RBRR - good to go!

All stickered up ready for the Round Britain!

The oil leak was cured with a new oil filter and I also found the sump plug loose! That was obviously tightened up and now I have about 20 miles on the Spreint engine.

I am a bit bothered by the fact that it seems rather rattly but it hasn't overheated which is a very good sign.

I'll be calling in at S&S en route to the RBRR so we'll see what they think. There's not much that will stop me tho, even if the diagnosis is that it's another sick engine - I'll just see how far it will go before I call the recovery service!

What a slide hammer is for

Thanks to S&S who loaned me their slide hammer as mine still hasn't arrived.

Two minutes and the brass cage came out the block - that's it on the right. It's not true that a poor workman blames his tools - withou the correct tool some jobs just can't be done.

So, now the water pump has been replaced and I ahve been out for a test drive.

The oil pipe came off the back of the new oil presure gauge so oil was pumped into the driver's footwell Finger over the end stopped it until I could pull over and take the tee piece off so I could just fit the oil pressure switch Still, the gauge showed 40PSI cold until then

The electric fan cuts in OK but there's an oil leak I need to sort out - it may be the hydraulic pipe from the slave cylinder wearing through the oil filter

Oh and the engine revs too high and rattles a fair bit

Apart from that it should be just fine

A bit at a time or "Patience is a virtue"

Patience is a virtue so they say.

I picked up a new water pump from S&S yesterday. In the meantime I have ordered a slide hammer which is needed to complete the job.

Went to the RBRR driver's meeting last night and got home this evening.

No slide hammer- so all I could do was "wire up" the oil pressure gauge but then I noticed I was missing a small pipe from the water pump cover. This was rectified by removing one from the old TR7 engine but that has a dodgy seal - ho hum!

8 days to go.

Water pump removal

Less than an hour's work has seen the water pump out.

Apart from the brass "cage" which I need a slide hammer for (ordered on-line today).

I have been planning to overhaul the water pump but I ahve decided not to chance it with less than 2 weeks to the RBRR so, if you are reading this Steve, I'll be in S&S on Tuesday morning to buy a new water pump.

Oh and a spare dizzy cap and rotor arm.

I have washed the car tho after all this as it was covered in oily fingerprints etc! I'll need to clean it out inside too before the RBRR.

Woo-hoo & oh no!

Woo-hoo.

Driven the car around the "test route" this evening and wow, what a noticeable increase in power and responsiveness. I will have to be careful until I get used to the engine characteristics but wheelspin in first and second is pretty good.


Oh no! I took a gamble with the water pump and it hasn't paid off. A tell tale weeping of water from the pump says it's got to come out and have the seals replaced.

Still, after 4 days swapping engines it should be a piece of cake.

At last!

I have had a local auto-electrician round this evening - he's a fine fellow with an interest in classic cars.

Well, he sorted it - basically the points needed cleaning/adjusting (and I thought I had done that!) followed by towing the car which got it running.

It will start just fine now but I need to go through it now tidying up little "bodges" that were done to try and get it running. Then a few confidence building miles will follow.

But - what a relief!

No difference

An hour on the car this evening found the following.

There's definitely fuel through as a hose split on the front carb and petrol sprayed out ;D

There isn't a spark at the plugs tho :-/.

Tried a brand new plug, no difference.

Swapped leads and dizzy cap over from the spare TR7 Sprint - no difference

That surely means no power reaching the distributor - then I noticed the spare TR7 had different connections at the coil so I put BRP to the same configuration and

NO DIFFERENCE :'(

End of play day 4

End of day 4 and it's all wired up, oil's in it, the new electric fan is fitted, water's in (but needs checking once it'a run a bit) and time to fire it up!

Only, it won't - it'll turn over but no sign of it firing up.

Having given 4 days of my life to this I couldn't face trying to sort it out so that's it for a while.

No doubt I will return to the fight in a couple of days or so but for now, I know when it's time to take a break.

Concerns - the water pump looks dodgy but we couldn't get the cover off so we left it. I may well pay for that.

There's a bolt on the exhaust manifold that just turns rather than tighten so there'll probably be some blowing by that.

The damned broken bolt in the inlet manifold is a recipe for air leaks.

The carbs are the infamous waxstat type.

It still won't run.

In addition there's far too many "bodges" for my liking.


The pluses - it really looks the business! It turns over so we must have got the wiring right to some extent!

It has really been brought home to me what great friends I have - thanks for their help to Jon Ranwell, Dave Marshall, Andrew Rapson (and his dad!), Paul Darbyshire and several others who ahve helped with advice over the Club Triumph forum.

Mid-afternoon. Carbs are good for you

So, having faffed about for too long I decided to build it all back up and ahve a go at starting the car.

I have to say that fitting the carbs was a moprale booster.


Still quite a struggle sorting out linkages, hoses etc but satisfying too.

Plus it certainly looks more businesslike.

Sprint power day 4 - return of the Stud!

So, day 4 and it's a marathon not a sprint - get it? Oh well, it's the best attempt at humour I can manage right now.

Still, I started off determined to do things right so I went in search of stud removers or "easy outs". It took 3 motor factors before I got the little rascals.

Back at base I drilled, blow torched and used the "easy outs" but still that damned stud wouldn't budge. By now I was reckoning that there's plenty of other fixings on the inlet manifold so stuff it!

Moving on - my mate Tim Bancroft had advsied me to fit an oil pressure gauge to see how this unknown engine was. Fair enough and those nice chaps at S&S had sold me a second hand Racetech combined oil pressure/oil temperature gauge so I next tackled fitting this. The temp side of it was always going to be left off for the moment but I persevered with the oil pressure side and found out a T piece and new pipe I had bought about a year ago.

Much time was spent fitting this, drilling holes in the bulkhead for the pipe etc only to find the pipe had the wrong fittings. Oh great, another good idea that had turned into a timewaster.

By now it was time to take a short lunch break.

End of play day 3 or "The Stud"

I managed to fit an oil filter and then fill the engine with oil - at least it didn't run straight out the bottom of the engine!

Finally, last action of the day was to try to remove that stud. Here it is, surrounded by it's well of blu-tack holding WD40 in place. Did this co-operate? What do you think!

A blow torch and mole grips wouldn't shift it so by using my Dremel we filed 2 flats onto it so that we could get a 6mm spanner on.

No, it wouldn't move then either! So, it's still there in another WD40 bath.

Let's see what tomorrow, the fourth and final full day on this will bring.

Sprint power day 3 - not the best one!

This has proven to be a long hard struggle.

First off today I worked on bolting up the engine and gearbox. The gearbox mounting went in fine, then the off side engine mounting but when it came to the nearside one I realised I would have more room if the exhaust manifold was removed.

Well, this exhaust manifold needed to come out because it wouldn't mate up to the Sprint engine anyway so fair enough.

Immediately tho, there wasn't enough clearance -see the photo where it is jammed.

So, to gain clearance I removed the starter motor, which had been fitted yesterday to the engine whilst it was out so as to make things easier!

Still no progress so I had to unbolt the engine mountings and lift the engine again - joy of joys!

That sorted it and the Sprint manifold I had bought went in no problem - that was £20 well spent anyway when I bought the engine.

Now all OK to bolt up the engine, re-connect the propshaft and put in the gearlever - all quicker to type than do!

It was about now that Paul Darbyshire arrived to lend a hand. Paul is a real mate I met through the club, veteran of 2 10CRs and an all round top bloke.

Next problem we found was that the manifold downpipe was far too long to mate up to the exhaust centre section. There was no way we could make it fit. An alternative was to take off the exhaust manifold again (!) but that hadn't been particularly easy to bolt up so we wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

Solution? Cut back the down pipe to give us clearance. Even then it took alot of "drifting" in Paul speak ( bashing with a lump hammer or two in mine) to get the exhaust to mate up. I tell you what, there is no way there will be any leaks from that joint!

Back to the engine bay and its' refitting the starter motor. Rumpith popped round at this point as he had had rather a late night and was feeling a bit off (code for hang over!). Between us we got the starter back on after yet more struggle.

6PM in at last

In at last !!!

Another view

Nearly there now

5PM about to go back

All on the engine crane - about to go in

2.40 PM Sprint engine & a bit of luck

Now we swap over onto the Sprint engine.


I reckon this has been in a TR7 before - the sump was a TR7 one by the look of it, the backplate was the same as the TR7 and this water housing is a real gem - this is correct for a TR7 Sprint conversion but not for a Dolly Sprint!

2PM - Toledoman and Rumpith

Yes, that's Toledoman and Rumpith swapping stuff over - clutch plates etc

11.30 the gearbox is off

That's Dave Toledoman Marshal and we have separated the gearbox from the TR7 engine. Now we are onto swapping stuff over to the Sprint engine.

10 AM and my mate Andrew shows off the progress

On the schedule I expected the engine's out!

A big thanks here to my neighbour Andrew and his dad who at a moment's notice came over to help out.

In fact, his dad was expecting a normal family visit - he certainly wasn't expecting to be taking an engine out of a TR7!

Sprint power day 2

The scene at start of play - what will it be like at the end of play?

End day 1 - close of play

OK - everything packed away for the night.

Tomorrow should see the engine out pretty quickly.

Then I'll be cleaning up the engine bay and painting up a few scruffy areas.

After that it's a question of splitting the gearbox from the TR7 engine, swapping bits over as necessary to the Sprint engine, bolting up the gearbox to it and then putting the whole assembly back in the car.

That will then leave Sunday to get everything connected up and then the moment of truth - firing it up (hopefully!).

I wonder what progress will have been made by close of play in day 2?

5PM and we are nearly there!

Crane assembled and not far off now - the gearbox mounting is off the car, and the engine is only held in by one engine mounting.

4PM - Rumpith gets stuck in

4PM and "Rumpith" starts wielding spanners - the radiator is off now and we are well into disconnecting evrything we can!

3PM - looking serious

Bonnet's off now, sump guard off, engine oil and antifreeze drained off

2PM - one hour in

Starting to see some results - battery's out, airbox off etc

1PM day 1- Sprint power

All spares and tools laid out ready for the kick off

Time in prep is never wasted

So now I am starting the weekend engine swap.


Here's the borrowed engine crane - thanks to Jon (Rumpith) for arranging this and collecting it on Wednesday.

On it are two sets of guidance notes from friends in Club triumph - thanks to Ellis Stokes, Paul Swindells and Malcolm Paris.




I have spent this morning at S&S Preps getting this collection of spares - new shells, oil filter, electric fan kit, water pump repair kit etc etc.


So now it's a question of getting the garage and car port sorted out and organised. I'll be laying out tools and assorted second hand spares I have etc and then we begin!

Save my RBRR entry - options

I have taken the sump off my spare Sprint engine to take a quick look at the bottom end.

Here's a picture of the crank with one of the big end shells - all looks OK to me but then I am an amateur!

One possibility is to spend next week-end taking the TR7 engine out, swapping the sump over (the Dolly Sprint sump won't fit) and ancillaries etc and then putting the Sprint engine in BRP.



Here's another picture of the shell - looks pretty good to me.


So, if I swap the engines over next weekend, that gives 3 weeks to see if it's OK and get it running right or find it isn't going to work and then borrow a car I have already been offered - thanks Andy!

BRP out of the Round Britain!

Diagnosis of the engine problem down at S&S this morning is at least one oil ring gone on a piston. As a result the engine is pressurising and blowing oil up the dipstick tube.

Now, with less than 4 weeks to the Round Britain and me having no intention of spending money on this engine I have a problem with my Round Britain Run entry.

Various options are under consideration - the only one ruled out is not taking part!

Front runner amongst possible solutions at the moment is borrowing another Triumph.

Autotest and OOPS!

Had a good day autotesting and I was pround of my daughter Rebecca who had a go too - she's only 15 and did very well (lots of aggression and powerslides).

Out the house at 5.30 am , back at 8.45PM!

Oh and lots of oil all over the engine bay - noticable as a mist being blouwn out in the last 20 miles.

OOPS! I'll catch up with that sometime later this week but it's less than 5 weeks to the RBRR!