VTEC powered Triumph TR4A IRS

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:00:49 PM

Hello,

I really like the project journal page, however I do miss the comments and useful advice from other readers. This will be kind of a copy of my project journal, but here you can say whatever you feel like. Enjoy!

These are some before shots... They were taken during the summer of 2010. One year earlier I inherited the car from my father who had bought it in 1999. I had always liked the Porsche 911 and considered selling the TR, but in the end I decided to keep it, although in slightly changed form. The plan is to fit a Honda S2000 engine with Jenvey individual throttle bodies and standalone engine management. Suspension and brakes will also be seriously upgraded. The general appearence should remain fairly original (except from the wider Compomotive wheels and lowered stance).

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:02:21 PM

Dismantling the car in the fall of 2010...

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:03:57 PM

Test fit of the S2000 engine in the original chassis. We fabricated engine and transmission mounts and already started with the routing of the stainless steel exhaust. I wrapped the header in "Cool It Thermo-Tec Copper Header Wrap". Afterwards we removed the engine and cut the chassis in parts because the chassis builders needed certain parts for the new item...

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:08:53 PM

We started with a completely new slate. This a custom made chassis by the TR experts from CTM Engineering. They are building these beautiful chassis in not much more than a shack, but the craftsmanship is second to none. The owner of CTM is by no means a purist and was very helpful in customizing his product to meet my wishes. This is what we picked up a few months later after ordering.

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:10:36 PM

04/12/2012

I bought a high capacity air compressor and a sand blasting cabinet to strip the paint off parts and wheels. This is part of the result. The parts have now been delivered to a company who will put on a corrosion resistant coating. Assembly shoud start within one week!

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:13:04 PM

This morning I received a message saying that my parts had been coated. After work I rushed to Antwerp to collect my box with suspension and brake parts. Here's what they look like now. Assembly can begin, the weather is just awful this week!

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:19:53 PM

Last year in June we made another trip to the UK. This time we went to Racetorations in Gainsborough to pick up some very cool stuff. We bought the following parts:
°AP Racing front big brake kit with 4 piston calipers
°Alfin rear drums, uprated brake shoes
°Quick steering rack
°Front and rear anti roll bars
°Aluminium shock absorber brackets
°Adjustable upper A-arms

They have a TR4 for sale which has been beautifully rebuilt and upgraded. Especially the front and rear fenders were amazing. They are expensive aluminium ones, but have also been widened about one inch front and rear. You can see that the magnesium Minilite wheels with zero offset fit perfectly! Definitely something to look into when we get to that stage. Here are some pictures...

TR4AIRS · April 18, 2012, 04:25:17 PM

Today I started the assembly of the front suspension. However, I would like to fit new trunnions. If there are people who have good experiences with remanufactured 3° castor trunnions, can always post it here. I have heard to many horror stories about poorly fitting trunnions on original vertical links. I will try to post pictures tomorrow.

Dan B · April 18, 2012, 06:52:04 PM

Pretty sweet! And you can make a good bit selling that OD transmission that you took out.

TR4AIRS · April 19, 2012, 11:02:58 AM

Because I was curious to see everything assembled, I used the old trunnions for now to put together the front suspension. You can see the alloy hubs, adjustable upper A-arms, AP Racing brake calipers and drilled and ventilated discs...

In the picture with the brakes installed, you might see that I didn't pack the bearings with grease yet. As I said, I was curious!

TR4AIRS · April 19, 2012, 04:08:04 PM

@ Alan Blackwood: chances are that I will have to buy a second TR4 to pass yearly controls. Therefor I will keep the very good engine and gearbox as spare parts.

I contacted a TR Register member in the UK to help me out with the lower trunnion question. He had had problems with the quality of reproduction parts and knew where to get the good stuff. I ordered the parts straight away. This means that, if everything goes well, the front suspension and brakes will be assembled by the end of next week.

Cheers,
Kristof.

tr6turbo · April 19, 2012, 05:11:11 PM

Very nice work. I am very interested in knowing where I can get the "good" 3 degree trunnions.

Dale

74ls1tr6 · April 19, 2012, 09:33:49 PM

I would also be interested in where to purchase "good" 3 degree trunnions? Like the looks of the adjustable upper a arms too?

Great work Kristof.

Calvin

TR4AIRS · April 20, 2012, 08:41:11 AM

PMs sent.

Regards,
Kristof.

TR4AIRS · April 24, 2012, 02:03:34 PM

Hi,

I ordered the parts on Thursday with Rimmer Bros in the UK and they were delivered yesterday by the UPS courier. Nothing compares to those guys. Super speedy delivery, perfect tracking options, friendly people to deal with. Great experience time and again. I have already refused to buy parts from people who don't work with UPS.

The trunnions look OK, but I haven't had time to fit them yet. I will post pictures as soon as they are in place. Next week I will remove the entire front right assembly and take it to Intrax Suspension. They are going to build me a custom fully adjustable suspension. We are right on target to have a rolling chassis by the end of this year.

I have also ordered my Compomotive ML alloy wheels today. Sizes are 7 x 15 ET-12. No idea what kind of tires I will be running, but the Toyo R888 are so sexy to look at that they are my first thought:-)

Does anyone know what size of tires I need to keep the original circumference? The tires that are now on the wire wheels do not have a height ratio.

Regards,
Kristof.

motek · April 28, 2012, 01:22:03 PM

Kristof,

I love what you are doing.

I don't know how wide you want or how much sidewall, but if your stock tires are 165SR15 then they would be 25.39 inches in diameter. A 225/60/15 would get you 25.6 inches. There is a good calculator at http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

George

TR4AIRS · April 30, 2012, 06:08:47 AM

Hi George,

I definitely do not want the same circumference as before. Since the car will now have a 9000rpm redline and the Nissan R200 has a 4.1:1 ratio, I will need smaller tires.

I am looking for 205/55 R15 or even 205/50 R15 tires. I am currently looking for a set of Kumho KU36 or Toyo R1R. Maybe not the pursist's choice, but I prefer stick over originality haha.

Compomotive wheels have been ordered, they should arrive in a week or three. The front suspension has been completed except for springs and shocks. Those will be ordered as soon as possible.

Cheers,
Kristof.

richiea · May 28, 2012, 09:31:34 AM

I came up with the idea to put the F20C combo into my father's TR4a which I have recently inherited and just stumbled across this thread. The difference with my potential project is that my car is a solid axle TR4A.

I had a few questions... I am curious however how the shifter lines up with the stock position? Regarding your new frame - was it designed with any specific consideration for the swap (i.e. for oil pan clearance, repositioned supports?).

Is that a stock un-touched 4-1 manifold on the F20C? Seems to tuck in perfectly. Any close up shots of the mounts?

TR4AIRS · May 28, 2012, 01:45:01 PM

Here we are again with a few updates. First of all, the wheels and tires have arrived.

Compomotive ML1570

7 x 15 -12 offset

Kumho Ecsta KU36

205/50/15 86W (not that we will ever need the 168mph speed index ;-)

Here are the pictures...

TR4AIRS · May 28, 2012, 02:08:08 PM

Before I could assemble the rear trailing arms, I upgraded them by fitting Keenserts. I was afraid that the original UNF studs would be torn out of the alloy arms once full throttle was to be used. The process has already been described on other websites, but here are some pictures of how I did it.

When I removed the nyloc nuts that retained the hubs and brake back plate, two studs already came along.

The third studs I removed like this.

I used the kit from Patton Machine to drill and tap new UNC threaded holes in the trailing arms. Then I inserted and locked the Keenserts.

TR4AIRS · May 28, 2012, 02:28:56 PM

Rear brakes: Racetorations competion brake shoes and lightweight alloy drums.

Despite the horsepower, I have decided not to fit rear disc brakes. I believe that, when kept in good working order, drum brakes in the rear are more than adequate considering that they only provide a small part of the total braking power.

TR4AIRS · May 28, 2012, 02:36:25 PM

Rolling chassis...

The front is resting on wooden blocks instead of the springs. This is the ride height that I am aiming for.

motek · May 31, 2012, 07:11:27 PM

Thanks for showing how to do the inserts.

George

TR4AIRS · June 01, 2012, 02:03:17 PM

No problem. I followed the how-to on this website. It is more elaborate than mine.

http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/TAJig.htm

The kit comes from this website.

www.pattonmachine.com

Regards,
Kristof.

richiea · June 05, 2012, 06:47:14 AM

I'm curious what the plan is for the dash/gauges?