New engine and Club Triumph National Day

MOE is doing ok the new engine is just run in, still a bit smokey on start up, as the valve guides and head are fairly new I think a little carbon build up may cure that.
I had a problem with her over fuelling and after a little investigation found that the front carburettor needle valve was doing nothing to stop petrol flooding in, and even after changing the needle valve the front three spark plugs were not happy with life, a new set of powerspark leads and  NGK IRIDIUM IX BPR6EIX 6637 SPARK PLUGS were fitted and normal service has resumed.

Soon to be pulling a caravan down to Cornwall and then back up to Ashbourne in Derbyshire to the 2000/2.5 register week  which will be a test.

Club Triumph National day was in my opinion poorly attended, Bob King must be disappointed after all the effort involved in making arrangements and setting up for the day.

Jayson Murray with Terry and Judy came in their latest acquisition and nice Mk1 2000 which has had a lot of love and money spent on it since they have had it, since the show it has gained a set of TR6 wheels which certainly adds to the stance. This another two cars came down from Brum, including Steve and Liz Hudson ever faithful club members and yours truly! 

My cars of the day was a Russett Brown Mk2 2000 which was in stunning condition and a green 1200 herald 1200 convertible owned by Simon Goldsworthy of Triumph World fame.

And a special mention to our President Derek Pollock MBE who drove his TR4A up from London for the event, someone who could be bothered to attend even in his 90's.

Sorry to say I didn't get all the cars there are about four missing.

MOE is off today for her new engine and bits, to Dave Harvey Tune of Derbyshire

Should be fun when she comes back,

Brookland Standard Triumph Weekend

It was great to catch up with friends and enthusiasts at one of the premier events of the year, unfortunately I can't attend the 2000/2.5 register in Bamborough head in Northumberland.

Lots of TR's Stags, a smattering of nearly all the Triumph brood but my favourite  a lovely Standard Pennant, as usual I forgot my camera but took a shot with my phone, and my good friend Karen Davies took a photo of me going up the hill climb, MOE coped very well went up in first and second, plenty of torque made it up the 1:8 then 1:4 with ease.

MOE and The Isle of Wight

MOE has had her power steering put back and a new viscous coupling, I had thought about going electric cooling but it was agreed that a new viscous coupling was the best option.

We haven't used MOE much due to problems with me not being able to drive her much, so we set off to the Isle of Wight weekend in the company of my pals, Steve, Liz, Jay, Terry and Judy two heralds and MOE convoy, we stayed for the week, we shared a caravan with Bill and Carol from the States (Goody)  and had some good times including a couple of 60+ triumph convoys around the island to various stops. Setting off on one can be seen here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvmbEnRX6Ok#t=10


The return journey was marred by huge holdups near Oxford, I saw it coming and cut across country, later on the M40 I caught up my pals who had caught the earlier ferry. Apart from that good company some good weather made the week special.
See you soon Chris

2014 Update

I have changed jobs within my organisation three times since I wrote last so work been kinda taking up my time lol

After the 10 Countries I had a few problems with MOE. misfiring, losing water and PAS playing up, the misfire was diagnosed at the NEC Classic Car show by Dave Harvey of Triumph 2000 fame who correctly said that the distributor cap was faulty, and that was without hearing her run, he was spot on, Alan Chatterton said the same thing, Dave appeared the next day at the show with a NOS Lucas item which sorted it out.
Concerned about the state of play with MOE I arranged for Dave to give her the once over, Dave has just retired and was happy to have a look around, it became quickly obvious that it was indeed fortunate that we managed to finish the 10 Countries in one piece, a catalogue of faults having developed.

The original thought was that the heater matrix was leaking as water seemed to be leaking from around that area, after investigation the main leak was a rotten pipe that leads from the water pump under the manifolds, and all the hoses were past their best so were replaced, the clutch flexible pipe was incorrectly placed and had almost worn through so a nice new armoured one is know in place and the slave cylinder was leaking and replaced. The radiator was loose, new capative nuts and bolts should hold that in place now.

I was unhappy with the PAS set up, two racks over a very short time had blown the seals (just out of guarantee) and i am fed up with leaking fluid all the time, Dave said the rack was in a bad way, two years old and 5k says to me that the re conditioners need to get their act together these were supplied by a firm in Brum that I thought had a good reputation and I believe are still being used by a specialist supplier still. So I asked Dave to put it back to manual steering which he did.

Oh boy was that a mistake, I have only driven it about 60 miles and I can't stand it, so I have got a recon rack from Canley Classics, Dave Pearson said he has never had a complaint, so she is booked with Mr Harvey in for the spring to be converted back.

Dave reset the rear brakes (much better handbrake now) and the throttle linkage which was a bit askew and bent, replaced some of the under bonnet fuel lines which were cracking and replaced the ignition coil which had no oil in it (perhaps boiled when we overheated in Italy?) and suspect battery cables he also re-situated a brake pipe which was fouling on the clutch mechanism.

I have to get some new tyres but that can wait until the new steering set up is in place, thinking of going for Yokohama Blue earth as the are supposed to be a good choice.

I bought a partially restored Herald 1200 shown above and sold it on to an enthusiastic local member who hopes to get it on the road quite soon.

Pictures:
MOE on the 2000/2.5 register stand
The 1200 on the Club Triumph Stand
Busy weekend!

10 countries 2013

It all started earlier in the year with some preparation of the car team Mutley (which we have become) thats Steve Hudson and Jayson Murray both long term co-drivers and friends. Steve and Ashley Mills  had booked hotels apart from the one's booked by the organisers, I had the car checked over changed the oil/filter TJ a local club member who running a good workshop changed the diff and gearbox oil and repaired some potentially lethal petrol pipe and filter.

We set off on Wednesday the 4th September round midday, and cruised down to Dover at a steady 60 mph, the only hiccup was that a stone caught MOE right on the nose cone and took a big chunk of paint off, we crossed the channel with no further issues and stayed at the Premier Classe hotel in Calais....if that was the Premier I would hate to see the rough ones.

The next morning after a basic breakfast we set off to the start around 70 Triumphs set off after the drivers meeting for what is a gruelling first session, all the way across France, overnight with a break for a few hours in Grenoble, down through Nice and then into Monaco, then up to the Italian border.

It was a long climb up to the border crossing and very hot around 30 degrees, I heard a funny sound from the front of MOE and quickly realised that she was boiling like a kettle, Jayson pulled her over to the side of the road, and we waited for her to cool down, this took quite a while, it was apparent the the water was contaminated with rust even though the radiator and block have been flushed out many times, we filled her up with the help of Team toledo a couple that seemed to be on hand to help others too.

Onward then to the hotel in Italy where we had a meal with the other teams, I thought the meal was quite good and enjoyed a comfortable bed and an air conditioned room. The next morning bright and early northward thgrough the gap between Turin and Milan past Lake Maggiori, up into Switzerland over the alpine passes to Liechtenstien then poped into Austria before making our way to another overnight stop in Singen Germany, again a nice hotel with a pub serving decent food about 200 yards away, that did nicely.

Off again early in the morning some of the team a bit delicate from the night before, up through Germany, into Luxembourg then a run through Belgium into Holland to Roldoc the traditional end to the event, funny in 2011 we were behind all the way except the last day and arrived at Roldoc fifth car in, this time mostly on time all the way and arrived at Roldoc, fifth car in!

Next morning saw a leisurely breakfast waved goodbye to new friends and old and headed towards Calais, we got caught up and delayed by accidents and roadworks which lead to a dash across Belgium and France to get to the port on time, some two hours at a steady 130kph+ when we arrived at the port the dynamo gave up the ghost (only done 5K miles, some recon job that was!). MOE is fitted with a huge battery that had been charging for 5 days so was in top condition, we drove onto the boat and off the otherside.
After a team discussion we decided to go for it rather that bother breakdown people and inevitable recovery, Roy Lacey of Telford and GT6 fame tailed us and when we stopped at a service area gave us a boost for 15 mins with jump leads, then off up to Warwick services driving on sidelights and thanking goodness for RainX another boost charge and then the final section up to Birmingham with Roy taking the lead, being our eyes in the now pitch black motorway.

Difficult to find the exact MPG overall I estimate 28 to 29 mpg she used 4 pints of oil, half of what she used last time thanks to a new cylinder head/valve guides.

We had a celebratory dinner in Birmingham on Saturday night with crew Mutley and some of the team of Dollyroo, my friend Bill, his wife and a couple of friends over for the States for the event and a holiday.

A great event only a very few failures, a Stag with clutch issues a GT6 with Diff failure and one near miss when a M2 2000 model collided with a Deer,

12 great guys from America, that had saved for three years and bought four cars unseen to do the event, lets say they had an exciting time......but they made it