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!)