Round Britain Prep

Round Britain prep work on entrants cars is now almost finished – including a last minute panic concerning the engine on one, the cooling fan on another and the failure of headlamps to operate on two others, one of which is the 2000 Mk1 which I am entered in! Luckily enough these are now pretty much sorted and ready to go.

A customer we haven’t seen for over four years who used to have a Herald 13/60 convertible has come back, having sold the car a while ago, with a different example of the same model. We are currently adjusting the door and bonnet gaps as best we can, sorting out some duff electrics and replacing tired and worn driveshaft UJs and engine mounts amongst other little bits of fettling.

Having had no fewer than four TR6s in at the same time for work ranging from gearbox rebuilds including clutch crosshaft upgrades, through a variety of suspension and transmission/driveline problems to brake repairs and injection work, we are now down to our last one – we do have a TR4 coming in tomorrow for a fair few bits and pieces though!

As the summer rush starts to slow down, thoughts turn to winter rebuilds with two 2500 engines and a TR2 unit already booked in and a roundtail Spit due in in a couple of weeks for sills, floors, heelboards and who knows what else might come to light. It’s never dull around here!

A Busy Summer

With the arrival of the unbelievably good long summer we’ve had this year came a deluge of work – don’t get me wrong, I am happy to be busy but it can be really difficult trying to keep up with deadlines when almost every job ‘grows’ a bit as is common with old cars and the next gap in the diary is 3 weeks or more away.

Apart from the usual service based jobs, we seem to have had quite a few engine repairs and rebuilds, yet more transmission work and a rash of new ‘put it back on the road jobs’. We have also gained quite a few new customers who have bought Triumphs for the first time or perhaps for the first time in a few decades and who want them to be checked over thoroughly before being pressed into service. These can turn up all sorts of things which we don’t usually see. One had the old OE static seat belts extended by simply tying some new seat belts to them while another had a hole in an inner sill ‘repaired’ with Gaffer Tape and then undersealed over! It can be quite scary to find some of the ‘Destroy-it-Yourself’ repairs which a few people carry out.

With the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run fast approaching we have had a fair few customers booking their RBRR cars in for check overs and routine maintenance prior to the event, I only hope I still have time to get the one I’m going in done in time – oh well, back to it.