mpbarrett

I have used the main car temp sensor. I have added a stabilized 10V supply and then measure the voltage across gauge and then use a small PIC based cct to control the Fan (and switch 3 LEDS, green, orange and Red to show what it is doing). I have programmed it to have some hystersis when the temp pases  the threshold (high temp) and then it stays on unitil it drops to a lower limit.. The LED comes on at 50C (green), orange and then red. Bit of a fun really but does show you that the controller is working. I also have an over ride switch. I am not sure it is as stable as it should be. The main temp sensor is a PRT and its fed from a stabulized supply. Will probably improve it over the summer ready for the 10CR. Mike

Acclaim or Herald or GT6..... mike

Form + Cheque is in the the post..... mike

CT mag arrived this morning with entry form for next years 10CR. Libby needs to check dates and then we will send off form. Do we use the GT6 or Acclaim? Or the Herald (if it's finished by Sept)....... Mike

Cheers will give it a go. Maybe I can find some shoe polish to restore the leather. The kits are all designed for seat so if I go that route i will have a lot left over. Mike

I am sure someone has done this before..... I have got hold of an old leather covered Triumph steering wheel which I think is from a Vitesse. The leather is in good condition, not cut or damaged, but very dirty. Any suggestions on the best way to clean restore it. I am assuming that it is leather.... Also the centre of the wheel has that sort of cracked paint finish (similar to MGB dashboards) can you get hold of some thing similar? cheers mike

mpbarrett wrote:Time to come out.... Yes I have brought it. The Herald is off in darkest East Anglia being fettled, Jane's Rover is mis-behaving and heading to a garage for some expensive credit card therapy. The GT6 is great, and behaving perfectly, but is not very good for commuting to work in the winter. So I thought it was time to try the last Triumph model (it was the Acclaim or a 1989 Metro..). Bit scary as I have never brought a car without trying it first but any car that can survive a RBRR cant be too bad :)) Mike Just driven it back from Alans in Redditch to Cambridge and its rather nice, but very Un-Triumph like, everything works, it does not rattle or bang over bumps, the windows arent draughty, its quiet (you can hear the radio)  and most strange the fuel gauge hardly moved after 100 miles.... It makes you realise how dated the Dolomite was when the Acclaim replaced it. Sensible sort of car, you can drive it without very little input or involvement but its not as much fun as the Herald or GT6! :) Mike

what I like about this forum is the support, and encouraging and helpful comments from everyone :)) mike

Time to come out.... Yes I have brought it. The Herald is off in darkest East Anglia being fettled, Jane's Rover is mis-behaving and heading to a garage for some expensive credit card therapy. The GT6 is great, and behaving perfectly, but is not very good for commuting to work in the winter. So I thought it was time to try the last Triumph model (it was the Acclaim or a 1989 Metro..). Bit scary as I have never brought a car without trying it first but any car that can survive a RBRR cant be too bad :)) Mike

I wonder how many will finish. There do not seem to be many that have broken down and being recovered, or at least based on the  message board and FB. mike

great pics! So nice to see sooo many Triumph being used. Mike

is there more panic and last min change of plans than previous years???? Mike

thanks guys will try to find somewhere to sit and watch you go by................ Mike

Whats the route from London up to the A1 as I fancy watching everyone go by on Friday evening. Somewhere near cambridge would be good. If its the same as previous years I will dig out the last route book. BTW good luck everyone, missing not doing it and the buzz and panic of getting ready... Mike

EddieGT wrote: Did you refer to the steering wheel or the lady ;) the wheel hadnt noticed the picture thru the windows until now! Ok both nice :)) Mike

that does look really nice.... mike

The threads look worn at the top so the trunnions are going to be a loose fit. Mike

interesting, I am spending the weekend fitting an electric pump to my GT6. I had the metal topped mechanical pump which I think are not as good as the glass topped ones (which I think helps to keep the fuel cooler..). I have tried a HUCO pump in the engine compartment (it was designed to SUCK) but it stopped working after about a week. I have just fitted a Facet in the boot and pressure regulator and glass filter in the engine compartment.  Am about to change the fuel pipe routing to the carbs (probably after the start of the grand prix....).   Just ran the pump and am rethinking the position of it. Its mounted thru rubber mounts to the boot floor. When it starts I think the floor is acting as a sound board, as its very noisy! Once I have finished will put some pictures up. BTW Interesting how one job leads to another, I had taken the fuel tank out so it was a good time to change the rear bumper and strip and clean the rear lights and then you notice something else to fix and a mornings job turns into a  whole weekend session! mike

Only just noticed this thread, what a great rebuild and lovely car!  Mines a late Mk3 in the same shade of blue, which I think really suits the cars shape.   mike

339 wrote: Mike No just a very large heat shield between carbs and filters.  Did you fit a plastic filter before the micro filter that screws into the electric fuel pump??  I didn't when I fitted mine and I thought I was getting fuel vaporisation when it was just a blocked micro filter.  I killed one pump with it running dry because the micro filter doesn't take much to get blocked. You did have a look over mine while we were waiting for the ferry in France. Tim Too many Tims... I was replying to Tim B. Your was very nice, yes did have a filter before the Huco pump. cheers mike

Tim thats interesting! I mounted mine at the front on the outside of the engine valance (in the cold air) shame it started playing up before the run which is why I went back to the mechanical one! Do you have an air box on the carbs? Anyay here is a picture of Libby demostrating the fuel pump  Water cooling system on available on the later Mk3 GT6's... With the pump she was able to pump water along the orange pipe onto the top of the fuel pump.!!

rotoflex wrote: That never would have occurred to me, but if it works, I'm all for it. Did you have the cardboard engine valances in place?  Can a comparison of vapor lock issues be made among GT6 Mk3's that ran, differentiated by whether the engine valances were in place? I have removed the exhaust side one, near side is still in place. My gt6 is a 2.5L so generates even more heat than a 2L.... mike

as Nic said we spent a lot of time talking and thinking about the fuel problems... I had this problem before the 10CR, broke  down on a very hot day on the M25 at the tunnel. The problem is the fuel vapourises and the pump will not pump it and the carbs will not work.  The pump (all metal on my car) gets up to engine block temp so the fuel gets very hot (I think the glass topped ones might be better), there is no insulating block between the block and pump that does not help. The fuel from the pump now travels around the block to the carbs and picks up more heat from the hot air from the radiator. Finally the carbs get soaked by heat from the exhaust even with a heat shield. This gets worse when stationary. This is not helped on my car by having K&N filters, thus the air thats goes into the carbs is already hot..... I have an electric fan on my car so I can keep the enigne temp down, but then we are moving a lot of hot air down past the engine (into carbs, over fuel pipes etc...).. On the 10CR the problem would be a misfire that got worse and worse. The solution was to pour water over the pump and carbs bowels and everything would be fine again. Our short temp solution was a water feed to  top of the fuel pump which helped cool the fuel, this worked quite well. My solution before the 10CR was to fit an electric suction fuel pump in the cold air at the front of the engine, but the 3 month old new pump started to fail before the 10CR and I went back to the mechanical pump.... My plan over the winter is to: fit electric pump at rear of car reroute fuel pipe over bulkhead to carbs (away from engine) Improve heat shield (make a double skin one). Build an airbox so that the carbs gets cold air from the front of the engine. Remember that the fuel is now quite different from the fuel in the 1960/70 when the cars were designed and has a tendency to vapouris at a lower temp, a bit of googling shows that it is not just triumphs that have this problem, its very common problem. Sorry this is  a bit long... Mike

Fix the fuel vapourization problem.... our water cooling system for the fuel pump helped but dont think its  along term solution as you need a very co operative passenger and a supply of water! I am going for a boot mounted or under floor pump and pressure regulator, reroute the fuel pipe around the bulkhead, improve the shield between the carbs and exhaust (will make it double skin) and fit an air inlet box around the carbs to get fresh cold air from the front of the car. Might dump the K&N filters and go for something original even if it means loosing a bit of power. One of the rear UJ is clicking and will need replacing, steering rack seems to have got a bit of play in it which could explain the wheel wobble (even after having them balanced) and the steering coulmn bushes have worn! And the radio has packed up (its/was a nice Bosch DAB one  :((( ) So plenty to do over the winter but the car is still running and has taken me to work all this week. I think it likes being back in the Cambridge flat lands... Will send back my none pumping 3 month old electric fuel pump and get my money back from it! Mike

I brought a cheap refurb one (I think I posted the link in the 10CR section). Make sure it will handle internaries, some of the cheap Garmin and TomToms dont. guess how I found out.... The only problme I have had is that there is not enough internal memory to take all the eupropean maps so I had to add a  memory card (max 4 G) and then had a big problem convincing the software to put the updated maps onto the memory card..... Mike