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.

Gearboxes and Transmissions a plenty

Well the warmer weather has finally arrived with a quick taste of summer for three days before the return to typical April showers and that seems to be heralding the arrival of the usual suspects bringing their cars out of hibernation. There is now a positive flurry of spring recommissioning, servicing, tuning, MoT testing and the odd job left over from last year to be completed too.

In amongst this we seem to be experiencing an unexpected rash of gearbox and overdrive repairs, rebuilds and conversions on everything from Spitfires through Vitesses and TRs to 2500s with a couple having new propshafts to cure long standing vibration issues.

Work also continues apace in the body shop with a brace of Heralds needing structural repairs, both needing the right hand side of the boot floor to be completely remade from scratch to incorporate new body mounts and bolt the whole thing down securely to the boot outrigger with new mounting pads and bolts to complete the job.

The second one of these also needs the body mount brackets further forward under the treadplate area to be replaced although unfortunately we’re going to have to remove a whole lot of fibreglass, filler and mastic which some very naughty person has put in there where there should be good steel for the brackets to be welded to rather than stuck on with seam sealer! It’s no wonder the doors don’t open or close very well on this poor little car – oh well, it will be better soon.

Soon be Easter

Looks like I spoke too soon as regards the better weather arriving soon! In the meantime 2.5 engine builds continue now that the custom cams have arrived and at least one should be going back in with the appropriate carbs, manifolds, uprated radiator and associated goodies to suit very soon.

A few of our hardier regulars have already been in with their cars for pre-season commissioning work, any upgrades required and issues remaining from last year to be resolved and with more wintry showers threatened for Easter it really is beginning to feel like Spring has arrived………………..

In other news, Dale went along to the Practical Classics Restoration Show over the March 24^th/25^th weekend and spent much of the time helping refit Charlie Deards 2500S estate on the Club Triumph stand. The car had just been repainted by a local technical college and needed all of its brightwork and trim putting back on. The CT Events and Shows Team were perfectly happy to help out but didn’t show too much enthusiasm when it came to drilling out old, filled-over rivets, wielding a small hammer to tap the mandrels through plastic moulding clips or a rubber mallet to knock the odd piece of chrome fully home so close to all that nice shiny new paint – I wonder why?

While there Dale accompanied CT’s Competitions Secretary and Ten Countries Run organiser Ellis Stokes to the prestigious National Car Club Awards dinner where CT was nominated in the category of Outstanding Car Club Event – Run, Rally or Tour for the 10CR. After a sumptuous dinner and a few sherbets they were duly called up on stage to receive the award from Classic Car Weekly Editor David Simister and TV’s Mike Brewer on behalf of the Club – CT had won!

Two down and two more Triumph's to go

The engine work still continues with two down and two to go on the 2.5 litre front and a Stag V8 also stripped with various bits away for machining and the wet liner engine now being reassembled. The long awaited ‘custom’ camshafts for the 2.5s are threatened soon though, so they should be back together before much longer.

It’s funny how things go, as said before you wait ages for a transmission job then a gang of them turn up together. After the two non-overdrive to overdrive conversions, we got two o/d gearbox units to rebuild and we have also got a separate J type unit to fit to the back of a Borg Warner 65 in a 2500S. This conversion will be a first for us and promises to get around the old problem with the big saloons and estates that the automatics are way too short geared for touring and sustained motorway use. It also promises when we have worked out the details to be a fair bit cheaper than the four or five speed ZF conversion and effectively with the benefit of no fewer than six forward gears!

In the meantime we’re at the end of February and with the warmer weather expected anytime soon (it’s snowing as I type!), we’re starting to get the regulars in now for the annual service, MoT and sort out, ready for the start of the season so it’s all hands to the pumps.

For more info, visit our website http://www.triumph-car-restoration.uk.com

Engine work on TR5

Blog 24

The engine work continues with the second six pot unit stripped and away for engineering and the next wet liner unit due to commence being overhauled in a short while.

In the meantime we seem to have been waiting for an overdrive conversion job for ages and as is often the way two have come in together. One of these is on a TR4A and the other on a TR5 so no great differences between the two as they are both using Laycock A type overdrive units.

The opportunity provided by the gearbox being out and stripped to change the mainshaft and machine the remote cover for the inhibitor switches also allows us to check the rest of it and replace any necessary parts at the same time. It is also worth whipping the clutch off to check that and removing the flywheel to inspect the rear crankshaft oil seal too.

With all that done it may be worth carrying out the usual clutch crosshaft mods to remove the broken taper pin problem for the future before fitting the rebuilt overdrive unit to the, also now rebuilt, gearbox and reinstalling into the car with the various new parts required to suit the new transmission condition, wiring it all up, filling the unit with gear oil, running and checking it, making any adjustments necessary before refitting the tunnel and trim.

This conversion isn’t cheap, anyone thinking that it can be done professionally for a couple of hundred pounds is likely to get a nasty shock when being told that they’re out by a factor of ten or thereabouts but it is one of those things you can do to your Triumph which pretty much transforms the driving experience especially on longer trips.

Winter Rebuild Triumph TR4

As is often the case at this time of year the amount of servicing, tuning and MoT work coming into the workshop has dropped off considerably and the amount of winter rebuild work has started to ramp up, particularly on engines. We have a fair waiting list for these at the moment with a TR4A power plant and two six cylinder 2500 units on the go. The wet liner engine is almost done and one of the six pots is going back together while the other one is coming apart.

We had special fun with the 4A unit removing the liners which after 50 years in situ really didn’t want to come out at all. After two days spent soaking them with release agent during which a pair of adapted heavy duty spring compressors were left on the first one under tension for the whole period all we had succeeded in doing was knocking a few lumps off the bottom of the liner and bending the compressors slightly!

More drastic measures were called for and an angle grinder used to cut a ‘V’ in one side of the liner before attacking it with a hammer and chisel to crack it and make it ‘relax’ inwards freeing it from the block. That done it did then knock out of the block revealing the shifting sands of time and more rust than I’ve seen in an engine for a very long time. Luckily the seats for the liner seals cleaned up OK, the block was emptied and the new liners fitted – job done!