STAR90 and continued convalescence.

Last Sunday was show day at Gaydon for part of the STAR90 celebrations. We were blessed with possibly the nicest day of the year so far, certainly a lot better than the weather I can see out of the window as I write this post! As always Amanda and I were organising the 2000 Register stand for the event and had arranged (we felt) a good selection of mk1 and 2 cars for visitors to enjoy.

We also had a row of big saloons opposite the stand, basking in the sun, the whole day was a very enjoyable affair and I must publicly thank everyone who provided cars and helped with the stand including Sharon, Derek and Jamie Furnell and Amanda. She not only does all the driving at the moment, but had to do the lion's share of the stand setting up as I still have a cast on my ankle.

There were lots of superb Standards and Triumphs on display and in attendance, my favourite has to be the Stag fastback though, a car that Triumph surely should have put into production (GT8?).

Back at home this week I have managed to do a few small jobs on HOE.

The offside rear door handle had decided to stop working over the weekend, the button seemed a liitle proud of it's normal position. A quick strip of the trim panel and removal of the handle proved all that was needed, the bolt in the back that presses against the lock mechanism had loosened off. So that was sorted.

The temperature gauge had stopped working, so after proving the gauge by earthing down the sender cable I replaced the sender with a second hand one and the gauge reads far more accurately than the outgoing Lincolnshire sourced temp. sender ever did!

Also the standard S steering wheel has developed a split in the leather at the 2 o'clock position, the stitching had also started to come apart in the same place.

Pete Johnson at Yorkshire Triumphs had given me a very good late Stag wheel (the same apart from the centre pad). After some cleaing of the spokes with Autosol it was installed. It looks far better than the old one did even when we bought the car in early 2008. Amanda assures me it is much nicer to drive with too.

Yesterday I spent the day at Yorkshire Triumphs helping out with some admin and words of encouragement. I think the lads have taken pity on me and are trying to reieve my boredom.

Pete currently has a GT6 with a difference in for some bodywork. The front and rear arch flares have been fabricated on site in steel, even though the bonnet is fibreglass. Pete is having to use a skim of filler here and there to blend in. The engine is a Volvo T4 unit which has over 250bhp, the rear end is an un-narrowed Sierra Cosworth item (I think), the car is fully caged and has a lowered drivers side floor to gain some headroom. In the flesh it looks like a GT6 which has been morphed with an early 911 RS. Looking foward to seeing this on the road and at Blyton with it's owner Ian Cottam.

Richard at Yorkshire Triumphs was getting a customers TR6 running after a body resto and general freshen up, the injection system can be a challenge to work on and everyday is a school day.........we got it there in the end.

All change but no change

In the last few weeks I have been chauffered around by Amanda, we have done a run in the estate at the beginning of April, also on drive it day and last sunday to the coast for a fish and chips run. To say I am a little fed up with not being able to walk or drive would be an understatement, but hey ho.

I had an appointment with the consultant yesterday for the latest check on my ankle's progress. So I started the day in plaster much as I finished the last blog entry. After Xrays it was time for a look with the latest cast taken off. This is the third rendition so far as they have removed them in the past to check the healing progress. I knew that I was starting to show signs of muscle wastage on my thigh but when the cast was removed I was surprised by how much my lower leg has lost.

The Xrays were thankfully showing no problems and the healing process seems fine after 7 and a half weeks. the picture below shows the main incision site on the side of my foot (which is a little swollen) 

The photo below shows the wound where the screws were put in to secure the heel bone. This wound is taking a long time to heel due to the lack of air around it in the cast. Monitoring this was the reason for the casts being removed previously. I have photos of how it looked after 10days, horror make up best describes that.

So I have now got a cast back on, just as before with the next review in 4 weeks time......All change but no change!

Stoneleigh, a non starter and a new vehicle.

First blog update for some time then.

So what have I been up to? Stoneleigh spares day at the beginning of March was the traditional season opener, as always Amanda and I were putting on the Triumph 2000 Register stand with a little help from our friends. The lovely mk1 pi below belonging to Norfolk Pete was only just released from the workshop of Pete johnson and Yorkshire Triumphs that morning. It was on our stand two years ago at Stoneleigh in 'barn find' condition. It's a long way from that now since spending a lot of time having a full restoration at the Rawcliffe based Triumph specialists.

By the Sunday morning show start we had 12 mk1s, both saloons and estates on the stand, with lots of people looking athe cars and chatting with both old friends and new.

It was typically quite cold but it is March. Darren Stone's excellent two tone 2000 was one of 3 two tone cars on the stand and attracted a lot of attention. 

Also debuting were two new designs of pull up banners depicting just mk1s (in honour of the 50th anniversary this year)

Also attracting lots of attention was Andy Borris's valencia mk1 with motive force from Bavaria. There has been no surgery to the body in transplanting the 24valve all alloy 2.5 litre six and E30 5 speed box into the car, just modifications to the engine and gearbox subframes. There isn't much spare room under the bonnet now though. Dad and I were lucky enough to take the car out for a drive. WOW doesn't really cover it, but what Andy has achieved is fantastic and a far better transplant than the default Rover V8 so commonly found in big saloon engine bays. Well done Andy.

Back at home I had the monday after Stoneleigh booked off, so I got to unpack the trailer and sort the garage and cars out. Shuffling the cars about I found the PI was a little reluctant in the starting department. When I went to put it back in the garage it wouldn't even turn over! Once I had checked a few things and decided it was the starter motor at fault I had to wait for Amnada to get home and help me tow start the pi so I could get it back on the drive. I had a spare starter motor in stock so jacked FRanK up nice and high to give room to extract the failed one.

Once out I noticed a difference between this motor and the spare I had. A quick chat with Dave Harvey confirmed the compatability of the spare as the photo below shows the original is physically bigger, it doesn't show how much heavier it is though!

After bolting the 'new' starter in the car it was still not turning. I gave up then as it was very cold and returned to it a couple of days later. I found that the motor was just reluctant to awake from it's slumber. After bridging the solenoid out half a dozen times the starter turned as it should and once the small connections were re-instated the starter was business as usual. In fact the replacement 2M100 starter seems much more energetic than the original M418G that it replaced, something that Dave Harvey had told me would be the case. And so to the new vehicle.

Last year I had an ankle op which was not as successful as was hoped, so I was back under the scalpel last week for a much bigger procedure. This time I have a half leg cast which is non load bearing for the next 3 months (possibly) so even using crutches is much harder than before. This has left me with having to obtain new wheels for the foreseeable future and being its my right ankle even an auto was out of the question.

At least it's easy to park .

And the offending limb as it rests now. I'm not really enjoying the forced convalescense so far.

NEC and CMoT

 This year's NEC started for Amanda and I on the Thursday morning. One of our exhibits had no motive force, we managed to borrow a car transporter trailer from good friends Pete Johnson and Richard Measures (thankyou gents). The picture shows how to get two trailers down to Redditch and ultimately the NEC with only one car! HOE gets fully used again.

 Once we had got to Alan Chatterton's and unloaded then reloaded the car transporter with 'Libby', Alan's Lines estate, it was a short journey with Craig Bennett's Range Rover (thanks Craig) towing Libby and HOE towing the stand equipment to the NEC. First thing to do when we unloaded Libby was ridicule Alan for the 'Paris-Dakar' stance of the Lines estate, something must be wrong!

 The stand was sorted along with the rest of the 'show' cars and Friday's show opener went well.
Saturday Amanda and I didn't do the NEC but went to the Coventry Museum of Transport. A good day out and free, with displays on motorbikes and scooters and Coventry's blitz experience.Lots of nice cars on display including this mk1 2000 estate and a mk2 2500TC Police car. Lots of other Triumphs on display, Stag, TR7, Vitesse

 and VA1 the first Dolomite Sprint.
They also have a display including the actual car, on the current land speed record car Thrust SSC. The museum is well worth the visit if you are in the area.
Sunday we were back on stand duty, arriving before opening I took the chance to snap a few cars before the public made it much harder. As always the standard of cars on display is very high with paintwork to die for on many cars.

Highlights for me included a 1974 Citroen DS in black, a stunning car.
The FJ Classic car show usually has car clubs grouped together in a logical order, the 2000 Register stand was next to the Standard car club and Club Triumph, with the TSSC and Dolomite owners club and TRregister all nearby, with this in mind I looked out for the Lancia owners club and American vehicles and managed to photograph this 60's Ford

Thunderbird, a hardtop coupe rather than the convertible also on display.
On display on 'our' stand we were lucky enough to have (along with Alan's Lines estate) Mike Weaver's FF V8 estate, Julie Hadfield's 2500S saloon, Gary Burn's MK1 2000 saloon and Bill Bradley's works rally mk1 2000 FHP 993C, thanks must go to all these people for providing their cars for us to use.
Also on the stand Friday and Saturday

was Pete Collier with his newly printed book 'Triumphant Rallying' the story of big saloons in rallying competition through the years. We had a signed copy from him and can thoroughly recommend it.
The photo to the left shows Mike's car towering over Libby (just) on her axle stands so that all could see the front differential and driveshafts, unique to this car.

RBRR final prep.

Dad came up yesterday in readiness for the RBRR,(up the A1 again) Mum has stayed at home with their daily driver BMW so Dad came up in the T6. Today I drove it over to show Pete at Yorkshire Triumphs after we had spannered a bit on HOE and the rebuilt engine is loosening up nicely, in fact it was a very enjoyable 40mile round trip.

So what did we do on HOE?

Readjusted the front wheel bearings, the front pads were suffering some heavy knock back, the bearings had settled nicely and just needed a little tweak.

I also fitted a new spring and plunger to the bottom of the gearlever....no more annoying buzz from that anymore! Gearbox, diff and engine oil levels were checked along with PAS oil and belt. Radiator and oveirflow bottles were checked and wipers replaced. I also got some K-Seal just in case. UJs greased and gearbox mount checked, along with some bolt security checking and then off to the garage to fuel up and jet wash. A light polish and RainX later this is what we are left with.

Just some bits to chuck in the back tomorrow and then off to the Plough...see you there.

Just a thought for the 'other' big saloon in our life, still dirty from the trackday and left behind tomorrow, always a bridesmaid, never the bride!



Over the last few days I have replaced the front wheel bearings after confirming the best way to do it via the Register and CT forum, a quick 52 mile round trip dropping Shannon back at Uni confirmed that some more noise has gone!

Alan Chatterton dropped an auto box off to me yesterday at work from Mike Weaver for Steve burrows, he picked it up last night from my house, gets complicated just before the RBRR.

Last night I checked the tappets, first time for ages. Couple of tight exhaust ones so something to keep an eye on and four loose ones so a bit more noise has gone.

Finished off by applying the RBRR logo on the tailgate. Looks well!

No more the 'startled hedgehog' and RBRR prep

Last Friday saw the usual suspects back at Blyton for another trackday. When we were here last April FRanK gave a good showing, with excellent brakes and 'Sweeney' handling. Less flattering was my mate Al's description that FRanK looked like a startled hedgehog. Since our last visit some Superflex trailling arm bushes and some very good rear subframe bushes have been installed, along with some 205/400lb Chris Witor front springs. The pic below is from April.

The pic below was last Friday and marginally less speed, but I think it shows less lean. Certainly for the short time the track dried on Friday and on the road the transformation has been dramatic. The front strut inserts are probably not up to the standards of the springs now but as 99% of my driving is on the road, this is not a major concern at the moment. So the startled hedgehog has gone.

Mum and Dad were up from Thursday night to enable Dad to go to Gaydon on Sunday for the RBRR driver's meet. After a trip to town on Saturday we had a couple of hours spare in the afternoon to prep HOE a little more. So a little bling was added in the form of Driver names and country of origin transfers on the rear side windows.

The Driver's meeting at Gaydon was done in convoy with Steve Burrows in his wedgewood 2000. The weather was dull but dry. Steve was having some problems with his auto transmission on the way down and decided to turn back at about halfway. We would pick up his driver's pack and some t-shirts for him.

The weather once there was awful and has stayed that way since, so today with a charity dress down day in aid of Children with Cancer  at my work, I had HOE outside the main entrance without the big charity stickers.  The rain eased at bout lunchtime so I decided to get 'stuckin'.I dried areas on the doors, polished them and prepped with some soapy water.  Three of the stickers went on fine, the first had torn as I was smoothing it down. I just wanted the car to look the part as I have now started to 'bully' people for sponsorship.  Hopefully Tim Bancroft will have some spare stickers at The Plough as mine seem to have lifted a bit with the intense rain we have had today. The car does look the part with them on though.

Let's hope the weather has rained itself out by the 5th October.