Sunday 17th November - North Weald Breakfast Meet.

 The weather wasn't looking too bad today, so Gavin and I decided to give this breakfast meet a go. I'd been here once before about two years ago and suffered a broken ball joint on the way home, so hopefully I wouldn't suffer the same fate this time. 

We met up at half eight and took the old A130 to Chelmsford, then the A414 towards Harlow. It was a good drive and didn't take long. I think it took nearly as long to drive all the way round the outside of North Weald airfield it's so bloody big! 

We parked up and grabbed a coffee and a bacon bap before the queues got too big. There were some interesting cars there including not one, but two Vauxhall Carlton Lotus's. 

There were some other 60's cars there as well, but not many as this is just a 'car meet' rather than a 'classic car meet'. It was a morning out though and good to get out of the house. 

We left around lunch time and had a good drive home. However, on arrival at my place I was disappointed to discover that once again, my car was leaking oil. It appeared to be coming out from around the dipstick area. Removing the dipstick with the engine running found that the oil was spraying up the dipstick tube like a fountain! Obviously something not right here then, so some investigations need to be carried out. Bloody old cars eh? 😟

Saturday 9th November - Billericay breakfast meet and Burton Engineering.

 Good friend David Harvey was visiting from Derby this weekend. When Dave visits it's normally to help work on one of my cars, but there was nothing much to do this weekend, so we were just having a chilled out time. 

We were both up and about early Saturday morning, so we decided to visit the breakfast meet at Billericay. I decided to take my Green Cortina today to make sure the electric fuel pump upgrade that I had done the day before was all in order. 

Our other friend Gavin was there in his Triumph, Keith was also there in his Mk1 Lotus Cortina and Martin was there in his Mk1 Cortina GT. There was a good selection of cars there and we sampled the breakfast there too, which was, I have to say, very good. This will be a good meet in the summer. 

Around lunch time we made a move, but instead of going home, we decided to pay a visit to Burton Engineering in Gants Hill. (Or Burton Power Products as they're known now) Dave had never been there before and I had other business with them.

 When I had purchased a set of Magnecor plug leads from them a few weeks previous, they arrived when they should have done and I had fitted them to the car. However, a few weeks later, another set arrived through the post which I hadn't ordered. Obviously an error has been made somewhere and these are not cheap, (£140) so being the decent and honest chappie that I am, I returned them to them. Now, a few people may think I'm daft giving them back, but Burton's have always been very helpful to me whenever I've been there, so I could see no reason to take advantage of their mistake. 

They were very grateful and appreciated my honesty. In fact they were so grateful that when I bought a new set of windscreen wipers for my Cortina, they gave me them for nothing. 

So, all in all, it was a very good day out and included a bit of a feel good factor by doing, and receiving a good deed. ☺

Friday 8th November - Electric fuel pump upgrade for the Cortina

 A little while ago I decided that I would replace the old manual fuel pump on the Green Cortina. There is nothing wrong with it, other than it being in a really awkward place to get to and would be a nightmare to access if you had to replace it at the side of the road. 

I had in stock a Facet electric fuel pump and a filter king pressure regulator that would be a perfect upgrade. I decided to mount the pump on the redundant battery tray under the bonnet. (The battery is located in the boot) I had already used this space for the ignition coil though, so the first job was to relocate the coil to underneath the battery tray where it was originally. 

With this done I then mounted the fuel pump onto the battery tray. Luckily, the two holes that I was left with from removing the coil were an exact fit for the fuel pump mounts, so no drilling was required. With the pump in place, I then mounted the pressure regulator/filter on the inner wing for easy access for if ever I need to change the filter.

Once satisfied that everything was in place and looked good, I then removed the old manual fuel pump. This leaves a rather large hole in the side of the engine, so I fitted a blanking plate to cover said hole and therefore not spray engine oil everywhere. 

After that it was just connecting fuel lines and wiring up the pump to an ignition live and I was done. An electric fuel pump is always a good upgrade because as soon as you turn the ignition on it will pump away and fill the carburettor up in readiness for starting, whereas with the old manual pump, the engine will be cranking away on starting for as long as it takes for the fuel to get from the pump to the float chamber on the carburettor. 

I was pleased with my days work and a few people that have seen it since have said its a tidy job. Nice compliments to receive. ☺

Sunday 3rd November - Test drive!

Not much going on this weekend, so Gavin and I decided to have a run out to Latchingdon and have breakfast at the 'On the Latch' cafe. 

I hadn't test driven the Green Cortina since putting the engine back in and having all the issues with the ignition system, so this would be a good run out for it and to make sure it was on point.

We met up at around 9am and had a lovely traffic free drive through the country lanes over to our destination. The weather was quite mild as well, so it was a good day for a leisurely drive. 

I have to say, I was really pleased with how the Cortina drove. The power is good for a 1600cc engine and it runs nice and smooth as well. I might even take it to the Billericay meet next Saturday! ☺

Saturday 26th October - Billericay Breakfast Meet.

 The weather was supposed to be fine today, so a few of us decided to give a new Classic car breakfast meet at Billericay a try. I decided to take the Zetec Cortina as it hadn't been out for a while. The only down side was that as soon as I got it off the drive, it started peeing down with rain. I rang Keith to see if he was still going, but it wasn't raining where he lived in Wickford! 

So, I set out and after getting petrol, I met up with Keith in his Mk1 Lotus Cortina and Gavin in his Mk2 Triumph 2.5 Pi at a BP petrol station in Wickford and we travelled down to Billericay in convoy. It looked a bit odd though with my car soaking wet and theirs bone dry! 

Shortly after we arrived Martin made an appearance in his Mk1 Cortina GT, and it was quite unusual to have three Mk1 Cortina's all in one place.

There wasn't that many cars there to be honest. I think that's partly because it's new and word hasn't gone round yet, plus it's held on a Saturday and some people work Saturday mornings. It was a good morning out though and the coffee and bacon rolls were good quality, so it's got potential! ☺

Wednesday 23rd October - The Triumph is back on two legs again!

 With the arrival of a replacement suspension leg, I was able to build all the supporting bits up and get the car reassembled and back on its wheels. 

I had already prepared the supporting bits and made them either nice and clean, or all greased up depending on what they were. I clamped the suspension leg in the workbench vice and used my spring compressors to compress the spring before fitting the insert, a new gaiter and then the spring cup and the roller top bearing. Once this was all assembled I was able to remove the spring compressors.

I then had the usual fight of refitting the suspension leg to the hub and inner wing. I find it usually puts up a bit of resistance, but as long as you make sure you disconnect the track rod end, it's not too bad. (The track rod end, if connected, stops the hub from reaching the angle it needs to be to mate with the suspension leg.)

With this all back together, I put the wheel back on, lowered the car onto the ground and performed a 'bounce' test. (Pushing up and down on the front wing) I'm pleased to report that distinct lack of 'clonking' noise means that I had cured the problem. Another job off the list before it goes up for sale! 

Sunday 20th October - Triumph suspension issues continued

 Me and a few mates were hoping to go to the Battlesbridge breakfast meet this morning as it was the last one of the year. However, storm Ashley was playing its part in the proceedings and we decided not to bother. Plus it had been raining most of the day on Saturday and the field would have been a quagmire. 

So, in my bored state I went into the garage to continue working on the Triumph. I still had the bottom ball joint to replace in the lower suspension arm and this can be a tricky job. However, having a 20 ton press in my garage certainly makes life easier and I had this done in no time at all. (It was the easiest one I've ever done actually!)

The suspension arm was then bolted into place and the drag strut and anti roll bar were reattached. I did consider lifting the hub back onto the ball joint and tightening that up, but that would leave the hub hanging at a funny angle as I can only support it from the bottom until the replacement suspension leg turns up. 

So, I left the hub assembly sitting on my stool and will leave it until I get the other parts. 

I then pottered about doing a few other things, like putting tools away and stripping a manual fuel pump ready for rebuilding. I then left the fuel pump in soak in the parts washer as by now, the lack of breakfast was catching up with me and I went indoors for some food. Hopefully, the suspension leg will arrive soon and I'll be able to get the Triumph back on its wheels again.