Raising the pressure

I had a day off today,so I started by changing the cotton reel rear exhaust mount on the estate.I noticed it was broken when polishing the tailpipe on the stand at Stonleigh and meant to change it there,but hey-ho.

The garage has been in need of a tidy for quite some time,so I gave this a bit of a go today.I turned up a bonnet pull cable that I had forgotten I had,so the one on the pi that was broken at the T handle was duly changed.I just changed the inner cable,greasing it before install has made it much easier to pull. 

Attention was then turned to the PRV that I still hadn't adjusted.The photo above shows what lies under the left hand boot board,on the left is the auxilliary fuesbox I installed,fed direct from the battery,one fuse then powers the pump via the relay next to it.The relay is triggered by the original fuel pump wiring.
Mounted at the top right corner of the pump carrier bracket is the PRV.After clamping the HP fuel hose from the pump to the PRV (the C shape hose) I took the top mounting bolt out of the PRV,this allowed it to be tilted up at the back as shown in the next photo,so that when I removed the return hose from the end to access the adjuster screw,I could see what I was attempting to do.

 A clockwise half turn was tried first,the pipework reconnected and the clamp removed.This gave me roughly the reading I was advised by Andy Thompson to look for,thanks Andy.108-110psi on tickover seems OK.A quick trip round the block showed the car to be pulling well.

In a little show of 'character' a misfire crept in as I reversed up the drive.I suspected no1 injector was not playing,pulling it out confirmed this so I changed it for an overhauled one and after a few seconds normal running was resumed.

Parts painted and thrust washers

 The freshly blasted strut parts were kept in the boilerhouse at work this week,lovingly painted with black smootherite and left to dry overnite between coats, they are now ready for reassembly.
Probably not quite the finish you would get had they been powder coated,but I had the paint and brushes already,so all it cost was time.
Having stripped two sets of front struts,I have four strut top rubber mounts.All four appear to be in good condition,two will be used by myself,two by Alan Chatterton for DEL 33.The other part that can wear on the strut assemblies are the thrust washers.These can create tight spots as you turn the steering wheel.The photo below shows the 8 thrust washers I have,they are showing varying degrees of wear to the teflon like coating on one side of them.The top row left is very worn like a bearing shell and scored,others show areas of coating that have chipped off and worn away.Having received 8 new ones from Chris Witor today,I can confirm that I have 1 or possibly two that could be used again,the left two on the second row.

Having a blast

 I had to change a front strut on the PI the morning of the MOT last year,bad leak.What went on was very 2nd hand.With the MOT due again in May I decided that it would be much nicer to have some refurbished ones on this year,everyone knows MOT testers are like magpies......they like shiny bits.
So I stripped down a spare pair of struts I had in the garage and took the springs,strut legs and top spring pans for blasting.Above is what they looked like before,below is how they came back £25 later.I started painting them today at work.A boilerhouse makes a great paint drying area.

Showtime!

Luckily both Amanda and I had days off today, with running around for the celebration cake,washing and polishing the estate,getting the new pop up banners and show equipment out and in the trailer,along with tea,coffee  and sugar to enjoy the cake (and biscuits) with.One advantage of being show organisers with the Triumph 2000 Register (any club probably) is that you get to choose what cars are on the stand at events.Stoneleigh is the start of our 30th Anniversary (1981-2011) celebrations and along with towing the show equipment in our trailor,the estate will also be one of approx.20 cars on the stand.Luckily cars on the stand at Stoneleigh can be less 'garage queen' than at the NEC.Luckily for 'HOE' !  



What a difference a day makes

As well as the mk2s we also have Amanda's Peugeot 206 diesel, it's a very early base model, more like a trimmed van than anything else, no electric windows etc, so everything still works. The front seats had stopped sliding as well as tilting to allow rear passengers to exit, the parts from Peugeot were ridiculously expensive so a complete interior was purchased off ebay. Below is before work started.

Removal of the seats was followed by door trims and seatbelts, along with the centre console and carpet. Replacement was in the best traditon of the 'Haynes' manual, reversal of removal, except that the new interior has 60:40 split rear seats which required more bolts for fixing and I had also fitted and cabled rear speakers to go in the holes behind the rear side trims. More adjustments were also required to allow the three 3-point rear belts to work and holes were made in the front door trims to allow the window winder to be installed. All the additional fixing points were in the shell already and the fixings came with the interior.

The picture above shows how it looks now, a big improvement and all in less than a day. First drive in the car to see how the new seats felt was to the Post Office to pick up the new 'show' equipment which will be debuting at Stoneleigh on Sunday. No photos of that, you will have to come to the 2000 Register stand and see for yourself.