Touching up a Toledo now!

Slightly dodgy sounding title but more mundane reality!

An hour or so spent applying Curust and then touching up with white paint over rust spots and scrapes etc.

There's alot more than I thought but at least it will help preserve the little car.

Had to be done tonight tho as it will be transporting the 3 Amigos pub quiz team tomorrow night

Toledo tinkering

A couple of little jobs that turned out to take 3 hours - isn't that always the way?

A quick polish up helped lift the paintwork a bit, then I sorted out the choke cable. It needed removing, re-routing and fitting correctly in the dashboard - now it's much better.

Then I realised that it wasn't possible to get full throttle with the accelerator flat to the floor - some re-adjustment of the linkage sorted that out too. Now the full power of the engine has been unleashed - hmmm!

Cooling a Toledo

The radiator in the Toledo looked a bit marginal although in reality it didn't leak.

Neverthess, I took it to be rebuilt.

The guy at Walkers Radiators (Sough near Kelbrook, Lancashire) told me that the veins not only aided cooling but also supported the tubes in the core. If the radiator was left it would not only cool less well than intended but the tubes would swell without the support and eventually burst.

Well, it seemed fair enough to me so-



Here's the rebuilt radiator in place. I even painted the mounting brackets and fitted new hoses where I had them.


There that's much better - now a few more things need doing of course!

Speedfair and the aftermath

So, how did it go?

Very well actually. Out of 40 cars we came 30th which I am very pleased about as we were novices and many of the entries were by very experienced and competitive people.

But the best way of getting a feel for it is on this video



There was alot of waiting around which got a bit tiresome but nevertheless a very enjoyable debut.

The car was great - very powerful and never missed a beat. It did, however, keep getting very hot at low speeds or in queues.

Eventually the general opinion was that it was a stuck thermostat so we removed it and the car ran cool all the way home.

So, I ahve now replaced the thermostat and run the car on the drive for 20 minutes, taken it a 5 mile drive followed by another 20 minutes with the engine still running on the drive.

The result was no more overheating - I just hope it stays that way

The Toledo is home

"Burnerboy" and I drove down to London in his Spitfire to collect the Toledo two days ago.

Thanks Paul, and I really enjoyed driving your Spitfire top down, leather jacket on with aviator sunglasses - how cool is that!

Anyway, back to the Toledo.

What a great little car, it was quiet and had superb manners in London stop start traffic - a pleasure to drive.

It also happily drove home at 60MPH but is a bit challenged in the speed stakes! It is only a single carb 1296CC engine and I certainly don't need a fast car for my daughter to learn to drive in but I suspect a good service and timing check will make it a bit more peppy.

In the meantime Rebecca has managed to wash it and I have taken the radiator to be re-cored as it was beginning to disintegrate

It really needs a good fettling which I will aim to get round to before Rebecca hits the road in September.

My new Triumph - of the Toledo variety!

This little beauty is about to join the fleet.

Checked out by my mate Tim I will now be collecting it when I get chance over the next week - pity it's in North London!

The idea is that my daughter Rebecca can learn to drive in it and then buy it from me if she likes it when she passes her test.

If she doesn't, I can sell it on again and lose very little money.

At least that's the theory

Final Prep pre Speedfair?

I got some air out of the cooling system and re-positioned one of the hoses to clear the front of the cylinder head.

Then installed insulated battery terminal covers and went through the regs for road rally cars. This involved me closing up a couple of small gaps in the bulkhead with glasticon, refitting some carpeting (what a pain that was) and then strapping the warning triangle into the boot.

I think we are going to be fine now on scrutineering but we will see.

So, what's the plan for next weekend?

Well I think I will take spares and tools etc but leave them in the hotel room over night! This is because I have no service crew and so nowhere safe to leave them - they certainly can't rattle around in the boot during the event! Not only would they be a safety hazard they would also be extra weight which is not a good thing in a competition car.

Interesting how these elements are coming to the fore now as I have always said rallying is a cerebral sport. So, keep the weight down as much as possible too.

I could leave the spare out as well and just carry tyre sealant but that is something I'll ponder over - sealing a tyre to get it to the end of a test is one thing but driving home on it is quite another.

Then there's the "fuel load"

No chance of refueling at the circuit but a full tank is 12 gallons and that's alot of weight. So, I reckon I'll fuel up 100 miles from Knockhill and then run it all weekend which should still give about 6 gallons at the start of the day which should last the day's rallying.

I do have the phone number of a local TR7 enthusiast with a 16valve engine fitted to his car who has volunteered to be on the end of a phone should I need any help or parts off his car! Cheers Ben.

A few more miles

20 miles this evening - all OK. In fact the temp gauge doesn't get above 1/4!

there does seem to be some gurgling and water being thrown out the expansion thank tho.

I am hoping this is just the system settling down - we'll find out soon enough.

Next I need to check the car over against the regs so that there are no problems at scrutineering - I certainly need to fit insulated covers for the battery clamps and modify the wiring for the elctric fan.

Then we'll see what is needed after that

All in a night's work

Collected the radiator today and I have to say well done S&S Preps who have replaced FOC the original.

Amyway, got home from work at 7.45 and then fitted it - as you do!

Thanks to my daughter Rebecca for her assistance too.

There appear to be no leaks and an 8 mile test run passed off OK. Thing is tho - when we got back there were alot of gurgles etc.

I now want to get some more miles on it before the Speedfair.

Speedfair rally prep - help wanted!

If anyone is interested in acting as "service crew" for no reward just let me know!

I can get you into the event for free tho but would like some help in any spannering needed or just looking after some spares etc You would also of course be part of the action as a team member - a bit grand that but still, even if it's not a Mclaren team mechanic it's still in the same vein.

Now, I have been working on the TR today fettling the front seats and tidying/cleaning.

About 3 hours work and it doesn't show does it?

At least I know the driver's seat is slightly further forward giving a better driving position.

Also the co-driver's seat is in a tailored position for my daughter - much higher so she can actually see something and also reach the window winder and door handle!

Moving on

Back from holiday and I realise that in two weeks time I am competing in the Speedfair rally.

The thing is - BRP doesn't have a radiator on it at the moment and I also need to check everything is OK and up to spec.

A busy time ahead then.

Monday I'll hopefully get the rad back and stick it back in the car.

Then I'll try and swap the seats over so that I can get the driver's seat slightly further forward.

Finally I will need to check everything is OK for scrutineering.

A great night out

Not the usual kind of stuff today.

I am married to the blonde one