Being difficult

Being difficult - that's what the rear suspension is being. Here is how far away the bush is on one of the trailing arms and it's not easy at the moment to see how I can persuade it to go where I want it to!

There's a few tricks left yet though so I will not be defeated.

UNJ has an MOT - hurragh!

Yes, MOT passed today! Only one or two minor things which the MOT station sorted.

So, on to taxing the car for May 1st on line and taking it to the May Pendle and Pennine meeting. I'll fit new rear springs, shock absorbers and polybushes this weekend as well as checking the fuel sender whilst I'm under there as it permanently reads empty.

Alos in the plan is taking the 2000 over to summer storage so we have one less car at Raider Towers!

Sealing, rebuilding and shuffling

I left off last week saying the plan was to seal the block paving at the front of our house if the weather was good enough.

Well it was and here's the frontage swept clean and Club Triumph cones out to keep vehicles off whilst the task is completed. All our Triumphs were under the carport as they wouldn't be going anywhere and our everyday cars relocated on a neighbour's drive - thanks Andrew.

It certainly was a full day's job on Friday. After sweeping the blocks I was then down on my hands and knees scrubbing away (no jokes about being an old scrubber please!) at any bird mess and also a couple of oil deposits left by Triumphs.

Then Deana swept again just in front of me as I put the sealant on with a roller. The first coat took a long time, a good 2 1/2 hours and then we had to wait 3 hours before putting the second coat on. We both had plenty of aches and pains after that!

Moving on though, I continued on Saturday polybushing the front suspension on the convertible and fitting the uprated struts. Getting the front anti-roll bar on though was not a one man job so I waited for Bryce's help on Sunday to complete that bit.

Finally today straight out there finishing off with refitting the front brakes (no time for the upgrade which will have to wait) and finishing off all the front supsension until finally the car was back on it's own four wheels.

A quick reshuffle of the cars means BRP is right at the back (but certainly not forgotten) and UNJ is now further up the drive and nearer the road!


A little bit of tidying was called for then and here is a sight TR7 owners hope for - removing a trim panel at the base of the windscreen and finding the metal below it is in fact sound thank goodness.

I had removed it as I feared the worst because water is getting into the front nearside footwell.This can't be the reason though so further investigation will be needed.

First though I'll book the car in for MOT on Thursday and see where I go from there. I notice Jason Chinn is booking his 2.5Pi in for MOT on Thurssday too so let's hope we both have good luck.

Like the sign says!

Mind you, it's not that easy to see the sign but it says "Triumph parking only - all others will be crushed".

Well that's the entire Triumph fleet parked up under my carport so all's well then.

They'll stay there for now until I have sealed the block paving we have had done, ideally next weekend if the weather is OK. Good job it's a 4 day weekend though as there's plenty to do on the DHC just visible third in line.

Over to UNJ

As can be seen here, attention is now switched to UNJ.

A "new" strut with uprated spring and insert ready for the nearside along with polybushes on the anti rollbar.

The track arm is now with Bryce for the ball joint to be pressed out and a new one fitted whilst there will also be a new polybush for the inner end where it meets the subframe.

After it's all bolted back together I'll take the car for MOT and if there is time then I'll be replacing the rear springs, shock absorbers and polybushing it all.

The car has to be ready for the International AutoEcosse and I only have 4 more weekends to work on it - gulp!

The HCR and PMW

Pictures from car 21, Martin Randle/Sarah Johnson Triumph 2000 PMW 400H. The one above is quite atmospheric with Triumphs parked just as light fades at Widdop Reservoir (photo of sign below!)

Next photo Fewston reservoir near Harrogate on the A59.


Obviously evidence of another county through the night.

Here's getting to the half way halt at Telford! Ho ho Dale, start in Lancashire, finish near Ipswich via Telford! Oh on the sign below on the right is Sarah, not that you can see much of her! She was modelling Dale's glasses he had left on PMW right back in Kelbrook at the start.

Into the second half and a bonus point for Powis Castle.


Followed by another bonus point at a castle I had never heard of but the "courting couples" in the castle car park at 3.30 in the morning must have been really pleased with 29 Triumphs turning up and taking photos!!

And finally back at base having completed the HCR and now with a fresh MOT as well - sounds all very good doesn't it, well read on then.


To give a less upbeat view here's a clue from a post I made on the CT forum

"A big big thanks to everyone who helped us (Car 21, Randle and Johnson) on the HCR.

Due to two shagged distributors our event was going nowhere but then, and here's the roll call, the following all played their part in getting us to the start.

Dale and Andy Flexney (identified that the dizzys were well and truly shagged and started trying to build one good one out of two), Steve Thompson who brought along a Delco dizzzy and manfully worked to get it to work and then Radders who donated a Lucas 25D6 which Dave Aspinall worked on and along with Tim Bancroft who's car we needed to jump start PMW (as well as providing critical components - that's Tim, not his car!).)

Not forgetting Ellis who sorted out our rally plate when I was all for throwing things as far as I possibly could - thanks Sarah for taking me off to one side to eat something and calm down

Anyway, thanks to all these mates we got to the start, completed both gymkhanas and made it all the way round (not without a few other issues mind).

For anyone who doesn't understand why they should join this club - if they read this and still don't understand they'll never get it!"

The other "issues" were the nuts (yes both of them) working loose off the bottom of a rear shock absorber which resulted in a now familiar banging from the rear and very twitchy handling. I took the shock absorber off completely at the finish until we could get back to Sarah's where her husband Berkely had spare bushes and nuts so we could refit it. There was also a growing transmission rumble/vibration probably propshaft related and Berkeley also spotted differential mounting problems too.

Ho hum - all good stuff isn't it?

Isn't it???