Finishing as I mean to go on

After the philosophy of the last blog entry here's my update on working on Triumphs - again!

Yes, back to BRP and bolting everything back together again. There we are - cylinder head on and the front cover on temporarilywith the front pulley whilst I set it to TDC.

Then, following the works manual the front cover comes off to check that the jackshaft is in the right place. It's not possible to see here but there's a scribed line on the jackshaft sprocket that is at 9 o'clock but should be at 3 0'clock so just 180 out then. Setting it right meant though that the rotor arm is pointing at number 4 not number 1 - ho hum, if I remember rightly now come to think of it we did move the distributor back in April to get the car running. More of this kind of stuff to come!

Still, for now I contented myself with bolting the inlet manifold on and getting back into the swing of things. Not sure when I'll get back to the task though as there's Pendle and Pennine "Not the Xmas meal" coming up followed by the Essex Winter rally in the 2000. Kevin, if you are reading this I will probably be giving you a ring in a couple of weeks to see if you fancy helping out again!

Meanwhile, having mentioned the 2000 Bryce and I collected the original engine for it from Craig along with the manual non overdrive gearbox. It would need cleaning, some investigation and some bearing shells but these earlier "flat top" piston 2000 engines have slightly more power according to Chris Witor (the 2000 guru) and it would be nice one day to restore the original engine back into the car - just not anytime soon!!

I have bought a good secondhand distributor though from him, suitable for the later 2000 engine fitted and without the wear of the one that's in it - just a question of dropping it off with my brothers and seeing if we can get it fitted and the car running as reliably as I would like.

Round and round

Now and again I start reflecting on all this Triumph business. This is usually when one of the cars is acting up or when I have some time out of the usual routine to think - both have happened recently!

This week we also took my wife's Peugeot in to the main dealers for a recall which was no big deal but I couldn't help but notice they had for sale a 53 plate Mazda MX5 £4995. Just downthe road from us there's another one at £3800 ish complete with very smart hardtop.

Now, if I sold all my Triumphs and their spares I could buy an MX5 and enjoy reliable fun motoring for years without having to spend at least 2 hours every weekend working on a car under my carport (as I will be again later today).

Sounds good to me - all those roadtrips just enjoying the driving.

But then - what about the part Club Triumph plays in my life. Sure I wouldn't have to own a Triumph to be a member but how much of an "enthusiast" would I be if I had sold all the cars I owned? Not much!

It would also be the end of entering the Club Triumph driving events which quite rightly must be done in a Triumph car - I can't see myself coming to terms with that.

What about the historic rallying? Did Tony Pond drive a Maxda MX5? That answers that one then.

So it's back to "I just need to do this to the 2000, rebuild BRP and fit the group 4 brakes followed by upgrading the suspension and brakes on UNJ before sorting out the misfire". Not much there really (!) after which I will experience trouble free driving in 3 Triumphs - oh yeah!

In all seriousness though, in normal driving a TR7 convertible is perfectly capable of modern motoring and is far more striking than any MX5 so I have made the right decision again - haven't I?

Brian Hanrahan - a real memory

Sad to hear that Brian Hanrahan, BBC correspondent has died at the young age of 61.

His reporting from the Falklands War in 1982 will always be a strong memory for me.

Santa Rally & back to BRP

I completed my first competitive event last Sunday for nearly 2 years as a driver - the Bedford Car Club "Santa" 12 car rally.

It was good to have my daughter Rebecca alongside and she did really well for a complete novice (and she doesn't seem to have been put off).

We did it in PMW as it's the only Triumph I have available for use and it was absolutely fine until the return back up the M1 when it started losing power. This got worse and worse and although I checked a few things over at a service area I couldn't sort it out.

Thankfully we got back to my sister's in Derbyshire just before 1Am but I still couldn't get to the bottom of the problem with the car the next day. I eventually returned home by train and left PMW for my brothers to have a look at.

Thanks Malcolm and Harvey for checking it over in the freezing cold - it seems there is so much wear in the distributor that it allowed the timing to go miles out. Now it's back where it should be the car runs fine again but the question is "will it happen again?" Sourcing a replacement distributor may be on the cards.

Meanwhile, I always try and do some work on a Triumph each weekend to keep on top of things. If you are not making progress then you are going backwards! So, small progress as it was, I torqued up the cylinder head on BRP.

Alternator fixed at last

Finally got a new alternator on - an A127 with 55AMP output instead of the original 15ACR with 35 amps. Much better! The indicators actually flash now evenwhen the headlights and heater are on.

I have also done as advised and fitted an extra thick brown wire from the spare feed on the alternator direct to the positive terminal on the battery as can be seen in the picture which will help with the charging as well.

Next was fitting a fuse box for the headlamp relays butI ran out of time and also found the washers had packed up working! I'll sort that tomorrow before getting all the kit for the 12 car rally in the car and setting off for Milton Keynes.

My competition career restarts after nearly 2 years!

Not quite finished then!

I intended sorting out some relays for the headlights on PMW today but ....

Yes, the nearside wheel bearing had too much play in it when I checked it today so I had to adjust that first.

Then I noticed the speedo cable hanging a long way under the car; in fact it had been rubbing on the road surface. I spent alot of time on this rerouting it inside the car and cable tieing it up. It's much better now but not perfect by any means. What I need really is a large heated workshop to sort this kind of thing out!

I made it to the Pendle and Pennine meeting last night and was well pleased how much better the car is running - checking and adjusting the points was well worth while.

And the relays? Well, it was so cold under the carport I called it a day!

More 2000 tinkering

I have had a day off work today and after tidying up the garage didsome more tinkering.

I had drawn up a list of things to look at/do.

1. Remove radiator fan to aid warm up and release a bit of BHP. Had a look at doing this and it would have meant removing the radiator! Not done.
   
2. The car hadn't been running that well; difficult to start and coughing, spitting, holding back. I think I have learned this is usually on the ignition side and I had bought a new coil from Chris Witor (the man re 2000s) but somehow knew there were 3 knocking around and thought this wasn't fitted. I checked and it was so I chucked the oldest second hand one.
3. Thought I'd check the points gap for the reasons in point 2 - the points had closed up so I adjusted them to 15 thou and the car started and ran much better.
4. Thought about adjusting the timing by ear but left this for another day as it's flippin cold and the light was going. Anyway, having adjusted the points I want to see how it runs on the road.
5. Wire in relays for the headlamps - still on the list for this weekend.
6. Fitting a 2000TC speedo I got in the Rimmers sale as it should match up better with the overdrive and diff. Looking at it though there weren't exactly the same connections so I put that to one side.
7. Change the alternator or put in an extra wire to the battery. Currently (no pun!) taking advice from the 2000 Register forum on this one.
8. Checked there was an earth lead from the block to the negative terminal on the battery - there is!
9. Checked the wheel nuts were tight after replacing the discs and the fact that there's still a wheel wobble.
10. Check wheel bearing play - see number 9. Not done this yet; something for Saturday.
    

That's enough - or is it?

Got a replacement speedo cable with the right connection - here it is next to the one that came off. I think it's clear it's much longer! This makes alot of sense as to why the original stopped working etc - it was going through too tight a bends etc to stretch to fit.

Replacing it with the new one was straightforward enough but I could do with the correct grommet - I will "make up" a gap around the grommet and the cable with some "dum dum" paste but the correct one would be a much snugger fit.

Anyway, with it all fitted I now have a speedo that works again so that should be enough on this car as I want to turn attention to BRP which should be the main priority apart from ----

There is still a judder through the steering wheel, sometimes on braking, sometimes not - hmmm.

Also, I am aiming to do a 12 car rally which will be at night so I am thinking about wiring in relays to the headlights which would need to be done next week as its only 2 weeks from now!

I might take the fan off as well to help the car warm up and release a little power - there's not much chance of a heatwave anytime soon!

Returning to the battle

But the battle was so much easier having been through it last week.

Not easy, but manageable using all the techniques I learned last week - 2 hours instead of 3 this time.

Emboldened by this I decided to move on to replacing the speedo cable, having ordered a new one. Hmmm- not so good, the new one doesn't have the same fixing at the gearbox end as the current one!
Whilst fiddling around with the bit in the gearbox/overdrive the cable fits into to see if there was something I was missing it came out and gear oil started to run out the gearbox - oh good!!!

Thankfully it went back in and with a tap I got it flush and replaced the original speedo cable to hold it all in place.

Meanwhile, the exhaust had been rattling and still being a glutton for punishment I decided to sort this out. No problem really, just tightened the brass nuts up at the manifold which had worked loose after the few miles the car had done since fitting the exhaust.

Then put the car back down on the ground, tighten the wheel nuts and fire it up for a test run of the brakes and exhaust (the speedo cable can wait a bit longer) but no, the battery was too low!!

The battery is now on charge overnight so I can then try again tomorrow - the place under the carport is needed for Mrs R's car

Worth checking

Remember the note to check the bolt?

Here it isNot in at all! Certainly worth checking - now safely tightened up.

A road test has proved much reduce brake judder even with only the one side done so far. Next week I'll complete the job.

Meanwhile, the speedo stopped working on the way back from Italy and I wondered if it was the speedo cable. I also didn't like the way the cable was routed through a ripped carpet. Having consulted on the CT forum we concluded the car is fitted with a J type overdrive (from the photo below of the speedo cable fixing to the gearbox).The consensus of opinion is that the cable is at much too acute an angle which is also the case in the interior. It looks like a non overdrive speedo cable has been re-used and because it is too short it is not fitting correctly, so resulting in failure of the speedometer to work.

I have ordered a correct J type speedo cable for about £15 so that can go on the list of jobs too.

Braking my heart!

I am trying to work through my 3 Triumphs in a logical way.

1. Get the 2000 sorted with a few glitches done to make it OK to drive but no uprating.
2. Get BRP's engine rebuilt and running, fit the Group 4 brakes so I can get it's historic rally car papers, wire in the Brantz rally computer (last year's Xmas present!) and then use it for competitive events.
3. Transfer the surplus brakes from BRP to the convertible, fit new polybushes and the uprated suspension I already have, cure the misfire and get it on the road with an MOT before summer runs out!

Not much there then! It's only a few things on the 2000 really providing I am not tempted to upgrade so today I worked on PMW.

A classic example of the few simple jobs was what I tackled first; the washers kept failing as one of the electrical connectors to the pump kept falling off. Simple, crimp it up and then job sorted. Oh no it wasn't, I had to work through all the tubes and jets too with an airline so that even with the pump fixed there was water to clean the screen with.

And that was just the start.

The brakes have always juddered so today was the day to fit the new discs and pads I had bought. Nothing out of the way here, standard bits, not uprated or anything so I thought 3 hours should cover this.

OK so faffing about with the washers slowed things down a bit but as I have done this kind of job before how hard could it be?

Here we go.

First thing after jacking the car up, setting it on axle stands and removing the front wheels was to remove the off side brake caliper. I always do one side at a time so that there's something to refer to as well as the Haynes manual.

Pulling the old pads out was fine and they went into the hubcap along with the pins and shims etc. The caliper itself is held on by two bolts, just like the TR7s I am used to.

Persuading them to undo though was no easy task and I had to resort to a long bar with some more pipe on the end of that - plenty of leverage eventually worked. I now remembered that the car has had a long time in storage with no maintenance which was now becoming apparent as bolts refused to give in easily!

Anyway, next up having tied the caliper out the way with cable ties was to remove the hub which went OK actually so back on track. Here's the hub in my vice with wood in the jaws to protect the studs. Those bolts didn't come out that easily but defeated they were and then the new disc fitted with new bolts so OK, looking good.At this point though I was beginning to think that maybe I wouldn't do both sides today unless everything suddenly became much easier.

It didn't!!

Putting the hub back on the stub axle was OK no problem, it was when it came to refitting the caliper that things got a tad difficult.

Brake disc shields are the work of the devil. I have always taken them off my "competition" cars to help with cooling but was happy to leave them on this standard car. Well I wasn't happy when the shield made it very difficult to locate the caliper bolts so after much struggle I bent the shield mountings away - now we're flying.

No, putting the pads in then became a nightmare with the inner getting jammed so I unbolted the caliper again (!), cleaned up the channel for the pads some more, refitted it loosely and made sure the cylinders were pushed back in flush.

Now the pads went in and I could bolt the caliper back on. I had tried to bolt the shield back on by adapting it slightly but it was having none of it so I decided to take it off completely. Would it come off? What do you think?

A hacksaw cutting it into two halves persuaded it though - *** note to self, check the front bolt to the steering arm is tight***

Definitely time to call it a day and just do the one side. But then the steering lock won't release and I can't get the wheel back on Aaarghhh!!!

Having put all the tools away I came back to it and eventually got that released, refitted the front wheels and finally got it down on the ground again.

So that's 3 hours work to change one side's disc and pads. Next week the nearside!

Driving again

Yes, at last - after 18 months Raider's on the Road again, wearing different clothes again - oops, that's a song lyric. I wonder if anyone will comment on the original on the Club Triumph forum?

Anyway, back to the point. Yes, I collected the 2000 yesterday and have to say it was all a bit of a shock.

I didn't actually enjoy the experience as I thought I would. 18 months without drivng meant I was a bit wary of myself and then the car I chose to use is 1969 technology meaning getting the choke right is a bit of an art and keeping the car running at junctions etc until warmed up was something I could have done without.

Still, I made it home and then to the Pendle and Pennine meeting where that kind gent, Mike Helm acted in the interests of road safety - see the pics below!
Today though I drove over 250 miles - a round trip to see my mum as I couldn't get to her birthday last weekend and then to a bonfire party my daughter invited me too.

The more I drove the better it got and certainly on the way to Derbyshire the drive through Chatsworth, Bealey village, and Ashover was very very good - PMW sounds great and flicking in and out of overdrive was great too.

A few things need doing to the car though

1. I must fit the discs I have so that I can stop the brake judder.
2. The electrical connection on the windscreen washer pump needs fixing so that they work!
3. It really must get washed and cleaned.
4. The car doesn't pull as cleanly as it should - investigation of carb set up needed here.
5. It definitely needs a larger alternator as with anything electrical in use the volts drop (I have two good second hand ones off TR7s so I'll swap one over)
   

Screen seals

Replaced the rear screen seal today with Bryce's help as it was very perished - the car will be outside over winter soon and needs to be watertight.

Then we moved to the front screen but on inspection this looks quite good so we left it.

Thing is though, to view the seal we had to remove a stainless trim and it's not at all easy to see how to get it back on! I'll be seeking advice there.

A couple of other small jobs completed - the overdrive gearknob switch cap which means it isn't all taped up with insulating tape thank goodness.

Also tried to remove the aerial - Trouble is, it is snapped off and could easily cause someone to gash their hand. Given that there is a big chance it will be me I'd like to remove it (the aerial, not the hand). I am not worried about replacing it as I don't generally listen to music in my Triumphs - there's the sport exhaust for listening to.

Thing is - how is it removed? I can't see to get to the bottom of it as it sits under the wing but is encased by the inner wing/wheelarch panel and there's no other access I can see.

Anyone done this before?

On Friday I'll be going over by bus and train to collect PMW and drive it home - hurrah!

I've been here before!

I returned to the attack today! Having a day off work gave me the opportunity to make more progress and I approached things in a steady calm way' Hopefully, this will pay dividends later.

Whilst the head was off the car I remembered that the heater had not worked for some time so I backflushed that whilstI had the chance.

Then carefully cleaned up the block, blew through the waterways as much as possible with an airline, cleaned off the surfaces and generally did everything I could to give myself a good chance of it going right this time!

The cylinder head was all nice and shiny as it came from Dale's and finally I lifted it onto the block as you can see here with the cylinder head bolts and nuts etc in place. I couldn't torque it down as my torque wrench is over with PMW but it's good to see the engine looking more like an engine again.
Another bonus is that with the cylinder head off the bench and a bit of time put aside for tidying my work area in the garage actually looks clean and tidy for the first time in many months, well, by my standards anyway!

Sump 1 Head 0

I couldn't get access to the 2000 this week but I am doing my best to put in a couple of hours or so every weekend on the cars.

So this week it was back to BRP. My thoughts were that as I had just about got the sump back on I would finish that off and then fit the cylinder head.

There would have been a nice photo then as well with the engine looking more like a full engine again.

Oh well, it took alot more time than expected to get the sump all bolted back up. The main culprit was the bottom engine mount which fits across the bottom of the sump and onto the subframe. This had been the cause of my bloody hand (literally) of a few weeks back now.

There wasn't the problem of wrestling with it all this time though, it was just a very slow process. Whilst I was in the vicinity I changed the oil filter too so all the oil has been changed as well as the filter, hopefully making sure there are no metal bits in the engine oilways as a result.

In the end, 3 hours of work was quite satisfying as the sump is back in place and bolted up.

Next week I plan to change the screen rubbers in the 2000 as they are very perished which is not a good thing for a car about to be used over winter.

A thing of beauty

Attention switches to PMW this week as I have received my driving licence which is valid from November 5th, only 18 days from now and PMW is the only one of my cars taxed and tested.
There are a few jobs need doing though ideally before then and number one on the priority list is an exhaust as it was "blowing" and also knocking against the floor of the car on my birthday trip.

Having thought about it I bought a Chris Witor full sports stainless steel exhaust and today set about fitting it.Here it is fresh out of it's packaging and next to the old exhaust on the workshop floor.

The old exhaust was very thin in places and a number of the mounting points where either mssing or completely shot - whereas the new one is a thing of beauty!



It was a generally straight forward job although there were a couple of delays whilst Bryce and I worked out how it fitted at the rear - was it over or under the nearside drive shaft? The answer is under but it took some time working that one out.

Here it is in the picture below fitted showing the spectacular rear exhaust box and tail pipe.


It's not just the looks that are a thing of beauty though, oh no, the sound is just wonderful to behold. It certainly put a big grin on my face and I can't wait to drive the car on the road - first stop the November Pendle and Pennine meeting.

Proof of progress

Just visible at the front is the sump gasket - now there'll be no more progress for a while as I switch attention to PMW ready for me driving again!!

Sweat and blood but no tears (yet!)

I left off saying I needed to remove the sump - this is why. It may not be obvious in the picture below if you don't know the insides of engines but at the bottom is the front part of the sump sans gasket, which is not a good thing.


So, how to go about removing the sump? The picture below is the front of the engine just being lifted as can be seen on the right as it starts to clear an engine mounting (trust me on this one!).

I had to get under the car, undo all the sump bolts, loosen the engine mounting nut on the offside to allow the engine to move up and remove the engine mounting under the engine completely in the end.

With a trolley jack under the front of the gearbox it was then possible to lift the engine and ......

wrestle the sump off - as can be seen here. Also just visible in the first photo is the spring from the chain tensioner - it's much more visible on the one below along with a bit of sump gasket. Neither of these would be good to have circulating in the engine so I am glad to have gone to the trouble of removing the sump. It has now had a good clean, along with the mating surfaces for the new gasket.


There was certainly plenty of sweat and toil in all this but the blood? See picture below

Back to BRP

It's been a long, long time since I have worked on BRP but today was the day I started again. It's difficult to remember how all this came about so best to start from where I am now!

Above is the block of the engine in situ and having rotated the crank a few times the cylinder bores are fine with no scoring or any horrible scraping noises!

I need to get the sump off though as the sump gasket has broken in all this malarkey so first I drained the oil out using my suction device which works very well.
Ideally I want to try and get the sump off with the engine in situ so next was under the car (propped up on axle stands of course) and remove the sump-guard (see next two pictures). It's certainly seen some action but the bolts were a tad too long I'd say!

I think I'll try not to put this home made sumpguard back on - I have diagrams for the works cars so I'll see if I can have one made complete with bracketry and fit that instead.

Back to the point though, I took this off to see about removing the sump but I realised I didn't have a sump gasket yet anyway so left this until I do as I don't want a sump kicking around and foreign debris getting in the engine (well, no more than it is now!)
Not time to pack up yet as I could turn my attention to the top end. The photo above is the cylinder head that came off with the alleged group2 cam but there had been piston to valve contact so I removed it and asked Dale of Moordale Motors to recondition a spare one I had for me.

Well that proved to be a pig of a job with plugs seizing in it as well as studs etc. In the end Dale replaced one spark plug thread, 1 exhaust manifold fixing thread insert, 2 core plugs, cleaned all the threads out, recut and lapped in the valves, replaced a cam bucket, skimmed it and set the valve clearances. All of this with a standard cam which I am happy with as I just want to get to a reliable car with about 140BHP.

The new core plugs and the new spark plug thread are visible in the picture below - the head looks nice and clean, there was even the smell of the machining when I opened up the wrapping today!

Final work today was swapping the rear water transfer housing over to the recon head and then carefully stowing away the old head with a label of what it was and that it would need reconditioning (I'll only forget when I come to it again as I lose track of all the spares and where they came from, what condition they are in etc).

I suppose next will be seeing if I can get the sump off - if not then it means the engine out which is not something I look forward to.

But - work will stop on BRP in October while I get PMW fettled as this is the only Triumph I'll have available to drive immediately on my return to driving on bonfire night!

Clearing the decks

Back from my 50th birthday bash to the Alps and it's time to clear the decks. Much time was spent getting ready and then there's still a panic when loading a car before such a trip so "stuff" gets thrown into the garage - here's what it looks like; definitely a need to get things straight.

In the meantime, BRP looks like it hasn't been touched for years, not months as the photos below show. Time for a good wash and clean up before assessing what's needed next.

50-3000-Mk2-26.5-1

The title is all about my

50 th birthday bash

3000 miles in my

Mk2 2000 which did

26.5 MPG

and used1 litre of oil

Not a bad record for the car I reckon - and it's only 10 years younger than me! Joining me on this trip in the 2000 were Bryce and Michelle who also enjoyed the experience (or are too polite to say otherwise!)
The photo above is early morning at Dover waiting for the 4.05AM ferry. After dozing for a while I set about applying the black tape to the headlights to correct the beam. Of course, that's when we were called to the ferry and I had left the keys in the boot lock - a couple of minutes of sheer panic then!
We stopped off in Bastogne en route to the Nurburgring where we met up with Theo and friends for a nights camping and BBQ - PMW is visible parked in front of the shops.
All set up at the campsite in Torbole, Lake Garda. You wouldn't believe from this picture that we had arrived after torrential rain on the Autostrada and then put the tents up in the rain followed by a couple of thunderstorms!
A picture here of Paul Darbyshire's Stag - Paul and Ian Heeley joined us for a couple of days and this was taken up in the Dolomites. Tremendous scenery, great driving country only spoiled by very slow local drivers - next time I'll go any time other than August.

Mind you this is the day also that I left my camera on the bootlid of the 2000 but thanks to Paul's flashing of lights we pulled up in time to save it. Then Bryce had to go and look for the car keys as he had dropped them whilst being exhorted to climb a large slope for a photo opportunity!

Oh, and I lost my private mobile phone. I did later have a conversation with an Italian chap who found it but I told him to keep it - it was only a very cheap pay as you go with very little money on it. He may get a few interesting phone calls from Club Triumph friends though!

Finally - a picture of cobbled streets in a very pretty little town called Glorenza very near to the Swiss border but still in Italy. Actually very near to the start of the Stelvio pass too but that one will have to wait another year.

Fettling and tinkering

Much fettling and tinkering today on PMW. First off, the repeater lamp on the driver's side was missing a lens but thanks to Mike W I was able to fit a new one which was a very nice easy way to start the day's proceedings.
Then I moved on to emptying the boot completely to get at the rusty boot floor in the spare wheel well (actually this was after getting a new spare tyre this morning). Thankfully it was all surface rust so I gave it a wire brushing followed by blue smoothrite and you'll see the result further down the page (along with the new spare tyre).

The spare wheel well wasn't the only place with some rust issues though. Under the rear seat there were a couple of areas - this one was metal wleded in from the outside in the past but not treated in any way! So it got a covering of dynatrol and other places not seen in this photo also got the blue smoothrite treatment.
Whilst all the paint was drying out though I switched attention to a service and a chance to use this bit of kit for the first time. This is a syphon pump thingy which sucks the oil up through the dipstick pipe and it works really well, as long as you don't believe the instructions that it only takes one lot of pumping!

Also changed the plugs, cleaned and painted the battery tray as well as fashioning a rubber insulation for the battery fastener from an old inner tube ( it came too close to the battery terminals for my liking).

At the same time my thoughts are turning to the trip to Italy and carrying spare fuel just in case. I was really pleased to remember a spare fuel can which is very shallow and fits in under the boot "floor boarding".
This final picture shows the spare wheel back in with the fresh blue smoothrite visible below it. At the same time I have started packing spares which will all sit below the boot floor boarding still leaving the carpeted boot available for tents, sleeping bags, luggage and tools. What great cars these 2000s are!

One last thing, I have refitted the original licence plate which is very faded but somehow I felt the black and white plates were actually too "new" for the look of the car. I might change my mind on that one yet though.

PMW's MOT

So, we have an MOT now! Just headlight adjustment, a new flasher relay and rear wheel bearing adjustment needed.
I have ordered replacement wheelbearings tho as I want to be sure of them on a trip to the Alps!

Here's the car back home by the way.

PMW looking good

A day of cracking progress! Here's a picture first though of the new steering rack gaiter and track rod end fitted to the off side front last week (same near side).
Then on to today - I had the old tyres from the 2000 wheels removed and scrapped, my good new Michelin 185/70R13s removed from the TR7 alloys and fitted to the 2000 wheels so now we have good quality rubber for our trip and the MOT man should be happy.

Meanwhile, Bryce continued with the bodywork and here you can see the offside front wing having been repaired, "made to shape" and primered up.


Followed by DA sanding including some quick repairs to a couple of dents in the driver's door - Bryce at work here whilst I was fighting the rear brakes. Eventually, a new set of brake shoes were fitted and the brake drums back on.

Painted near side front wing. We could have gone for £130 worth of paint and really gone to town but opted for 4 aerosols at £9 each! The colour match is pretty good though as can be seen here and two cans will have done what we need for the two wings and the driver's door. Other offending bits will get attention whilst the paint holds out!


And finally at the end of the day a struggle to get a seat bolt in but then we could stand back and look at the result of our efforts. Really great to see the car back together, the bodywork much improved, decent tyres on and the wheels back on with the original wheel trims.

Let's see what the MOT man thinks!

Further progress on PMW

A good days work today.

Bryce has done some great work with the front wings and wheel arches - now made to shape and sprayed in primer.

At the same time I have replaced the steering rack gaiters and the track rod ends as well as checking gearbox and rear axle oil levels.

Next week we want to have paintwork done as well as rear brake shoes replaced and adjusted with any other service items we can manage.

Then it's off to see what the MOT man thinks

What might have been

Ho hum - the Manx is on right now.

Looking at my planning we would have arrived on the Isle of Man yesterday with the full service crew, spares, car etc etc

Today would have been for scrutineering and doing some of the recce for the pacenotes.

Tomorrow is when we would have started on day 1 and all the planning etc paid off.

Sod it.

I'll be there in 6 years time now, all being well, reading the pace notes in BRP for Sarah

A nice steady run with CT support is something to look forward to