January 22nd 2011. Carburettor removal on Green!

I've been having trouble with Green, my Triumph Mk2 estate. When driving it and changing gear, the revs don't seem to drop off when you lift your foot off the gas. It gives the impression that the throttle is sticking,  but it isn't!
I recently took it up to a Triumph specialist whom I hoped would cure the problem. They didn't. Even worse, was that it broke down on the way home from there! Admittedly, it wasn't their fault-it was just coincidence that the electronic ignition chose that precise moment to go on strike and leave me stranded across a junction on a main road! Co driver Dave was press ganged into car recovery with his other half's car, (he can't tow with his one as its company owned) and after towing me home we arrived at mine at 1am in the morning. (Not impressed!)
Friday night after work saw the offending electronic ignition removed and the distributor converted back to points and condenser. This also meant the ignition timing having to be reset yet again! Once the car was running again adjustments were made to the carburettors and a test drive proved that the issues was still there. Further work on the car was put to one side as the Saturday saw me having to prep and check the rally car for the forthcoming 'Essex Winter Rally' on Sunday the 16th. (See post below)
The following weekend (22nd & 23rd) saw me continuing with the examination of the throttle issues. A compression test revealed that there was no issues with inlet valves not seating properly,  (as had been suggested)  so the carbs were stripped down and some new butterflies ordered. The original butterflies had poppet valves fitted in them and apparently the springs on the valves go weak. Solid butterfly replacements are the way to go according to many, so hopefully this will resolve the problem.
While I had some time to kill, I also replaced the chrome trim on the nearside rear door, changed the gearstick for a longer type one, found the 'wobbly' steering wheel issue, and did the job that I had been putting off for months, fitting a new heater cable! I'd been putting it off because it means taking on the role of a contortionist and cramming myself into the drivers side foot well in order to get to it! I even got the job done with a least a couple of parts of my body not aching! 

January 16th 2011- At long last! Our first class win!

Despite an annoying and incurable misfire throughout the whole day, Dave and I managed to pick up our first ever 'Class win' on the Club Triumph Essex Winter Rally. We were very pleased with the result as we were up against some very stiff competition. We did pick up one fail though. It didn't alter the result in our class but it could have moved us up a place overall if we hadn't have got it though. Time to invest in some Brantz Professional Rally equipment I think!

January 10th 2011. Tow bar wiring!

Monday night saw 'Co-Driver' Dave come round to help with the wiring of the electrics for the tow bar. I'm crap at wiring, but brilliant at burning it out, shorting it out, blowing it up, or making it catch fire! (Normally all of those four actually, but not neccessarily in that order!)
It was quite a good night actually. With the job in hand being wiring and therefore me being relegated to tea making duties, Dave proceded to get on with the job while I just annoyed him by taking the piss and making sure I was in his immediate vicinity while producing vile smelling farts.

Dave tried getting own back by taking the piss out of the size of the hole in the boot floor of 'Yellow'. Admittedly I have cut a lot of metal out to try and eradicate the rust, but the hole did get bigger as I found more rust.
I might just leave it as it is though and just get Dave to take up the above position for when we get stuck in the mud on a rally, or just get him to push the car while he's in there and therefore save on fuel.

December 30th - New power unit for the Rally Car!

December 30th 2010  saw the delivery of a 2.5 PI engine for the Rally Car. Although there is nothing wrong with the engine that's in there, (In fact it performed faultlessly on the RBRR and hardly used any oil) it's just that's it's only a standard 2 litre and just needs a bit more power. (Especially after being blasted off the road by 'ShedTune' in the Scottish Highlands!)
Work will commence soon on the stripping and checking for wear etc and other parts and 'goodies' will acquired to make it just a tad 'rapid'!

T'was Christmas day in the workshop!

Seeing as I had no plans for Christmas this year a schedule was set up to get some serious work done on the cars. The main job that needs doing is to replace a floor pan in the drivers side of the yellow Mk1. Before I could cut the original one out though, I had to get the back door open to be able to gain easier access. (It also needs to be fully functioning for MOT purposes as well)
The rear door has never opened since I bought the car and after removing the door handles, winders and door card, I managed to get it free. It looks like the mechanism is seized, so a replacement from a spare door will be fitted.

The panel required to replace the damaged one in the car is no longer available new, so a good second hand one was cut out of an accident damaged write off. The whole car was cut up into sections, (see above) so the panel I wanted was still attached to the transmission tunnel, sill, chassis rails and floor!
As a result a good chunk of the day was spent drilling, grinding, cutting and more drilling out spot welds and seperating it from the bits I didn't want. (I even managed to burn my drill out doing it!)

Below is the panel that will be going into the Mk1. Roll on Boxing Day!

December 1st 2010. Nothing!

Nothing much happening really. The fluffy white stuff that grinds our country to a halt everytime it falls, has stopped me from going to Hertfordshire to cut a floor out of a scrap car, stopped new tyres being delivered for my BMW and stopped me from going to see my best mate in Grimsby this weekend! Bummer! :-(

November 14th 2010. Green's off the road again!

After fitting the new speedo cable to Green on Friday night, my eye caught the gearbox mount and where it bolts through floor. I thought to myself  'What the f***-  I mean, 'that doesn't look right'.
The car was booked for an appointment with a friend (and Triumph guru) on Saturday to sort out its ignition problems, so the gearbox mount would have to wait until Sunday for further inspection.
After melting off all the underseal which included smoking out the inside of the car and garage and setting light to my scraper, overalls and hair, I could finally see the extent of the damage.
To be fair, its not too bad, just awkward to get to. The surface was rubbed down and left to soak in Genolite rust remover. Welding will commence after I've had a bit more practice and feel confident enough to do it.

With this area treated and left, I started work on the rest of the car. The first real long test drive on Saturday had revealed a vibration at 55-60 mph (possibly propshaft) and 'clunking' noise from the rear, (one of the four UJ's worn) and a leaky differential.
Both driveshafts were removed, along with the propshaft, and the differential. As it stands at the moment, the replacement diff is has been fitted and the propshaft and driveshafts are on the workbench ready for fitment of new UJ's. All in all a very good days work.

Driving this car home from Colchester was great on Saturday after it's tune up and with its 2.5 engine and HS6 twin SU carburettors it just made me think that I need this kind of power (and a bit more) in the Rally car.  I have a lot of the parts to make a good 2.5 engine apart form the 2.5 engine block itself! Time to look on ebay methinks!

Green now resting on axle stands alongside Yellow.