Saturday 17th August. Bits & Pieces

A few jobs on the list this weekend so no time was wasted getting stuck in once I’d finished my chores Saturday lunchtime.

First job on the agenda was to reinforce the differential casing in readiness of Gertie’s return to the road. I had cut and shaped some pieces of metal during the week, so they were already to be welded in place. I encountered a bit of a problem in that despite my gas bottle showing half full on the gauge it was in fact empty! This was particularly annoying as my gas supplier (Allied Welding Supplies in Benfleet) were now closed.  I had already been over there in the morning buying some wire brush attachments, so I could have exchanged it then if I had known.  

Luckily Gavin had called in and offered to go home and get his arc welder to do the job. With this done the job was soon completed and I no longer have to worry about Gertie’s torque bending the diff casing.

 

While Gavin was welding I decided to have a play with my new helicoil kit. Two of the studs on the trailing arms had pulled out of the alloy and there was no thread left in them to tighten against. The kit allows you to drill out the existing hole, then re-tap it and then insert a new thread piece in which the stud can be inserted. I had never used one of these kits before and was quite impressed with how well it works. Now Gertie's trailing arms have all six studs fitted as Triumph designed them. Result!

After this Gavin helped me remove the remains of the diff from the car so it will be easier to fit the new seal that’s arriving soon. It also now leaves the rear of the car completely without any rear axle so access to the part of the floor that needs welding will be easier too.

While Gavin was still around we had to go at lining up the bonnet on my Mk2 estate. For some reason this now refuses to open and close without making contact with the front panel. After trying various different things we still couldn’t get it to make any difference. Close inspection of the bonnet hinges revealed that one of them has pushed itself into the bonnet due to much rustiness! Bugger! Now I’m going to have to find another Mk2 bonnet.

Last job of the day was re-torque the cylinder head on the Red car now that it’s got a few miles under its belt. This is a bit of a pain because with the Mk1 engine the right bank of head bolts are external, which means you have to remove the inlet and exhaust manifolds to get to them. However, what with recent head removals I’ve done on this car I’ve become a bit used to it and I had it all done in just over the hour.