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!!