Friday 27th June - The last Triumph leaves the stable!

 I had decided some time ago that my time with Triumph's was done and I was going to concentrate on my Mk1 Cortina's instead. I've had some great times with Triumph's over the years, but had got to the stage where I felt that I had done all I can do. I've met some brilliant people too and I'm hoping that they will stay good friends. 

So, word of mouth about my Triumph being for sale was passed around and pretty soon I had some interest. A viewing was arranged, which wasn't an easy task as the car was in Frating North Essex and the buyer was in Walsall, near Birmingham in the West Midlands. 
A deal was done and included in the purchase price was delivery to Walsall to be arranged by Colin Wake (The car was stored at his place) and myself. 
After discussing various options, we decided just to drive the Triumph up there with me following and then come home. It wasn't quite as straight forward as it sounded though as we were both working on the  required delivery day. So, Friday 27th June, Colin took the Triumph to Bury St Edmunds where he was working for the day and left from there when he was finished. I finished my work in Hockley, Essex around 3.30pm and then, like Colin, set out for Walsall in my everyday car, my Peugeot 308 estate. 

I caught some traffic around Cambridge (which is normal!) but other than that, I had a fairly clear run. Colin did good as well and unbelievably, we pulled up outside the buyers house within a few minutes of each other. We then enjoyed a cup of coffee and a quick chat before making tracks. We still had a lot of mileage to cover. 

The traffic on the roads was starting to thin out a bit and we made a good time. Neither of us had eaten since the morning, so a much deserved KFC bargain bucket was taken on at Cambridge services. We didn't hang around too long though and at around 10.45pm we arrived back at Colin's. I then still had to get back to my home in Leigh On Sea and arrived there at 11.45pm. (and I had to get up at 5am Saturday morning to go to work!)
We worked out that it had cost around £80 to deliver the car including Petrol for the Triumph, Diesel for the Peugeot, and KFC for us, so quite  cheap option. 
I had already covered 241 miles in my work day, so with the trip up to Birmingham, across to North Essex and then back to my house, I reckon I'd driven around 600 miles! 

As usual though, the Triumph never missed a beat and hopefully the new owner will be very pleased with it. This is the first time that I haven't owned a Triumph since 2008, but I do feel that I'm doing the right thing. So, goodbye Gertie2 and all the best. 😊

Saturday 21st June. - The Zetec Returns!

 I'd rang Herts & Beds Transmission on Friday to see if my Zetec Cortina was finished and ready for collection and Ian confirmed that it was. So, I persuaded a guy from work (Adam) to run me up there to collect it. 

Adam picked me up from my house at 5.45am and we got on the road straightaway. We decided to leave early as the predicted heatwave would have lots and lots of traffic heading to the seaside at Southend and we wanted to get back before the traffic got too stupid. 

We arrived at Baldock at around 7.15 after a quick coffee in the services and after a quick chat with Ian, we collected the car and headed home. The Cortina drove well and I had great fun in the tunnels. It makes a fantastic noise! 😊

We arrived at mine just after 9am and then decided to go for breakfast in the Oakwood pub. It had been a good morning and we had avoided the traffic. 

Adam left shortly after breakfast and I decided to wash the car as it was covered in dust from being in the workshop all week. It really is a great car and a pleasure to drive. My only remaining job on it now is to get the oil pressure gauge working and then it's pretty much finished. 

Wednesday 18th June - More seat fitting.

 Despite the heatwave, I headed into the garage after work today to continue with the seat fitting on the project car. I had already removed the race seat from the car, so it was now just a case of making up a frame for the Audi TT seat that was going in there. 
The race seat had just been bolted through the floor any old how, (I suspect I'm going to find a lot of bodges on this car!) so I found a more reinforced part of flooring that I could bolt my framework to.
It took some time to line it all up and then drill the one inch box section that I was using through both sides, but luckily I have a pillar drill bolted to my work bench, so that made things a lot easier. 
By about 7pm the passenger seat was fitted to match the driver's seat and I was very pleased with the final result. It had been very hot in the garage and I was absolutely saturated!

Black leather Audi TT seats. A bargain at £30, and local collection! 

The race seats that were in the car will now go up for sale and I should do alright on these as the company that sells them now have them listed as out of stock. (Listed at £349 the pair including runners and frames). Hopefully, I'll be able to move them on as they are now taking up space. 

(BB Race seats. Not very comfortable for long distance stuff!) 

Sunday 15th June - Battlesbridge Breakfast Meet

 It was another beautiful day today and so it was a good day for a nice chilled out morning. This would also be the Green Cortina's proper maiden voyage with its freshly rebuilt engine. 
I left early so that I would have a completely trouble and traffic free drive to Battlesbridge and as result, I got there early enough to be parked on the front row. 

The car behaved itself, other than the temperature gauge reading high, but it's always done that, so it wasn't a concern. (I've replaced the temperature sender, so it's probably the voltage regulator that needs replacing) Plus When I put the cylinder head back on I took the 88 degree thermostat out and fitted an 82 degree one, so I knew the thermostat was ok.

Good friend Gavin arrived in Triumph 2.5 Pi and other good friend Andy arrived shortly after in his Rover P6 2200. There were lots of beautiful cars there and the Ford Anglia was out in force. The Anglia was  another of my favourite cars when I was a kid, but boy, they are a small car. I think if I was to buy one I'd end up moving the driver's seat so far back, I'd be in the back of the car! (Like I used to be with my Mini's)

My Mk1 Cortina was the only one there, but only because my other friend Keith's Lotus Cortina was stuck in his garage due to the electric door packing up. 
After spending a couple of hours looking round the cars, we then decided to go for breakfast, which was a big mistake. We were told it was a 20 minute wait when we arrived, but then after 35 minutes noticed that people that had come in after us were getting their food while we were still waiting. When Gavin enquired where our order was we were told that they had lost our ticket and we would have to wait another 20 minutes! No additional free tea or drinks were offered by way of compensation or good customer relations and when the food eventually arrived it was poor. Needless to say, we wont be returning! 
By the time we returned to the show field most people had left because we'd been in the cafe for so long, so we decided to do the same. 
I got caught in quite a bit of traffic on the way home, but the Cortina handled it well and didn't cause any issues. I did notice a slight water leak when I arrived home, but this was rectified by tightening up the bottom radiator hose a bit more. 
I was pleased with how it ran. It did seem a bit slow when I first started driving it, but I need to take into account that I'd been driving the Zetec Cortina the day before, so it will seem sluggish compared to that. So I was pleased with how it droves and enjoyed my day out. 😊

Saturday 14th June. - Early start and progress on the project

 I had spoken to the chap that did my differential rebuild about my continuing oil leak during the week and he suggested I bring the car over to him so he can sort it out for good.
The only issue with that is that he is in Baldock in Hertfordshire and I was going to have to leave it with him for 4 or 5 days. Luckily, good friend Gavin agreed to follow me over there and bring me back, so we arranged a meeting in a lay-by on the A127 at 7am. Actually, Gavin rang me at 5.40am and asked if I was ready to go now as he was already awake. I was already up and about, so we re-arranged to meet at 6.30 instead.
Being this early, we didn't encounter any traffic and was at Herts & Beds transmissions just after 7.30. 

This Zetec Cortina really is a pleasure to drive now and if I can get the new project to drive the same as the Zetec, I will be more than happy. We then went for a coffee in Baldock services before setting off and again, because it was fairly early, we had a trouble free drive home. 

With the afternoon to myself I decided to finish off the job I had started during the week which was fitting Audi TT seats into the new Cortina.
Two seconds after starting welding I promptly ran out of welding wire! Luckily my local motor factors had a couple of reels in stock, so I shot down there and bought them. By about 4pm, my job was complete and I had a quick tidy up and put all my tools away.
I was pleased with how the seat looked on the drivers side, so I just have the passenger side to do now, which hopefully I may be able to get done after Battlesbridge tomorrow. The seats are not perfect, but they only cost me £30 and I only had to go to Hockley (Which is where I work) to collect them. My theory was that at £30, they were worth a punt and if I couldn't make them fit, or they were unsuitable, I haven't lost loads of money. Luckily, it looks like my £30 was well spent. 😊

Sunday 8th June. - Test drive and washy time!

 I had to get the cars out of the driveway this morning as I had finally sold my 2.6 Triumph engine on facebook market place and needed to bring out of the garage and up the driveway ready to load. I was quite glad it was going as I was getting tired of some of the dumb questions I had been asked. I.e. 'Is this a genuine Triumph engine, or did you make it yourself?'. I can do a lot of things in my garage, but casting brand new engine blocks isn't one of them! 😕

Anyway, the buyer arrived around 10.30 and I lifted the engine into the back of his Volkswagen Polo with my engine crane. (Which I had only folded down and put away in the shed the week before-Typical!) He was a nice guy and wanted the engine for his Triumph GT6. I gave him a few other Triumph bits that I had laying around and other than the Triumph Mk1 saloon I have in storage (which will be going up for sale very soon) I am more or less Triumph free now. 

Once he had gone, I fired up the Green Cortina and took it for a test drive. I only went local as its just had an engine rebuild and I didn't want to be too far away if anything went wrong. Luckily , nothing did go wrong and I had no nasty oil leaks either, so it looks like the recent work was worth the effort. 

Once back home I got the bucket and sponge out and gave it a good wash. It had got quite dusty and dirty from all that time sitting in the garage, so it was good to see it looking nice and clean again. Roll on Battlesbridge on Sunday! 😊

Wednesday 4th June -Green Cortina Tuning!

 My friend Andy was coming round after work today for a long overdue beer and curry. I had some time to kill before he arrived, so I fitted a new set of spark plugs and altered the timing and set the firing order again on the Green Cortina. 

I also wanted to set the ignition timing with a strobe light, but I can't hold the strobe light and turn the distributor at the same time, so luckily, once Andy had arrived we were able to get that done. With the engine running smoothly we cleared everything up and quickly put the tools away as it had now started raining and the car was outside the garage. 

I was pleased how things had gone, but ideally I need to get the car out for a test drive. Hopefully, I'll have time on Sunday. With our work complete, Andy and I went for our much deserved beer and curry. And very nice it was too. 😊