Happy for most of the time

Returned to UNJ this afternoon with all the nearside interior needing to be fettled and placed back in the car. Here's how it looks at the start of play, the carpets all pulled up, bits of trim missing and the passenger seat is not actually bolted in.

I found it all very satisfying actually. First I put the seat outside of the car and then went about finding and replacing the right screws where they were missing in the rear trim panel and also in the kickpad on the left. Then it was a case of putting the bulkhead sound proofing back on and refitting the original carpet.
The car has had another set of carpets fitted over the originals which are very faded and although the new set are black rather than the correct blue they look pretty good.
I did as a previous owner has done and fitted them on top of the originals so there's 2 layers which in theory gives good soundproofing although I like driving with the top down as much as possible which makes it all a bit academic.

Next I ran a bolt through all the captive nuts in the floor with copper grease on it to try and ease the refitting of the seat and this certainly helped as it went back in quite easily. I also took the opportunity to unbolt the the seat belt from the seat, unravel it and bolt it back on so that it will now fit much better and as intended.

Here's how it all looks and I must say I am very pleased.

So why does the post title say "happy most of the time"?

Well by comparing both seats it's obvious that the driver's seat's reclining mechanism isn't working properly, or even at all. It's in the one position and not firmly in that either so it looks like I need to do a bit of research and probably strip it down to make a repair.

It really is a shame as it's in very good condition otherwise, certainly better than the one that came out.

Don't PMW look good!

Here's a picture of PMW in it's winter storage whilst I work on it. Those facilities don't belong to me by the way!
It struck me though that in this picture the 2000 looks very very good - well it's not quite as good as that as the next picture will show!
It aslo struck me that this picture looks like the works PIs being prepared for the World Cup Rally in 1970 but no, there's not the same skill and money being thrown at it either.

So, what have I been doing? Well, fitting the front inertia reel seat belts actually which went quite smoothly. The original mountings are a long way back though so if I had fitted the inertia reels themselves in this position they would have been in the middle of the rear door entrance to the seats! A bracket supplied moved them forward though so they are now in a tolerable position and everything works correctly with no twists in the belts etc - must be a first for me to do something to an acceptable standard.

I also tried to fit a spare set of alloy "minilite" wheels I had as well, only to find that the PCD is different to every Triumph I have come across before. I'll need another cunning plan now.

Meanwhile, here's the otherless flattering picture

Even when it's easy, it's not!

First day in 2010 working on the 2000 getting it ready for the Alps.

I decided to take a photo of it in the big shed it's living with under wraps along with lots of vintage buses and Green Godesses but the camera's batteries were flat! Good start that was.

OK then, move on to replacing the non existant steering column bush which was pretty straight forward in the main, especially after Bryce pointed out I needed to remove the steering clamp bolt entirely rather than just loosen it. What a plonker ! That's me, not Bryce.

Putting it back, mind you wasn't easy either. There are 4 x 7/16ths small bolts to hold the column in under the dash, 2 at right angles either side of the column up under the dashboard. Unless you have done this that probably won't make sense but I can tell you that they need to go back in in the right order. If they don't then it takes a long time and the swearing level increases exponentally.

When it was all done though the steering column was secure, rather than slopping about all over the place.

With that accomplished it was on to fitting inertia reel seat belts. I had bought a full set as I try to be big on safety.

Well, Triumph had put rear set belt mountings in already during manufacture even if they didn't actually fit them themselves. So, a piece of cake was obviously on the cards.

No, removing the bolts for the lower mountings that go through to the rear wheel arches was far from easy. 40+ years of underseal, grime etc were reluctant to let go but eventually they did - no stopping on this job even if it takes a very long time!

End of play though saw the rear seat belts fitted and working so all in all, not bad at all.

Oh, and the car started OK too and ran quite happily in that smooth straight 6 way so a good day after all.