Stuff about my Triumphs

couple more jobs

2012-02-02T12:53:00.003+01:00

Thought i'd pretty much got the saloon sorted..but then we know these are triumphs and sorted never lasts

Did a night rally sunday night.Katie couldn't get down for it so my better half volunteered to nav for me.....now she's never done anything like this before so it was interesting and quite fun.We did get the novice clues which helped in some way but the fact that Jackie [and she's now a CT member] couldn't use the potti as it made her feel sick meant she was having to try and read an O/S map without magnification.This led to a few wrong slots..cost us a bit of time to correct ..but hey ho that's life..end result we came 3rd [out of 4 cars] ..not bad for her first ever go

The evening did throw up a couple of bits on the saloon ..the O/S/F wheel bearing is now as slack as a slacker from slacktown...so that needs replacing..also ..thought i'd sorted the clutch /hydraulics issue ...but almost lost total hydraulics ..so finally got round to doing a convertion from the troublesome mk1 master to a 5/8 one as described to me by Mr shackford.I even made up an adjustable connecting rod ..just got to fit it

Work on the 10 and some

2012-01-24T17:47:00.001+01:00

With the 1500 lump gone from the 10 i have turned my attention to tidying up the engine bay.Fuse box will replace the control box and battery will be relocated to the boot

I pretty much need to srip the bay and tidy up some of the previous work.. where the master cylinders were fitted and then repaint

Been doing some work to the saloon as well.more investigations of the clutch/gear selection issue...narrowed it down to the flexible pipe to the slave..so this has been replaced.This did however still leave the other issue of a very low bite point on the pedal..so a bit of shedgenuity later and and extension to the connecting rod was made and fitted and now i have a much more comfy bite point.Needs to be properly road tested.but seems good at the mo.

First of the year

2012-01-09T16:49:00.003+01:00

The first event of the year for me and Katie...been a while since we paired up..and it showed...we came 5th .due to missing two code boards.. some running issues with the car, only seems to happen when Katie drives it though

And apart from the odd 'debate' it was fun

The spots certainly light the way but i need to fix a brace strut to stop them bouncing

Also have got round to fitting a lucas 25d instead of the 22d...this will give me a better mid range advance..yet to try it out

The car is certainly coming together..one local lad calls it 'the tank' ..shame he couldn't keep up in his mini

Moving along

2011-12-06T08:20:00.002+01:00

Still no pics ..must remember the camera
Saloon has been doing a few bits here and there

Had to have a new NS/F shock and wheel bearing ..pair of tyres and also fitted a pair of spot lights.Also fixed the passenger seat so it doesn't recline of it's own free will...and fitted a CD player so i can have some tooons

Got a mate AKA Bob King to drive for me the other night..katie was busy...The first night event i'd done in the saloon and the first time Bob had driven it..It didn't go too badly...apart from Bob couldn't see the road that well [no spots at that point] and he had trouble understanding the 'coded' directions i was using...something me and Katie have developed over the years ..So apart from that it wasn't a bad first outing

Last sunday .. i persuaded Tim B to come and nav for Katie on a night rally i was organising...They came 2nd ..only mising one board ...Katie was being baited by a mini driver along the route so she simply replied by driving faster .Car came through a few check points only running on 5 ... but was fine when i came to drive it home ....so some investigation needed there..Also a bit of a knock from front suspension ....thought it was the shock but having replaced that , some more investigation required
The fleet has changed ... My red 13/60 has gone to pastures new in somerset.a plan has been hatched for 2013 ..thanks to some zider...and katie has just bought a MK3 spit ...has already been stripped for a rebuild so half the work done ...but watch this space

Bits and Pieces

2011-09-28T17:59:00.003+02:00

A bit of work has started on Kevin...been doing some paint ..... been doing it by hand ..not the easiest of ways but it's beginning to take shape...PREP is the key ..one wing done boolid started and some of the other panels

Also thought i'd better start the thing...hadn't run it for a while..the begger wouldn't fire ...then i remembered i'd removed the low tension wire ..DOH .. anyway that refitted and away it went

Connie went for a trip to the NL meet the other night ..develoved a bit of a fuel starvation like issue ...with the help of some of the lads ... we [they] worked out i hadn't fully seated the one way valves on the fuel pump ..that almost cured it but it isn't running too bad ..

Fitted the front parcel shelves and the central cubby box thingy

Decided i'm going to need a 3.7 diff for cruising .. the 4.11 is fun but lack the legs over the high 80's

And then there was 5

2011-09-12T16:53:00.003+02:00

Gearbox back from Pete...sorry no pics ..couldn't be arsed....but now it's back in i've got 5 gears
and what a lovely smooth uptake ...but then would expect nowt less from Pete

The 4.11 diff still makes cruising at illegal speeds less than desirable...so may have to invest in a higher ratio diff for longer road stuff and keep the 4.11 [slipper] for comps

Have sent entry off for an Autosolo on 25th of sept ...be a trial event ...tyre wise

Have also aquired a twin axle car trailer ...needs a bit of work but will make a nice working trailer when it's finished [amazing what you can get for swappage]

Work has also started on the paint of Kevin....doing a lot of it by hand...i know it's a lot of work but coming along

Will get the camera out and take some pics this week

Gearbox out time

2011-08-12T16:49:00.002+02:00

The saloon ,whilst i knew the overdrive needs a rebuild, was still being driven..a nice long weekends camping in the New Forest. However the overdrive issue had begun to affect reverse, apparently they're connected...and it had developed a fault when selecting forward gears...So with no further ado ..gearbox out time
The nice pic of the release bearing carrier ..with a notch worn in it solves the question of the selection fault

The saloon ,and we , went to Lingfield steam and country show at the weekend ..where it was on display ..between the CT stand and the saloon register stand .A good chat with the saloon boys gave me the final tips i needed for taking the box out

Also ...recently .. i have had a wee operation to remove the pin in my right leg..it's been there ten years but an infection had developed around it and it had to come out ..Whilst at Lingfield ...moving the car around ... i noticed that [with the pin gone from my leg] i suddenly have a lot more control of my throttle ...and with the car fitted with a slipper and a smaller 2500 steering wheel ...i had a little play ..and to my delight i've got a lot more control of the car than i had ...so much sideways fun to come
At the end of the day , at Lingfield , they fill the main arena with cars .... my girlfriend was the only one wearing a seatbelt ????????

The car never lies

2011-07-12T08:19:00.003+02:00

Been doing some more investigation as to why the overdrive don't work..and found out a few things in the process

Now...i'd previously lent the car to someone [who has now left the building ] as a daily driver
when i got the car back i noticed a dent on N/S rear center cap..also the car pulled to the left a bit...whilst under the car ,checking overdrive, i noticed a split N/S rack gaiter and a bald patch [indicative of someone locking up] on th O/S rear tyre..Now i could be putting 2 and 2 together and making 5 ...but signs of a slight misshap methinks

Back to the overdrive
Investergations found that the solenoid was fubar...new one fitted and all working ....NO overdrive still...so a quick phone call and Gearbox Pete was on the case ...diagnosis was an internal fault ..so box has got to come out for a strip down

I've found a smaller steering wheel...to put on for competition use ...so it's not like steering the QE2

When fitting the new soleniod i found the prop bolts VERY loose...moto there,never assume it's tight just cos you haven't undone it

Need to find a quicker steering rack ..again for comp use

Car has now done just over 1500 miles and is beginning to take shape

Naved for a mate [in his RS2000] great fun ...the saloon was supposed to be going ,katie driving] but she had to work ..she was well gutted when i told her what the day entailed

One test was the 'flamboyance test' 40 seconds to be as flamboyant as you can ..on a skid pan ...penalties for lack of flamboyancy

First time out

2011-06-09T23:20:00.002+02:00

Well the first autotest came and went ...they only went and put me in the 'touring/sport car class....i'm in a bloomin lard arse saloon...anyway..needless to say didn't come 1st in class..but it was a hoot..found out i need to swop the bus sized steering wheel for something more managable
picked up loads of penalties from whacking posts...took a while to work out the physical boundries of the car ..she's a bit bigger than the herald

First real play with the car with the LSD ...not bad but more playing required...It is nice to have a car that likes to do doughnuts..even let a yoof have a play ..he promptly started doing doughnuts round his mini

Bit more investermigation with the overdrive..looks like the inhibiter is not earthing ..so

A bit more fine tuning of engine has happened and it's running better but still more to go

Clutch slave may need a rebleed or re seal

Next event in 2 weeks ..with smaller steering wheel

Naving for someone in his RS2000 in July ...should be fun

A Few miles under it's belt

2011-06-02T15:41:00.002+02:00

Connie has done a few more miles...as Katie's boyfriend has been using at as a daily... i pointed out the small print on the 'user agreement'' the bit where it states 'you break it and i break you''

Any way..that aside...the added miles have shown up a few things...the clonking uj's seem to be getting better ..obviously a bit tight through lack of use....

I've got it set up ..engine wise..as best i can ,but it needs Peteing

Where i've lowered it by 1inch..it gave it 3 deg neg camber at the back..so some brackets ..aquired from another club member, have cured this

Have converted it to alternator

Some more interior bits and bobs fitted ..still bits to do

Have wired in the overdrive, but it don't work...some investermigation needed..the car is still doing over 30 mpg as it is so not too bad at all

The car should be doing it's first autotest next week ...a grass one ..time for a play methinks

Guarenteed a first in class...i'll be the only begger in it

Well it made it

2011-05-16T18:10:00.002+02:00

Yes it's got an M.O.T...Found out the prob with the handbrake...the backplates were on upside down...so dropped them off turned them round and hey presto handbrake ...A few other jobs like attaching number plates and seat belts .and off to the mot man and a pass... no advises but a little list of things that i'd forgotten

The lecy ignition then packed in ..and i found out the fuel gauge was lieing to me....when it ran out of petrol when it read half full [now rectyfied]

The car was entered into a fund raising event on sunday...a fundraiser fo a hospice that had cared for a friend in his last days before the big C got him

On the way to the start the back end become very 'loose' only to discover that 2 wheel studs had sheered and the others weren't exactly tight ..so a quick borrowing of a stud from the other side...with the help of a few friends ...saw us do the 80 odd mile run with three nuts on each side..i took the run at a sedate pace .. with regular stops to check on the tightness of things and the car went very well.. i even let the other half drive it ..which she did very well

The car still needs some interior bits putting back ...like the odd bit of carpet etc..and it's got the odd clonk here and there...the LSD makes some nice noises at low speed corners..oh and i need to wire the overdrive in..but it's a fun car

First trip out

2011-05-08T22:33:00.002+02:00

First time Connie has been driven in some years ..OK it's only out the barn, but it's a start

My mate Bob came up this afternoon and we bled the brakes sorted clutch hydraulics and tightened a few things ..dropped her off the stands and drove the car out of the barn...

The brakes are not good... A leaking pipe...one that i made..will need replacing and the handbrake is crap ...but it's looking promising for an MOT end of the week

A small list of little things to do .but very do-able

Also will need to go round and tighten everything

The car's booked in to do a charity run on the 15th ..in aid of a hospice that took care of a friend who recently passed away

Move to the front

2011-04-19T18:23:00.002+02:00

Work on Connie has now moved to the front end

Am taking off old discs and up grading to a MK2 set...have done the off side front ..rebuilt caliper and fitted disc

All off side susp parts have been cleaned repainted/rebushed and refitted..so apart from a few bolts to tighten the off side is done

Near side is half done

Picked up a second hand pair of rear koni's [cheap] so they'll be going on

Realised i hadn't run the engine for a couple of weeks..mainly cos a few ignition bits ended up on katie's GT6 ...so a ten minute rummage in the parts bin and the engine was ticking over quite nicely ..also hadn't run Kevin up for a while so that was started as well ..only for a water hose to leek....mind you it is an original canvas job ..so it'd earnt it keep

Might get chance to work on Connie a bit tomorrow ...but not this weekend as going on a short break

I can taste the air of the MOT bay

Rear End ed

2011-04-11T16:48:00.003+02:00

A good visit to the workshop has seen the rear end of Connie pretty much finished

N/S cross member came off ..cleaned painted and back on

N/S trailing arm back on

Both rear brakes .stripped cleaned and refitted ..with new bits where required

New flexi hoses fitted and two new pipes made up and fitted

All drive shafts bolted on and diff filled with some

nice oil to go with the LSD

A couple of little bits to do but rear end pretty much done

time to start on the front end

Another quick visit

2011-03-29T14:30:00.003+02:00

Another quick visit to the worshop saw O/S trailing arm bolted on ,new spring and bushes in and crossmember bolted back on /prop loosley bolted ...next visit will see more O/S stuff going on and nearside cross member removed for painting [exhaust needs to come apart to get that one off]

Def improvement on the before and after photos

It's actually getting quite pleasant laying on the concrete floor

Out with the old .In with the new

2011-03-28T14:07:00.002+02:00

The diff ,for connie, came back from Pete..LSD fitted ,drain plug fitted, new seals fitted..and now it's [almost ] fitted to the car...got some cleaning and painting of crossmembers but getting there..did some work this morning but got a late lunch rendevous so no more work today .but no work tomorrow A M so will continue then .Should have the begger fully bolted in and at least one of the trailing arms back on

rear end beginning to take shape

First one of the 'season'

2011-03-21T14:07:00.002+01:00

The first event of the 11 season..but not in a triumph...in my passat estate...as katie's boyfriend wanted to come along as a passenger to see what's what

It was billed as a fast and furious event..and so it was

All the nav was in tulip form..we got a book of nearly 400 numbered tulips ...and at each control we would be told which tulip the next section started on
so i didn't bother transfering to the OS map just called it

We started off well getting into first TC 3 min early
Next section was only 4 miles long so only 8 mins to do it....i had to stop katie at one point to double check things and we lost 1 min on this section...bottoms

Apart from that we were either on time or early every where ...even when she managed to get the passat sideways ...we then missed a road as were pissing ourselves laughing so she had to reverse a bit
We got all the code boards and PCs even the code board i had to get out the car to look at as she'd cut the corner so tight we couldn't see it

So we finished on just one minute late...only way anyone could beat us would be if they cleaned it and one crew did ..so we came second ..out of 12 ..not bad

Before and after..rear end rebuild starts

2011-03-16T17:04:00.002+01:00

Have started the rebuild on the rear end of connie ..diff has gone off to pete to have the LSD fitted..

Removed rear trailing arms and had them glass blasted ..more to remove the oxidisation ...so that when they are rebushed and refitted with new springs it gives me a good base..lets face it they're gonna get dirty

Haven't had that much spare time the last week or so ..so haven't done as much as would have liked,,dropped some other bits to be blasted ..they might be back by the end of the week

so the next couple of weeks should see the backend back together

Don't you just love these cars

2011-02-22T18:29:00.002+01:00

Connie is beginning to feel like a car that might actually be driven...the bits are starting to come together...slowly ..the box of bits to put on is getting smaller and the car is actually looking like a car

The latest 'quirk' of this triumph is the petrol gauge...for ages... i kept putting in the odd 5litres here and there when ever i ran the engine up ..but the gauge never moved off empty

the other day i even took out the sender unit to see if that had siezed during the long lay up..but no ...i then put 15 litres in and still no movement

so this arbo i went up for another tinker and put another 5 litres in...and all of a sudden the gauge goes up to just under 1/2 ?????

The interior need more cleaning ...got to sort out where the car is leaking ..got a rough idea .. but the carpets are damp and that makes the seats mouldy

the list of bits to look for at stoneleigh is forming .along with the list of bits to sell

A Bit more saloon stuff

2011-02-15T22:41:00.002+01:00

Have done a bit more to connie

..took a trip to west sussex to catch up with an old friend and saloon bloke and bought a list of bits from him

Connie now has a new gearbox mount.....g/box crossmember has been rebushed and fitted..T.R.Ends ..one's been fitted [off side] most of off side front has been polybushed ..will start on near side at weekend

fited a new old stock clutch master ..only to find the seals on that were shot ..good job i got a reseal kit as well

got a NOS brake master as well,,,but will check the seals on that

picked up rear wheel cylinders and a set of hoses so more to be fitting

haven't started the car for prob a couple of weeks ..but battery on and she fired up no probs

so some progress with the car ..but more to do...interior is in need of a clean ..need to track down where the water is leaking in

A productive weekend

2011-01-29T14:49:00.005+01:00

It has been a productive weekend...friday...morning ,from about midnight to 6.30 was spent in waltham abbey ,along with a few other CTers marshalling a 'welcome point' on the monte carlo historic rally....the mk2 jag pictured was one of the 33 cars that came through..I used the opertunity to fact findon how the event actually works and was very pleased and educated at the same time.got a look at the road book for the Uk section and was pleased that it looked easy....as in stuff i already know

Connie....

Went up to the workshop sat morning with plans to do lots but it was a bit too cold to stay too long ..but did manage to get a bit further with the question of why the headlights don't work..I already knew that the main switch and floor dip switch were faulty and that there was no earth return on the wiring.so set about trying to find out why...Found it ..someone had removed the earth from the body ..so reconnect and hey presto headlights

Herald 13/60

Fitted a tempory exhaust as katie managed to remove the other one ...has got a GT6 back box on at the mo ,will do for the time being

replaced steering coloumn joint as old one had a lot of play in it ...topped up gearbox with oil

did some map prep as doing a 12 car tonight

a mate ..barney was driving as katie was working..the nav clues were very long .. but we managed 3rd against some good crews and barney was quite impressed with how the herald went

so not a bad weekend really

That'll be FUBAR then

2011-01-23T16:03:00.002+01:00

The gearbox mount that is...the rubber bit showing at the bottom ..shouldn't ..that's why the gearbox sat low and i couldn't get the gearstick locator bolt in

Have done a bit more on Connie today...had her up to 30mph in 3rd...OK it was on stands and didn't move out of the garage but at least it proved no dodgy noises from the gearbox

Remebered to take a paint brush with me so i could paint some of the suspension bits i'd cleaned..also removed ,cleaned and painted gearbox crossmember..that's when i found the knackered mount

Played around with the electrics to try and find why i have no headlights...dodgey dash switch...floor dip switch and no earth from lights..will investigate earth prob another day

The leaking water pump proved not to be from where it bolts onto the housing ,but the pump itself ..so one found in my spares and fitted

So the list of bits to get is getting slightly bigger

Steering rack gaiter

steering rack ball joints x2

gearbox mount

Bit more ..front suspension

2011-01-22T17:22:00.002+01:00

Started stripping down the front suspension on Connie

Fiting the Witor ,lowered by 1 inch , springs and poly bushes....but it does help if you take everything with you that you are meant to

Made a flask of coffee to take ...forgot that...also forgot to take a paint brush so i can paint the semi etch paint on the suspension bits ..so have only trial re-assembled some bits so i can whip them off again tomorrow and finish cleaning them and give them a good coat of paint..Also need to take clutch master off as it needs a rebuild and slave is knackered as well..Plus will get the rear end jacked up and propped up so i can start taking the rear end apart as well

Whilst i have a lot of bits for the car already ...so no cost ,just time and diesel to get to the workshop ...i am building a small list of bits i need to buy

Also will need to make a list of bits i need to pick up from the storage container on the way to the workshop in the morning

RESULT

2011-01-15T15:24:00.003+01:00

As it says ..result...Pete came up this morning and took the carbs apart...front carb float was set wrong and not letting fuel in..he did his stuff with the pistons ,to stop them sticking

I also blocked of the vac tube on the inlet manifold and after a bit of fiddling with the timing the saloon engine runs .It runs bloody sweet as well ..especially out of the witor exhaust

Slight water leak where the water pump is mounted on the housing ,so a new gasket needed there but other than that a good morning on Connie

Kevin

Flushed the engine out and reset the two popped core plugs ..a few new gaskets here and there and that's back together and running so a good couple of visits to the workshop

Hope to visit workshop again tomorrow and some more work on kevin and Connie planned

Basic ,boy ,basics

2011-01-09T14:27:00.003+01:00

That's a reminder to me, like DONT FORGET TO CHECK THE ANTIFREEZE...which i didn't do in Kevin..result two popped core plugs ,...not the end of the world..Two sheered studs on exhaust manifold as well ..again not the end of the world as i've got a spare i can bung on till i get round to repalcing the others

Engine could do with a bloody good flush out , judging by the crap inside the block

Not going to happen this weekend as i'm organising a 12 car ...so must go and do some more printing and checking of stuff

The cigar smouldered

2011-01-03T21:27:00.002+01:00

Another trip to look at Connie today
With a view to getting the engine running..The fuel pump [rebuilt] def pumps fuel to the carbs.
Pushing fuel straight down the throat of the carbs and the engine fires and runs but only for the length of time it takes to burn that fuel

So fuel not getting through carbs...the last pair of carbs [on katie's GT6] i rebuilt.. i didn't get quite right so i'm thinking i've done an equally poor job on these [sometime in the dim past]

So it's have a chat with Pete tomorrow night and get him to come up and have a look

With the engine running it will give me the kick up the arse i need to get this car on the road ...that and the plans i have for it ...something about a holiday to Italy in mid may and a little event called the Mille Miglia springs to mind

Also need to get the 13/60 home as it's due a serious shedtune session ...with the autotest/solo season coming up ..there are plans for this little car as well

Close but no cigar

2011-01-02T18:08:00.002+01:00

With the first visit of the new year to the workshop to play with the cars ...the plan was to get connies engine running....almost...it was firing up and running for a few turns but not any further...certainly a step forward but not what you call running..will have another go tomorow with freshly charged battery and some fresh petrols and see
kevin started and ran as normal ..but looks like it may be leaking a bit of water from water pump somewhere so that will get looked at as well

This years events will need looking at ..have had to devise a different way of naving the fast night rallies....with the damage to my right eye it means that i get slight double vision when trying to focus on the maps in a moving car ...not easy when plot and bash is required ..so a plan was hatched ...the 'nav patch' basicaly wear a patch over the right eye and nav one eyed ..it works too..can now focus on the map on the move ..all i need now is the parrot on the shoulder..i've got a cutless

lack of piccies

2010-12-30T20:28:00.002+01:00

Haven't been on the interweb much of late as have had trouble with providers ..but won't go into that
the weather has slowed progress on the cars and i haven't had my camera with me when i have worked on them so no piccies

Kevin ..the 1200
the repairs to the nearside outriggers have been done ..ta Clive
a repair to the rear off side one awaiting
roof has been changed
repair to a replacement drivers door are underway
so progress

Johnny the 10
have found a pair of early spit vertival links ..so conversion to discs can occur
other than that nowt

Connie the saloon
nowt has happened but i NEED to crack on with this as i have plans for the car ..that involve Italy

Katie's Gt6 decided it didn't like the cold and the snow and eventualy wouldn't start so she has been using the herald..looked at it tother day and found the rotor arm was FUBAR so a quick change and she's alive again

Herald 13/60
this is due to come off the road for a bit of shedtune and TLC...have been speaking to an autosolo loving friend and he has given me some sound advice on how to make the car more competitive
so look out

need to shedule in work times for cars as work and life are getting back to normal and busier ,
rather than just a random pop up the shed when i feel like it

Something for the Weekend Sir

2010-11-16T22:15:00.003+01:00

Last weekend we...a few mates and our triumphs , did what we christened the RBRR Lite..We left home early friday morn drove ,leasurely, to Perth for a nights kip , then a leasurely drive sat to stay in Glasgow..more leasurely driving for a sunday night kip in Tewkebury ..then home monday

as you can see ,we ,[me and Katie ] packed lightly for our trip

We did some of the recommended RBRR route and visited one or two of the control stops , but did so at a more leasurely pace which enabled us to stop here and there and admire the scenery.Plus we added in some extra places like the Lake District

The sceney in scotland was Fab ..with snow covered hills

katies GT6 went well apart from a 6 week old spax shock failing..luckily i had a spare in the boot

We were able to stop at loch Ness and Ambleside and really take in some of the atmosphere ..and enjoy some cracking roads in our little cars

We did pack a little hamper of snackage for along the way ..and we had to dodge the odd flying bannanna skin coming from Clives toledo

The collection of deer on the roads of scotland in the dark made for much fun

I didn't bother trying to even guess the MPG ..quite frankly i didn't care..it was all about having a hoot in our trumpies and that we did

Bottoms up

2010-10-24T17:16:00.003+02:00

I've been doing a bit to Kevin the 1200...whilst i'm trying to locate some bits for the standard.I've removed the rot rear valance and started to clean and underseal.Also got to do some outrigger repairs .. but more of that another day

Also been sorting out my spares ..which are curerently in two council lock ups...but i've taken on a 20ft container on a farm nearby so am slowly moving stuff and sorting/selling as i go

I've found bits that i'd forgotten i'd got but still can't find rear overriders..that i need for Kevin...i'm sure i've got some ...i've found 4 pairs of front but no rears YET.

The two lock ups are fast emptying so it's going the right way

May well take the covers off Bob [the mk3 gt6] and restart the halted resto of that as well

RBRR

2010-10-05T09:04:00.003+02:00

Well another RBRR under our belts. That's my 6th and Katies 3rd.This time we did it in her GT6

I didn't get the car off her untill about 10 days before the run , but having done a few and having been very active with these cars over the years the prep was quite easy. The only thing i didn't do was check tyre pressures ..when we did [in scotland] i found the rears at 23 psi ..that would explain some of the lively handling

But the little car possitively flew ..it never missed a beat .even put up with my controlled [sort of] exit from the road when i came into a roundabout way ,way tooo fast and lost traction...there was no doubt ..we were leaving the road ..but managed to exit the black stuff on my own terms so didn't damage the car .And after getting a ticking off from my daughter [ well a bollocking] we carried on

We kept getting news of pullouts ..something like 20 in the end ..but we kept plodding on

My best bit was somewhere in wales..i was behind a german TR6 [another father daughter team] and we were really flying along the lanes ..untill. i'd set myself up nicely for one bend , put my foot on the throttle only for the return spring to break ..giving me full throttle ..with no way of lifting ...so a quick clutch down, engine off ,pullover and fit a made up return spring and we were off again

And we know the event is not a race ..but one of our sponsors said [having seen the 2000 miles in 48hrs bit] that if we came in under 48hrs he'd DOUBLE his pledge....so whilst not a race , that was our target ..and we did it ...we were about 7th car back and were in in something like 47hrs 52mins

Katie is now even more in love with her trumpy ..although i did have to keep telling her that the little red line on the rev counter at 6000rpm was not an indication of the ideal cruising speed

As it's due an MOT in less than a week i'd better get it back off her and check it over post RBRR

RBRR prep begins

2010-09-21T21:07:00.002+02:00

The prep on Pickme begins for the RBRR ..the fact that it's only 10 days away is not bothering me at all

So far have topped diff up with oil checked rear suspension ..needs new shocks... and tightened handbrake cable

Also discovered that it needs new front pads and front bearings need a look at ..a tighten at least ..so will get a new set in just in case

Things that i know need doing

Change passenger seat for a recliner

Fit CD palyer

Wire in power socket for sat nav and phone charger

Fit new rear shocks

Fit new front pads

Check/replace front bearing

Remove gearbox tunnel so i can top up gearbox and replace speedo cable

Fit new speedo....old one has siezed

should have most if not all those jobs done by the end of the weekend

Kevin came out to play and a bit of work on the 10

2010-08-30T19:36:00.002+02:00

Kevin the 1200 came out to play last friday when i took it [on a trailer] for an autotest..It ran very well coming second in class only losing by 0.5 of a second

it's the first small journal crank engine i've had and is certainly revtastic

Also been doing a bit of work on the 10 ..painted the welding i had done the other day and started to investigate changing the front drums for discs..Some standards had a left and right hand thread trunnion and some only right handed..so i stripped the left side down to find that mine has two right..bottoms ..then i remembered that there was a spare left vertical link in the boot.This one was a left thread trunnion so that's a bonus

some saloon pics

2010-08-23T21:50:00.003+02:00

having now joined the ranks of the 2000 owners i thought i'd put some pics up of the work done so far...bought the car off a fellow CT member and he'd picked it up off a guy who'd srtipped the interior ..obviously with a view to restoring it and then given up ..so basically i got a car full of boxes of bits

first thing was to get the body sound and this has been done at Moordales and when they started they oncovered a history of past bodges ..not done by the guy i bought it from...and hopefully these pics go some way to showing that ...i've got a CD of 146 pics ..basically the top 7/8 was sound the bottom 1/8 ...not

the first pic shows some of the horrors found when the sill was removed and the second the finished sill

wll need to get some of ther interior now it's in

bit more

2010-08-17T08:04:00.002+02:00

marshalled and was scrute at an ERMC all day aototest sunday..at the end of the day was given a copy of the revised results for the autotest the previous friday...i hadn't come second in class ..i'd won ...beating ALL the beamers..that put a grin on my face

Kevin

work on this 1200 is going to plan to have it for for autotesting this friday, the other sat, went down to poole in dorset and picked up a van load of herald stuff that i'd bought from an add on the CT forum
turned out to be a right good hall
have fitted a VGC full width rad ,repaced rot passenger door ..bootlid ... will be fiting better headlight surrounds and front overriders

an engine that i built for the other herald a while ago [that promptly went wrong in about 60 miles]..took it to pete for him to look at and it's run no 4 journal and a bit on no 2 as well so crank change...luckily i have one all ground up and the shells for it ..all down to a jammed oil pressure switch we think

back to grass roots

2010-08-07T19:40:00.003+02:00

Following the CT autosolo the other week ..where i drove like a twat and managed to crash mid test...might have been something to do with entry no 13 . A mate said 'doug it looks like you're trying TOO hard' so with that in mind i decided to get back to my roots of having fun in my triumph and have done 3 grass autotests in the last week . With my driving improving at each one. Last night i beat two beamers in my class..trounced an alpha overall.. and only missed out on a class win by .4 of a second . And that's in a herald with the engine showing it's age..will only do a max of 90..although still managed a bit of tyre squeel round a round about ...5 up at 1.30 am this morning. It was nothing to do with me ,honest ..i was being urged on by the son of an ex works triumph driver sat in my passenger seat...put a smile on his face anyway .Also did my first regularity in a long while ..naved in an mg midget ..set some good times and got 3rd
so the plan this year is to go back to the basics of having fun in a triumph whilst beating much younger/faster cars
Kevin [herald 1200]
..have changed a few bits on that and have done the odd bit of tidying.the plan is to have it together enough to autotest it in 2 weeks time..will need to trailer it down but should be a hoot
lets see how many moderns i can upset in a completely bog standard 1200
High speed johnny [the standard 10]
...has had some welding done to the body and a bespoke exhaust 90% made ..have accumulated all the bits needed to change the front to dics instead of drums ..rads been rebuilt
Connie [a newly aquired 2000 mk1 saloon]
this is another rebuild project and has had much welding done to the body previously .. and still requires much work but will complete the 'stable' of triumphs
bob ..my trusty old mk3 gt6
this has been sat on the back burner for a long time ..nearly 4 years .. but will have some work done to it soon
with 4 triumphs needing work of various amounts my garage is def full the only way i'm gonna get another is to finish one and sell it first..but then i'm thinking i don't actually need any more as i've got enough cars to cover almost everything i want to do....just need to earn the bloody money now

i do like it when things go well

2010-07-02T10:13:00.002+02:00

Kevin the new herald , is sat outside the house whilst i go over it and make a list of jobs and bits Also i've been checking the list of jobs that apparently had been done during it's long lay up
New clutch ..check
clutch hydrolics didn't work ....master had gone ..10 minutes rummage in spares and one was fitted
clutch bled and working
some work had been done to head but engine not run for a while
quick rummage in spares and rotor arm fitted, tank flushed ,battery fitted from other herald and engine running as sweet as a nut
car was missing hub nuts so again some salvaged from spares and fitted
only one thing remained ...take it for a spin round home ...and the biggest shock of all it's got bloody good brakes and the sharpest handbrake i've ever felt on a triumph
with the list of bits pretty much complete i can now put the car away and concentrate on the 10
And having gone to the SMC show tother day i can now crack on with some questions answered on that car

Bit of a barn find

2010-06-26T21:49:00.002+02:00

Well not really , as i've known about this car for a while

It belonged to a fellow ERMC member who bought it back in the early 80s .It had a valve seat prob ,so he put it in his garage [he's a mechanic by trade]and did that, plus a few other bits and there it sat for quite a few years

He said he wanted shot of it for the room ,so i volunteered. I know i've got some on the go already but i couldn't turn it down as it was free and it's an early 1200, being a 61 [ it's been nicknamed Kevin after it's previous owner]

It arrived today and i've already started making a list of jobs to do.A lot of the bits i already have and some i'll have to get but once the list is complete i'll stick it in the lock up till it's turn comes

There are some bits that i was def expecting to have to do and these are like it came out the show room yesterday and some other bits that i thought might be alright and they need doing

It's Litchfield green with a matador red interior ...the interior is good [although covered in dust] but the outside will need a respray at some point

I picked up the newly rebuilt rad for the 'super ' 10 today and am off to the SMC annual bash tommorrow with a small list of bits to get

Also gave the 13/60 a service today with my holiday to Le mans in mind and the forthcoming CT autosolo

Plus Katie told me that she had a burn up with a modern MERC [in her GT6] today ....the merc DIDN'T win what am i going to do with that child

bit distracted

2010-06-17T08:00:00.002+02:00

MOT time had crept on me with the herald ..doesn't seem like a year ago .but time flies.I knew i had one or two things to do ..the usual like handbrake...the horn was being female and only working now and then and i did a nav scatter on sunday ,with Clives wife Gill as nav, and after bottoming out[more than once] down a very rough track i had a few bits to sort out there

Also found that the brake lights didn't work ..diagnosed as the switch, and the one in my spares bin was knackered too , so i had to dismantle it and rebuild , but all worked for the MOT
tightened the rear brakes up as much as i could ..handbrake only just good enough to pass .so a look at the cable next.

I ended up disonecting one of the horns to get the other to work ..must be a poor earth somewhere

I always use the same MOT place and we normally have a good old chin wag about what me and the cars have been up to ..I also use the opertunity ,whilst the car's up on the ramps , to have a good look . It did dawn on my that whilst my time has been taken with trying to rebuild the business, [following my enforced break] and the stupid F******g D*****e i hadn't paid as much attetion as normal to the mechanical upkeep of the herald..And whilst i'm the 1st to admit none of my cars are show cars they are normaly pretty well maintaned mechanicaly.So that will have to change.
The standard is coming on slowly too...the rad is being rebuilt and the interior is slowly coming together.I've now got all the bits to rebuild the front brake wheel cylinders . and the bits to make an exhaust for it .
And also the business is starting to pick up with new and old clients ..which cheers me up

one of those 5 minute jobs

2010-05-13T07:17:00.003+02:00

After Bob helping me get the engine running and reffiting the front wheels on their subframe, the other day. I went to reconnect the front brakes and bleed them.Used some flexable hose from my box of bits [herald ones] and went to undo the bleed nipple on the first wheel cylinder only for it to snap off in the body ..moved on to the other wheel for it to do the same .The wheel cylinders look reasonable but as it's drums in front and brakes are quite important it looks like the 5 minute job of bleeding the brakes is going to turn into a complete front brake rebuild..just hope i can get the parts at a reasonable price ..non on fleabay at mo

bit more work on the standard

2010-04-27T16:32:00.003+02:00

have been doing a bit more work on the standard 'super' 10 ..have
got the engine and box back in on mounts..still got to fit all the bits
and pieces before firing it up..but progress non the less. have been doing a bit of work to the interior as well. Where a PO had hand painted it i'm redoing it with rattle cans in wedgewood blue to match the blue interior that's going in
need to get the rad recored ..prob take that to a place in tunbridge wells on friday when i go for an eye test..Will need to get my dad up to look at the electrics

but it's starting to move forward rather than backwards ..at the mo

Johnny's got a hole

2010-04-04T17:23:00.002+02:00

Been doing a bit of work on a standard ten..sorry a standard ''super'' ten ...musn't forget the super bit. Investigating why the clutch was stuck on ...due to the lack of access on this litle car i ended up having to take the engine and box out as one unit .Which meant having to remove the front wheels [which are on a sort of subframe] and the front valance...so the the engine and box can come out the bottom

With engine and box seperated i found that the clutch slave was jammed in the on position .Also the car has been modified at some point with a triumph 1500 engine which has a ''triumph tune'' rocker cover ..now has it got any other tuned bits in the engine or just a rocker cover ..we'll see

It's a bit of a mystery this little car ..trying to unravel the mods that have been done is going to be quite fun..I was asked to get it ready for the CT autosolo in july ..that might be a bit of a tight deadline but we'll see

Haven't spent as much time on it this weekend as planned as i've been catching up with a few mates and having a bit of a celebration

[and the car's been nick named johnny hence the title]

One year on

2010-02-23T19:57:00.002+01:00

A year ago today i was asleep .. i believe they call it a coma... i think i just forgot the alarm but hey ho.
Not much on the car front .have been out already this year and a poss event tomorrow night .and organising a 12 car for sunday. but not had much enthusiasm for herald work .
But will do a few bits tomorrow..and need to get Katie's GT6 ready for the CT stand at stoneleigh . My time off work saw the business virtually vanish and it's gonna take some time to rebuild, so there is a distinct lack of cash to compete with
On the slightly brighter side ..a club member has asked me to prep a car for autotesting /autosolo, with the CT autosolo on 18th July in mind. I should get a good look at it over the next week or two and then i can tell him what needs doing ..It looks like it's got promise .It's gonna be fun with a capital F
I'm hoping to have it done quite quick for him so we can autotest it on grass first and do some fine tuning

pottering by gently

2010-01-23T18:51:00.002+01:00

As the title suggests that's what i been doing
Replaced a dodgey starter on the herald and half way through fitting the revarnished door cappings..still need to fit a pair of spots to help with the night rallies ..even with halogen upgrades a bit more light would be nice
Also been doing a bit of TLC to Katies GT6 ... the carbs ..rebuilt by the PO ..had very worn throttle spindles so didn't idle very smoothly..so using a pair of spare bodies [with good spindles] i rebuilt them ...only for them to leak like a sieve....i'd used the wrong gaskets on the float chambers . so after changing them it now idles luverly. Have also replaced the wiper motor , that kept blowing fuses , so now we have wipers...only the indicator gizmo to replace ...and put on the new wheels/tyres that i swopped with fellow CTer Andy and she'll be ready for a nice cruise out .I hope it's sunny tomorrow afternoon .Now that i've put the fuse back in for the wiper motor [also does fuel gauge] i see that it has 3/4 tank of petrol ,mmmm , i feel a nice little cruise coming on
More pottering tomorrow

Stonechips are trophies

2010-01-09T14:55:00.003+01:00

Can't remember who first said that to me ..may have been Martin Randle. but it refers to the marks left on your car after an event that can stand as a reminder of what you've done.Not quite sure how the remains of a number plate fits in but that will stand as a reminder..don't wind Katie up

We were entered into an ERMC night rally ..a bit quicker than the normal 12 car.When i picked Katie up she wasn't feeling well and obviously not in the right frame of mind needed for one of these events.So i hatched a plan.I knew if i wound her up she'd bite back by driving the car as it should be ..fast.The plan worked ..a bit too well..as we were driving some roads we know very well she actually drifted the herald round some bends .But on one bit ,we didn't know, we came across a small river foord at about 50mph and the remains of the number plate are the result.But we did have fun though

I have been doing a few jobs on the herald..mainly with bits i have ..like revarnishing some vitesse door cappings, i need to solder a wire onto the overdrive solenoid, change the starter motor ..make a new number plate

I did a lot of naving on events toward the end of the year for both Katie and Clive..i had to test the old brain box ,following the crash, to find the areas that required retraining.Now i've done this i can concetrate on those areas that need work .I've also rearranged my prep schedule for any event that i do ..even down the the prep work on a car..i find that going and doing a few small jobs and then walking away earlier than i used to is helping..also the blooming cold weather drives me home as well.The old addage of the 6 Ps Proper Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Lets see what 2010 has to offer

THE WOST KEPT SECRET

2009-11-15T18:26:00.002+01:00

As the title says.
The background to the story.when katie was 14 i taught her to drive in my MK3 GT6. She loved the little car but always had an eye for the roundtail.With this in mind i promised i'd buy her one for her 21st birthday ...next Febuary.As good ones are few and far i put the word out that i was looking for one ,Tim B alerted me to an advert for one and i arranged to go look at it one tuesday about a month ago. a few days before the viewing katie rang to see if i was free on that day . The conversation went like this
Katie . what are you doing next tuesday
Me .nowt
Katie . do you fancy doing something
Me . nope , going out for the day
Katie . where you going
me . nowhere really , just out
katie . has it got something to do with a promise you made about a date in febuary
me . eerrrr no
that was the end i thought till she rang up on the afore mentioned tuesday and asked if i wanted her to make me a sandwhich to take on my trip to look at the car ..Bugger , i'm rumbled...''do you want to come then '' says i YES came the reply
The long and the short of it is that we went to look at it ,she test drove it and it was such i nice car that i bought it
The above pic is courtesy of andy farmer photography who took it at oulton park where katie did her 1st ever track day in it
The car is pretty much bog standard and will remain that way ..a few minor things will be done ,
But now she has joined the elite 6pot club.
I must say ,as much as i like the little herald , it is nice to drive a GT6 again

hole in my herald

2009-09-27T16:22:00.006+02:00

there's a hole in my herald...after the PCT i took the engine out

A , so i could look at the clutch..which was on it's way

out and B to make way for a new engine.

new engine is going to be made up of bits i have, i took the block in last monday ..to be bored out

to match some pistons i have..On a 4 day turn round ,they said, funnily enough i haven't got the

block back.so today ,that was going to be spent putting engine together again has been taken up

with fitting poly steering rack bushes and a thicker anti roll bar .Plus i have been stripping bits

off the engine i took out , ready to put on the new one. Only thing is the car is entered in an

event next sunday, so it's going to be a bit tight for time..we can always do the event in the

modern , but not quite the same...but the engine needs to be in and ready for the 11th oct as

i'm entered into the oxford MC autosolo in it.Katie's driving Tim Bs GT6 again

Stiff my ride and bounce Berrick bounce

2009-09-20T21:26:00.002+02:00

Finally got round to trying to stiffen the front end of the herald up , using some 480lb springs and some spax shocks, that i've had for a while. certainly has sharpened the cornering up ,not such a comfy ride but hey ho
Also did a production car trial today...the aim of which is to drive up a course ,set on a hill, the futher you get up the course the fewer penalties you get.There was a total of 12 test with 2 runs at each .The person with the fewest penalties wins. If you manage to drive the whole course you get a 0 penalty..Simple? no...You get to take a passenger who can bounce up and down in the car to increase traction.Enter Mr berrick , who did a grand job in the back of the herald, even if it did look like something you'd see in a pub car park after closing.. But it did give the herald the extra grip to clear several hills.Some we failed to clear because the herald beached itself on a mound .But we did manage to get 1st in class..beating the other triumph ...not sure of our overall place but we certainly didn't disgrace ourselves..managed to seperate the exhaust at one point but that was fixed..so not a bad day really

This weekend i are mainly fettling

2009-08-31T07:25:00.002+02:00

Been doing a few little jobs this weekend.The other day the ignition switch decided to be female and only do what it's supposed to when it felt like it.so a trip to winns and a new one was bought , fitted ,that jobs a goodun. Also had to pick up a replacemant horn center for my mota lita steering wheel as the old one had self destructed.A connecting wire had to be added but that works a treat as well.Then a bit of re-angling of the spot lights, so they point down the road

Yesterday morning i picked [or should i say had to wake ] katie up at 8am to pop to a local boot sale ,to look for an electric lawn mower ,as the house she and her boyfriend have moved into has a tiny lawn in need of attention.We found a nearly new one for a tenner, it works a treat too. On the way back from there we popped into the local festival of transport for a nose.On one of the autojumble stands was an old ladies bike ..not bad nick ,so we bought that ..a tenner.tyres were flat so we borroweed a pump from a chap with some bikes on display and katie rode it homeWith a bit of research , turns out the bike is from 1938 .So for a tenner and a quick clean she's got a 71 year old useable bike with gears. On another stand was a motorbike called a Douglas Dragonfly ...not really into bikes, but this was nice , but already sold so not meant to be
There were lots of shiny cars there but not my style...i think the best thing i've seen recently is an old chevy from the 20's proper gangster stuff..on it's number plate it reads ''insured by the mafia, you hit me we hit you''

mmm

2009-08-23T23:19:00.002+02:00

blog disapeared from c t listing ,something i did or just eletrickery at work see if this one works

Mal Du Nav

2009-08-23T08:12:00.003+02:00

Last night i naved for Michael Helm [in his TR6] on the ERMC 20-20 rally ,so called as it had a max 20 entries and there would be 20 time controls.It was what i call a DLC [drive like crazy] rally as it was plot and bash. You didn't get your route in advance but as you started each section and you would have to average 30mph , so if it was a 5 mile section this would give you ten minutes to drive and plot it.We started off Ok , the only prob being that i found it very difficult to plot on the move as the TR6 was a very lively ride, especialy on the bumpy roads of the romney marsh. Before we started the rally ,Michael had asked me if i suffered from car sickness or ''mal du nav'' , ''ive never been carsick'' replied i. That was untill last night .between the combination of the lively ride the bumpy roads and the speed of the event i ended up hurling up my dinner by the 3rd check point.. not a pretty sight.So we lost a bit of time due to that and Michael then slowed down to help me not repeat it .The nav clues weren't too bad but due to that and me having to get Michael to read them out to me so i could plot faster we lost time here and there, but we did manage to finish Ok and the final result was we came 15th overall with only 2 fails and our lost time. There were 3 winning crews who ''cleaned'' the course with no fails and no minutes late. And we were the highest placed classic with the only other retiring . So apart from a revisit from my dinner it was quite a fun night

spots

2009-08-20T10:12:00.003+02:00

Bought some spots for the herald ages ago but

always struggled to decide what bracket to fit,

till i found a pair on ebay at a good price .Made for a herald as well.Had a trial fit this morning to decide how they would go. i like the lower one better, so prob will do them that way. Just got to wire them up then [via relay] .and adjust to best angle.

Also fitted a couple of new horns the other day..only prob is couldn't get both to work ...either one or the other would..Started looking at earths and noticed the steering column

joint was missing it's earth.so after a bit of fiddling one was fitted ...still no joy.Then i went with a new bit of wire trying to earth out various bits and still no joy.Than i decided to take the steering wheel off and look there.The contacts on the wheel were filthy , after a good clean .hey presto ...a pair of new horns

Went to the TSSC show at stafford last weekend ...took some autojumble up and sold quite a few bits , also bought a few as well....a pair of uprated front springs for the herald....see if i can stiffen the front end up and stop Katie lifting a rear wheel a foot of the ground on tests. and a spares gearbox for a tenner,plus a couple of original workshop manuals.but still came home with cash in pocket

Been doing some gym work in a attempt to get fit again after recent events ..going well apart from falling off one of the machines...muppit

been a while

2009-08-10T04:50:00.002+02:00

It's been a while since i updated my blog.For a number of reasons...busy with life , driving the car etc.That took a bit of a turn in Feb when someone [talking on his phone] took me out on the M25 .After leaving hospital at the end of april ,it was a massive effort to even walk let alone anything else.But with the help of the ''essex boys'' less than 48hrs after leaving hospital i'd bought a herald [unseen] on ebay

Michael Helm then brought the new car and the crashed one home and work began to strip the crashed one and put the new one back on the road after a 3 year absence.

It was clear early on that i was in worse shape than i'd thought, and whilst enjoyable, i was struggling to do some of the physical stuff. The lads from the Gatwick group came to the rescue and came down one sat morning to swop engine and gearbox over.In 3 1/2 hrs the engine/box was in, prop shaft and exhaust fitted and the car was running .Thanks lads..all i did was make the tea and bacon sarnies

Then followed the change of the interior for the nice tan one and ,with the help of Clive, well he did all the welding, the boot floor and rear outriggers were mended.he even drove the car to the MOT station for me and the thing passed

The car passed it's MOT on the wednesday and then Katie and me went to Norfolk on the friday for the eastanglian classic on the sat.We were doing not bad, the car was flying in the tests and my nav wasn't too bad for a bloke with a bang on the head. Then ,whilst in the queue for one test, the bloody wiring loom caught fire ,that was us out and a trip home on a tow truck

i fitted the loom from the other car...took a few days to sort out the wiring that didn't match any diagram or burnt loom but it's fine now and has done two events since.I even drove my first one [an autogynkhana] and was 5th overall

i have fitted a fuse box , so hopefully no more loom fires.still a few jobs left to do to get the car where the other one was but now i've resurected this i can keep tabs on what i've done and what's left to do

Hughes rally

2008-06-14T21:07:00.003+02:00

1st of June was the date for the Hughes Rally ,a round of the HRCR clubmans series.This was only the second such event we'd done and the first time that Katie had driven one

As very much novices in this event [seeded 59th out of 60] our goals were simple , not get lost on any of the regularities [140miles of] not miss any code boards and have fun in the tests

Much of the route for the event was in the form of a tulip road book , with only 4 sections to plot on the map ,this made things a lot easier than we'd imagined which meant we made no navigational errors ,which when you're being penalised by the second is vital

We went straight from the start to do some tests ,which help settle Katies nerves a bit .And then on to the first of the regularites ,and so the day went on with a couple of regularites interspersed with some tests

some of the tests were in an MOD wood ....this was Katies favourite bit .. we even managed to get our own back on a Lotus Cortina that had previously run us off the road on a regularity...as we came round the corner ,in one of the wood sections, he was on the edge of the track with his bonnet up , Katie managed to get the arse out a bit and spray him with mud

We finished the day about 6.40 pm and had dinner whilst waiting for the results . We came 37th overall and second in class ..not bad for our second go .. with a total of 1179 penalties .The overall winner was on 800 odd penalties

We did manage to achieve all our goals of not getting lost ,picking up all the code boards and having fun in the tests [if truthfull, she scared the crap out of me on at least one test in the wood] Having analised the results we ,or i, know where i can improve things as a navigator on the next one ,which will prob be the rescheduled Downs rally on the 21st september

First summer regularity

2008-05-26T12:28:00.002+02:00

The first summer regularity with ERMC was this sunday ,starting from only a few miles from home
We were car No1 so were first off ,after a quick last minute plot of the second half of the route...everyone else's had turned up in the e-mail with the first half ,but for some reason mine didn't ,but it wasn't a hard route to plot so didn't take long
We had a bit of a scare when we found the first TC ,who was still setting up, and had been told not expect the first car for another 20minutes...but we plodded on in the hope that he had been given duff info. Sure enough at the half way point we found out that he had and that we'd actually done quite well on the first section.

After a quick coffee stop we started the second half ,all seemed to be going very well , till we found ourselves not where we should have been....we still can't work out how we got there...so we had to cut and run to get back on route ..shortly after we found a TC ...but we had missed one ...but somehow we were still on schedule ...weird ...Anyway we completed the rest of the route without a hicup and went to the pub for lunch to await the results
Amazingly we actually won with a penalty score of 495 ,350 of which were made of of penalties for missing the time control and two code boards on the route we cut..we still had a 60 point cushion from the guys in second..Looking at the score sheet we managed to clean [as in no penalties] 4 of the seven time controls , which is bloody good even if i say so myself ..

Plus it's a very good practice for the Hughes rally next week in Kent .When Katie will be up against fellow CT member Neil Dowie in his GT6..i have a feeling ..no ..i know ,he's going to wipe the floor with us but as long as i get the navigation right ,i know Katie will ''give it large'' on the test,we might just give him a scare

Creating a little Negativity

2008-05-18T20:16:00.002+02:00

Finally got round to swopping the rear spring on the herald this weekend. The before and after shots show just how much positive camber there was and now i've got just a little negative, which is what i wanted

Also swopped the rear radius arms for the ones of DG as they'd been poly bushed ,but as with everything it never goes quite as easy as you wanted it to.The drivers side one fitted in about 5 minutes .The passenger one was a different story ,first the radius arm/vertical link bolt was seized so i cut through this,only to find the bolt rusted to the hole in the link ,so i thought i'd just pop the vertical link off and give it agood bash ,but no the trunnion bolt was seized too ,so i had to take the whole drive shaft off so i could drift the bolt out, Then i noticed that the rear brake cylinder was weeping a bit so i replaced that as well ..Thats turned a quick job into a much longer one,While i was there i greased th rear wheel bearings and did one or two other obs to the car , then the leg started to give me gip so i left it for the day

Beat by a bloody Girl

2008-05-14T07:15:00.003+02:00

First grass autotest of the year and katie goes and has a blinder .Not only beating me [ i finished 6th overall and beat the two lads in the MG for the first time] but finished 4th overall

We had the usual of her being pretty close to my times on most test and then test 5 and 6 she took a total of 6 seconds off me ...not a lot more i can say really except ''that's my girl''

Rallye De Neige [kent section]

2008-04-07T13:41:00.002+02:00

we went over to Kent on Sunday to do one of the Blackpalfrey MC regularities...Started from Hythe in nice sunny weather,by the time we reached the halfway point it had started to snow quite hard .The first timed section of the second half had to be abandoned as the leading car [an MG] got stuck on a hill.So we all plodded on to the next time control and were set off again at one minute intervals

Apart from a couple of navigational errors by me ...which are very costly when you're being timed to the second ....like joining the queue to get on the channel tunnel...mind you we only lost two minutes on that one,but that's still 120 penalties.We didn't do too bad ending up 4th out of six ..We also got penalised heavily for approaching a control from the wrong direction ,but i don't remember doing that ,but decided not to challenge it as it was only a bit of fun

The alternator then decided to pack up on the way home ...we just had enough juice to get us to the workshop and fit a spare ...handy to find that threeof the spare ones I've got are actually knackered ..guess how many i fitted before i found the good one

Bit of Weekend

2008-03-18T02:20:00.004+01:00

This weekend was the Nacht van het oosten AKA the chineese rally , in Holland.

The trip over was fine even concidering that i've only just completed the transormation of the new herald with the engine and box from the crashed one and only test driven about 40 miles with it.

This is the first time i'd used the sat nav abroad too and was quite pleased with it

A lot of the other crews had gone over the day before ,but, so that Katie didn't miss any college we set out 'very'' early sat morning and caught the 6am train.

As we were passing Antwerp katie shouted 'sticker'' ''sticker'' i thought WTF ... there was a spit entering the motorway with a 10cr sticker on the side ...enter Paul darbyshire ..so we hooked up with them ,We then stopped off in Breda to find the others and had a drink in a very weird bar .

We then set off for the Hotel which was about an hour and a half away and actually arived in good time .After checking in and helping Don with a few issues with his car we went down to the start for the chineese. With still a while to go before our start time of 6.22 we popped down the road to check our trip and fill up with petrol...I grabbed a pump marked Petroleum and,even after checking with some guy one the forecourt, filled up ....the prob is petroleum is paraffin not petrol ..we realised our, or should i say my mistake before we started the car....so we had to drain the tank...the garage owner let us have some old plastic cans ..but this took a while and we missed our start time by about twenty minutes ..which completely messed up the first regularity bit as it was based on your start time....but apparently some people didn't take that too seriously as they were having private bets as to who could acrue the most penalty points for being early

The rally was the usual fun roads and katie was enjoying the driving ..even the bit where i couldn't understand the instructions in dutch so i said ''follow that car'' which turned out to be one of the dutch rally imp team ... don't think she'd been that fast on small roads before.

The halfway stop was reached and coffee and a couple of other little tests done..one was tracing a route on a map by looking in a mirror ..i managed it in 37 seconds ..apparently not too bad but then Evie [mikeyb other half] did it in 18 and then laura cox did it in 17 .the fastest of the night

As we went to set off for the second half i noticed a puddle by the back wheel ..the petrol pipe had sprung a leek ...so we had to change this for a bit of rubber pipe kindly donated by the people at the half way stop....the second half was a bit shorter than the first and good job too .Tiredness was beginning to take hold .We eventually got to bed about half one after nipping out from the finish to assist Mike bishop,whose PI was playing up.

Next morning we set off just after 10 for a leasurely drive home ,the plan was to stop in brugge for lunch before catching the something past three train home .But as it was raining we decided not to bother with brugge and grabbed some lunch at a motorway service instead

The reason for trying to catch such an early train is that there was an ERMC rally starting 4 miles from home ,so as long as we made it home by 7 we could still do it...We actually got back a bout 6pm and had time to pop round to Katies boyfriend house to pick him up as well.
This rally followed the usual theme of plot and bash but we were given the whole route at our start times ,most ran to their cars to star plotting but i sat at the table in the pub which was easier .The first section seemed to be made up of spot heights and grid referances but the last one put us in a field .Knowing what a devious bugger the organiser was i was looking for all sorts of possabilities to get it to work and spent agse on it...all the time the clock was ticking....After what seemed like an age i realised he had also given us the finish point of section two ,so worked backwards to find the end of section one.So we set off...little did i know that one of the other guys had phoned the organiser and got the right grid ref and given it to all the guys in the car park .Katie was driving this event as well and i set her off on the route with the instructions to DLC {drive like crazy] and after her practic in Holland she duly complied

We drove the first two sections within the alloted time ,picking up a nice lot of code boards on the way ,. We had to stop at the end of section two so i could plot section three and section four i called as we drove it ...we had by this time gone OTL which meant a fail .Section five was a real pig .it didn't fit any previous code i'd come
across, so i made an educted guess at the route and we drove to the finish .It wasn't a bad guess as we found one of the two boards on this section.The end result was that we were second with three fails ,the winner had two fails and Clive and John in the other triumph were third with four fails
So all in all a busy weekend

Plans

2008-03-06T22:04:00.002+01:00

With a new ''competition'' year upon us i realised i hadn't actually decided what events we are going to do yet.I keep getting people ask me if i'm going to this and that on such a date but the response is ''i don't know what i'm doing yet'' so i sat down last night and went through some of the list of different club events to make some sort of callender

March
15th Nachrict
16th Nav Rally ERMC/Mini Rally BCC
30th Regularity ERMC

April
6th Regularity BMC
13th Mini Rally BCC
19th East Anglian Classic HRCR
20th Autosolo

May
3rd-4th HCR /Regularity BMC
11th Downs Rallt ERMC/ Autotest BCC
25th Regularity ERMC

June
1st Hughes Rally HRCR
6th Autotest ERMC
20th Autotest ERMC
29th Regularity ERMC

July
4th autotest ERMC
6th AutotestBCC
9th-13th CLM
18th Autotest ERMC
27th Regularity ERMC

August
10th Little Devils /autotest ERMC
31st Regularity ERMC

September
7th Autotest BCC
28th Regularity ERMC

October
3rd-5th RBRR
11th Regis Rally HRCR
12th Autotest BCC
19th Regularity BMC

November
2nd Mini Rally BCC
30th Regularity BMC

Decenber
14th Mini Rally BCC

This is by no means a complete callender as some of the ERMC events ,after september aren't scheduled yet and i'm sure i won't get to all of the ones listed .Plus i haven't decide if i'm doing any track days yet ,and we don't have a date for the november nachrict,but it does look like a busy year.
We have started this year with Katie driving and me navigating ..i thought it about time she had some of the fun ...it's her last year before she goes off to uni to hopefully study osteopathy so i don't know how much spare time she'll have after september so we aim to make the most of it .With that in mind we're also planning a bit of a road trip in august to Italy.About a week ,we aim to get as far down in Italy as quickly as we can and then drive back any way we choose.The plan at the mo is to get the car on the Motorail at Calais and get off at Verona...maybe take in Rome,Venice ,Pizza ,who knows

Nearly finished

2008-02-27T19:00:00.002+01:00

Managed to track down an overdrive gearbox mount for sunday ...thanks Clive....so managed to put the engine in sunday morning ...also spent a while going round the car sorting a few things out like earth wires on the steering column and rack and clutch hydrolic pipe where Katie managed to snap it off...refitted the valances and rad and left it at that for sunday.Went back yesterday morning and started the engine up ....all ran fine concidering i hadn't fitted the throttle cable yet...which seems somehow not to be long enough to work on this car even though it's the same model...go figure..so just need to refit the bonnet , change the speedo cable ,fit the trip meter, refit tunnel cover and put the passenger MX5 seat in and we're ready for Holland

Also getting a little pissed off at the insurance company...they still haven't paid me

The engineer came 4 weeks ago and we agreed write off and settlement figure ..two weeks later i hadn't heard anything so i ring them....woman on other end says they are waiting for paper work from me ...what paper work say i ...oh the MOT and V5...you're not having them says i ,as we've agreed i'm keeping the car...oh she says ,we'll write to you

A week later a letter turns up , the contents of which would have been relevent the day before the engineer turned up..so i send them a letter back with a copy of the MOt and V5 and proof of value explaining that it does help to speed things a long if they actually reed the reports done by their engineers...move on a week to today and i ring them again to see what's happening ...oh we haven't recieved anything but fax us the stuff on this number ...which do ...i then ring them back to see if they have got the fax to be told by another person that they don't recognise the fax no as anyone in the office but they need original documents anyway.....i remind them that i'm keeping the car so they don't need the originals ...oh no, we don't says the lady,,,here have my fax no and send the stuff to me ...so i did that ...we'll wait and see what happens next

Rusted nuts ,split rubbers and bent bits

2008-02-23T18:39:00.002+01:00

Spent the day working on various bits and pieces ,first thing was to get rid of the remainder of the spares herald .had a chap with a lorry turning up at ten to pick it up so arranged for katie and her boyfriend to turn up to give a hand...they did ...at eleven ,after the other chap and me had loaded the thing on our own

Next we took the engine and box out of Dg.I thought it wise to split the engine and box to check both the back plate and the clutch.The back plate was bent so we took that off and straightened it on the anvil ,and the friction plate had a crack in it as well..luckily i'd bought one just in case.The frontplate was also a littte damaged but this was fixable without removing it.And the overdrive gerbox mount was split and the mounting plate bent ..but i haven't got one in hand so might have to wait till monday if i can't track one down from one of the local triumph boys

Then we set about the new herald ,first was to remove the bonnet,one of the bolts holding the tube on was rusted solid and was a real pig ,in fact i still haven't removed it so we had to undo the bolt at the other end of the hanging bracket to get the bonnet off ,Then whilst undoing the various bolts required to remove the engine i noticed that the nearside engine mount had failed ..good job this was spotted before holland. The last thing we did was to remove the prop from the new herald ....and that's it for today .there are one or two things i can do tomorow if i can't track a mount down ,but it's a real pain to fit with the gearbox in so it looks like it won't get finished tomorow

new cars first event

2008-02-18T20:56:00.003+01:00

sunday was the first event for the new car ,so in the morning i sorted a few things out on it ....i fitted a cigarette lighter as a power point for the potti ,swopped the original drivers seat for the mx5 one and sorted the horn out ..this had been rewired to a toggle switch on the dash ,a quicklook found the prob with the original set up ....the wire had come off the backof the contact ring on the column .The bakolite insulating ring was also damaged soi fitted a spare and hey presto a working horn button again .Also fitted the mota lita steering wheel from DG

The event was another plot and bash night rally

with ERMC...a total of six sections .sections 1 and 2 were plotted with no prob but section 3 i struggled with the last half ,resuting in us missing the check point and having to cut the route to the end of section 4 ...thus picking up a penalty formissing a control and penalties for missing the code boards on section 4.Sections 5 and 6 were again plotted Ok but as the night was getting colder and colder the roads werebecoming more and more icy .So Katie slowed her speed down as to avoid a crash ,so we were not as quick as we could have been but still didn't incurr any penalties for that

We ended the rally with 4 fails ..one for the missed control and 3 for the boards on the section we didn't do ...we still managed to win though ..just,with the next crew on 5 fails but they had had a crash so they were certainly on course to beat us

New Arrival

2008-02-16T16:58:00.003+01:00

Picked up the new herald today..This one was
advertised in the club mag and we had a look
at it on the way to stoneleigh last week.He described the caroverthephone and it seemed just what we were looking for .It was nice to meet an honest seller .The car was exactly as he described and it wasn't long before the deal was done ,deposit paid ,and time arranged today to pick it up
i took a few spare bits and pieces just in case but the car never missed a beat on the way home.It's only fitted with a standard 4 speed box ,so i never went over 70 on the motorway. We're definately going to fit the overdrivebox from DG .We might just change engine and box in one go as it might be easier ,but then there appears nothing wrong with the engine it's got in so we'll wait and see.
The interior is a little jaded here and thereso we'll fit the better bits from Dg to make a really tidy car
The good thing is this car is very sound underneath,and apart from the odd spot of bubbling the body is very good too. So we have the basis for a very sound competition car

Not a good couple of days

2008-02-02T16:14:00.000+01:00

The insurance company sent their assesor to look at Dg and they are in agreemant thet it's a write off...he then tried to tell me he'd spoken to a'' triumph specialist'' who ,without seeing my car , had valued it at £500. I told him straight that the person in question was obviously not a specialist of any kind and that i had it in writing from a recognised triumph specialist ,who knew my car and has worked on it in the past, and he had valued the car pre- accident at £1800 but as i had the car insured for £1500 that was what i was asking for .After a bit more of him trying to wangle the price down he eventually gave up and came to an agreemant based on a starting figure of £ 1500.Also i get to keep the car for salvage and it should be a catC write off which will allow me to put the car back on the road if i want to

So with that sorted i turned my attention this morning to the donor car that looked very good .Well i got under it to have a proper look to find a whole host of chassis and floor problems that make the car a complete non starter ,so as much as i don't want to i have started to strip this one for spares and bits to sell at stoneleigh

So if anyone knows of a good 13/60 saloon ...that needs no body/chassis work ,doesn't matter too much about the engine /gearbox..give us a shout please

Also i had a phone call from dale about the MK1 GT6 that i took up to be resprayed.....the body on this was an ebay purchase many years ago, with new floors and sills already welded in,....a time and money saver i thought....well it appears that it has been well and truly bodged ..it's all been done off the chassis so nothing lines up and it's going to cost soooo much to put right that it's not worth comtinuing with that tub ,so now i'm on the look out for a new tub for that as well a new herald

And on a different note ...isn't it amazing what you find in a car when you start taking it apart...old cigartette cards ,receipts........ and a used jonny under the carpet ...yes a used one ....dirty bastards

Musical Cars

2008-01-28T19:43:00.000+01:00

Been having a bit of a shuffle around with cars over the last few days

It looks like DG is going to be beyond economic repair ,so in the short term we're going to get the herald i bought as a donor going ...we're going to take the engine and gearbox out of DG and bung it in the other..as this it's a known quantity and the other one is non ovedrive and hasn't run for three years

so with that in mind i've moved Herald NO2 up to the workshop..it's bloody hard work pushing a car that hasn't moved much in 3 years ....you can hear the rust being scraped off the discs as you go....good workout for the legs ,shame one's a gammy one .Plus had to pick Dg up from Dales...who then said you may as well bring the MK1 up as you're coming .... this has been on the end of his list for well over 18months and then just like that it's off......i've been using it as a store room for that long ,amazing the things i'd forgotten i'd put there

Also the insurance company want to send their engneer out to look at Dg ,so she's now at home till wednesday then it'll be back to the workshop for the transplant

A few more pics

2008-01-23T20:40:00.000+01:00

just a few more pics of some of the damage

Also managed to do a bit to the GT6 engine ...stripped down the old engine of all the bits i need for the new short engine and started bolting that one back together.Took the chance to take the old block and a load of other scrap down to the scrappies as it's 70 quid a ton at the mo ..came back with 22 quid ,not a lot but better than nought .Also had the quotes in for repairing DG, as i thought both are more than the car's worth so it looks like a write off..spoketo the insurance company who imediatelty said they'd get it taken away by their salvage people....i told them that was not going to happen and that they could get the engineer to make an appoitment to come and have a look,but underno curcumstance were they taking posetion of the car

Donor car

2008-01-23T17:36:00.001+01:00

Had a good look at the herald i bought as a possible donor for DG.The body work is a bit scabby in places but not too bad......had a crawl underneath to see what was what..it basically needs a new drivers floor and maybe a side rail,apart from that it just needs a good wirebrushing and reseal and that'll be that for underneath.The plan at the moment will be to put the engine and gearbox from DG in this one ,rebuild the brakes ,as it's sat for three years and then MOT it . Probably also swop the mx 5 seats over and the trip meter .This seems the quickest way to get back on the road and then we can decide whether we are going to rebuild DG or say goodbye to her

First run out of the year

2008-01-22T16:17:00.000+01:00

Sunday night saw the first event of the year ...with no car to drive i navigated for Clive senior AKA cliftyhanger...in his back up car [as his spit is off the road] a herald 13/60 estate.We worked out that between us we have 9 triumphs and only one is roadwothy

This was a night, plot and bash rally with ERMC .We were given the route on our start time and basically had to plot and drive the route at the same time collecting code boards as we went ,.

The first section was grid referances which i plotted with no prob but then sent clive on the wrong route as i was head down trying to plot the next section..so we missed one board there.

The next section was tulips ,which weren't that easy as some of the junctions were very close on the map and i couldn't use the potti as clive didn't have a power point for it [ a potti is an illuminated magnifier].

The third section was a list of grid lines to cross ..this also posed a prob as they didn't match up with the map and having gone over it a couple of times at home i have found one error in my plot but still can't make it work . I'm not sure if we missed a board or two there.

The fourth section was a herringbone which we drove without too many probs ..we only drove past one lane we should have taken but turned round and corrected our course...bearing in mind that these roads are local to me we still manged to drive roads i didn't even know existed.

The last section was grid referances ,but we were running late and one of the roads was abit too flooded for our liking so we cut to the finish.

The end result was that were equal second on 5 fails ...the winners were on 4 fails so not too far off

More news of DG and it's not good ...it's looking likely to be a write off ,but not sure what catagory till i get the quotes in and off to the insurance .several plans are being mulled round at the moment so watch this space as they say

Busy but not a lot to show for it

2008-01-20T17:02:00.000+01:00

This last couple of days has been quite busy but it doesn't feel like iv'e got a lot to show for it
I took the herald over to Richard Stubbs in west sussex for a quote for the work and yesterday took it ,and left it , at Moordale Motors in Potters bar , to get the second quote . Not sure how much it's going to be or when the work can be done , i'll just have to be patient...not long till the Nachrict

I've looked at the donor herald and to be honest it's too good to break so it may just be a case of borrowing a few bits ,till i find some better , and then put this back on the road and sell it on to someone who wants a reasonable run about.

This morning i went with one of the local TSSC guys to start taking the parts GT6 to bits ...he's got a GT6 that he bought as a box of bits and is slowly putting it back together and A
,wanted a few bits off this one and B, wanted to have a look at a whole one to see where a few things went .There were a few bits there that mine hasn't got either so those will be going on mine .The body on this one is completely shot so everything has got to come off anyway.I plan to take a lot of the stuff to Stoneleigh and what i don't sell i'll keep as spares for mine

i also spent a couple of hours this afternoon on my GT6 , i started putting the wiring loom back in ,.The bit from the main loom to the rear went in no probs at all,but i can't quite remember the exact route of the bit under the dash ,so i'll have to pop over and have a look at the spares one and refresh my memory.Also started painting the back of the bulk head and i'm going to remove the heater...it's never worked ...in fact it was the cause of a small electrical fire some time ago when i tried to turn it on ......another reason the loom had to be replaced....i've got a spare heater so i'll make sure this one works and fit it

Tonight is the first event of the year and with no running triumph i'm going to navigate for Clive AKA Cliftyhanger in his....it's with the ERMC, a nice little plot and bash night rally ...see if we can whoop the mini boys again

Got her home

2008-01-07T18:04:00.000+01:00

Picked the Herald up yesterday ,from the recovery place.
took the bonnet off to have a closer look at the damage..the front crossmember took the brunt of it....antiroll bar is bent as well...plus the damage to the bonnet..is actually worse than it looks in the photo...both rear and front valances are knackered both sills and the exhaust...doors don't shut like they did so the tub has moved somewhere but could just need realigning

There is also some damage to the rear wing where the wheel fell of ...not sure that this is repairable or a new wing ...hopefully will be going off for a couple of quotes in the next week or two

On the up side i have bought a donner car...a 67 ..green as well ..good bonnet ...but , the car is quite good ...poss too good to break , so it may be a case of ''borrowing'' bits for DG to get her back on the road and then have a look at whats left and maybe put another herald back on the road

Highs and lows

2007-12-31T12:53:00.000+01:00

After a run out yesterday for the last event of the year..a BCC autotest...We were the only rearwheel drive car there and with quite open courses it was always going to be hard to be truly competitive so we had a bit of sideways fun instead ..Still managed 10th and 14th overall so it wasn't all bad

Then came this morning ...whilst taking the car back to the storage to swap for the van the back end went a bit light going onto a bend, so i backed off the gas a bit thinking i had a soft tyre ..next thing BANG as the wheel fell of then i'm sure we took off a bit as it went all quite ,but i knew i was heading for a big hedge so i held on and ducked...then hit a small fir head on and span back out of the hedge into the middle of the road
A couple of really nice people stopped and helped direct trafic and clear the mess up whilst we waited for the police and the recovery truck to arrive [luckily i've got a mate up the road that owns his own recovery business so that's handy]
Car's a bit of a mess but at least i walked away from it with nothing more than a few bruises
Insurance company are going to let me sort a few quotes out rather then them send some unclassic assesor round..so hopefully the herald will return

Bit of progress

2007-12-28T17:34:00.000+01:00

Finally got on with the GT6 a bit...have finished the welding on the sill and tidied up with a bit of filler here and there.Managed to get a good coat of primer on but i can see one or two places that need some more work before spraying up ...but at least ,with the welding done, i can get on and refit the loom when i want

Also cleaned and repainted the passenger floor pan and cleaned the whole of the nearside underneath ready for undersealing so begining to feel like progress

As for the Herald ,apart from changing a core plug nothing much has happened ...the last two events i've navigated ,one with ERMC in a subaru thingy [christ do they shift] and on the 16th december with BCC in Mikeybs 2.5 PI

Hopefully will be doing a gravel autotest this sunday as the last event of the year...have bought some different tyres ...normal road ones ,as were not allowed off road ''nobblies', but as nobbly as i can find ,so we'll see if they help

Typical

2007-12-01T12:19:00.000+01:00

Van's in for a service .both the ladies of the house are out in their vehicles ,i'd only said the other day how reliable the herald was at the mo and then get in and there's the unmistakeable whirr of the starter not engaging...not a major prob at all but i was supposed to be going shooting this morning but never mind...Off with the starter...i always find it quicker and easier to remove the side valance to gain access to the lower bolt on the starter...a quick degreasing of all the accumulated crap on the business end and refit and all's well..Just as well as i've got a dinner dance to do to tonight in it and it's got to take me to the airport tomorow

A Little local Knowledge

2007-11-26T21:02:00.000+01:00

Last night John martin [aka gt6john] and i did a night nav rally with ERMC ,this being the second in their winter series..John was going to drive but following an industrial injury [tripped over a case of wine] he felt it best if i drove and he navigated ...i inquired as to the wellbeing of the wine but apparently it was terminal

This was run over 7 sections with the clues to the next section being handed out as you got to the end of each one...We started off very well ..John picking up the navigation quite quickly with the odd tip here and there ...it also helped that we were driving some roads that i knew very well ...we even came within a couple of miles of home. in fact i gave John a bit of a potted history of places as we went round ..like my grans old house [haunted as well] , a place where they filmed a BBC series, a church that lost it steeple in the great storm of 87 and other such fascinating facts.... .there were a couple of points where we went wrong but these we spotted very quickly and were able to get back on route.Plus a slightly confusing set of instructions that i hadn't come across before in the form of MS TL MR ML.....but we soon worked out that these meant miss left take left and so on
.All was well till Control 5 where we plotted slightly wrong and although got to control 6 OK we took a wrong route so missed the three code boards...then at control 6 the marshall signed our sheet and then just said '' turn left,turn right'' and walked off..this we took to be our instructions for the next route to TC7...So we duly turned left then right and carried on but this led us no where near TC7 ..So we just drove to Tc7 to be told we should have been given a bit of paper with the instructions on..Silly old beggar

The end result was that we came 2nd with only three fails ...the ones we missed on section 5/6...they gave us the code board that was on 6/7 as we were given duff information ..So not a bad first time navigation for John

Double Header

2007-11-18T19:37:00.000+01:00

This weekend we decided to do two events .On the sat night a rally with wealdon MC and the on sunday a PCT with sevenoaks MC

The sat night rally was called the 20/20 ..a max of 20 entries and 20 time controls .This started from Vigo village in Kent. It was a plot an bash type of rally where you opened an envelope with the clues to the route at your start time and then plotted on the move with a set time to get to the first time control and then repeat the exercise again ...20 times over a total of 90 miles ...with some of the sections giving you a total time of 7 minutes to plot and drive the section .needless to say we couldn't keep up...neither car or navigator was fast enough ...even the sections where the clue was a herringbone and Katie just called them as we drove we still weren't quick enough
So we ended up running late ,with the time controls closing after a set time we ended up having to cut the route and incur penalties just to catch up...we did make the finsh though ,but decided this was one event best left to faster cars and better drivers.

The sunday was a Production Car Trial...the aim of this is to drive a set course up a hill with penalties for not getting all the way ..the further you go up the less penalties you get ..if you get all the way to the top you get a 0...the person with the least penalties at the end of the day wins ...easy aint it
As you can see from the pics it's not that easy ..the hills were very demanding and in fact if you hadn't seen some of them do it you'd say it couldn't be done
We had a total of 12 tests in all and two runs at each with both scores counting, we gave it our all and managed to clear some of the hills and get pretty near the top on a few more and some of the seemingly easier ones we didn't get far at all
We were the only salloon entered so we came first and second with a score of 85 penalties ,another class was won with 45 penalties and the overall was only 16 penaties in an NSU
We did manage to pull the rear silencer off and dent the rear valance a bit, so some work to be done but a very enjoyable event indeed

Nipples Of Steel

2007-11-15T15:51:00.001+01:00

Just been sorting out my revolver for a shooting comp tonight and making sure that the nipples are nice and clear so i don't get any miss fires

Did a bit more to the GT6 as well yesterday...bit more welding and grinding and cleaned up some of the bottom of the pasenger side floor ready for a lick of underseal...assson as i get this sill done and out of the way the project will realy fly ..can't wait to drive the 6pot again

Some Bird Gets My Nuts

2007-11-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

But i didn't feel a thing

But the big shock is i've actually done something to the GT6 ..popped up yesterday for a couple of hours and ground the welds off the sill and did a bit of prep with a bit of filler and sande some other bits down..still got a bit more welding to do and make a repair patch for where the inner wing meets the bottom of the sill

A Couple more have a go

2007-11-12T19:52:00.000+01:00

Last night was the first in the winter series of night navigational rallies with the eastbourne and ram Mc.They are similar to the ones we have done with bedford car club, but with these we didn't get the luxury of sitting in the car park working out the route and then driving it at our leasure. No, these were done on the move or ''plot and bash'' and we had a time window in which to reach the next check point and get the next set of instructions before it closed . Plus we had to collect code boards along the way.We were given the grid referances of most of the checkpoints so that if we were running too late we could cut the route and make the next one ...incurring lots of penalties for doing so
A couple of other local CT members had expressed an interest in having a go ....John Martin [GT6john] and Clive Senior [cliftyhanger]..so , john drove the herald with Katie navigating and clive drove his spit with me navigating...the only reason john didn't take his GT6 is the thing wouldn't start..typical,spend loads of money having it painted and it returns the favour by refusing to go
We Were set off at minute intervals with Katie and John going first ...we were given our instructions on our start time and sat for a minute or two as i plotted the grid referances and the route and then we set off.We drove the first section OK and were 5 minutes behind schedule at the first check point ...the next section was given as a herringbone ...i decided [as we were a bit late] not to plot this but to just call the junctions as we went ...this worked out very well ,although we ran even further behind schedule ...The next lot of route clues were in the form of spot heights and grid lines and a small tulip section ...none of these caused us too much problem and we semed to pick up a fair few code boards although we were running further and further behind schedule each stop ...poss due to clive not having uprated lights making it difficult to see ..somehing he's added to his list of things to do
We arrived at the last checkpoint just in our latest arrival time and then set of for the pub to await the results ..In the end Clive and i won the event with only one code board missed ,Katie and John came third having had to cut the route due to getting a bit lost and therefore incurring penalties and missing some of the code boards .
The crew that came second were in a mini and commended Clive on the yellow flames exiting his exhaust as he lifted off
We're off this weekend to do another similar one in kent but this one has 20 timing points over 80 miles .so that could be fun....but i did enjoy my first bit as navigator ...so maybe we'll see a change of seats next year!...Maybe a 19 year old girl winning the drivers champ!

OSFNBBABBOT

2007-11-05T21:12:00.000+01:00

Odd title i know but i couldn't fit...One Small Fire,No Brakes ,Broken alternator Bracket,Boiled Over twice, into the title space ,but basically that's what happened on the way to the Nachrict in Holland
On the way down to the train on the M20 at about 80 mph the car filled with smoke from a wire that had come of the back of the alternator and melted ,this caused me to put my foot on the brake which made me realise[when my foot went straight to the floor with no resistance] that i had no brakes ,after a quick f***k ,f**k ,f**k ,i've got no brakes ,i realised i was in no danger and gently coasted onto the hard shoulder, worked out the prob was the master had failed ,rang recovery ,then rang Coiln Wake, hoping he hadn't left, to see if he had a spare brake master ...he had ..so got the recovery truck to drop me off in the car park of the train terminal....got the spare master from Colin ..fitted in record time and would have made the train if i hadn' t been pulled for a security search.
so we caught the next train and set off as fast as the Herald could go to catch up .all of a sudden the temp rose off the scale and steam rose from the bonnet...pulled over to find that the alternator bracket had broken so not only was i not charging but the water pump wasn't going round ..so after filling the rad back up and attempting to wedge the alternator with some thing we set off again only for the bit to fall off that i had wedged and then the car to boil over again ....so i stopped again and found that i had water pissing out from the join between the water pump housing and the head so i tightened the bolts as hard as i could, refilled the rad , tryed another bodge on the alternator and set off again .The water didn't leak this time but i wasn't getting enough charge into the battery so when we stopped to ask directions i tied the alternator back to the side engine valance and this solved the problem

By the time we arrived at the start we were a good hour late but Rene assured us we still had time for a Coffee before we left, so we did .It didn't really take too long to start catching other triumphs up .We only made a couple of route errors early on ,but these were quickly put right and were making good progress till about 15miles from the halfway point ,where the road was closed due to a crash [not a triumph] so we just had to turn the engine off and wait.There were 3 or 4 triumphs in the queue in front and to my surprise quite a few joined the queue behind us .The germas are quite efficient at clearing crashed cars so it wasn't that long before we were off again and got to the half way point .There was the chance to have a hot meal but we just had some coffee and set off again .The second half of the run was good fun..catching a few more cars ...having a little run with an RS2000..driving in fog and the drissle and some very pleasant driving roads ..all worth the effort of getting there
I casn't remember what time we finished ,but nearly all the other english crews were there when we got there and seemed both surpised and pleased to see we'd made it.After a welcome nights sleep and a good breckie we set of in a 5 car convoy for a nice lunch in Brugge before getting the train back home again ..arriving about 9.30pm...funninly we never had another breakdown

Regis rally and more

2007-11-01T16:21:00.000+01:00

It's been a couple of weeks since we did the Regis rally but the computers been down so internet acess has been minimal
This was our first proper event of this sort so we were a bit nervous about the whole thing ,but the officials and other competetitors were all very friendly and helpfull
The day consisted off srcutineering ,which opened at 7am ..this basically was to insure your car is roadworthy and not modified out of it's period and also a noise test...has to be below 98db ,,the herald was 90 so no probs there.

Then the signing in ..this is just to verify all the documents such as insurance and comp license ,plus we were given some additional route information...we'd been given some of ..[.in fact half] the info before the day..so we had the start of one part and the finish of another and so on ...all to speed things up on the day but not enough info for you to recce the route before hand .Our start time was 9.47 so we went and had breckie.
The schedule for the day was to do 7 regularities totaling 140 miles interspersed with 12 tests at 3 different locations..so you would go and do regularity 1 which ended up at goodwood ..do an autotest and then set off on regularity 2 to tangmere do another couple of tests and so on through the day
30 mins before the start time we got our clues to plot route 1 this we did with no bother...as we set off on the first route we were given the clues for the second regularity...so whilst giving me directions ,watching the clock and trip meter Katie was supposed to plot the second route ...not someting we'd practiced before .Needless to say this is where we struggled ..this ''plot and bash'' was to be very common through the day and was to lead to some errors in navigation which would be costly in penalties
On the good side though as the day went on we got better and our penalties were less and less,even managing to get one section to the exact second.The autotesting should have been our strong point but we weren't given time to learn the courses just turn up at the end of the regularity ,get in the quee and go.Once we had worked out a system of katie calling the route as we went we got better and better even settng a fastest time on test 6,some 8seconds faster than anyone else...beating the minis and a porche thingy
We managed to finish the day well, having learnt a lot that will help us on the next one .We finished 40th out of 51 not a very auspiciuos finishing place but at least we finished ,didn't catch fire , break down or crash which is more than can be said for some of the others

Since then the car has been abit idle with an disintergrating clutch plate ....rather similar to the one in th GT6 a while back...funnily both were NOS so maybe a lesson there.Plus had a small electrical fire when the overdrive wire going down the gearstick shorted out ,have fitted the healey works style knob that i was saving for the GT6 only to find the switch has a bodged connection so have got to sort that tomorow night
Have fitted some additional lights for the Nacthrit on sat night that work on dip beam only just to light the ditches up so we don't end up in them.Still a little work to do tomorow night but just fiddly stuff really...oh plus i haven't booked the train yet but prob will gwt there early sat and do it there
Also

Regular Virgins

2007-09-30T19:09:00.000+02:00

We did our first regularity today ...with ERMC,This involved plotting a route on an ordnance survey map and then driving the route at an average speed .Penalties would be given for every second late or early ...yes that's every SECOND off your target time.There would also be intermediate check points along the way ..you weren't told where they were so it was vital to keep track of your speed st all times ...this was done with the help of a stop watch against an average speed table which gave you your exact time at any distance for a range of speeds from ten to thirty mph.There were also penalties for missing a control or aproaching a control from the wrong direction
The plotting of the route was fairly simple with grid referances being given along the way or grids not to be driven in and then you having to plot the shortest route to the end of the section
All of this we've done before with th BCC.it's the time element we were new to
We were the first car to leave ,and set off ..Katie giving me time checks at each mile interval..one mile i was up by 7 seconds next down by 10 and so on .We came across the first check point after 10 miles ....we were just ahead of time at our last check so i coasted in to the check point at exactly the right time .we'd managed to clear our first ever regularity section with no penalties ...fluke or what
The next section involved a change of average speed half way through ..not too difficult just drive to the point at the correct time and reset trip and stopwatch and off you go again...what we learnt quickly is that we should have had two stopwatches as in the time it takes you to stop reset and start the watch again you've lost a couple of seconds ..never mind this is what we were here for ..to learn
The next section .due to not getting the average speed change quite right ,we were 20 seconds slow so incured penalties ...the next section we took a wrong slot and had to retrace our route ..this completely threw our timing and we arrived at the third check point 80 seconds late ...at this point we had to drive at our own speed to a pre-given point where we would be given the instructions to plot the next three sections...again we did this with no problems and were ready well before our start time
Now this is where it went a bit Pete Tong, we got completely lost and couldn't find a road that was on the map ...ending up way off route ...we even resorted to asking a girl on a horse where the bloody hell we were...We managed to pick up the route again but were very late ..we hit the first check point 20 minutes late.Not long after leaving there we ran out of petrol...with the gauge still showing just under a quarter of a tank...Luckily, as we were the last through the check point the marshall helped us out by getting some fuel ...by this time we knew we would be too late for the next check so we re routed and made the finish before it closed
Oh, by the way i forgot to mention that we had to note down code boards along the way as well
The end result was we were third ..and not by that big a margin and no we weren't last...plus we only missed two boards along the way...in fact no-one got all of them ,so that made us feel a bit better
We went there to learn and we did ... i now need to get another stop watch so we can be completely accurate with our time keeping...But we now fell a little more confident about the rally in 2 weeks time
Oh and did i menton i've bought another GT6...no...must have slipped my mind

10cr and after

2007-09-22T22:34:00.000+02:00

The 10cr has come and gone, the mad rush to get the engine from Colin Wake in and running finished about 11.30pm the night before the start .Apart from a couple of probs on the way to the start and on the way to the ferry [which turned out ot be petrol pump] the car went very well.It turned into a 2000 mile fettling run with a tweek here and a tweek there .Katie managed to get 96 out of the poor thing ...three up ...that's not too bad .We had the usual navigational probs ...getting lost in Geneva and the like.We ended up cutting the route on the saturday ,due to events friday night,.... had lunch by one of the lakes,where we bumped into Raider and the Johnsons and than cut up through switzerland instead of going down through to the nurbergring.We picked up a great little hotel in the mountains for a saturday night stop and then over the Grimmel pass into germany on sunday and autobahned it to the sunday night stop in Holland .We left a little later than planned on the sunday morning and ended up missing the ferry ,but caught the next one and then headed for the Plough and the finish.
As usual the scenery was stunning and Katie got to drive her first mountain passes and the verdict was a big grin...but i can't help but think she can't wait to do it in a GT6
Since then the Herald has been a daily car for katie ,owing to some stupid woman driving into katies Mitsubishi the week before
We've had our entry confirmed for the Regis Rally on the 13th of October..this is our first ''proper'' rally .....not to belittle anything we've done before , but this is the first one where comp licenses have been required.The basis of the rally is to navigate from A to B using ordnance survey maps at a set speed [ regularity] and then do a timed test when we get to B. Run over a total of about 140miles and including half a dozen tests .We've never done a regularity before but ERMC have got one next week so hopefully we'll be doing this as a practice...so i must get the tripmeter re-installed as an accurate odometer is a must.Also got a few things to do to the car that i know will fail scruteneering ..all little things but they will have to be done

Trying times

2007-09-02T22:42:00.000+02:00

The last week has been a bit trying to say the least there has been a whole catalogue of cockups and probs that have been enough to try the patience of Jobe
The pistons that i ordered on tuesday for next day delivery finally turned up on friday ...not the fault of the company i bought them from but UPS,but it still looks bad on the supplier

Any way ,despite the fact that i was hoping to have had the engine built by sat so that all i had to do was put it in,i didn't actually get to start on it till then.... went to put the pistons in the newly rebored block to find that it had not been machined to the correct size ..the pistons won't even go down the bore ...phoned the company to let then know and after the ''are you sure you've got the right size pitons'' and '' the chaps never made a mistake before '' comments they did say they would machine it again for me on monday if i brought it up ,but i did explain to them that unless i split myself in two and managed to some how stop time this was not going to happen and i would bring the block back for them to rectify when we got back
Onto the next back up plan, which was the offer of an engine fom Colin wake ...a 4 1/2 hour round trip and we started to put the engine in late sat after noon..we had it in by early evening but it wouldn't fire ...putting some petrol down the carbs got it to fire up for a few seconds so i was thinking an air leak some where but it was late and Bob and i were both tired so left it till today to start again

I started this morning by removing the carbs and inlet manifold to see if there were and faults witht the gaskets but they all looked OK ...even swopped for another inlet manifold but still it wouldn't start ...by this time Bob had turned up again with Roger as well [who knows a lot more about engines] and he was baffled,after swopping and changing allmost everything we decidedto try and gravity feed the petrol in and it almost imediately was trying to start and then it was running ...so we thought it it had to be the petrol pump [although it looked to be pumping OK] so we swopped it for another one and it fired up ...prob solved?
Bob took Roger back home while i got on with fitting the engine valances and rad and the new prop shaft and then went to start the car up to get it proprly timed up ...no go ...by this time Bob was back and a brief session of trying to swop thing over again beforewe came up with the idea of putting the fuel line back into a can of petrol...hey presto it works...so the conclussion of hours of fannying around is that the tank has got comtaminated somehow so i'll have to remove the tank and drain it tomorow evening,then that just leaves the bonnet to be fitted ,find and fit the right size fan belt .do an oil change,refit the gearbox tunnel,pack all the spares plus a few other jobs i know i've forgotten ...that's providing the first drive of the car doesn't prove that the engine is no good ...but that wouldn't happen to a bloke with as muchgood luck as me now would it

All i Needs an engine

2007-08-27T17:56:00.001+02:00

I still can't get a realy good pic of the groove in the bore ,but this is about the best one

You can see that the groove doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the bore and stops about 2 inces from the top

I spent some of today doing 10cr prep....fitted new front and rear brake shoes and pads ,unsiezed one of the rear adjusters,bled the brakes.fitted the larger front anti roll bar that came with the swing spring conversion [amazing how piddly the original looks] . Fitted the new N/s front trunnion and oiled it....all i need now is an engine

Went autotesting yesterday with TWMC,using the club car a mazda 323,came 2nd in class not too far behind FTD [fastest time of the day] so that wasn't too bad.Just got to order the pistons tomorow and then the final push for the start

A Little update

2007-08-26T11:23:00.000+02:00

The Herald engine packed up the day after the autotest ,with what appeared to be head gasket probs ,but after taking the head off it was more than that.After posting on the forum and talking to Bill and karen at the 10cr drivers meet the most likely cenario was a cracked block
So i sent Katie up to Gosnays on wednesday to get the spare block rebored to match the pistons ,plus get a set of rings and shells just in case...she picked the engine up friday, so saturday was all go to remove and strip and rebuild
On taking the first piston out i noticed that the gudgeon pin was losse in the piston ,,in fact all four were the same.I'd used some NOS push fit pistons i'd bought on ebay ,not the circlip ones .They'd seemed a good tight fit when i fitted them but they were all now loose and could easily move from side to side
Looking down the bore at what i can now see were worn grooves and not a crack,they matched up with the position of the gudgeon pins ..though why only the one side had marked i don't know,and why they had also moved from front to back again is a bit of a mystery.But there are obvious signs of wear on the edges of the pins and the grooves only appear on part of the bore corresponding to the travel of the pins [camera not working but will get a photo on monday]
So i need to get a set of pistons with the circlips on tuesday.Meanwhile i've rebuilt the engine about as far as i can without the pistons. Monday will be spent doing everything else that needs doing for the 10cr like new brake pads and shoes ,fitting the uprated antiroll bar,new driver side trunnion and a few other bits and pieces .Pistons won't be here till wednesday at the earliest so hopefully will be able to do a bit in the evenings although work is quite busy so i don't normally have the energy to do anything after .Hopefully will have everything back in by end of saturday which will give me sunday to iron out any wrinkles and then pack everything in for the 10cr

Bit of a marathon

2007-08-12T18:38:00.000+02:00

Last autotest of the year [i think] with the ERMC was an all day 12 test event .That meant with both me and Katie driving the Herald did a total of 48runs ...hard work for the little car but no probs at all
I came 2nd in class by 1 second ..cocked it up on test 5 ,had a mare of a first run then posted a wrong route on my second so went into lunch 15 seconds behind ,managed to claw back 14 in the afternoon but wasn't enough
katie was 3rd in class not too far behind
Did take a little vid on my camera ...not great quality ,plus i can't seem to load it on here,but i'll try and get it link or something

Friday night autotest and a bit more welding

2007-08-05T13:39:00.000+02:00

Friday night saw the 3rd round of autotesting with ERMC...got on a litttle better this time coming second in class and 6th overal...and no there weren't only 6 competing...did get a wrong route on on test after a complete mental blank half way round ,so i had to use my first round time...which was a shame as i had been knocking an average of 6 seconds off with my second run

Have done a bit more to the GT6 ,but it has been a bit too bloody hot to be grinding and welding ....But the sill is in ..just got to finish welding in the panel at the bottom of the wing and the front closing panel,and then the painful task of prepping and painting

Did come across a load more filler that shouldn' t be there and this has exposed a few more probs with the tub..I'm beginning to think this may be the last time i patch this tub up ,in 2 or 3 years it's going to need some serious work and i'm beggining to wonder if i'm not going to be throwing good money at it for no reason.....Time to start looking out for a new tub perhaps?

Bit more on the GT6

2007-07-28T22:46:00.001+02:00

With katie off at silverstone it meant i didn't have the distraction of the herald to get in the way of working on the GT6 ....i carried on fitting up the bulkhead and started removing the nearside sill ,which is rot

I know it don't look great in this photo but it's a million times better than it was

Due to the fact that the landlady dosn't like me making noise i had to cut the sill out with tin snips...bloody hard work ....i'm going to have to have a chat with her tomorow to see if i can use the grinder to clean the edges up before i can fit the new sill and weld it in ...hopefuly have this done tomorow so can then start fittng the new loom

2 out of 4

2007-07-20T23:07:00.000+02:00

We should have done 4 autotests this month but due to the weather we only did 2...one on tuesday and one tonight

The autotest tues was with TWMC and it consisted of the usual 2runs at 6 tests..i came 2nd in class and Katie was 4th ,don't know about the overall palacings gut we were mid table somewhere...bloody good fun on the cow shit in the field ,makes for lots of sideways action

katie was working tonight so didn't compete but i came 1st in class but last overall...that was with ERMC ,ground was suprisingly good considering the rain we had today ..but the courses were a bit too open which makes it diificult for the Herald to be very competitive

This was the first time i'd really driven with the new seats in and i must say they are bloomin marvellous...we're going to spend the best part of tomorow working on both cars ,Katie wants some music in the Herald so we're fitting a CD player ...see if i can get the headrest speakers to work and then we can have quadrophonic sound .Also need to fit the front anti roll bar to go with the swing spring and replace the front trunnion housings...might even get a bit of time to work on the GT6

Bit more comfort

2007-07-08T20:27:00.000+02:00

Finally found a pair of tan MX5 seats for the Herald ,essential kit for the 10cr if the passenger is to get any chance of sleeping.Plus the drivers side had collapsed one side so you need to see a physio after a couple of hours...Not a bad match for colour[passenger looks brighter due to the flash]

Had a bit of a fiddle fitting them ,the original plan was to modify the herald runners but this didn't go right ,so i ended up modifying the MX5 ones...took a bit longer than planned but very pleased with the results

They even have the speakers in so next i've got to fit a CD player...another must for 5 days in europe and no 6 pot to listen to

Scab picking

2007-07-03T17:39:00.000+02:00

Always a bad thing to do on a car,scab pick ,what started out as a small patch of rust developed inot a ruddy great hole

I've finished welding up the bulkhead and have repainted it plus most of the front part of the chassis and have started to refit the master cylinders and pedals ..only my arms aren't long enough to reach round to hold the pedal in place and bolt it in so i'll have to wait to get Katie to help me.The chap i'd lent my torque wrench to has returned it so i can get a crack on with the engine now as well

Went to the national day on sunday.in the herald .good to meet up with a few names on the forum again and meet some new ones ...bit of bother with the overdrive sticking in so that will need attention before too long and def before the 10cr

Colin has dropped out of the 10cr as he's completely skint so it will be down to a one car entry in the Herald

ERMC Autotest

2007-06-22T23:35:00.000+02:00

First autotest with the eastbourne and ram motor club..being local to me there was actually someone there i knew ....came fifth in the rear wheel drive class.....last....but i can only improve on that...wasn't too far off the rest ,except the winner, who was 30 seconds faster than even the guy in 2nd place
Did meet quite an interesting chap who owns a garage that used to be a triumph dealership ,said he'd have a root about to see if he's got any of the old dealership stuff floating about ..never know what might turn up

MOT time

2007-06-20T19:06:00.001+02:00

Time for the Heralds MOT .....why do bulbs and the like always know when it's MOT time ...the lightshad all been fine and then the o/s side and head lamp go..anyway spent the morning fidddling with lights and sorting out why the indicater lighton the dash was faint when i had the right hand indicater on [changed the flasher unit ] and adjusting the brakes and put the formula ford wheels i bought at stoneleigh on and messed around trying to get the bonnet fit a bit better
Anyway she passed with a couple of advises ..he didn't like the sideways movement in the handbrake ...prob a worn pivot pin ...and there was a bit of movement in both front lower trunnions...those i'll sort out sooner than later ,i've still got to fit the new front anti roll bar and rebush the front wishbones anyway so i'll do it all at the same time

First autotest

2007-06-17T10:56:00.000+02:00

First autotest of the year in the Herald with the TWMC went well.They had it in a different field this time which was much flatter [the other one was very bumpy] We came first and second in the saloon class ,with me only beating katie by just over 3 seconds overall ...she's getting closer and closer.One of the guys took some footage of the event and hopefully i'll get a copy and be able to post it .The car conked out on one of the tests ...just cleaned the rotor arm and it went again...still only took 3 minutes for the test and fix the prob

Can't seem to get the carbs set up quite right so i'm off up to Dale at Moordales tomorow to get him to sort them out and then off to the plough for the north london meet and one of Elliss treasure hunts...Still waiting for the spare prop to come back from being balanced so i'll only be driving about 60 all the way up

Herald's due an MOT this week as well so spent some time yesterday sorting a few bits and bobs out like a non working side light and a slightly blowing exhaust and replaced a few hoses that were looking iffy..Oh, and tried my new gadget for oiling trunnions ..only to find that the herald has had greece put in so i'll have to strip them down...want to polybush the front wish bones any way
.Also got on with the GT6...ground down the welds on the repair panel on the bulkhead [i've been waiting ages for the landlady to be out to do this]

Wanted to spend most of the day on the GT6 but Katie wants to take me out ..something to do with fathers day i think..but works fairly quiet at the mo so i'll get a fiar bit done this week

Ooh Ah just a little bit

2007-05-28T22:49:00.000+02:00

Done a little bit more to the GT6 over the weekend...not as much as i would have liked
Welded in the repair panel on the top of the bulkhead and started welding in a piece at the top of the front of the bulkhead where it joins the other repair section...need to get the grinder on it to tidy up my shite welding but the landlady was in so i'll have to wait till another time
also got chance to srip down the block that Tim Bancroft gave me and clean it up ,fit new piston rings ,refit pistons and fit new main and big end bearings and bolt it back in ...got to wait for the return of my torque wrench [lent it out at the weekend] before i can torque it up and refit the rest. At least it feels like i'm getting somewhere with it now...can't believe it's nearly 8months since i drove it last

Capital

2007-05-25T21:10:00.000+02:00

Whilst working on some antique guns down at the workshop in hove today, i thought i would take the opertunity to revarnish the two front door cappings.So inbetween sorting out a trigger guard on a howda pistol and making some ramrods from rose wood ,the door caps were srtipped, sanded down and given three coats of ronseals ''it does what it says on the tin'' clear varnish [with a light sanding with 600 grit between coats] and i must say i'm quite pleased with the results.I don't like them when they look like the varnish has been poured on like treacle ,so three thin coats was more than enough to get it how i like it

Sorted

2007-05-19T21:17:00.000+02:00

Got the Uj sorted on the Herald this morning...found the clip right under where the car had been parked,must have popped out on the very first turn...i was sure it was in ok
Tried to sort it out with the shaft still atached but no joy, so quickly wipped it off and fitted two new cups and clips to the UJ....this time making doubley sure the retaining clips were home.

Then took it for a drive to try out the new rear suspension ...with swing spring and polybushes,felt much smoother and tighter...no nasty noise from the drive shafts,but still getting vibration above 50mph...i've got a spare prop which i'll get re-balanced and see if that does the trick otherwise it could be something to do with the gearbox

On the way back got cut up by a BMW M5 so i stuck right up his ares for a few miles round all the little roads...trying out my new suspension ...obviously there was no way he was getting away from the awsome 60hp of the herald ..it was lucky for him i had to turn off when i did otherwise i'd have made him look really silly

With the Herald now up and running i can now start on the GT6 ...started fitting the new panel on the bulkhead where the master cylinders go ..have got the old piece cut out and the new one half welded in

Rush about for nothing

2007-05-15T21:33:00.000+02:00

With the next autotest set for tonight there was a bit of a rush to get the herald ready ...with the rear end noise requiring two new drive shafts and the diff eye bushes needing replacing i thought i might as well fit the swing spring conversion i picked up at canleys at the start of the HCR .I roped in Katies help this afternoon ,withstill the spring to fit ,one shaft to bolt on, one to srtip and fit new bearings to and bolt back,brakes to bleed and the replaced underwarrenty exhaust to fit,there was quite a lot of work to do
We finished just in time to leave at 6.30 for a 7.30 start...pulled the car out of the garage and one of the Uj retaining clips pinged out on one of the drive shafts allowing the cap to push out ...so i backed it back in the garage and went and got some fish and chips and went home
At least there isn't much left to do ...don't know when the next event is ,without checking,but at least it should be ready for a nice drive at the weekend

HCR

2007-05-07T17:59:00.000+02:00

Having only just got the car going for the weekend of the HCR it was a relief to make the start without any real prob..apart from me being knackered before we even started

We decided to go for the wobbly chin clues as we were told this would involve less mileage and with a new engine this would suit us

I worked out most of the clues and the beginings of the route whilst Katie had some sleep

In the car park concours we were awarded a trophy for our rusty wheels other recipients were:

Ellis stokes for the no of lights on the front of his car

Neilnaz For his interior decour [fluffy dice]

Tim Bancroft for shiniest car [polisher]

We set off and within a short while had Neil and Kaye on our tail and despite them then taking a different route within a couple of minutes they were back behind us ...we worked out we were going roughly the same way so decided to go in convoy ...not really the idea of the event but a bit more sociable we got on quite well to begin with picking up the first few counties quite quickly then decided to go to donnington as according to the clues there would be a code board there...we couldn't find it

On to oulton park ...again we couldn't find the code board ...by this time my exhaust was blowing quite badly ...we thought from a blown gasket

We headed on ...with some interesting routes plotted by Kaye and then the exhaust fell off up near the manifold....we managed to get into a pub car park to look at it and found it had split where the pipe joins the bracket that bolts onto the manfold .Tools out and we fixed it using a red bull can as a bangage with a jubilee clip and an exhaust clamp

Its a funny felling being under a triumph whilst the dawn chorus is going on

We decided to head back to the finish early as we didn't know how long the fix would last...not long as it turned out...This time we cut a section out of a metal oil can ...having put the oil into every available container first , this seemed a much stronger fix and got us back to the finish about 8am

After breckie we headed for home getting back just after 12noon ...we did get a bit caught up in what must have been a london to brighton run for trucks

This afternoon i decided to have a look at the back end of the herald to find out what the noise from the back end was ...to find that the needle roller bearing had come out of the back of the trunnion housing leaving the drive shaft to run on the housing ....nice .Also the bolts holding it on to the diff were loose