Rattles And Steering

[Silvery]

Two quickies. I've done the big ends and mains, the crank had some slight, smooth wear on a coupleof the rear big end journals, but nothing to worry about I think. The shells on the rear were going through to the copper, the front ones were much better with only slight signs of wearing through, and a couple of scores where the oil hasn't filtered properly at some point. New shells on hasn't got rid of all the noise though, I still have a bit of a rattle that sounds like it's on one pot, but I can't see it being bearing related as I've got 75psi when cold on new shells!

I'm also getting a bit of a low compression reading on one cylinder, but my tester has seen much better days so I'm not sure. I can feel very little blowing out the rocker breather, and I'm not burning oil.

What's the chances my odd noise, seeming misfire, and general poor running (especially tickover) are all head related? My carbs are pretty knackered which might be a part of it, but I can't see them causing a misfire on one cylinder and the odd noise I'm getting :(

The other question is steering. I had the tracking done recently, and they didn't make it a great deal better. However, they only adjusted it using one track rod and the steering wheel to tell the centre point. I want to wind both track rods so they're equal length. Is it OK to wind the short one out and the long one in by equal amounts till they're the same, or will that really throw my (already poor) tracking right out? I can't really afford to pay to have it done again, and I didn't get much joy going back where it was first done...

[DaveKent]

what you should really do is centre the rack first, if you want to do it properly.
if you are happy the tracking itself is correct, then measure the position of the steeering arms from a fixed point on the body/crossmember.
remove the track rod ends from the arms, and spin the steering to full lock. mark the very top of the steering wheel with tape, and count the number of turns to the othe lock.
turn the steering wheel exactly half this number of turns to centre the rack. refit the track rod ends, and set them both to the same measurements you took earlier.
this should give you the correct toe in/out.
now slide the upper column from its coupling in the engine bay, remove the steering wheel and with the wheels in the straight ahead position, turn the column until the indicator cam is central between the two cancelling levers.
refit the column to the coupling . maintaining this position
refit the steering wheel.

[Silvery]

Cheers for that :) Now to find the time and tools to do it I suppose. And no, I'm not happy with the tracking, not at all (it was set to 2 degrees off dead straight as the spanner monkey couldn't be bothered), but I'm even less happy at the general naff feeling and shimmying over bumps, which I am currently attributing to teh very uneven rod lengths.

Talking steering wheels, did the 2000 ever have the three spoke wheel? If so, are the center pads available, as I have a spare Dolly wheel, but I don't want my 2000 to think it's a Dolomite (running on 5 is bad enough, don't want to drop to 4! ;) )

I haven't forgotten about carbs and console wood by the way, just far far too skint to do anything about them at the moment :(

[Silvery]

Cheers for that :) Now to find the time and tools to do it I suppose. And no, I'm not happy with the tracking, not at all (it was set to 2 degrees off dead straight as the spanner monkey couldn't be bothered), but I'm even less happy at the general naff feeling and shimmying over bumps, which I am currently attributing to teh very uneven rod lengths.

Talking steering wheels, did the 2000 ever have the three spoke wheel? If so, are the center pads available, as I have a spare Dolly wheel, but I don't want my 2000 to think it's a Dolomite (running on 5 is bad enough, don't want to drop to 4! ;) )

I haven't forgotten about carbs and console wood by the way, just far far too skint to do anything about them at the moment :(

[DaveKent]

no, to the steering wheel question, but some dolomites and stags just had TRIUMPH on the centre pad, rather than the specific model.

[Silvery]

Ah, right, time to keep an eye out for one of those then :)

Also got to find a new overdrive "cap" as mine was held on by insulating tape - When I took the tape of the cap is clearly broken around the lip that looks to hold it in place :(  Not that the overdrive works anyway as the solenoid is sticking...

[DaveKent]

are you sure the solenoid is sticking? j types are very reliable, it is more often than not damaged or shorting wiring /connections

[Silvery]

Yep. I checked the wiring and it's all good, so then I flicked it into overdrive and got underneath with a hammer. Several blows later it finally made a nice loud click :)

Then it did it twice more and stopped, took a couple of lighter blows and it worked a couple more times and stopped. Got to the point where a very very light tap would unstick it for a few more clicks, then it gets properly stuck and needs more persuation again. Definately the solenoid, but I haven't bothered getting the car up and taking a proper look how to remove it yet. The top bolt looks to be a pain :( I tend to only do town driving, and it's got new bottom end shells, so I'm not too bothered at the moment, will get round to it sometime though. Got to get a couple of Stromberg air pistons (can't afford the SUs just now) first, as topping up my rear carb dashpot every day is getting a bore, and with the carbs like this it's hard to tell what else might be wrong...

I reckon this is a form of car loan for classics - I couldn't afford a good 2000 outright, so I sort of see my purchase price as the initial payment, and all these other bits as the monthlys  ;D