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. 

Tuesday 15th October - Triumph suspension issues

 For some time now I've had an annoying 'clonk' on the offside front of this car. It didn't seem too serious and you wouldn't notice it on motorways or 'smooth' roads but you definitely noticed it on pot holed and bumpy roads. (Which there are a lot of now!)

My line of thinking was that it was the bottom ball joint on the driver's side, so seeing as I was home from work sharpish today, I set about removing the bottom suspension arm so that I could get to the ball joint and replace it. (These have to be pressed in and out)

With the car up on axle stands I removed the bolt that connects the bottom arm to the drag strut, and then disconnected the anti-roll bar. That should have let me lower the suspension arm down so that I could lift the hub off of the ball joint, but it wasn't for some reason. So, I removed the main bolt holding the suspension arm and to my surprise the whole lot, i.e. hub, brake disc, calliper and suspension leg came crashing downwards and onto the garage floor! Now this shouldn't be possible because the suspension leg would normally be held up by the three bolts that would secure the front spring mount to the inner wing, and this would secure the shock absorber insert to the suspension leg. 

For some reason, the shock absorber insert had come undone and completely detached itself from the suspension leg. (That would explain the clonking then!)

Further investigation revealed that the thread on the suspension leg that the insert cap screws into was severely worn. This would have caused the cap to come loose and eventually undo itself. 

So, until I can get another suspension leg, there wasn't really much I could do, so I left the hub, disc, and calliper etc. supported and called it a day. At least I definitely know what was causing the clonking now. 

Sunday 13th October - The Green Cortina finally leaves the garage.

 With yesterdays work being very successful, it was now time to evict the Green Cortina from the garage so that I could get the Triumph in there. 

Although the Triumph completed the recent 10CR successfully, a couple of little niggles became apparent on the run that need to be addressed. (Especially if I'm going to sell it) I've had a great time with Triumphs over the past fifteen years, but I've got to say, it's got to the stage where I feel I've done all I can events wise and I'm now looking for a new direction. 

Up to now, I've taken part in 7 RBRR's, 5 10cr's, 10 HCR's, 3 C2C's and countless other events, including numerous rallies in Scotland, Wales and Holland. I've also won the Club Triumph national points championship twice as well, so I've done my fair share of supporting the club. (Which is also why I don't expect to be spoken to like a piece of shit by the main 10CR organiser at the end of the last 10CR)

My exit from Triumphs isn't set in stone though and I'm currently looking for somewhere to store the car for six months or so in case I change my mind, but for now, my interest in the car or the events just isn't there and I'm having more fun with the two Cortina's. (They're certainly a lot easier to work on!)

So, this morning's task was just to move all the cars around so that they were all where I wanted them. I also took the Green Cortina for a test drive round the block and it ran perfect, so that's a relief. 

The Zetec Cortina needs a run out next as I can't remember the last time I went anywhere in it. I think there's a show on Canvey Island in a  few weeks time, so I may well take it to that. 

Saturday 12th October - Success!

 Gavin came round this morning to help with getting this bloody Cortina running properly again. Some (very expensive) Magnecor spark plug leads had arrived during the week and also a (very expensive) 'Flame thrower' ignition coil. 

With all this top quality equipment fitted, we were severely disappointed to find that we had the same problems as the Saturday before. For some reason, no matter what we did, we just couldn't get a spark at number one spark plug. This was even after changing the distributor cap, rotor arm, plug lead, spark plug and adjusting the timing. 

I then decided to remove the distributor completely (Which had been fitted 180 degrees out) and set the engine up again from scratch. So with the engine set to the compression stroke on number one cylinder, another distributor was fitted and this time set in the correct position. We also swapped the Pertronix electronic ignition module out of the old distributor onto the replacement distributor. (These cost about £180, so I wasn't going to discard it.)

With everything in place and set up as per workshop manual, we also replaced the spade terminals on the electrical connections just to be doubly sure. 

We then started the car up to find it running a lot better and almost as it should. The next move was to fine tune the ignition timing with a strobe timing light which then had it running perfect. 

This car has been a pain in the arse for the past couple of weeks, but it now seems to be running as it should again. All in all, a very good mornings work. 

Saturday 5th October - Rough running

 After putting the engine back in the Cortina I was subjected to it not wanting to run right for some reason. While it was out of the car and sitting on the garage floor, It had fallen over and smashed the distributor cap and bent the oil pressure switch as well. 

I bought a replacement distributor cap, but fitting this made little difference. Good friends Gavin and Peter were both visiting this morning, so they both chipped in with ideas as to why this damn car wouldn't run right. 

Whilst investigating we quickly decided that ignition problems were the cause here, which was strange as this engine was running fine when it was removed and I hadn't disturbed any of the ignition system while it was out. 

What we did discover was that whoever had fitted the distributor before I owned the car, had fitted it wrongly and had set the timing 180 degrees out. After a couple of hours messing about and trying different things, I decided to call it a day and order some new spark plug leads and a new ignition coil as well. For some reason it didn't want to spark properly and just didn't want to run properly either. 

While I had some help present I decided to refit the bonnet as its a lot easier with two people doing it than my trying to do it alone. So at least the car was looking complete again. Investigation continues!

Saturday 28th September - Cortina engine back in.

 With the new sump gasket in place, I decided to put the engine back into the Green Cortina. Whilst it was out I decided to replace the clutch as well as this didn't look in the best of health. 

I also replaced the inlet manifold gasket and the exhaust gaskets as well. I had no help today, so I cracked on as best as possible and by late afternoon all I had left to do was re-fit the radiator and the starter motor. (I refitted these on Sunday morning)

It's now more or less the end of the car show season and there will be plenty of free weekends coming up with not much to do, so I decided not to rush it and take my time.