Fettle Day

Today I changed the springs inside the dizzy - made a huge difference to the way the car runs. Not surprising considering it must have been going to maximum advance on even the lightest throttle openings.

I also decided to clean up the warning light cluster as the “chrome” paint was half rubbed off. I dismantled it before putting the plastic parts in to a bowl of hot water and washing powder. 10 minutes later the paint had dissolved and I was left with a nice black piece of plastic. Using a white paint pen I carefully blotted the letters back on - the result is one very nice looking light cluster.

La Carrera Shakedown

We were due to do La Carrera Caledonia in Tim’s GT6 - however plans changed rapidly when we lost drive on the M25 about 10 minutes in to the long journey up to Barnoldswick.

After calling the recovery truck at around 11am I made a plan to get back home and prep the saloon - the route involved clambering down a steep motorway embankment, walking along a river and ending up in a random industrial estate situated somewhere in Waltham Abbey.

I got home and fettled the Strombergs that I had managed to disable the week before by trapping the diaphragms - checked everything else over - filled it up with fuel and got the front tyres balanced. And then I waited. And waited. It was just past 3pm when Tim phoned to say that he was just being picked up by the recovery vehicle. I set off for Staines and encountered exactly the kind of traffic you get on the M25 on a Friday afternoon.

I got there just as they were arriving to drop off the GT6 - it was hastily pushed on to the driveway and we decided that we may as well not lose the whole weekend. So off we set to Barnoldswick.

The journey was very quick and easy - in fact it was very comfortable in the cooler temperatures. We got there around 8pm to a cheer by all those waiting in the car park.

The next day was the typical 6am start and blast up to Gretna services for the start. We quickly fixed the broken temp sender in the car park and got on our way. A good blast around the roads with Dave and Tom in the Spit 2PI. Nothing much to report on the first day apart from the weather was decent in the morning, the car flew along, and stopped quite well after a self-made dicey moment with Midget and a narrow bridge crossing. A meal in the evening topped off a great days motoring and I went to bed early as not to suffer too much fatigue the next day.

The second day it was pouring down with rain, and I was rather glad to be in the saloon as opposed to a soft top. The second day always has better roads - narrower and more twisty. I had a good thrash chasing a Mini, though I don’t think it was really trying too hard! The torque of the 6 pot helped me up hills - but the tyres let me down on anything resembling a corner. In fact the tyres were a little scary on anything but a grippy dry piece of road! They are pretty old by the looks of things and really need replacing - but I can’t bring myself to buy 13″ tyres when I want to get some 15″ wheels. The evening came as we had a good dinner with a fantastic speech and awards by Jim.

Monday started at 7:30am for our trek back home - it’s then that the trouble with the car started. It would run fine but then start misfiring before cutting out. The ignition was checked and rotor arm changed - and the car worked fine again. Until we got to a hill and it did the exact same thing. If you let off the throttle it would continue working again. Fuel supply issues were deemed the problem and so we checked the pump, but no problems there. Then we took off the fuel filter and it was plain and obvious what the cause of the problem was! Obviously the inside of the fuel tank has started to corrode away and fill my filter with crud. That was removed and the car came back on song again. Somewhere near Oxford the car started to play up again, this time the pump was full of crud. Only to be expected, Tim cleaned it out and we got home.

The car did really well and I was very impressed, especially considering pretty much zero prep work was done to a car that has hardly moved in the last few years. You can’t really expect it to do 1600 miles flawlessly - and it pretty much flew along all the way. That auto box really has to go though - they are totally hideous for spirited driving!

Stack of goodies

Yesterday I got some bits for the saloon - goodies include:

• Koni strut inserts and rear shocks
• Magnecor KV85 HT leads (to a special specification length and boot configuration)
• Clutch (uprated)
• MGC clutch master cylinder with appropriate slave incl. all pipes and special push rods
• Alloy water pump housing and standard pump
• Alternator conversion parts incl. alloy mounting bracket and new 65A alternator
• Various poly bushes incl. spring insulator, trailing arm and diff mount bushes
• “Police” spec uprated Ferrodo brake pads
• ARB drop links

Earlier in the week I also got an anti roll bar, pedal box and flywheel off of Doug, so the manual conversion parts are coming along nicely.

I want to get some old front struts and rear trailing arms to make putting on the suspension in to more of a swapping procedure rather than messing about whilst the car is up in the air.

Today I picked up a super low mileage 3.45 diff - a spare for later when the inevitable 2.5 lump goes in. Otherwise I’m sure Daws will have it to replace his 4.11 when he has the money.

10CR Preparation Considerations

With a “mere” 110 days left, preparation for the Club Triumph Ten Countries Run is something to be taken reasonably seriously. Being stuck in Britain is one thing, being stuck in Europe is another. At the moment preparation is more concerned with getting the car up to “standard” rather than what spares to take. In actual fact my spares philosophy has always been to just stick with service items like points and rotor arms rather than the spare engine approach some take. Of course - this will bite me one day.

• Manual gearbox - so we can enjoy the harder driving parts
• New steering wheel
• Cibie headlights with big bulbs, alternator and relay conversion - so we can see at night and reduce eye fatigue
• Koni dampers, lower springs, Superflex bushes and anti roll bar - for the Passo dello Stelvio
• Tacho, oil pressure gauge and map light - keep an eye on the essentials

That is in some sort of order, though obviously some of it is more useful on the 10CR than others. In actual fact I’d be happy to take the car on the 10CR in its current state as it really is a joy to drive apart from the front wheel balance.

Before all of above it needs a routine service - change all the fluids and visually check over everything. The extent of my dabbling consists of reattaching one of the vent hoses behind the dash - I’ve not even taken a wheel off yet.

2007: Finally a big saloon odyssey

For a long time I have wanted a big saloon, and I mean a long time. The first saloon I went to see was way back in 2002 with the idea of using it as a winter car. A mint condition 2000 which was sadly both brown AND without overdrive. My interest faded until I got involved in Club Triumph when I was actually able to witness the wonders of these big cars. I could not help but be impressed by them on the Round Britain Reliability Run in 2004 and throughout events during 2005 - especially the 10 Countries Run. My first drive of a big saloon was also that year in the notorious Big Red Bus which at the time was under the possession of Reeksy. I’ll not forget that drive, especially after Graham went off to sleep and I was able to throw it around a couple of roundabouts. Further proof of their incredible flexibility came last year when I spent most of it co-driving for Tim in his Mk1 PI - 2 Dutch night rallies, La Carrera Caledonia up in Scotland and a couple of trackdays.

I had been to see more saloons than Spitfires - a particularly nice example in early 2006 really convinced me - but funds would have been stretched a little too much if I had bought it.

After my brief flirtation with a blue Spitfire4 MkII earlier this year, I was again without transportation of my own. My bank balance was healthy after selling it, so I was properly on the look out for a big saloon. Telling everyone I knew that I was on the lookout was rather helpful, as certain people always seem to come up trumps with finding cars. Late one Sunday I phoned Tim to tell him about a car someone had contacted me about - a butchered Mk1 with Mk2 interior. Tim phoned back a little later to tell me about an ad he’d found in Classic Car Weekly, and a phone call was made. Turned out that the car had gone, or rather a deposit left with the intention of buying it later. I left my number with the seller in hope that the buyer would change their mind.

Incredibly I got a call early the following morning to say that the buyer had changed his mind - so after a bit of arranging Tim went to see it that lunch time - e-mails were exchanged and I bought it that afternoon. A bit of a bold move buying a car blind, but I saw the photos and trusted Tim’s glowing report.

On Friday evening I went over to Staines and Tim drove me to pick up the car. I have to say I was rather nervous - but as soon as I saw it I was grinning from ear to ear. Opening the doors, checking the interior, closer inspection of the paint, under the bonnet - only extended my grin further. Finally I was a big saloon owner!

It drove home perfectly and without a hitch apart from a couple of slight wobbly unbalanced front wheels at 50mph. I was so relaxed, and so excited.

The next day I fitted some pressed aluminium number plates that I had already ordered to replace the horrid white and yellow ones, checked the oil and coolant, and drove it 120 miles up to Canley Classics for the Historic Counties Run. That night I bonded further with my new car by sleeping on the back seat - leather never smelt so good - and I was still grinning from ear to ear.

Arrived at Canley, glowing mobile phone reports to the Mrs.

Mintylamb goes blogcentric

Mintylamb has had a facelift, and gone all “blogcentric.”

Hopefully this means that I will actually update it once in a while. Regulars will be pleased to know that nothing has gone missing in the beautification, it’s just all been moved about a bit.