VERY ILL

I must be very ill or something. At the weekend I did something very out of character...

Not only did I clean (and dry) BOB, but I even did something I've never done to this car before.

I polished my car! I hang my head in shame, soon I'll become all Carruthersish and start testing out different polishes, buffing cloths, etc.

Anyway, this is what BOB looks like clean, and in the 'garage' below our place:



It's not all bad though, I did fit new front brake pads and a rear brake cylinder. It's made a blinding difference to the braking. The pads were changed because I thought they might have been contaminated with grease from the front bearings; the seals had gone (overtightened?). There was a bit of grease knocking around on the inside pads and disc which I cleaned out with "Metho" but it wasn't too bad really.

I've just been out to the Port to pick up a box of my gear that was shipped over from the UK. It's going to be nice to have some decent tools again. Mind-blowing luxuries like ratchets that work every time in both directions (swoon), and ring spanners (applause), and crimpers (not for my hair but so I don't have to continue to strip wires and crimp connections with my teeth).

Next BOB job will be the propshaft, UJ is FUBAR and it'll probably need a balance.

Spotted!

A photo of BOB with its new big lights.


It pretty much ruins the front end aesthetics I suppose, but the Tasmanian Devil population will thank me for it, I reckon - they're suckers for being run over apparently and with these 100w halogens I can see pretty well on dark roads.

BOB's in the garage today having the Datsun halfshafts put in. I struggled long enough trying to do them myself without a workbench ... and gave up. I keep getting phonecalls to tell me there are other broken things on the car so it looks like I'll have some extra work to do at the weekend in order to get BOB ready for the long run down to Hobart.

"Racing" fuel and pastures new!

On the way back from Bundaberg the other week I decided to fill up with some ethanol blended fuel. I've heard various opinions as to whether it kills old cars or not (perishing rubber, fuel tank issues, etc). Quite why I chose to try it on the way to the airport (250km away) to catch a flight for a job interview in Tasmania however, I'll never know. The good news is that it didn't seem to do any damage, ran just as economically, and was plenty sprightly enough.

Only once I was home did I think E95 ... that could have been 95% ethanol, but I guess it was just 5%, or 95 Octane???

I then found out that Australian regulations make it illegal to sell 5 or 10% ethanol blended fuel at higher prices than ordinary fuel with equal octane levels. So when I went to fill up at Shell the other day I noticed that they no longer have 'Optimax' but 'V-Power' and 'V-Power Racing' ! According to the label the racing fuel is 100 Octane but 5% ethanol, but the price is 20 cents more than the normal fuel. I didn't notice any racing cars at the pump, strangely enough.

Anyway, pastures new beckon. I got the job in Tasmania, so it's all speed ahead to a move to Hobart in the next month. As a consequence we're going to have to put the big trip to Perth on hold ... although I do get the chance to drive to Hobart which is 1,900 km with an overnight ferry trip in the middle. It's no RBRR but should be fun enough in the Triumph.

Now I wonder if I should risk using ethanol fuel on the trip or not?

Staggage

As I walked to work this morning (it was 21 Celsius at 7am by the way ;-), I saw a white Triumph Stag. So I've seen two Stags in three days. We saw one up the mountain roads on Sunday. Following up on the a thread on the CT forum I read recently, what was so unusual about the one I saw on Sunday was that its driver waved to me! Gadzooks!

Spent a fair bit of Saturday smashing UJs on Datsun shafts with a hammer, and not quite getting them out. I bought a vice to help, but don't have anything to attach it to, plus I left my cheapo socket set in Bundaberg the other week, so I've failed to fit the Datsun shafts. Plan B - Universal Driveshaft Services ... seeing as no local garages were prepared to help. A weird thing I've noticed is that garages aren't open on Saturdays in Queensland? Hmph.

Shafting and shining my box!

No, Jason, you're not on one of those sites!

I got a fair amount done last weekend.

• Fitted up the alternator, rewired the relays through a separate fuse box in the engine bay
• Added a pair of 100w halogen spotlights kindly donated by Jacques, taken from an old Nissan Prado
• Stripped the remaining useful parts (including the tank) out of the TC and sent the shell back to the breakers

• Took the autobox to the carwash and put it on the engine degreasing setting, good results for $3 and it can go on ebay

• Sourced and looked over Datsun driveshaft ... here's one, modelled by a fascinated Fred the dog, next to a Triumph set-up for comparison.

This week I've ordered and purchased 5 special "Tri-Dat" UJs from Greg Tunstall at $93.50 each (4 for the shafts, and one as a spare/pattern). Basically this is a UJ that fits between a Triumph and a Datsun yoke. As you can see from the photo, the Datsun ends have the c-clips in a groove at the base of the bearing section, whereas the Triumph ends have the clips that fit at the top.

Jacques and I figured out how these are made, if I ever need to get any made up. Now I need to get them fitted. I don't have a vice, bench or space to put a bench in Brisbane, so I need to either take them to a garage and ask them to put the Triumph and Datsun bits together, or drive all the way back up to Bundaberg and do it there! It's a bit annoying really as it's not exactly rocket science. Looking forward to getting them on, though.

Prince of darkness? / Diff. find / Driveshaft nonsense / 10CR idea ...

I think you know what i mean ... Mr Lucas with a bit of a help from Mr Not An Autoelectrician.

I knew that the 400km drive up to Bundaberg this week was going to be eventful ... the car has been just a bit too well behaved.

Just outside Gympie I overtook a 'Ute' put my foot down, hit the high beams and suddenly the lights went completely (note to self: rewire lights through 2 separate fuses, 1 for mains, 1 for high). Clever me had to take the air filter off at the side of the road with big fat lorries going past to change the fuse (note to self no.2 - put a torch in the car). I hadn't secured the relays well enough and one had earthed against the filter housing.

Ten minutes later we're back on the road again with one placated wife and working lights. No problems until Childers when all of a sudden the ingition light comes on and the volts start to drop. Pull over ... fan belt's fine. Alternator must have carked it. 35km to home so no prob's.

So today i've been arsing around getting a replacement alternator. Everyone wanted $250 (100GBP) for one, nobody would recondition, three scrap yards didn't have any that would fit, but I eventually found a brand new one for $125 !!! So that's been fitted and is good.

Meanwhile I found another 2500 TC in a yard with a blown headgasket, but a good diff. $150 has to be worth a gamble. I picked up two Datsun driveshafts for $60 ... it's immediately obvious why they're so much better than the Triumph ones. I've spent much of the afternoon with my father-in-law working out various machining options to get them to fit a Triumph. It's looking like the cheapest option might be to buy the specially adapted UJs from Greg Tunstall.

Unless anyone knows any different that is?

Good luck to all you RBRR nutters ... God I'm jealous, but I've been working on a plan with F-in-law to get us and Ella to the 10CR next year ... Anybody want to buy a rust free Australian Triumph that's just been tested on a weekend's drive around Europe? (that's just one of our ideas!)