Now what I wonder?

Another couple of little tests and this car certainly feels like it should fly - wheelspin is no problem at all.

So, I need to tax it and then get it running with a few miles under it's belt.

A trip round Scotland should do it - La Carrera here we come.

But, but, I still have a pair of 2" SUs yet -should I really push my luck and go for these too? Maybe after the LCC and before the Little Devils I think.

Thanks Bryce

WOO_HOO

Thanks to Bryce BRP is back running again.

The valve timing was fine but with a bit of fettling - adjusting the ignition timing, swapping plugs, rotor arm and using jump leads we fired her up.

Now I need to do some tidying up and get that flippin exhaust manifold fitted with all 5 bolts .

Early days but a quick blast down my drive was very good - there seems alot more power and the engine revs freely.

So, the car is taxed May 1st then I can give it a run, service it and give it a few tweaks


Pendle and Pennine meeting, HRCR marshalling, Crich Club Triumph stand and most importantly, La Carrera here we come

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Head swap - the right thing!

Having looked at the options I took the decision to swap the entire head instead of swapping camshafts.

This should be the easier option but is still alot of work so, at 1.30PM Bryce and I started work.

First was to remove the head from the spare engine which we took our time over as we are novices to the Sprint engine. Having learned some valuable lessons though we then moved on to the engine in BRP.

We noticed that one of the lobes on the cam in the BRP cylinder head had been worn flat but worse was that one of the rocker shaft reteining bolts was loos - in fact, it seemed to have no thread on it! These two elements could certainly explain the noisy top end and justified removing this head on their own.




Having got it off though we then found corrosion in the waterways too as can be seen here.








The head from the spare engine, however, showed lots of little signs of being worked on and it has the new cam as well.

Next is a reversal of removal in that time honoured fashion and after 4 hours work we had the new head on, torqued up and the front sprocket back in place.

End of play.

Apart from I just couldn't let it go so at 7.30 I went back out and completed the reassembly of the inlet manifold and exhaust manifold etc. That exhaust manifold was a complete swine though, no matter how many times I tried I could only get 4 out of 5 bolts in - they might be a different combination each time but still only 4 out of 5. I will need to return to this.

So, all back together, 9.30 PM and I try to fire it up. No joy.

The engine will turn but no sign of anything happening. This could be for a number of reasons although I think it's probably to do with the fact that we put it all back together as close as possible to how it was to start with - that is, we didn't time the cam in.

After 7 hours work it's time for a break though so the best option is a week's thought and reflection, the battery on charge and then back to it next week.

Bryce, If you are reading this, are you available next Saturday afternoon?

Cam shafts - slowly slowly

I am approaching a job I am a bit daunted by at the moment - investigating the noisy top end of the Sprint engine. This will probably mean shimming valve clearances and checking the timing chain tensioner.

At the same time I'll probably need to remove the cam (lots of chances to screw things up with the timing putting it all back later). Now, if I do need to remove the cam I have a spare which is allegedly a "group 2 cam". I just need to do some research and try and identify it - if it is then I might as well swap it into my engine whilst I am fannying about with the valve clearances etc.






Here's some pics

Rumpith's Wedge

No, the title of this post does not refer to a medical complaint!

This is the man himself, my neighbour, Spitfire owner and now Wedge pilot with his new flying machine.

Well, it will be a little while before it's flying again but we all have to have a project.

And no, we are not referring to the red skip!


I also took this opportunity to pick up my new uprated radiator and Simon of S&S kindly fitted my electric fan to it whilst i waited (after having made me a cup of tea - great service).

The rad is now on BRP along with new hoses and clips etc so that's dealt with one of the major problems from the RBRR.

Next I'll look at the valve clearances etc before probably going for it and fitting the group 2 cam I have along with twin 2" SUs.

And so it starts again

Yes, spending money!

After the RBRR it's obvious the car needs a new radiator so, bearing in mind the competition motoring in view, there's no messing about needed.

One uprated 4 core radiator (brand spanking), full hose kit with clips, 5 litres of oil and a filter = I am £290 lighter in the pocket.

Now, I could have spent alot less but this is no time for penny pinching - proper kit is what's needed on a rally car to improve reliability.

"To finish first, first you have to finish"

Round Britain Run 2006 final report

Still wearing those overalls!

Martin Randle, car 57 TR7 16V BRP 285S

I left this story of our 2006 RBRR with us having had a radiator problem, nearly drowning out the electrics and then surviving a drama replacing the alternator at Sterling. To continue the story, you can guess from the title dear reader, that our troubles were far from over!

Sterling to Gordano

After checking that the crew of the 2000 were OK I settled down to sleep whilst Andy drove the next session to Lancaster where another mate of mine (Kevin Makin, ex RBRR and 10CR veteran) would be meeting us with some extra Radweld..

Within 10 miles tho I was awake again as the ignition light had come on and the volts were dropping – what now! We made it into a service area, killed the lights immediately and then followed the usual routine of pulling on overalls and getting the toolkit out. Now the problem was that one of the blades in the alternator fan had stood proud (no doubt damaged during the change over at Sterling) and had sliced through the fan belt.

Andy spotted a recovery truck in the service area with a Spitfire (amazingly) on the back so he ran over to ask if they could help. No, they couldn’t there and then although the driver said he might have a fan belt back at base but of course we would have to pay a £70 call out charge.

Right, now it’s time to call Footman James and retire from the event. The plan then was to get home, get some sleep and then travel down to the Plough in my Audi to welcome the other crews home. The recovery truck turned up within half an hour and it was the same self chap from earlier, this time with a selection of fan belts! 20minutes work, a charge of £7 for the fan belt and a tip for him and we were back on the road again.

There was no way we would make Lancaster on time to get the roadbook signed or get to Chirk either so Gordano would be the next checkpoint we could expect to make and that seemed a very long way away.

We still pulled into Lancaster to get some fuel and were amazed to see 3 Triumphs at the petrol station. They were the GT6 of our very own champion driver, Doug Foreman, the Herald of champion co-driver Katie Foreman and the GT6 of “GT6John”.

Doug was having a problem with the accelerator bracket mounting on the bulkhead in that metal fatigue had set in and it was pulling away from the bulkhead resulting in less and less acceleration! We set to trying to assist (having pulled those overalls on again) and were soon bashing one of my sockets onto the retaining bolts but there was no way they were going to move.

A few minutes thought came up with another solution – using the choke cable as a hand throttle linked up to the accelerator linkage with a cunning “handle” made from cable ties! Doug was soon on his way again but couldn’t get much over 60MPH.

I don’t think we saw them again but they very nearly made it all the way round on a succession of modifications to the hand throttle until something terminal happened with the engine in Devon.

BRP on the other hand seemed OK and we made it to Gordano with no signs of overheating thank goodness. On the other hand we did seem to have lost a lot of oil somewhere which of course we topped up and went on our way.

Unfortunately the oil loss got worse and worse until we had put another 5 litres in and needed some more! We stopped to investigate about 50 miles from Lands End (here come the overalls again!). I sent texts to my wife and also to my mate “Rumpith” to see if they could contact one of the marshals at the Dartmoor Lodge requesting help. This was a gent I had never met before but knew he would be a decent chap as his forum name is TRTony.

We knew by now that it was daft to try and get to Lands End with us losing so much oil so I was hoping Tony could bring a decent jack and some axle stands so that I could get under the car and see where this massive oil leak was. In the meantime I finally managed to spot that the oil sender unit had failed and oil was being pushed by it!

Tony came through on the phone by now and he had a new sender unit so we arranged to meet up at Ashburton. So, with another 5 litres of oil in the car we set off by the quickest route over the Tamar bridge and along the A38.

Before we could get to Ashburton though the temperature gauge shot off the top of the scale with steam coming out the bonnet. By now we used the familiar routine of rolling into a lay-by and me pulling on the overalls, getting the tools out and getting ready to sort out the next catastrophe. After giving some time for the car to cool down (and ringing Tony to tell him we would be late) we slowly topped the radiator back up with water from drinks bottles and set off once again.

The scene at Ahburton was the usual one for us by now, bonnet up, overalls on and spanners being wielded. Tony had brought along the replacement sender unit so we fitted that (thanks mate) and then inspected the radiator. The radiator was leaking again and the bottom hose was looking very weak after having been soaked in oil. Never mind, I went straight to the spares kit to get a replacement hose and found there wasn’t one! By sheer luck though I had thrown a second hand one into the boot during the engine swap which seemed better than the one on at the moment so I used that. Then someone else donated more Radweld (thanks whoever you are) and we put that in, topped up the radiator again, checked and topped up the oil and were then ready for the road again.

At this point I had a chat with Andy Pearce and said words to the effect that we had been pushing our luck now for over 24 hours and it was time to stop pushing! We made the decision to cut out the last two stops and head at a very steady pace back to the Plough which we accomplished without further incident. What a relief it was to make it although of course we hadn’t completed the RBRR which was a shame.

It was another pleasant evening with like minded people before I headed off to a welcome bed in a hotel in Stevenage, which at least meant that I had started the long trip home to Lancashire.

Next morning after breakfast I went out to the car and chatted to a passer by who was very impressed with the car in it’s works rally colours which cheered me up somewhat. I then got in the car ready to start my long trip home content that another creditable performance had been put in. Content that is until I turned the ignition key and BRP refused to fire up. After all that surely I wouldn’t be stranded and have to return home with the car on the back of a recovery truck?

Up with the bonnet, check all wiring, spray some WD40 around, shut the bonnet and crank the engine until the damned thing finally did fire up and from there I never stopped the car until it was back under my car port!.