What went wrong and what went right?

[Radders]

This was my 'sparking' issue. One of the contacts on the plug lead decided it no longer wanted to be part of the operation and tried to disappear up the sleeve, but not before it had a good go at shooting the distributor cap to bits with its waywards sparks! :)

You can just make out the part of the cap it destroyed to the right of the picture.

[Rust Restorer]

willows40 wrote:

chris
it was me with the rocker problem, Thanks for your help called recovery in the end got it home yesterday and running again within an hour.

cheers andu

Chris, As Andy says thanks for trying to help at Edingburgh Airport, highlight of the event for me was driving at speed to your house, 4am in the morning, through the outskirts of Edinburgh to find a part, further enhanced with no lights on your Spitfire, the sight of a very, very large Royal Marine driving a Spitfire was something to behold, reckon you should change to a Stag then you will not get a cricked neck ;D ;D

The other drivers of car 17 thought that they would never see me again?

[CHRIS211083]

Ha ha, I think that Having the side lights and the occasionally flash of the high beam probably made it seem faster than it was but your welcome for the help. Im just gutted i wasnt taking part. As for the size thing, im 6'5 and 21stone. Its a snug cockpit but i def wont be changing my spit for another car any time soon. Flexibility is the key to happy Spitfire ownership(especially in my case anyway). Shame that dolomite 1300 rocker securing screw was too big for your car. At leased you got home safe and car intact. Chris.

[GTRoger]

Car 108

What went wrong:
Failed it's MOT the day before. No time to fix/ re-MOT. So that was us out of the event even before it started.

What went right:
Went down to London anyway in Robs Lotus. First plan was to do the trip in the Elise. After speaking to Tim on thursday we deceided to leave the RBRR plan. It just didn't feel right for some reason. Instead we drove down to Wales on friday and spend the weekend there. No regrets whatsoever about not doing RBRR to be honest. We had a great time trashing the Lotus and also the odd experiences we had in a town called Dolgellau were not to be missed. On sunday we drove down from Brecon to Pimperne (mmmm cakes! ) and joined in for the last leg of the RBRR, which was great! So no RBRR, but a top weekend anyway.

Special thanks to Michael and Philip Charlton for offering me their car for the event. Shame they had the wrong phonenumber and couldn't reach me in time.
  

[jonnyk5614]

Car 110.
Mark IV 1972 Triumph Spitfire 1300.

7 actual breakdows attributed to 4 mechanical faults and a puncture! Yes, we did actually make it to the Plough.


Oil pipe to pressure guage snapped in Scotland (heading North). As it was dark, I didn't see the pressure going down so the warning light (ultra bright red LED - would recommend!) was first I knew. Removed T-piece and refilled with oil (good thing I have 4.5l, not 1!). Luckilly, no damage.

Puncture 70miles from Perth - fixed with tyreweld for 1/2hour then that too failed - quickly!
Fitted 18 year old spare. No visible sign so must be becuase of having inner tubes (I have wire wheels).

Starter motor wire snapped at Conan bridge out of crimp/ring connector (why did I tie that wire to the loom 5000miles ago). Carefully re-used connector but couldn't clamp it tight enough so wire came out and had to be put back in whenever we stopped.

Somewhere after Conan bridge, ignition key stopped working in the "on" position. It did however work 1/2 way between on and off. Just had to slowly turn the key until the ignition light came on!

Alternator bolt (the long pivot one) sheared somewhere after Glendrid. Fixed with 6mm studding that had to be cut with swiss army knife hacksaw lol! I'd done it up way to tight in a eurotrip bodge to replace a snapped alterator tie rod.

Fixed starter wire with borrowed molegripps (thanks) at Dartmoor stop.

After Pimperne, the key trick stopped working. The pin on the back was wobbly so I got a zip tie round the pins and tightened it until the pin was at the angle where it worked!

And we never used reverse because it blows the fuse at the moment!


Only one fault, however, can be attributed to Triumph design/engineering - the key problem!

The pressure guage was a rubbish aftermarket (on when I bought car),
I'd stupidly tied the starter cable back,
the puncture was from using tubeless tyres with tubes,
the alternator bolt I'd done up too tight in a eurotrip bodge and
the reverse is probably due to my shorting out (and destroying) the overdrive loom in Europe.

[jonnyk5614]

Jason wrote:

Thanks guys, this is just the sort of thing we need, collective learning :-)

Mark - regarding the SMS thingy, the original plan was to have the facility for anyone in any car to broadcast to all participants so messages like "6 cylinder rocker shaft needed at Blythe" could be sent to everyone. The technology exists and it's apparently easy to implement but the costs are the issue. One message is immediately 250+ (every phone in every car) and that could be �25 a pop. Add to that no control and a little exuberance could see the club with a serious bill at the end of it.

It's certainly something I had on my list to look into - the ability for any entrant to broadcast to all entrants in case of emergency. If anyone has any mobile phone sms service contacts perhaps we could do a deal with a service provider, it might mean putting a sticker on each car in return for a set number of messages. I'll put that one down as one to investigate and consider but let's not debate it here yet.

As for Tim's exploits , I now have a vision of him sporting some plastic pants made out of CT carrier bags in order to keep his backside out of the puddle in his car!

If you can run it through a bog standard sim card, tesco mobile do 4p a text. Still $10 a message though! Must be able to do a bulk deal though - even offer to stick the provider on a sticker and point out its for charity.

[jonnyk5614]

Car 110.
Mark IV 1972 Triumph Spitfire 1300.

7 actual breakdows attributed to 4 mechanical faults and a puncture! Yes, we did actually make it to the Plough.


Oil pipe to pressure guage snapped in Scotland (heading North). As it was dark, I didn't see the pressure going down so the warning light (ultra bright red LED - would recommend!) was first I knew. Removed T-piece and refilled with oil (good thing I have 4.5l, not 1!). Luckilly, no damage.

Puncture 70miles from Perth - fixed with tyreweld for 1/2hour then that too failed - quickly!
Fitted 18 year old spare. No visible sign so must be becuase of having inner tubes (I have wire wheels).

Starter motor wire snapped at Conan bridge out of crimp/ring connector (why did I tie that wire to the loom 5000miles ago). Carefully re-used connector but couldn't clamp it tight enough so wire came out and had to be put back in whenever we stopped.

Somewhere after Conan bridge, ignition key stopped working in the "on" position. It did however work 1/2 way between on and off. Just had to slowly turn the key until the ignition light came on!

Alternator bolt (the long pivot one) sheared somewhere after Glendrid. Fixed with 6mm studding that had to be cut with swiss army knife hacksaw lol! I'd done it up way to tight in a eurotrip bodge to replace a snapped alterator tie rod.

Fixed starter wire with borrowed molegripps (thanks) at Dartmoor stop.

After Pimperne, the key trick stopped working. The pin on the back was wobbly so I got a zip tie round the pins and tightened it until the pin was at the angle where it worked!

And we never used reverse because it blows the fuse at the moment!


Only one fault, however, can be attributed to Triumph design/engineering - the key problem!

The pressure guage was a rubbish aftermarket (on when I bought car),
I'd stupidly tied the starter cable back,
the puncture was from using tubeless tyres with tubes,
the alternator bolt I'd done up too tight in a eurotrip bodge and
the reverse is probably due to my shorting out (and destroying) the overdrive loom in Europe.

[david langrick]

car 49. dave langrick and paul stonier in the Iron Maiden . Mk.4 spitfire 2.0 litre P.I.
1.brake light switch failure on the A68. new switch fitted at Edinboro' airport. Slighty different and had to add a shim to the pedal to make it work The shim of course was an electrical crimp and gaffa tape.
2. engine got slightly warm on the last 70 miles between didcot and the plough- caused by blown fan fuse.  fixed monday a.m.
3. Good old Lucas P.I. pump started to cavitate at J 23 M25 but in true RBRR tradition the car just kept going to the plough,. It was getting a little warm packed with luggage round it etc. and having been run all weekend, I remarked it was iike flying a damaged Lancaster back to the english coast on 2 engines  " come on old girl - don't fail me now with only 6 miles to go !!!!!  "
thanks to James Shackford for tailing me on the last 6 miles in case the magic towrope had to come out..... :)




that's it i'm afraid we didn't do too badly . 11 succesfull finishes in 20 years and i  finally got my 20th anniverary picture at the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge. i will try and publish the 2 pictures .

[Tim Bancroft]

Right, Finishing Stats:

I have just reviewed the sheets:

115 crews/cars were due to start

109 no left Crews Hill
19 no failed to finish
90 no. Finished

Interesting to be able to report that so far no retirements due to Water pump, Wheel bearing or Alternator failure-the usual problems!

I still am awaiting info from 6 or 7 crews about their reason for not completing.

[jonnyk5614]

xyv wrote:

Team 95 , Red pi mk2
As Roger and I hadn't finished my spitfire in time for the run, we ended up borrowing a car for the run, Tom Key's red Pi. We whad little time to prepare it, first working on it thursday night before the start of the run. We weren't overly concerned because Tom uses the car regularly, so assumed all would be well.
An oil change, a wheel alignment adjustment. new wiper blades and some general checking over saw the car ready for use, and luckily no real issues with the car apart from massive fuel consumption on the first part of the journey.
Having no experience of PI we entrusted genius Andy Thompson to set up the metering unit at JOG, we had been using an AFR meter continuously so correct settings were easily attainable and what a difference it made!
All was good until just before Lancaster services when a PI pipe rubbed through due to its close proximity to the bonnet catch. Again no real drama as Dave Langrick provided us with a spare and it was quickly fitted. By this time most crews had passsed through the check point so we thought we'd get on our way. the starter then failed, and as the car was auto, we couldn't bump start it so out came the trolley jack , and a few taps to the solenoid with a hammer saw the engine running again.
Time to fill up with petrol, so we drove the car round to the pumps and left the engine running while we filled up, not wanting to address the starter issue again. A quick check of the new fuel pipe saw it was split and leaking and on lifting the bonnet a small fire started, Myself and Dave Picton responded immediately with fire extinguishers and all was well!, we did't have any more pipes so called the AA.  a very nice man helped by providing some new rubber pipe and after 3 hours at Lancaster we were on our way again.     A few miles down the motorway the car came to a halt, but the problem was diagnosed immediately as a loose wire to the ballast resistor so off we set again.  
After that no real problems except for the inability of rubber fuel hose to cope with the pulsing of the pi pump, causing poor running. and again Andy and Doug Thompson came to the rescue with a replacement pipe and injector at Bude. Thanks guys.

I was tired so I forget who it was but at Glendrid (?), someone else asked for fuel pipe but I only had a few 30cm sections (he needed a good 4ft). I had to replace a 2inch section on my Spitfire also.
Would a few METRES be a good addition to everyone's spares list. After all, my local motor factor charges me $2 a metre so we're hardly breaking the bank!

[Deleted User]

Strange grinding noise from somewhere while braking en route to John O'Groats.

Stayed off the brakes till Conan Bridge.  Had the hubs off the back wheels.  Dave Landrick and James Shackford offered the opinion that a rear wheel bearing was the problem.  Tightened up the wheel bearing and set off.  No noise when we braked gently but it returned after a few miles.  Decided, "What the hell" and carried on.

Hand brake failed but you only need that when you're not moving.  Reasoned that the RBRR is all about moving, so hand brake not a real problem.

Self made exhaust bracket on the silencer started to vibrate at speed.  Stopped and adjusted that.

Hit standing water on the A30 just before Land's End and had an enormous noise from the exhaust.  Stopped to fix the self made bracket again to discover that the existing bracket on the other side had sheared off the car.  Tied the silencer up with two shoelaces, which lasted 700 miles till we got home.

On leaving Bude, the car would lose power under load when going up hills.  Changed the distributor cap and rotor arm.  Solved for two miles then the problem came back.  Changed the rotor arm again.  Car sorted for two miles and back to square one.  Stopped in Tavistock, Bodders assisted by supplying a new fuel pump and fitted it.  Someone else supplied a piece of petrol pipe - the section I had was too large.  Got going again but another two miles and the problem returned.  Took two attempts to climb the hill out of Badgers Holt in Dartmoor.  Car succumbed a few miles further on.  Bid farewell to all our helpers and called on the recovery service.  Finally limped out of Dartmoor to Ashburton.  Recovery mechanic was about as much use as a chocolate watch but did think that the problem was in the coil.  No, he couldn't lay his hands on one.

A call to Tim Bancroft and he gave me the number of Nick Jones who had been marshalling at Badgers Holt.  Nick was now going home and was up near Exeter.  Now this is amazing - to me anyway.  Nick tries two Halfords - no joy.  He then rings me back to say he has located a coil with a friend in Tiverton and he'll be with us soon.  

A quick look at the map shows that Tiverton is about 40 miles away!

True to his word, he duly arrives, modifies the connectors on top of the coil to fit my car and I take it for a test run.  It's a bit rough but the car's going.  

We say our goodbyes and turn the key in the ignition.  It won't start!

Nick opens the distributor to reveal a brand new rotor arm with a crack in it.

We refit a previous rotor arm and take off, caning it back to London.

The car still doesn't run under load and crawls back into my garage.

I now think that it's either the electronic ignition or overheating.

The temperature gauge has never been reliable, so further investigations are required.

But at least we got to the finish and that was our aim all along.

Wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Jim.

[James]

Car 96: Triumph 2000 Mk1

Issues:

Epic windscreen leak on Sunday morning - fixed with tape.
Odd misfire when hot on the Sunday - might be the coilpack getting hot or unknown second-hand leads. Didn't really slow us down at all - just sounded odd.
Heater gauge started reading high on Sunday - might be something to do with the misfire above.
Oily rocker cover - suspect rocker cap - otherwise no real oil was used at all.

Not very eventful as per my previous three runs.

[Beans]

Howard wrote:

My co-driver moaning loudly about the problem he was having selecting 3/4 gears kept disturbing my sleep!

I'd rather call it stirring in a box of gears and see which one comes out, instead of selecting them  :P

For the rest the car performed faultlessly, and was rather nice to drive  ;)

[GT6DavidMK1]

Car 76 2.5 PI 1968, Car ran excellent, even flogging it down the A30 twice ??) only minor problems we had light switch burning out once on the A9 switched headlight to sidelight switch(thanks to who stopped for the advice ;)) and then finally killing the sidelight switch heading for Gordino services, suprising how dark it goes when you have not light in the middle of no where ;) thank god hazards had been fitted, out came the wire cutters and bound all the wires to-gether, so every time we stop un wind wires  ;D Only other problem seem to appear was the n/s rear wheel bearing or UJ becoming noisey as we pulled into badgers holt, but we carried on, with only 3 more controls to do :)
Russel has us in fits of laughter ;D having just passed him on the M6 as he pulled into Lancaster services, wound down his window and said "how dare you use your superior power against us!!"
photo of a very dirty PI!!!  :)

[GT6DavidMK1]

oops picture of a very dirty PI ;D

[Luke]

car 10 stag rover v8
only issue was that some how the ign timeing retarded itself without the distribitor been loose started ,at conon bridge by the time we got to gledrid after a few chats with other crews and a phone a friend a diecided to reset the timing and it was back to been a rocket ship just in time for ss wales
good bits we only used 5 l of oil instead of 15l in 2008 (fitted oil cooler )  

[thescrapman]

Tim

Will you be including the reasons the 6 cars didn't get to teh start that had intended to start. 1 was MOT fail and one was fuel pump I think they said.

Would also be interesting to know reasons for withdrawals of the earlier drop out (lack of prep  or car related type reasons)

Some people just could no longer take part, and that is always a shame.

Cheers

Colin

[SteveJP]

Car 97 Spitfire 1500

Been out in the Spitfire today - just found out the airhorns have stopped working , last used them around Conon Bridge area, also strangely the engine seems quieter than on the RBRR, the bottom end rattle is much less pronounced even after a good thrashing up the A21 today. :-/

[yellowspitfire]

Key to success easy...drive an Acclaim and drive it like you stole it!  There's a sentence a died-in-the-wool Triumph enthusiast never thought he'd commit to print...
We had a slight misfire around Glasgow which we put down to the extreme weather, my only problem was extreme head-buzz from Red Bull plus paracetomol plus Pro-plus at about the same point so maybe I transmitted the problem through the steering wheel.

Awesome fun, no really, it was.

[Caroline]

Indeed! If you want a reliable Triumph.... Next time I'll take an Acclaim with gears though. The Triomatic was a nuisance on the hills.

[PaulB]

Car 86 Red Spitfire 1500

This is our third RBBR and previously all we had to do is put some oil in the car. However this RBRR was completely different!

Nearly didn't make it to the start!

I had fitted a new head two weeks prior and a new lightweight alternator, should have been sooner but work and family holiday got in the way. I retorqued the head the night before the RBRR. However, I hadn't fitted the rocker assembly back properly. Driving around M25 to Reading Friday afternoon to pick up my co-driver the car sounded awful and a one point I thought it was going to pack up.

Left start 2 hours behind everyone else due to M25 traffic and having to refit rocker assembly again at the start.
15 miles later we had to stop for a final adjustment then things were sweet.

Stopped and donated my spare original alternator to a stranded car just off the A1.

Going down to Wales, we got a misfire, changed coil but it was the condesor which we changed before going into the Welsh section. Then the car was great.
Sunday morning fan belt started to slip a bit and car started to misfire. Just before Lands End the car was running on 3 cylinders.

Got to breakfast stop, and further investigation found the fan belt was slipping beacuse the alternator spacer bolt had sheared off! And I had given away my spare one with the alternator away. Bugger! However managed to use a socket as a spacer and a bolt donated from a herald estate team. Thanks guys.

However couldn't cure the misfire, as I think the new head had exposed a weakness in the third cylinder. The car was going through oil like there was no tomorrow. Apologies to all those I gassed with my oil fumes.

Lesson to be learnt is that not to do any major work imediately before RBRR. Need time to shake down any issues.

Still really enjoyed the event and can't wait for the next one.

[Steve28]

Car 8 dolomite 1500se,
our car performed extremely well for the whole 48 hours, having been loaded up with as many spares as possible
including a pair of ramps trolley jack and two spare wheels it was good to not have to use any of them.
checked the oil and water 3 times and needed no topping up.
as for the milage we covered 2170 due to the sat nav playing up and then getting lost twice
this was our second rbrr finish and we will be back for the next one but might have a change of triumph
roll on rbrr 2012 we cant wait :) 8)

[Raider]

All great info and data for my records!

There's too much to record everything though so I only keep details of what actually causes a car to retire (or not make the start!).

Here's a quick view of the RBRR info I have (for the last 3 events)

Accident     6
Transmission     6
Engine     5
Electrical     2
Cooling     1
Crew error     1
Suspension     1
Total Result     22

[Radders]

Bit of a concern that accidents are so high isnt it?  :(

[cook1e]

Not sure whether my retirement in the GT6 counted as an accident or suspension failure in the stats? The suspension damage was caused by an accident, but the failure happened 200 miles later?