It's raining outside ... pretty unusual in this neck of the woods, where State elections are won and lost on the basis of drought solutions (actually it's a fairly typical situation of there being no real opposition to the staus quo).
Still, rainy weather always promotes a planning frame of mind, so I'm thinking about what to do to BOB. This weekend I'm going to have a crack at the headlights and fit some relays. I'm going to avoid the DIY/Car stores and go straight to an auto-electrical specialists and get the very best parts for the job. In fact I'm even going to finally buy a soldering iron!!! Aren't I becoming a good boy! I'll leave the halogen conversion for the meanwhile, though and see what difference all the new connections make.
I want to do one 'luxury' fitment to the car in the next month or so, too, but can't decide:
15 inch wheels?
Modern car seats?
or
Datsun conversion to rear axle shafts ... well something should be happening on that front anyway.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
"Springtime for BOB"
Springtime indeed!
I went to see Greg Tunstall at the weekend after speaking to him about getting hold of some uprated springs for the big trip to Perth. I really wanted some Chris Witor springs, but the postage cost is prohibitive (more than the cost of the springs!) Greg very kindly gave me a selection of springs to try out.
Unladen B4 change
I went to see Greg Tunstall at the weekend after speaking to him about getting hold of some uprated springs for the big trip to Perth. I really wanted some Chris Witor springs, but the postage cost is prohibitive (more than the cost of the springs!) Greg very kindly gave me a selection of springs to try out.
I'm not particularly interested in changing the ride height, I just want to increase the load capacity so we can carry all we need to go EWE (East coast to West coast and back to East coast again) ... 9,000km. We're self-catering campers so there's a fair amount of equipment to carry, which increases the need for good springs, and we'll probably put a 50 litre fuel can and a large water carrier in too. Of course if these springs improve the handling when unladen I won't complain, although BOB had fairly new looking KYB gas shockers on front and back when I bought it and the ride quality has been very good.
After a late Saturday night out I spent Sunday morning messing around taking measurements and fitting a set of the different springs... it was all a bit like a school experiment but with a hangover (i'm glad the car is parked underground out of the sun).
Here's the line-up of my 5 sets of springs to try out, with one of the originals that was on the car already shown on the left (sorry about the shadows)
I selected the big fat short ones with the least coils but the thickest coil diameter to try first. Here's what one looks like compared to the original spring (black):
Once I'd fitted them I did some measurements to compare them. Then took the car for a bit of a drive. They're definitely an improvement - far firmer but not exactly uncomfortable. Speed bumps were good at speed. This table shows the effect these springs have had:
| SPRING | FREE LENGTH | # COILS | RIDE HEIGHT (REAR) UNLADEN | RIDE HEIGHT LADEN (95KG) | SPRING MOVEMENT (AS % OF UNLADEN HEIGHT) | RIDE HEIGHT FRONT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
original | 328mm | 12 | 595mm | 565mm | 5% | 640mm |
#1 | 300mm | 9 | 608mm | 584mm | 3.9% | 636mm |
#2 | 301mm | 13 | - | - | - | - |
#3 | 304mm | 9 | - | - | - | - |
#4 | 312mm | 12 | - | - | - | - |
#5 | 315mm | 10 | - | - | - | - |
Unladen B4 change
Spring #1 + me
So that's the first set of springs tried out. The question now, though is whether I should try any of the other springs out. I'm not entirely sure how to make a judgment on what the qualities of the others are likely to be based on their characteristics... anyone else know?
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Beach Trips, Balancing and mixing with the Mitsi.
I've had a blast with the car over the last week or so. Ella and I went down to the famous Burleigh Heads for a swim at the weekend ... which prompted the following photo:
"Surfers discover Triumphs are cool, dude!"
I took the car to get another section of the exhaust replaced after the last place reckoned it was too tricky to make up a new section of downpipe and remove the broken stud from the exhaust manifold ... these guys managed to do it in less than an hour and charged $120 (50 quid). I had it made in mild steel for the meanwhile as decent extractors will make it surplus when I get them.
I also had the front wheels balanced, as it was getting a bit silly.
Here's a shot of the interior - it shows where I put the oil pressure gauge - very easy to see through the steering wheel:
Those changes have made a great difference, and the car feels great. I went out yesterday with a friend as it was a public holiday. We took a trip to Nimbin in New South Wales ... it's a very weird place full of wannabe hippies and felt quite sinister to be honest. Still the last 50km drive there from Murwillumbah was extremely good fun. For the last 15km we had a bit of a chase with a V6 Mitsubishi saloon. No doubt it was an auto, but we managed to keep right on its tail and it couldn't get away, especially in the bends (although it was clearly trying). Here's the road on multimap (the route went NNW through Blue Knob, and then NE to Byrrill), what a road!
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=-28.5981&lon=153.2238&scale=200000&icon=x
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=-28.4859&lon=153.2077&scale=200000&icon=x
"Surfers discover Triumphs are cool, dude!"
I took the car to get another section of the exhaust replaced after the last place reckoned it was too tricky to make up a new section of downpipe and remove the broken stud from the exhaust manifold ... these guys managed to do it in less than an hour and charged $120 (50 quid). I had it made in mild steel for the meanwhile as decent extractors will make it surplus when I get them.
I also had the front wheels balanced, as it was getting a bit silly.
Here's a shot of the interior - it shows where I put the oil pressure gauge - very easy to see through the steering wheel:
Those changes have made a great difference, and the car feels great. I went out yesterday with a friend as it was a public holiday. We took a trip to Nimbin in New South Wales ... it's a very weird place full of wannabe hippies and felt quite sinister to be honest. Still the last 50km drive there from Murwillumbah was extremely good fun. For the last 15km we had a bit of a chase with a V6 Mitsubishi saloon. No doubt it was an auto, but we managed to keep right on its tail and it couldn't get away, especially in the bends (although it was clearly trying). Here's the road on multimap (the route went NNW through Blue Knob, and then NE to Byrrill), what a road!
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=-28.5981&lon=153.2238&scale=200000&icon=x
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=-28.4859&lon=153.2077&scale=200000&icon=x
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Miracle worker
Almost exactly a week ago my ankle was bent at 90 degrees and a team-mate had to drive me home for x-rays ... and today I managed to drive the Triumph for the first time since.
My physio is clearly a miracle worker and got me off crutches in a two hour session of ice-baths and pressure pumps (oooh-err) which cost about 10 quid!
Now I have to wrestle the keys back from Ella!
My physio is clearly a miracle worker and got me off crutches in a two hour session of ice-baths and pressure pumps (oooh-err) which cost about 10 quid!
Now I have to wrestle the keys back from Ella!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
The Good News ... The Bad News
The Good:
When asked "what shall we do for the big Christmas holiday this year, then?" Ella responded
"Let's drive to Perth and back"
Well, it's not like I hadn't mentioned it before, but this is the first time Ella has actually suggested it herself. So we'll set aside 3 or 4 weeks and head off, doing lots of little visits to places on the way.
The distance looks to be 4,341 km going the 'quick' way according to my 'handy atlas'. So, that's about 9,000 km all up. We did 6,500km last Christmas, but that was in the Saab and this time we're taking the Triumph. It will be hot, but it will be an adventure no doubt and it will be fun.
Of course we're going to have to spend up on getting the car prepared now aren't we ... don't want it to have any 'issues' do we?
The Bad:
I play football for the gloriously-named Kangaroo Point Rovers in Brisbane. Well there should be a couple more seasons left in me yet. We're nearing the end of the season and I'm having a good run in the first team, then on Saturday I took a heavy challenge on my standing left foot, and the ankle ended up at 90 degrees to the normal. Amazingly it didn't break but I was carried off for the first time in 20 years of competitive sport. Now I'm on crutches and playing the invalid. There'll be no driving for me for a while, so I'm coaching Ella on the mountain roads.
Meanwhile, I'm investigating the possibility that good beer aids ankle injury recovery ...
When asked "what shall we do for the big Christmas holiday this year, then?" Ella responded
"Let's drive to Perth and back"
Well, it's not like I hadn't mentioned it before, but this is the first time Ella has actually suggested it herself. So we'll set aside 3 or 4 weeks and head off, doing lots of little visits to places on the way.
The distance looks to be 4,341 km going the 'quick' way according to my 'handy atlas'. So, that's about 9,000 km all up. We did 6,500km last Christmas, but that was in the Saab and this time we're taking the Triumph. It will be hot, but it will be an adventure no doubt and it will be fun.
Of course we're going to have to spend up on getting the car prepared now aren't we ... don't want it to have any 'issues' do we?
The Bad:
I play football for the gloriously-named Kangaroo Point Rovers in Brisbane. Well there should be a couple more seasons left in me yet. We're nearing the end of the season and I'm having a good run in the first team, then on Saturday I took a heavy challenge on my standing left foot, and the ankle ended up at 90 degrees to the normal. Amazingly it didn't break but I was carried off for the first time in 20 years of competitive sport. Now I'm on crutches and playing the invalid. There'll be no driving for me for a while, so I'm coaching Ella on the mountain roads.
Meanwhile, I'm investigating the possibility that good beer aids ankle injury recovery ...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
All Going Well in 'Bleak Mid-winter'
I’ve done a couple of things to the car in the last week or two … small improvements, but enough to make me smile.
The first thing I did was fit a Smiths oil pressure gauge … well according to the ebayer I bought it from it’s a "guage". (Warning: Misspelt ebay listings can save you lots of money). The day it arrived I bought a t-piece, to enable me to retain the warning light, and connections from Lionel Otto in Brisbane and fitted it the same day. They even gave me a free mounting bracket!
I suppose I wanted the gauge just for peace of mind, and you never know when you buy a 28 year-old car with no history what mileage the engine has done! The good news is that it’s reading well within "Kipping tolerances" (between 45-65 PSI @ 2,000rpm when nice and warm – this is assuming the gauge reads correct of course.
It’s ‘winter’ here in Brisbane, so the temperature gets down to 10 Centigrade in the morning. Weirdly enough BOB has been a bit sluggish at starting in the cooler weather. I had a think about this and decided it was unlikely to be carburettor related. I’ve got the richer BCM Dolly Sprint needles in the carbs and they’ve very recently been fitted and balanced, and I know the timing is good, plugs are new, etc. I thought back to when I fitted the electronic ignition and it dawned on me that the fitting required a ballast resistor and appropriate coil. Well, I had found the present coil (Bosch GT40) was working fine and had just left it. A trip to the car shop and purchase of a GT40R has made a huge difference, now however. We’re back to starting on the first turn of the engine, it pulls more rapidly and smoothly through the revs and now warms up in seconds … no more embarrassing stalling at the lights on a steep hill when cold.
A couple of weekends back we took a trip 100km north to look at the new patch of land my in-laws are buying so they’re nearer to Brisbane. It’s a great spot near the top of the hill with views of the nearby mountains and 20km out to the coast, and it’s very near some seriously good quiet and twisting roads! We took the dirt roads out and the mountain roads back for a round trip of about 200km (saw a Ferrarri 355 on the way back), so it was particularly good. To prove me right, it rained too (see earlier entry).
The first thing I did was fit a Smiths oil pressure gauge … well according to the ebayer I bought it from it’s a "guage". (Warning: Misspelt ebay listings can save you lots of money). The day it arrived I bought a t-piece, to enable me to retain the warning light, and connections from Lionel Otto in Brisbane and fitted it the same day. They even gave me a free mounting bracket!
I suppose I wanted the gauge just for peace of mind, and you never know when you buy a 28 year-old car with no history what mileage the engine has done! The good news is that it’s reading well within "Kipping tolerances" (between 45-65 PSI @ 2,000rpm when nice and warm – this is assuming the gauge reads correct of course.
It’s ‘winter’ here in Brisbane, so the temperature gets down to 10 Centigrade in the morning. Weirdly enough BOB has been a bit sluggish at starting in the cooler weather. I had a think about this and decided it was unlikely to be carburettor related. I’ve got the richer BCM Dolly Sprint needles in the carbs and they’ve very recently been fitted and balanced, and I know the timing is good, plugs are new, etc. I thought back to when I fitted the electronic ignition and it dawned on me that the fitting required a ballast resistor and appropriate coil. Well, I had found the present coil (Bosch GT40) was working fine and had just left it. A trip to the car shop and purchase of a GT40R has made a huge difference, now however. We’re back to starting on the first turn of the engine, it pulls more rapidly and smoothly through the revs and now warms up in seconds … no more embarrassing stalling at the lights on a steep hill when cold.
A couple of weekends back we took a trip 100km north to look at the new patch of land my in-laws are buying so they’re nearer to Brisbane. It’s a great spot near the top of the hill with views of the nearby mountains and 20km out to the coast, and it’s very near some seriously good quiet and twisting roads! We took the dirt roads out and the mountain roads back for a round trip of about 200km (saw a Ferrarri 355 on the way back), so it was particularly good. To prove me right, it rained too (see earlier entry).
We went up the local 'mountain' roads last weekend - the car feeling fairly good - and managed to hold off two Porsche Carrerras that had been lane weaving and sparring all the way through town. We almost lost them completely when we got to the bends and hills which was a bit dissapointing. Coming back down the mountain there was some squealing on the brakes, though. Some biker has done a web-page showing the route.
We’ve had BOB a year this week. It's only done about 6,000 miles – paltry compared to the regular 20,000 plus I did in Triumphs in the UK, but it has been lots of fun. I still can’t believe we got such a good car for such a small sum. So far the only real problem I’ve had has been a split cooling hose (I’m touching wood as I type). I haven’t made that many changes to the car, but I’m pleased with what I have done … for the record:
Reconditioned distributor
Electronic ignition
Removed knackered old emissions equipment
Reconditioned carbs with BCM needles
Fitted ‘works’ gearknob (surprisingly, a vast improvement over the original fitment)
Witor exhaust (minus manifold) – thanks to Andy Thompson
Oil pressure gauge
… plus lots of little adjustments and fixes.
Things to come in the next year or two:
Improved brakes - pads, hoses and reconditioned Girling calipers
15-inch superlites (just to get Bancroft’s goat!)
Tubular stainless exhaust manifold
Diff. whine fix
Spin-on oil filter conversion
Holden Jackaroo (Isuzu Trooper) starter motor conversion
…
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