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.

Alternator fixed at last

Finally got a new alternator on - an A127 with 55AMP output instead of the original 15ACR with 35 amps. Much better! The indicators actually flash now evenwhen the headlights and heater are on.

I have also done as advised and fitted an extra thick brown wire from the spare feed on the alternator direct to the positive terminal on the battery as can be seen in the picture which will help with the charging as well.

Next was fitting a fuse box for the headlamp relays butI ran out of time and also found the washers had packed up working! I'll sort that tomorrow before getting all the kit for the 12 car rally in the car and setting off for Milton Keynes.

My competition career restarts after nearly 2 years!

Not quite finished then!

I intended sorting out some relays for the headlights on PMW today but ....

Yes, the nearside wheel bearing had too much play in it when I checked it today so I had to adjust that first.

Then I noticed the speedo cable hanging a long way under the car; in fact it had been rubbing on the road surface. I spent alot of time on this rerouting it inside the car and cable tieing it up. It's much better now but not perfect by any means. What I need really is a large heated workshop to sort this kind of thing out!

I made it to the Pendle and Pennine meeting last night and was well pleased how much better the car is running - checking and adjusting the points was well worth while.

And the relays? Well, it was so cold under the carport I called it a day!

More 2000 tinkering

I have had a day off work today and after tidying up the garage didsome more tinkering.

I had drawn up a list of things to look at/do.

1. Remove radiator fan to aid warm up and release a bit of BHP. Had a look at doing this and it would have meant removing the radiator! Not done.
   
2. The car hadn't been running that well; difficult to start and coughing, spitting, holding back. I think I have learned this is usually on the ignition side and I had bought a new coil from Chris Witor (the man re 2000s) but somehow knew there were 3 knocking around and thought this wasn't fitted. I checked and it was so I chucked the oldest second hand one.
3. Thought I'd check the points gap for the reasons in point 2 - the points had closed up so I adjusted them to 15 thou and the car started and ran much better.
4. Thought about adjusting the timing by ear but left this for another day as it's flippin cold and the light was going. Anyway, having adjusted the points I want to see how it runs on the road.
5. Wire in relays for the headlamps - still on the list for this weekend.
6. Fitting a 2000TC speedo I got in the Rimmers sale as it should match up better with the overdrive and diff. Looking at it though there weren't exactly the same connections so I put that to one side.
7. Change the alternator or put in an extra wire to the battery. Currently (no pun!) taking advice from the 2000 Register forum on this one.
8. Checked there was an earth lead from the block to the negative terminal on the battery - there is!
9. Checked the wheel nuts were tight after replacing the discs and the fact that there's still a wheel wobble.
10. Check wheel bearing play - see number 9. Not done this yet; something for Saturday.
    

That's enough - or is it?

Got a replacement speedo cable with the right connection - here it is next to the one that came off. I think it's clear it's much longer! This makes alot of sense as to why the original stopped working etc - it was going through too tight a bends etc to stretch to fit.

Replacing it with the new one was straightforward enough but I could do with the correct grommet - I will "make up" a gap around the grommet and the cable with some "dum dum" paste but the correct one would be a much snugger fit.

Anyway, with it all fitted I now have a speedo that works again so that should be enough on this car as I want to turn attention to BRP which should be the main priority apart from ----

There is still a judder through the steering wheel, sometimes on braking, sometimes not - hmmm.

Also, I am aiming to do a 12 car rally which will be at night so I am thinking about wiring in relays to the headlights which would need to be done next week as its only 2 weeks from now!

I might take the fan off as well to help the car warm up and release a little power - there's not much chance of a heatwave anytime soon!

Returning to the battle

But the battle was so much easier having been through it last week.

Not easy, but manageable using all the techniques I learned last week - 2 hours instead of 3 this time.

Emboldened by this I decided to move on to replacing the speedo cable, having ordered a new one. Hmmm- not so good, the new one doesn't have the same fixing at the gearbox end as the current one!
Whilst fiddling around with the bit in the gearbox/overdrive the cable fits into to see if there was something I was missing it came out and gear oil started to run out the gearbox - oh good!!!

Thankfully it went back in and with a tap I got it flush and replaced the original speedo cable to hold it all in place.

Meanwhile, the exhaust had been rattling and still being a glutton for punishment I decided to sort this out. No problem really, just tightened the brass nuts up at the manifold which had worked loose after the few miles the car had done since fitting the exhaust.

Then put the car back down on the ground, tighten the wheel nuts and fire it up for a test run of the brakes and exhaust (the speedo cable can wait a bit longer) but no, the battery was too low!!

The battery is now on charge overnight so I can then try again tomorrow - the place under the carport is needed for Mrs R's car

Worth checking

Remember the note to check the bolt?

Here it isNot in at all! Certainly worth checking - now safely tightened up.

A road test has proved much reduce brake judder even with only the one side done so far. Next week I'll complete the job.

Meanwhile, the speedo stopped working on the way back from Italy and I wondered if it was the speedo cable. I also didn't like the way the cable was routed through a ripped carpet. Having consulted on the CT forum we concluded the car is fitted with a J type overdrive (from the photo below of the speedo cable fixing to the gearbox).The consensus of opinion is that the cable is at much too acute an angle which is also the case in the interior. It looks like a non overdrive speedo cable has been re-used and because it is too short it is not fitting correctly, so resulting in failure of the speedometer to work.

I have ordered a correct J type speedo cable for about £15 so that can go on the list of jobs too.