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Advice for fellow TR owners from Tom Shea Racing
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What are you Carrying?
What do you carry in your trunk? Do you have a few tools? If you are like me, you will want to have a few things that will come in handy, without filling the trunk up completely.
There should be a reasonable expectation as to what can be accomplished away from your service facility. You probably wont need that set of heavy-duty ½ inch drive sockets etc. We all have a rather large area in the left hand side of our trunks that can be used for a box that will be adequately large to hold many useful things. You can measure this space & come up with an idea of the size. I took a heavy cardboard box that just fit in that space, & painted it black. I use a couple of bungee cords to hold it in place. It can be easily accessed, or removed. Because it is painted black, it doesn't look out of place. There is also the area in the front of the trunk, up over the axle. This area is not as easily accessible, and it is harder to secure things there because of the g forces from acceleration. It's a good idea to take the time to make up a small collection of useful things that can come in handy when you are not at your usual service area.
Here are some suggestions as to what you may want to consider carrying with you.
A small piece of cardboard, a couple of feet wide & 5 or 6 ft long. This can be used to lay on if you need to crawl under the car. It can be folded up and stowed under the toolbox. A piece of plastic sheeting, large enough to be used for laying down under, or over things in wet conditions. This can be very compact when stowed. Shop towels, paper towels, hand cleaner, WD40 or equivalent. Assortment of fuses & small electrical connectors, & crimping tool, wire, & tape.
A piece of plywood at least 3/4 thick and wide & long enough to be used for support under the jack in soft ground conditions, this can also be easily stowed with the cardboard & plastic, under your box. A large X or Cross lug wrench, Fix a flat, Duct Tape, Utility knife or other cutting tool, Flashlight, at least one, possibly a light source that can be powered from the cig. Lighter, sometimes the batteries in flashlights can be found dead. Jumper cables, Gloves come in handy when handling dirty or rusty, rough, sharp hot, etc. things, like exhaust, jacks etc. An old raincoat & jacket & or a sweatshirt & maybe a cap could come in handy if you need to do some dirty work & don't want to ruin decent clothing. Tow strap.
An assortment of tools, this can be partly, but not limited to, a small inexpensive tool kit like what you can get at any auto or hardware store. It should include, screwdrivers, pliers, hammer, wire cutter, and various wrenches, including Allen, that you may use for small adjustments to fuel press etc. 1/4 and 5/16 nut drivers are handy for hose clamps.
There are some parts that could come in handy they should be kept by everyone that owns one of these cars for spare parts. As long as you have them on hand, why not just carry them in the car? Both radiator hoses, the small hoses for the heater and water pump bypass & the serpentine belt. These cars are now old enough where they should have had the originals of all of these pieces replaced by now. The old belts and hoses will work for spares if you replace them as part of a preventative maintenance effort. These pieces will easily fit in the trunk along the lower fender area & be out of sight & harms way until needed. When any of these items fail, you are dead in the water. These parts could be difficult to get on a timely basis as they are specific to our cars, which are now approaching pioneer plate status!
Don't get stranded, take the effort to do the preventative maintenance with the belt & hoses. Clean up the old ones & stash them in the trunk for spares. Replace the MAF, there are several alternatives to chose from, the stock one is no longer available and was not very good in the first place. When you acquire spare parts they should be installed as replacement parts immediately. Don’t assume that the replacement parts are good until you verify it by installing and testing the results. Use the replaced parts as the spare. You know they were working prior to removal. This, at first, may not seem like the logical way to do it. Think about it, there are several valid reasons for this approach.
There are several other small hoses on the car that should be changed out when you do the radiator hoses. These are the water pump bypass "S" hose. And the heater hose assemblies. These are inexpensive, but they are formed to shape. It would be difficult to use standard hose stock to replace them in an emergency, because of the sharp bends in the pre formed shaped ones. A bend that tight in a straight piece of hose would kink. When you replace your belt and hoses, the coolant will already be drained, it's a perfect opportunity to change out the other small hoses. If these pieces are not malfunctioning then clean them up & keep them for spares. The possibility of them failing is not great, but you will have a free spare set if you just throw them in the trunk. They are light & take up very little space.
Anyone who changes out a hose and doesn't bother to do the rest of the job, which is replacing all of the hoses & flushing the system and adding a clean new fill of coolant is at the very least missing a golden opportunity. Do yourself a favor. Avoid possible stranding & down time. You may save yourself getting towed. Improper towing of these cars will result in damage. If you were stranded and had to leave your car, that could be the least of your worries.
You may want to include a detailing, cleaning, waxing/polishing supply. Keep in mind that if there is any dirt or dust on the finish when you rub on it, it will scratch, so be careful! This "Detailing" kit could include, window cleaner, razorblade tool for windows, spray detailer for the finish, Armor-all or similar, chrome polish, towels, and other show type tools.
You may want to have a list of things that you should carry in the glove box inside the car. A small camera, in case of accident, a picture is worth a 1000 words. Don't forget the flash. Of course you will have established the pristine condition of your toy with pictures and possibly an appraisal and or other documentation. The ability to write down a name, number & other information is an asset. Pencils are better than pens because they do not dry up from sitting in the car for long periods, also in cold weather they will still work and they work better in the rain. Mechanical pencils don't need to be sharpened. A small tablet is handy. You can even get accident reports from the police or triple a if you are a member, they actually have kits.
You may want to leave your name & or the club name & number on a possible recruit car. Our club has cards printed up for this. They come in handy on cruise night. If you have a cell phone, you may want a cigarette lighter adapter for the power source. A small flashlight in the interior is a good idea. Something to wipe up the inevitable smudge or spill, keep a few small towels under the seat, or at least some paper towels or Kleenex. You may have a light jacket & a cap that you use with the car, why not just leave it in the car, there are times when you will go from the warm part of the day into the cooler evenings, while still out. It would be a shame if that logo cap & jacket could have been of use but were just hanging around at home instead.
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