I received a phone call today saying that my Cortina bumper was ready for collection....again! It had had some chrome treatment a little while ago, but unfortunately for some reason it had reacted and started to peel.
Thursday 25 April 2024
Thursday 25th April - Bumper improvement programme!
Wednesday 24 April 2024
Tuesday 23rd April - Engine removal complete!
I had some assistance in the form of Gavin this morning, so I had a saved some of the jobs that were easier with two men until now.
The first job was to remove the bonnet and lay it on the roof of the car. Next on the agenda was to remove the cylinder head. (I can do this on my own, but it's bloody heavy!) We then removed the starter motor and slave cylinder, the last few remaining bellhousing bolts and the engine was then ready to come out.
After setting the engine crane up, I supported the gearbox with a trolly jack and then got to lifting the engine. It came out quite easily to be honest. With the engine out of the car, I then removed the crankshaft pulley, clutch, flywheel and rear engine plate.
The last job was to drain all of the oil from it and then move it to the side of the garage. I left the engine crane set up as I'm going up to HarveyTune on Saturday to collect my new engine, so I'll need the crane to unload it from my car. With everything done, we cleaned up and went out for ham, egg and chips at Addy's cafe. very nice it was too. Another successful day!
Monday 22nd April - Engine removal started!
I had a few things to do on Monday morning and never got home until 2.15pm, so I started quite late on the engine removal process. However, with the warm weather and the company of greatest hits radio, I got stuck in and just cracked on.
First thing was to drain all the water out of the radiator and while this was draining I undid and removed all heater hoses and fuel hoses. I then moved on the nearside of the engine and removed the distributor and alternator before moving across the front of the engine and removing the water pump. I then removed the air filter, twin carburettors and inlet manifold.
My next task was remove my additional brake vacuum tank (Especially good for providing better braking efficiency on the long mountain passes in Europe) and my expansion bottle, so that I could get access to the radiator bolts and remove the radiator.Sunday 21 April 2024
Sunday 21st April - I finally get around to moving cars about.
After being badly ill since Tuesday I had finally managed to persuade my Doctor to prescribe me some Antibiotics so I could get better. (I had to do it by phone, trying to get a face to face appointment is an absolute joke these days!) Anyway, today I finally felt well enough to venture outside and move some cars around.
I had to move the Triumph into the garage in readiness for its engine removal and dissection which meant moving both Cortina's out onto the driveway for a while.
I then reversed the Triumph into the garage and found that my carbon monoxide alarm works just fine when it started bleeping like a lunatic! I left both doors open for the next 30 minutes to make sure all the fumes had cleared.Wednesday 17th April - The Cortina Starter Motor saga continues
Unexpectedly, the starter motor that I had sent away to be modified, (That should have taken a week) suddenly arrived back with me on Tuesday 16th April. I quickly fitted it only to find that this time it was just clicking and doing nothing else. I rang the supplier again and after a lengthy discussion we decided to try a different model number. With his usual fantastic service this replacement model arrived Wednesday afternoon.
Unfortunately, I'd become quite ill on Tuesday afternoon and I was starting to feel quite poorly this afternoon as well. (I think it was a reaction from a hospital procedure I'd had on Monday afternoon) Luckily, I have a fantastic mate, Andy, who's a mad petrol head and very much into classic cars as well. He called round after work for a catch up, and then insisted on fitting the starter motor for me! What a great guy he is!
Unfortunately, the new model was significantly bigger and just wouldn't fit properly. Well it would, but you then couldn't get the top bolts in to hold it in place securely. Sadly, poor Andy then not only had to remove it, but also had to fit the original inertia one for me so that the car was kept mobile. (I just stood there shivering and freezing cold and holding the torch for him)
With this done, we retired to my nice warm house and ordered a Chinese takeaway. (Which I hardly ate any of because I was feeling so rough!) As soon as Andy left, I promptly went to bed and slept for about 14 hours and most of the following two days as well!!!
Monday 15th April - More engine pics from Harveytune Derby.
After the clamp on Dave Harvey's dial gauge broke after timing the camshaft, he wanted to make sure he was double sure it was right before sealing it off. So it was nice to receive pics today showing that the Camshaft timing was complete and double checked and he'd bought himself a new DTI gauge as well.
All it needs now is the oil pump, sump pan and timing chain cover fitting and then it's complete and finished. I need to start getting on with moving the Triumph into the garage now and start getting the existing engine removed before this one suddenly turns up on the doorstep! 😕
Tuesday 16 April 2024
Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th April. Club Triumph Historic Counties Rally.
Due to engine problems, I had to retire from this event last year not far from the start, so hopefully this year there wouldn't be any such issues.
My co-driver for the event, Mike Bishop was on holiday in Scotland with his family, so the plan was for him to get dropped off at the start an meet me there. Although I have known Mike for around 16 years, this would be the first major event I have done with him. We are also doing the 10 countries rally in September, so this would give us a good idea of how we would get on while being stuck in a car with each other for many long hours.
I set off around 12pm for the long drive up to the start at Belper in Derbyshire. Colin Wake and Mark Rutter were taking part in Colin's Mk2 Triumph and would be leaving Cambridge and heading across the A14 which is the way that I would be going, so with some good timing, we met up around the Lutterworth area and then completed the rest of the journey together.
About half hour after arriving at the start, fellow Team Spotlight member Richard Warr and his Co-driver Enzo arrived, so we got the two cars together for a quick photo shoot and then went for our evening meal.