Off with the hub and disc

So this evening's task?

Removal of the hub and disc so that my wife can drop it off at Kevin's. Then while I am on holiday he'll sort out the run out problem and I'll put it back on in a couple of weeks.

It will be very interesting to see if it all makes any difference!

In the meantime poor old BRP is stranded on the drive without a front nearside wheel, hub or disc and with the caliper supported. Sad really.

Still, I did accompany "Rumpith" to view his Spitfire which is making some prgoress at last. It needs to tho with the RBRR only 3 months away.

Do the shimmy?

I have always had a wheel shimmy problem on the TR but with the addition of the uprated front brakes it is even more noticable.


My mate Kevin is determined to sort this problem out so he came over today with some shims - this is what shims look like nowadays apparently! Sheets of plastic in different thicknesses that you cut with a pair of sciscors - what is the world coming too?


Anyway, we jacked the TR up, removed the wheels and put a dial gauge on the discs. Only 1 thou out on the offside but 7 thou out on the nearside.

That doesn't sound enough to make a difference but we went to work on the nearside. This involved removing the disc and fitting shims between the hub and disc - several times!

We got the run-out down to 4 thou and then reassembled it all for a test drive - no difference.

We really thought that 4 thou wouldn't matter anyway so now we were stumped.

Half and hour after Kevin left he called me back - he has been informed by a chief techie at a rally team that 4 thou will definitely give a problem.

Next step is to remove the whole assembly and then it goes into Kevin's machine shop (he is a director of an engineering company) to be trued up on a rather expensive lathe - then we'll see what difference that makes.

A quick blast - use it or lose it

Nipped out to get some food for a barbecue we are having today so, of course, that was an opportunity to use the TR.

Always a good idea to use the car each week to keep things freed off etc, even if it's only a few miles.

So, into town, buy some burgers and kebabs from the local butcher (good to help local business instead of a supermarket if possible) and then 3 or 4 miles back around the local lanes. My goodness this car is now just great!

It's certainly important to use a classic car instead of leaving it on the drive - using it reminds you of why you bought it in the first place.

Another piece of the jigsaw

Just happened to be driving home last night after being at a show and went through Bracebridge Heath. "Now why do I recognise that then?" I thought.

Then up comes Rimmer bros! So, popped in although I didn't really need anything but I did buy 4 BL Motorsport cloth badges I had noticed in their catalogues. Here's one placed on my old race suit.

In due course I would like to buy new race suits (for driver and navigator) similar to the ones worn by TP, BC etc and then I'll put the badges on - they should look really well with the car's colour scheme.

Now all I need is for Club Triumph to buy a classic Leyland Sherpa van and paint it in the correct colours - to support show activity of course but could then, by chance, be ideal for a rally support van!

Somehow I don't think that idea will fly!

Old friend

My Vitesse doesn't want to leave and it doesn't want to die.

I put on a battery this afternoon and for the first time in 6 months it started!

I drove it up and down the drive to free things off and then put it's cover on - back to sleep for another few months.

The photo is from the Ilkley rally in 2004.

I did try to go one further today - I put the battery on the spares TR7 to see what happened. The clock started working and one headlamp responded - absolutely nothing else!

Ready to go again

The morning after La Carrera my mate, Ellis, was trying to sort out a lack of power on his TR7.

This was in the car park of the Dreadnought and the combined might of the Club Triumph entrants were trying to be of assistance. I suggested we put the distributor cap and leads from my car onto his to see if that's were the problem was.

That didn't help and then, when refitted to my car BRP wouldn't start! Very frustrating, especially as we had taken pains to make sure we refitted the leads in the correct order using Ellis's marked set as a reference. Well, we weren't getting anywhere other then it seemed the timing was out.

I think I now know when to take a break so I went off to collect Rebecca and have breakfast. Whilst that happened Theo got BRP running, it seems the distributor had been put in 90 degrees out and the "correct" positions for the leads was not correct on mine!

Meanwhile, the oil light wiring got pulled out of it's connection whilst we were swapping coils etc trying to get it to run.

So, today, one week later I have re-wired the oil light and numbered the plug leads and distributor cap so that they are "correct" for my car.

Then I topped up the oil and washed the car - now we are ready for next week's autotest. Which is just as well because I received Bedford Car Club's newsletter today and in it's report on the last autotest the author writes "Martin Randle was sharing his beautifully turned out TR7".

That's the kind of quote I like.

La Carrera Caledonia

Here's some photos courtesy of LCC organiser, Jim McGuiness


The start at Gretna.




By Talla reservoir - one of many super driving roads.









The next morning in Callendar, ready for the trip home. That's me by the passenger door with my daughter Rebecca ready with the maps.

Another top event with great roads and the company of good friends - we will return!

The Compactor, the washing line, tree and door handle!

You sometimes collect some strange stories when on holiday.

Met a guy in Castle Douglas who told me about a DIY adventure he had.

He hired a compactor but when he started it up it ran away with him and only stopped when it hit a tree at the bottom of his garden! Solution? Restrain it with some rope - so down comes the washing line (!) and the compactor was lashed to a suitable anchor point should the same thing happen again.

Result - the compactor runs off, reaches the end of the wahing line and pulls the door handle off before hitting the same tree!

Solution 2 - call in professionals.

And no, this wasn't me although it does sound like one of my escapades.