sparky_spit

See below the current final mini-series points table after the DPMR rally earlier in the year, the Suffolk/Essex Borders Rally weekend, and other results sent in during the last few weeks: *Updated 26/01/23* Michael Helm - 0, Mike Banks - 16, Nigel Abdulla - 14 plus 1 marshalling point, Mike Bishop - 18 plus 1 marshalling point, Colin Wake - 28 plus 1 marshalling point, Dale Barker - 14 plus 1 marshalling point, Ellis Stokes - 16, Mark Rutter - 30, Charlie Deards - 11, Tony Pulis - 16 Annie Andrews - 15 David Mathewson - 15, Pete Jackson - 14, Richard Warr - 26, Roger Saunt - 13, Tim Hunt - 12, Pierre Miles - 12, Matt Roughton - 11, Matt Barker - 10, Chris Henry - 10 Allistair Vincent - 9, Mike North - 9, Clive Senior - 12 Gill Senior - 12, - Steve Radley - 13, Leighton Ball - 15 Alison Ball - 15 - Dave Batchelor - 58 points and Jackie Batchelor - 58 points

Thanks again to Colin, Mike (and family), and Darren for putting on a really great event today; even the rain more or less behaved itself. It was very well run and the route and organisation was spot on, and the 80mile length was just about perfect I thought. I enjoyed it very much and it was a great opportunity to get back into post-Covid driving events after what must be at least a couple of years for me. Thanks again - Mike

No email received Mike, and not in spam either. Can you post the content here?

Thanks. I think they may have just been sent to the navigators. Obvious really.....they are the clever ones who can read. Drivers just sit there and do as they're told...

Are there any Final Instructions being issued beforehand?

That FD engine number indicates that you have a Mk3 Spitfire engine, which is good news, as they are the best of the small chassis cars engines. A new pump from the usual suppliers should work fine but likely to have the long operating arm, and you should use the spacer block to prevent overstressing the pump and excessive wear on the camshaft lobe. See Triumph Spitfire Fuel Pump and Fittings | Rimmer Bros

Yes, very much like mine, although I think mine are even worse than yours, nor helped by a GRP bonnet which fits where it touches. I'll get round to fixing it one day. I can't find the post, nor diagram that describes and shows the cause of the problem; I seem to have lost it. It was originally posted by JensH? Does anyone have it?

I did similar about 10 years ago and replaced sills, inner sills, strengthener, and floors , I braced the door-gaps and set to with the grinder and welder. It all went well until I came to weld on the outer sills and realised that there was now a large gap between the bottom of the door skins and the top edge of the outer sill. I thought, never mind, I can adjust that out by moving the bottom door hinges inwards. Wrong!..... I now have gaps between the door bottoms and the sill edge you can get your fingers into and no amount of adjustment will fix it. I have a plan to correct it at some stage and have some new panels and a bit more experience now. I think you will regret it if you don't do it properly 1st time round. There is a line drawing kicking around on the forum (and on Sideways forum) that shows the exact problem, and is useful as a guide to get it right. I'll see if I can find it.

Changing the gearbox from inside the car is much quicker and easier and as Tim says above getting the angle right is crucial. To aid replacement, put a bellhousing stud (or a longer bolt with the head cut off) into the topmost threaded hole to help guide the gearbox's input shaft into the flywheel bushing. I have heard of people testing the overdrive operation on the bench using a large heavy duty electric drill. I've never done it, nor seen it done, but someone on here may have more info on how to go about it? Anyone?...........

It all depends upon your intended use of the car. If you are going to use the car for relatively short runs out, pottering around the countryside at speeds that the car was originally designed for, then it may meet your needs perfectly without the expense and bother of adding overdrive. If you intend driving the car longer distances, including a reasonable amount of motorway and fast A roads, then overdrive will be become much more desirable, not just for your ears and body but also for the car itself. It can be very tiring driving at 4000 RPM in 4th gear to keep up with traffic for a couple of hours, and if you intend doing any longer distance runs or events, having an overdrive reduces RPM at the same speed by about 1000 RPM or so, depending on which specific car/engine/diff you have and really becomes a must-have. Iv'e got a J Type OD in a Mk3 Spitfire and wouldn't want to be without it. I drove back from Holland some years ago with a non-working OD after an overnight event, and it was very tiring at autoroute speeds; not something I'd want to do again.

Done, waiting on a reply or entries appearing on the entry list.

Are you at the point where you will invite other clubs and non-CT members? Is it worth contacting Rod , Colin, and co from the ex Bedford CC? I'll do that if you want me too?

If they are the same as the Morris minor, then they ought to be easy to source, as there is a pretty large spares industry for the car, just as there is for Minis, etc. So maybe I'm wrong. Anybody know for sure?

Isn't the 20 spline clutch plate required a Morris Minor one? I think that's what I have in mine, although it was years ago that I put it in, so I might be talking rubbish.

I imported a motorcycle from France some time ago and it was pretty easy. Importantly, you really need to make sure you get a proper bill of sale, as this makes getting a NOVA document easy. As long as you have this, and proof of the date of first use in its original country, or if not, a dating certificate from a recognised car club or one of the companies that will do this for you, the rest is easy. Once you send all the required documentation to DVLA it takes about 4 to 6 weeks to get the V5 to you with your "new" age related registration number.

Banks/Rutter already signed up and paid up. The payment system is pretty painless, so thanks whoever thought of that; much better than cheques in the post.

The current mini-series placings are basically as per the results of the DPMR, which have been published in the club magazine, so I won't repeat them here. The next eligible event will be the CT Essex and Suffolk Borders 12 car rally, on the 20th November, and there will be another update after that has been taken into account.

2022/23 CT Rallies Mini-Series Information and Rules Club Triumph are pleased to announce the 2022/23 Rallies Mini-Series, a series of rallying events, both CT organised rallies and also those run by clubs that CT have a close relationship with. The objective is to promote entry-level rallying within the club by using a separately run series of existing rallying events that members can enter on their own accord, but which will score towards a “Rallies Mini-Series Championship” award at the end of the Club Triumph competition year. The events themselves will range from the most simplest form of rallying motorsport, through to some more serious and advanced rallies, but all being well within the capability of all club members. The 2022/23 series events are listed below: (CT is Club Triumph, CMC is Chelmsford Motor club, CSMA is Civil Service) 2022 Derek Pollock Memorial Rally (already run, results inc. below) November 20th – CT Essex-Suffolk Borders navigation Rally December - TBD 2023 January 6th CMC January Jaunt or Jan 13th CMC Nav Rally February 3rd – CSMA Nav Rally or 24th CMC Nav Rally March 3rd– CSMA Nav Rally or 24th CMC Nav Rally April 22nd–23rd – Club Triumph HCR, Overnight scatter rally. May June July August September October – Date TBD CMC Halloween November – Date TBD CT Not-Essex Winter Rally December You can find more detail about each of them from the Rallies - Events - side panel. The rules and series format is as below Rules and Registering your Results: Entrants will not need to register their participation in the series with Club Triumphs rallies co-ordinator (Mike Banks) as you will be added automatically when any results are received from you or the organiser of any relevant event you take part in. If you do not want this to happen, then please opt out by contacting Mike Banks directly (Sparky_Spit on the Forum). You will be able to choose as many, or as few, events to enter and the finishing results from your 8 best events will be added to the series table. You can do a fewer number of events, which will all be counted up to a maximum of 8. There is a list of suggested events provided, one per month, and you can choose from these to enter or just choose rally events that are more accessible to your location. As you can see, we have tried to include events that cover a reasonable geographical spread of the country, and a range of difficulty within the events. Where there are more than one events listed in a particular month, only one may be used within the mini-series results. Listing two or more events in any month is purely to increase the geographical spread of events. If any of the suggested listed events are not suitable for you, or too distant, then please choose a more suitable event with another club and enter that, the only proviso is that the chosen club/event is similar in to the suggested one. If in doubt, please contact me at the email address above. Within this series, Club Triumph will not arrange your entry, you must do this yourself as you would normally do. Once the event is formally announced by the organising club it will be up to each individual crew to enter the event and gain a place. Club Triumph will not do this for you. It will also be up to the entrant to pay for their entry fee and any club membership that may be necessary. It’s important for the entrant to state within the entry form that they are a member of Club Triumph, as this will allow them to take advantage of any “invited club” status we may have with the organisers, or any discount, etc. Where we can, we will state whether there is invited status or a discount. Rules will be as the organising clubs rules for the event, there will be no specific CT Rules, except where CT is actually the organising club. Within the series, CT will make no allowance for ‘Novice’ and ‘Expert’ status and results used will be the overall placings within the group of CT entrants, or in class if there are no other CT entrants. It will be the entrant’s responsibility to inform the co-ordinator (Mike Banks) of their result in each event, and provide a results sheet from the event organisers, confirming their position placing, if asked to do so. Points for driver and navigator will collected separately to cater for any differing crew makeup throughout the series. An award for the winner(s) will be given and presented at the awards dinner in March of the next year. Points will be awarded as follows: Starting the event (but declared DNF) = 2pts Starting and Finishing the event, but outside the top 12 places = 4pts Placed 1st against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 16pts Placed 2nd against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 15pts Placed 3rd against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 14pts Placed 4th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 13pts Placed 5th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 12pts Placed 6th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 11pts Placed 7th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 10pts Placed 8th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 9pts Placed 9th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 8pts Placed 10th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 7pts Placed 11th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 6pts Placed 12th against other CT crews, or in class if no other CT crews entered - 5pts Organising or Marshalling on an event – an average score will be given, up to a maximum of 3 marshalling instances, based upon all your scores and added at the year end. The average score figure will be rounded up if equal to or greater than n.5 For example: a score of 8.49 will be rounded down to 8 and a score of 8.5 will be rounded up to 9. You will appreciate that this will create the situation where final scores will not be fully known until the last event has been completed.

Actually, with Peter James, I think it is now £3000, not £3,500. See page 13 of the PDJ book, item 6. I'm sure It was £3,500 When I was recovered and repatriated from the Alps some years ago.

Don't take this as gospel, but I think that a figure of £3500 is the maximum figure that can be spent on a repatriation, regardless of the worth of the vehicle. If it is going to cost more than that, then the vehicle is "disposed of in country" and anything left over after the costs so far accrued is taken account is given back to you. So you can see why people are quite keen to do everything possible to get the car back within a £3500 budget. In practice, quite a lot can be achieved with discussions with the recovery agent, insurer, and the garage where your is being stored or repaired, I found out during my breakdown in a previous 10CR, and Sam has with his recent one Please correct me if i am wrong on any of that, anybody.

Now that rally events with CT, and indeed most other clubs, have started to get going again, event calendars are starting to get larger as more and more are being organised and then run. CT have already run the Derek Pollock Memorial Rally (DPMR) some months back, and work is well under way on the Essex/Suffolk Borders 12Car Navigational Rally on the 30th November (look under Events for full details and entries). With this in mind, the CT Rallies Mini-Series will be reinstated shortly once a few website/forum tweaks are done. The results of the DPMR will be retrospectively added to the 21/22 Rallies Mini-Series. Please keep an eye on this thread for more information on future events that are eligible, and some other information you may need if you would like to be added to the Rallies Mini Series. Mike Banks

According to the DVLA site the road tax expired on 1st July 2007 and has not been taxed nor MOT'd since. Hopefully, someone has it tucked away somewhere..

Unfortunately you can't fit (or remove) the pistons and their rods out of the bottom of the engine as the webs in the block that support the main bearings are in the way. I've just had a quick look at a block and pistons I currently have mounted on an engine stand and they have to come out, and be put back in, through the top of the bores. Sorry.....

Yes, the main and big-end bearing clearances quoted do look a bit scarily large, but they are correct and not unusual. The Clevite technical data book also quotes similar clearances for their bearing shells in all sorts of automotive crankshaft applications and I doubt a company such as them would issue duff info.

Like MPB above, age is just another number that you have managed to get to. Due to certain circumstances we were not able to enter this one but, health willing, we will do the next one if we can. Mike (66)