What have you done recently or are planning to do soon to your Triumph?

[iani]

2 hours ago, Guppy916 said:

iani I hope you took chocolate biscuits round to Tony's, I found he works better with them 

I'll remember for next time, he seemed to do quite well without them, a very satisfactory visit.

[PeteStupps]

@iani interesting to read your account, I saw TLD's facebook posts about your engine. How far had you driven it before problems were evident, and how did they manifest themselves? if you don't mind me asking.

[Velocita Rosso]

In the latest CT mag....Dale has been asking for articles to write ....and submit to the Editor....not many people on here going to read `whats been done`....when everyone can read the mag

[Matthew]

Have put myself forward. Hoping to make good progress in the coming weeks and have some content to write

[iani]

15 hours ago, PeteStupps said:

@iani interesting to read your account, I saw TLD's facebook posts about your engine. How far had you driven it before problems were evident, and how did they manifest themselves? if you don't mind me asking.

It really is a tale of woe Pete:

The block machining was undertaken by a firm near Northampton, they built up the rotating assembly, assured me the block was clean and ready for me to fit cam, oil pump & sump, I duly did so. I fitted a fast road head from Peter Burgess and fitted the engine, along with triple DCOE's, I had these set up on a rolling road.

The first issue at around 1.5k miles was what I believed to be head gasket failure, water in the oil, I had retorqued the head but thought it was just one of those things, I changed the head gasket and off I went again. Not many miles later I had the same symptoms, on removing the head I discovered a crack in No2 valve area, adjacent to the waterway, head scrap.

I obtained a replacement head from TLD, the inlet ports have been opened out significantly compared to the previous head, I didn't consider the impact of this unfortunately and reassembled everything as before, intending to have another RR session to make carb adjustments as required. My car at this point was flying, really strong acceleration, certainly quicker than my EFI'd TR6, it did seem to run out of oomph c.100mph though which should have warned me something was wrong. After a couple of hundred miles the engine started exhaling white smoke from its catch can breather filter, a lot of white smoke. Oil temp & coolant temp were fine, just white smoke, the engine then failed on me, refusing to run.

The rest of the story is as Tony has written, whilst the latter issue was as a result of the engine running too lean due to the DCOEs not having larger chokes fitted, the scoring to the crank appears to have been the result of a dirty build, particularly annoying when I paid for the block to have been acid dipped (this was definitely done) and you'd expect they'd thoroughly clean out afterwards. Another major irritation is that the engine works had told me they only used Nural pistons, these were not what was found in the block! Having checked the receipt there is no mention of manufacturer so I can't prove anything here unfortunately.

I have completed the assembly of the engine again, it is sat on the floor in my garage and I am really struggling to find the motivation to fit it, I have zero confidence in this unit now and with a PI  & a TR6 I can just drive I am just not ready for more disappointment right now.

Ian

[iani]

A productive day today:

PI: Replaced fuel sender unit with NOS one from Mick Dolphin, works fine

GT6: Decided to have a stab at removing O/S/F suspension unit, have it all off the car now, only outstanding issue is getting the lower damper bolt to free up, otherwise I am ready to start rebuilding with powder coated turret, adjustable wishbones & a trunnionless upright. Getting the lower steering column shaft to free off was a bit of a faff, lots of penetrating oil but it's moving freely now.

Edited July 31, 2022 by iani

[PeteStupps]

7 hours ago, iani said:

It really is a tale of woe Pete

Thanks for that Iain, it certainly is woeful, very dispiriting. Can see why that would sap motivation. Good luck with it, hopefully the only way is up now

[Clive]

Yesterday was spent doing some flatting of the fresh, but dull, new paint. I then did a test with the fresh paint on the bootlid. And as hoped, the new 2k paint from Jawel has worked a treat. I always flat new paint with 1200w+d paper, used wet with soap. It takes the orange peel off, then a polish with G3 compound and my old polisher, hey presto a decent shine. 

I will get the rest of the car sprayed this week I hope, then a good polish. Also Dinatrol the box sections/sills etc and a hard wax for the arches amd other areas liable to roadrash.

Then fit up the interior, fresh tyres and an MoT to make sure all s well after 5 years of inactivity. Once on teh road, I will start building up teh sprint drivetrain I have, methinks a project to do over the winter

[RobPearce]

On 29/07/2022 at 18:19, RobPearce said:

I've also been modifying a Herald 13/60 fibreglass front valance so that it actually fits the Vitesse. That's about ready to fit now but I'm trying to sort out some electrical niggles with the sidelights before I do so.

After a rather frustrating day yesterday, the weird behaviour of the sidelights turned out to be a combination of a weak battery and the fact that (this particular brand of) LED bulbs turn off if the voltage drops below 9V. So re-charging the battery fixed it.

In the mean time, I fitted the rubber weather strip to the driver's door, which has been rust repaired and rebuilt with a working window winder. Unfortunately, in the process, the glass cam detached from its support channel, which means I now need to dismantle the whole lot again. Grrrr.....

Today, though, I fitted the valance. The bonnet catches it slightly when opening or closing. Of course it does. I need to see how far I can raise the front (without falling foul of a PO's "reinforcement" plates on the frames that hit the chassis front rail before it's fully open).

[Matt306]

Not much happening as I seen to spend most of my time on my daughter 207. 

However since the C2C I have moved the inlet air temp sensor and cold air feed to the front of the car. 

I have a spin on oil filter and oil change waiting. Wheel bearing front nearside to be changed. 

Tr7 still going well given its age.

I have a spare engine waiting for a rebuild. 

I also have some SD1 four pot calipers to play with too

[TimW]

The very last time the gearbox is coming out! Swapping the type 9 gearbox for a heavy duty GT6 box with new 28% j-type overdrive. 

Decided against the saloon box as I can't be arsed with the mods that go with it. 

Going to strip front and rear suspension while it's on axle stands, check, check the poly bushes as they are now 12 years old and try to diagnose my I get bad vibrations abave about 80mph. Think I may have a distorted rear hub. Fun times 

[Rosbif]

I've just got back inside after changing the petrol sender I bought about 3 weeks ago, I needed to drive the car until the tank level dropped to 'very low' or '$h*t' I need to fill up.

This is the one I removed, a Smith's unit but I doubt if the 'modification' is factory.

close up of the modification

The reason I changed it was even with a tank full to the brim it only registered 3/4 full, once the level dropped it did seem to be accurate enough.

The gauge was showing just on the 1/4 mark with the old unit, the new was almost on the E.

I tested the unit and it gave 35 ohms at full (should be 20) and 265 at empty ( should be 270). The different readings probably explain the differences on the gauge. Next job put some fuel in!

[Wendy Dawes]

Mabel  12/50 Herald New core plug behind the manifold then reconnected all the ancillaries, accelerator cable sticking slightly now - wasn’t prior to disconnecting so have to play around with that, probably just too sharp a bend in the cable where it goes through the retaining clip on the bulkhead then fitting new Webasto sunroof later in the autumn lay up.  

Darren wants to do an ‘epic’ journey in Mabel next year, I suggested taking her up Everest and pushing her off lol 

[Wendy Dawes]

23 hours ago, RobPearce said:

After a rather frustrating day yesterday, the weird behaviour of the sidelights turned out to be a combination of a weak battery and the fact that (this particular brand of) LED bulbs turn off if the voltage drops below 9V. So re-charging the battery fixed it.

In the mean time, I fitted the rubber weather strip to the driver's door, which has been rust repaired and rebuilt with a working window winder. Unfortunately, in the process, the glass cam detached from its support channel, which means I now need to dismantle the whole lot again. Grrrr.....

Today, though, I fitted the valance. The bonnet catches it slightly when opening or closing. Of course it does. I need to see how far I can raise the front (without falling foul of a PO's "reinforcement" plates on the frames that hit the chassis front rail before it's fully open).

Aargh been there so many times 🙄

[Matthew]

Update: Taking advantage of my week off to strip the bulkhead back to bare metal, treat it and then get some paint on. So far I've managed to remove everything with only one sheared bolt, and the black underseal (I think) is coming away nicely with white spirit.

Photos for before and where I'm at.

[yorkshire_spam]

Recently had the carbs off the Dolomite in the hope of curing the petrol p155ing out of the rear carb (airbox paint shows evidence of front carb over-flowing as well), all back together now, but still a bit close to the start of the Border Raiders for comfort!

Then it's a few more niggling things on the Dolomite or anything that falls off on the BR before the 10CR. Post 10CR the prep starts on the Spitfire for the RBRR.... (long term planning as I can only cope with 1 thing at a time these days)

[iani]

Much as I am very pleased with my new PI, I found the handling a bit “wallowy” especially considering everything has been rebuilt and poly bushes fitted. My suspicions fell on the tyres and, having just returned from having a set of Uniroyal RainExperts fitted I am pleased to say that the expected level of handling has been restored.

[Wendy Dawes]

1 hour ago, yorkshire_spam said:

Recently had the carbs off the Dolomite in the hope of curing the petrol p155ing out of the rear carb (airbox paint shows evidence of front carb over-flowing as well), all back together now, but still a bit close to the start of the Border Raiders for comfort!

Then it's a few more niggling things on the Dolomite or anything that falls off on the BR before the 10CR. Post 10CR the prep starts on the Spitfire for the RBRR.... (long term planning as I can only cope with 1 thing at a time these days)

You’ll sort it 👍😊

[Nick Jones]

As the south west has been mostly dry and warm of late, my Vitesse has been on daily driver duties, adding over 900 miles in July.  There were a few days when it was actually a bit too hot for a convertible…. Steering wheel too hot to hold and seats singeing the hindquarters after an hour parked in the sun.

Though as the alternative is a black estate car with no sunroof and busted AC, it’s Hobson’s choice - just a matter of choosing your cooking method….

Nick

Edited August 3, 2022 by Nick Jones

[rog1300]

Just acquired my Spitfire MkIV on Saturday. Beautiful running project. No handbrake - so took a look last night - mechanism had come off the small 'rail' that basically holds it in place. Minor bit of bending to re-align where main fulcrum pin goes through to correct the sitting angle of handbrake and all good. 

Big smiles as haven't had a Triumph for 30 years!

[yorkshire_spam]

35 minutes ago, rog1300 said:

Big smiles as haven't had a Triumph for 30 years!

Welcome (back) to the (happy) lunacy of Triumph ownership! 

[Clive]

1 hour ago, rog1300 said:

Just acquired my Spitfire MkIV on Saturday. Beautiful running project. No handbrake - so took a look last night - mechanism had come off the small 'rail' that basically holds it in place. Minor bit of bending to re-align where main fulcrum pin goes through to correct the sitting angle of handbrake and all good. 

Big smiles as haven't had a Triumph for 30 years!

Good news. You could pop along to a local meeting. There is one in East Sussex, happens to be tonight. 

https://www.clubtriumph.co.uk/clubs/8-east-sussex/

 

[Martins Stag]

I'll be there but don't let that put you off....

[iani]

After what feels like months I finally got my engine reinstalled today, I took the opportunity to fit powder coated suspension turrets, adjustable camber arms & trunnionless vertical links too, it's only money right??? Thanks to Steve Denton for his help today.

 

[TimW]

1 minute ago, iani said:

After what feels like months I finally got my engine reinstalled today, I took the opportunity to fit powder coated suspension turrets, adjustable camber arms & trunnionless vertical links too, it's only money right??? Thanks to Steve Denton for his help today.

 

And I took mine out!