Might as well!

A few bits I had ordered from Rimmer Bros so I could get on with sorting the suspension out on UNJ had arrived during the week so, on with the work then.

Here's the two struts dismantled and more importantly you can see the difference between the standard spring and the uprated one - a bit there eh!

I re-assembled the black original sturt with the red uprated spring and the best bits of the other components and then went to put it back on the car. This isn't an easy operation for one person but I got the stut bolted in at the top although I then couldn't locate it onto the ball joint at the bottom.

Then I had a brainwave, why not lower the entire front subframe whcih would give me the clearance.

Well that wasn't going to be a goer once I had started but then I spotted another option which worked - get a small jack in between the anti-roll bar and the subframe. This easily gave me the chance to lower the track rod end so the ball joint could locate with the strut bottom - following this?

But then - but then; I spotted the ball joint rubber was split. I agonised over ignoring this but decided to go and see if I had a spare  rubber somewhere. I didn't find a spare but I did find this, given to me by my mate Paul Darbyshire some time in the past.

A roller bearing kit which is one of those "must do" modifications to a TR7 (although I never have done before) so I then had another one of those moments.

Stuff it, OK might as well then. Off with the strut again !!!

After dismantling the kit went on fine and the strut was put back together again.

Of course this means the nearside strut should be done too - Arghh!!

It's the right thing to do really because there were some spring insulators missing on the struts which I had replaced on the offside so it all ought to be balanced up.

After tidying everything away then it was off to order the insulators and two ball joint boot covers (I am bound to tear the nearside one when I take the strut off). Thing is though the postage was £7.95 or about the same as the total of the parts! Madness.

So, might as well buy something else then if the postage doesn't go up.

And that's when I remembered the Rover I bought has an aftermarket steering wheel on that I wasn't that happy about. Now Rimmers have brand new steering wheels in just one trim - the one for my car JEA :-)

£35 including VAT and the postage didn't go up - bargain!

Remember this?

Remember the split hood on UNJ?

I now have the hood back from Trevor the Trimmer who has done a very good job (photo in due course).

The thing is though, Trevor thought it would be an easy job for him as he thought it would just be a question of sewing the screen back in but that wasn't the case.

It wasn't a split, Trevor reckons someone had used a stanley knife to cut the base of the screen from the hood!

Now what is the point of that? If you want to get in the car just pull the poppers off.

Worse, this happened whilst I couldn't use the car due to health reasons and it had been on my drive so that means someone had done the deed whilst the car was under my carport at home.

A tale of 3 weekends

On Friday May 10th Deana and I drove down to Tintern to stay over with relatives and then next day took part in Club Triumph's "Taith O Amgyclh Cymru" which was a two day tour of Wales starting near Ross on Wye.

Here we are at the start - and that was the best of the weather!

Mind you , we kept the hood down all day despite plenty of rain and even hail just before the halfway overnight in Aberystwyth.

It's a shame the weather was so bad but we both enjoyed the event and will be back for more.

Then last weekend I was at the North Yorkshire Triumph Weekend at Runswick Bay. Again the weather wasn't great but it was by no means as bad and I was there with a number of Club Triumph friends.

In addition as a sort of stag do for Bryce (no pun intended) my brothers, Bryce, my brother in law and two other close family friends came along too and we went karting which was great - shame Bryce was on the losing team!

On the way back to the campsite tho there was definitely a dodgy moment or two with wheel vibration and the brake pedal going to the floor :-(

I got UNJ back to the campsite as we were only about 5 miles away and then checked it out next day - loose wheel bearing which I tightened up, job sorted.

Setting off home though it was clear the job was not sorted - the same symptoms re-appeared and by now I felt it was really dangerous. I pulled into a layby near Guisborough, jacked the car up and checked for play in the offside front the wheel which felt like it was about to come off!!

There was nothing for it then but to call for the car to be recovered home which turned into a 6 hour epic but anyway, at least we got home safe.

So to today when I have investigated further.

This is what I found when I took the wheel off - scoring on the inside of the wheel which is probably due to contact with the brake disc as the wheel hub assembly floated about!

Once I had the hub off I could check the bearing and found there wasn't much of the inner part of it left. See below for the gory details with bits of it all over the place.

Meanwhile, on the stub axle there were bits left there too

I'm by no means an expert but I didn't like the look of that stub axle either. I think there's some serious heat been present and part of the bearing welded on to it perhaps?
So I got out of my stock the original stut that came off the car and compared them.

The stub axles look very different so to make sure I stripped off the nearside too and that also looks like the spare off side one so I think there's a bit of work to do here.

I think I'll be refitting the original strut and as I have not been happy with the ride height I'll get new springs front and rear, new inserts for the front and of course new wheel bearings.

So the car is going nowhere for some time whilst I sort it out. It will take priority over PMW as I plan to do the  Alpine Roadtrip in UNJ.

Quick question

Am I losing it?

I don't seem so interested in the competition side of motoring any more.

Now it's the socialising or maybe even other stuff, like going to a sixties weekend maybe.

Hmm - not sure about all this

A good couple of days in Triumph land

 Yesterday with Bryce's help we got the engine and gearbox nearly ready to go back in to PMW. I had fitted new engine mountings and a new gearbox mounting as it makes sense at this point (and one of the engine mountings was shot anyway).

Today, it took some doing until we realised I had put the gearbox mounting back on incorrectly which meant the engine wouldn't sit back far enough.

Once put right all was well and then we were able to fit the front suspension. A few words to describe but took much longer than than that! In fact another 5 hours over yesterday and today.

Great to see it all back in though and PMW back on it's wheels for the first time in months.

So, a good couple of days indeed.

Then - the trip home in UNJ with the top down, what a joy!

Helping out

At the very last minute I was asked to help out the local Church with any classic cars I could muster as they were running a fun day to raise funds.

Unfortunately they had been let down.

As it was so late I could only help with our cars but here's UNJ and Little Min

 

Me and UNJ - ready for the road

Yes, UNJ has now got a tax disc and I have actually driven it on the road for about 40 miles - Oh yes!

Just a bit of tidying, a check over of tyre pressures etc and now ready for tonight's Pendle and Pennine meeting which I am really looking forward too as it will be the first one in a year I have driven to in a Triumph.

I have decided it will be a steady year for me this year but it's good to have at least one Triumph on the road.

Next weekend I'll be at the finish of the Historic Counties Run and tehn in May it will be the Club Triumph Wesh weekend tour followed by the North Yorkshire Triumph Weekend. After that I'll see how it goes and also see what this year's summer is like.