TR21!

TR21- that's not what Triumph would have reached by now!

It's what 3 x TR7s equal.

Here are 3 on my drive on the day before the International AutoEcosse.

Paul (AKA Diesel Dave, Burnerboy, Ginger or all of the above) and I were fitting a Kenlowe fan to his TR7 seen here at the front.

Of course, all the bonnets were up!

In the far distance at the back is BRP so there's proof it still exists. In this instance it was donating it's short fan belt so that we could ditch the viscous fan housing from Paul's car.

I can't remember why UNJ's bonnet was up but it's always good to have a car to refer to.

And finally, here's a picture of Ginger.

Ready for the off yet Squiffy?

The spannering and electrickery must have gone OK as we made it all the way round the IAE and came in 8th overall - not a bad result at all.

Santa Rally & back to BRP

I completed my first competitive event last Sunday for nearly 2 years as a driver - the Bedford Car Club "Santa" 12 car rally.

It was good to have my daughter Rebecca alongside and she did really well for a complete novice (and she doesn't seem to have been put off).

We did it in PMW as it's the only Triumph I have available for use and it was absolutely fine until the return back up the M1 when it started losing power. This got worse and worse and although I checked a few things over at a service area I couldn't sort it out.

Thankfully we got back to my sister's in Derbyshire just before 1Am but I still couldn't get to the bottom of the problem with the car the next day. I eventually returned home by train and left PMW for my brothers to have a look at.

Thanks Malcolm and Harvey for checking it over in the freezing cold - it seems there is so much wear in the distributor that it allowed the timing to go miles out. Now it's back where it should be the car runs fine again but the question is "will it happen again?" Sourcing a replacement distributor may be on the cards.

Meanwhile, I always try and do some work on a Triumph each weekend to keep on top of things. If you are not making progress then you are going backwards! So, small progress as it was, I torqued up the cylinder head on BRP.

Taking stock of the fleet

I have been on holiday for the last week and read a very entertaining book by Alan Clarke (the ex Tory cabinet minister now sadly no longer with us). He had some great things to say and was cerdtainly a driver rather than a polisher! He also had quite a large fleet of cars and described their puposes in his life.

So, I thought I would give a quick review of my much smaller fleet.

BRP - TR716V tarmac rally car. Aimed to be a historic rally car in the style of the early works cars but with the budget of a "clubman". Currently without a cylinder head after some rather unfortunate problems!

Never fear, Dale Barker of Moordale Motors has refurbished a cylinder head for me and this is now with another great friend of mine, Paul Darbyshire who arranged it's collection to save me the carriage costs. Fine fellows both of them.

The plan now is to refit the cylinder head and get the car running again.

Then, at last I will fit the fabled "group 4 brakes" and obtain the MSA Historic rally Car papers for it.

Estimated time for all this to be done? End of year - early Feb 2011 as work will be stopped now whilst other more pressing tasks are dealt with.

But, first - fitting the Group 4 brakes will allow the current uprated front brakes to be donated to ------

UNJ - TR7 convertible. I have driven this car for a week (!) before my health issues stopped play. With the amazing weather of this last week I really wish I could have been driving the car topless - one day, one day. But, in the meantime it's without it's front suspension waiting for me to finish BRP, fit uprated struts and the donated discs & calipers from BRP.

ETA to be driving this car? May 2011 (sob,sob).

PMW - 2000 Mk2 saloon. This is a car with a mission - to take 3 of us to Lake Garda in August to celbrate my 50th birthday. Currently needing bodywork repairs, painting, a full service and 2 front seats - oh, and it doesn't have an MOT.

Guess this must be the priority then!

BCC Autotest Nov 9th

The BCC Autotest on Nov 9th.

Not much like a rally? No but it proved a few things.

1. The car completed 450 miles in the weekend which is encouraging :) Granted there's a few things to be sorted - like the fuel gauge that read half full when it ran out (thanks Andy J for bringing me some petrol), the heater that doesn't work and the spark plug that was blown out 40 miles form home(what).

2. The Randle/Johnson partnership is working well. We didn't get a single test wrong which is far better than the Little Devils. It's also encouraging for when we are talking about far higher speeds on stages.

3. Sarah is really getting into it - making extra notes on the test diagrams for example and giving more guidance like "keep wide left, tight - 90 right etc".

4. Sarah likes the tests better when I really "have a go" - a liking for speed is a good thing :) Giving me a hard time for incurring a penalty by hitting a cone is also a good thing - the competitive edge is there.

5. I am getting more confident and the car is going to be really good.

6. The roll cage, seats and harnesses are all fine and no problem for us.

We only came 5th out of 7 CT entrants but that's not the issue really - we'll have to get used to finishing quite low down the leader table as we won't be doing many events and we'll always tend to be novices against more experienced competition.

All in all - very satisfied with progress 8)

That's all for now on the roll cage

Spent another 3 hours on the roll cage today with Bryce but I was amazed at how much work he had already done whilst I was away on holiday.

Here's some of his excellent work

The top mopunting brackets for the harnesses are vsiible here - the outer ones go into the standard production fixing points for the inertial reel seatbelts but the inner ones have been fitted using a patented method Bryce devised.

This involved much ingenuity and patience but means there's a reinforcing plate underneath the shelf here which sits above the fuel tank.

He has also made up brackets for the front harness fixing points just behind the cross rail on the floor - this is where the two front harnneses locate.

They then come up through the front seatbase and between your legs (ahemm) to stop the driver/co-driver "submarining" - ie - sliding forward under the harness.

The rear floor mountings are behind the seat frame and are re-inforced on the floor.

Wakening BRP

Well, it's getting close now when I can return to driving and when the roll cage arrives next week.

So, time to take the cover off BRP and get it ready.

Doesn't it look great!









Under the bonnet shot - all seems to be OK with no overheating and no loss of coolant. Time will see if it stays that way.













I took out all of the spare bits of trim today so it's ready for the fit,ment of the roll cage etc.














I also took everything non essential out of the boot so it is now looking close to how it will when it's ready for the first rally.























I didn't think there was much left in the car but here's everything that came out - amazing!

So, next is to get it over to Bryce's place and start fitting the cage, harnesses and extinguisher system. then it needs an MOT and RFL by August 9th.

Thinking and planning

The extinguisher system has arrived and this is where I will fit it.

The external push button will be next to the electric pull switch.

I will locate the extinguisher bottle where the battery tends to be lcoated in a TR7V8. It is preferred by the mSA that it is iftted in a fore and aft position and here it will be close to the triggering switch so that should help wiring a bit.

In addition it's a fair distance away from the wing should it be pushed in (gulp) but not too close to the spare wheel where it might get damaged lifting the spare in and out.

Fire extinguisher ordered

Next bit of the puzzle - should arrive this week.

So, then it's a question of putting it all together and BRP will be pretty much ready.

Just a quick look

Here's the harnesses just lodged in to see how they look.

Pretty cool I reckon.

Meanwhile, finally fixed the exhaust on the Toledo so we seem all OK for the HCR!

A glorious sound

Yes, BRP is running again.

Thanks Bryce and Steve - between us we have managed to persuade BRP to fire up again at last.

New leads, new dizzy cap, pulling out the dizzy and re-aligning it finally sorted it. The timing hasn't even been checked yet!

I have run her up to just above the first reading on the temp gauge tho and now I'll be re-torquing the head, probably next weekend. After that it's filling with coolant and hoping the over heating problems are fixed.

No pics in this post - the engine bay looks just the same!

Start as you mean to go on

I am back at work tomorrow of course so I have done a bit more spannering today.

I have fitted the new uptrated alternator I bought back in November - here it is next to the old one which is now tagged as "OK" and has been saved as a spare.

Installed it looks fine and fits no problem at all. The seocnd pic shows the front of the engine - metal header tank as fitted yesterday, new alternator, electric fan on the uprated radiator and in the background the airhorns also
required as part of the regs for rallying.

On order I now have a full set of new plug leads and electronic ignition. Once they are fitted and set up I shgould be able to start the engine, warm it up and re-torque the cylinder head after it has cooled back down.

After all that I hope to have a reliable cool engine.

If that can be achieved the rest of the year can be spent on buying and fitting a roll cage, harnesses, final fitting of the comp seats and the required fire extinguisher system.

When that's in place it will be a question of getting the OK from the MSA and obtaining a stage rally log book along with Historic vehicle Identity Forms.

Last post of 2007

Last night we had another look at starting BRP. 2 dodgy plug leads aren't helping plus we need to pull the dizzy out and re-install it as suspected. That can be done another day.

So, in the meantime, I have fitted the later cooling system which can be seen here.

In effect it's a metal header tank for the radiator although for the moment at least I have left in the original expansion tank too for the overflow from the header tank.

So, in order toget this beast to run without overheating it now has a new thicker headgasket to go with the later header tank system, a new thermostat, an uprated new radiator,a brand new electric fan and all new hoses.

Next, I'll move on to sorting a problem left over from Ictober 2006 - replacing the alternator with the new upgraded one.

I also have a few bits and pieces on order for the SU carbs too just to hopefully add a little more performance using what little knowledge I gained from a chap called David Vizard in his tuning books.

Of course, the engine needs to run and then not overheat yet!

2 hours more

Another weekend, another 2 hours.

The patient approach is proving it's worth tho as that troublesome bolt is back in it's rightful place!
An enjoyable afternoon really as my mate Kevin came round too and we worked on the car, an escape from work and all the other stuff that goes on.

Anyway, I would have taken a picture but yet another one of engine components going back together isn't really necessary. I was reminded though of the perennial problem I always seem to have when fitting these engines etc - the exhaust manifold bolts. There are 5 of them and I usually get 4 to co-operate out of 5, sometimes a different 4 out of 5 as well!

This is where it helps having patience and another person's point of view. On Kevin's advice I "felt" where the holes were lining up with a small screwdriver and discovered a "lip" on the bottom of the hole. The deduction then was that the manifold wasn't quite high enough so I got a scissor jack under the exhaust downpipe and lifted it slightly - voila, bolt goes in

And that was at the end of the 2 hours I had set aside so tools away, bonnet down and adjourn for another cup of tea.

Once more into the breach next weekend when we will see what another 2 hours brings - should be the inlet manifold on and an attempt to start the car. If it co-operates I will follow the advice I have been given of running it without water until up to temp, switching off and then re-torqueing the head.

Time for a cuppa

A couple of hours on BRP this afternoon - following Trackerjack and Tinweevil's advice from the CT forum I have been putting the cylinder back on with a new thicker gasket.

The head looks OK on the bench but it's always so much better where it should be!

Then time for a cup of tea, pack away and then another couple of hours next week.