Cheating?

I have recently decided to get work done on the cars and do less myself.

Different reasons in these two cases though.

PMW, the 2000 that didn't want to run properly.

Here I decided enough was enough with my limited availability in time and ability in skill so asked my local garage, Vicarage Motor Company of Barnoldswick to take a look to see if they could sort out the poor running.

Well, a couple of  carb gaskets, replacement split vacuum carb pipes but probably more importantly a replacement ballast rsistor and the car runs so much better. Not perfect yet but certainly pulls stongly up to 4000 revs and over testing of about 30 miles too so a big step forward.

Then there's UNJ, the TR7 DHC. As already reported this was much improved due to work done by TR7 specialists S&S Preparations but after this I spotted they had posted on facebook an almost brand new sports exhaust system and manifold. For the price of a brand new one supply only they fitted this nearly new one for me and I picked the car up on Saturday.

The car sounds GREAT and not only that but it goes even better now.

So, yes I am cheating on my old principles of doing work myself and my wallet is much lighter but I am very pleased with the results.

2000 home & UNJ dizzy!

My 2000 is now back home from the garage with diff fitted and an MOT - hurragh!

It does run rather warmer than I would like though so I have only driven it 2 miles during which it seemed smooth and the diff much quieter. There was still some noise which I would consider likely to be from the transmission somewhere - surely not a reconditioned gearbox at some point?

Regarding the hot running though, I did not replace the water pump when I rebuilt the engine and given that it has had a new radiator, a good flush through more than once as well as a new thermostat I have now ordered a new water pump. When that arrives we will see if that helps. It certainly can't do any harm.

Meanwhile, here's a pic of PMW back home with friend in passenger seat.

Today though I have been working on UNJ as it has started running very roughly with alot of hesitation and even struggling to run at all. Now I always think problems are on the ignition side so straight under the bonnet for a good poke around!

I worked on tidying a few bits and pieces up at the same time. The car is losing some coolant from somewhere and there is a small amount of coolant resting on the block in a recess below one of the hoses where it goes onto a transfer pipe. By removing the air filter I could get at it better and I got the hose onto the pipe further and retightened it.

I get the feeling a new pipe wouldn't go amiss though.

Meanwhile, the poor running. Well at one point I had the car running and the air scoop (not visible in the picture) became dislodged, fell against the distributor cap and the car stopped dead. A big clue there! The distributor cap itself felt loose which is not a good thing at all so I removed it for inspection.

Looking inside it must have been moving about as there are marks on the inside of the cap where I reckon the rotor arm has been hitting the side. Not good at all.

I did clean it out but when refitting couldn't really get a good fit when re clipping it. So I found a second hand one, fitted that and fired up the TR7!

After putting everything back I took the car for an 18 mile test run and it is much improved. Now that's a good thing as I plan to use it for next weekend's Club Triumph Border Raiders Run which will be a good 300 miles over 2 days.

I think a new dizzy cap and a rotor arm wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Of TR7s

First appearance on here for BRP in many a long time. Whilst working on UNJ I took the cover off BRP to at least give it an airing.

Earlier in the day though I had driven over in UNJ to S&S Preperations in Bacup to get a new radiator cap (on advice it's possible that the previous one is allowing water to be released under pressure) and also get hold of some fitments for the hood cover.
So I spent a fair bit of time this afternoon replacing any of the studs and fixings that were missing or broken and have to say it was very satisfying.

Astonishingly whilst at S&S we solved the troublesome windscreen washers too! An after market filter was doing such a good job at filtering gunk that it blocked and no water was reaching the washer jets. Removal of said filter and then some adjustments at the end of the day mean it looks like the car has reliable powerful washer jets now as well.

And with that level of progress definitely time to call it a day :-)

Putting off the inevitable

Ever since I have had the TR7 convertible UNJ it has been cosmetically challenged but relatively solid. I have poured money into the 2000 but  spent little in comparison on UNJ.

Well the bodywork is becoming worse as could be expected. I am also not in a position to pay for a full professional restoration right now so it's a case of putting off the inevitable day when serious money has to be spent.

The sills of the car are getting "scabby" but still pretty much solid so before things get worse action was needed. First anything flaking off was removed with a scraper, then the sills wire brushed which helped "key" the surface which was a grey stone chip.

After this masking using tape and newspaper with a bag to cover the whell&tyre.

Finally an entire can of black paint was sprayed on both sides. The previous colour of the stone chip material was grey but I actually did some research and from my original sales brochure I found that the correct colour was shiny black.

So that's what I used and the effect is pretty good. Not only that but it helps preserve the car for a little longer.

Parts arrival & carbs can be good

In this last week whilst I have been away for work two more essentials have been delivered. Here in the picture is the reconditioned diff for PMW (not unwrapped yet) and the off side wheel arch repair panel.

These are tucked away for now as priority is with UNJ because I am using that much sooner than I will be PMW!

At the North Yorkshire Triumph Weekend there is a run out ovver some great roads and whilst the car was OK it did on occasion start to hold back. Comment from a friend following was that the car seemed to be running rich so today I took the air filter assembly off to get to the mixture adjusting nuts under the carbs.
I turned them "up" two flats which should raise the jets up into the carb and weaken the mixture. Followed by reassembly in the best traditions of the reverse of the previous process! Here it is half way way back together.

A run out later didn't seem very conclusive although it certainly wasn't worse so that's not a bad thing. It did die at a junction and wasn't happy at ticking over so I adjusted the slow running speed screws.

I have an electronic ignition kit for the car but never fitted it.  I am now thinking thatit  might not be a bad idea to get round to fitting it. Anyway, the car's reliable enough I think.

Next thing is I should really do something about some of the rust issues before they become a bigger problem. Oh well, always something to do.

Progress on two fronts

UNJ has had a service and passed it's MOT. I have decided to do less of the work on cars than in the past myself so less to report I suppose. UNJ did need a bit of work with fuel pipes needing replacing, brakes needing freeing off and the K&N filter replacing as it had become contaminated.

Meanwhile, I have done a bit of work on PMW.

The picture shows the old head gasket and clearly where it had blown. I decided to make absolutley sure all was well with the cooling system though and replaced the thermostat and temp sender unit which had stopped working.

Something else that wasn't working was the electric fan so I needed to do a bit of checking until I found a poor earth. Occe the earth was fixed and with a bit of fine tuning to the controller it now seems to be working fine although resetting the controller may need to be done in due course.

At least one Triumph wants to play!

That's UNJ, the TR7 convertible.

Well, after a little coaxing anyway. I tried to start it for the first time this year earlier this week and it didn't want to know even with a freshly charged battery. It didn't even "cough". I checked and there was a spark at the plugs but I left it at that as attention switched to other cars in the fleet!

Today though I looked at the fuel side and the carburettor fuel bowls were bone dry. I refilled them with fresh superunleaded as a treat, put some fuel in the tank just in case the fuel gauge was not reading corrrect (I have had that before) and then for good measure squirted some Easy Start down the cars.

A turn of the key and UNJ started like a good un - hurragh!

I had to switch it off fairly quickly though due to a leaking fuel pipe from the pump but having fixed that it ran very happily again. I let it warm up and the electric fan cut in as it should.

Even the clutch hasn't siezed which very often happens.

So I will now tax the car from April 1st and then it can join the queue for servicing and an MOT.

Show and struggle

A Triumph weekend with Saturday at Woodvale Show in Southport.

First was meeting up with 4 mates from Club Triumph Pendle and Pennine at Darwen Services on the M65

As you can see, I had the top down on UNJ but the weather was typical stuff!

We all made it and set up with a good variety of the models. Eventually the sun came out which meant I needed somewhere to relax.

Then Sunday it was back to PMW.

Although I had made good progress last week I had actually bolted everything back up with the drive shaft below the exhaust! So first I removed the rear section of the exhaust and bolted up the drive shaft to the diff using new nyloc nuts and copper grease on the bolts.

I also took the time to tidy up a number of things whilst there such as the rubber drive shaft boot and got it properly attached.

Next was cleaning up the brake back plate, putting the wheel cylinder in place and then the simple task of putting the circlip on that holds it in place. NO, this was not simple at all and in the end I have put that off until next week.

I did get the offside rear trailing arm bolts out though so more progress made but PMW is still on axle stands under the car port and it will be a while yet before it's back down on the ground and I can see what effect those new springs have had.

UNJ's back, no stopping PMW!

UNJ passed it's MOT last month and had a new water pump fitted so with June now here I have taxed it again.

Unfortunately it wouldn't start yesterday due to a flat battery and I didn't have time until today to fix it but now the car is running just fine again. I took if for a run on the "test track" and then washed and cleaned it as I may well be using it tomorrow and certainly intend using it for  a show later this month.

Meanwhile, there literally is no stopping PMW. I was on my way to the Pendle and Pennine meeting last night in PMW when I found the brake pedal going straight to the floor! Thankfully the handbrake stopped the car from going onto the main road and I got it back under our car port.

So today investigations found that the rear near side wheel cylinder has failed and allowed all the brake fluid to escape as can be seen in the photos as it is on the tyre and then inside the brake drum on the shoes. Having cleaned it all up now I need a replacement wheel cylinder which I will then fit along with a set of  new brake shoes I have in stock.

Switching to light

Take the panel apart and then take the switch apart!

 For a change I have worked on UNJ today. During a venture sur le continent in 2013 the rear lights on the car stopped working, something helpfully pointed out by the French Police.

I have fixed this a couple of times by taking the light switch apart and using switch cleaner on it but the problem  keeps coming back.

So, thanks to a Christmas present of Rimmer Brothers vouchers I bought a new switch entirely and fitted it today. Mind you it is a bit fiddly to do and the new switch needed to be taken apart before it would fit the hole in the panel. Then it's just a  case of putting it all back together to find that yes all the lights work as they should - at least for now.

New switch back in and all re-assembled

Border Raiders pics

It wasn't a food fest honest! This is at Restorante Adriano - very good too.

How to keep the cockpit dry when the hood is down and it's raining - or likely too!

The picture above is at the start of day 2 at Gretna Services but we had learned about the golf umbrella trick the day before.

The weather hadn't been very good but Deana and I kept the top down all the time as you only get wet even when it's raining hard if you have to stop. Well on one of the country roads just across the border in Scotland it was raining hard when a car came towards us and the driver flagged us down. She asked us to park up as a flock of sheep were coming along the road around the corner towards us - of course this meant we were getting soaked.

Deana reacted first by getting her easily to hand umbrella out which made me dive into the boot and get a golf umbrella out. As can be seen in the photo this is just big enough to go over the windscreen and door windows, covering the whole cockpit.

Great stuff. We made the guys on their quad bikes herding the sheep laugh too when they saw us :-)

Rover's gone, meanwhile the Border's been raided!

Yesterday my Rover SD1 was collected by the guy I bought it from - for the same price I paid 18 months ago.

I realised I was never going to get round to doing anything with it and it's back in good hands.

Last weekend though I took part in the Border Raiders put together by myself, Mik and Paul, This was a two day run from the Old Stone Trough, Kelbrook, Lancashire up through the Dales, the Eden Valley and into Scotland before overnighting in Carlisle and tehn returning to Kelbrook again.

"Spirit of the Event" was won by Theo Boonen and "Car of the event" by Chris Reynolds in his lovely gold TR7 V8.

Great roads to drive over, a very good tea room for lunch on Saturday and a real find in Ristorante Adriano in Carlisle for our evening meal. All very satisfying indeed.

A selection of the cars at the Old Stone Trough the night before

We just about filled the car park and the tea rooms!

North Yorks Triumph Weekend

A couple of weekends ago I attended the North Yorkshire Triumph weekend again at Runswick Bay - the weather was amazing and combined with excellent company it was certainly a great weekend.

Now that's what I call great weather

The weather was that good I left the hood down overnight - here's the view from my tent early morning

7 & 2000

With the clutch problem on the 2000 I decided to walk away from it for a while but I need a car for the North Yorkshire Triumph Weekend coming up soon.

Also Club Triumph Pendle and Pennine area are organising a 2 day tour on August 2nd and 3rd  called the Border Raiders (you can probably tell who is on the organising team LOL). Deana will join me on this event if we use the TR7 so it's UNJ's turn again.

After last year's European run I have pretty much sorted everything so I put it in for it's MOT last Friday. It needed some work doing on the brakes due to brake imbalance across the axles which I asked the Vicarage Car Company to do for me and with that it passed.

What I hadn't got round to doing was fit an electric fan after the second viscous coupling I have had on the car failed so driving it for any distance was still a nervous experience.

Anyway I used UNJ to go to the Pendle and Pennine meeting Friday night which was fine as it's only 2 miles away but then later we went on a 10 mile run driven in an enthusiastic manner. I began to wonder whether this was wise in a car rhat had just passed it's MOT having not been on the road for 7 months and without a fan fitted!

It was fine really and I have now fitted and wired in an electric fan. I always find it satisfying when having fitted it the fan cuts in just when you would want it to and cuts off again after a sensible time. Then with a bit of general tidying UNJ is back ready to put some more miles on it - I hope I don't have problems again like last year on the NYTW.

Meanwhile, over the weekend I have spotted a stain under the 2000 suspiciously close to the clutch slave cylinder and sure enough, there's no clutch fluid in the master cylinder. Looks like a new slave sylinder wouldn't go amiss and then I can see if the 2000's clutch problems are solved.

Outside the Old Stone Trough having done 2 miles after it's MOT

The photoshoot on our run out


 

Yes, but for how long?

A change from PMW this weekend.

Mrs R's Mini had refused to start last week but I wasn't concerned as it was down to the fact that it hadn't run for a while and being also cold the battery didn't have enough life in it to turn the engine over fast enough (come to think of it this reminds me of PMW).

One week later though with the battery having been on a trickle charge Lil Min sprang into life when I refitted the battery and turned the key.

So next was UNJ our TR7 convertible. The repairs to the starter motor connections and the replacement second hand starter motor are still doing the trick as it fired up no problem either - I am getting to like this!

I suspected the clutch would be stuck though as it has been months since the car has moved and I was right. Having moved Lil Min well out the way I started UNJ in gear with the clutch depressed to free of the clutch which it eventually did. Now I will be starting and moving both cars every two weeks so hopefully that will keep them both OK through the winter.

Now on a roll I moved on to the problem with the interior lights and rear sidelights not working as helpfully pointed out by the French Police back in September (oops).

I checked for poor earths but then moved on to removing the light switch from the dashboard. I had done this in a car park in a small French town in the early hours back in September to try and clean it up but hadn't fixed the problem.

This time I could take my time in my garage and stripped the switch down, cleaned the contacts and then used switch cleaner, re-assembled the switch, put it back in the car and success :-)

See below

But for how long?

Success at last!

But not with PMW.

I have received lots of advice on how to get PMW started so thanks to everyone who has helped. I will get back on that particular case in a couple of weeks (after the Pendle and Pennine Not the Christmas Meal).

Correspondence with "Mad Uncle Ted" though has confirmed PMW is a very early Mk2 2000 and quite possibly the second earliest still in existence so it is actually of historic significance which means I'll be keeping it as original as possible.

Today though I returned to UNJ, the TR7 convertible. Lying under the car messing about with swapping over a second hand starter motor isn't the most enjoyable way of spending time but I did try and do everything correctly with all the connections, repositioning the heat shield whilst making sure none of the cables were trapped etc.

Then refitting the battery and time to turn the key, not expecting any response of course. Amazingly the starter turned over and after a few attempts the car sprang back into life - hurragh! Feeling rash I even turned the lights on and they all worked, even the rear number plate and sidelights which had gone on strike in France in September.

Just a case then of tidying up and not leaving the car running too long as it now has no fan fitted and I don't want overheating probelms. The other thing is that there is hardly any fuel in the car and I definitely don't want the dregs from the fuel tank being pulled through the fuel lines and into the carbs.

Next things UNJ needs are some petrol and an electric fan kit.

No connection

Well I didn't have a connection to the starter motor on UNJ as it snapped off - see one of the previous blog entries.

So yesterday I lay under the car and carefully stripped the end off the wire, used a "proper" crimp connector with a "proper" crimping tool whilst remembering to put an insulating boot on the wire first. None of this being at all easy whilst lying on your back as opposed toin a lovely warm workshop and bench in said workshop preparing a new wiring loom.

Managed it tho - hurragh!

Blooming car won't start though - not even a hint of the starter motor responding :-(

Next then on this member of the fleet will be to tke the starter motor off and see if one of the  three spare second hand ones ---

a) fit
b) work

If none of the above I won't be a happy bunny.

Still, there's always PMW to go back to and see if I can have running by the end of the Christmas break.

Time to start on UNJ

OK, after my roadtrip in September UNJ needs some TLC.

 

 The Viscous coupling (otherwise known as the viscious coupling!) started to fail, making all sorts of horrible noises high up in the Alps. It was possible to get hold of the fan blades (engine off of course) and rock them back and forward feeling the bearing on it's way out.

So, as a solution we took the fan blades off completely to reduce the load on the viscous coupling and drove the car all the way home. Who says these cars don't have good cooling and like to warp cylinder heads for fun?

Anyway, the picture shows the "stub" which I have now removed and will be replacing with an electric fan kit in due course.




Meanwhile, whilst turning round having missed a turn off overnight we made a slight misjudgement which resulted in us rolling backwards into a barrier - the result can be seen below. Not too bad and I have just touched it in quite heavily with paint to keep the evil rust away.

Next thing to comment on is that the starter motor failed towards the end of the trip meaning we had to jump start the car on and off the ferry! What I found having started to take it off was that actually the connections were loose and one of them has fallen off now!

This is what can be seen above - I am now pondering on how best to replace it.

Finally, the  instrument and rear lights failed which some very nice French policement pointed out to us! Ihaven't sorted this out yet either but there's no hurry as I won't be using the car until next year when another raid on Europe will be on the cards.

Still had a great trip though and loved the swim in the Med and storming the Stelvio

Let's catch up

 

Had a cracking Roadtrip earlier this month visiting the Med at Nice, storming up the Stelvio pass and return to good old Blighty. The pictures above show UNJ at Dover, in Louhans central France and outside a stop south of Grenoble in the French Alps.

I suppose like any 32 year old car has a right to it had a few problems, notably the viscous coupling failing and the rear lights going AWOL but all in all UNJ did a great job - fast, comfortable and stood up to a damned good thrashing over 5 days and 3000 miles.

It has taken me some time to get back to the cars though as I felt enough was enough for a while.

UNJ will need an electric fan kit and some diagnostic work but it's off the road now until next spring so no hurry.

I did return to PMW the 2000 today first of all just to have a look and see where I had got to!

Once there though I realised I have made good progress and maybe it won't be too long before I can have the car back on the road.

So, gently gently I restarted work. The carbs are back on now with all the linkages back together and the accelerator and choke cables reconnected. Also the fuel pump back on the engine.

Here's a couple of photos to prove PMW still exists!

I may well take PMW to the Alps in 2014 - about 3 years after it's last trip out!

A joy to drive

I had the two front wheels balanced at work and refit them on Saturday - there is a problem in that the weights are knocked off the inside of the wheel as there is so little clearance to the brake caliper.

I solved this by sticking new weights on right on the rim but there is still a wheel wobble at 50MPH or so but at least it's not as bad as it was.

What was frustrating though was that I had left the sidelights on all week so UNJ's battery was absolutely flat and I only have a battery conditioner so it took two days to recharge it. Then I just managed to get it to start before the battery lost all power again but once going there was no looking back.

A great day to go for a run of about 30 miles and apart from the reduced wheel balance problem the car feels good to go - in fact a joy to drive.

Even the radio works!