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)