Sunday 16th June - Battlesbridge Breakfast meet

 It was a beautiful day again today, although there had been a warning of heavy showers, but I decided to take a chance and head out to this local breakfast meet. 

The green Cortina was the choice for today as it hadn't been out for some time, so I wanted to stretch its legs. It had also had a flat battery recently as well, so a run would fully charge that as well. 

I got there early so that I wouldn't get parked on the boggy part of the field and good friend Gavin had had the same idea and arrived pretty much as soon as I had parked up. 

We had a cup of coffee and sat and watched the other cars start rolling in. There wasn't as many as normal, (I think the threat of rain had put people off) but it was still a good selection. 

Around half past ten, we did have a real heavy downpour which sent everyone running for the beer tent area, but within five minutes it had ceased and we were back to normal. 

By about half eleven, Gavin and I had walked around the other cars about three times and even visited the antique stalls, so we decided to make a move. I like these breakfast meets as nobody minds if you leave early and it gives you the rest of the day to play with. 

The green Cortina was as popular as ever and every time I looked round at it, there were people looking over it. I think it's the colour that draws people.  Plus, from talking to various people since owning it, everybody's Grandad used to have one! I know that my Dad had one, it was a 2 door GT that lost a wheel and ended up in a ditch when we were on our way to visit relatives in Maylandsea! 

Funny what you remember from your childhood isn't it? 😊

Saturday 15th June - Triumph 2000 Register National Day- Hunstanton, Norfolk

 Despite my braking issues with the car, I had managed to get these resolved and was looking forward to getting some more running in miles on the engine by making the long trip to Hunstanton in Norfolk.

I filled the car up with Petrol in the morning and double checked that there were no more oil leaks. To my relief there was nothing dripping from the car with the engine running, so I committed myself to the long journey ahead. 

I left at around 7am and took the A127, M25, M11, A14, A10 and then finally the A149 to Hunstanton. The weather was good and I had planned for a coffee break on route, but to be honest, I was enjoying the drive and by the time I was yearning for coffee, I was only 17 miles away, so I kept going until I got there. 

I arrived around 9.30am and met up with Dave Harvey and Lee Godfrey near the site entrance. 

After a cup of coffee and a chat, we then moved down to the display field. It was a good turn out of Triumphs and I took a lot of pleasure from meeting people that I only normally get to see at this annual event. 

The turn out of cars was good as well and although there wasn't as many as there normally is, the quality was very good. 

Unfortunately, around 1pm it started to rain and looked like it was here for the day. I suffered it until 2.15pm and then decided to head home. I had a long way to go and the rain would make the journey slower. 

After I left, it rained for about the next hour or so and then stopped completely, so the drive home wasn't too terrible. I arrived home at 5.30pm 

The car ran very well and never missed a beat, so things are looking good with the new engine. I'm now up to about 380 running in miles, so 120 to go and I'll be able to re-torque the cylinder head, set the valve tappets again, fit a new set of spark plugs and then book it in for its rolling road session. 

Its next big event will be the border raiders rally at the end of July, but hopefully it will be run in by then. 

Tuesday 11th June - Brake repairs!

On discovery of the leaking master cylinder, good friend David Harvey sent me a seal repair kit which luckily arrived very promptly indeed. 

I'd had another issue though in that the fitting on the metal brake pipe that screws into the master cylinder, was also knackered and needed replacing! Luckily, I had a spare one of these, but the brake pipe that had to be removed runs all the way across the bulkhead and into a three way union that is secured to the battery tray on the nearside of the car. So the repair meant removing this brake pipe completely and putting a new fitting on the master cylinder end. 

With this done, I then set about stripping the master cylinder and fitting the new seals. 

This didn't take too long and soon I had the master cylinder refitted to the car. My next job would then have been to bleed all of the air out of the brakes, which I would have done had I not knocked my only bottle of brake fluid all over the garage floor! I then found I was also low on cat litter, so had to shoot down to Tesco's and buy some more so I could soak it all up. 

With no more brake fluid in stock, I then had to call it a night until I could buy some more the next day. 

Sunday 9th June - A nice run out.

 After my long day in the garage yesterday, I decided to take the Zetec Cortina out for its first proper run since its rolling road session last September. 

Gavin decided to bring his Triumph out for a run as well, so we headed for a lovely cafe at Latchingdon named 'On the Latch'. We been here before and the service and food is very good. 

We had a great drive out and I was able to give the Zetec some stick while going through the country lanes. The sun was shining as well, which made it all the more nicer.

On returning home, I had a play with the Triumph's fuel sender unit as I'd found recently that it's reading high. Hopefully I've cured it, but I will only really know the next time I fill it up. 

Whilst in the garage, I decided to check the fluids before next Saturdays trip, but found that the brake master cylinder was only half full. A full inspection of all brakes didn't find any leaks, but removal of the brake master cylinder itself revealed that fluid had been leaking past the seals and back towards the servo. 

It seems this car doesn't want to go to Norfolk on Saturday. I've now got to find a seal kit and get this repaired during the week somehow, otherwise the trip wont be happening. 

Saturday 8th June - Triumph Oil leak!

 Whilst running my new engine in I had discovered to my horror that it was freely distributing oil to where it shouldn't. Really not an ideal situation, especially when it stained my new block paving driveway. 

The green Cortina was already in the garage though and I needed to carry out a few jobs on that first before I could get the Triumph in for investigation. The first job was to level up the driver's seat as it was leaning in towards the middle slightly. This didn't take long and with a few more careful measurements, the use of some spacers and the help of a spirit level, it was soon done. 

The next job was to replace the starter motor with a brand new one. I also swapped this from a three pin one to a two pin one. The three pin one is a nightmare to remove and re-fit as there is very limited space between the engine and front axle to fit the starter motor through. The two pin starter will provide much more easier access. The last job was to adjust the clutch cable which was a five minute job. With this all done I went to move the Cortina only to find the battery had gone flat. Bugger! 

While I was waiting for the battery charger to do its stuff, I checked the oil on the Triumph and found it was down to three quarters. It shouldn't have been that low as I have only covered about 160 miles since the rebuild, so the leak was proving to be quite severe. I also removed the spark plugs to see what colour they were and was pleased to discover that these weren't far off where they should be. If I can get time, the car will be having a rolling road session before its European trip in September anyway, so this will tune it up perfectly. 

With the cars finally moved around and the Triumph in the garage, I was able to investigate the oil leak. The first thing I noticed was that oil seemed to be forming at the bottom of the dipstick tube. 

I first thought that this was coming from the dipstick tube, but it turned out to be coming from the oil gallery plug just above. I managed to get about quarter of a turn to tighten this which cured the problem. However, this wasn't the only leaking point! There are another two gallery oil plugs, so I checked them and they were loose as well. This can be the problem with a new engine sometimes, bolts, nut and plugs etc are tightened when the engine is cold and then metal expands when it gets hot and things have to be re-torqued. 

Even though all these three plugs had been leaking, but were now not, I still had oil dripping from underneath. I then checked the rocker box cover gasket as my leak was right at the back of the engine. Sure enough, once removed there were signs that oil had been escaping from the back of the cover. You could see where the gasket hadn't been doing its job. 

So I set to work removing the gasket. This was no easy task as some idiot had siliconed it in place (Probably me years ago) and it had stuck solid. The gasket had also been on there a number years and had gone rock hard. It wouldn't come off in one go and the use of various screw drivers and stanley knives had to be employed. eventually, though, it was all off, although in millions of pieces!

So, with the new gasket fitted, had this finally stopped the leak?????? Had it buggery! I was still losing oil at the back of the engine! I then tried the oil filter housing. This is tightened with a single bolt and when I tried this, I managed to get half a turn on it. This seemed to do the trick as another check of laying on the floor showed that I was no longer dripping oil anywhere. I left the car running for another ten minutes and everything was finally dry and as it should be. Success at last! 

So, looking back I didn't just have one oil leak, I had five separate ones, but the leaks on all of them were running back down the engine (The engine tilts back on a Triumph) and all meeting at the same point. At least I had resolved the issue in time for the long drive to Norfolk next Saturday. 

Sunday 2nd June - Little Easton Breakfast Meet

 With promises of more glorious sunshine, Gavin and I decided to have a drive up to Great Dunmow for the Little Easton Manor breakfast meet. We met at around 09.30 and had another lovely drive up through some great driving roads and arrived just after 10am. 

Good friend Andy Wharton was there as well in his BMW 840i. Andy has a vast collection of classic cars including my old Ford Consul GT which I sold him back in 2009. His collection also includes a Volvo 144i, a Hillman Super Minx, an Austin A35, a stretch limousine Bentley and various Mk1 & Mk2 Ford Granada's. (He's probably got others that I don't know about as well!)

Little Easton Manor is a beautiful location and a very pleasant place to visit, especially when the sun is shining. The only downside is that to attend you have to make a 'donation' of £5, which isn't a problem as it was for charity, but then they also ban you from bringing your own food and drink in which I think is a bit much. We've noticed more and more of these shows and meets have started to charge exhibitors entry fees lately. Us exhibitors have already got a massive cost of keeping these old cars on the road as well as the petrol to get to these shows. These breakfast meets and car shows need to realise that without us classic car owners, they haven't got a show anyway, because without us, there would be nothing for the public to look at. 

Anyway, I had to leave at 12.45 as I had to drive to Enfield to attend my Nephew's 30th birthday Barbeque. I went straight from Little Easton as it seemed a good reason to get some more mileage on my new engine, and by the time I got home, I had added another 100 miles, bringing it to 160 in total. However, when putting it away, I also discovered an oil leak, so investigation will be needed before its next journey.

Bank Holiday Monday 27th May- The new engine's first run out!

 After finishing a few little jobs on the Triumph the two previous days, it was time to take the Triumph on its first run with the new engine installed. 

Gavin had found a car show up near Halstead, which is about 30 miles away, so this would be a decent distance to bed the engine and not to far away to be recovered if need be. (God forbid!-I had enough break-downs last year!)

It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a lovely drive up through the country lanes. It was perfect for the engine with a good mix of single lanes, dual carriageways and town roads as well. All good for running the engine in.

It was a good show and due to the glorious weather, very popular as well. I also met another friend I know through the Mk1 Cortina club who was there with his very early, and very nice 1200cc Mk1 Cortina, (See pic below) so it was good to have a catch up with him as well. (We also used to do banger racing at the same time a good few years back, so we had a catch up on that as well.)

It was a lovely day out, but by early afternoon, grey clouds were starting to make an appearance, so Gavin and me (and a few others) made the decision to make a move. We had a trouble free run home and by the time I had arrived back at mine, I had clocked up 58 miles on the new engine. Only another 442 miles to go then!