2000 progress?

Transferring attention to the 2000, bodywork is the next area for work. The rear bumper was simply taped over here as it looked better than rusty holes! Well I am not ready to spend money on bumpers and I rather like the bumperless look anyway so first task was to remove it.

It's held on at the rear of the car by 2 bolts and on the rear wings by 2 further bolts, all into captive nuts which wouldn't co-operate! In the picture I have peeled away what's left of the tissue thin bumper and you can see the "captive nut". Bryce and I simply cut the bolt head off though both sides and removed the bumper - there's a fair old weight in it.


Then to the front of the car which proved to be much easier and was off much quicker. Here you can see the wheel arch repair needed and the rusty "D" section at the front lower corner of the front wing where it meets the front panel. The nearside is much the same but because the car was hemmed in by sheet metal and other vehicles in it's storage we couldn't start the body repairs.

I do like the bumperless front end though which will look pretty good when it's repaired and painted.


So, moving on I have bought 2 Rover 220 Coupe Turbo seats which I have been reliably informed fit the 2000 without too much hassle. I wanted the extra safety that comes with head restraints and there's height adjustability as well as lumbar support - the colour can be changed later.

Here we are trying to work out how it's all going to come together, the seats defintely don't just bolt in! We decided to remove the Rover rails so we could bolt the Triumph rails on which obviously have the correct holes to be bolted to the car floor.


Here the Rover rails have been ground off and the molegrips are holding a seat bracket whilst we remove a large "rivet" that once held the bracket to the rails.



With all that done we could re-drill the rear brackets and bolt the Triumph rails to the seat and the jobs pretty much done.

No it isn't! When we tried to fit the seats we found the mounting distance across the seats is different to the distance across the car floor - 420mm v 380mm. Oh dear, I am slightly miffed, or words to that effect.

So, Rover 220 seats do not just bolt in - more work needed

Mayhem and destruction

Next step in the Sprint engine saga was to get the front cover off which didn't take too long. This is because I am getting used to it by now and also I used my new air impact wrench.

For those of you familiar with the Sprint engine you will probably recognise the duplex timing chain running down to the cranckshaft sprocket and back up to the jackshaft sprocket - what is not normal is the "half-moon" tab lock washer jammed in down there!

Having removed that carefully I went looking for the missing camshaft sprocket bolt - which should also be at the top of the engine. By lying headfirst into the engine bay upside down (!) whilst using the excellent combined torch and magnetic probe (also used as a radio mike!!) given to me by Paul Darbyshire I spotted the missing bolt and removed it.

If you look very carefully you can see it in the pic below sitting on the front level of the sump - definitely not where it's supposed to be!!

Heads, pistons, damage?

Got the head off yesterday and there is a small amount of damage to the top of number 3 piston.

There is also a similar matching damage on the cylinder head. All of this seems to be caused by a small alloy washer that somehow got into there.

Meanwhile, there are fewer "clean" threads on number 1 plughole than on all the others which implies to me that there have been fewer actually "biting" - hence the plug being blown out some time ago!

Good job I have a head being reconditioned I think.

I still need tog et the front off the engine to find the missing sprocket bolt and half moon locking tab - hopefully, they are not in the sump.

A familiar road

The picture tells it all - rocker cover off, inlet manifold off, radiator out. Tonight I started the process of removing the cylinder head to carry out further investigations.But - I did have a great North Yorkshire Triumph Weekend with some super friends

Picture proof

A couple of pictures today of the situation.

The sprocket is not held onto the end of the camshaft and the absence of the two bolts and half-moon retainer clip is obvious.