Dry but cold feet

Thanks to Ted Taylor I now have a lever for the heater valve which can be seen in the next photo and then fitted in the one after.

It's obvious to me now though that I am missing a linkage too but at least I can actually move the valve and test driving the car meant that I found out the lever successfully also held the valve in place and I didn't get my feet covered in hot water as before - hence "dry feet".

What doesn't happen though is the heater getting hot - hence "cold but dry feet".

Under the engine bay I disconnected the hoses to the inlet manifold and ran water through them which cleared any residue out as I thought a blockage there might be a problem.

I am currently wondering if I have the heater hoses connected the right way round but can't really see how they could be wrong. I can't find a decent picture of another 2000 in this are though so it's difficult to know.

I will sort it though. In the meantime here's pictures of my heater hoses so if anyone is reading this and thinks they are not connected right please get in touch.

Bushes and valves

When PMW got it's MOT there was an advisory that there was some play in the steering rack bushes. As I wanted to move on to sorting out the jammed heater valve which meant ordering a new one it made sense to order some new polybushes for the steering rack from Chris Witor and combine the postage.

Fitting the bushes was surprisingly easy given my usual experience that the rule of 3 applies!

So, with that done I moved on to the seized heater valve which was not so easy. I had to drill out the centre of the valve which took quite some time, slowly going up in drill bit size.

Valve at top left with canble tie behind it. Protection from polythene bag for expected water loss!

So, next I inserted a bolt in to the centre of the valve in the hole drilled and by using washers and an old spanner as a "puller" I was able to remove it.

Next picture shows old and new valves

Finally I inserted the new valve and that should have been that, apart from the fact that I need an actuating lever to amke it all work as it should but it was possible for now to put the valve in place to have it on permanent "hot".

OK, test run time and

1. There was still no heat from the heater!
2. The valve popped out spilling hot water into the footwell and over my left foot"

I flushed out the heater matrix as there was plenty of water int he footwell so some more wouldn't do any harm and cleaned the inlet manifoild water outer outlwt but still no joy.

That's enough for this week whilst I ponder my next move.

Meanwhile, the car is running well, the overdrive works and the clutch works so some progress is being made.

Knowing when

The elctronic ignition has made a big difference and although there may be some advantage in further adjustment to the timing the car is running the best it has in a very very long time.

So today I decided to move on to something else.

There has always been an oil leak from the sump plug area and this is also in close proximitiy to the infamous clutch slave cylinder and it's couplings so today I got the car up on axle stands again and worked on both.

Having drained the oil I cleaned the sump plug, got two copper washers for it and applied some liquiid PTFE as advised by a Club Triumph friend, Rob Southern. With this done I put the sump plug back in and refilled with oil.

At the same time I checked the hydraulic hose coupling to the slave cylinder and there still seemed a slight weep here. So I removed the coupling, cleaned and dried it all as well as found a new copper washer that fitted more snugly. Then after applying the liquid PTFE I re-assembled it and bled the system with fresh hydraulic fluid.

Then I drove tthe car for an extended test of 35 miles.

1. The car never missed a beat with the engine pulling storngly, making gorgeous noises from 3000RPM and the overdrive working too!
2. The clutch worked fine thorughout and when I got back no hydraulic fluid hasd been lost - result!
3. From what I can see the oil leak from the sump plug has been fixed.

I was well pleased with all that and I know toquit when I am ahead!

That's enough for this weeknd and maybe the 10CR will be OK after all.

Confidence level up to 40%

Fitting the electronic ignition has made a big difference.

I have now played around with the timing and although it is well retarded according to my strobe light the position I have settled on is giving really good results. The engine revs freely with no hesitation at all and this is over about 30 miles so my confidence level is building.

In addition I have taken some time over fitting the overdrive switch on the gear lever and it seems to be staying put as well as the overdrive working too.

The car is still losing clutch fluid though so it's not all good news and this is despite fitting a copper washer as advised. I think I may well be taking the car to my local friendly garage here in Barnoldswick, Vicarage Car Company and asking them to solve the mysterious loss of brake fluid. When this is solved my confidence level will go up another notch and I will use the car for the North Yoprkshire Triumph weekend in May.

That in itself will be a tester in advance of driving round Europe in the 10CR in September.

Various other tasks remain like fixing the seized heater valve, fitting a new windscreen and maybe even fixing the oil leak on the sump although nonw of these are essential.