Sunday 21st August. Grass Autosolo Day!

Well, the day finally came that 'old yellow' was fit enough to compete in an event. The competition in question was a grass autosolo organised by Wickford autoclub. It was being run on Club Triumph Member Mike Helm's field, so he managed to persuade them to let a few of us CT members to take part.

'Old yellow' performed well, but to be honest I probably didn't push her as hard as I could have done. What with it being its first proper hard pushed event, I didn't have the confidence to give it a real serious caning! So as a result of this, I didn't feature much in the results. Never mind, I had a great day anyway and I'm looking forward to using the car on more events now.

Saturday 20th August- Autosolo Preparations!

For a long time now I've been meaning to buy a proper battery box for 'Yellow'. With all the extra gubbings under the bonnet there's no room for the battery, so it had been relegated to the boot area.

I'm using the car for an Autosolo on grass on the 21st and an insecure battery would result in a fail in scrutineering and refusal to enter. The original system of a baking tray and bungee strap was obviously not good enough, so a  new battery box was fitted and the battery is now secure.

While the car was out I also replaced a leaking radiator hose and then took the car for a run. I was disappointed to find that despite recently changing the propshaft and a driveshaft, I have still have a vibration at over 70mph. I'll have to look at the other drive shaft to see if that's giving me the problem.

On a good point though, I did find that the clunking noise from underneath was gone. This must have been down to changing the gearbox mount last weekend.

The rain decided to pay a visit so with a quick final check over of the car, I decided to call it a day. I wont be doing over 70mph at the Autosolo anyway, so I'm not too worried about the vibration. The rain should also water the field nicely and make the conditions 'interesting' too. Watch this space for a full report!  

Tuesday 16th August. New seats for Gertie!

With the 10CR looming and Gertie still having her original (and somewhat uncomfortable) seats, the thought of travelling nearly 3000 miles in them wasn't appealing.
With this in mind some more suitable seats were purchased (Good old ebay!) and collected from Canterbury in Kent. The seats are from a '52 plate' 156 Alfa Romeo. Gertie has a red leather interior, so I wanted some that wouldn't look out of place. These should do the job fine! All I need now is the bloody car back from the workshop so I can fit them!

Monday 15th August. 10CR Drivers meeting!

Monday night saw me driving down to the drivers meeting for the 10CR at The Plough public house at Crewes Hill in Enfield. Here we were presented with our drivers packs. This consisted of a 10CR T-shirt, road book, map of Europe, Rally Plaques, bag and a hi-vis CT sticker for the rear of the car. (these are made of the stickers that police cars have so you can spot another Club Triumph car from far off)
We also finally got to find out where we will be going. The countries are: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany and Holland! We will also be climbing 21 Alpine passes over the Alps, so it will be no doubt be a trip to remember.
Gertie is currently in Carlow engineering having her gearbox repaired, and the new alternator has also decided to give up the ghost, so a replacement one has been provided free of charge and will be fitted when she returns.

Sunday 7th August- Miserable Git Dave!

With the impending 10CR looming, my normally happy mate Dave was requested to get some music fitted into Gertie. This is normally a straight forward affair and shouldn't take any longer than a couple of hours at most.
However, the day did not go well and after eventually tracking down a faulty earth wire and therefore having to remove the complete centre console (and Dave having to rush home because his better (?) half had trodden on his tortoise!) we eventually got there. This didn't help Dave's already crap mood, so I just stayed out of the way and made him tea whenever he demanded it. I did need the spotlights wired up too, but these had to wait for another day. I think Dave wanted to get home and give the kiss of life to his tortoise! :-)   

A very grumpy looking Dave. 

Friday 5th August - Starter motor issues resolved.

         After the yellow car embarrassing me in front of my neighbour Liz the other week, I decided to get it looked at. I first dropped in a place opposite where I work, but soon took it back again when they told me the solenoid was knackered. They wanted £136 plus vat to fix it! How much? I can  buy a complete brand new one for £190 plus vat.



           The thing is, the car was still starting 8 times out of 10, so I didn't believe it had a knackered solenoid. If it did, it wouldn't start any of the time. So I found another place in Grays that had a look at it and decided it was a case of dirty contacts. (I'm sure I bought a magazine called that once?) :-) They quoted me a more acceptable price of £70 plus vat, so the deal was agreed. Come Friday night I had a nicely restored starter motor to refit.

         While I had the car up in the air, and remembering being shaken to death over 60mph last Saturday, I decided to remove the propshaft and check out both UJ's. They seemed ok, but I also had a prop laying around that I knew the balance and UJ's on were good, so I fitted that one instead. I also changed the o/s/r driveshaft as the wheel bearing in this was completely shot! Hopefully, that's the cause of the vibration. (A test drive will follow when time allows!)  I finished off by topping up the diff oil as well. 

This car is now entered for a Grass track Autosolo at Latchingdon on 21st August. This will be the first event for the car whilst in my ownership. Lets hope all goes well! One thing's for sure, it'll definitely be the scruffiest thing there! :-)

          

Sunday 31st July. A much better day!

Rather than just work on cars on both days every weekend, I've decided to get out a bit and start using them. I had been invited to take part in a classic car rally that started in Battlesbridge and finished near Halsted. My mate Paul had nothing to do and so came along for the ride. A spot was reserved at the end location for us and we spent a good couple of hours just ambling around and chatting and laughing with the owners of the other cars. The sun was bright and the day was warm too so everybody had the feel good factor.

After we finished here I took the short drive over to my friend Colin at Frating. (Or Farting as we call it!) His knowledge of Triumphs is encyclopedic and so I kidnapped him and took him for a test drive in Gertie so he could give me his verdict on the strange noises coming from my engine at high revs.  He and Paul decided that my 'noises' were no more than induction from the new sports exhaust system rather than the rumbling noises I mistook it for. I have to say, the car certainly goes alright and the power seems fine, so maybe I'm worrying unduly. (The car is due to do 10 countries in five days in 5 weeks or so, so I am a tad nervous I have to say!)
Anyway, the run back from Colin's was trouble free and I was even home early enough to finish removing the starter motor from the yellow car. So that can go in for repair tomorrow now and that's another job crossed off the list!

 Gertie looking good in the sunshine!