Greeks In Oz

Smooth running

2011-08-20T11:12:00.003+10:00

Spent a little bit of time getting BOB running nicely.

When driving down from Bundaberg (4 hour trip) things didn't seem 100%. Stalled a couple of times.

Turned out this was probably just the remnants of the 2-year old fuel.

Nevertheless i ordered all new ignition parts and some iridium plugs on 25% discount.

Plugs went in first with new cap and rotor arm. Not a huge difference to be seen.

Couple of weeks later changed points and condensor. Suddenly a lot of the lumpiness at idle smoothed out and there was a noticeable power increase. Dwell angle still spot on, but I think the old points were never alligned perfectly.

I'm getting another mile per gallon and have a new improved top speed. Bonus!

Got the wheel alignment sorted by the local tyre guy, too. He worked wonders and the car's handling much better now.

Guess who's back?

2011-07-17T10:38:00.001+10:00

P6258217, a photo by greeksinoz on Flickr.

After two years 'rest' in the in-laws shed the time came to resurrect the Big Orange Bus.

Oh, yes. BOB's back!

Waking up the neighbours never felt so good.

Fun and brake fluid...

2009-08-30T13:27:00.002+10:00

Check my other blog to see the fun we had this week!
>clicky<

It seems that a 10 year old Land Rover can actually require more ongoing maintenance than a 30 year old Triumph after all...

(actually it's been great fun!)

Up and running and of no fixed abode

2009-07-19T08:39:00.002+10:00

Both me and the website that is.

http://ofnofixedabode.wordpress.com

... see you again in 6 months (or more).

Roll over BOB ... make way for The Bench

2009-07-09T13:30:00.001+10:00

Oh lordy, it's confession time.

BOB's been a brilliant car, that I can't deny. In four years of ownership and about 30,000 miles (give or take some odometer error) of use he's not once caused a serious problem. Since the engine transplant a little over a year ago, he's taken us on a couple of epic fully-loaded trips - from Tassie up to our new home in Melbourne, west out to South Australia, north up to New South Wales, and on loads of day trips into the Victorian bush. In 15,000 miles he's required just one pint of oil!

But sadly, while BOB makes light work of highways, munches up the mountain roads and is pretty capable on the odd dirt track, satisfying as he is, there are some parts he just can't reach. And this is why he's being laid up to rest ... temporarily of course.

Ella and I have been planning a little outback adventure that requires a tad more ground clearance and a little extra space. So here's BOB's stablemate. A Land Rover Defender 110 TD5 with LPG and more bells buzzers than you could ring and buzz in an entire month of sunny Sundays.

Introducing, The Bench!

Anyway, there's another website in the making where you can find out the details of our adventure (and all the technical details on the heavily modified Bench) ... i'll post a link once it's worth viewing.

BOB drove north in convoy with The Bench last week. We travelled from Melbourne to Canberra to Sydney to Brisbane to Bundaberg visiting family along the way. BOB is now tucked up in the shed to be given the occasional run while we're away. I think it's going to be the longest I haven't driven a Triumph for in about seven years!

Wee Irish fella blocking my route to work!

2009-02-18T15:00:00.000+11:00

Bloody Bernie Ecclestone's mob are ruining my walk to work!

As I may have mentioned before I'm doing rather a lot of walking/running at the moment in preparation for a ***monster endurance event***.

Training includes walking to work through Albert Park, home of the Melbourne Grand Prix. Most of the year of course this is just a great big park with some curvy bits of road. There are cricket pitches, dogs, etc. The pit stop buildings are used as a sports halls (how Australian!).

The last couple of weeks it's been madness though, lorries coming and going. It's making walking to work relatively hazardous, but it is interesting to see just how much preparation goes into setting the venue up.

The Grand Prix is the same weekend i'm doing the 100km walk ... in about six weeks' time.

Anyway here's some (poor quality) phone photos of the preparation.

Not often you see a ticket maching next to the pit lane is it?

Or such slow
corners on a racetrack? (they're thinking about a Le Mans style start this year apparently...)

Here's the inside of the pit garages. If you look closely you can see a piece of Schumacher's old chewing gum on the floor.

This guy looked like he was a bit over the whole thing

Chrome blind in the sunshine

2009-02-15T16:42:00.001+11:00

It was a lovely sunny day today, perfect weather for a Triumph concours - if you like that sort of thing. I always get a bit bored looking at shiny cars, most of which never get dirty or red-lined, but I'd originally hoped to meet up with a CT forum member called Glen (or Cowman on the forum). However, he was called to Country Fire Authority duty fighting fires just north of Melbourne. I hope that's all going well for him.

So I went along anyway, even washing BOB first - that's twice this year already!

Unsurprisingly there were lots of shiny TRs and Stags, plus a Vitesse, 12/50 Herald a few Sptifires and GT6. There was a line up of competition cars, too:

I didn't hang around for the concours announcements but the car of the show IMHO was this TR Italia - nice:

There were quite a few saloons around, including an LPG with L plates, and this purple one! (not a big fan of colour-coding myself).

There was only one Mk1 that I noticed. It was white, like so many others, but had a rather unusual take on EFI under the hood...

After half an hour or so I was getting chrome blindness as usual and ready to head home. Then I met a fella called Fraser who was sheltering from the sun next to his standard tune Mk2 TC that he runs at hillclimbs all over the state.

Before I knew it we'd been waffling away for over an hour about all things Triumph and I was getting increasingly keen on the idea of a bit of hillclimbing/sprint action. I know I've been saying this for a while, but I've been put off by the assumption i'd need to cross and dot all kinds of scrutineering Ts and Is ... but Fraser's experience seems to have been quite simple: a licence, a helmet, a fire extinguisher (already in place anyway) and I'm certified to go and risk my own life as much as I like in time trial based tomfoolery... whyever not?

Strange goings on

2009-02-07T18:40:00.001+11:00

You expect summer in Australia to be hot, but it's been ridiculous these past couple of weeks - the complete opposite of what's been going on in the UK.

Three days in a row last week it was over 40 centigrade. It stayed in the thirties for the next week. We didn't have a drop of rain in the whole of January. It's really stressing the flora and fauna. Leaves everywhere have been turning brown and leaping off trees, grass is crunching underfoot like snow, I've seen dead birds all over the place.

Today was mental. The mercury just tipped 50 this afternoon! Then a cool change came through and I even saw a couple of drops of rain outside. It's due to plummet to a chilly 23 tomorrow.

Stranger than the weather was seeing two TR6 on my way to work last Wednesday. I crossed Albert Park Road (of Melbourne Grand Prix fame) and saw the back of a red TR6 heading up the street. Thirty seconds later on a side road I saw another one. I know red TR6 are pretty common but this was spooky. I spoke to the owner of the second - turned out he'd literally just finished its restoration and he was in the process of posting the registration documents.

But there was nothing to prepare me for finding a familiar face hanging around at Flinder's Street Station in the centre of Melbourne. Young Paul Darbyshire (aka Burnerboy) the serial Triumphaholic and all-round nice guy. Even better was that he had a bag of Chris Witor springs to go with his cheeky smile.

Well, that deserved a beer ... or two! So we snuck off to the pub to launch the first ever Club Triumph Melbourne meeting. Paul won the points for travelling the furthest to attend, but I was in my 10CR 03 t-shirt so I think that makes it evens. He says he'll be back again some time for another meeting... I might have to think up some quiz questions.

Endurance Event

2009-01-18T18:46:00.002+11:00

Back in 2008 when the RBRR was on and I was all sad about not being able to join in I made a commitment to sort out something similar but altogether more local.

The idea for the Round Victoria Reliability Run was born.

Sadly, bugger all has happened apart from me playing with Google Maps a bit and inviting a few other Triumph-heads to join in. I was thinking that March would be a good idea to do it as it's far enough after the heat of summer and before the moutain sections are likely to be snowy ....

... but then I got sidetracked by a completely different event which I hasten to add is not a relay.

Problems are just opportunities in work clothes

2009-01-10T18:00:00.001+11:00

It was two weeks before Christmas and all through the car

A terrible clonking sound that stopped us driving too far...

One of KYB's finest shock absorbers gave up fairly dramatically by shearing at the base. So out with the credit card and on with the Konis just in time (literally) for our epic Christmas trip.

Great fun - up to NSW and all around the forests, some boring straight roads to get there, but we took back roads where practical ... which is very good fun. We got to drive some brilliant roads and camped in some amazing spots. Poor Ella suffered the embarrassment of attempting to overtake a police highway patrol car that was going under the speed limit just where the white line went solid and a fixed camera was installed. Fortunately she ducked back in just in time!

We did a fair amount of walking in the World Heritage Rainforests which were truly spectacular. There were lots of gorges and waterfalls and other nature stuff.

The car was heavily loaded and exhibited some 'interesting' camber on the rear wheels and meant the bum dragged a bit too much for my liking. I'm considering getting some airbag spring assisters when finances allow. They're easily adjustable so I can change the pressure depending on the load in the car.

My father-in-law was impressed by BOB's newfound power as he tried to keep up with us in his turbo diesel 4x4.

The last place we camped - Nymboi/Binderay National Park - to go on a whitewater rafting trip involved some really bumpy roads and a water crossing to get in. We made it in just, but in the morning I noticed a flat.

Given the state of the roads the best idea seemed to be to patch the tyre up - it was leaking from an old patch - to get back out to a tyre fitter and save the spare for an emergency. My father-in-law had all the kit needed and dived in to do it.

Unfortunately the tyre-fitters were utter numpties and managed to strip a couple of nuts on the wheels. That's easily done on S wheels, but I'd warned them of the problem and they hadn't even told me - we were 100km down the road when Ella complained of a wobble!

Worse still, the next morning - having driven 1,000km - I discovered that I had a flat tyre. The idiots had changed the wrong bloody tyre!!! Needless to say I'm getting a couple more free tyres from them now.

The only other problems on the trip were the two broken exhaust mounts - the rear join where the pipe goes through the trailing arm (I was able to bodge that) and the gearbox mount which needs further investigation. We've also developed a bit of a noise when decelerating and a crack in the back box. All this hard driving's taking its toll!

The Konis were magic though, a considerable improvement on the harsher KYBs and I'm sure they will have limited the damage.

All up we totalled 3,800km in two weeks, fuel economy looks to have been 10.6 l/100km or 27mpg, not bad considering the state of tune, the road types and the heavy load.

TSOA EMR...

2008-11-18T13:37:00.004+11:00

BOB's been getting fairly typical usage recently - weekend trips out into the woods, mainly. We had a 'fun' incident the weekend before last, when an errant branch disconnected the fuel line underneath the car. Fortunately we were stopping 1km down the track anyway. Just as we pulled over the engine cut out... I thought it was something ignition related, but the stink of fuel and trickling noise gave the problem away. We didn't lose too much fuel. I guess the 30 year old fuel line clips are a bit brittle, so i've replaced some of them with cushion clamps now.

Last weekend we decided to try our first Triumph Sportscar Owners Australia (TSOA) Victoria EMR... the Sunday Early Morning Run. Having a quick checkover the car on Saturday night I noticed with some annoyance the almost complete lack of clutch fluid in the reservoir! Topped it right up and had a bit of a poke around and decided it was obviously a leaking slave cylinder seal ... but a very slow leak. It can wait.

Next morning it seems that the poking around had filled the bloody thing with air. Bleeding kit tucked away in some box somewhere or other, so a quick spanner to the nipple let some air out and the clutch was back to life. Phew ... made it to the start of the run 10 minutes late - but these things never run on time. The local Daimler club was at the same meeting point which added some confusion, but there were a lot of tasty looking Triumphs all just setting off. A kindly TR8 (4.3l) owner who was clearly hanging at the back said we could follow him - probably a bit concerned we might not be able to keep up.

So we headed off towards Ballarat on the highway behind three droptop TR8s and a Porsche 911 (?). I'm always a bit reticent about these sorts of runs, concerned that they'll be a bit tame and slow. First impressions were that speed limits were being treated with just enough respect (that's good) and we made reasonable time to the end of the highway stretch before heading north up the good roads. Lots of nice fast twisty stuff and the TR8s didn't hold us up even if they were a little slow up the hills :-)
A nice coffee stop in Daylesford was the first chance to see just how many TR4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, Stags and even a GT6 (rare in Australia) had turned up. No sidescreens to be seen. I got talking to Barry (4a), Jim (Stag) and Geoff (7 in excruciatingly bright yellow). Barry is the first person i've ever met who unwittingly bought a car with overdrive. There was an unusual wiring set up and the seller didn't even know it was installed - it was only discovered on a rebuild (which has included some nice mods too).
Forgot the camera (again!) hence the dodgy phone shots.

The rest of the drive was less exciting, just the run into a festival at Ballarat. But it was interesting to see people's reaction to the Saloon - normally a bit looked down on as they're not 'sportscars', these guys seemed happy to see it, even if it was a bit scabbier than most of the TRs (yes even the wedges were 'pretty'). The TR8 owner was impressed by its 'go' and one of the owners said it sounded wonderful. I might have a crack at some sprints or regularities in the new year to see if I can soften them further on the saloon.

... and the slave cylinder seal held out and can be changed next weekend.

Beating the RBRR Blues

2008-10-04T14:34:00.008+10:00

I can see this is going to be a biannual pattern - "watching" the RBRR message diary and wising I was there. The build up on the Club Triumph forum is agonising, although it's nice not to have to deal with the stress. Driving around Britain in 48 hours in an old car seems like a good old-fashioned thing to do. It pulls out some survival instincts even from the most unlikely people. You spend half of the time with all your senses strained listening and looking for bits falling off your car.

So, what could I do to replace the RBRR this year? Plan A was to go to my local pub's German beer festival. It starts at midday and goes on into the wee hours. A friend from Hobart was all set to fly up and join in. But he missed his flight. So to kill a few hours I thought I'd have a bit of a check over BOB and do a few little things I haven't got around to

1) Why is it the car takes a bit longer to start than it should? I've always meant to check the starter motor wiring out... and I did today. Bloody good thing I did too!

Three wires had badly cracked insulation - difficult to spot tucked away underneath the manifold. I patched them up and now the car starts immediately. I wish I'd checked that out 3 years ago.

2) Carb needles. I'd been recommended some different profile needles. Here's the chart I knocked up via James Carruther's SU Needle Compare-o-rama.

I was running on the BFG needles (the orange line on the chart) and finding things a bit lumpy. So I ordered some BFZ (the green line)... whacked them in this afternoon.

Instant improvement - smoother idle, better driving at low rpm and more refined acceleration. It used to "wharrrrrp" from 3k rpm up, but now it just pulls straight through to 6k with very little fuss. I must say it's a lot less hassle changing SU needles than the late 1.5 inch Strombergs I had on the GT6. Didn't even need to adjust the idle.

It's not easy for me to really try the car out where we live - it's a long way to the nearest fast road... so tomorrow's Sunday trip to the hills will be extra fun. I get to try out the needles on the fast road and the bushes on the dirt roads. Let's hope the rest of the day at the beer festival doesn't give me too much of a hangover!

Bum Steer

2008-09-23T20:43:00.004+10:00

Basically the passenger side rear tyre wears out quicker than it should, the car sits a bit wonky to that side, the springs bend in that direction, and there's a wicked oversteer in hard right hand corners which just lets go on dirt roads (Dave Sideways would pee his pants) ... there's only one thing left to change at the backend, or maybe two.

New springs front and back - check

Good dampers all round - check

Polybushed rear end - check

New driveshafts (Tri-Dats) - check

Diff. mounting checked - check

So, I pulled my old sub-frame mounts off for a look-see and they're not perfect, and one is definitely worse than the other.

The reconditioned ones are considerably better looking!

Before I put them on I had to get the tape measure out, take a deep breath, cross my fingers, pray to the East (or North North West?) and hope that I'd not been driving around in a twisted orange monster for the last few years. The measurements said it was ok ... but I'm not convinced by the accuracy, so I chucked the new ones on, went for a quick test-drive (including sliding around a roundabout in 1st gear a few times). A few more drives to settle things down and I'll take another deep breath and some more measurements. Fingers crossed.

Oh, those crazy Aussies!

2008-08-16T18:20:00.000+10:00

I used to think that the Aussie sense of humour was 'drizabone', and that this meant I was surrounding by sublime intentional wordplay and ironic references. But after a while I realised it's not an automatic cultural inheritance. There are those who get the jokes and those who are the jokes.

An embodiment of this is the road signs. There are some good intentional pisstakes, like this one from the south west coast of Victoria, spotted a couple of years ago:

Then there are the ones that I'd love to think are intentional, but somehow reckon just weren't really thought out...

Like this one in Landsborough, Queensland:

Or this in South Australia:

A common tactic is to use road signs to get you to stop and buy a coffee in out of the way towns ... but sometimes they employ some wit to get you to pull over (not sure what's so wrong with Galahs by the way):

They can get be a bit stern about it, too:

They can't think up their own names, though - lots of settlements are named after places in The Old Country.

They're all budding Cub Scouts, really - Be Prepared and all that (sorry for reposting this one):

New Brakes!

2008-08-12T08:25:00.002+10:00

Check these out!

A bit lightweight for BOB of course... but it is time for some new brake shoes on the rear, so I got some of these ready to go. If it ever stops raining for long enough to get the wheels off I might get them fitted.

Big flat and dry

2008-08-02T13:37:00.002+10:00

... that's South Australia apparently.

Actually there turned out to be a lot more to it.

We had terrible problems with the car, innumerable breakdowns and ended up sleeping in the car in the desert out of mobile range for a week waiting for someone to come by who could help us.

No, not really. We had a great time, BOB behaved immaculately, embarrassed lots of moderns and returned a reasonable 28mpg most of the time, despite being full to the gunwales.

We dropped in on Nick (G-Man on the CT forum) in Adelaide for a night, drank his beer, talked Triumphs and drank more of his beer. Nick's Saloon was having Pi surgery the day we visited and his Mk2 GT6 was hitched up for a bit of rear end attention as you can see.

He started it up for me anyway - sounded fantastic. This car features the coolest James Bond kill switch I've ever heard of... but I'll keep it secret I think.

BOB is now pulling like a train which is handy for overtaking road trains, actually:

Not all of our trip involved driving in BOB, though. We met up with the in-laws for a week, and ventured north into the dirt roads of the desert in their well-kitted out Navarra. Jacques let me have a few drives... good fun on some of the gnarlier roads.

A useful car to have when you've got road signs like this:

We did get off-road a bit in BOB when we were on our own, though... there were just a couple of bottom-scrapes, and some big mud splashes! I can think of a few Triumph owners who'd be devestated to see an engine bay looking like this.

That's it for now ... I'll put a bit more in to The Editor and see if it crops up in Club Torque at some point down the track.

BOB Rocket

2008-06-17T18:26:00.002+10:00

BOB went in for its op. a couple of weeks ago now. The MK1 Pi engine was installed along with a recon. box and o/d and carbs were tweaked to account for the new set-up (BFGs for now).

When I picked the car up I was rather astonished by the lumpiness of the cam. I expected a bit of snorting, but it was shaking like a junky and barking like a dog. It wasn't just loud it was positively antisocial. I took it down to an exhaust place recommended by the engine builder (Graham Westwell) to have a resonator fitted (with a 25% parts discount) and some better brackets fitted, and was very happy with the result. A little less harsh, but plenty of presence.

Graham offered a 5,000km warranty on the engine if I adhere to his running in recommendations so I thought I better stick to that. We took BOB for a good run around the eastern side of the state over the next weekend, putting down 1200km whilst staying below 3,000rpm and seeing more amazing parts of Tassie... which is just as well as we're moving to Melbourne soon.

I was amazed that the fuel consumption stayed so reasonable, 28mpg on fairly mixed speeds - and the plugs were perfect.

The car has since been back to Graham to have the oil changed, head retorqued, tappets reset, cooling system flushed and coolant added, etc. It's even better now, getting smoother all the time. We can go up to 4,000rpm now ... and between 3-4k there's an incredible added "Whhhhaaaaaaaaaarp" noise. Ok the idle is still lumpy, but it's rarely ever going to idle if I can help it. There's shed loads of torque so 1st gear is virtually redundant, but it spins up nice and fast too ... I have to keep reigning myself in - can't wait to let it rip.

I picked up a replacement central console the other day off a mate (Russell), and fitted it. The old one had got brittle and cracked as they do, but Russell has a stack of perfect ones, including a very unusual one made of a thick firm plastic with a vinyl covering... sounds shonky I know, but the moulding was perfect and it fits perfectly too and looks exactly like the original. It really looks like it's factory made but Russell says he's never come across one before. Weird.

In a couple of weeks' time we're heading off on a big drive around South Australia via Melbourne. BOB's more fun than ever so I'm looking forward to putting down some k's. Should be great.

Engine Rebuild Update

2008-05-21T19:19:00.007+10:00

So, the camshaft's back from its regrind at Wade Cams of Victoria to 444C 105 degrees... and a load of other impressive sounding numbers which give it TR5 characteristics apparently. Refaced cam followers and a regrind cost a total of $181 ... 85 quid or thereabouts.

It certainly looks better, anyway.

I took it up to the guy who's building the engine and he rubbed his hands with glea. All the engine parts are with the machine shop to do their bits, and new old stock vandervell bearings have only to wait a few more days before they're put to work. It's shaping up that I'll be able to drop the car in and pick it up a few days later without even missing a weekend's driving... fingers crossed.

Transplant time

2008-05-11T20:46:00.001+10:00

We're planning a trip over to South Australia for most of July, so I thought it might be a good idea to get BOB checked out. I put it into a mechanic I trust asking him to have a look at a few things that were bugging me (noisy tappets, rear brakes, etc).

It's thirty years old this year, and has turned 125,000 km on the clock, so perhaps I shouldn't be that surprised to get a less than glowing report on BOB's health. It turned out that compression on one cylinder was worryingly low, and was pointing to problems with piston rings. Given the age of the engine it seemed best to take the plunge and get the whole thing rebuilt, and throw in a reconditioned gearbox for good measure.

I've spent enough time reading about other people's rebuilds to be a bit daunted by the whole thing. I've had lots of nice ideas about how to upgrade things for a little more power, but wasn't really intending on doing it for a while - and then to spend a bit of time, research it and collect the right parts. But we don't have time for that if we want to take BOB around SA in 6 week's time. So the 2.7 pi with roller rockers, top notch exhaust manifold, blah de blah will have to wait for now... I'm only going for the easy and cheaper stuff, based around a Mk1 Pi block and head.

The engine was sourced from another Hobart Triumph guy - Glen Johnson - who had it spare. He'd been told it had done minimal kms since a rebuild before he took it out of a wreck, but he'd never opened it up to see what it was like inside. Seeing as it was a Mk1 block and head I was hoping it would pop in with a new headgasket and save me a small fortune. Head off revealed the "recent rebuild" was done by somebody who probably shouldn't have bothered. Glazed bores, heavily carbonised valves and pistons, some weird applications of araldite, damaged cam lobes and unfortunately not the most desirable crank.

Cam Lobes

I'd been agonising about what to go for in the new engine, but this kind of helped me decide priorities. The machine shop can give everything a good clean up, the cam reground (TR5 spec.) unleaded head conversion, bores honed, flywheel lightened. I would have like to have for balanced everything, too, but the budget will ony go so far.

We're still using BOB in the meantime (in fact I'm tempted to thrash the arse of the current engine before it comes out ... just to make sure). There's some great big Yankee ship in town (hello sailors!) at the moment, the USS Tarawa, so we had a peak from a good vantage point today - appropriately enough at the Hobart Cenotaph. According to the local rag "The 250m vessel carries 35 aircraft including AV-8B Harrier jets and Cobra, Hueys, Super Stallion and Sea Knight helicopters" ... and 3,000 American sailors, heaven forbid.

Targa Tasmania 2008

2008-04-27T08:49:00.004+10:00

As usual i'm way behind and blogging stuff that happened last weekend. Tasmania's annual tarmac rally event came and went and we managed to catch one of the 39 stages. The rally takes the form of a five-day long tour around the State, with special stages interspersed along the way - some around the little towns and others in the sticks, but all on public roads. Although it's an amateur rally, some of the competitors are known faces. This year we had a few of the Australian Rally Championship fellas, and a certain Alister McRae (who took first place in the showroom FWD category).

The final stage of the week was in Hobart, but I wanted to try and avoid the scrum in town, and it was only a demonstration stage anyway. I fancied a whopping 47km stage three hours north of Hobart, which would have included some seriously fast sections and open views, but it would have been too much effort to make it. Instead we went to see stage 37 at Tarraleah. This stage snaked down a steep-sided forested valley past two hydro power stations, then back up the other side of the valley - a total of around 8km.

As I discovered when I picked up my programme for the event this year's field of ~300 entries had but two Triumph entries; a TR3a and Mk2 GT6. Well, by the final day it seemed that the TR had given up the ghost, but I had discovered that the GT6 was actually being driven by a UK Daily Telegraph writer and getting a bit of its own coverage back home.

We settled in at what seemed like a good spectator's corner and made cups of tea whilst the officials closed and cleared the road, then tried to get the best shots we could as a wide variety of cars of all shapes and sizes came carreering into the sharp bend we were watching - there must have been something wrong with the pace notes as more than a few locked up and struggled to negotiate things correctly.

One soon learns that one is not a sports photographer in these situations!!!

I've always had a soft spot for the Renault Spider

Peter Hall was giving it his all, although my Triumph contacts on the mainland said he'd had a diff. sent down in the week...

The race is run in reverse order, so once the slower, more interesting cars had gone and we began to get bored with a relentless stream of Evos, 911 GTs and Subarus we headed back to our own little rally car (!) and joined the Targa convoy to head to the New Norfolk lunch stop. This meant that we had half an hour or so behind a Porker GT3 and some Evos through the winding roads, which was a good laugh despite the relatively gentle pace.

The lunch stop was great, too. All the cars lined up waiting for their off, drivers and co-drivers having a relaxed chat, knowing that there were only a couple of stages left in the week. New Norfolk looked rather different to usual!

We cruised back to Hobart, and I noted the momentous occasion of overtaking Alister McRae (ok it was on a dual carriageway).

In the evening we popped down to the casino down the road from our place to see the finish line and all the cars parked up. It was dark unfortunately, so the photos are pretty ordinary, but there was a real buzz around. I was hoping to catch up with Peter Hall to see how he'd found Tassie. Ella and her sister compiled a catalogue of cars they would happily own, a selection of which are below:

This Volvo would have to win the 'noise of the day' award in my opinion and it was being driven very hard indeed.

Anyone for a Jowett?

Well, Ella is well and truly hooked now and would love to give the Targa a go one day. Of course I would, but could I ever see myself getting enough time and money to do it? Who knows...

Clutching Sexist Australians

2008-02-29T12:35:00.002+11:00

Strange title ... sort of relevant?

I got the clutch problem sorted out in the end. A couple of hundred bucks got me a brand new replacement master cylinder. It's a modern one off the shelf rather than a NOS Stanpart job. A bit of modification to the bulkhead a customised pushrod and a couple of hours labour, and voila! So cheap, but that's Tassie! I'll stick some photos up when I get to it. It mates up to the hose I had made up for $100... so all up $300 (about 140 GBP)

Not long after I started work at a consulting engineering firm I noticed this book on a colleague's shelf. It wasn't the fascinating subject that drew my attention, nor the comparatively quiet Sydney Harbour Bridge of 1970, but the car on the spine! Brrmm brmmm - it's a Mk1 2000

They were pretty popular out here clearly, as this 'Wheels' magazine article from September 1968 explains ... and with such great style, too. "Reverse is safely out of the way of the other four, too - a consoling thought for husbands whose wives might be driving the car in their absence" - you couldn't say that today ... could you? Note that it calls the Mk1 of 1968 the Mk2 due to the slight changes that were made to the model. Confusing.

Clutching at hoses

2008-02-04T12:34:00.000+11:00

The overdrive turned out to be an easy fix - just a connector that had broken. So I replaced that and all is well again.

I popped up to a hydraulic hose place - Enzed - on saturday morning and had a braided hose made up to replace the old plastic one I've been having issues with. First I'd had a read of Dave Powell's lengthy musings on the subject of hoses and fittings (thrilling stuff... must see if I can get membership of the Joint Industry Committee). That gave me enough info. to be dangerous, but I didn't actually need any of it - the guy at the shop just took a look at the current set-up and 5 mins later handed me the right stuff, all connectors, elbow joint, etc, for $100 ... a bit pricey for a clutch hose, but it should be good. If this doesn't solve my problems I'll be moving on to a new master cylinder.

Then I took a trip up to a Alladin's Cave to get a replacement fixed fan - decided I'm tempting fate too much with the electric - and a driver's side parcel tray. Took the time to get some photos of BOB next to Russell's matching 'S' ... spot (and stripe) the differences. Actually Russell's is considerably tidier.

Meanwhile, the Mk1 I've been thinking about is coming along nicely - with lots of attention being lavished. It looks better with Mk1 wheels on now, still needs some trim and the nose badge, plus repainted roof and touch-up.

Went out with a friend with a DV Camcorder the other week ... messed about taking some shots on some hilly roads. I spliced in an appearance from Juan in the car as he smashed the camera into his eye on a corner! Looks a bit slow, but it's interesting to see (and hear) your own car from outside. The back end is jacked up pretty high when the car's got no weight in the boot and it's diving into the corner (with Witor 160lb front springs). Sounds pretty nice though. Unfortunately this video got totally over-compressed so it's not very clear... never mind.

No-verdrive

2008-01-31T07:29:00.001+11:00

By which I mean of course ... I have no working overdrive at the moment.

So I had a rummage around and found a loose yellow wire with no spade on the end - and there's no way I can get my hand into the space I presume it need to go. Looks like I'll be lowering the gearbox a little to try and get to it.

How is it that there can be produced a several hundred page workshop manual detailing all kinds of meticulous detail about things as mundane as the inside of a bloody starter motor, and the type of waterproofing seals used on a car notorious for rusting, but there's no bloody wiring diagram for the J-type overdrive (unless I just can't find it). There isn't even a photo/diagram of the outside of the bloody thing!

Ho hum ...

Blistering bonnets!

2008-01-29T13:21:00.000+11:00

BOB has been so reliable it seems inevitable that sooner or later my luck had to run out. I've only had one temporary breakdown (a split cooling system hose) in 32,000km of driving, and then it was a five minute fix, top-up and drive on.

I've been occassionally having to bleed the clutch for the last few months, especially since changing a leaky slave cylinder. I'm guessing that changing the 1 inch for 7/8s has altered the dynamics of the hydraulic system because the clutch gets progressively spongy until the biting point is on the floor. I recently removed the crank-driven fan to just use the thermo. one and the superb radiator on their own instead. No problems where the engine temp. is concerned, but I wonder if it added to my problems this last weekend?

Having bled the clutch on Friday night and swopped the rear springs over on saturday morning (that's another story - one seems to be a little bent!) I was out doing some shopping. When I pulled out of a parking space the clutch pedal hit the floor and the car stalled. Bugger! The hydraulic hose had popped off the master cylinder and sprayed fluid all over the engine bay! So home it was with rev-matching to shower the underside of the bonnet before the paint got damaged. A couple of hours of fruitless bleeding later I removed the slave cylinder to get it above the height of the master ... and hey presto!

Next day we had a nice trip out - 100 miles or so - to the beach, giving it lots of beans, overtakes, etc, no problem. Got home then decided to wash the car. Pop goes the hose again! Double Bugger. A bit quicker job this time though, with the slave removed straight away. I presume that the heat had built up under the bonnet whilst parked up in the garage???

Monday was a bank holiday, so I took her out again and gave BOB a major ragging up the mountains ... no problems with the clutch - phew.

But ... the overdrive has stopped operating! It had been slipping out from time to time, especially on bumpy roads or overrun - but the solenoid sounded like it was engaging. Now the solenoid doesn't click. Time to learn a little about J-type overdrives I guess.

I wonder - does BOB know that I've been looking at this MK1 PI do you think?

Autocar - 1973

2007-12-07T14:17:00.000+11:00

Got my hands on a perfect copy of the infamous edition of Autocar 26 July 1973 ... seen before by many, no doubt, but the first time I've seen it. Enjoy the review of the new Dolly Sprint, and the Lord Stokes interview, prophetic or pathetic? You decide. (I wonder what he would have made of a K-series Spitfire?):

Aladdin's Cave

2007-12-04T12:52:00.000+11:00

Well the commercial bloggers are really hotting up now ... so I've decided I should type in a nice soothing blue colour and stick to less controversial issues, and avoid links, 'cos I never have the time to follow them anyway.

I met a really interesting person last weekend, someone I’ve wanted to meet for a while – the chap who has a front yard literally littered with Triumphs. His name’s Russell, and he’s clearly got a collection. He has an aim in life to keep as many Triumphs on the road as possible. I recently counted seven saloons and one Dolomite on his drive, but he’s been cutting back and when I went to see him on Saturday there were only three saloons, a bodyshell and a dolly.

I was interested at having a look at his fireball red ‘S’ because it looks so much like BOB. It’s had some subtle modifications including the rear end colour matching, etc. Looking under the bonnet really put me to shame, though!

The wheels have been "Chattertoned" too:

One of the other cars looks like a standard 'S', albeit in the unusual Guinea Gold paintwork ... lurking underneath the bonnet is a professionally fitted 1977 4.2 Holden V8. It's not running at the mo. but I was assured it goes like the clappers. Incidentally it's for sale for a little under $2,000. Contact me if you're interested and I'll pass details on.

It has some neat little touches like a 4.2 grille:

And a filler neck protector (well worth having IMHO):

Russell probably has enough parts in his double garage, two containers and yard to put together several more saloons, but the only other one there that day, with an engine in it at least, was the Bamboo saloon, with Pi engine but CD175 Carbs. This has had the suspension worked apparently:

Russell sold me a set of Pi back seats for BOB for a very reasonable price. So on Sunday I fitted them... you can see why I got rid of the old ones! Check the sun damage, the grey is where the black has bleached or deteriorated - it's not dust!

And the new ones:

Sweet, now the interior's looking much better.

Did it.

2007-11-21T13:23:00.000+11:00

It's still not Triumph ... totally non-technical, and all about me. But if I didn't blog it, then anyone who saw the last post might think I'd chickened out or that I didn't make it all the way to the top.

It went off without a hitch: I decided my tactics well before the race, and after having tried the course in two halves over the previous two weekends: Start at the back, run steady and probably finish at the back. I had a feeling that I’d be able to run the full distance and was hoping to make it in 2hrs 30mins – 2hrs 45mins. I wasn’t racing, I just wanted to get to the top.

Although it was cloudy at the start, and the top of the mountain was shrouded in mist, we ran through the cloud, as you can see from the photos Ella took as she walked up.

I made the halfway mark a little ahead of my target time, but, seeing as the course went up the side of a mountain, getting steeper and steeper, I knew I was going to slow down eventually. I had planned on conserving enough energy, such that at the final drink stop (at 19km) I could try and pick up the pace and get to the line in a bit of style (amidst the sweat and tears!). As it was, at 19km I was pretty much blown out, so I walked for a couple of hundred metres, before struggling to run at speed. I managed to do ok, but with 1km to go I slowed to a walk to summon up some more grunt. I fixed my eyes on a guy walking in front and caught up with him, told him that he was going to cross the line running with me, and proceeded to bully him over the line! I’m not quite sure where that came from, but he seemed appreciative. In this photo that Ella took he at least seemed to be talking to me!

I crossed the line at 2.42.06 placed 268 out of 358 finishers. Respectable enough for an unaccomplished runner that hasn’t run a half marathon before, let alone 1200 metres up a mountain. I think this photo shows how high up it is:

I think that all the food and water I consumed did me good, as I haven’t had any serious aches and pains apart from a bit of pain in my knee, which I’m sure will get better soon. It was great fun, and I’d certainly do it again.

Humungous Pinnacle!

2007-11-16T17:38:00.000+11:00

Well nobody else seems to be making much sense in the CT blogosphere at the moment, so I thought I'd mention that I have a rather different challenge coming up at the weekend.

I've decided to enter the Point to Pinnacle half marathon... why? I'm not sure. But seeing as it starts very near my house, I thought I'd give it a bash. The organiser's recommend a year of training, I only found out about it two weeks ago.

Very Club Triumph, eh? Perhaps I should stay up all night glueing my running shoes together, and use gaffer tape for laces?

So, on Sunday morning I'll be setting off from sea level at Wrest Point Casino, and running (hopefully all of it ... but we'll see) 21.4km (13.3 miles) to the Pinnacle at the top of Mt Wellington at (cough) 1,273m (4,176 feet).

With any luck it will be bad weather and they'll stop us from going to the top! Here's my Google Earth mock-up of the course:

Absolutely filthy

2007-10-31T12:29:00.000+11:00

The car, that is.

There are very few driving experiences I've had to beat the likes of a RBRR or 10CR experience. Exhausting as they may be, it's a real buzz to travel such long distances, and as for the camaraderie ... superb! However, last weekend Ella and I headed off to see a bit more of Tassie, and that was really, really, really good.

There are regional public holidays in Australia, and last Thursday we had "Show Day" in the south of Tassie. A great excuse to get out of town. We've already seen a fair bit of the south, some of the east, and a bit of the west. So we decided to do a road trip up the guts of the island to the north end of the state, then out to the wild west.

As we left town on Thursday I decided the clutch was definitely getting worse - so after half an hour, we pulled over and bled the clutch. I think when I changed the slave cylinder a month ago the realignment must have let some air in somewhere, because it's been great again since bleeding and hasn't got worse again ... touch wood.

The drive north down the Midland Highway is nothing special, fast but pretty boring. After lunch in Launceston we headed west to Devonport, where the fragments of dual carriageway finally peter out. So after 3.5 hours the intersting driving began, along sweeping coastal roads that took us to Boat Harbour, where the sea is most definitely blue!

A bit further west along the coast is Rocky Cape National Park - complete with Aboriginal caves nicely built into the quartzite.

I also spotted a "stupid sign" ... which way's the beach?

We camped by the sea at Black River, and had the whole place to ourselves ... except for some pademelons and wombats.

Next day we got to the first of the dirt roads! We tried to do the South Arthur Forest Drive - it's supposed to be a loop in amongst some impressive forests, with lots of windy roads and tracks and very little traffic about. Unfortunately though the loop was, erm, broken. Floods in August wiped out the bridge - look at these photos and see if you can spot the huge chunk of dolerite that was ripped up.

Never mind, we made our own way back around the loop, crossing lots of other interesting bridges:

Then we pushed out to the tiny town of Arthur River on the west coast for the night. Now you're talking - these roads were pretty rough, but solid.

Unfortunately it was extremely dusty too, and the boot was filling up with dust!

At Arthur River we had one of those very lucky moments, though. We were just about to eat our dinner (kangaroo stew cooked on the barbeque!) when Ella noticed fluid leaking from the car. We had driven 15km up the coast to get a full tank of petrol, and the full tank was trying to run out all over the campground. Amazingly, it was spotted before more than a litre had run out. It wouldn't have been fun to be stranded this far out with no fuel I can tell you!

The next day I got to drive the best road I've ever driven in my life. For over 100km we didn't see a single other vehicle as we ventured down the Western Explorer road. It was all dirt, loads of mountains, lots of variety from open plains to forests. Totally idyllic and a real treat to get to know how to handle BOB, on dirt, at speed, round corners. Even Ella seemed happy with this as you can see from the photos:

We arrived in Corrina - an amazing old frontier place - with big smiles on our faces, and after a coffee break, headed back inland, along more dirt roads, to Waratah, and then to Cradle Mountain for the night. I got a video of a Wombat from BOB too ...

After a night at Cradle Mountain it was time to head back to Hobart - via lot more great roads, of course. Here we are above Great Lake in the Central Highlands (at about 1,400m - which is high in Australia!).

All up we did about 1,100km, much of it on slow roads and all within the hours of daylight... it's not recommended to hit Wombats (colloquial term "Badger") as they're pretty hefty.
So what about the subject of this entry ... well that's about the state the car is in now - filthy. It's caked on like concrete, actually, could be fun trying to clean it.

MONSTER DOUBLE POST: Heritage / Are you sitting comfortably?

2007-10-02T13:01:00.000+10:00

HERITAGE

Whilst I was back in England recently, preparing myself for a Toledo experience (more of that later)I had a look through my Dad’s old photos … and got a glimpse of my Triumph heritage. It was funny to see my folks before I was born. Apparently in the sixties it was de rigueur to smoke a pipe and sit on your Triumph motorbike and pose for photos!

Dad has fond memories of driving to Nice, via the Alps of course, in 1972 in his Vitesse. Mum, probably doesn’t as she had to stand around in the snow in Switzerland for photos! Unfortunately when he sold the car to a friend it was written off shortly after.

Then there was one of his Dolomites … this was the 1850 in Chinon in 1973, it had all the SAH work possible to make it as quick as a Sprint. I think it was this car that ended up mangled but that might have been the Sprint he had later.

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

I’m finally sitting comfortably. Until mid-August the broken driver’s seat diaphragm had been supported by a piece of wood. The seats had also suffered VERY badly from sun bleaching and the Bri-nylon had completely disintegrated on the outer shoulders of both seats … I should’ve taken photos. I set out to find some replacement modern seats that would offer a bit more support and take up a bit less space, too. One thing – I didn’t want MX5 seats. So, here’s what I ended up with:

Yes… MX5 seats. After three months of searching I couldn’t find anything better I’m afraid, and they’re a lot more expensive than in England. I got them fitted professionally though as I’m no metalworker, so they’re raised 35mm and mounted on the original rails to maintain the same height as the Triumph seats. A bloody good job they did on them, too. I’ve now wired in the headrest speakers as well, which was worth the effort I think.

Another change was made just before I left to come to England, and that was identity. BOB is now officially Tasmanian. A rather simple test was done for roadworthiness, and proof that oil doesn’t drop from the undercarriage more than once every 40 seconds was good enough for Tassie!

I brought back from England some new 160lb Witor front springs for BOB. These are now fitted, and make the whole car feel a lot more stable – a lot less diving under brakes, and the strut tops and insulators were replaced as on one side they had compressed and were causing a fair old lean. The only problem is that I’d got quite used to the camber the soggy ‘S’ springs gave and there doesn’t seem to be as much grip under hard cornering as there was before. I guess realignment might be a good idea.

I also had a surprise when Ella picked me up from the airport when I got back from Europe. The clutch was virtually inoperable, so after a 29 hour flight I found myself feeling the slave cylinder for leaks in the airport car park. Sure enough it was leaking, so on the way home we picked up a recon. 3/4 inch cylinder and I had to fit that. Well at least I could do I suppose and it wasn't too dear. The clutch is better than it ever has been now over the last two weeks, but I noticed last night that the pedal doesn't seem to be returning too well ... time for more investigations by the sound of it :-(

Tassie living

2007-07-26T12:38:00.000+10:00

Living in Hobart is a bit isolated. The Greater Hobart area may have a population of around 220,000 but it's at the very southern end of Australia and the island itself, about the size of Ireland, has a little less than half a million people all up. This does make it open to accusations of in-breeding, etc. but in fact it's a fairly cosmopolitan place to live.

There are some advantages to living in a small-ish city like Hobart. I work about 5 minutes from the city centre, and strolling back from a meeting the other day I passed two Triumphs (admittedly one of them was our car - Ella must have parked it there) and the "City CV and Driveshaft" workshop... surely every city should have such a shop in the CBD? It would make a nice change from coffee shops.

I've noticed so many Triumph saloons around it's not funny. One guy has at least 7 in various states parked in his yard, and I've been told there's another bloke with the same "gardening" interest somewhere near Hobart.
Running home from work last night (I have to run off the local brewery's rented calories) I saw two green Triumphs - the first was a convertible Vitesse I've seen around a bit, I've yet to speak to the owner, but I noticed the dented door has been restored (still bare metal at the moment though). Then a little further along I saw a fairly tired looking Mk3 Spitfire. I've seen this car a few times now, too, and I'm intrigued as to the reason for its large bonnet scoop.

Now I've got the car garaged I'll have no excuse to getting things done on BOB. I'm currently trying to negotiate the purchase of some black BMW E46 front seats ... should help keep my arse of the floor and my back off the rail.

BOB has now done about 20,000km since we bought it two years ago - a paltry mileage really, but that's ok I guess, it means there aren't too many things to fix!

End of an era

2007-07-19T10:32:00.000+10:00

After eight months in Hobart living on the side of a hill with no garage and precious little flat areas anywhere near our house, we're upping sticks this weekend ... to a place with a garage. It even has an electronically operated door - wow! It's been a real pain not being able to even jack the car up, or do anything on it after dark (4.45pm at the moment) so now I can get on with some tinkering and check out oil levels, etc.

Update time!

2007-06-21T12:41:00.000+10:00

It really is three months since I've "blogged". Of course, you noticed that?

"I would have written a shorter blog, but I didn't have the time" Graham Bernard Shaw

Last time I posted I mentioned the humming noise that didn't go away when the diff. was changed ... well the good news is that the change of hub bearing sorted it out, and the car is a much quieter, nicer place to be. Since then there haven't been any major happenings. BOB's been behaving well on its duties, getting us to the shops, etc, but also out and about on a few trips ... although they were a while back now.

We went to Bruny Island (southern Tassie) where almost all of the roads are unsealed! That was fun enough. Then over the Easter weekend we drove out to see some of the hydro-electric schemes and the lakes that supply them, and then on to the Wild West Coast. It was a beautiful weekend, bright blue skies, etc, and driving into the campsite on the first night on a long section of twisting dirt roads in the dark was the first chance I've had to use the spotlights really usefully ... well, they work, and we saw lots of little hopping animals heading away from their beam just in time!

Here's me and the car in front of Lake Pedder (just before the sky got blue!)

The drive out to the West Coast was excellent, there's some impressive roads to say the least, and in parts the speed limit is ... let's say a challenge rather than a limit ;-) There are 99 sharp bends in the road on the final section of road on the way into Queenstown, apparently, no wonder they use this section in Targa Tasmania!

The weather was so good we could even see Frenchman's Cap, where we walked at Christmas, but hardly saw because of the cloud:

And one of the hydro schemes for those who care!

In April I got to see some of the Targa Tasmania. It isn't the most spectator friendly event, by any means, and they've scrapped the old saturday morning stage in Hobart because in 2006 a spectator was killed by a flying BMW Mini. A friend and I headed up an hour north of Hobart and sat in a field watching cars tear past us for a morning, including a Mk2 2.5Pi, a TR3 and a TR8. Good fun it was, too. I'd love to compete in this one day, apparently it's the world's longest tarmac rally - five days of amazing roads ... but I suppose I get to travel these for work and pleasure anyway.

Now I'm finally getting around to sorting some new front seats out for BOB ... currently looking at some black suede RX-7 seats, but who knows what we'll end up with?

Also, I'm getting reports from Ella of misfiring over 3,000 rpm ... great. Currently I suspect either fouling of the plugs, especially as I still have some plugs in that were recommended for Queensland weather, and it's hovering around the 5 degree point here in Tassie at the moment, or it could be time to try and re-route the cooling/heating system through the manifold where it's been bypassed (probably because it rusted out).

The good news is that we're moving to a place with a garage! The cars been getting drenched, scorched and even frozen in the last 3 months, so a garage will be good, and a flat surface even better.

Back again soon-ish?

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm

2007-03-08T12:26:00.000+11:00

Another month has flown by, so I suppose I ought to update.

I purchased the diff. mentioned before - reconditioned, no clunking backlash - and I had it fitted by the former Hobart Triumph dealership mechanic ... at a very reasonable price, too.
The good news: we needed the diff. - the old one was rather leaky and the oil was well dirty.
The bad news: some of the humming noise was in fact down to a worn rear hub bearing, diagnosed in seconds by the mechanic.
So, today the car is back in to have this changed ... it's going to be a pain if he can't reuse the UJ as the 'crossover' TriDat UJs aren't cheap - but then a bearing failure could be a bit messy to say the least!

Otherwise autumn is on its way here, and the car is getting a good regular soaking standing out on the driveway - it will be good to move to a place with a garage.
Ho hum.

WARNING - Ramble ahead!

2007-02-07T12:55:00.000+11:00

I can’t believe it’s a month since my last update! Well, the last few weeks have seen some car fun of one kind or another so I shall ramble away.

Ella and I were late entrants in the Wrest Point South East Tasmania Rally. That turned out to be a bit less ‘rally’ than we’d hoped and a bit more ‘tootle’. Lots of fine cars, from the pre-1918 category up to the 1980s, but no real navigation to be done, and we spent most of the day attempting to get past old Wolseley’s with picnic hampers, and the like. There were numerous stops scheduled – half an hour for morning tea, an hour and a half for lunch – so we ate lunch early and then went off driving at lunch time. This was good; we did a big loop on a dirt track from the lunch break in Oatlands up to a place called Interlaken. We even saw an Echidna!

Ella is doing a bad job of hiding/sheltering in this photo!

These are the local roads that serve Interlaken - how much fun?:

You want to avoid running over these, however ... getting a flat tyre out here wouldn't be fun:

There were a few other Triumphs around – including a Herald Convertible (butchers job I think) and a “Bob-alike” (albeit an auto TC rather than an ‘S’).

So, as Ella was deeply unimpressed with the ‘rally’, the week after had to be an improvement … and it was! I’ve met up with a couple of younger generation Triumphers in Tassie, and they’d recommended coming along to a run down to Southport, and the southern-most tavern in Australia (arguably). This turned out to be pretty lively with nine or ten assorted Triumphs and a ‘boy racers’ and ‘old duffers’ agreement – the boy racers raced off, and then waited for the others to catch up. A pleasant morning was spent re-enacting sections of the famous Targa Tasmania . I got to drive behind Bruce in his smart (and well-driven) yellow Dolly Sprint as he led the run – he clearly knew the roads and allowed me to open BOB up. Great fun! The whole day felt somewhat Club Triumph - like ... smiles all round.

This is in Cygnet near the beginning of the run (I was allowing my brakes to cool here after some very fast Targa stage with lots of hills):

Here we are lined up at Southport:

Unfortunately, however, Glen (one of the younger guys) suffered a painful differential malfunction on leaving the car park in the morning … this isn’t the first time it’s happened on his Mk2, but then given its spec. it’s not that surprising I suppose. Glen showed me the damage done to the internals of the diff. … ouch! He has replaced the diff. With a 4.11 ratio, however, and is selling me a 3.45 to replace our noisy one. I’m going to try and requisition an empty house’s driveway to do the change over as I’ve got the steepest driveway in the world at the moment – not the safest place to change a diff.

In terms of maintenance, I've managed to sort out a fuel pump oil leakage, re-fit the weatherseal, fill the holes allowing water into my front wings, but still have to do the diff. get some replacement seats (then I can get rid of the wood holding the seat base up!) and get some new front tyres, and a grease gun that will actually reach my steering rack.

Phew I need a cup of tea after that!

A Good Year for Goodyear...

2007-01-03T13:28:00.000+11:00

Well, I'm rather relieved that the tyre people were able to repair the tyre I bust ... I had assumed they'd give the old "no chance of repairing that, mate" line.

An omen that there is a good year coming up, perhaps?

This is the scenery we got to see in exchange for the puncture!

Camping, Tramping and changing wheels

2007-01-02T14:45:00.000+11:00

In the run up to Christmas I got some new tyres and the front wheels aligned. the budget wouldn't stretch to a full set, so I put some new ones on the back and moved the rear ones up front. They're Goodyear Ventura R14 195x65 which are supposed to be decent in the wet. The rolling diameter is a bit smaller than the 185x75 that were on before, but my calculations say that it means the speedo should now read correctly. There is a bit of a mismatch for now between front and rear tyres, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

On Christmas Eve Ella and I headed off for an unusual Christmas holiday. It's midsummer here and supposed to be fairly warm, but it was rainy and very windy on the three hour drive north to the start of our three day walk to 'Frenchmans Cap' and back. The walk is recognised as one of the more difficult alpine walks in Tasmania, and it certainly proved hard work.

We slept Christmas Eve night in the Triumph with the seats reclined, and despite the constant rain managed a good 8 hours kip!

... The next chance to get out and use BOB was a couple of days ago. We went for a drive on some of the 'fun' roads in the south west of Tassie. Low and behold we found some forestry roads ... about 60kms of very quiet, but rather rough tracks. The car was faultless, but one of the brand new tyres now needs replacing! Once back on tarmac we noticed a one inch wide piece of timber lodged in it, and had to change for the spare. Currently the car looks rather odd, three extremely dusty tyres and rims, and one spotless.

Next job on the list is to replace the front seats - they may well be good for sleeping on, but they're not that great for driving in. I'm going to go over to a breakers yard nearby and pick up some modern seats ... Saab, Volvo, Subaru, BMW, whatever looks best, is solid and fits well. We're due some new oil as well, and now we're in colder climes I'll think about using something a little less thick than the Queensland blend I put in last time (Penrite 40/70).

Triumphs breeding?

2006-12-14T09:30:00.000+11:00

A lot seems to happen on my daily walks to and from work.

Last night I got to witness a midly exciting car crash ... if I hadn't been behind an armco I might have been caught up in it. One of the drivers did a runner, so I did the good thing and got the registration number and hung around as a witness. It turned out the number was clearly not for that car, so the Police headed straight for the guys house! CSI Hobart?

This morning was somewhat less exciting - a TR7 nearly ran me over (not true it just passed me as I crossed the road). Immaculate it was. Anyway I've seen so many Triumphs around in the last few weeks I managed to photograph some, so I will show them to you - there's no other reason to take photos of them I guess:

This one looks like BOB but actually had LPG (and a massive dent)

Nice Mk1 ... a bit rough, but reminded me of the worksalike before its white paint

Here's the Mk1 GT6 Ella found in someone's garden ... I might be allowed to make an offer once we've got a house sorted

Further South

2006-11-30T13:30:00.000+11:00

Well, the move went very nicely.

I drove the Triumph down to Hobart from Brisbane last week - 2,400km exclusive of the ferry trip across the Bass Strait. I had a great time. The drive from Brisbane to Melbourne was fairly boring - long straight roads with little traffic apart from Road Trains.

I won't say much about it though, as I intend to do a little article for Club Torque.

I had an overnight stop in Parkes ... very appropriate as it is the sister city to Coventry. About as memorable as Coventry, too.

Once in Tassie it was all change, though. Lots of twisting roads, and beautiful scenery. Also the opportunity to 'race' with local drivers along very enjoyable roads, and the car behaved magnificently ... even with its ful load.

I had a quick peek in the Launceston Motor Museum - saw a TR5 . I then took the long route down the east coast and camped for a couple of nights on picturesque beaches. Superb fun. 28mpg was pretty good for a long cruise (with intermittent bursts on the twisty roads), and less than a litre of oil.The only issue with the car is a badly scrubbed front tyre ... some adjustment needed here I think.

Here's the undercover parking available when camping in Tasmania:

I didn't see a single Triumph on the road on my way down, but on a half hour walk around Hobart the day after I arrived I saw three 6-pot Saloons. Since then I've seen two of them driving around a fair bit. I've also seen a white Stag, and tonnes of other old cars. Although the weather's a lot cooler here, the humidity is very low, so it seems that the old cars survive well - I've never seen so many old Fiats and Alfas ... even in Italy!

The most exciting 'spot' so far has been by eagle-eyes Ella. Around the back of a house, under a tree in the garden she saw a red Mk1 GT6 - it looked to have wires on it, and considering it appears to be 'unloved' in surprisingly good condition. I have a feeling I will be knocking on the front door one day and asking whether they want to get rid of the manky old sports car rotting in their back yard...

Top of the Props

2006-11-07T12:43:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was taken up almost entirely by a trip to the Prop Shop ... more commonly known as Universal Driveshaft Services Queensland. Trevor showed a fair amount of interest in the Datsun converted driveshafts I have and we spent a bit of time looking at those - he wanted to check them out. Then we took the propshaft off and he confirmed that the spline was buggered.

I asked for a quote for an uprated propshaft and a standard one, and he worked out the spec's for a shaft which would be 1.5 times the strength of the standard fit ... unfortunately with the house move looming I couldn't really justify it, so we went for the normal one. They made up a new shaft completely from new, and I watched from the 'viewing area' above. I can vouch that it is perfectly balanced, as I watched it being stripped of all paint and balanced on a 20 foot long 'Schenck' machine and could make out the dials they use to set these things up. Then it was repainted and put on the car.

I took the opportunity of having the car up on the hoist to get a good look around underneath. There are a few patches where the underseal and paint has chipped off but no rust, and a couple of very small rust patches up the front, but otherwise it looks pretty good.

VERY ILL

2006-10-30T14:45:00.001+11:00

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!

2006-10-24T15:20:00.000+11:00

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!

2006-10-19T15:30:00.000+11:00

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

2006-10-17T13:53:00.000+11:00

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!

2006-10-12T10:16:00.000+11:00

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 ...

2006-10-05T21:45:00.001+11:00

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!)

Spotted

2006-09-25T15:15:00.001+10:00

I've seen rather a lot of Triumphs in Brisbane recently. They haven't been the normal Sedans (Saloons) either.

On the way to the supermarket a couple of weeks ago I spotted an old fella attempting to fit his white Dolly Sprint into a parking space so he could go to the nearby polling station. A week later I came face to face with a white Tr6 in the car park at the super market. Unfortunately it had nasty looking wire wheels on it, was running rough and smelt very rich.

The weekend just passed we saw two Triumphs. The first was a Spitfire (possibly with a six-pot). It was badged a 1500 in a metallic red colour, with gold TR7 wheels, a weird exhaust (twin-branch with four tail-pipes !?!) a Triumph Sports Owners Club "Spitfire 5" registration plate and "tow" stickers suggesting it sees a track from time to time. I put my foot down and did a cheeky little undertake to get a wave. On Sunday we saw a TR3, but the grumpy old sod driving didn't return my wave. Meanwhile we did our bit for showing off the Triumph marque getting admiring looks from Lotus Esprit and Jag XK8 owners as we blasted past them on the 'mountain' roads - I blame Chris Witor's exhaust!

I find it funny how many Triumphs I see, ranging from the immaculate TR's to the shoddy looking student Saloons and Dollys when poor old Dave Pearson seems only to see them when they come and visit him at work. He's on the doorstep of the old heart of Triumph and I'm many thousands of miles away. I guess it says something about the real reach that the British car industry had, and just how much it has declined.

All nice and regular

2006-09-22T11:10:00.000+10:00

I've noticed another (minor) change to the car since fitting the headlight relays!
Previously turning the lights on caused the fuel gauge to read slightly lower. A bit annoying. It seems that reducing the load on the headlight switch has eradicated this problem.

... I know it just gets more and more exciting :-)

I take it back

2006-09-17T10:45:00.000+10:00

Recently I changed updated my headlights by fitting a couple of relays. Then I said that I wouldn't post before and after photographs because little had changed. Well, I downloaded the photos onto my laptop and there is a clear(ish) difference. So now I am prepared to share with you the exciting "BOB headlight improvement extravaganza" ... in colour!!! (but no sound i'm afraid).

Take a deep breath and look at these.

Before:

And ... (imagine a drum roll)
After:

How about that!
Life doesn't get much more exciting, does it?

Next week ... "The incredible before and after tyre pressure photos" - swoon at the difference between 26psi and 28psi.

Got myself connected ...

2006-09-08T10:41:00.000+10:00

I got the relays all set up for the headlights (once I'd been to every auto-electrical retailer in Brisbane to get the right parts!)

Verdict:
An interesting and enjoyable project which taught me a bit about electrics (starting from virtually no knowledge it wasn't too difficult!). I would post some "before and after" photos, except there is no discernible difference between them... I guess the wiring was in good nick anyway.

I'm not too bothered though, as I now have the set-up ready to go if I want to put some extra driving lights or halogen headlamps on one day.

This weekend clutch master cylinder replacement ... I'm really looking forward to bleeding the clutch. Not! I've heard it's a pain, unless an ezibleed style set-up is used. I've only managed to find an air compressor driven version in Oz and it costs a packet, plus I don't have a compressor, so it's out with the tube, jar and magnet! Ho hum.

Leaks!

2006-09-07T15:27:00.000+10:00

The differential has finally begun to leak properly ... little patches of oil are appearing underneath the nose of the diff. It's fairly damp on either side too.
The question is do I buy the replacement seals for the pinion and sides for $50, put it back together and put up with the continuing squeal (cost $50) or do I go the full hog and get the diff. re-shimmed, resealed and put back in for $470 ?

Meanwhile I've found a leak on the clutch Master Cylinder! I'm not too impressed. We have receipts from the PO who had it reconditioned not that long ago. It wasn't done by an expert judging by the receipt so I'm going to get one on exchange from Greg Tunstall instead.

It's annoying. All this expenditure detracts from the chance to spend on fun things to the car!

Decisions, decisions ...

2006-08-31T11:55:00.000+10:00

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.

"Springtime for BOB"

2006-08-22T12:36:00.000+10:00

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.

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

Unladen with Spring #1

B4 change + me (95kg)

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?

Beach Trips, Balancing and mixing with the Mitsi.

2006-08-17T13:26:00.000+10:00

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

Miracle worker

2006-08-12T13:55:00.001+10:00

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!

The Good News ... The Bad News

2006-08-09T18:00:00.000+10:00

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 ...

All Going Well in 'Bleak Mid-winter'

2006-08-01T08:57:00.000+10:00

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).

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
…

Triumphs in Tassie!

2006-07-07T12:57:00.000+10:00

I spent last week in the state of Tasmania (it's an island about the size of England off the south coast of Australia for those who don't know). I was already aware that there is a bit of a Triumph following - not that surprising I suppose given the large amount of 'Poms' (whinging or otherwise) that reside their - as I've visited the impressive Triumph Owners site frequently.

We weren't able to drive our Triumph to Tassie as it would be 2,500km drive before getting to the ferry (!) which is a bit excessive for a week-long trip. However, I was pleased to see plenty of Triumphs in our stay.
I saw two tatty white 2500 'Sedans' (ozzie term for Saloon), and then a smart looking "1970s yellow/brown" 2500, which sounded good, had gold coloured alloys and a Mk1 bonnet (unusual?!). I also saw a red saloon sitting rather forlornly under a tree somewhere in the sticks which clearly hadn't been driven for some time, and probably won't be again! The funniest sighting was of a very tidy white TR7 halfway up Mt Wellington in Hobart. I stopped on the way back down the mountain intending to take a photo but was a bit too embarassed when I saw the owners were there ... i'd have looked like a bit of a spod getting out of a crap-box ford hire car and taking picutres!

Here is a view of Hobart from the top of Mt Wellington, though:

The roads were great in Tassie though, you can see why the annual Targa Tasmania is so famous.

This week I've seen two more Triumph saloons in Brisbane - one that I overtook on the way to football training, and then another on my way to work ... I'm starting to think about buying a Trabant, they're far less common ;-)

Leaky boot!

2006-06-19T10:32:00.000+10:00

... but I don't think I need a cobbler.

It hardly ever rains in southern Queensland.
I don't really get to drive the Triumph that much.

So how come we have two solid downpours in the space of two months and I happen to be driving at the time?

1st time was on the way up to Bundaberg the other weekend. 2nd time was on the Mount Nebo Road (twisty roads!) yesterday.

The upside of the rain yesterday was that all the bikers (and most of the sunday drivers) stayed at home, and we had lots of road to ourselves - I love driving twisty roads in the rain, it's a buzz trying to maintain a good speed and traction. Gave the car a good lively thrashing.

The downside is that the boot filled up with water again. All the boards and spare wheel (which was nearly floating) came out when I got home, and took the bungs out to drain her and set about trying to trace a leak. It certainly wasn't the lights, nor the drain pipes ... in fact I couldn't find any sign of water coming downwards into the boot, and it seems like to much to be coming up through holes in the floor (not that I could find any). I tried pouring water all over the rear of the car, and just couldn't find any leaks at all - it all ran off just as it should!

Does this happen to anybody else's Saloon?
Anybody else out there got any ideas??????

Stripping

2006-06-16T12:30:00.000+10:00

... spares from the spares car that is!

The time has come to free up some space in the in-laws shed, so we took advantage of the long weekend (to celebrate the Queen's birthday - yes bizarrely enough we do that every year in Australia!) and went up to Bundaberg to set about dismantling. We were both happy to get out of the city, and to give BOB a decent drive, as it's been a while.

I checked the car out the night before we set off ... basic stuff just in case, and annoyingly found there was a leak on the exhaust where the fitters had used an old rusty clamp to connect the back box to the rest of the system - now that is cheap!!!! I also couldn't check the gearbox oil because my cheapo ratchet packed up (there's a 5/8 nut welded onto the level plug, and it's a pain to try and get a spanner on). This reminded me I ought to get my decent tools shipped over from England.

It rained all the way up to Bundy, which is actually a good thing, as it had been at least 6 weeks since there had been a drop of rain round here! The rain on the dirt roads made for fun ... going some way to colour code our wheels and bumpers with the rest of the car:

Problem is the rear light cluster let a fair amount of water into the boot ... grrrrr!(now all sealed up)
Drivers side rear carpet got a soaking, too ... haven't looked for the leak yet.

It took a fair bit of time pulling the dash, gauges, and various "might be useful/eBay-able" bits off the car, I was annoyed to find out the brake discs have little life left on them, but there are good driveshafts, calipers, etc, etc.

My father-in-law was a great help, using the forklift to pull the engine and autobox (late BW35) out:

He's suggested that we might make some panel moulds before we get rid of the bodyshell - he used to own a composite plastics business so knows how to do these things. Wise Triumph people have intimated to me that it's only worth doing bonnet and boot ... we'll see if there's time.

The drive home on Monday was superb fun. Ella drove BOB (she rarely gets the chance, although she loves doing so) whilst I drove the in-laws Subaru Forester XT as it's been sold to someone in Melbourne and needed delivering to Brisbane for shipping. We took the looooooong route down all the windy "country" roads. Driving the Subaru was great fun (even though it's an auto), it goes like rocketship. Our route included going through the beautiful Mary Valley (see photo), this areas in the news a lot at the moment because the State Government wish to dam the river to provide more water ... I can't see how it will make it rain any more though:

The latest plan is to get a new set of wheels ... probably something minilite style. The 28 year old alloys are a tad 'wobbly', and I'm sure that's what makes the steering wheel shake at any decent speed. They are notorious for this, and difficult to balance. 15 inch wheels will enable bigger contact with the road, too, which it's worth having as I've had some occasional 'traction issues'.

Don't break your brakes!

2006-05-29T13:33:00.000+10:00

Since getting the exhaust sorted it's been a lot more fun driving Tango-BOB. Fortunately Ella is pleased with the noise. I walk to work every day so there's not that much of a need to drive - it's mainly trips to the shops, football training, etc. So recently I've made excuses to take little trips up the nearby "mountains" whenever possible.

I haven't really gone anywhere with any 'serious' issues. I had a bit of concern about a noise coming from the rear end of the car ... have you ever lost a socket after re-greasing splines? Well it seems leaving it inside the brake drum doesn't cause damage as such! Possibly as a result the ratchet on the brake's self-adjusting mechanism was all over the shop, so I've done a little straightening out and now have the best operating rear brakes and handbrake since purchasing the car. Brisbane's hilly and it's nice to stay still when sitting at traffic lights!

Next up is a trip up to Bundaberg to strip down the spares car and box up the parts I want to keep - it's time to take it off the in-laws hands. Then I'll need to arrange getting rid of all the bits that I don't want. It sounds awful, but the bodywork is next to useless and too big to store so it will probably go back to the scrapyard ... unless someone shows some interest. A lot of other things will need to go on ebay I suppose...

Brmm brmmm!

2006-05-08T12:29:00.000+10:00

BOB is getting better and better as time goes on. Now it even sounds good!

Saturday morning saw me out to the exhaust place with the intention of getting the Chris Witor system fitted and a downpipe made up and fitted too. Having booked in with the workshop with this intention I assumed it wouldn't be a problem ...

It turned out there was a broken stud on the manifold to downpipe join. I'd noticed this previously but naively assumed it would be easy for a professional custom exhaust specialists to drill out ... If only. It seems that they use a special person to do this and he doesn't work on Saturdays, so instead they just bolted the Witor sections that Andy provided on to the dodgy downpipe that i'd wanted changing in the first place. The downpipe can wait. To give them their dues, the system has been fitted nice and high so plenty of ground clearance.

Verdict:
Not as loud as I remember the Big Red Bus sounding, although I haven't got the manifold and engine mod's of course. Still, when wound up it sounds very good ... so it's tricky to not drive around in high gears all the time like a boy-racer (or Bevan as they call them here). Mr Bancroft knows what I mean ;-)
Although the manifold hasn't been changed, it certainly seems more responsive - removing two out of three constrictions makes a definite difference.

Next up:
Investigate the ticking noise - occurs on right-hand bends ... UJ on the Left-hand driveshaft?
Brakes - fit some stainless braided hoses and reconditioned calipers with Green Stuff pads (from the spares car).
Get the speedo sorted.

The Triumph Fraternity

2006-05-02T11:59:00.000+10:00

There have been some little trips round and about since Easter, but nothing too significant.

The West of Brisbane is one HUGE forest reserve which Ella and I do a fair amount of walking in. The bonus is that the access road is Mount Nebo road - one of the best roads in the area. The approach is marked with a "bendy roads for the next 33km" sign! On any given weekend there are lots of cars and bikes there, but sometimes you get a stretch to yourself and can 'enjoy' it ;-)
The other week we were coming back to Brisbane and as we came squealing around a corner we saw a couple of blokes scratching their heads and looking down into the forest ... presumably trying to figure out how they were going to get their motorbike back up to the road!

No actual action on the car as such, but some progress nonetheless. I finally cleaned all the accumulated dust and dirt from the Easter trip - it actually caked the floor where I washed the car and there are tyre tracks in the silt now! I've done some spline greasing on the drive shafts and other bitty things. Now there's a bit more point to driving, seeing as the carb's are good, it's hard to keep the revs down and the needle keeps bouncing up around the 5k mark.

I investigated the blowing exhaust and found that it was blowing at a seam where it had been hastily patched up. I took it to get fixed and the guy who welded the hole up reckoned it was paper thin. I decided to look at getting a custom one built up (rather than get a mortgage out for a Chris Witor system and postage)and asked some advice on my second home ... the Club Triumph forum . It's a superb resource, with loads of friendly, rather Triumph-mad people from all over the world ready to lend a word of advice ... or 'support'. Anyway, Andy Thompson, a self-confessed Triumphaholic from Western Australia, stepped up and offered me his old racing Mk2's exhaust system! Superb - thanks Andy.

I've yet to see it, but it's apparently a bit rough around the edges (who cares it's costing peanuts compared to a new one!). Can't wait to get it on the car. Then the plan is to drive over to Western Australia (a few thousand miles) at some point to celebrate!

Some driving at last!

2006-04-21T12:20:00.000+10:00

For the Easter weekend we drove a few hours south of Brisbane to meet up with family and spend a few days in the hills in a nice little rented house. It had the first outdoor bath I've ever seen! BOB was loaded up with 4 people and a boat load of their stuff and seemed to cope fine, other than the 22mpg, and still managed to overtake the long lines of overladen 4wds heading south for Easter too.

On the way there the odometer finally turned over:

Shame you don't automatically get a new engine when that happens.

Visiting Giraween National Park meant the chance to drive around on very bumpy but great fun (for me anyway) dirt roads - this road sign made me worry that we were entering League of Gentleman territory!

Unfortunately, the weekend has revealed some extra jobs that definitely need doing. The exhaust is now blowing where a previous owner patched it up. I'd love to put a Chris Witor exhaust on, but the cost (plus the freight) totally prohibits that at the moment. Instead I'm going to get a quote from a custom exhaust maker, and see if he can replicate it. The other thing urgently needed is a correct speedo. The odo. reads about 3% low by my calculations but the speed is reading a far way under which is a bit more of a worry given the Aussie Police and their wily hedge-hiding speed camera antics. First attempt will be to transplant from the spares car up in Bundaberg, if that's no good we'll go for the rebuild option.

A Sad Loss

2006-04-12T12:15:00.000+10:00

I got a phonecall from fellow Triumph nut Andy MacDonald last night. I'm sad to say that Michael Lyneham passed away last weekend. I'm not entirely sure of the details so rather than saying something wrong I won't try and go into them. My thoughts are with Pat at the moment, but I will take the opportunity to type out some thoughts about Michael.

I met Michael and his wife Pat at a TSSC meet in Lincoln, sometime around Easter in 2003. I can't remember talking to them particularly on that occasion, but on the journey back from Lincoln to Louth we had reason to meet again! Heading home with Andy Mac in his GT6 mk3 2.5 in the middle of the bleak dark Lincolnshire Wolds the throttle cable snapped. Whilst Andy was preparing a "very fast idle" to get us home the last 6 miles, Michael and Pat turned up in their Rover P5. Michael kindly towed us back to Louth. I remember the event particularly well as on the very same road I totaled my Saab 900 about 7 hours later on my way to work.

It turned out that Michael and Pat's house is just outside Louth, and Andy and I began to drop round occasionally at weekends. It's something I used to enjoy a lot; Michael and Pat always made me feel welcome and very much at ease, and the coffee was first class!

Michael and Pat aren't modern car people - the drive was full of old Rovers, there was a rather tidy Blue Vitesse in one garage and what in 2003 was a restoration in progress, a red 1968 GT6 mk1. Both these cars Michael bought a long long time ago (I seem to recall he'd had the GT6 from new, but it's possible i'm wrong - at least he did have a picture of him and the car from some decades ago).

Michael told me one of my favourite Triumph stories ... that of the stolen overdrive gearbox!!! He wanted to sell his Vitesse, and I was looking for another Triumph, and I have a definite soft spot for the Vitesse. His looked and sounded great - a red interior and Webasto, an SAH manifold, but, alas, no overdrive! "It used to have overdrive, but it was stolen" he told me! What? I envisaged an oil covered mechani-thief - perhaps in the 1970s people didn't steal stereos but went for 'hardware'? Michael explained that he'd removed the o/d to recondition it many years ago, and some git swiped it from the garden. Ah ha.

In the build-up to the inaugural 10 Countries Run 2003 Michael was a great help to Andy and myself giving us some Carb. pistons for nothing and offering his advice on getting the 'Worksalike' ready. I recall doing an interview for Lincs FM by telephone from his kitchen the day before we headed off.

Popping round to see Michael meant a chance to see the progress on the GT6, as well as his impressive workshop. He spared nothing on the rebuild, alloy radiator, Webers, Jigsaw engine, rotoflex conversion, beautiful interior. It was used on the Round Britain Run in 2004 and he was planning to it again this year. Michael was very generous; when he heard on a weekend that I needed a replacement rotoflex coupling to get my GT6 to a Men & Motors filming, he popped out to the garage and removed one from his half rebuilt car for me! (needless to say I bought a replacement for him).

I'm glad I had the chance to know Michael. I hope he rests in peace.

Progress, power and politics ...

2006-04-05T12:26:00.000+10:00

Phase 2 is finally completed.

A trip up to Greg Tunstall's on Monday saw things progress a little further.
Here's Greg's workshop from the outside ... with BOB sticking its backside out of the door:

You can see some nice cars outside, especially the white Frogeye ... it looked immaculate. The Standard 10 is there presumably as a donor for the restoration that is underway inside. There was also a TR5 knocking around for some work there.

Out the front on the road were some other little beasties awaiting attention:

Back to BOB ...
The Carb's were removed, as was the entire anti-emissions kit (which was probably causing more pollution than the standard set-up by the looks of it). Greg's place has done a lot of these "operations" so he knows what holes to plug up, etc. Replacement carb's a la with suitable and somewhat richer needles are in now and the linkage and balancing has been set up beautifully. It's good to watch someone at work with all the appropriately 'adjusted' spanners and original SU tools.

Whilst I was there I had a Healey works gearknob fitted (it needed drilling and tapping to fit) ... no more broken plastic overdrive gearknob caps!!! I must say that I prefer the look of the original, but it should last longer. Why doesn't someone produce a metal version of the original I wonder?

The guy who did much of the work proved interesting. Andrew Avis owns a few saloons including Pi Mk2 that has been supercharged ... and is currently awaiting a replacement gearbox (I wonder why?) It struck me that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, there are Triumph owners who want to make fun modifications to their cars: Andrew is no exception, and he isn't excepted from the trend of having more fun modification ideas than can fit into a lifetime! ... ring any bells?

Here's the before and afters:

First impressions of the changes are WOW! and PHEW!
WOW because I maybe hadn't expected such a change, and PHEW because it's a relief to have the power to complement the great ride quality at last!

My plans for BOB seem meagre in comparison, yet the list seems long enough (read costly):
oil pressure guage to replace clock
15 inch wheels (the road surfaces in the wet are appalling and demand more traction)
Maplight for navigator (Ella!)
Witor "sound system"
Datsun back-end (and diff. rebuild?)

... oh, I could go on forever here, and I still haven't got to the juicy engine stuff!

I'd like to stay out of politics and car clubs and all that ... but the venerable Mr Chinn has been subject to some strange goings-on in the world of Triumph clubs, so I thought I better direct attention to his blog (and a jolly good one it is ... I think he is intentionally trying to show the rest of us up with his 'regularity' - are Internet prunes available?)

The power of online communities ... the TSSC beware!

Cotton Pic'ing

2006-03-30T13:29:00.000+11:00

BOB is still patiently waiting for its new carb's. It should be happening next Monday. I intend to take before and after pictures of the engine bay ... may be of interest to those who've never seen the anti-emissions set-up for 'special' overseas markets.

Ella is keen to try rally navigating, so we've been making contact with car clubs around Brisbane, trying to find a suitable entry-level introduction. It turns out that over here "road rallys" are called "touring assemblies" or something similar ... sounds tame, but that could be clever PR of course! In Brisbane there's an umbrella club Marque Sports Club that organise practices and competitive events. Nice, all sounds good ... except that we have to join a different CAMS (like the UK's MSA) affiliated club in order to join them. So, the decision that needs to be made is which of the CAMS affiliated clubs to join.

It turns out there's a fair amount of activity in the area, and the MG Sports Car Club of Queensland have a good competition schedule. We went along to the first of their hillclimb events on Sunday ... at their own purpose built circuit!!!! How about that for organisation.

It's a great little circuit 30 minutes drive away, and entry is free for spectators. As a circuit, what goes up must come down, so the 1 in 4 hills mean some hard braking is needed, and some good judgement.

There was a great field of entrants - not many MGs, a fair few modern Subarus, Skylines, etc, the Aussie muscle cars, and some Westfields. Plus lots of Mk1 and 2 Escorts, Datsuns, and a Ford Anglia (running with a 2000cc Nissan unit).
The two Triumphs on show were a 2 litre PI Dolomite (driven by the MG Club's president) and a 1300 Spitfire, with fibreglass GT6 bonnet and English plates. A nice way to spend a bit of Sunday morning, and it all helps fuel the enthusiasm to get out and use BOB ... but really sitting watching cars go round in circles gets a bit boring (although watching a modern Mini lose control on the hairpin was a bonus!). The camera ran out of batteries after 3 photos so this is the lot I'm afraid.

All good fun. Hopefully we'll progress and get involved in some rallying soon.

Holes in thumbs and hoses

2006-03-13T14:16:00.000+11:00

The Bus is halfway through its status change … from Aussie ‘S’ to Pommy ‘S’. A re-built distributor, with advance instead of retard vacuum and some Bosch internals (harder wearing than Lucas), plus a Crane optical ignition system was stage 1. In a week or so I hope to be fitting some rebuilt carb’s (courtesy of Greg Tunstall )to replace the sad current ones. At this point the emissions kit will be stripped off, blocked up, re-routed. I don’t envisage it transforming Bob into a real snarler, of course, but it’s a logical start at least.

I finally removed the tacky sheepskin covers from the front-seats … to see what they were hiding. The seats beneath are in really good condition, barring the door-side top corners of both seats, which have faded and worn right through. It’s a real shame. For now they can be patched up I think. At some point I will fit some modern car seats instead, as my back gets pretty sore driving at the best of times. I’ve had two Saabs and the seats in those were both excellent, so maybe they will do the trick.

I haven’t really had much of a chance to do anything else around the car, though, on account of my own stupidity. I had an altercation with a fast moving 10mm drill bit … and it won! It basically snapped my thumbnail in two and tore the base out of the finger, which has made ‘handywork’ somewhat less practical for the meanwhile. I have a nice photo, but it’s a bit gory, so unless I get requests I will keep it to myself!

Yesterday I had my first breakdown adventure with Bob! A nice easy fix though. Ella and I went for a drive out of town, and after about ten minutes on the road I noticed the temp. gauge was a bit high … Uh oh! The bonnet goes up at the side of the road, and there’s lots of coolant sprayed around everywhere making it tricky to spot the leak (fingers were crossed hoping it wasn’t the radiator!). Eventually we traced the split hose next to the fan thermostat, sneakily hidden on the underside of the hose-clip. Luckily there was enough hose to chop it down and stick it back on. It was a bit of a pain trying to fiddle around with hot hoses, coolant, metal, etc. with my right thumb out of action. We filled the rad. back up and carried on without any further hitches.
Isn’t it nice when you break down and the fix is really easy?

Slow progress

2006-01-20T14:17:00.000+11:00

Things have been happening ... albeit slowly.

Before Christmas I invested in some weatherseal to replace the driver's door effort. It was some completely ill-fitting stuff that had been glued on to the paintwork!!!
I'd been told that it was a bitch of a job, but rather than use the special tool you can buy a bent knife and some blu-tac ought to do the trick:

It seemed to work ok, despite many temporarily lost clips!!!
The problem I have now is getting the paint tidied up where the old 'seal' was removed.

I've been half-heartedly trying to trace an ignition blip that doesn't seem to be a massive problem. I decided to have a bash with a pertronix ignitor as I had a good experience with one on the GT6 back in England ... and they're pretty cheap too! Having purchased one via England I tried to fit it and just couldn't get the sod to work, despite checking of all the "what to do if it doesn't work" boxes. On the website there is a warning about the two types of 45D 4 cylinder distributors and how there are two different points cam types and one doesn't work ... Well, I ignored this as there is not mention of the 45D 6. It turns out that the late Australian 45D 6 distributor has a different height points cam a la the 45D 4 and it doesn't work either. As you can imagine these things are only revealed after lots of cursing and e-mails to the nice people who sell them.

I started a new job at the beginning of January, and there's flextime! Consequently I've been clocking the hours up and have already earnt a day off. So this morning I've been out to Cleveland to visit Greg Tunstall. I mentioned him a while back I think. The plan is to re-plumb the anti-emissions kit to begin to reveal the true potential of the 'S'. Greg very quickly deduced that there were a few things needed. In order to get some more horses he reckoned we should start with electronic ignition (as I had planned anyway), and he pointed out the wear on the dissy shaft. He organises a reasonably priced Piranha kit with remapped ignition curve on a reconditioned distributor that will benefit from some stronger components. This I can fit it myself. He also diagnosed some nasty wear on the carb's which he will rebuild and 'improve' to work with the K&N filter and the distributor. When refitting the carb's the pollution kit will be 'liberated'. I'm keen to get this done - Greg didn't really try the hard sell, he didn't need to, it's clear that the work needs doing and his reputation out here suggests he's worth relying on.

Look what I spotted the other week! Ella and I went for a trip west of Brisbane up some great mountain roads. On the way back we saw this rather sad looking Pi Estate. It was manual o/d and in need of a bit of TLC. It actually had a MPH clock in it too ... dunno if this means it's an import?

Hopefully I'll be back soon with some 'before' and 'after' shots of the engine bay with and without the emissions kit.

Goodbye.

Hillclimbing and Scrap Dragging!

2005-11-22T13:59:00.000+11:00

My first Australian motorsport spectating happened last weekend when we went to the Noosa Historic Hillclimb. It was run on a 1.5km twisting forest (public) road with about 15 corners on it, and the walking track alongside was elevated from the tarmac affording excellent views.

The line up of cars was spectacular - 175 in total, with a real variety, from Lotus 7s, Mini Coopers, Alfas, TR7 V8s, even a GT40:

Other than the half dozen TR7 V8s (most 3.5l, but a few 4-5l V8s) there was also a TR4, a 3a, a 2.5Pi MK2, and a GT6 Mk2.
The most notable results were the TR7 V8 3.5l cars - dominating their class of 5 cars they took all but the last position ... which went to a lowly Porsche 911!

But in a class with some competition the TR3a came second out of 5 in its class, and incidentally is a daily-driven 11,000 mile per year car!

A Dolly Sprint came fourth out of 16 and only did half its allocated runs, then, the GT6 came second in its class, with one great time and a load of diabolical ones ... I wonder if there was some mid event tinkering!!!

Some of the other great cars were the Minis (one in particular was being chucked around brilliantly, and another had a suzuki 1200 bike engine), the Datsun 240zs

We spent the week after this at the in-laws, which gave me and Jacques the chance to move the spares car. It's been in the garden sitting up at the back end from the diff. removal a month or so back, and somebody was keen on us putting it somewhere out of site. Hilarity ensued.

The car wasn't delivered with any wheels, so we had to consider the best way of moving it 20 metres into the shed ... bearing in mind that my BOB (the 2500 S) was in Brisbane so we couldn't borrow its wheels. Fortunately we had a Bobcat on hire for some other jobs ... could it lift the whole car?

The Bobcat strained and thought about tipping over, so we lifted each end in turn and propped it ... then worked out that the trailer's wheels looked to be about the right size! So with no diff. we dragged it inside:

I doubt you can see the wheels well enough ... but if you ever saw Doug Foreman's GT6 with the wrong rear spring, plus him and Colin in the car ... you get the idea.

Finally we got it in the shed, and up on some home made stands!

A Tale of 2 Diff's

2005-10-31T17:40:00.000+11:00

I spent a week at the in-laws place in Bundaberg recently, where the spare 2500 TC we recently purchased was waiting to be investigated. It turns out to be a fairly 'interesting' car.
Unfortunately it's an auto, and a bit far gone to be worth restoring, but there are some good bits.
A look rummage around in the boot revealed a spare diff., a knackered diff. pinion, plus the starter motor, distributor, a spare pair of driveshafts and the radiator grille from a Mk2 2000 ... The diff. was stamped ME**** so obviously belonged to a 2000. Opening it up revealed that the pinion and crownwheel were quite a mess. A shame as one of the reasons we wanted the car was for a spare diff. (just in case!).

Removing the diff. that was fitted proved it was probably in an even worse state than the first one, however! Two useless diff's ... hurrumph!

The next find was that the engine was also an ME prefix engine, which seemed rather strange given that there's a towbar on the back, twin electric fans, and an oil cooler for the auto-box. Why would someone with a towing car reduce their engine size from 2.5 to 2.0? I attempted to measure the stroke to see what was what, and it appears to actually be a 2.5 unit after all. Attempting to turn it over by hand proved pretty easy too, with nothing apparently seized. It will be interesting to see what's going on inside.

The radiator was still full of bright green coolant, when I removed it, and looks to have been re-cored.

There are lots of useful little odds and sods that have been put on to BOB, too, like a better wiper arm so passengers can see out when it rains, wiper bottle bracket, wiper park switch, glovebox lock, etc.
I've got the electric fan going now as well after diagnosing a bad contact.

BOB's been getting some great runs recently - a lot of dirt roads (we've been out looking for them!), and some good windy 'mountain' roads. Here's a shot on a dirt road on the way back to Brisbane from Bundaberg:

On the next visit I'll hopefully get a chance to drop the engine and gearbox out. The box can hopefully be sold.

Meanwhile back in Blighty, Mum's been selling some of my old Triumph spares on e-bay for me. The only things that haven't shifted yet are a set of very clean GT6 Mk1 carb's and a Mk1 Vitesse rear trunnion set ... contact me if you're interested.

The Verdict

2005-09-18T08:20:00.000+10:00

We've had a little time with BOB now. I've spent the last few weeks gradually checking him out. No major work needed so it's just been a case of servicing: checking UJs, changing oil, greasing splines, setting tappets, etc. The only issue really is the diff. which is a little noisy. The kms are clocking up though. Regular trips to my place of work and little trips out at the weekend, plus an 800 km round trip to the in-laws have added up and we've done 1600 km since the purchase already ... as it should be.

This pic's of a trip out to Brisbane port ... where I found a good long un patrolled straight where I was able to 'open her up' a little:

The trip up to Bundaberg last weekend went well, taking the highway up we got 28 mpg. The speedo is spot on according the rev counter by the way, which is a first in a Triumph for me! It was more fun coming back down the dirt tracks on the way home. The car's semi-polybushed at the moment, but has new KYB shocks all round. A fairly harsh ride on the dirt, but still ok for 90 kmph on a bumpy surface. We did nearly collide with a Kangaroo around one corner however ... not very pleasant.

Most of the weekend was spent tinkering with the car. My father-in-law is a big fan, and really enjoyed giving the car a good look over, and a drive (he has fond memories of his father-in-laws' 2500). There was time to go out and find another one to buy, too. In the scrapyard around the corner from the in-laws I'd already seen a 1975 2500 TC a while back. We went back to get a window winder, and some little bits, and checked it out in more detail. Although the dissy has gone, along with the wheels and the steering rack (and the sills!), most of the car is intact, including a mint radiator, twin electric fans, and so on.
It's incredible how good condition the car is in, considering the fact it's sitting in a scrapyard, but that's the difference between sun damage and water damage I suppose.

The dealer accepted a very low offer, so it's going to be kept at the in-laws shed as a spares car. It looks to have fairly low mileage, so hopefully the diff. will be in good shape. The engine will be developed over time ... mmmm.

OK, we're off to a British Car Show in BOB in half an hour ... I'll try and get some pictures up

What to do?

2005-08-09T08:54:00.000+10:00

Ok, so we bought a Big Six ... and now I've had time to get a decent look at it and decide what bits and bobs need doing.

We took a trip down to the Gold Coast (about 60 miles south of Brisbane) last Sunday to get an idea of how she's running. As I would have expected of a saloon she was great on the motorway, in fact the fastest on it ... does the speedo read a bit under I wonder? There is a bit of vibration coming from the rear end, unfortunately, but I'd already known that some work was needed there anyway. She was thirstier than I would have liked, too. Otherwise it was a good trip out.

Shooting from the hip right now, here's a few things that it would be nice to do, money and time permitting. No particular order, although there's a few essentials necessary before a trip of any length:

Front brakes - a bit of vibration that could be caused by warped front discs. Plenty of meat on them so they might just need a skim?
Tune-up - get out the timing light/balance the carbs, etc.
Driveshafts - attempt a Datsun conversion, seeing as work is needed at the back.
Diff. - possibly a second hand unit required to swap.
Scrap the anti-emissions stuff? - Aussie set-up has all sorts of extra pipes and an empty canister that doesn't appear to be doing anything (I think it's supposed to have charcoal in?).
Electronic ignition - one less thing to worry about, and worth the money.
Suspension - possibly get some tasty front springs made up, superflex bushes to replace where they aren't already (I noticed the anti-roll bar already has some).
Spin-off filter conversion - the current cannister set-up is a relative pain.
Lots of little bitsy jobs, like alligning the boot latch, flushing the water system out, etc.

... and in with the new!

2005-07-29T07:35:00.000+10:00

Well about time too.
Finally, at last, with the news of the GT6's impending sale Ella and i have made a sneaky purchase, swiping a new Big Red/Orangey Bus. It's a 2500 S with Manual o/d of course. On the test drive it proved to have plenty of poke and good level suspension (the new KYB shockers help i think). Plus it was half the price of the others I've looked at.

The footwells were mint, carpets in great shape, no sign of rotting sills, oil leaks, and apart from a couple of minor scuffs on the paintwork great bodywork. Everything seemed to work fine inside, o/d was spot on, electric fan was working fine, there were new front tyres, and so on.

The seller is moving to NZ (note the SOLD sign on the house in the background) and seemed in a hurry to get rid of it, and at the price I paid it won't even matter too much if there are any little problems I haven't spotted yet.

We're going to pick it up on Sunday.

Anyway, here she is, and yes the door and boot lid are open rather than out of shape!!!

I've Been A Busy Boy!

2005-07-14T09:55:00.000+10:00

The photo for the second Triumph Spot (see entry below) was actually taken on June 11th. Since then I've been a rather busy boy. First up was getting married (18th June)

It was great fun ... even though it didn't involve Triumphs (don't worry there was beer and BBQ though!)

Then there was the Honeymoon ... which did involve Triumphs! Hurrah!
Ella hadn't yet seen my GT6, or my family, so we flew to England for a ten day whirlwind Round Britain Run style Honeymoon (or "Funnymoon" as we ended up calling it). We landed at Heathrow, got the National Express to my Mum's near Exeter, and after a rest day gave the GT6 a once over before heading off to North Devon.

Here's the two ladies in my life:

After a beautiful day walking the North Devon Coast we drove up to the Peak District, via the back roads of Exmoor, Canley Classics, and some great Derbyshire roads. Here we met up with both our families for a wedding celebration ... and I got to take my F-in-law along Snake Pass in the GT6 with no traffic around!

After this we headed East to Lincolnshire to stay at my Dad's where we had time for a fancy car line-up!

We also met a load of friends for a day of debauchery. A good Club Triumph count turned up, too! My favourite pub car park was treated to Andy Mac (on his feet), Andy Pearce (and GT6 aka 'The Guttersix'), Andy and Sarah Johnson (Herald aka 'The White Tornado'), Steve Waddingham (Spitfire) and "Group Captain" Tim Bancroft, with the web-enabled JC in Tim's Mk1 2.5Pi (SU) aka 'The Grey Thing'. Great fun! I didn't take my camera unfr

Then it was back to Devon, via Kettering to see my Sister and family, and Reading to see some old work colleagues.

Blimey and Crikey, as Mr Bancroft might say!

Fortunately the GT6 ran perfectly, and not a drop of oil was needed in the whole affair ... seriously, as much as I lifted the bonnet, I couldn't really find anything to do in a week's good driving. Not bad after a 4 month lay-up I reckon.

Nevertheless the decision has finally been made that the GT6 should stay in the country where it was built (or at least in the UK ;-)), and Ella and I will get something a bit cooler running, and more appropriate for dirt-road antics over here.

So now we're back home in Oz. It was great to be back in Blighty where there's fun to be had even within the speed limits, and I must say I do miss the noise of a six cylinder Triumph. But hang on, what did I spot in the paper at the weekend but a 2500 'S' at a pretty good price ... hmmm... I'll take my camera when I go look at this one!

Triumph Spot No.2: Not Just a Pretty Respray!

2005-07-14T09:26:00.000+10:00

I am getting better and better at not updating this Blog. But I do have a good reason!

More about that above, but first another Triumph Spot! Admittedly I've seen at least a dozen around Brisbane, but this is the second one that I managed to get a shot of.
It was in almost exactly the same spot as I saw the White 2500 previously (see Triumph Spot No.1), but was an impressive metallic green. It doesn't show up too well in this photo, but looked pretty good "in the flesh".

Brumby no more ...

2005-06-02T06:59:00.000+10:00

Last week I took a trip to Gregg Tunstall Mechanics in Cleveland, near Brisbane. He specialises in Triumphs, and is a very useful source of information on Triumphs 'down under'. I saw a Mk1 PI, Mk2 2.7 PI, Mk2 2500 'S' (in fact one that I looked at buying a little while back ... see the 'Mellow Yellow' entry below), a TR4a, Spitfire mk3 and some others. At a staggering Gingellesque height I'm not sure how Gregg fits in anything but a 'sedan', though.

Whilst on my way to Cleveland I saw a Mk2 in green sitting in traffic.

Last weekend Ella and I went up to Bundaberg to her folks' place. We did a car swap ... the '91 Brumby for the '97 Saab. Wow! What a difference the extra gear, and a 2.3 turbo makes to the 5 hour drive back to Brisbane!

I looked in at the local breakers yard whilst we were in 'Bundy' too. They let you wander around and take parts yourself, like they should. I asked if they had any Triumphs and the guy at the desk recognised the GT6 on my t-shirt (courtesy of James Carruthers (photoshop) 'design studio'!) He pointed me in the direction of a 2500 TC that was in pretty good nick actually. To see a car that has been left to the elements like that be so relatively clean is great. Dissy was missing, as were most of the sills, but all in all if I had the space and the time and it had a manual 'box I'd have had it. The carbs, manifold, etc, were all in good shape as far as I could tell.

First drive out in the Saab whilst still in Bundaberg and what pulls up behind us but an old couple in a brown 2500 ... clearly the original owners.

Ahhh, Triumphs, Triumphs everywhere, but not a GT6 to drive!

About time!

2005-05-20T04:30:00.000+10:00

It's over a month since I posted on here! I've been working hard, what more can I say?

Much time has been taken up with wedding planning (how exciting!), but there has been some fun driving. Most notable was the weekend trip up the Sunshine Coast. The "in-laws-to-be" won a weekend at a beachside apartment, and Ella and I joined them.

We met up on the Saturday. Ella's Mum came down in the mad Subaru, we took the Brumby and Ella's Dad came on his motorbike. He has one of these BMW semi off-road type bikes and loves going on the tracks, so he turned up caked head-to-toe in dirt. I must say it looks like fun!

On the Sunday we went Bush-walking. I figured it would be a short drive up the coast, park up and go for a decent walk. Instead we took both cars a good hour and a half of fast back-roads and excellent dirt roads (it had been raining decently!), then we parked the Brumby at the end of the walk and shot off in the Forrester for another half an hour up more dirt roads. Then we walked to Wandi Waterhole (great Aussie name) where we ate lunch, swam and discussed whether it was a Billabong or not (!). Check it out below!

At the end of the walk, I drove Ella's Dad back to collect the Forrester, then followed him back, which was the highlight of the day! We were blasting down these great dirt roads with both diffs working overtime and going about twice the speed of the few Landcruisers that were around. Penance was paid the next morning though, as we had to fit new gaskets on the downpipes on the Brumby having bashed them out on the rocks!

Otherwise, I'm still investigating the idea of shipping the GT6 over ... there's some serious paperwork to do if I go ahead.

I've spotted some more Triumphs, too, but never whilst the camera is handy.
1 Herald (with Vitesse bonnet as is the Aussie way) on the highway.
1 Spitfire (with the corporate back ... is that a 1500?) whilst I was playing football!
1 Dolomite Sprint (right outside work!)
The occasional big six.

I've also seen an interesting looking Rover 3500 twice in Brisbane, it looked to have a different wheel-arch styling to the UK version, which gave it a more sporty appeal.

There seem to be plenty of old Jags around, too. I've seen a very nice white Mk2 twice near work.

Anyway ... I will be back as and when I have any news!

2005-04-13T03:25:00.000+10:00

A little announcement:

I'm engaged ... yes, to be married!
Wonderful stuff! We're both a bit unsure how to do these things, having never been married to each other before, let alone anybody else. But to keep things Triumph related, as you probably aren't interested in hearing about my dress, it means that the GT6 will have to be shipped over here to try out life down under! Marvellous pies!

Chartering unknown territories seems to be the flavour of the day, doesn't it? Never been married before, never shipped a car half way 'round the world before, neither.

Anyone with expert knowledge of the cheapest and best ways of doing this kind of thing (the car not the marriage, please!) drop me a line or whatever.

What goes on 'Outback'

2005-04-03T05:03:00.000+10:00

Not much Triumphy going on at the moment ... but had some 'interesting' driving experiences last weekend regardless.

Ella's Mum lent us her nutter turbo Forrester to drive out of Brisbane to meet the family for a picnic. We needed a four-seater to get Ella's sisters to the rendezvous and her mum took the Brumby. Great, I thought, on the big open roads we can get a bit more speed up, and overtaking will be a doddle. And it was, even with slushbox it is fun when kickdown operates and the whole car bucks and just takes off, accompanied by a whine from the turbo that sounds like a police siren. Ahem, unfortunately eventually it actually was the siren and not the turbo. Despite repeated warnings from all and sundry about the revenue collection attitude of the Maryborough police, Greeksy knew best didn't he? Erm, no, he didn't, and as we rounded a gentle curve doing a trifling 117 kmph (according to the constabularies' equipment) the 50s were coming the other way. "Whoops!" I said in a 2-pack metallic colourful tone. The most annoying thing about it was that after I'd been booked by one of the rozzers the Ella recognised that the other one was a guy she'd been at Uni. with, and when he realised he said it was too late to let us off as the ticket was being written. Oh well, I guess it was about time. Doesn't half make driving a powerful car boring though!

When we met up with the rest of Ella's family, her Dad was on BMW motorbike and Mum and Uncle were in the Brumby ready for a bit of 4x4 action into the 'Bush'. a good 10km of 2nd gear creek crossing commenced ... and for some reason I was allowed to drive the Forrester, dinging the bumper on a big rock only once. Ella and I camped in the woods for a couple of nights doing some bush walking, climbing and swimming in a fantastic waterhole, and experiencing 50p sized hailstones in a mad storm, before driving back out, this time in the Brumby. Witness the mighty Brumby below as it crosses another dried up creek! There were a lot of loose rocks around and it was a good thing the diff. has a cage. It was rougher than the Targa Rusticana! I don't think even a TR7 would have had much joy on this one, not so much because we needed the 4wd but because in places the ground clearance was virtually zero.

Triumph Spot No.1: The Lesser Brown-seated 'S'

2005-03-24T03:57:00.000+11:00

Oh, blimey, it worked! Well, seeing as I'm on a roll, I might as well publish this snap, too.
Ella and I took a decent walk around Brisbane on Saturday.

Coming back through the City we chanced upon a sighting of white 2500 S. It was parked up at the side of the road, looking to be in reasonable condition. Needless to say I was more excited than Ella. Although my camera had claimed the batteries were flat, it mustered up the power to take a shot of the 'S'!

The only noticeable differences to the European species were the go-faster stripes and the unusual brown interior, that looked original.

See the mighty Brumby!

2005-03-24T03:49:00.000+11:00

After messing around trying about 10 different ways of uploading pictures on this blog, there's nothing to say that this method is going to work ... but here goes anyway!

This is the Brumby. I like to pretend that it's actually a TR5 with Surrey Top, and I make 'six cylinder noises' when I drive around Brisbane in it ... I know, I really need help!

Changes

2005-03-19T12:17:00.000+11:00

Changes afoot it turns out.

I got a phonecall a couple of days ago that has meant the Triumph search is going to be put on hold. Ella's father is looking for a new car and he has been dissapointed with the part exchange offers that have been made for his old one. He really likes the car and doesn't want to get rid of it for peanuts. He asked me if we wanted it for free, and I couldn't really say no. When he gets round to ordering his new car we'll get his old one. It's a very well kept 1998 Saab 9000 2.3t, which, although it's no Triumph, is certainly adequate!

However, it doesn't mean the end to all things Triumph. I've decided that rather than chase after a saloon when we'll have the Saab, the money might be 'better' spent shipping my GT6 over. I've yet to see one here for sale, but I've been told that they are fairly rare, so it would be extra fun. I'm not going to rush to bring it over. I'll leave it a few months until I've decided if I want to stay in Australia long-term.

Meanwhile we'll have to stick to the Brumby (which I found out yesterday means 'Wild Horse' ... I'll put some pictures up of it soon, as I bought a digital camera a couple of days ago.
I'll keep this blog going, though, as a record of the stuff I get up to out here, but it will become more a log of weekend trips and Triumph-spotting than a record of my involvement with Triumphs.

Ok. Does anybody know anything about shipping cars to Australia?
Answers on an e-mail please to reeksyofoz@gmail.com

See the sky about to rain (surely not!)

2005-03-16T12:17:00.000+11:00

It is with a tinge of sadness that I can report that progress on Triumph Hunt has been fairly slow of late.

Last Thursday (10th March) I spotted a 2000 advertised locally. It was going fairly cheap, and far too quickly I was imagining changing tack from looking for a pricey and 'sorted' saloon (like we have seen already) to a rust-free but tatty little number with potential that could be driven and developed. We set out in the afternoon to go and have a look, but horror of horrors the unthinkable happened! It rained ... and it wasn't any of your English drizzle, this was your bona fide, rain-stops-play, full on, fair dinkum, actually-I-don't-really-fancy-crawling-around-under-a-car-in-this, sort of rain. I didn't know this sort of thing could happen in Australia, I might ask for my money back! So we bailed out half way there, and Graham sulked all the way home.

When I eventually got around to looking at the car the next day, it didn't turn out to be as interesting as I'd hoped. Looking rather forlorn in a front yard full of dodgy looking motors unfit to accompany to be stabled alongside the work of Michelotti, I was informed by the wife of the owner (whose face was covered in food for some reason) that it had been given to them by a friend and her husband had intended to restore it as a project, but didn't have the time, and they'd been told they were rare cars and it was worth at least $2,000 *yawn*. They were asking $1,000, but guess what? Yes, you're right, it was a bloody auto! Very calmly, and without frothing at the mouth, I explained that I didn't want an auto (it wasn't even worth buying and converting) and turned around and left. I naively assumed that an advert would mention such a detail, but I guess it's my own fault for not checking.

Determined not to give up, I also paid a visit to British Auto Care in Brisbane last week. I've been ringing them occasionally to see if they know of any cars around that are on the market, and thought I might as well drop in on them and see their workshop. It wasn't a wasted trip, and I had a decent chat with one of the guys there who had just sold his Toyota super-charged 2500 saloon to another mechanic at Greg Tunstall's (another Triumph mechanic). Have a look at it in the register on www.triumphowners.com. The guy reckoned it hadn't really been worth building in the end. I also gave Greg a call again to see if he knew of anything, and ended up chatting about the lemons that people try to sell him, which was pretty funny. There's a nice sounding Mk1 Pi up for sale in the area it turns out, but at a little more than I'm willing to part with.

However, I did have another sniff at the Mk1 Pi that's for sale in Adelaide ... thought I'd see if the guy was willing to meet up half way if the car was 'all that' and then drive it back. He didn't seem over-enthusiastic about it though, and I think I'd prefer to hang on and wait for something local.

The driving at the weekend was fairly good fun, though, even without a car befitting my suave British character *cough*. Ella and I jumped in the Ute and headed south out of Brisbane to Springwood National Park. We really ought to get a Collie to stick in the back of this car to complete the image. About an hour south, we came off the highway at Mudgereeba and headed up some excellent twisting mountain roads, crossing little wooden bridges and revving the nuts off the little Brumby. Eventually Ella asked me to slow down so she could point out her favourite spots ... not accepting my explanation that "we need to keep the momentum up to get up the hill!" The coin-operated BBQ (!) worked a treat and we had a decent walk in the rainforest the next day.

So far this week, I've not so much as smelt any 20/50 or EP90, although in response to my advert on the afore-mentioned website "no slushboxes considered!" a gentleman has contacted me about his Mk2 2.5 Pi ... Watch this space for news, I don't have any details on it yet.

'S' lightly too Mellow Yellow

2005-03-09T10:39:00.000+11:00

Hello from the sunshine state!
It's proving a little tricky to get around to writing these entries since I'm undergoing conversion to Mac use, and I'm accessing University of Queensland servers which sometimes 'blog' me in as a completely different person ... which is a little scary. As for getting photos on to this thing, it seems to be a little trickier than it might be on a PC as the Mac doesn't seem to want to run the photo programme thing - why can't I just put a jpeg on? Raaa! All this technology! Why don't computers just have a set of points and some carburettors (or carbies as they call them down here).

Anyway, I shall persevere. On with the Triumph stuff:

After the disappointment with the slushbox Pi in East Brisbane I started making further investigations. It seems there are some great Triumph people out here, just as there are back in the UK. British Auto Care, Greg Tunstall, and the Queensland Triumph Owners Club were all contacted to see if they knew of any cars around that weren't advertised where I'd been searching. And guess what? There were!

Unfortunately, the 2.7, TR5 cam, Datsun driveshaft monster mk2 for sale at $4k (approx. 1,700 GBP) had gone already. I wonder why? However, I smiled as the next car I came across did sound tempting. A yellow 1978 (the year I was born - nice) 2500 S, all standard, but with remote central locking, new A/C and kangaroo blinding halogen headlights. Fortunately this car was located just an hour north of Brisbane at Narangba, close to the Bruce Highway (that name still makes me laugh - "G'day Bruce, meet my brother, Bruce").

Ella agreed we ought to have a look at it on our way back down from her folks' place outside Bundaberg where we were heading for the weekend. So last Friday afternoon I had my first opportunity to do a decent length drive - it takes about four and a half hours to get there from Brisbane. Ella's family are keen motorists so they don't use the main roads much. And now I know why! I had great fun, even in the Subaru Brumby that Ella has (yes, it's a Ute!)

Once off the highway we shot along virtually empty and narrow, undulating, twisty country roads where it was easy to keep the speed up. As much fun as I was having it got better, though. "Ok, slow down a bit we're coming to the gravel". Oh, gravel! What fun! More curvy bits, but this time on gravel! Then occasional bits of tarmac, before 20k sections of dusty red gravel. There would have been little clearance for the GT6 in some places I'm sure, but the Brumby is fine and it would be criminal not to give a saloon a thrashing on those tracks. Even after all the fun of the dusty driving was over the tarmacadamed roads further north were enjoyable enough, nice long fast sweeping corners.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take Ella's Mum's Subaru Forester XT 2.5 out for a blast as well. Wow, it's quick - it's basically the Impreza with a different shell, and 0-60 in about 6 seconds, even with the dreaded auto. Ella's Dad also said I could have the use of his shed for car maintenance whenever I wanted ... and for shed read hangar.

After a suitably relaxing weekend we came back down to Brisbane on the Monday, and stopped in at Narangba to check out the 2500 S. It turned out that the guy who owned it was an Auto-Anglophile, had married an English woman and actually worked for British Aerospace in England and owned a brand new English 'S' whilst living there. Now he has the saloon and a Stag for sale, to help fund his Piper Cherokee habit. He was very up front and explained that the first to go would be sold, but he wasn't taking offers.

The saloon was in very good condition, no discernible end float on the 100,000 mile original engine, but a set of nasty SUs that I didn't recognise - something about emission regulations. The seats were as new I think, still offering excellent support, and bodywork was almost mint, albeit a little bit Inca for me! Overdrive operated nicely, the gearbox and linkage was as good as I've ever tried, but the engine was lacking some 'oomph' (what cam did they put in the Aussie 'S' I wonder, or was it the carb's?). The springs were a little lacklustre, too, so the ride was a little softer than necessary.

After the test-drive we had coffee and a chat about Triumphs, as the subject of the 10 Countries Run, and the Round Britain Reliability Run came up, and the ladies' eyes began to glaze over as their thoughts shifted to soft furnishings and wall paint colours, the Aussie man popped off to get his copy of the Classic car mag that featured the article on the RBRR and a picture of The Big Red Bus amongst others!

Anyway, despite my obvious infamy, he stuck to his guns and said he wasn't prepared to shift on the money, and as good as the car was, for $5k I reckon I should be able to hold out and find something as good or even with more poke for less. It would have been cool to have had a saloon with remote locking though!

Hmmm, there's a Mk1 Pi in Adelaide ... how much are flights to Adelaide I wonder?

Automatic for the people?

2005-03-03T13:15:00.000+11:00

I'm back, and with tales of Triumph ... although not particularly triumphant, yet.

In Australia for a day and I've already found a sweet sounding mk2 2.5 pi to go and inspect (In fact I spotted it on the wibbly wobbly web before I even got out here). Fortunately it's in East Brisbane, just 5 minutes drive from Spring Hill, where I'm living. We went to check it out today and as I suspected from the advert on the web, it's one very smart looking car. The paintwork is spot on - it's very odd going to look at a Triumph and not being able to find any bodywork issues to worry about (sorry if that makes you jealous). As for the chrome; shiny like it should be!
Under the bonnet was pretty tidy, too, lots of new bits including PI gear, linkage, alternator, etc. It had the Bosch pump conversion, and loads of work had been done recently. Apparently it didn't leak oil, or burn much ... so I was tempted to ask for paperwork to check that it was actually a real Triumph. Best of all, though was that it even had the plastic covers still on the original door cards in the rear!
Unfortunately the guy selling wasn't the most knowledgeable of owners, which is a bit awkward (i.e. he didn't know if it was electric ignition or points, so I had to check myself). But that didn't detract too much from an obviously well looked after car.

We went for a spin, but I have no insurance yet, and as we were in the centre of Brisbane I let him do the driving.

The guy was haring along showing how good the newly built suspension and the Datsun driveshafts were and launching into corners. And here is where the problem with the car arises. When he came out of the corner and put the power down the automatic gearbox just took all the power away and we might as well have been out for a jolly sunday afternoon thrash in a pedalo! Oh god i'm coming over all 'Clarkson' about this now ... Who on earth invented these things? If I didn't want to change gear myself I'd hire a flooping chauffeur! Maybe a croc will one day bite one of my legs off, but until that day (well maybe a few days after as I'll probably suffer from shock) I won't be driving a slushmatic.

To cap it all, on the way home we saw a tidy looking green 2500 S going in the other direction ... and I just know that it had a lovely 4 speed with overdrive. *sigh*.

I've looked into the cost of getting the gearbox converted - thanks to all the Club Triumph guys who chipped in with tips and suggestions - but as the car's not exactly bargain basement and there seem to be enough around to choose from, I'm going to keep looking ...

Why hello there

2005-03-02T13:29:00.000+11:00

Please, come in, take a seat.
This is my first blog entry, can't you see how proud I am? It might take me a while to accustom myself, but hang on in there.

You will notice something not particularly interesting about this site; no pictures. Sorry about that. Pretty useless, I know, but it may get remedied one day ... just like that rear crankshaft seal on the GT6, so don't hold your breath!

So far not a great deal to report.
I'm in Brisbane, which is as you might expect somewhat warmer than a Berkshire winter - 27 Celsius today. Everything is quite lovely - the girl, the apartment, the city.
One problem - a distinct lack of a Triumph. I went an entire fortnight without driving one when I was in Thailand a month ago, and I'm expecting it may be a little longer this time.
I'm going to look at one this afternoon, though. Ella (my lady friend) is particularly excited about it, which is excellent! A mk2 2.5 Pi is this afternoon's investigation - superlite's, KYBs all round, lots of nice stuff, and to ruin the whole thing, an autobox. Not good. Still we'll have a little look, as it is only up the road, and I'll report back. Hell it gives me something to write about.

Ok, that's my lot - time for some lunch.

Oh, and McJim, at least I still OWN A TRIUMPH!!!