliability needed
ber of thou. whilst the casting for high performance motoring.
stresses settle down. There are two
ways to overcome the effects of in- Valve guides
ternal stresses in castings. The first
method is to leave the castings to The only other points connected
age, then rough machine them and with the mechanical well being of the
then give them a further ageing pe- engine are associated with the cylin-
riod. After this period, which can be der head. The wear on valve stems
as much as a number of months, the and guides must be checked. The
final machining is carried out. The valve stem sizes for the three engines
second method is to heat the blocks are as follows:
Inlet Exhaust
2000 & 2500 0.3107'-0.3112' dia. 0.3100 “-0.3105' dia.
1600 0.3100'-0. 3110 dia. 0.3090"-0.3080" dia.
The bore of the inlet guides are be between 0.001' and 0.003". Here
common to all engines, this being we need 1 to 1.2 thou. clearance
0.312"-0.313" dia. As you can see the (.001" 0.0012"). The standard clear-
clearance on the larger two engines ance on the exhaust valve on 1600
can, on the inlet, vary between 0.0023' engines is by normal standards large,
and 0.0008'. The clearance to achieve this being between 3 and 5 thou.
is between 0.001 “ and 0.0012'. On (0.003"-0.005"). One should endeav-
the exhaust side the clearance can our, where possible, to select com-
vary between 0.003” and 0.0015'. For ponents which will set this clearance
our purposes 0.002" clearance is at the lower limit of 0.003".
needed. On the 1600 engine the stan- You may wonder why the valve to
dard clearance on the inlet valve can

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valve guide clearance has been gone are too loose can set up a mode of
into in such detail. The main reason vibration which does nothing to en-
is that the motion of the valve must hance valve timing at high revs., es-
be controlled in such a manner as to pecially if the cam is of a hotter vari-
allow the valve to move in a straight ety.
line only. The more clearance one has
the less likelihood there is of achiev- Assembly
ing the required motion. Excess clear-
ance will cause an increase in oil con- We should now come to the
sumption, a small drop in power and time when we are able to put the en-
an increased valve seat wear rate. gine together. Assemble the crank,
The last point is especially relevant rods and pistons into the block using
when we consider the use of radius engine oil on bearing and rubbing
valve seats which will be thoroughly surfaces. Having assembled the en-
discussed later in the book. gine, we now come to the test which
Before winding up our dimen- will verify your dimensional checking.
sional check of various engine com- Rotate the crank assembly about fifty
ponents, we should check out the times. Then using a torque wrench,
rockers and rocker shafts for wear. establish the torque required to turn
Normal clearance is between 1.8 the engine over. The absolute maxi-
thou. and 3.3 thou. (0.0018" - 0.0033') mum torque required to turn the en-
If the clearance is more than 0.005' gines over are 20 lb. ft. for the 2500,
above the upper limit, steps should 16 lb. ft. for the 2000, and 12 1/2 lb.
be taken to remedy it. Rockers which ft. for the

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1600. If the build up has been done can be present at the distributor drive
carefully, these torque figures can be shaft is not only the backlash of the
as much as 30% lower. If the figure is skew gears but also an amount
significantly higher, then something is caused by the end float of the cam-
amiss, so you should go through what shaft. Our camshaft end float is con-
you have done to locate the cause of trolled by a thrust plate at the timing
stiffness. Excess internal friction in an chain end of the engine. The normal
engine is a sure way to lose power. 5 cam end float is between 0.004' and
lb. ft. of frictional torque over and 0.008". By selecting a suitable plate
above our minimum will cost us 6.7 we must get the endfloat down to
b.h.p. at 7000 revs. As you can see, 0.004'. We can, if we are going to be
the moral is to build up an engine ultra fussy about it, reduce this to
which is as free as possible whilst still 0.003' but we must definitely not go
failing in with our component dimen- under this figure.
sional limits. The other area which must be
With the exception of a couple of closely looked at is the end float of
points, the engine assembly from the distributor drive shaft itself. The
here is straightforward. The couple of standard clearance figures range be-
points which we must bear in mind tween 3 and 7 thou. and the figure
are connected with the accuracy and we want is 3 thou. on the nail. Fig. 3
consistency of our ignition timing. The shows the precise method to adopt
distributor is driven in a conventional for determining this clearance and
manner by a skew gear coming off setting it to the required figure. As-
the camshaft. As with any gear train, suming we have a perfect distributor,
backlash is necessary but on these any erratic timing caused by excess
particular engines we have a measure backlash can cost around 2-3 b.h.p.,
of control over the amount of back- so play close attention to these end
lash present. The total backlash which float settings.

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chapter 2
IMPROVING THE LUBRICATION
WITH any tuned or hard pressed en- checked with feeler gauges as shown
gine, the lubrication system must be in Fig. 5 and 6. The only clearance
in perfect order or better still, uprated that we can readily make adjustments
to cope with more stringent condi- to is the end float between the inner
tions. and outer rotor and the end plate. By
The standard oil pump is capable machining a small amount off the
of coping with the extra demands body we can set the end float to 0.001“
placed upon it by a modified engine if thus reducing any leakage at this point
it is in perfect order. However, to en- to a minimum. Fig. 7 shows how the
sure a good engine life, a little time end float clearance can be measured
and trouble spent on the standard so as to enable the correct amount of
pump will not go amiss. The work in- metal to be removed.
volved on the pump includes a thor- When machining the pump body,
ough check on clearance existing and be very careful as there is very rarely
rectifying these where necessary. Fig. more than 0.003' to come off. Whilst
4 shows an exploded view of the machining the body, you must also
pump assembly just so that we know make sure that the inner and outer
what bits we are talking about. The rotor are of identical length or you will
main object of the exercise is to build have a different end float for each
up a pump assembly having the mini- component. Once all the pump com-
mum clearances between the body ponents have been selected or ad-
and the outer rotor and between the justed as necessary, the pump can
outer rotor and inner rotor, A normal be assembled. Using very light oil to
value for these clearances is around provide a little lubrication, check that
0.007'. By selecting components, we the pump rotates smoothly and freely.
can quite easily get this figure down Having gone to all this trouble to pre-
to 0.004' and if a great enough num- pare the pump, we can expect it to
ber of components are available this be about 7-10% better than the aver-
can be reduced further still. These age pump. This may not sound like a
clearance values can easily be

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23
fantastic gain for all the time and
trouble resorted to, but we must re- simply by increasing the spring pres-
member it is always the last straw that sure which is exerted on the pressure
breaks the camel’s back. The in- release valve. A spacer made up as
crease is sufficient to give us that ex- shown in Fig. 8 and fitted under the
tra margin of safety between retain- face of the release valve spring re-
ing or losing the vital oil film between taining bolt will do the trick. The
the highly stressed components. spacer will cause a raise of 10-12 lbs.
per square inch of oil pressure before
Pressure release valve the pressure release valve comes into
operation. It will be found unneces-
Still on the subject of lubrication, sary to so such a mod to the spring
suitable adjustments should be made pressure unless the engine spends a
to raise the pressure at which the great deal of its time in the upper revo-
pressure release valve comes into lution range as would an engine used
operation. This can be achieved quite in competition.

24
chapter 3
BOTTOM END PREPARATION

THE 2 and 2.2 litre four cylinder block. Anyway, to get back to the
Triumph engines are well noted for point, we should check the bore for
their long life and ruggedness. If the wear. Since this particular engine has
engine is carefully assembled, then been out of production for some time,
even in a relatively highly tuned state, I should doubt if any engines which
reliability does not suffer to any no- are still on standard size pistons are
ticeable degree providing one pays not in need of a rebore. The standard
strict attention to the rev limit. We size of bores for the 2-litre engine and
should apply the same thorough ness the standard piston to bore clear-
and attention to detail as was outlined ances are as follows:
in Chapter 1 on the six cylinder en-
gines. To avoid unnecessary repeti- Standard Standard
tion of the whys and wherefores, the bore clearance
tolerances that we should work to will Std. 3.2677" 0.0042'
just be quoted with only limited expla- + .020” 3.2877” “
nation as to why. + .030” 3.2977” “
Assuming the engine has been re- + .040” 3.3077” “
moved from the car and has been + .060” 3.3277” “
completely stripped, we should be in
a position to carry out our dimensional For fast road work the bore clear-
checking. As good a point as any to ance should be 0.005' and for racing
start with is the block. A close look at 0.006'. When determining the piston/
the block will reveal that, unlike most bore clearance, the piston should be
engines which have pistons running measured level with the gudgeon pin
directly in the block casting, the Tri- but at 901 to it. If the piston to bore
umph engine has removable wet lin- clearance exceeds 0.008", then a
ers. The definition of a wet liner is one rebore will be required if we are to
that is directly in contact with the wa- achieve optimum power. With the 2.2
ter, as opposed to one that is in con- litre engine the
tact solely with the cast iron of the

25
standard bore and rebore sizes will a standard size of 3.4252" (87 m/m)
be:- and is available at rebore sizes of
Standard Standard +030” and +040”. The 2.2 litre liners
bore clearance can be bored to take this piston but
Std. 3.3854” 0.0043” the 2-litre ones cannot. If we use this
+ .020" 3.4054” “ piston (Hepolite part number 13958)
+ .030" 3.4154” “ in its +040” form we will bring the ca-
+ .040" 3.4254" “ pacity up to 2239 c.c. from the origi-
+ .060" 3.4454" “ nal 2138 c.c. If this piston is used in
its standard 87 m/m form rather than
For road work we want a 5.3 thou. in oversize form, the capacity is 2187
clearance, and for racing a 6.4 thou. c.c. For the purposes of building up a
clearance. The bore sizes already high performance road or race engine
quoted are those which give a stan- the use of this piston is to be recom-
dard clearance. Since it is easier to mended. Its advantages lie in the fact
obtain extra clearance by making the that it is quite light in weight, has no
bores slightly larger, than it is to re- ring below the gudgeon pin and is of
duce the sizes of the pistons the the solid skirt variety. The boring sizes
above bore sizes will want enlarging for this piston are:
on. To obtain the correct clearance
using new pistons, the following chart Road Racing
should be adhered to : Std. 3.4262" 3.4273”
+.030" 3.4562" 3.4573”
2-litre engine Road Racing +.040" 3.4662" 3.4673"
Std. 3.2685” 3.2695”
+ .020" 3.2885” 3.2895” If the Hepolite piston just mentioned
+ .030 “ 3.2985” 3.2995” is not used, then it is advisable to use
+ .040" 3.3085” 3.3095” pistons supplied by Triumphs. There
+ .060 “ 3.3285” 3.3295” are some pistons on the market which
have an extra oil ring below the gud-
2.2-litre engine geon pin. The use of these is to be
Std. 3.3864” 3.3875” avoided as are pistons having split
+ .020" 3.4064” 3.4075” skirts.
+ .030" 3.4164” 3.4175"
+ .040“ 3.4264” 3.4275” Liners
+ .060" 3.4464" 3.4475”
If by some chance, your engine has
The bores should be finished by already been bored to its maximum
honing to 15-20 micro inch finish with size and is yet again in need of a
a cross hatch pattern of 45". rebore, then it will be found neces-
As has been stated before, this sary to fit new liners. This in itself is a
particular engine has removable lin- simple enough job, but one which
ers which leads us to some interest- must be done properly if we are to
ing possibilities as far as increasing avoid any possible leakage from
its capacity is concerned. The liners joints.
from the 2.2 litre engine can be fitted First off, one should remove the old
to the 2litre engine, thus bringing it up liners. It is definitely not advisable to
to the same size as its bigger brother. try bashing out the liners solely with
Also there is a 9.25/1 piston made by the aid of a hammer. To do the job
Hepolite which will give a further slight properly without incurring any nasty
increase in capacity. This piston has side effects, one

26
should make up a special tool to dis- ting jointing compound. Fit the new
tribute the hammer blow evenly over liners in position and as soon as pos-
the end of the liner. The dimensions sible afterwards, fit the head together
for such a tool are shown in Fig. 9. with an old head gasket and torque
Place the block, head face down, on the assembly down to about 6070 lb.
some blocks of wood. Place the liner ft. Fitting the head effectively pulls
removing tool into the bore of the down the liners, seating them firmly
linerthe crank end of the liner. Place onto the gaskets. The head can now
a suitable stout punch i.e. 1 ‘ dia. steel be removed so that we can check the
bar on top of the removing tool and liner protrusion above the block face.
hit the punch with a heavy hammer. Place a straight edge across the top
In most cases the liner will come out of each liner, and using a feeler
without undue trouble. Occasionally gauge, check the gap between the
an obstinate liner is encountered, but straight edge and the block face see
the application of a little penetrating Fig. 11. This clearance should be be-
oil will ease the situation. Having re- tween 0.002"0.005'. In all probability
moved all the liners, thoroughly clean the protrusion of each liner will vary
the area on which the bottom jointing between these limits. If the protrud-
gasket seats see Fig. 10. This area ing height of each liner is the same,
must be perfectly free from foreign then you have just been lucky. In the
matter which may prevent a perfect greater likelihood that each liner
seal being formed. Smear the new height varies one to another, a little
liner sealing gaskets with a non-set- machining is called

27
for. The top faces of the liners should ance is 0.001 “-0.003'” We definitely
be skimmed to bring them all to the should not allow the clearance to ex-
same height above the block face. ceed these figures and ideally if a se-
This height, however, must still remain lection of pistons is available, this
with the 0.002" - 0.005" tolerance. If clearance should be at 0.0015'. The
you should find that the protrusion ring gaps for all rings should be set to
height is less than 0.002", then the 0.012'-0.015' and the corners of the
liners will have to be removed and a gap stoned off to a 0.005"0.010" ra-
few thou. taken off the top of the block. dius.
Having done this, refit the liners as The tappets or cam followers must
described previously, and machine be a free fit in their bores but on the
the tops of the liners to bring them all other hand should not be sloppy. The
to a common height, within the speci- maximum tappet to bore clearance
fied tolerance. we can tolerate is 0.0016'. Since most
of the wear seems to occur on the
Rings cam followers rather than the bore,
any wear problems can usually be
Having, we hope, successfully pre- overcome by fitting now cam follow-
pared the bores, we can turn our at- ers. If a new standard cam or a high
tention to the piston rings. As usual, performance cam is to be fitted, the
for high performance engines, we new cam followers are essential no
should check the rings for flatness matter what condition the original
and for ring to groove clearance. The ones are in. If this Is not done you
factory limit for ring to groove clear- have a 90% chance

28
of having a cam life of less than a few The little end of the rod must be a
thousand miles. Whilst we are on the snug fit on the gudgeon pin. This usu-
subject of cams, the camshaft must, ally means a clearance of 0.0002"/
when fitted into the block, rotate freely 0.0004". Although these engines are
and smoothly. A bearing clearance of not prone to rod break ages, it is a
0.002' being ideal and 0.0037" clear- good idea to play safe and have them
ance is the maximum allowable clear- crack tested and as another precau-
ance for all the bearings bar the front tionary measure, fit new big end bolts
one. The clearance on the front bear- each time the big ends dismantled.
ing is best around 0.003" and the As has been said before, we are
maximum that is permissible is dealing with an engine which has
0.005". been out of production for some time.
To avoid undue power loss, the rods It is therefore reasonable to assume
must be true within fine limits. The that in most cases the majority of the
maximum bend when checked over useful crankshaft life has been used.
the length of the gudgeon pin should This will mean that nine times our of
not exceed half a thou. (0.0005") and ten a crank regrind is called for. The
twist should not be greater than 0.001 limits of crank journal sizes are shown
“. Chapter 10 will clarify the conditions below at standard size and 0.010' and
we are ideally seeking to minimise. 0.020" undersize.
Big ends Mains
Std. 2.0861 “-2.0866 “ 2.4790”-2.4795"
0.010, 2.0761 “-2.0766 “ 2.4690”-2.4695"
0.020' 2.0661 “-2.0666” 2.4590"-2.4595"

29
For a road going engine, a crank of pinpointing the cause of stiffness
regrind to -0.040" is passable. On the and its remedies were outlined in
other hand, if the engine is to be used Chapter 1 concerning the six cylinder
for serious competition, the 0.020" engines. The fitting of pistons and con
regrind should be regarded as maxi- rods follows normal procedure. We
mum. It is always difficult to know can, at this stage, assess the turning
where to draw the line as far as crank torque of the crank/rods and piston
regrinding goes. Each step of 0.010" assembly. If all is well then the assem-
does not reduce the crank strength bly should rotate when a torque not
by a vast margin, but going from stan- exceeding 24 lb. ft. for a road engine
dard to 0.060" does. Since the crank and 20lb. ft. for a race engine is ap-
in standard form is only safe to 6500 plied. If the torque figure is signifi-
continuous or 7000 instantaneous, we cantly higher than this, then some-
must conserve all the crank strength thing is amiss, in which case, if you
possible. These engines will seem- are wise, you will strip the engine to
ingly last for ever at 6000 r.p.m. but find out why. The difference between
at 7000 the life can be measured in the turning torque for a road engine
minutes. and a race engine, arises from the
different bore clearances. Once the
Assembly engine has run in, this torque figure
will drop and the difference between
We should now be in a position to a road and race engine will drop from
assemble the bottom half of the en- 4 lb. ft. to about 2.5-3 lb. ft. This dif-
gine. The first move is to fit the crank ference may sound like a trivial
and check for stiffness, The methods amount to worry

30
31
about, but it is worth about 4 b.h.p. on the front cam bearing. This face
and 6500 revs. and with a race en- will need skimming on a lathe to give
gine every little bit counts. the end float required.
As with the six cylinder engines, we This leaves us with only the distribu-
must pay close attention to the cam- tor drive gear end float to contend
shaft end float, and the end float of with. On a standard engine this can
the distributor drive gear. The front vary between 0.003" and 0.007”. For
cam bearing is removable and has our purposes, the 0.003' setting is
on it a flange which controls the depth required. The technique for setting
to which it can go into the block see this is virtually the same as for the six
Fig. 12. The normal cam end float is cylinder engines and is shown in Fig.
3 to 7.5 thou. (0.003" to 0.0075"). of Chapter 11. Building up the remain-
Since we want the most accurate ig- der of the bottom half of the engine is
nition timing possible and since cam a straightforward procedure. All gas-
end float effects the ignition timing, kets and oil seals should be replaced
we must reduce the cam end float to during the rebuild. The timing chain
a minimum. The minimum is at 2 1/ should also be renewed. If all the
2. to 3 thou. (0.0025"-0.003"). In vir- stated tolerances have been adhered
tually every case the existing end float to, and a great deal of intelligent care
will be more than we want. To reduce applied, the end result will be well
the end float down to the figure we worthwhile as far as power and reli-
need, some machining will be called ability are concerned.
for on the abutment face of the flange

32
chapter 4
MODIFYING THE EARLY 6 CYLINDER HEAD

THE 1600 Vitesse Mk. 1, 2-litre heads have the manifold joint face
Vitesse Mk_ 1, G.T.6 and early 2000 terminating about 1 “ from the edge
saloons use a head which is basically of the casting when viewed end on.
common. The Mk. 11 Vitesse and The later heads, however, have the
G.T.6, TR5, TR6, and the 2.5 P.I. sa- manifold joint face terminating flush
loon use a different head. The heads, with the edge of the head casting.
as far as fitting is concerned, are in- We will start off with a Stage 1 type
terchangeable between the early and of head for the 1600 and Mk. 1, 2-
late models. The major difference litre Vitesses, Triumph 2000, early
between the two basic types of head type, and the Mk. 1 G.T.6.
lies in the chamber design and the
manifold joint face. It any head Removing guides
change from early to late models is
contemplated, then the manifolds Strip the head of all parts so that
must be changed to suit. The later you are. left with the bare head cast-
heads also sport a larger inlet valve ing. I personally do not like the use of
which assists breathing. The larger a hammer to remove valve guides. If
valve, together with the redesigned you are using a heavy hammer to re-
chambers gives an increase in power move the guides you only have to
of about 7%. Since cylinder heads are miss the guide removing drift or catch
so expensive, one should only con- it at a slight angle to do the head an
sider changing the head if the ultimate injury. By far the best way to remove
in power is required because the early guides is by using a press. Of course,
heads can be modified to give results if you find that none of your local mo-
very nearly as good. In this chapter tor machinists or garages have one,
we will deal specifically with the early then the only alternative left to you is
type of head. It is quite simple to de- the large hammer. Either way, press
termine which type of head you have or hammer, a guide removing drift will
by comparing your own head with the be required, the relevant dimensions
head drawing in this book. The early of which are given in Fig. 13.

33
Thoroughly clean the head face is to make one from perspex of 1/16”
using emery cloth as required, so as thickness. The drawing of the cham-
to achieve a surface suitable for mark- ber Fig. 15 is to scale so the cham-
ing on. Apply marking blue to the head ber shape can be traced on to the
face. Marking blue, by the way, is perspex from the drawing. When trac-
available at any hardware store deal- ing this shape, do so as accurately
ing in engineers’ tools. While you are as possible, as there is very little room
at it, you will also need a tin of engi- for error. A badly traced template and
neers’ blue. For those of you not fa- a little erroneous grinding later can
miliar with either of these compounds, cause a scrapped head. Trace out
marking blue is a marking agent both the original shape and the new
which dries very quickly, in fact, in only shape on the perspex and if possible,
a number of seconds. Engineers’ blue trace out the shape on both sides of
on the other hand is a marking agent the perspex to reduce to a minimum
which virtually never dries out and is any effects of parallax due to the thick-
used to detect and show up points of ness of the material. Inspection of Fig.
contact, i.e. high spots between mat- 15 will show that the chamber is only
ing surfaces. We find the engineers’ modified over part of its perimeter. If
blue virtually indispensable later when we now cut the perspex only along
lapping in valves. the reprofiled part of the chamber
At this point we will need to shape Fig. 14, then we can use the
make up a template to accurately rest of the chamber outline, which
mark out our new chamber shape. In remains unchanged, to line up our
this particular instance, the best bet template. The chambers in

34
35
36
the head are “handed.” To mark out outline over its greater part remains
an opposite handed chamber we unaltered, the walls of the chambers
merely turn the template over onto its require fairly extensive work to be
other face. Once you have conscien- done on them. Basically what we are
tiously made your template, the head trying to achieve is a chamber wall
marking out procedure can begin. having no sudden changes of form or
To do so you will need a very sharp any corners formed between angled
scriber, and also one which has a long and vertical sections of the chamber.
tapered point with, say, an included The area of the chamber wall around
angle of about 300, not a short stubby the spark plug, should not be touched
point. The only reason for this is that except for polishing. Although a line
a short stubby point will inevitably pro- is used on the drawing to depict the
duce a line which does not coincide extremities of this area, a sharp edge
with the edge of the template but is a should not be formed at this line.
short distance out from it. As I have Machining the walls of these cham-
mentioned previously, we have virtu- bers requires a good eye to blend the
ally no room for error on the ,cham- changing curved section into the
ber shape, or we shall infringe, if that straight walls. The crossed sections
is the word, into the domain of the should therefore be regarded as a
gasket. reasonable guide as to where the wall
We can at last start grinding, but section remains standard.
firstly some more words of caution. If When all the grinding has been
you are the proud possessor of a completed, the chambers should be
steady hand you will find that on this polished to give a smooth finish. It is
head you have enough room to be quite unnecessary to polish until you
able to avoid serious contact between have a mirror finish as all the work in
the grinding wheel and valve seat. If doing so will be completely wasted.
this is the first time you have at- The type of finish required is one that
tempted any serious head work or you is smooth to the toucha good com-
are not at all sure that you have a parison for this would be a piece of
steady enough hand, then it is best to china ware.
take a few precautionary measures. This now leaves us with the ports
First off, take a couple of scrap valves, to tackle, and we will deal with the in-
one inlet, one exhaust, and machine let ports first. At this stage one must
them across the head face sufficiently decide whether or not radius valve
such that when they are fitted in posi- seats are to be used. Let me warn
tion the valve head face is flush with you, it is a long and tedious task do-
the chamber roof. Next, tap the valve ing radius valve seats unless you are
guides a short distance into the head, the proud possessor of some sophis-
just sufficiently to locate them. By in- ticated valve seat machining gear.
serting the valves into the chamber Doing radius valve seats by more
we are working on, we have effectively menial methods can take 12-15 hours
covered the seats and protected them work, and sometimes longer. The end
from accidental damage. result of such labour is 2-4 b.h.p.
If you look closely at Fig. 15 show- more, depending on the state of tune
ing the chamber modifications, you of the engine, than conventional
will see that although the chamber seats.

37
38
39
We will assume at this point that
conventional seats are going to be Exhaust ports
used, and deal with the radius seats
later. We can now turn our attention to
Take a good look at Fig. 16 which the exhaust port. As with the inlet port
depicts a cross-section of the head there is a substantial amount of metal
through an inlet port. A fairly large to be removed from the valve guide
restriction is caused by the valve boss. The rest of the grindingis
guide boss. It must be pointed out, straightforward reprofiling to get
however, that the drawing, by virtue smooth contours, Fig. 19 shows the
of the angle the head is viewed from, port shape required. With many
does tend to exaggerate this restric- heads we are likely to come across
tion since it cannot easily be seen an irksome little step just below the
from this that there is a certain amount valve seat. You just have to do the
of room for airflow around the sides best you can to blend it out. If it is more
of the boss. The first step then, is to than 1/16", do not try to blend it out
grind the boss as shown in Fig. 16, completely as this will tend to make
then profile the rest of the port as the area of the exhaust port a little too
shown to within about 1/4” of the valve large at this point. As with the inlet
seat. If you look just under the valve port, we adopt the same procedure
seat about 3/16" down the port, you by leaving the last 1/4” or so under
will see a step formed by the factory the valve seat until the valve guide is
machining of the valve throat and the fitted. Before fitting the guide, it should
‘as cast’ part of the port’ Whether this be modified as shown in Fig. 20.
is by design or not is debatable but When the guide has been fitted and
nevertheless for our purposes it is the seat recut, the port can be finished
somewhat irksome. We can, in most off, leaving a valve seat 1/16” wide.
cases, when forming a venturi type If you decide to use radius valve
port, eradicate the effects of this step. seats on the inlet side, then a differ-
Fig 17 which shows the port in the ent approach is required. To start with,
immediate vicinity of the valve seat, you will need to make up a special
shows how the port should be ground. radius valve seat cutting tool, the de-
We should not attempt any work on tails of which are shown in Fig. 21.
this part of the port until the valve The seat radius we are going to use
guide has been fitted and the valve is 0.125" and to make sure the tool
seat recut. When grinding the port do bit is accurately formed to cut this ra-
not increase its diameter at the mani- dius, the correct method of approach
fold face end. In fact the first 3/8" of should be used. Firstly the tool bit is
the port should be as near to stan- best made up from an old centre drill
dard size as possible. of 5/16" or so diameter. Using an off-
Assuming that you have ground and hand tool grinder, rough out the gen-
polished the ports to within 1/4" of the eral shape of the tool. Mount a piece
valve seats, we can now fit the inlet of 1/4” diameter mild steel bar in a
valve guides which should be modi- lathe or drill chuck and coat it with fine
fied by turning as shown in Fig. 18. lapping paste. Rotate the bar and
Having done so, get the valve seats press the roughed out form of the ra-
recut and finish off the careful not to dius against the
damage the newly cut valve seat.

40
41
bar. Distribute the wear on the bar by aim for. Except for the actual seat it-
moving the tool bit up and down the self this shape applies to both the con-
length of the bar. Whilst accurately ventional valve seat and the radius
forming this radius, be sure to hold to valve seat.
tool bit at a slight angle, approximately
100, to the bar to give the tool a cut- Lapping in the valves
ting clearance. Once the tool has
been made up, set it in the tool holder Once the valves have been re-
to the dimension shown in Fig. 21. shaped, we can start the job of lap-
Using a pillar drill set on a slow speed ping them onto our radius seats. The
to avoid tool chatter, cut the seats. method of lapping and correcting any
Now back to the -grinder and blend errors of concentricity are as follows.
the radius seat into the port as shown Using fine grinding paste, lap the
in Fig. 22. At this stage in the proceed- valve into its seat for a short period
ings you will have to leave the head i.e. a couple of minutes. Wipe the
and turn your attention to the inlet grinding paste from both the valve and
valves. The idea here is to reshape seat and apply a thin smear of engi-
the valves to assist our gas flow. It neers’ blue to the valve seat. Drop the
may seem strange at first sight, but valve back onto its seat and rotate it.
tulip valves do not always give the If we now remove the valve, the engi-
best gas flow characteristics. To get neers’ blue will show where the valve
better cylinder filling we must reduce is making contact with the seat. If the
the tulip shape to something more seat cutting operation was really ac-
along the lines of the head of a nail. curate then the seat will exhibit a com
Fig. 23 shows the shape we should

42
43
44
45
plete circular line. In all probability the is the amount to remove. Here are two
seat will be slightly out of true and this examples showing the volumes re-
will be shown up by a blue line over quired for the chambers on the 1600
only part of its circumference. In such and 2-litre engines.
a case the seat will have to be dressed
with the cutting tool. Using the radius C.R.= (V+C) / C where V = swept
cutting tool by hand, lightly cut the part volume of cylinder in c.c. and C =
of the seat showing the blue line. Hav- total chamber volume in c.c.
ing done so, lightly relap the valve and
check it again with the engineers’ For the 1600 engine 1600
blue. Continue the lapping, cutting V = 1600 / 6 = 266 c.c.
and blueing until you achieve a com-
plete circle on the seat, and a seat Therefore C.R. = (266 + C) / C
width of about 0.030".
The conventional 450 angle valve Therefore C.R. - 1 =-266 / C
seats are lapped in the normal man-
ner. It is a good idea to check the va- For a C. R. of 10 to 1 we have:
lidity of the lapping with engineers’ 10 - 1 = 266 / C
blue to make sure the job is up to
scratch. Therefore:
C = 266 / 9 which = 29.5c.c.
Skirnming the head
There is, however, approximately
The final machining operation is to 4.5 c.c. in the gasket and block when
skim the head to achieve the desired the piston is at T.D.C., so this must
compression ratio. With the Triumph be subtracted from our 29.5 c.c. to
heads we usually have a fair margin give us the required volume in the
of metal that can be taken off, thereby head. Our head volume therefore is
giving us any reasonable C.R. that we 29.5-4.5 —25 c.c.
want. For road use, a 10/1 C.R. is This volume will give us a 10 to 1
plenty and for racing, about 11.5 will C.R. on a 1600 engine. An 11.5/1 C.R.
do the trick. It is not easy to quote the will require a head volume of 20.8. On
exact amount one should remove the 2000 c.c. engines to get 10 to 1
from the head to achieve these C.R., or 11.5/1 we will require 32.5 and 27.2
but the amounts will be about 0.070" respectively.
and 0.085' respectively. The best way This leaves us only the assembly
to determine what should come off the of the head to do apart from any port
head is to fill the chambers with par- matching operations that may be re-
affin or petrol from a burette. If we fill quired. The methods to adopt for port
the chambers with fluid to the volume matching are examined in a later
required for a particular C.R., then the chapter as is the choice of valve
amount of metal left proud of the fluid springs for a given application.

46
chapter 5
BIGGER VALVES FOR EARLY HEADS
FOR an even greater increase in Stage 1 head. This, of course, makes
power, the use of oversize inlet valves the assumption that you are using a
should be contemplated. The use of valve about 1 /10" larger in diameter.
a big valve head will come into its own Let us assume at this point, that the
when other components directly re- valve to be used is 1.395" diameter,
lated to engine power have seen at- which is, incidentally, the one which
tention. For this reason we will find is supplied by S.A.H. Accessories of
that the use of larger valves is a waste Leighton Buzzard. The procedure to
of time unless the carburation and adopt to modify the head will only be
valve timing have been improved discussed regarding those points
upon i.e. a hotter cam and better than which differ from the Stage 1 head.
standard carburation set-up. If the First off, we will need a perspex
engine is to receive considerable at- template for the big valve chamber
tention in such quarters, then the use shape which can be traced directly
of a big valve head is to be recom- from Fig. 24. The procedure from here
mended. It does, however, entail a on to complete the chambers is as
little more than just dropping in the for the Stage 1 head in Chapter 4.
larger valves. As with the Stage 1 We can now turn our attention to
head, we have the alternative of ei- the inlet port. With the guides out, pro-
ther conventional seats or radius file the inlet port to within I/.” of the
seats. The choice is yours, but for the valve seat as shown in Fig. 24. When
highest power the radius seats must the port has been finishpolished to this
be considered the first choice. stage, fit the guides which, inciden-
tally, should have been previously
Inlet valves modded as in Fig. 18. A tool will be
required to bore the valve throats out
When fitting a larger inlet valve both to take the larger valves. If we are to
the inlet port and the combustion use 451 conventional seats, then a
chamber are modified to a slightly dif- tool bit
ferent shape to those used for the

47
48
fitted into the tool holder as shown in For those of you who are brave
Fig. 21. should be used. The setting enough to tackle radius seats, you will
dimension (A) will be 1.030”. The tool need the tool holder and radius cut-
setting to bore the correct size for a ting tool shown in Fig. 21. For this
1.395" diameter valve is shown in Fig. particular application, the radius of the
25. This will give us a throat diameter cutting tool should be 0.140" instead
immediately under the valve of 1.310" of the 0.125" shown in the drawing.
diameter. Boring out the throat also Our setting dimension will also be dif-
means we stand a very good chance ferent.
of completely removing the small step Before you remove the inlet guides
which occurs just under the valve seat from the head to grind the ports, the
on the majority of heads. When the radius seats should be roughed out.
port has been bored to a depth of 1/8" The setting dimension for roughing
to 3/16" blend out any irregularity with out the seats, dimension A in Fig. 21,
the finished part of the port. Cut the will be 1.003. Once the seats have
valve seat and lap in the valves. Now been roughed out, the guides can be
comes a tricky bit; put a small radius removed and the ports ground to the
on the inner edge of the valve seat required form as in Fig. 27 and pol-
thus breaking the sharp corner ished. New modified guides are then
formed by the seat at the port (Fig. fitted and the seats finished off. To do
26). In doing so, this should reduce so, the radius seat cutter, dimension
our seat width to about 0.030'. A, must be reset to 1.01 3" and care-
fully recut. The finishing procedure em
Radiusing seats

49
50
51
ployed on the seats is then as detailed amount to take off.
in Chapter 4. The use of this large inlet valve type
The grinding of the exhaust ports of head gives a power increase of
and the raising of the C/R remains the around 7% over the standard valve
same as explained previously. With size modified head. It also raises the
the big valve head it will be found that point at which peak power occurs by
a little more is required to be skimmed about 200-250 r.p.m. on the 2000 c.c.
from the head than for a Stage 1 head engines and about 300-350 on 1600
because of the greater amount of engines. If used on a 1600 engine,
metal removed from the chamber. the rest of the engine should be
The extra metal to be removed is brought to a fairly high state of tune
roughly going to amount to 7-10 thou. to bring it in line with the characteris-
but this figure is intended as a guide tics of the head. Even on a 2000 c.c.
only. The only sure way to get the C.R. engine other modifications will need
to the required level is to use the bu- to be done to make full use of such a
rette and paraffin to measure the vol- head.
umes and determine the correct

52
chapter 6

MODIFYING THE LATER


2000cc AND 2500cc HEADS
THIS chapter applies to the heads smoothly from a vertical to an angled
used on the T.R.5 and 6, the 2000 wall, leaving no projecting edges in
saloon from 1966 onwards and the the chamber. This tidying up of the
Mk. 11 versions of the 2-litre Vitesse chamber shape gives us improved
and G.T.6. Comparisons of Figs. 15 combustion efficiency but the gains
and 16 with Figs. 28, 29 and 31 will achieved are only marginal. No doubt
show the basic differences in these if we compared the difference in
heads. The later head is generally of power gain by the slight change in
a superior design to the early one. The profile, the net result may only be in
ports have a more gently curved con- the order of 1 A-2%. Since every en-
tour to the valve than the earlier head, gine tuner is after every little drop of
thus aiding gas flow. The inlet port power within a given budget, it can
terminates at a valve some 0.144' big- be argued that although the gain is
ger than its predecessor which, small, the modification is justifiable.
coupled with the better port, shows a It is surely this type of attitude towards
significant advantage in power. The the preparation of a motor that makes
combustion chamber in the later head the true enthusiast stand out from the
is also changed for the better and to rest of the crowd.
get the best from it without completely
redesigning, there is little we can do Porting
to improve matters. A glance at Fig.
28 will show just how little work is re- Anyway, back to the subject in hand
quired on the chambers. In plan view which is now the ports. These require
the chamber shape remains un- little more than polishing. Do not, un-
changed. The sum total of the grind- der any circumstances, open them
ing required is all performed on the up, as if anything, they are slightly too
chamber walls. The end result of the large now. As with the earlier type of
modifications to the chambers should head, we have the presence of the
be a chamber wall which changes small step just

53
54
55
under the valve seat, the complete a relatively high temperature to avoid
blending out of which is a little diffi- distortion. The answer to all this in-
cult. On some heads it will blend out, decision is to leave the depression as
but on others it will not. It just depends it is unless you are bent on getting
on the casting Another point which is every little bit of power possible. Once
a little undesirable but one we can do the inlet port has been fully blended
next to nothing about, is the pocket and polished as in Fig. 29 we can fit
around the valve guide. It could be the inlet guide modified as in Fig. 30
termed a negative boss in as much and cut the valve seat. Any sharp
as it is a boss recessed in rather than edges left by the valve seat cutting
one projecting out. The presence of operation should be blended out by
this inset boss means that we cannot radiusing the edges. The sharp edges
get a smoothly contoured port in the of a seat can have a significant effect
area either side of the guide and im- on the gas flow into the cylinder, es-
mediately behind it. From our point of pecially during the period when the
view, the presence of this depression valve is only just off the seat. The
is a little annoying, but the Triumph careful blending of a valve seat into
Engineers in their wisdom, did not put the walls of the port and the roof of
it there for nothing. Consider the fact the chamber can have the same ef-
that the guide is a press fit in the head. fect as a cam with a faster lifting rate.
If one side of the hole into which the The use of a cam with a higher flank
guide is fitted is substantially longer acceleration rate involves higher
than the other side, the forces pre- stresses in the valve gear, whereas
vailing from the press fit impart un- the seat blending has no mechanical
even loads from one side of the guide drawbacksassuming the seat width
to the other. This means that the guide has not been reduced to a point where
itself becomes bent. Also the machin- it can no longer sustain the loads im-
ing of an accurate guide location hole posed by the valve.
is nearly impossible by production Rather more work is required on the
methods if it breaks through on an exhaust ports than that needed on the
uneven surface. That explains why inlet. The amount of grinding required
the depression is there but provides though, is still a lot less than needed
absolutely no remedy for it. On occa- on most heads. Grind the exhaust port
sions attempts have been made to fill to the contours shown in Fig. 31 and
such depressions with plastic metal, avoid taking metal from the tight cor-
but the practice seems to be a little ner opposite the valve guide.
unreliable. Should the plastic metal One should avoid making the ex-
break away, it will cause serious dam- haust port any larger than is neces-
age to the valve and possibly the pis- sary to achieve a good finish. Polish-
ton in that particular cylinder. Alterna- ing is an utter waste of timea good
tively one could have the depression smooth ground finish will do the trick.
filled with weld to reduce any adverse With the guides machined and fitted,
effects it may have on gas flow. Here as in Fig. 32, cut the seat and remove
again, this is quite a tricky job as the any sharp corners formed. When re-
whole head will have to be heated to moving the corners,

56
do not allow the seat width to go be- eased by farming out certain parts of
low 1/16" or short exhaust valve life the work to your local motor machin-
will result. Apart from a bit of inlet ist. Even though a greater amount of
valve reshaping, the head is virtually effort is called for to do this head in
finished at this stage. Just to round the fashion about to be described, it
off matters, we reprofile the inlet valve is well worth it, especially it any seri-
to the shape shown in Fig. 23 then ous form of competition is envisaged.
give it a good polish. The important The only point at which we are at
part of the valve reshaping is to make variance from the conventionally
sure that the seat blends in smoothly modified head is the area around the
with the rest of the valve. Any sudden inlet valve seat. In all other respects
changes in shape at or around the the head will be as for Figs. 28, 29
seat area cause a reduction, some- and 31. It will be found very difficult, if
times of substantial proportions, of the not impossible, to use a radius valve
flow of gas at low valve lifts. seat with the correct radius in place
of the standard seat. The reason be-
Radius valve seats ing that the original seat has had both
adjoining surfaces machined i.e.
We will deal now with the rather chamber roof and port throat, and has
more complex method of modifying left insufficient metal to form a radius
this head using radius valve seats. seat of the correct dimensions. The
Although the work may entail a little only practical way around this is to
more skill and effort involved as com- make up a valve seat insert. Apart
pared with a straightforward modified from enabling the
head, the situation can be greatly

57
58
job to be done this has one other dis- sions as close as possible. The really
tinct advantage, this being that we can critical one is the diameter of the ra-
accurately form the area just below dius upon which the valve seats. If this
the valve seat. The most critical points dimension is out by more than 0.005'
on any head on which one is attempt- (5 thou.) the valve will not seat in its
ing to substantially improve breathing, correct position. Before fitting the in-
is the area 1/2" before and 1/2" after serts or in fact, machining the head
the valve seat. since, for our pur- to take them, the inlet port should be
poses, there is a distinct lack of metal finished within 3/8" of the valve seat
just before the seat, at a point we re- and the guides fitted. It is also of para-
quire some, the obvious answer is to mount importance that you have
put some there, hence the seat insert. guides whose bores are on or very
To bore the head to take the inserts near bottom limit (0.312 “ dia.). The
you will have to call on the services of size of the guides needs to be accu-
a motor machine shop, and if you lack rate for the pilot of the counterbore
facilities, he can also make up and fit machine to locate when machining
the inserts. the head for the inserts. To get the
As you have probably guessed by valve seat of the inserts accurate, in
now, the inserts are not going to be relation to the guide, we must ensure
just a plain straightforward ring set into that both the location diameter and the
the head. Fig. 33 shows the profile valve seat of the insert are truly con-
set on the insert and one should at- centric. Also the counterboring of the
tempt to meet the specified dimen- head

59
60
61
must be concentric within about of this type of valve seat can add up
0.001“ (1 thou.). If this is done, the to 5 b.h.p. on top end power but that
valves will lap into the seats very is not the end of the story. If you are
quickly without undue deformation of using a hotter cam, say one that
the seat on the valve or insert. When comes in at about 2,500 and is all off
lapping in the valves, engineers blue at about 7,000, then you will find that
must be used to check the validity of the use of these seats will modify
the seat. these figures to about 2,400-7,200.
After the inserts have been fitted, a We are in effect, gaining in all direc-
little blending with the grinder will be tions, having increased the power, rev
needed. The final form that should be range and flexibility.
achieved is shown in Fig. 34. The use

62
chapter 7

MODIFYING THE TR4 HEAD


THE T.R.4 head, from the home- port is too big. It will also serve to en-
tuner’s point of view, is one that is courage fuel separation from the air
fairly easy to modify. The head is big because of the lower gas speed pre-
enough to make just about every part vailing in an overly large port. The type
of the port easily accessible. The in- of finish we should go for would be
let port is big enough to practically more along the lines of a vapour
climb into, and the same goes for the blasted or fine shot blasted finish. In
exhaust ports to a lesser extent. It is fact if you have access to or know
unfortunate from the power output someone who can fine shot blast the
point of view, that the inlet ports are a inlet ports after grinding and light pol-
little too big, but there is very little that ishing, so much the better. If you have
we can do about that. A partial solu- the port shot blasted, then the last part
tion to the problem is to avoid taking of the port just under the valve seat
any more metal out of the ports than will need to be polished. The length
is required to give a good smooth fin- to be polished will be about 1/4" from
ish. As with the other Triumph heads, the valve seat down.
we are plagued by the small step After fitting the guide, cut the seat
which inevitably exists just under the and remove any sharp edges from the
valve seat. 50% of the time this step seat by radiusing off. In the interests
will blend out when the ports are modi- of retaining a valve seat of reason-
fied as in Fig. 35. If the step is greater able width i.e. about 30 thou., any ra-
than 60 or 70 thou., then you just have dius applied to the sharp edges of the
to live with it, or a small amount of it, seat should be small, in the order of
even after grinding. Basically the work 40 thou. or so.
on the inlet port can be summed up
as a little reshaping and blending and Chambers
a lot of polishing to get a smooth uni-
form finish. We do not want a finish As can be seen from Fig. 36, there
akin to chrome plating, as this will only is a fair old chunk of cast iron to be
serve to exaggerate the fact that the taken out of the chambers. To

63
64
65
66
enable reasonable uniformity of shortening of the guide is small
shape from chamber to chamber one enough to have a negligible effect on
should make up a template from the exhaust valve temperature. As
which the marking out of the new has been said many times before,
shape should be done. As described there is no point in polishing the ex-
in previous Chapters, the template haust port as the first few minutes
should be made from perspex for a running will completely coke up the
number of reasons, primarily though, most perfect polish. A good lump and
because it is easier to make and use bump free ground finish will suffice.
than most other materials. When Apart from removing any sudden
marking out the chamber, we do changes in section like the bump at
come across a slight snag. Part of the the point the stem grinding termi-
squish area on these heads is not flat. nates, there is little valve reshaping
Since our template is flat and will be to do. So long as the contour change
on the head face, we will find that most on the back face of the valve is
of the surface on which we are mark- smooth then the valve will perform its
ing is falling away from the template. sealing function whilst presenting the
This means that you will have to use least resistance to flow. As with the
your skill to judge by eye the line you seat in the head, we should blend the
are marking directly under the edge under head face of the valve smoothly
of the template. After marking out the into the seat to increase the valve ef-
chamber, it is just a case of hogging fectiveness at low lifts.
out the cast iron as shown in the draw- It is now head skimming time. So
ing. One thing that is a little difficult to long as we bear a few points in mind,
show in the drawing is the fact that we can get the C/R to a reasonably
the undercut in the chamber wall, high level. For a road car 10 to 1
shown dotted, blends in smoothly with should be considered about as high
the newly ground shape. as we want to go. For racing, we can
up this to 11 to 1 since the intervals
Ports between decokes are usually shorter.
When skimming the head, we must
Inspection of Fig. 37 will show that avoid making the thickness between
there is not too much metal to come the head face and the undercut in the
out of the exhaust ports. Unlike most chamber adjacent to the inlet valve
of the other ports on Triumph engines, too thin. If we do make it too thin, this
this one is best ground with the valve can lead to several undesirable con-
guide in place. This then brings the sequences.
valve guide flush to the roof of the 1. If it overlaps the bore slightly, it
port. This practice of bringing guides may cause a hot spot, leading to deto-
flush to the port especially on the ex- nation.
haust side is one which should not be 2. If it does not overlap the bore but
practised without due consideration of instead rests on the gasket, the pres-
the consequences. The shortening of sure of the gasket caused by tighten-
the exhaust guide is usually accom- ing down the head may be just suffi-
panied by a rise in exhaust valve tem- cient to cause the edge to crack and
perature. In this particular case the break away. This means

67
we have a small but very danger- have approximately 6 c.c. in the block
ous piece of cast iron floating around and gasket, the volume in the head
in the relevant cylinder. will need to be 49.5 c.c. For 11 to 1
3. If the area of the head face di- this figure will need to be 46 c.c. To
rectly over the pocket has been ma- get these ratios the head when modi-
chined excessively, then when the fied as in Fig. 36 will need about 70-
head is fitted we will find that part of 80 thou. off. When the head has been
the gasket is exposed. Numerous skimmed, remove the sharp edges
blown gaskets will be the result of this. from the chamber and it is ready to
To get a 10 to 1 ratio we will need a assemble.
chamber volume of 55.5 c.c. Since we

68
chapter 8
THE ULTIMATE HEAD
CAN we say that any of the heads so first, and consider what happens
far described for the six cylinder en- when we open the valve into a cham-
gines is the ultimate within our limita- ber with a flat roof and walls well clear
tions, imposed by using, as a starting of the valve.
point, a standard casting? Would the To do this we will look at tile effect
hottest head as described in Chapter of fluids in the port instead of air, since
12 be good enough to produce the fluids exhibit the same qualities as
power required by our hypothetical gases except for compressibility. Fig.
Vitesse racer mentioned in the intro- 38 (a) shows part of a port, a valve
duction? In all probability it would fall and a chamber. The fluid in the port
a little short of the mark, but this is is coloured differently from that which
merely incidental. is already in the chamber thus en-
Do we need bigger valves? The an- abling us to see the flow pattern when
swer to this one is no. The valve area the valve is opened. Drawing (b) in
we have, should suffice up to about Fig. 38 shows the flow pattern when
8000 r.p.m. This means that any de- the valve is opened, and this is char-
ficiency in breathing is not due to the acteristic of the flow pattern through-
valve sizes employed. The ports cer- out the opening and closing cycle. It
tainly are not too small for the size of can be seen that turbulence starts
valves used. If this is the case then right on the edge of the valve seat.
we are left with only three areas in This has the effect of impeding the
which drastic improvements can be flow of gas just before the seat and
made. These being the chamber, the turbulence itself is absorbing valu-
valve seat and the entry direction of able kinetic energy which otherwise
the port. If we can make substantial could be assisting flow into the cylin-
improvements at these points, then ders.
we could be well on the way to achiev- Radius valve seats, can these help?
ing that 195-200 b.h.p. that is needed The answer to that must be a con-
to make a sure race-winner servative yes. By using radius
Let us look at tile chamber design

69
valve seats we can delay the onset of when compared with a flat chamber
drastically turbulent flow while the roof. Add this to the gains achieved
valve is at low lifts. The radius seats by venturi ports and radius seats and
can actually increase gas flow into the we could well be 11 % up on a con-
cylinders by as much as 20% at low ventional headed engine.
valve lifts. As the valve lift gets higher,
so the effectiveness of the radius seat Down-draughting
drops off. By the time full lift is
reached, the improvement gained by Down-draughting the inlet port
such seats is down to about 3-5%. should also produce a worthwhile in-
This is by no means a small gain crease in power. This could be in the
when you consider it has been order of 3-4% when used with suit-
brought about solely by a little reshap- able carburation or fuel injection. If we
ing. The basic problem remains as to combine all these ideas, the head
how to reduce turbulence as much as should look like Fig. 40.
possible, at least until the incoming So far everything looks quite good
gases are well and truly in the cylin- on paper, but what about the problems
der. Fig. 39 shows a chamber wall of making such a head. Down-
section which goes a long way to solv- draughting the head is reasonably
ing the problem. Virtually half the tur- straightforward for any well equipped
bulence is eradicated until the bases tuning establishment. It is just a case
are well within the cylinder. Tests on of setting up the head in the correct
such a wall contour indicate gains as position and boring a large hole in it.
much as 6-8% on a normal engine Having done this, a suitable size of

70
pipe together with some sealing com- essary to completely fill the chambers
pound is pres’s fitted into the hole. The but only build up the areas around and
valve guide locating bore is between the valves. We will obviously
remachined to remove the obstruc- have to build up more than we want
tion at one end, caused by fitting the to so that machining and grinding can
pipe, a bit of port blending is done and be done to bring it back to the correct
we have a down-draught head. Do- size. Another problem is going to con-
ing the venturi type radius valve seats front us in as much as filling the cham-
is straightforward enough even if it is bers is going to raise the compres-
a delicate operation. This just leaves sion ratio a little higher than is really
us with the chambers. desirable. The answer to this is to use
To get the chambers to the shape the head from the 2.5 litre engine
we require, it is obvious that metal will which is identical in every respect bar
have to be put into the chambers chamber depth. Having filled and
which is, to say the least, a bit beyond modified the chamber, we will find that
the scope of most home tuners. For- the C/R is at a reasonable level and
tunately there are firms who special- can be brought up to spec. by a little
ize in welding cast iron so the prob- head skimming. With this type of
lem is simply alleviated. To fill the chamber design C/R in the order of
chambers, the whole head has to be 12.5 to 1 would be beneficial.
heated red hot so that stress cracks With such a head, probably the best
due to temperature differentials are sequence in which to modify the head
avoided. A quick look at the relevant is: (a) weld up the
drawing will reveal that it is not nec-

71
72
73
chambers, (b) fit valve seat inserts, the valve profile as it is a little too
(c) down-draught the head and, (d) vague to give us any concrete figures
grind and polish ports and chambers. on which to base the valve profile.
Using this type of chamber design This head design should go a long
together with a down-draught port, a way to giving us the power output re-
slightly tulip shaped inlet valve is likely quired of our hypothetical 2-litre Tri-
to give us better results. The shaping umph racing machine. By itself, it is
of the inlet valve can have a greater probably not enough to make a cer-
influence on gas flow than is com- tain race winner. There are fortunately
monly suspected. Tests have indi- other areas in which substantial im-
cated that there is a family relation- provements can be made and we
ship between chamber design and shall discuss these in the relevant
valve head profile. This relationship Chapters.
can be used only to give us a guide to

74
chapter 9
PORT MATCHING AND DOWELLING

TO many people it seems that port manifold and the port apertures
matching is something of a mystery. marked out. From here it is a straight-
It is in fact quite a simple job that forward job to cut away the metal on
needs just a little care and patience. both the manifold and gasket up to
The simplest method, ensuring a the previously scribed line.
reasonable match between the port We have, of course, made the as-
and manifold is to match both items” sumption that the ports in the gaskets
to the manifold gasket. To do this, both are the same size as the ports re-
the manifold head joint faces are quired in the head. Most manifold
cleaned and marking blue applied to gaskets are about 3/32" larger than
each face. Two manifold studs are the port sizes which in all the cases
then fitted into the head, one at each we have covered remain standard
end, and the manifold gasket located size as far as the inlet are concerned.
on them. We then scribe round the This means that ideally the line that
port apertures onto the head thus giv- is scribed for working to must be 3/64”
ing us a clear indication of the posi- in from the edge of the gasket. The
tion the gasket will take up. Some- port size at the joint face between the
times the gaskets have large clear- manifold and head is not critical within
ance holes for the studs, which means 1/64" so when we say the port should
that the gasket is rather a sloppy fit not be enlarged, it should not be en-
on the studs. This can be remedied larged any more than is necessary to
by winding a few turns of masking match it up. This method of port
tape around each of the studs, thus matching is the simplest but the ac-
giving us a more stable location. curacy obtained is limited by clear-
Once the head has been marked ance on the manifold location studs.
out, we set about doing the same This clearance allows a certain
thing to the manifold. By using some amount of movement which directly
nuts and bolts the same size as the affects the lining up of the ports. Al-
securing studs or bolts in the head, though
the gasket can be secured to the

75
this method is not super-accurate, it through the manifold and gaskets. Do
does leave things far better than they not remove the manifold at this stage,
are as standard. drill all the holes that are needed in
one go. Next, using a worn 1/8”
Dowelling reamer, one that is about 0.001“ un-
dersize, ream out the holes through
For a super-accurate port match- the manifold into the head. Inciden-
ing job, we have to be a little more tally you may find that in some cases
sophisticated about things. Firstly we i.e. Weber manifolds, that the drill or
shall require some 1/8” dowel pins reamer length is insufficient to reach
These can be made up from a length the base of the manifold without foul-
of 1/8” dia. silver steel as this is very ing some other part of the manifold
accurately sized. Silver steel inci- with the drill chuck. This situation can
dently, is available through most con- usually be overcome by fitting the drill
cerns dealing in engineers’ tools and or reamer into a slim pin chuck and
is commonly sold in 13" lengths. From then holding the pin chuck in the drill.
the silver steel we make up some Once we have reamed the dowel
dowel pins about 3/8” - 7/16” long. holes with the undersize reamer, we
These should then have their ends can remove the manifolds from the
chamfered or radiused. The number head. We now fit the dowel pins into
of dowels required will depend on the the head. Providing you selected your
type of manifold being fitted. A one- reamer at 0.001" undersize, the dow-
piece manifold will require two dow- els will be a light drive fit in the head.
els; a two-piece manifold will require It is not a good idea to have the mani-
four dowels; each part of the mani- folds a light drive fit on the dowels, so
fold requiring two dowels to locate it. using a new 1/8” reamer, ream out the
The next step is to fit the manifold manifold holes. If the job has been
Studs in the head and bolt the mani- done right, we now find that the mani-
fold in place with two or three gas- folds are a snug push fit on the dow-
kets between the head and manifold. els and there is a complete absence
Be sure to line all the gaskets up with of sloppiness.
one another. To take up any play on Since we now have a really accu-
the studs we can, as before, use rate location for our manifolds and
masking tape. With the manifold gaskets we can tackle fhe port match-
bolted securely in place, drill two holes ing procedure as described previ-
in a convenient position in each com- ously: The dowels will, however, take
ponent part of the manifold. Normally the place of the studs when marking
the best place to drill such holes is out the ports to their relevant gasket
about 1/4" away from the fixing studs. apertures. The adoption of this
The size of drill for the hole is 0.110" method enables port matching to
and the drilling should go about 3/8" within about 0.007” when done care-
into the head casting after passing fully and that cannot be bad.

76
chapter 10
SPRINGS, ROCKERS, PUSHRODS AND TAPPETS
THE sole function of springs, rockers, the engine to run 10-15% over these
pushrods and tappets is to convey the revs. Since the camshaft is the main
motion imparted by the cam to the influencing factor controlling the point
valves. As such the valve train, includ- at which peak power occurs, then we
ing the camshaft, must be regarded should select valve springs land cam
as a whole. Any mechanism is bound together.
to suffer from flexure of various com- If substantial improvements have
ponents. Any flexing which is brought been made in the breathing ability of
about by the relevant dynamic or static an engine, but the cam remains stan-
loads imposed, makes the job of the dard, the situation can sometimes call
camshaft that much more difficult. for slightly stronger valve springs. This
The cam designer goes to a great means that we cannot use the prin-
deal of time and trouble to produce a ciple, at least in early stages of tune,
cam profile which will minimize the of selecting cam and springs together,
effects of vibration, shocks and flex- as a hard and fast rule. However,
ing in the valve train. Because of the since we are dealing solely with the
nature of the valve train in the normal larger Triumph engines, we can be far
O.H.V. engine, he is fighting a one- more specific about things. All the
sided battle. We must consider, when Triumph cars with which we are deal-
making any modifications to the valve ing have sufficient spring pressure to
train as a whole, whether or not we control valve bounce up to high
are making the situation worse as far enough revs when using the standard
as loads and flexure factors are con- camshaft. This even applies to en-
cerned. The first golden rule to be gines which have had substantial im-
applied is: Never use valve springs provements made in the head, inlet
any stronger than are needed to do and exhaust side of things. Some-
the job. If you do, it will cost you power. times one can gain a false impres-
You must consider at what r.p.m. your sion in as much as the engine feels
peak power is likely to occur, and then as though it can usefully rev higher,
select valve springs which will allow

77
but quite frankly one is off the best cycle.
part of the power curve and you would All this explanation is leading up to
be better off in the next gear up. All one thing. When buying a cam, con-
the sixcylinder Triumph engines can sult the cam manufacturer as to what
rev to 6,300 or over on standard springs should be used. Let me quote
springs. Without making a cam an example. S.A. H. do five different
change, it is unlikely that the point at cam grinds for the six cylinder en-
which peak power occurs can be gines, and each cam profile has a
raised to much more than 5,800 r.p.m. specific set of springs to go with it.
This means that fitting stronger The same also applies for the two
springs with a standard cam is a cams S.A.H. do for the four cylinder
waste of time and serves only to re- engines.
duce the power output by raising the Having lightly touched on the sub-
internal friction level of the engine. ject of springs, let us turn to the rock-
ers. After a head has been skimmed,
Cams and springs one can sometimes find that there is
insufficient rocker adjustment left.
When we do change to a hotter There are two ways of overcoming
cam, then we shall definitely need this problem. We can either shorten
springs to go with it. Running the en- the push rods by the same or similar
gine to valve bounce revs is a prac- amount taken off the head or raise the
tice to be avoided as much as too rocker shaft to compensate. I person-
strong a spring set-up. Valve bounce ally am not in favour of the second
occurs when the spring pressure is method, although it is the simplest
insufficient to keep the cam follower means of solving the problem. Ideally
in contact with the cam at the revs the rocker should be horizontal when
prevailing. This means the cam fol- the valve is at the half lift point i.e. the
lower may leave contact with the cam rocker will swing an even amount
just after the toe-peak lift point-of the above and below the horizontal. If we
cam and may not touch again until the skim the head then, assuming at this
heelbase circle. This sort of use im- point there is sufficient rocker adjust-
poses terrific shock loads on the com- ment, we will reduce the angle the
ponents of the valve train. It can lead rocker makes to the horizontal while
to premature demise of the cam fol- the valve is still closed. When the
lowers and cam lobes. While the tap- valve opens the rocker will pass
pet is off the cam follower, the valve through the horizontal position before
is being brought down onto its seat the half lift point is reached. This
solely by spring pressure. Instead of means the total angular displacement
being gently let down into its seat by from the horizontal is increased. Let
the closing ramp of the cam, it is us go back to the situation where
smashed down by the full force and packing shims under the rockers is
speed that the spring can muster. The required to allow adjustment. We find
seat, valve and spring are not good when the shims are fitted, we reduce
enough shock absorbers to absorb the initial rocker angle even more than
the full energy of the rapidly moving with just the skimmed head. The
valve, so the valve promptly bounces rocker reaches the horizontal position
back off the seat. The loads and almost as soon as the valve is
speeds involved are so high that the The pushrod can be considered as
valve may bounce off the seat two or the weakest link of the chain in most
three times before it finally comes to O.H.V. engines. This is not from the
rest ready to go through the next point of view of strength,

78
79
off the seat, instead of the idea point of view of flexibility. The pushrod is
at half full lift. Also the maximum angle simply a load bearing column. As
from the horizontal has been in- such, it functions reasonably well,
creased and this is undesirable for while it is dead straight. If there is the
several reasons. Firstly the rubbing slightest bend in the pushrod the flex-
motion between the tip of the valve ing it experiences during use will go
stem and the contacting rocker face up out of all proportion and the mo-
is increased which in turn increases tion of the valve will bear only a vague
the wear rate. From this stems the fact resemblance to the motion dictated
that tappet clearances are likely to by the cam. As you have probably
need more regular adjustment. Sec- gathered by now, the moral is to check
ondly the side forces on the valve each pushrod for straightness.
stems causes a greater rate of valve
stem and guide wear. Thirdly, any in- Tubular pushrods
crease in friction is undesirable in any
engine, especially one intended for Although none are commercially
high performance. We need not run available at the time of writing, I it
away with the idea that shimming the would appear that there is scope for
rockers is totally disastrousall the the use of tubular pushrods. It would
points raised merely constitute small appear that we have ample room
but unwanted side effects. down the pushrod holes to accommo-
Unlike shimming, shortening of the date tubular pushrods approximately
pushrods does not have any un- twice the diameter of the standard
wanted side effects. By shortening the items. This is the sort of thing needed
pushrod, we allow the rocker to con- for our, as yet , hypothetical racer.
tact the valve stem through the opti- Since a tubular pushrod of similar
mum angles i.e. an even angle of cross-sectional area would be far
swing above and below the horizon- stiffer than the standard items, we
tal. The horizontal position will, of could usefully employ a higher flank
course, coincide with the half full lift acceleration on the cam profile. This
valve. The shortening of the pushrods faster rate of lift would enable better
has also given us a small reduction breathing and hence more power.
in valve gear weight, and every little Consideration of the tappets or cam
bit helps. The pushrods ideally should followers brings us to the last com-
be shortened by the same amount of ponent in the valve train before we get
metal that has been taken off the head to the camshaft. The camshaft will be
thus restoring the condition which pre- dealt with in a chapter of its own as it
vailed originally. When the pushrods deserves more than a passing men-
are shortened, the original form must tion. There is, however, little that can
be remachined on the end and we will, be said about tappets except that they
of course, shorten from the cam fol- are hard working components and
lower end and not the rocker end should be treated with respect. Since
component which receives continual it is a which bears on the cam is not
abuse from the camshaft, one should pitted or concave. If the face is at all
check that (a) it is a good fit in its bore concave, then the valve opening mo-
and (b) that the face but from the point tion is adversely affected.

80
chapter 11
ENGINE INTERCHANGEABILITY

DROPPING in a larger motor is a in it, one at each corner, and is the


simple and safe method of increas- point at which the Vitesse engine
ing a car’s performance, but it is diffi- mount fits.
cult to try to put forward every con-
ceivable combination of bits and Triumph 2000
nearly impossible to foresee every
snag that is likely to arise. However The Triumph 2000 engine
the information here should give ei- mounts are situated on the front of
ther food for thought or a good guide the engine and are in the form of a
as to what should or can be done with plate between the timing chain cover
the least complications. and the block. The early Triumph
2000 block, unlike the Vitesse block,
Vitesse 1600 does not have such a large boss on
the side of the block. The part of the
We will deal with the 1600 Vitesse boss present has no threaded holes
first as this is the most likely one to to permit securing of the engine
receive attention in the form of capac- mount. This means that if you should
ity increases. There appears to be no get hold of a Mk. 1 Triumph 2000 en-
great problems which is as one would gine, you will have to (a) drill and tap
expect, in bolting the Mk. 1 2-litre the block and (b) make a metal spacer
Vitesse engine straight in. On the of approximately 1-1/4" thickness to
other hand fitting the Triumph 2000 make up the space between the block
engine is not quite so straightforward. boss and the Vitesse engine mount.
The principal difference in the block Since the boss on the block is much
arises in connection with the engine smaller, we must be very careful not
mounting points. The Mk. 1 Vitesse to drill and tap the block too deeply,
engines have, cast on the left hand otherwise we shall break through into
side when viewed from the front, a the inside.
large boss projecting some 2-1/2" If we resort to a later engine, that
from the main body of the block. This is after late 1966, then we find that
boss has four drilled and tapped holes

81
some rationalization was brought subject of blocks, the Triumph 2000
about at the factory and all blocks engine is only a bored out version of
would appear to be the same. This the 1600 Vitesse engine. When the
means that by using the later engine, 2000 block was brought out, the bores
we can, without a great deal of effort, were cast to allow for the bigger size
transplant any engine into any car employed. If you should try boring the
within the range. There may be occa- 1600 out to 2000 c.c. you will just end
sions when parts outside of the en- up with a scrap block, so do not try it.
gine need changing to retain parts Since the engines are, in the main,
compatibility, but there does not ap- bored or stroked versions of each
pear to be occasion to use bits other other, we get virtually no problems
than off the shelf Triumph parts. The associated with weight. Usually drop-
biggest expense when fitting the late ping in a bigger engine has certain
engine into a pre ’66 car other than disadvantages connected with it, such
the engine itself, would appear to be as making the car front end heavy.
some new manifolding because, you Here the problem does not arise since
will remember, the later engine has a all the engines have weights within a
different head. few pounds of each other. At face
If you have the Mk. II G.T.6 or value, increasing the engine size is a
Vitesse, then it becomes unnecessary good way to get more performance.
to change the whole engine to get the The cost of such a project, however,
capacity up to 2.5 litres. The later 2- is a little on the high side in terms of
litre engines have the bigger mains b.h.p. gained per pound spent, as-
journals which are, in fact, the same suming new parts are purchased. To
size as those on the TR 5 or 6. This counter this, any subsequent im-
means that we need only change the provements made, result in a greater
crank rods and head for those of the power increase on the larger engines
bigger engine. than the smaller ones.
Incidentally, whilst we are on the

82
chapter 12

STRENGTHENING THE
BOTTOM END FOR COMPETITION
THERE is very little we can do to in- Shot peening
crease the bottom end strength on
these engines as far as component Another way in which we can in-
changing goes. This means that we crease the fatigue life and the ultimate
have to resort to methods which will strength is by polishing or shot peen-
give the greatest reliability using the ing. The surface flaws and Imperfec-
standard parts. tions reduce the strength of a com-
ponent by a fantastic amount. If we
Tuftriding could remove every surface flaw on
a steel component down to the mo-
To start with, it is a good idea, if we lecular level, the strength of the com-
are to use the maximum rev potential ponent almost doubles. Unfortunately
available, to have the crank and rods removing flaws down to the molecu-
tuftrided. For a very reasonable price lar level is virtually impossible. Even
you can get your own rods and crank if we could do so, the bombardment
tuftrided. This process has the effect, of air molecules is sufficient to ren-
as you have probably guessed, of in- der our perfect finish imperfect, but
creasing the toughness of a steel make no mistake about it, the polish-
component. By doing so we find that ing of the engine’s vitals does make
it is less likely to break through fatigue a worthwhile difference, even if the
at sustained high revs. It also enables finish is imperfect. A well polished or
us to raise the rev limit before catas- shot peened rod can have a fatigue
trophe occurs, by 5-7%. After com- life easily double of that of a standard
ponents have been tuftrided they are component. This is not to say that its
covered in a grey film. This must be strength is doubled. The difference
removed from all bearing and locat- between breaking and not breaking
ing surfaces by polishing. Some “600” due to fatigue can be quite small. The
grit wet and dry emery paper will do polishing or shot peening may have
the trick nicely, but be sure to remove only given us a 5% margin
every trace of grit before using the strengthwise over the standard item,
component. but at a given r.p.m. it is enough to

83
make the difference. they are short peened. For instance
I should think we all know how pol- one should remove all forging marks
ishing is done, but far less is known and try as much as possible to smooth
about shot peening. An object is shot out the surface all over.
peened by firing small glass or steel If we are going the whole hog by
balls at the component. These balls tuftriding and surface finishing, be it
have a relatively high surface finish. polishing or shot peening, things have
They strike the component at a high to be done in a certain order. The
enough speed to cause a small component must be prepared prior to
curved indentation and in doing so, tuftriding by grinding off any forging
impart some of their high surface fin- marks and generally cleaning it up. If
ish onto the component. This has the the final surface operation is polish-
effect of eradicating the crevices ing, the rod is best polished before
which cause stress points. Fig. 41 tuftriding as after the processing we
shows the surface finish under mag- must avoid any metal removal. If the
nifications of (a) a forged surface (b) component is to be subsequently shot
a polished surface and (c) a shot peened, then we need not be so fussy
peened surface. From this you can over the finish prior to tuftriding.
see that the shot peened surface has A word of warning here would not
done as much to remove stress points be out of place. Do not send any bits
as polishing, although the actual ap- for tuftriding if at any time they have
pearance of the finish is somewhat been bent and had to be straightened.
different. It is advisable to give the The toughening process will cause
components a little attention before them to revert back to their bent state.

84
After toughening, all components and 4A engines. Due consideration
should be checked to see that they should be given to the 2.5 litre six,
have not distorted as this sometimes because of the longer stroke, and it
occurs. Small amounts of distortion is probably wise to limit them to 8,000
can be remedied by normal straight- or just under. The early 1600 and 2-
ening procedures, but if too badly dis- litre engines, because of their small
torted, the relevant component should main bearings, should not be run in
be replaced, by another toughened excess of 8,000 revs. There are en-
one. The little end bushes in the rods gines of similar size that will rev higher
are always badly eroded by tuftriding than this in safety but quite frankly
and will need replacement after pro- these Triumph engines have enough
cessing. revs for our purposes. To get a peak
With the bottom ends fully power which needed more than 8,000
prepared, we should get rev limits in r.p.m. we should have to resort to
the order of 8,300 for the 2-litre Mk. some very sophisticated tuning in-
11 sixes, and about 7,200 for the TR4 deed!

85
86
87
88
chapter 13

LIGHTENING ENGINE COMPONENTS


The con-rods of an engine are usu- fully receive some attention to reduce
ally the first items to get attention their moving mass. These should be
when the time comes for lightening. reshaped as in Fig. 43 and finally pol-
In the case of the Triumph rods, there ished to reduce the effects of surface
is little we can do to vastly reduce the stress points. When grinding, one
weight. Slight weight reductions will, must avoid touching the surface of the
of course, be achieved by grinding off rocker which bears on the stem of the
the forging marks and generally valve. Any deviation of the true curve
rounding off square edges. Any caused by wear or otherwise, results
weight reduction must be considered in an error of valve motion. The valve
worthwhile if we are going all out on rockers for the four cylinder engine
the engine, but for all normal applica- cannot effectively be lightened any
tions it is not worth the great deal of more than they are, but a good pol-
effort involved. ishing session on them would cer-
Some of the Triumph pistons can tainly not go amiss.
be lightened by cutting away part of
the skirt as in Fig. 42. One can easily Cam followers
identify which can be lightened and
which cannot by the fact that some The cam followers can be lightened
pistons already have this part of the by machining out the bore as shown
skirt cut away. Those that are already in Fig. 44. The size to bore the cam
cut away should be left as they are. followers-dimension A-varies depend-
Do not shorten the pistons as with the ing on the size of cam followers in the
bore sizes quoted elsewhere in the engine. The 0.687" dia. tappet usu-
book, the pistons will be allowed to ally found in the 1600 Vitesse and the
rock too much in the bores. Mk. 1 2-litre engines can be bored to
0.590" dia. The larger tappet found in
Rockers the later engines is 0.800" dia., and
can be bored to 0.700" dia. The ones
The rockers for the “sixes” can use- for the four cylinder

89
90
91
engines which are larger at 0.937' cess. It is then shortened by an
dia., can be lightened by boring to amount which leaves enough to put
0.840". The boring of the cam follow- on a plain shank and a screwdriver
ers to these sizes will give a weight slot. The advantage of lightening per-
reduction in the order of 20%. formed on the end of a rocker as op-
Another worthwhile weight saving posed to lightening near the pivot
can be had by reducing the thickness point, is that it has the greatest effect
of the locking nut on the rocker ad- on the reduction of reciprocating
justing screw to half of its original weight and is therefore most useful.
thickness. This usually results in far Although it does not come into the
more of the rocker adjusting screw category of lightening of standard
protruding from the locknut than is components, the making up of alu-
necessary. Once the tappets have minium spring retainers should be
been adjusted, we can see exactly mentioned. By using aluminium in-
how much of the rocker screw is ex- stead of steel, we can cut the spring

92
retainer weight by 50% which is, you Flywheel
must admit, a fair amount. We can-
not make the aluminium retainers, The standard flywheel is, on the six
size for size, the same as the steel cylinder engines, good for giving a
ones, as they would not be quite smooth tickover, but for a tuned mo-
strong enough. To compensate for the tor it is unnecessarily heavy. The four
lower ultimate strength of the alu- cylinder engines also have a heavy
minium, we should make the retain- flywheel. For these engines, you can
ers thicker on the face that the outer have one of two different flywheels
spring beats against see Fig. 45. Only depending on the type of clutch fitted,
good quality high tensile aluminium the one being heavier by far than the
alloy such L65 should be used for other. To lighten the flywheel, it is sim-
these retainers, this has a strength in ply mounted in a large lathe and ma-
excess of 25 tons per square inch. chined as shown

93
for the relevant flywheel in Fig. 46. rev. The 10 lb. flywheel weight reduc-
Practically any motor machine shop tion is equivalent to reducing the
has a lathe large enough to tackle weight of the car by 160 lb. that is 16
such a job, so there should be no x 10 lbs. When we change to second
problem getting it done. It must be gear which, we will say, is about 12 to
pointed out that a lighter flywheel nei- 1 overall ratio, the gain, because of
ther increases the power nor makes the lighter flywheel, will be 12x10 lbs.
the car faster. It does, however, allow which is 120 lbs. By the time we get
the car to accelerate faster because to top gear, the effect of the lighter
of the reduced mass which the en- flywheel will only be about the same
gine has to speed up. The lower gear as lightening the whole car by 4x10
the car is in the greater the effect of lbs. or 40 lbs. With the exception of
the reduced flywheel weight. To clarify one of the TR4 flywheels the effec-
the point a little, let us look at a simple tive weight saving will not-be as great
example. as 10 lbs. A more likely figure is be-
Let us assume that we have re- tween 6-8 lbs., but this is enough to
duced the effective weight of a fly- make a noticeable difference. By way
wheel by 10 lb. While the car is in of a bonus, the lighter flywheel also
bottom gear the engine r.p.m. to driv- enables snappy gear changing when
ing wheel r.p.m. is 16 to 1 i.e. the en- going down the box.
gine turns 16 revs to the wheel’s one

94
chapter 14
HIGH PERFORMANCE CAMS
THE camshaft is a component which town driving is of a limited nature and
is often taken too much for granted. the car is mostly used on open roads,
The designing of a good camshaft is we can afford to lose a little at the
probably one of the most difficult bottom end of the rev range to gain
things within the internal combustion power at the top end. For this appli-
engine. For a camshaft to have a rea- cation we can go to a more hairy cam
sonable life, yet produce the required but still one that retains a sensible
breathing characteristics for a high amount of flexibility. For rallying,
performance engine, the cam profile autocrossing or for the man who has
has to be carefully calculated. The to use the daily road transport for the
profile must be such as to limit shocks weekend race meeting, we can pull
and vibrations, and keep the inertia the stops out a fair bit and install a
loads to a bearable level. It is only by cam which will go between 2,500 up
careful control and accurate manufac- to 6,500 or so. For circuit work a cam
ture of the cam profile that the de- giving power between 3,000 to 7,000
signer can come to terms and limit would be a good choice.
the undesirable elements of the cam. Not only do we have to consider the
For this reason we should never use application of the car when selecting
a cam with worn lobes as we could a cam, but also we must consider
be imposing stresses or shocks far whether it is reasonably compatible
higher than were ever intended. with the rest of the engine modifica-
How does one go about choosing tions. For instance, a full race cam
a suitable cam ? Firstly we must de- would be a bit of a waste of time on a
cide at what point we need the power. 1600 Vitesse, if the standard Solex
For fast road work and town driving, carbs were still retained. Before fit-
we should use a cam that can run ting a cam that is vastly different to
down fairly low revs and still give us the standard one, you should defi-
power. This means the timing is of nitely reach a reasonable level of so-
fairly short duration and there is only phistication in other
a small amount of overlap. If your

95
quarters such as head, carbs and at the top end without any appreciable
exhaust system. drop in the lower rev range, the S.A.H.
With the TR4 and 4A, we 26 cam can be fitted. This has slightly
cannot go too wild on cam timing be- more duration than the standard cam,
cause of a rev. limit, which even with the timing figures being 22/62-62/22.
a fully prepared bottom end, is only a Total. valve lift is up to 0.432". This
little over 7,000 strictly speaking, we combination of lift and timing makes
cannot really use a cam that gives a the cam ideal for fast road work and
peak power any higher than about the occasional competition meeting.
6,500 r.p.m. This means that there is A cam which does a very similar job
not such a vast difference between to the S.A.H. item is made by Piper
the standard cam and a full race one Cams. The Piper cam has slightly
as there is with some cars. Since the longer timing but less lift, the figures
step from standard to full race is a little for these being 24/64-64/24 with
less than usual, there are less cams 0.387" lift. V. W. Derrington can sup-
to fill the gap between road and race ply a cam which they say is designed
profiles which means our choice is to give the best torque characteristics
limited. Because of the relatively low in view of the relatively low maximum
rev. limit, most cam manufacturers safe revs (7,000) of this engine. On
produce only one or two profiles -from the face of it, this cam should repre-
which to choose for this engine. The sent a good bet for the man who uses
standard TR4 and 4A cam timing is a his race machine on the road, as trac-
fairly modest 17/57-57/17 with a lift tability does not suffer too much. The
of around Y.”. For better breathing up timing for the Derrington cam is 30/70-
Manufacturer Timing Lift No.
Piper 30/70-70/30 0.435' 1
35/75-75/35 0.390" 2
36/76-76/36 0.406" 3
45/85-85/45 0.435“ 4
33/71-71/31 0.406 “ 5

S.A.H. (26) 22/62-62/22 0.388" 6


(46) 40/60-60/40 0.398" 7
(57) 50/70-70/50 0.425" 8
(47) 40/70-70/40 0.428" 9
(357) 33/71-71/33 0.395" 10
(387) 38/72-75/35 0.382" 11
(578) 52/78-78/52 0.410“ 12
(467) 46/74-78/42 0.385" 13

V W Derrington 30/70-70/30 0.435" 14


35/75-75/35 0.390" 15
70/30 with a lift of 0.420". Pipers also Racing
do a cam with similar timing and lift to
this one. Any cam past this stage defi- For racing we must go for the
nitely starts to chop out the low end S.A.H. 47 cam (43/76-76/43 with a
performance, but if you intend to use 0.480" lift). This cam must be consid-
the car for any form of serious com- ered as a full race cam, and if used in
petition, the revs must be sacrificed. a road car, can be just a little tiresome,
especially in traffic. The useable rev

96
range with this cam is approximately 2000 engine is 1.3", a quick calcula-
between 3,000 and 7,000 which is the tion will reveal that we need a lift of
limit as far as the 4 cylinder Triumph 0.390". The 0.390" lift given by this
engines are concerned. cam is therefore close to the mark. It
A far wider range of cams is avail- is also interesting to note that this type
able for the six cylinder engines than of cam can be used beneficially in the
the four cylinder ones. This wider 2.5 litre Lucas fuel-injected engines
choice allows a closer tailoring of the without having to change the fuel me-
engine to one’s needs. The easiest tering cam. The S.A.H. 357 (No. 10)
way to cover these cams is to list a and 578 (No. 12) and the Piper cam
reasonable number of them and then (No. 5) also save this modification,
discuss any special merits that they which is very useful when you con-
might have. sider that reprofiling the fuel ram takes
For a good road cam in a 1600 or a good few hours on a dynamometer.
Mk. 1, 2000 motor, cam numbers 2, The 357 cam is the sort of cam that
6 or 15 are a good choice. The timing starts running right around the 1,500
figures are not too drastic for road use revs or so, and it is quite roadable.
and the lift is quite adequate for the The 578 on the other hand, is a race
standard valve sizes. We can lift a profile and needs upwards of 3,000
valve too far and there is no point in revs just to get going. The best rev
going higher than about 0.30" of the range for this cam is between 4,000
diameter of the valve. Since the stan- and 7,000. Cams number 1 and 14
dard size of valve in a 1600 or Mk. 1 are

97
also good touring cams, giving a use- sert the camshaft so that the inlet and
ful increase in power without killing off exhaust cams on number 4 cylinder
a noticeable amount of power at the (for 4 cylinder engines) or number 6
bottom end. To make the best use of cylinder (for 6 cylinder engines) are
these cams, they should be used in rocking i.e. the inlet is just opening
the Mk. 11 engines, or Mk. I engine and the exhaust is just closing (see
with a bigger inlet valve, Cams num- Fig. 47). This will mean that the cams
bers 3, 7 and 11 make a good com- in number 1 cylinder will be such that
promise for road/competition use in both valves are closed which will, of
the 1600, 2000, or carburated 2.5 li- course, be the situation prevailing
tre engines. Since the bigger engines when number 1 is firing, and on the
bring the r.p.m., at which the cam power stroke.
comes in down, we can afford to go a The next step is to fit the sprockets
little further on cam timing for road use together with the timing chain. The
before it becomes too intractable. For degree plate is now bolted to the
instance, as a road/race cam for a crankshaft, and a pointer fixed to the
carburated 2.5 litre engine, the 46/74- block is set on the zero degree mark
78/42 cam (No. 13) might be a good of the degree plate. The situation is
choice. A good example of this would now as follows: we have the crank set
be the fitment of this cam into the TR so that number 1 piston is at T.D.C.
250 which is the carburated version and our datum from this is set on the
of the TR 5. The remainder of the degree plate. We have the cam in-
cams, including the S.A. H. 578 cam stalled in the approximate correct
already mentioned, can be consid- position within about +/- 150 (if your
ered full race cams. judgment of the positioning of the cam
lobes is anything like, that is) and the
Fitting camshaft connected to the crank. We
are now in a position to run through a
Once you have decided on a par- timing cycle on one of the cams, we
ticular cam, then it is imperative that will say, for instance, number 1 inlet
it is fitted correctly. To fit the cam cor- cam. To do this we attach a long stem
rectly it must be timed by using a de- to the dial indicator and seat it on the
gree plate and a dial indicator. If the cam follower of number 1 inlet cam,
cam is not correctly timed then we can see Fig, 48. Assuming the engine to
be throwing a fair amount of power be still at T.D.C. on number 1 cylin-
away. Just installing the cam and der, rotate the crank in the reverse of
bringing up the timing marks is, in normal rotation about 1800 i.e. about
most cases, not good enough. To B.D.C. The inlet cam follower should
ensure that the cam will function cor- now be on the base circle of the cam.
rectly, the following procedure should Set the dial indicator to read zero while
be adopted when fitting it. the cam follower is on the base circle
Using a dial indicator with its probe of the cam. Turn the crank in the nor-
resting on top of the number 1 piston, mal direction of rotation. As it is
establish T.D.C. When bringing the turned, at some point you will see the
piston up to T.D.C. turn it in the nor- dial indicator slowly moving round the
mal direction of rotation and apply scale indicating that the cam is now
thumb pressure to the top of the pis- on the
ton to take up bearing clearances. In-
98
99
clearance ramp. As the crank is sprocket around, we can make tim-
turned still further, the rate of motion ing corrections down to a quarter of a
of the dial indicator needle will quite tooth pitch. This means that we can
suddenly increase. This shows that get our timing accurate to a little over
the cam has started the lift cycle. Turn +/- 20 at the crank. Assuming we are
the crank back and establish the point at the point where the difference in
at which the lift cycle starts, this be- the required timing, and the timing
ing the point at which rapid motion of existing on the engine is no more than
the dial indicator needle starts. This one tooth, i.e. 8.6 cam degrees of
point can also be established by di- 17.2 crank degrees, we can adapt the
viding the rocker ratio into the valve following procedure to correct it :
clearance. This then gives the height
of the clearance ramp on the cam Error at crank Error at sprocket
This point is quite easily seen, as the 17.20 1 tooth (8.60)
rate of motion of the dial indicator
needle goes up by 2 or 3 times that Remedy
caused by the clearance ramp. Hav- Remove sprockets and timing
ing established the opening point of chain, unmesh the sprocket and turn
the valve, check the number of de- it one tooth in the relevant direction
grees before T.D.C. that this opening within the chain. Turn the cam a simi-
point occurs, and compare it with the lar amount and refit sprockets and
quoted cam timing figures. By com- chain.
paring the actual figures existing, with
the correct figures, we can determine Error at crank Error at sprocket
the exact error present. Once the er- 12.90 tooth (6.450)
ror has been noted, turn the engine
back to T.D.C. on number 1 cylinder Remedy
and remove the timing plate. Remove Remove sprockets and timing
the sprockets and chain to make the chain. Turn the cam sprocket back to
necessary timing corrections. If the front and rotate it through 900. Refit it
cam is too far advanced i.e. the inlet into the chain and offer up to engine.
is opening early, the cam will need to Turn the cam to align up holes in
be turned in the opposite direction to sprocket. Refit the assembly.
normal rotation i.e. anti-clockwise
when viewed from the sprocket end Error at crank Error at sprocket
of the engine. If it is too far retarded, 8.60 1/2 tooth (4.30)
then turn the cam clockwise. Move the
cam sprocket in the chain around the Remedy
relevant number of teeth (usually one Remove sprockets and timing
or two) to line it up with the fixing holes chain. Unmesh the sprocket from the
in the cam and the keyway on the chain and turn it 900 then remesh it.
crank, and refit it. Recheck the tim- Offer it up to the engine, turn the cam
ing. By this time the error should be to line up the fixing holes and refit the
no more than one tooth of the cam chain and sprockets.
sprocket.
If you look closely at the cam Error at crank Error at sprocket
sprocket, you will see four securing 4.30 1/4 tooth (2.150)
holes which are equally spaced but
offset from the centreline of the Remedy
sprocket teeth. By juggling the Remove sprockets and timing
chain. Turn the sprocket back to front.

100
101
Refit it into the chain and offer up to are equally spaced either side of the
the engine. Turn the cam to align fix- desired setting, then choose the one
ing holes and refit chain and sprock- most retarded of the two as a delay in
ets. inlet valve closure is better than an
Looking at the chart you can see earlier opening. Once the cam is cor-
that our incremental adjustment at the rectly installed, it is wise to put on two
crank is 4.30. The maximum error of your own timing marks so that you
from the required timing with such will not have to repeat the cam set-
steps of adjustment will be half of 4.30. ting when the time for rebuilding
This means you must adjust to the comes. Incidentally, one can obtain a
nearest quarter tooth to the required cam timing plate from S.A.H. or a 3600
timing. The maximum final error will protractor can be adapted for such a
occur when the error we are adjust- purpose, A dial indicator can be pur-
ing for, falls exactly half way between chased at shops dealing in engineers’
a quarter tooth pitch, i.e. 2.150. If you tools and is a worthwhile investment
have a choice of two settings which to any engine builder.

102
chapter 15

CARBURATION FUEL
INJECTION AND MANIFOLDING

THE Solex carburetters fitted to the it can be bolted straight on. If the carbs
early 1600 Vitesses do not allow the are off one of the 2-litre engines, they
engine to breathe as well as it could will, of course, need reneedling. In fact
do even in standard form. If, for some if anything has been done to the en-
reason or another, you have to stick gine, the needles will inevitably need
with them, then a few hints may be changing to some which will give the
useful. correct fuel/air characteristics through
If the head has been modified, the the rev. range. It is very difficult if not
main jet size will need to be increased totally impossible, to state what
by about 0.3 to 0.5 of a m/m. Sec- needle will be required since it will
ondly, the very first Vitesses had fixed depend on what other components
jet carbs on the accelerator pump. On have been modified. If we allowed for
the later 1600 cars this pump was dis- all combinations of various parts, we
carded to assist hot starting. The per- could end up with a needle list big
formance was seemingly unchanged enough to make a small book. At this
by such a move. If you have the early stage we need not worry too much
model fitted with accelerator pumps, about this as there are ways and
then an improvement can possibly be means of sorting carburation to get it
gained by discarding them. By far the spot on which will be gone into in a
best method is to discard the carbs later Chapter.
completely and fit the later twin The next stage of carburation im-
Strombergs as these have a greater provement is to fit triple S.U.’s which
breathing capacity and allow more are available through V.W. Derrington.
mods to the engine before they be- These give vastly improved breath-
come inadequate. The twin ing over the Solex carbs and are dis-
Strombergs were fitted to the last of tinctly better than the twin
the 1600 Vitesses and the Mk. 1 2- Strombergs, not, might I add, through
litre Vitesses and G.T.6’s. If you can any deficiencies with the Stromberg
get the carb and manifold setup from carb., but from the fact that three
any of these cars for the early 1600, S.U.’s are better than

103
two Strombergs. straig ht- through silencers. On the
By using triple S.U.’s instead of the other hand if the car is to see use
standard set-up on carburated 1600 where open exhaust can be used,
or 2000 engines, we can expect a then our exhaust pipe length can be
power increase of 15%-20%. As is made to work for us. The hotter the
usual with a good S.U. set-up, the fuel cam the more critical the exhaust pipe
consumption does not go up out of length becomes. With a really hairy
all proportion when compared to the cam, the correct exhaust length can
power gained. In fact, driven at nor- result in 10 b.h.p. gain at the wheels
mal road speeds, triple carbs seem on a 2-litre car and that amount of
to give better consumption figures power is not to be sniffed at. Unless
than an engine with standard carbs. one has facilities to make up mani-
Next step up the ladder as far as folds complete, there is little one can
carburation is concerned, is to use do about the primary lengths of the
triple Weber carbs, For most exhaust system. So long as the pri-
pur’poses on the 2000 engine, 40 mary pipes are of a reasonable length,
DCOE Webers work out very nicely. which is the case for most exhaust
We can consider the use of Weber manifolds sold by tuning firms, we can
carbs right from square one but they advantageously juggle the secondary
will come into their own more on an or tail pipe length. This length is go-
engine which has seen mods in other ing to depend on the cam used and
quarters. For an all out competition the length of the primary pipes, if a
engine, 42 DCOE Webers will give a proprietary exhaust system is used.
small gain in power over the 40’s Adjustment of the pipe length, for
something between 2-3 b.h.p. being each group of three cylinders, should
gained by their use. As soon as we be done on a dynomometer. As a
start making vast improvements on rough guide, you will find that the
the inlet side of things on the Triumph length will be around the 30" mark I
6’s, the inadequacy of the exhaust 6" for each of the two tail pipes. The
system becomes apparent. To get the diameter of the tail pipes used, needs
full benefit of a good set of triple carbs to be in the order of I 7/8" -2 “. If you
one should give serious thought to a can have an exhaust system specially
change in exhaust manifolds. This will made up for use with a full race cam,
allow the full potential of the carbs to then the following sizes should be
be gained in the middle and upper rev. used: 1 3/8” bore primary pipe x 36'
ranges. For road use all tile pipes of long into 2" dia. tail pipe 24' long num-
a high efficiency exhaust manifold can bers 1, 2 and 3 primary pipes feeding
be fed into one silencer so long as it into one tail pipe and numbers 4, 5
has a reasonable bore. Better results and 6 feeding into the other. The tail
however, can be gained by using two pipe length may need to be finally set
tail pipes, each one connected to on a dynomometer because of the
three of the cylinders. There is little to various types of full race cams avail-
be gained by messing about with pipe able but in the main, will not need
lengths on an exhaust system which changing by more than about 3'. It
has to have silencers fitted. One should be pointed out that even a 3'
should concentrate on reducing back- change in tail pipe length can make
pressure by selecting a pair of good several horsepower difference.

104
system as far as metering accuracy
Fuel injection goes. Even if a fuel cam is selected
which is near enough right for the job
We have talked of carburation in hand one should still set up the sys-
changes and exhaust manifolds and tem on a dynomometer for the best
the time has come to took at fuel in- results.
jection. We are likely to come across To make sure you are not put off
two types of fuel injection on Triumph injectors by their seemingly complex
cars. The Lucas type fitted as stan- nature, let us look at the advantages
dard to the T.R.5 and 6 and the 2,500 of their use. First off you get more
P.l. and the Tecalemit/Jackson-sys- power. Just how much more really
tem which is, of course, not a stan- depends on the state of tune of the
dard fitment. Both systems rely on a engine. It the engine is in a relatively
profiled cam to give the correct fuel mild state of tune, we may only gain
metering throughout the rev. range. it 3-5 b.h.p. over a really good set of
the engine characteristics are carbs like Webers, for instance. On
changed, the profile of the fuel cam the other hand if the engine is fully
will have to be altered to suit. Usually tuned, the gain over carbs can be 8-
the largest single influencing factor is 10 b.h.p. Some mods to the standard
the type of camshaft fitted. As pointed barrels or intakes can raise this even
out before, you can buy a camshaft further. The power gain is not the only
which is designed to go with the stan- advantage of injection. We can also
dard fuel cam on those engines hav- get better flexibility and a slight wid-
ing Lucas fuel injection. When fitting ening of the power curve which will
such a cam to the Lucas injected en- enhance the driving characteristics of
gine, the overall mixture may have to the car. With either the T.J. or the
be adjusted but the standard fuel cam Lucas injectors, one has definitely got
can remain. Unless you happen to be the edge on carbs but either of these
an expert on either type of fuel systems can, with good effect, be
injection,the setting up of injectors is modified to give even better results.
best left to an expert. This setting up Before delving into the ins and outs
should be done on a dynomometer in of fuel injection systems, a couple of
conjunction with a mixture analyser. points should be considered. The
With this sort of equipment, one can Lucas system is built for road use and
determine and try a variety of fuel cam as such any mods for racing will in all
profiles to enable the fuel injection on probability have to be carried out by
a tuned engine to show up at its best. the owner or some tuning firm willing
It the car you are going to tune has to tackle the job. The T.J. system is
not already got fuel injection and you on the other hand built for both road
decide to have it fitted, then in all prob- and racing, the racing injector being
ability you will go for the Tecalemit/ of a slightly different form. Since T.J.
Jackson equipment. If this is the case, are very much connected with com-
then S.A.H. have a variety of fuel petition, one can get a fuel cam spe-
cams to suit different stages of tune cially made up to suit any engine in
for the six cylinder Triumphs. This any state of tune which is using their
being the case, one should not expe- injectors.
rience undue problems with the T.J.

105
This now only leaves us with a fuel throttle conditions are still found to be
cam problem for the Lucas injectors. out, adjustments can be made by al-
If you do not fancy trying to develop tering the screw denoted by ‘C’ in Fig.
your own fuel cam then any tuning 48. Undoing the screw will richen the
done to the engine will have to be mixture, and tightening it will give a
compatible with the standard fuel weaker mixture. We may also find a
cam. Even if this is done one will have condition at full throttle and high revs.
to make overall adjustments to the where the shuttle which moves back
mixture. If the overall breathing abil- and forth between the two stops does
ity of the engine has been improved, not displace sufficient fuel, causing a
the mixture will in all probability need weak mixture. If this situation occurs,
to be made richer by altering the ba- and it is not likely, except on the most
sic slope of the fuel cam. This is highly tuned engines, the remedy is
achieved by loosening the two screws simple. Both the fixed and moving
‘A’ in Fig. 48 and moving the contact stops are shortened by removing
point of the roller on the cam away metal from their plain ends. We can-
hum the plunger. A small amount of not, however, continue to apply this
movement gives a relatively large method ad lib since too much short-
change in mixture so do not be too ening will cause the shuttle to close
rash, only make adjustments a few off the fuel ports in its sleeve and de-
thou. at a time. Moving the fuel cam feat the object of the exercise. Again
changes the mixture at full throttle any adjustments should be made by
conditions and part throttle. If the part removing metal

106
107
at a few thou. at a time. pair of DCOE 45 Weber carbs is to
If one is using injectors without air be highly recommended. On an en-
filters one can obtain a useful in- gine which is already giving 135-140
crease in power by fitting ram pipes b.h.p. they will add to this another 10
to the injector intakes. These items b.h.p. The standard exhaust manifold
will have to be specially made up does tend to make power reductions
since there are no proprietary ones over about 4,500 which are of size-
available. The form these ram pipes able proportions. The fitting of an ex-
should take are as shown in Fig. 49. tractor manifold such as those items
These will give a power increase supplied by V. W. Derrington or S.A.H.
around the 5-6 b.h.p. mark, so they can result in about 7-8 b.h.p. gain. The
represent a fairly worthwhile modifi- TR4A exhaust system has two silenc-
cation. Of course, if we really want to ers fitted, the exhaust pipe splitting
get fussy over things we can get a bit into two separate pipes about half way
more power by completely remaking down the car. If possible, this should
the injector bodies and at the same be replaced by a single pipe system
time, do away with the conventional using one large straightthrough si-
butterfly. Fig. 50 gives a suggested lencer. An exhaust pipe diameter of
layout of an injector body suitable for approximately 2" should be used from
use with the downdraughted head the junction at the manifold right
shown in Fig. 40. This injector body through to the silencer and on out to
with the downdraughted head and a the tail pipe. If open exhausts are to
suitably hairy cam could conceivably be used and the engine is equipped
give the power output required of our with a full race cam, Webers, etc., a
hypothetical 2-litre racing engine. tail pipe of about 40-45" is required,
To round this off a little something the length being measured from the
should be said about carburation and end of the extractor manifold to the
manifolding for the four cylinder en- end of the tail pipe. The diameter of
gines. The standard carburation for the tail pipe is best around 2-1/4"
the TR4 and 4A is either a pair of 1-3/ which in most cases will mean a step
4" S.U.s or Stromberg C.D.s. The up from the manifold size. This can
standard carbs can be used on en- be done by sleeving the manifold pipe
gines tuned to give 135-140 b.h.p. but up to accept the tail pipe. To prevent
they are on the limit. The fitting of big- things dropping apart the sleeves
ger carbs of the S.U. or Stromberg should be welded to the manifold and
variety is not the complete answer. the tail pipe clamped to the sleeves.
Since we have an engine with four If you weld the whole lot together you
inlet ports we may as well make full are likely to experience great difficulty
use of them. As such the fitting of a removing the manifold from the car.

108
chapter 16
ASSESSING THE RESULTS
WE have up to this point discussed It would appear that in the main, Tri-
various ways and means of modify- umph figures are within a few per cent
ing the engines, but very little has of the quoted figures, indeed, if any-
been said as to the power increase thing, the early 2000 engine was un-
given by any one or a combination of der quoted which is quite unusual. To
modifications. The power outputs avoid further beating about the bush,
quoted by the factory are rarely if ever, let us go to some power output fig-
shown in practice. In most cases the ures for completely bog standard en-
factory quote figures gained under gines which have been carefully built
conditions which could never exist in up and then set up whilst on the
the car, the net result of which is a dynomometer.
power unit which is often about 10% Starting at the top of the list and
down on the factory quoted figures. working downwards, the power out-
Consequently we often find that a put at a number of successive stages
certain amount of modifying is nec- will be given in the order in which they
essary before we can achieve the fac- should be done, if tuning is done in
tory quoted power output. The amount stages.
below the quoted power output var- Starting with the TR4 and 4A, the
ies from one make of car to another. first modification should be a re-

TR4 &4A 2000 c.c. 98 b.h.p.


“ “ 2138 c.c. 102 b.h.p.
1600 Vitesse 1596 c.c. 70 b.h.p.
2000 Mk, 1 1998 c.c. 100 b.h.p.
G.T.6 Mk. 1 1998 c.c. 100 b.h.p.
Triumph 2000 Mk. 1 1998 c.c. 100 b.h.p.
2000 Vitesse Mk. 1( 1998 C.c. 105 b.h.p.
G.T.6 , Mk. 11 1998 C.c. 105 b.h.p.
Triumph 2000 Mk. 11 1998 c.c. 105 b.h.p.
2.5 P.1, saloon 2498 c.c. 135 b.h.p.
TR5 Et 6 2498 c.c. 135 b.h.p.

109
worked head. This will put the power of a Stage 1 head by a Stage 11 head
up from 98 b.h.p. to 108 b.h.p. The will show around the 105 b.h.p. mark
addition of an extractor exhaust mani- as a result. If we go really mad and fit
fold will raise that to 114 b.h.p., still all the hottest goodies going, such as
with silencer. A half-race cam will triple Webers, Stage 11 head, full race
raise this still further to about 120 cam, etc., we should expect the power
b.h.p. and a fullrace one, to about 124 to be in the- region of 130 b.h.p. The
b.h.p. With a fullrace cam, the silencer Mk. 1 2-litre engines will show the
has quite a profound effect and the same basic increases as the 1600
removal of the silencer plus the sub- engine, but because of its greater
stitution of the correct length of pipe capacity, the power will be up by
will put the power up by another 8 1520% at each stage. On 2-litre en-
b.h.p., bringing it to 132 b.h.p. At this gines, using fuel injection instead of
point the standard carbs are definitely carbs, the power can be brought up
choking the engine, and the fitting of to 160 b.h.p. plus, when suitable
45 DCOE Webers is called for. The cams, heads and exhaust are used,
Webers at this stage will put up the even without resorting to super heads
power to 142 b.h.p. These figures are and very sophisticated injector bod-
for the 2-litre engine. By using the 2.2 ies, etc., etc. If we do go to such ex-
litre engine with the largest piston otic means for gaining power than 190
available (87 m/m), the power output b.h.p. plus should be possible.
can be raised by a further 9-10 b.h.p., With the 2.5 litre engine, the first
bringing it to a little over 150 b.h.p. step is to modify the head, This will
With the 1600 Vitesse engine fitted result in a gain of about 8 b.h.p. Since
with the Solex carbs one should con- all the 2.5 litre engines with the ex-
sider the changing of the carbs as one ception of the TR250 have fuel injec-
of the first modifications. A modified tion, the fitting of a good extractor
head fitted to a 1600 engine with manifold should be considered next.
Solex carbs will only give about 4-5 For the TR250 some improvements
b.h.p. increase. On the other hand a in carburation are needed before go-
modded head fitted to a 1600 engine ing to the exhaust side of things. From
which is using twin Strombergs will this point on, any further increase on
give around 8-9 b.h.p. increase. The 2.5 litre engines should be done by
fitting of triple S.U.s will give about 10 changing the cam. By selecting a cam
b.h.p. increase on top of the amount suitable for use with fuel injection, the
given by a Stage 1 head, bringing the power output can be raised to 165-
power up to 88-90 b.h.p. At this stage 170 b.h.p. and still retain reasonable
a good exhaust system becomes es- road going characteristics. A full race
sential if any further power increase cam, open exhausts of tuned length
is required and its fitment will, under and other competition items can give
ideal conditions, push up the power up to 180 b.h.p., but by this stage the
to about 95 b.h.p. Fitting a half-race tractability in the lower rev. range has
cam at this stage will bring the power completely gone.
to about 100 b.h.p. The replacement

110
chapter 17
TRANSMISSIONS
THE TR4 clutch is of the spring type, experience too much trouble in this
and as such is capable of handling quarter
up to 140 b.h.p. Beyond this one is The 1600 Vitesse spring clutch can
likely to experience a fairly short clutch be treated in a similar manner-TR4
life before clutch slip starts to set in. to 4A swop. We can use the relevant
The TR4A clutch is capable of taking parts from the 2-litre Vitesse to con-
more power than the early TR4 clutch, vert to a diaphragm clutch. The stan-
and is of the more modern diaphragm dard spring clutch on the 1600 is all
type. The TR4A clutch can be used right for power outputs up to 105-110
in the TR4 but it means swopping a b.h.p. or so. After this, the use of the
few more components other than the diaphragm clutch is to be advised.
clutch itself. The securing holes in the The 2-litre Vitesse and G.T.6 clutches
flywheel are different for the spring appear to be quite capable of trans-
clutch as compared to the diaphragm mitting 165 b.h.p. plus, so little atten-
unit. This can be remedied either by tion is required in this department.
redrilling the TR4 flywheel to accept With a highly tuned Triumph 2000 or
the diaphragm clutch or purchasing a 2000 with the 2.5 litre engine in it,
a TR4A flywheel which will fit directly some trouble with the clutch may
to the crankshaft of the earlier engine. arise. This can be easily cured by
Incidentally, the TR4 flywheel is a lot using the 2.5 P.I. clutch as it is some
lighter than the 4A flywheel in stan- 20% stronger and should suffice to
dard form. After lightening, both fly- about 180 b.h.p.
wheels will weigh the same. When
changing from the earlier clutch to the Ratios
later one, the appropriate clutch plate,
thrust bearing and thrust bearing car- Gearbox ratios can be all important
rier sleeve must be used, all these on a car using a tuned engine. Since
parts being as fitted to the TR4A. it would appear that very little is avail-
Since the diaphragm clutch can hold able in the way of special gears for
out against 150 b.h.p. we should not any of the Triumph cars,

111
it is a good job that the standard ra- TRs) the back plate on the engine
tios are pretty close. For instance the should be swopped for the one rel-
2-litre Vitesses and G.T.6’s have the evant to the gearbox.
following ratios: 1st 2.65/1, 2nd Although the TR ratios are not as
1.78/1, 3rd 1.25/1, top 1 /1 O.D. top close -.s those found in the 2-litre
0.8/1. These, by road going standards Vitesse and G.T.6, they are well
are pretty close. For racing one could supplemented by overdrives. The
do with ratios a little closer but the saloons have an overdrive effective
standard ones do come quite close on the top two gears and the TRs on
to the mark. The early 1600 Vitesse the top three. For most purposes then,
has a lower first gear than the later we will have an adequate selection of
ones at 2.93/1 instead of 2.65/1. It gears. Overdrives, however, tend to
would appear to be a little awkward be a little unreliable for racing and
to adapt the later gears into the ear- some benefit may be gained by us-
lier box so the easiest route is to use ing the Vitesse or G.T.6 box in the big
the later box complete. The cost, time saloons or the TR sports cars. This
and trouble of converting the earlier will give far closer ratios without re-
box is just not worth it since practi- sorting to the use of overdrives. To
cally all the internals have to be re- do this one will need to use the G.T.6
placed and also some machining is or Vitesse gearbox, tailshaft, gear
required here and there. With the Tri- change extension, bell housing and
umph 2000 and 2.5 P.I., we can get clutch release mechanism. On the
slightly closer gearbox ratios by us- 2000 and 2.5 saloons the clutch to use
ing the TR4, 5 or 6 components. is the 2.5 P.I. one. The difference in
The saloon ratios are: 1st 3.3/1, 2nd height from the clutch face to the
2.1/1, 3rd 1.386/1, top 1/1, whereas spring tips between this clutch and the
the TR ratios are 1st 3.139/1, 2nd G.T.6 unit is insufficient to cause any
2.01/1, 3rd 1.325/1 and top 1 /1. One undue bother. The same also goes
can either swop the gearbox and for the TRs but here we should check
tailshaft assembly complete as a unit the spigot bearing clearance for a run-
or swop the TR gears into the 2000 ning fit. The tailshaft of the G.T.6/
or 2.5 P.I. box. If just the gears are Vitesse box is shorter than that of big
swopped over, then one should retain saloons and the TRs. The prop shaft
the original 2000 or 2.5 P.I. gearbox will need to be lengthened to compen-
input shaft as the spline on these dif- sate.
fer to the TR ones. If a complete TR
gearbox is being installed, the strip- Final drive
ping of the gearbox to fit the saloon
input shaft can be avoided by using Having juggled the gearbox or gear-
the TR clutch plate since the splining box ratios to suit our requirements we
in this will obviously match the TR box should select a compatible final drive
input shaft. If this is done then a check ratio, bearing in mind the sort of us-
should be made to see that the input age the vehicle is to be put to. Start-
spigot bearing is the right size. Also if ing again with the TR4, 5 and 6, we
any difficulty is experienced through find that standard final drive ratios are
misalignment of bolt holes in the bell available at 3.7/1 and 4.1/1. For final
housing (which is in one piece with drive
the gearbox on 2000s, 2.5 P.Is and

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113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
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ratios other than these we can go to 4.875 will probably be found to be the
S.A.H. and they can supply ratios at best. The 2.5 P.I. should be just right
3.45/1, 4.3/1, 4.55/1 and 4.875/1. on the 4.55. When using these low
Since the 2000 saloon and 2.5 P.I. use final drive ratios it is advisable to use
basically the same final drive unit, all the closer ratios of the TR sports cars
these alternative ratios will apply to in the saloon. If this is not done, one
these cars as well as the TR sports can end up with too much torque at
cars. When selecting a final drive for the rear wheels in bottom gear. Ex-
the TR sports cars or the big saloons, cessive rear wheel torque just mani-
we must carefully. consider what the fests itself in the form of excessive
final application of the car is to be. If wheelspin which is not really the best
a high cruising speed is required with- method of getting off the line. If rac-
out excessive engine revs then a ra- ing tyres are being used instead of
tio higher than standard should be road tyres, excessive wheelspin is far
selected. If maximum top speed is less likely to occur, due to the better
required, one should stick to the stan- grip of the racing boots. If all the rel-
dard ratio nine times out of ten. The evant factors are taken into account,
only occasions which warrant the use then the selection of a final drive ratio
of a higher final drive for all out top can become a little complex. Probably
speed is when the engine has been the easiest way to ascertain which fi-
made to produce a good deal more nal drive ratio will do the job is to look
power without any appreciable in- at the graph, relating engine speeds
crease in the r.p.m. at which it pro- to road speeds in various gears, Fig.
duces this power. Coupled to this we 51. This should give us a good insight
must bear in mind that both the sa- as to what is going on. Other factors
loons and sports cars are fitted with which will contribute to our selection
overdrives. This means that for top of a final drive ratio, for maximum
speed, the overdrive ratio is plenty acceleration, are (a) the weight of the
high enough. If, by some chance, you car, (b) the revs at which peak power
have a car without an overdrive, then occurs, usually influenced mostly by
if the engine has had considerable the type of cam fitted, (c) the spacing
modifications at the top end and a of the gearbox ratios, and (d) the
cam designed for torque, then it can amount of grip we have at the back
conceivably benefit on top speed by wheels. We can apply some basic
using a higher final drive. The only logic which will assist us to select the
drawback to this is that it will reduce final drive, although it will be by no
the acceleration. The best solution to means foolproof. As a starting point
retain acceleration and get top speed we can assume that if no other con-
is to fit the overdrive unit if it is not ditions exist which are detrimental to
already fitted. By dropping the final accelerationsuch as too much
drive ratio to the next lowest, the re- wheelspin - then the lowest final drive
duction in top speed is only marginal ratio will give us the best acceleration.
but the acceleration is better. For the So at this point we arbitrarily select
best acceleration for the saloons we the lowest ratio available. However,
should go for the lowest final drive much we may surmise, other factors
ratio or the one above the lowest, e.g. do bring
4.875 or 4.55. With the 2000, the
131
to bear a considerable amount of in- the effect of the camshaft, since this
fluence, so we will not take these into has a distinct bearing on the width of
account. the power band. A cam up to about
Firstly, if road lyres are being used, half race spec. can usually run one
we have less grip available than is ratio higher than a full race cam.
possible by using racing lyres. The Strictly speaking it is better to say that
extra torque at the wheels is there- the full race cam should be run to-
fore being wasted by lack of sufficient gether with a lower final drive than a
grip and this will make bottom gear half race cam, primarily because it
less useful than it possibly could be. enables one to make better use of
The answer is to go up one, maybe improved top end power. Superim-
two ratios from the lowest. Against posed on top of all the aforemen-
this must be weighed the effects of a tioned considerations is the fact that
closer ratio box. If ratios as close as the car must have sufficient top speed
those fitted in the Vitesse or G.T.6 are with the final drive ratio selected. If
used, then we must consider going the car is to be used for competition,
down on final drive ratio to compen- the best plan is to find out from other
sate for the higher bottom gear. Since competitors using a car with a similar
the Vitesse/G.T.6 bottom gear is power to weight as your own, what
nearly as high as a 2000 or 2.5 P. I. speeds they attain. You then select
second gear, one would anticipate your final drive to give you a top speed
going down one or possibly two ra- somewhere in the region of 10-15%
tios from the ratio which had last been in excess of this. The graphs given in
arrived at due to other considerations. this chapter should help in your choice
If the car is lightened considerably, of final drive ratio. The technique to
then we can again come to the stage use is as follows: first establish the
where it is possible to have the rear r.p.m. at which peak power occurs.
end gears at too low a ratio. With the Multiply the peak power r.p.m. by 1.1
big Triumph saloons and the TR , i.e. increase it by 10%. Using this as
sports cars we can say approximately datum r.p.m., find the various speeds
that each 10-15% reduction in weight given by various final drive ratios rel-
will call for a final drive ratio one ratio evant to your car on the graphs given.
higher than the lowest available. We Select the ratio that most closely gives
cannot make this too much of a hard you the top speed required. If you find
and fast rule because it does depend your selected speed falls half way
where the weight has been removed. between two ratios, the best bet is to
If the reduction in weight means that start off with the highest one. Select-
both front and rear wheels become ing a final drive for the road is less
less loaded by an even amount, then difficult than for track purposes. You
the aforementioned approximation need only decide on what top speed
will hold fairly true. If the lightening, will suffice, assuming the engine has
instead of being 50/50 front and rear, enough power to reach it, then look
is 70/30 front and rear, the effect on through the graphs until you find the
the final drive ratio will be less so this ratio which will give you that speed at
must be taken into account. an r.p.m. 10-15% over peak power
The last point to be considered is r.p.m. If you are gearing for all out top

132
speed, do not think that the highest G.T.6 and Vitesse are 3.89/1 or 3.27/
final drive will necessarily give you 1. To augment these two, S.A.H. can
this. The final drive ratio for top speed supply ratios at 4.11 and 4.55. For
must be equated to engine power most purposes, this range of final
output. The higher the final drive, the drives is adequate and you should find
higher the power, or to be more pre- one of the four suits.
cise, the torque output of the engine Having got the engine to put out a
to pull it. If the engine is not putting respectable amount of power it is es-
out the power required, overgearing sential that we get it down to the road.
will serve only to reduce the top To help power transmission to the
speed. If you are gearing for top Toad a limited slip differential is a re-
speed, then you need to know exactly ally useful item to have. Should there
how much power is required to reach be appreciably less grip at one driv-
a given speed. If your engine is de- ing wheel than the other, the power
veloping the power required to reach will get transmitted through to the
your target speed, then you select a wheel with the grip. The result of fit-
final drive which will allow the peak ting such a device is a better take off
power r.p.m. to coincide with the top from rest, due to less wheelspin. It
speed. Practice shows in most cases also allows the throttle to be applied
that unless engine torque has in- harder and sooner when coming out
creased appreciably then the highest of bends, especially tight ones. For
top speed is usually achieved with the any form of competition work, a lim-
standard final drive or one either side ited slip differential must be consid-
of it. ered a vital piece of equipment. Lim-
Having dug into some basic theory ited slip differentials for the cars in
on final drives, I think it best that we question can be obtained from S.A.H.
should come back to reality and dis- who, as you have probably guessed
cuss just what is available for the by now are one of the biggest suppli-
G.T.6 and Vitesse in the way of rear ers of Triumph tuning equipment.
end gears. The standard ratios for the

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chapter 18
SUSPENSIONS AND BRAKES

THE pleasure and ease of driving any not the culprit for below par perfor-
particular car can be made or marred mance.
by its roadholding or braking qualities. If the car is to be used for a specific
Should either of these departments purpose and you definitely want to
be seriously deficient, then it is pos- modify the suspension or brakes, then
sible to have a downright dangerous any worn parts can be replaced dur-
car. All the Triumph cars with which ing the modification process. As such,
we are dealing have roadholding and we will run through the procedure for
braking compatible with the power modifications to each car which will
output of engines in standard or mildly either improve roadholding or brak-
modified form. The braking depart- ing make the car handle in the fash-
ment is usually up to a far higher level ion you want it to.
than the roadholding, and in conse-
quence quite an amount of extra per- TR4
formance can be handled by the
brakes before any deficiencies start The first move on suspension modi-
to make themselves felt. If you find fications for the TR4 is to fit an antiroll
that your particular car seems to lack bar, which can be acquired from V.
the roadholding or braking power you W. Derrington or S.A. H. This gives a
think it should have, do not immedi- marked reduction in roll during cor-
ately jump to the conclusion that it nering, it increases the maximum cor-
needs to be modified to effect a cure. nering ability and on top of this, gives
Brakes and suspension are prone to the driver a greater confidence as the
wear just as any other working com- car feels more sure footed.
ponents. Any wear in the suspension, The next step from here is to fit
steering and brakes can bring about firmer shock absorbers.
a big reduction in the handling quali- A good combination to use would
ties, so before any modifications are be the Spax adjustable on the front
considered, make sure that wear is with the Armstrong Firmaride on the
back, but of course this is only

137
Front Rear
Armstrong Adjustaride - -
“ Firmaride - R-7999/-DAS9
Koni Special D 80-1005 80-1108
Spax Adjustable S164/209 -

personal preference and you may S.A.H. has a rate of 380 lb. per inch
have your own idea as to what should and a free length of 9.2" which means
be used. Armstrongs do, apart from it is suitable as a straight swop on the
the shock absorber listed above, earlier TR4. To use the competition
make a special range which are avail- springs on the later models we have
able only through S.A.H. These to reintroduce the aluminium packing
shocks are available as adjustable or piece. If the competition springs are
fixed for the front and fixed for the used, additional lowering can be
rear, which is as listed above. achieved by machining the aluminium
Wider wheels can improve the packing piece. These can be ma-
roadholding but for road use with road chined top and bottom to achieve the
tyres we should not overdo things. For desired ride height (see Fig. 53). The
the front 5 1/2.-6J wheels will work amount to be taken off the blocks is
out just right. On the rear 6-6 1/2 are not in direct proportion to the amount
needed. Although alloy wheels such of lowering. The ratio between metal
as ‘Minilite’ are the best, they are quite removed from the blocks to the
expensive. As an alternative, one can change in ride height is about 5/8:1
use widened steel wheels which i.e. 5/8" off the blocks will lower the
works out far cheaper. A firm which ride height by about 1 “. When refit-
caters for widened steel wheels and ting the blocks do not refit the top rub-
produces a very fine finished product ber packing piece. It the ride height
is Weller Racing Wheels, Edenbridge, needs to be increased as would be
Kent. the case for rallying, then this can be
If the suspension is to be modified simply accomplished. On the early
for racing or rallying, we will need to models, with the packing piece, fit the
go a little further. To start with, stiffer later long spring. On the later mod-
springs are needed and maybe some els, with the long spring, fit the pack-
alterations to the ride height. Firstly ing piece. In each case this will raise
on the TR4 two types of front springs the ride height of the front by about
are fitted. One is short and the other 1 3/4 - 2” If this is too much, then the
is long. The short ones were used on packing pieces can be machined to
the earlier TR4 which has a packing make the necessary adjustments. If
block above the spring (see Fig. 52). the S.A.H, competition spring is used
The later ones did not have this pack- which is 9.2" long, shorter than either
ing block and the distance lost was standard spring, then the ride height
made up for by a longer spring. The must be adjusted by fitting an addi-
short spring (free length of 9.75") has tional packing pie - That is, two pack-
a rate of 310 lb. per inch. The long ing pieces will be needed at the top
spring (free length of 11.1 “) has a rate of each spring , the standard one plus
of 312 lb. per inch. A competition front one to make up for the shorter length
spring which is available through of spring.

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139
Again, if the ride height is excessive, tive. To reduce the positive camber
adjustments can be made by machin- you will need to make up new pivot
ing one of the packing pieces. plates for the bottom wishbone of the
The camber angle of the front suspension. Fig. 54 shows exactly
wheels may, under certain circum- which plates need to be remade. For
stances, be found to be excessive as each degree of positive camber re-
would be the case if either the ride duction required, move the pivot bolt
height is increased or if the car is to hole in the plate 0.170" outwards.
be used with wide racing tyres. The Early TR4’s had a 00 caster angle
standard camber angle is 20 positive whilst later ones have a 30 caster
although this could be as much as 3- angle. You can tell which is which by
3 .50 if the ride height has been in- the top wishbone. If it is a onepiece
creased. If the car has been lowered, item made up of sheet steel in a rect-
the camber angle will probably be angular box section form with the top
down to 1 -1 .50 positive. If the ride king pin or steering knuckle joint stuck
height has been raised, for rallying, on its outer edge, then the car has 00
then the camber angle should be re- caster. On the other hand if the top
duced t o 0.50 - 10 plus when laden. wishbone is a two piece affair with the
Laden weight is equivalent to two pas- top king pin or steering knuckle
sengers 150 lb. each. If the car has clamped between the outer ends then
been lowered for racing and is using the car has 30 of caster. The high
wide racing tyres, then the camber speed
angle should be set at 00 - 0.50 nega-

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handling will be found to be better with have not. It is, in fact, the early ones
the 3' of steering caster. The early which do not have the spacer. The
models can be converted by fitting the object of the spacer on the later cars
later parts. The parts needed are: (a) was to reduce the effect of roll steer
two new top wishbones and knuck- and it is very advisable to incorporate
les, (b) tie rod lever i.e. the lever at- this spacer, especially if the front end
tached to the hubs to accept the steer- has been decambered. If this is not
ing motion imparted by the tie rods, done, the oversteer, when cornering
(c) new bottom king pin trunnion or hard, may prove excessive. To con-
lower trunnion bracket as it is some- vert the early rear suspension to the
times called. later one, you need to acquire the later
recambered springs (part no. 209964)
Rear suspension together with the spacer blocks and
larger U-bolts. The only drawback to
Having flogged our way through the using the spacers is that with a fairly
front suspension, we had better take highly tuned engine, axle tramp is
a look at the rear suspension. The first likely to occur. If the stronger rear
thing that you will find apparent if you spring supplied by S.A.H. is used,
look at enough TR4’s is that some then the possibility of axle tramp is
have a large aluminium block be- eliminated. The S.A.H. spring must be
tween the axle and spring, and some used in conjunction with the spacing

142
blocks or the ride height will be about which is just a little too much for use
3.50 too high. For rallying the rear end with racing tyres, although it is all right
can be made higher by shortening the on the road with road tyres.
spacing blocks although there is a To reduce the rear wheel camber it
limit to how much the standard blocks will be necessary to move the holes
can be shortened due to them having in the fulcrum brackets which secure
an oval hole in the middle. Since there the suspension member to the chas-
is nothing very complex in the nature sis, see Fig. 56. The inner end of the
of the blocks, it is a straightforward member will have to be moved up and
job to make some shorter ones that the outer end down, to reduce the
will give the required increase in rid.- camber. This means moving the holes
height. Lowering is obviously the re- of the inner bracket down and the
verse of raising and can be achieved holes of the outer bracket up. It de-
by increasing the thickness or height pends on how much the car is low-
of the spacing block. ered as to whether both brackets will
As far as braking goes, we find that need altering. If the excess camber
the standard braking can handle quite is no more than 10 - you should aim
a bit more go. For competition pur- for 0- 0.50 negative with racing tyres-
poses, a brake booster plus competi- we need only alter the outer bracket.
tion linings will give the performance The holes in the bracket have to be
necessary. moved about 1/8" for each degree of
camber change. The easiest way to
TR4A do this is to fill in the original holes
with weld, file the weld flush with the
All that has been said about the later surrounding metal and redrill them in
type TR4 front suspension applies to the new position.
the TR4A with a few exceptions. For increasing the ride height for
Firstly the standard camber angle rallying, one can obtain special adap-
is between ‘1/20 plus-1/20 minus, and tors from S.A.H. but these can only
if the car is lowered it will end up be used with the standard springs.
around 10 negative which is just about As with the TR4, the braking depart-
right for a circuit racing set-up using ment needs only minimal attention
the stiffer front springs and racing (assuming it is in perfect working or-
tyres. If the car’s ride height has been der). If a servo is not already fitted,
raised, the camber angle will be about then it is advisable to fit one. This,
10 positive and this should be reset to together with harder linings, will do the
00. This can be done by adding pack- trick. The shock absorbers will be dif-
ing pieces where the bottom suspen- ferent to the TR4 and the Armstrong
sion wishbone bolts to the chassis, R-8686/1 - DAS10 will be found to be
see Fig. 55. The TR4A rear suspen- suitable for the TR4A rear end. Check
sion does, of course, differ vastly from on rear roll bar.
the TR4 in as much as it is indepen-
dent. S.A.H. offer two springs which TR5 and 6
will lower and stiffen the rear end. One
is 1/2” lower and the other 1“ lower. The TR5 and 6 can be treated as
In its lowered state the camber angle for the 4A. The only major difference
of the rear wheels is about 1 .5 - 20 is that the TR6 is fitted with an antiroll
bar as standard. The brakes can
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also be treated in the same manner. available from S.A.H. For further im-
One thing that should be mentioned provements the ride should be stiff-
in connection with wheel rim widths, ened up by fitting harder shocks such
and this is applicable to all indepen- as the Armstrong model AS 1514/5
dently sprung TRs in connection with or Koni 82P-134a. For road work a
racing tyres. Rim widths should be pair of 6 “ wide wheels on the front
about 7" for the front and about 8" for end will increase the road holding fur-
the rear. If we go too wide with wheels ther.
and tyres the suspension set up be- Lowering the front end can present
comes hypercritical and as a result a problem in as much as there are no
both handling and roadholding can shorter springs readily available. The
suffer. only way round this is to shorten the
existing springs. The standard spring
2000 and 2.5 P.I. saloons specification is 129.5 lb. per inch, a
free length of 13.23” with 6.5 working
The front suspension of both these coils. If we cut off one working coil,
cars needs very little doing to them. i.e. shorten the spring by 2.03", the
The first modification considered ride height will be reduced by 1.78"
should be the fitment of an anti-roll and the spring rate will increase to 136
bar. This will bring about a consider- lb. per inch. Of course if you do not
able increase in roll stiffness but want to lower it as much as 1.75” then
should be ideally used in conjunction cut less off the spring. Over the range
with a rear anti-roll bar. Incidentally we are concerned with, the car is low-
both front and rear antiroll bars are ered by approximately

145
7/8 of the amount the spring is short- When the car is lowered, the cam-
ened by. If the car is lowered by 1 .75", ber angle on the back may be exces-
which is suitable for track work but a sive. With road tyres 1-1.50 negative
little too much for the road, the bump is OK but on racing boots 1/2 - 3/40 is
stops should be made more progres- required. The same method is used
sive. This can be done by reshaping as on the rear suspension of the in-
them as shown in Fig. 57. dependent TRs for reducing excess
The camber and caster angles on negative camber. If racing tyres are
the front suspension are just right for to be used on the rear, then rim widths
high speed work and should not be around 7.5 - 8" would seem appropri-
altered. ate. For road use 6 - 6.5" rim widths
Should anyone decide to race one should be used.
of these saloons, I would suggest the Before winding up the sus-
front wheel width with racing tyres pension side of things on these cars
should be about 7-7.5". All the extra (2000 and 2.5 P.I.) a little word of
offset on the wheels will need to be warning. For road use, if we are to
outwards and a thin spacer, about 1/8” avoid continual bottoming on the
thick, may have to be used to stop bump stops when carrying four pas-
racing tyres fouling the bottom spring sengers, lowering should be limited
retainer on the suspension strut. to about 1” front and rear. For racing
As mentioned before, the rear sus- when only one occupant is carried and
pension should firstly have an antiroll the roads encountered, as on a cir-
bar fitted in conjunction with the front. cuit, are relatively smooth, the lower-
Stiffer shockers can be fitted to the ing can be carried out to a greater
back and the following shocks will give degree, up to say 1.75”.
the desired results. (Spax No. 164/2
16;Koni +80C-1 68, and Armstrong Vitesse and G.T.6 Mk. I and II
adjustaride A2933). The Koni unit
needs special brackets in order that Before delving into the “ins” and
fitment can be carried out, so order “outs” of the suspension modifica-
these with the shocks. Stiffer rear tions, it should be pointed out that the
springs are available from S.A.H. to rear suspension on the Mk. II G.T.6
stiffen up the rear end which are just and Vitesse differs quite appreciably
right for rally work where the near from the Mk. I versions.
original ride height is retained. For use The Mk. I version uses the swing
where the car needs to be lowered, axle arrangement, which means as
we are slightly better off using the the wheel moves up and down so the
standard rear springs shortened. To camber angle of the wheel exhibits a
lower the rear end 1-7/8" you will need proportional angular change, i.e. if the
to reduce the working number of coils axle swings through 20 the camber
from 10.5 to 8.5, i.e. shorten the angle changes 20.
spring by 2.36". This means the ratio The Mk. II version uses a double
of spring shortening to lowering is wishbone type of rear suspension
again about 7/8 to 1. By reducing the where the spring which is in the same
number of working coils to 8.5, the position as the Mk. I version acts as
spring rate will go up from 260 lb. per the top link. The end result of the sus-
inch to 320 lb. per inch. pension change is that the degree of

146
camber change with respect to sus- the same thing as a recambered rear
pension travel is far less on the Mk. II spring) but we should end up with too
cars than the Mk. I cars. Fig. 58 will much negative on the back. Really the
show clearly the difference between only solution would appear to be to
the two types of suspension. move the whole axle assembly up
Since the general train of thought relative to the chassis. The easiest
has got onto new suspensions, we will method to do this would be to remove
discuss the modifications to the Mk. I the rubber bushes and cut off the
rear ends. The biggest drawback to small towers on the final drive front
swing axles is the fact that they tend mounting plate (see Fig. 59). A cor-
to allow the wheels to tuck under responding change will have to be
when fast cornering is being indulged made to the rear final drive mounting
in. This tucking under completely by moving the holes in the chassis
spoils the handling of the car and it is upwards by the same amount as the
one of the first things to give attention front of the final drive (see Fig. 60).
to when modding the suspension. All this effort should result in about
There are two ways in which this prob- 1.25" of lowering. If a camber com-
lem can be overcome. Firstly one can pensator is then used with this set-
fit the S.A.H. recambered rear spring up, we have a suspension which is
which sets the static negative cam- usable for track work or road usage.
ber at 30-50 instead of the 10 to 00 Remember that we must not have
found standard. This gives a vast im- excessive negative camber for use
provement in the high speed handling with racing tyres. The static laden
qualities of the car and is fine when negative camber should be no more
road tyres are being used. If racing than 10.
tyres are going to be used, then 30-50 For track or high speed road use,
negative is far too much. The other stiffer rear shock absorbers should be
alternative is to use the Speedwell fitted. Any of the following type of
camber compensator. When this is shockers can be fitted to the rear end
fitted it acts as a stiff but neverthe- with good advantage; Armstrong
less flexible bottom link and effectively Adjustaride A.2612, Spax 164/211 or
stops the wheels tucking under dur- Koni 80C-1389.
ing hard cornering. If a camber com- For use on the road 5.5" or 6" wheel
pensator is used then the camber rim widths are best and radial tyres
angle of the wheels is best left un- should be used. Cross-ply tyres are
changed from the standard 10-00. prone to an early breakaway due to
If lowering of the rear end is the large camber angle changes
contemplated, then the fitting of the which can occur. If the rear suspen-
S.A.H. recambered spring accom- sion has been modified there will not
plishes recambering of the back be anything like as much camber
wheels plus a degree of lowering, change. Do not, under any circum-
about 1 -1.5”. If we are to lower the stances, use cross-ply tyres on the
rear end without getting too much back and radials on the front-it turns
negative camber then life gets a little the car into a mobile death trap. If you
more complex. We could, by packing are going to use racing tyres, which
the spring up in the middle, lower the are definitely not
rear end (this would achieve almost

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recommended unless the rear sus- taken to improve the handling is the
pension is fully modified, rim width in fitting of harder shocks. (Armstrong
the order of 7.5-8" will be required. R62-4181 or Adjustaride A.22236,
The ultimate rear suspension modi- Spax 164/211).
fication for the Mk. I G.T.6 and Vitesse To lower the rear end we can either
is to convert it to the Mk. 11 spec. This use a recambered spring or fit a pack-
can be done by purchasing the wheel ing block under the spring at the
hub carrier assembly, drive shafts, clamping point. With the rear end low-
rubber doughnuts and bottom wish- ered by 1-1.5" you should find the
bones. A bracket needs to be welded negative camber is just right at about
on to the chassis to accept the pivot 10. If racing tyres are to be used, then
point for the lower wishbone. If this is you should attempt to get the 10 nega-
done, the pivot point hole in the tive as near as possible. If it is more
bracket needs to be in such a posi- or less than this, the pivot point of the
tion to give 10 negative camber in the lower wishbone should be moved in
static laden condition. or out to compensate. This will have
This brings us very nicely on to the to be done by firstly elongating the
Mk. 11 rear suspension. Unlike the hole to establish the correct position.
early suspension this does not suffer Having done this, the excess part of
from the rear wheel tucking under, so the hole should be filled with weld then
no problems arise from this quarter. tidied up with a file. The under
The first step which should be under-

151
steer or oversteer characteristics can fitted and these will reduce the ride
be influenced to a degree by adjust- height by about 1 .5-2". The increased
ing the tie rods. There is no selling in stiffness of these springs together
particular that will give the best with the reduction in centre of gravity
roadholding but it does allow the driver height brings about a useful reduction
to set up the handling within limits to in roll during hard cornering. They also
his own requirements. By shortening bring about an increase in front wheel
the tie rod adjuster shorter, the han- camber of about 10, a degree more
dling will tend towards understeer and towards negative that is.
by lengthening the tie rod, the ten- The standard front and camber
dency will be towards oversteer. By angle is about 2-2.50 positive in the
adjusting the tie rods we are altering static laden condition, i.e. carrying two
the toe in on the back wheels. The 150 lb. passengers. The shortened
range over which adjustments can be spring will reduce this to 1 -1.50. For
made for the purposes of setting up road use we can reset this to 00 by
the handling are from 2/32” to 0" toe inserting packing pieces between the
in. bottom wishbone pivot bracket and
For road use, wheel rim widths of chassis (see Fig. 60). For circuit work
5.5-6" are advisable while track use the ideal camber angle is 0.50-1 0
will warrant wheels of about 8" fitted negative, this being right when the car
with suitable racing tyres. is shod with racing tyres. Wheel rim
The first modification to the front widths for the front for road work will
suspension is the fitting of stiffer be the same as the rear at 5.5 to 6".
shock absorbers. (Koni 8OH-1 388, For racing 7-71/2” will do the job
Spax S164/210, Armstrong nicely.
Adjustaride SA 2697). This enhances As far as brakes go, if you
the stability and sure footedness when have a servo and harder linings they
high speed cornering is indulged in. will adequately perform the job ex-
Going one step further, shorter front pected of them.
springs (available from S.A.H.) can be

152
chapter 19

BODYWORK MODIFICATIONS
THE main subject to be dealt with in large weight reductions on the other
this chapter is the use of lightweight Triumph models, the weight reduc-
body components. The use of tions that are effected play a part in
fibreglass replacement parts can increasing acceleration. To give an
bring about a useful reduction in idea of how even a small weight re-
weight and hence increase the power duction can pay off, let us look at an
to weight ratio. In some instances example. Let us say that we fit a glass
there are glass components available fibre bonnet on a TR4 and in doing
which make a quite staggering reduc- so, lose 30 lb. or thereabouts. The fact
tion in weight. that the 30 lb. lost weight is up the
Chris Williams (fibreglass compo- front end means that our weight dis-
nents) is a specialist in fibreglass tribution changes, giving more bias to
parts for Triumphs. One of his pet the rear end. This, in conjunction with
projects is a complete G.T.6 bodyshell the decrease in weight, means that
in glass. This includes wings, doors, we will theoretically reach 80 m.p.h.
bonnet, boot, roof, undertray, bulk- about 0.1 second quicker. This small
head, etc., in fact all the original time difference might not sound like
pressed steel parts are remade in much, but it does mean a distance
fibreglass. The net result is a weight difference of something in the order
reduction of over 2.5 cwt. If you couple of 12 feet. To put it another way, if you
this to a racing set-up, having only the raced two identical cars with the ex-
bare necessities, the overall weight ception that one had a glass fibre bon-
reduction is just about 4.5 cwt. This net and the other one did not, the light-
gives us a percentage weight reduc- ened one would be about 12 feet in
tion of about 30% and that has the front of the other by the time they
same result as 30% more power as reached 80 m.p.h.
far as acceleration is concerned. To be more practical it would be a
good idea to see just what is avail-
Lightening able for the cars in question for light-
ening purposes.
Although we cannot make such

153
As mentioned before, Chris Will- perspex windows is a great weight
iams does a complete G.T.6 body saver. You can save 30-35 lb. on a
shelf in fibreglass. Apart from this he Vitesse by replacing the windows with
can also supply bonnets or boots for perspex. Most regulations of course
the TR4, 5, 6 and the Vitesse bonnet demand that the windscreen is of the
unit. S.A.H. do a very smart Le Mans laminated glass type so no change
Spitfire type front end for the G.T.6. can be made there.
E.V.A. are also in the market for If rallying is contemplated then the
Vitesse and TR glassfibre compo- underside of the car will need ad-
nents. The Triumph 2000 and 2.5 P.I. equate protection. S.A.H. supply a
are not catered for as such, but both range of sump guards and under
Chris Williams and E.V.A. Fibreglass shields for these cars. This piece of
Products will undertake the manufac- equipment is very necessary if we
ture of oneoff components if ap- want to avoid leaving half the innards
proached. of the car on some projecting rock.
The flaring of wheel arches often For rallying, all the petrol pipes, brake
presents problems unless you hap- pipes and wiring should run inside the
pen to be an ace panel beater. If you car and not outside.
do not feel up to flaring your own If your car is to be used for compe-
wheel arches, then quite frankly the tition, then remember that nine tenths
best bet is to get an expert to do the of the battle lies in the preparation of
job. The appearance of an otherwise the car. Preparation does not neces-
immaculately prepared car can be sarily mean large financial require-
completely spoilt by badly flared ments. In most cases it just means
arches. Funnily enough, expert panel careful, thorough and meticulous
beaters can make short work of flar- workmanship. This should apply to
ing wheel arches, and the job does the whole car, engine, transmission,
not come as expensive as it would at brakes, suspension and bodywork.
first seem. The end result of painstaking work will
For competition work the use of be a very fast and reliable motor car.

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