I have had many messages, texts and emails over the past few weeks asking why there have been no blog updates for a while. People knew I was working frantically on the car and wanted to know what was happening!
Libby had been invited to be displayed on the Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register club stand at the NEC Classic car show, and I wanted to move her along quite a bit so it looked more complete for the show but I decided I would like it to be a bit of a surprise as to how far I had got. Even the Register Show Organisers didn't know as I wanted to keep them in suspense!
But now the show is over (and what a wonderful show it was!) here is the work in the days before.
The list sounds quite short, but the hours it took...........ooooooooh! Several late nights were spent on this and even more £££, but its all worth it!
Headlamps, wired in with relays, new Cibie Oscar units fitted, grill polished and refitted.

Original chassis plate cleaned and refitted.

Last section of brake pipe fitted, brakes bled, handbrake set (to stop it rolling off the stand!)

Towbar wiring laid in, extra heavy duty cables front to back to allow for split charge relays for towing a modern caravan. Original towbar refitted.

After much swearing the NOS rear bumper was fitted. Slight alignment issues due to the flared rear arches. Its on, but needs fettling with some spacers on the quarter bumpers as when tightened it will touch the flare of the arch at the back.

Good secondhand front bumper fitted with new stainless bolts and brackets. Then cleaned and polished by Bradley!

Front carpet sections fitted and newly trimmed original Recaro seats refitted. The carpet set I bought from Rimmers as they had stock. I was shocked by how bad this was, it just does not fit! Mike Weaver to the rescue so I now have a NOS main section, along with my NOS front footwel carpets to fit later this should sort the problems out. For the moment the badly fitting Rimmers set are in for the show. At the NEC I had one of the Rimmers managers look at the carpets and he got short and terse words from me about the awful fitting of the carpets.

Clutch pedal a bit high........... due to no clutch master cylinder fitted yet! Temporary blue wires by gear lever (missing!) to allow a slave battery to put the drivers side electric window up and down for loading on and off the trailer.

Rear complete with badges, new number plates (With Atlantic Garage details on the bottom, nice touch I thought!) and the new Stainless steel Stag large bore tailpipes fitted.......... for effect for the show only, obviously no exhaust fitted yet until the engine and gearbox are in.

Loaded on the trailer ready to show!

at the NEC...... under the spotlights it did look a little orange, but that is just the weird lighting there!

As usual, many thanks to Bradley for the hours of help. To Colin & Amanda for inviting me to display it and giving me the push needed to get it moving along at this rate, to Mike Weaver for refitting the windscreen trim at the show and providing the NOS carpet section, and to everyone at the show who appreciated the hard work................ its you lot out there giving me the encouragement to finish this, thank you!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 19th November 2012 11:23am gmt

Glass fitting

Glass fitting day today, to get it watertight ready to go to the NEC. Mike Weaver very kindly offered to come and fit my windscreen as he's done quite a few now and has the knack (and the tools!). First thing this morning got the "shop" ready. Car, Glass, Seal, Silicone lubricant, tape, white spirit and cloths. Brian also came round to help to have a look at the estate side windows as I just couldn't see how they would fit.

I was amazed how quickly it took to actually get the screen in. Most of the time was spent re-doing the piss poor prep work I'd done............. okay, so now I know ALL the old glue has to be removed from the A Post trims first!

Before long it was in, then started the really nasty job of injecting the sealant in between the glass and the rubber. Not a nice job, but not as bad as the clean up afterwards. I have some more detailed cleaning to do after a week or so when the sealant has gone off properly, but apart from that its in and looking great!

The side windows were more of a puzzle. We now think that the modifications Del Lines did to the rear wings may have changed the profile of the window, they just did not want to fit. In the end some brute force and ignorance was needed. Brian and Mike supplied the brute force, and I helped with my ignorance!

Just got to do some build up work with silicone on one corner where we tore the rubber a bit.

Trims polished and on.

All glass in, car watertight.

Huge HUGE thank you to Mike Weaver and Brian Chrimes for today, there as no way I could have done this job without them!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 27th October 2012 6:00pm gmt

NEC Prep Pt 1

NEC Prep? What's all that about then? Well, I have been persuaded by the show organisers of the Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register to have Libby in all her unfinished glory on the club stand at the Classic Car Show at the NEC in November. Planning with diaries and we find I have 3 days clear to work on the car between now and then. All the plans have been made with trailers, days off work and borrowing Craig's Range Rover again to help move it, so it would be good to make sure I do the things required to get her there!

Day one today. Sam's on a day off, so she took the girls to her parents for the day, so onward!

First thing, it would be good to have a handbrake that works so the car doesn't just roll off the stand! One final piece of brake pipe to make and fit, that's done along with fitting the front half of the new handbrake cable. Next job for later is to bleed the brakes, then I can set the handbrake and the car should stay put!

Towing the car on a trailer without a bonnet catch could be a bad idea, so that was fitted and the cable reinstated. I had intended to fit this after the engine went in, but its only 4 bolts to take it out again when we're ready for that. Then spent a pleasant hour setting the bonnet height and getting the catches lined up.

Next job, glass. If it rains whilst its on the way there or back it would be bad if the car isn't at least watertight! So, fitted the tailgate glass. Had a NOS screen seal and a NOS chrome trim piece. Swine of a job, very fiddly, but I'm very pleased with the result. Just needs cleaning to get rid of all the white stuff you get on old rubber, but its in!

Then it was back to fitting the headlight assemblies. I wasn't happy with what I had done last time so I took them out, fettled and refitted properly. The issue is that the pop rivet gun (even the extra long one I bought to do the job!) couldn't reach the rivets as the out frame of the assembly is in the way. I had previously removed the front frame, riveted, then replace the front. But I couldn't get to the split pin that hold it together properly so they were a bit loose. This time I removed them, did the rivet up right, then bolted them in place instead. Much better.

The windscreen is hopefully being fitted next weekend, so in readiness for that I fitted the A post internal trims. One of the quickest and easiest jobs ever!

Next problem... front windows. In order to get the car on and off the trailer and onto the stand I need to have the drivers window open to move the steering wheel, but then close it again for the travelling. Only problem is they are electric and the electrics are not finished enough to connect a battery to the car. Previously when fitting the windows the door trims were off so getting power to the motor was easy. So, bit of investigating by the window switches and I found the feeds to the windows. Couple of short wires made up, and now I can put the window up and down with a jump pack! Got to do the same with the sunroof next too.

Final job of the day done in the garage as light was fading. Fitted the clips round the rear window for the stainless trim. I was planning to fit the estate glass today but after fitting the new seal to the glass it really doesn't want to fit in the hole anymore! Hoping its just me being daft, but I am also hoping for some expert help next weekend from the expert windscreen fitting who is coming to help me!

When I agreed to have the car at the NEC, I wrote a list of things to do, things to buy, things to paint and things to drop off and be powder coated. So, the windscreen top vent trim, gearbox cross member and fan shroud are at the powder coaters, but as for the rest of my list............ I don't seem to have got very far! I think I may have been optimistic in what could be done, but right now as long as the glass is in and the brakes work....... I'll be happy at that!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 20th October 2012 7:29pm gmt

Door Seals......... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

With the prep work on the Acclaim done for the RBRR, I found I had a few hours to spend on Libby today. Managed to get about 4 hours on her today. Problem was, I knew what I had to do next.............. Door seals on the N/S.
Using Repro door seals which are slightly too big is a right PITA. I'm trying an experiment. Chris Witor seals on the front and Rimmers on the back. CW's are much better quality, but seriously hard work to fit. Rimmers are not such good quality, but marginally easier to fit. So, I can keep on eye on them as the years progress and see which ones are best.......... or until I find a set of NOS ones!
It takes hours per door to do as you have to feed it into the channel 5mm at a time with a small thin blade. Corners are worse, and every 10 minutes I have to stop as my hands get cramp!! Its a HORRIBLE job and without doubt, to date, the worst job I have had to do. My aim was to get both N/S doors finished today and then all 4 are done and over with.

Only took an hour and a half to do the rear one (Rimmers, slightly softer)

Then a quick clean, vapour barrier on, door card on, window winder handle on, which for some reason went on first time (which is rare!)

It then took a further 2 hours to do the front door. I had already done the top part of it, so it wasn't as bad as doing the whole thing from the start.... still, so glad this bit is over! Vapour barrier, door card, done.

Time to put it back in the garage, tidy up and then its bathtime for the girls before dinner. It's getting there.......

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 16th September 2012 4:23pm gmt

RBRR 2012 Prep

So, day one of RBRR 2012 Prep on Arnie, my new 1982 Triumph Acclaim CD.

First off was an MOT, which it flew through yesterday with a couple of minor advisories, but nothing major at all.

First off was to find out why the O/S Headlight stopped working halfway through the MOT? Well, perhaps this is the reason?

So, new bulb and all is well. I did want to uprate the headights, but these old types of bulbs aren't available in uprated so I'll have to stick with these. I may be considering some spot lamps on the bumper now though.

Next was the N/S Headlamp, which was a little dim. The reflector was rusty, but I had a new one in a box in the boot that came with the car! (Thanks Rob!) So, little bit of fiddling and in it went. Job done!

Next problem to address was the Temperature Gauge. It didn't work at all. I was pretty convinced it was the sender, so after breaking my arm in 5 places trying to reach it, and then after removing half the inlet manifold, I found it. I was planning to pull the wire off and earth it to check and see if it was the sender, and as I pulled the wire off, the middle of the sender unit came away in my hand....... that'll be the problem then! Again, thanks to Rob there as a new one in a box in the boot, on it went. Whilst I was doing this I decided to drop all the coolant, flush the rad through and then refill with new antifreeze. What came out looked pretty gunky, so I'm glad I did this. All done, back together and running nicely. Got it up to temp, fans kicked in, all good.

Next thing to play with was the stereo. The original unit was still in the dash, with a modern one slung underneath. Problem was, I kept catching my foot on it as I used the clutch, so I took it all out, and put the radio where it should be (kept the original one just in case though!). Then where the stereo used to be I then put in a 4 way charger pod. 2 phones, Sat nav and an ipod dictates we need more than one. Works and looks great now.

I then fiddled about with replacing the saggy sun visors, (again, new set in the boot!), new wiper blades (yep, out of stock in the boot!), repairing the rear window as it had come out of it winder, and going over everything I could think of trying to find a fault.......... I couldn't! It is as good as we all thought.

I then jacked up the front and took the front wheels off ready to go and have the new tyres fitted I have got. Whilst I was there I checked the pads, 75% remaining, so no issues.

Bradley popped over and we spent a happy half an hour clay barring it and getting the shine back. Needs a quick polish and that will be done.

All that's left on the list is to have the new tyres put on, oil and filter change (got the oil but no filters in stock, ebay here I come!) put the stickers on, polish it and we're ready to go!

If only all RBRR prep was this simple!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 02nd September 2012 6:03pm gmt

Lights

"School's out for summer............!" Epic song, but true as first day of school summer holidays for us here in Redditch. This means my usual Monday evening routine of school run, dinner, bath and bed for the girls is off for about 6 weeks. They are staying with Nanny & Grandad on Monday nights for the next few weeks. So, sun is out, finished work at a sensible time for once, girls away, wife at work.......... hmmmm, pass me the tool box!
First job, clean up and refit the other front indicator light.

Then clean up and refit the indicator and sidelight assembly.

How many indicators do you need on a car..........4 per side?!!? With hazards on I have told it will look like a Christmas tree!

Then moved to the rear and fitted the n/s rear light assembly. Then, confusion hit.

I know my car is modified, but I didn't expect to find wiring that I couldn't explain/remember what its for. After connecting up all the rear lights I am left with these wires, (tape wrapped so probably not factory) going from behind the rear light up the D post into the roof. What are they for?!!? No idea! The fuel pump is driven off the original PI pump wiring, so its not that. The only thing I can think of is the original rear fogs, which I am not refitting....... but why take the wiring up over the roof?!?! Need to do some continuity checking with the switch, another day!

Then started to refit the front headlight assemblies. Got two in, fiddly, fiddly, fiddly, STUPID things they are. (doesn't help when halfway through fitting the 3rd one, you realise you have fitted the first 2 upside down and you have to drill all the rivets out and start again........ Grrrrrrr!

Light fading, dinner calling....................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 23rd July 2012 10:24pm gmt

Small jobs

Managed to grab a couple of hours outside this afternoon, dodging the rain showers!
Not got long enough to get involved in any long jobs, so I did lots of little things instead.
First off, got the drivers door plastic membrane on, and the door card cleaned and fitted. Then measured the hole to find the size speaker I need....... 5.5" should fit nicely I think.

Dropped into the autofactors this morning and got the front brakes pipes made up, fitting didn't take long with the new correct double pipe clips.

I managed to find a second hand tailgate bolt, one got lost somehow. Fitted that, all the bolts have coloured paint on them and we elected to paint the inside of the tailgate satin black. So, the plan later is to carefully mask and flick some satin paint over the bolt heads to make it look right.

Not a nice job this, the wiper spindle needed changing as I stripped the threads on the original one. Managed to source a good secondhand one which I had cleaned up. This mean removing the glove box and the screen demist vents, then removing the wiper motor and then withdrawing the drive of the wipers. All went quite nicely, new one fitted and then inserted the drive back with plenty of new grease. All good now!

I noticed whilst I was doing this that the screen vents are in very good condition. They usually close up and warp, but these still look like they should. Guess this is what happens from being stored in a dark garage from 1979 to about 5 years ago?

Then I cleaned and polished the light fittings and fitted the sidelight and wing indicator. They are the original ones, just cleaned up with new gaskets and bulbs. Cleaned and reconnected using the original bullet connectors and I have to say, looking good!

I was on a roll then, so I fitted the NOS rear lights I sourced, connected up using the original bullet connectors again.

Then, it was time to clear away and go in for dinner.

Meanwhile, in Reading, the engine is progressing nicely. I understand that the block and crank are now back from the machine shop...................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 08th July 2012 6:33pm gmt

Carbs, Engines, Honda's & Parties!

Life just takes over sometimes! I wonder where the time goes, as despite constant beratings from my fellow bloggers I find that I have't updated my blog for quite some time................ sorry!

Last update I had dropped mine and Andy's carbs off with Andrew Turner for them to be "Turner'd". Got the call last week to say they were ready so I dropped in on the way home from work to collect them. What can I say....... automotive porn..... they are truely amazing. Well worth the money. Anyone who needs any carb work, go to Mr Turner, http://www.su-carbs.co.uk/ you won't regret it!
Feat your eyes on these babies...............

Next to the engine. My friendly engine builder has stripped and inspected the engine and found loads of problems. The issue is that despite me buying what I thought was a known good engine (assuming the best engine to rebuild is one that doesn't actually need rebuilding!) was wrong. It turns out the engine has been rebuilt before....... badly. There are a whole host of bodges that need fixing. Stripped threads in the block, broken allen keys, score marks on the face of the blocks where previous head studs have been butchered to get them off. Ontop of that, the bores are all badly scored and the crank is very worn.

It was taken to the machine shop to be assessed by experts and the news came back even worse. The block was already bored to the max, and would need all 8 bores re-lined, then new pistons. The crank was also already ground, and the crankshaft main bearings in the block were oval and would need salvaging. All this added up to a huge engineering bill that just was not worth it. This meant that the block, crank, most of the rods and all of the pistons are now essentially scrap. Bugger.
Not to worry, Andy came to the rescue again with a known better block and a decent crank. these are now at the engineering shop being worked on. Only one bore needs a liner, and the crank will grind up ok. So, this and a hefty parts bill from EJ Wards and we should be onto a winner. Parts expected back from machining in a couple of weeks. We haven't dared look at the heads yet.................

Onto more mudane matters.............. RBRR2012. Bradley and I are booked in, but as time goes on and I get less and less opportunity to work on Libby, it became obvious that we just weren't going to make it. So, decision time. Do we rush Libby and finish it and risk messing it up, or missing something and end up doing more damage by doing the run, pull out (noooooooo way!) or find another car to do the RBRR in?
Guess what, the hunt was on.
Normally, I would just find another cheap 2000 to do it in, but the prices seems to have gone mad and it means at least £2k to buy a half decent one and then it would need going through properly to prep it. Rob Baker came to the rescue so, Wednesday night saw Bradley and I heading north in his new company Passat to collect Arnie, the Acclaim-inator!

Now, I have to say, I have never been particularly enamored with Triumph/Honda's creation..... but I have to say, it is quite impressive. Ok, so it will never replace a 2000/2500/2.5 in my garage, but as a little run around and an RBRR toy, its amazing.
Rob has spent quite a lot of time and money on this little beastie and it shows. The bodywork is immaculate, the interior is very good (under those horrible seat covers the seats are very good and the headrests are in the boot to reinstate.

Its the CD model, posh....... even has headlight washers!

I love history touches like this, original dealer sticker in the rear window, which matches the key fob. Every MOT back to 1988 which shows the mileage of 66k to be genuine. It needs a set of tyres, some wiper blades, one headlight needs replacing and then a quick service and clean and its ready to go! I have to say it is awesome. Drove back 115 miles at a steady 80mph, and used about £15 worth of fuel!! This is going to be a cheap RBRR for a change!

Over the bank holiday weekend Sam & I had a little party. I turned 40 in April and she turns 40 in July so we decided to have an 80th birthday party at a certain well known local hotel! There was about 100 of our friends, loads of food and the most awesome band ever....... The Garage Band http://www.thegarageband.co.uk/ we can't recommend these guys highly enough, fantastic night and well worth booking!
My big sister and her family made it over from California for the party and it mean that our girls and her two children finally got to meet. It was so lovely to see the cousins all playing and getting on so well together, something we never thought we would see.
We also got a professional photographer to come and take some proper pictures of the children together, thanks Stuart! We are waiting for the pictures to be ready, but he sent us this teaser the other day. This is Milly, our youngest, with our nephew Adam............ she didn't want to play when it came to the photographs, but this one just happened as they do......... I love it!

Me, Dad dancing with the girls!

I also managed to source a new wiper spindle, so that is now ready for fitting. Then its on with door seals, door cards and onto the rest of the interior...... when I get chance.
With Sam now back at work, and working most weekends, my time in the garage is limited...... but, every week I manage to do something, even if its sourcing some parts, or cleaning something ready to put back on.
More news on the engine hopefully in a few weeks.

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 10th June 2012 12:36am gmt

Horny Carbs!

What did you expect from the title then?!

I dropped in to see my engine builder and after several discussions about engines, spec and timescales, we got onto the subject of carbs. The carbs on his own Stag engine were very worn and mine were of unknown quality (although they look pretty ok!) we decided we both needed our carbs done properly. So, in the boot of my car now sits 2 pairs of Stag carbs ready to be dropped off at Andrew Turner's for him to work his magic on..............

Also, whilst doing some ebay trawling I found the correct sized triple air horns I need. Libby originally had triple tone air horns fitted inside the n/s front wing. They were still there, but looking very sad, so a new set arrived today. Strangely, there is a separate switch in the car for "horns", but there are no standard car horns connected to the normal horn push. I will put a normal set on the indicator stalk, and leave these for fun I think.

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 24th April 2012 4:56pm gmt

Horrible Job!

After a walk in the park and feeding the ducks, the girls and Sam curled up on the sofa to watch "Toy Story"........ time for me to work on Libby then!
The new special rivets and screws arrived from Chris Witor last week (and a new Stainless Steel Strap, bolts and rubber gasket!) so I could finish putting the wiper motor in and secure the washer bottle correctly. Job done.... looks nice!

Then it was time to move to the horrible job........ finishing the Shutzing underneath. When I did the underneath, I did the front and the back separately....... I now needed to join up the middle and do the centre of the sills and the centre of the floorpans. So, bit of marking, then warm the Shutz up in a bucket hot water and off we go........... didn't take long, but its a horrible job!

Then, it was time to move onto the really horrible job............. Cavity Wax. I had bought 5 large 750ml cans of Bilt Hamber Dynax Cavity Wax which came complete with the special long tubes with spray nozzles. When Brian did the sills he drilled some extra holes to allow me to do this job better, they'll be hidden under the tread plates anyway. So, warm the can up in a bucket of hot water and off we go.

5 cans later the sills were well and truely coated, the bottoms of all the doors where done, the inside of the tailgate, the inner arches front and rear, plus a few other box sections and anything else I could think of was done.

However, when I stood back whilst having a cuppa, I notied what I had forgotten....... the sills have holes underneath to allow for drainage, and the Wax was now dripping out all over the drive...... rats.

By the time I got to do the other side, I thought about it see................!!

The marks the end of the really horrible jobs, everything should be fairly clean from now on. Next problem.... wiper spindle threads........ buggered. I was thinking I would have to remove the whole wiper assembly again to get to replace it, but after a bit of gentle persuasion from the back (and a small amount shaved off the rubber grommet!) I got the remaining threads to catch and it did up tight...... result!

Now.......... big roll of polythene...... useful stuff this. I use it for covering and wrapping things in the caravan, (its actually shrink wrap for bricks!) but today it has a different purpose. Now, don't laugh but I remembered when I took the car apart that the rear off side door had no vapour barrier behind the trim panel. This is important as it guides any drips of water from the window seals down to the bottom of the door, and it prevents moisture getting to the back of the cardboard door cards. So, time to make one..........

Yeah, I know.... not exactly original, but hey, it does the job and it won't be see again so who cares!

So, after messing around for what seemed like HOURS trying to get the stupid small pin in to hold the window winder handle on, I can report that one door is totally finished!! Woo hoo!!

I then fed about another 18" of door seal in on the nearside front door (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!) then time to go in, have a shower, wash my hair 6 times to get the shutz out of it (!) and then have dinner!
A good afternoons work I think....... quite alot finished today!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 15th April 2012 7:33pm gmt

Little bit more..........

Little bits done this afternoon. Managed to fit one rear door seal..... what a swine of a job! the front ones are Witor ones which are excellent quality repro ones, but they are so hard to compress to get in the channel. Total of about 2 hours to do the front door.

Having found the correct screws, fitted the cover plates on the rear doors.

Fitted the repainted wiper motor, and then popped on the spindle grommits and new chrome nuts.

then fitted the rear door seal. This is a Rimmers Repro one. Not as good a quality as Witors, but easier to fit...... this one only took an hour!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 31st March 2012 7:43pm gmt

Little jobs............ they take the longest!

I had about 3 hours to spend on the car today, and the next two jobs to do are big ones that will take longer than that (estate side window fitting and finishing the shutzing of the centre floorpans.......... so I was on the lookout for some smaller jobs to do.

Found and rescued some trim clips to fit the final piece of waistline trim on the nearside rear door. Fiddly as all of the holes needed careful drilling out, but we got there in the end.

The rear doors needed the wiring loom for the central locking fitting properly. Drilling and fitting grommets having once fed the wiring up the sill and B post....... again, fiddly and time consuming. Its the small jobs that take the longest I swear!

I had bought a new big bag of pop-rivets in various sizes so I cleaned up the engine build plate and fitted that. Was going to do the Chassis plate too but it seems to be MIA at the moment............!

I then fitted the twin (I prefer 4 jets rather than the feeble 2 in the centre!) washer jets to the new chrome grill and fitted that. I seem to have mislaid the screws for both sides by the windscreen, just need to find what thread they are and get some more.

I then fitted the rear stainless trim. The wing ends were NOS ones, the centre is the original which just needed cleaning and painting. After a trial fit it was time to do it properly the "Mike Weaver" way.......... perfect, all lines up just right. As it should, Brian did borrow the old trims and lights to make sure everything lined up properly before it was painted...... it now has lovely shut lines.

I then fitted all 4 of the interior light door switches and then got the paint brush out. The trimmer had managed to catch and score the paint when he was fitting the vinyl roof. Fortunately it will be hidden behind the rear side stainless steel trims, but I wanted to make sure it was sealed to stop it rusting. I masked it off, painted on 2 coats of primer, and now that I have half a litre of the correct paint, some top coat can go on later.

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 11th March 2012 7:11pm gmt

Rear Doors

What a lovely sunny day today turned out to be! Got the car out of the garage and finished off the n/s front door (got some new clips!) and then started the horrible task of putting the rear doors together. The glass will only just go in one way, and its just remembering which way that is!!

Assisted by Bradley as usual, I took the stance that being as he removed the glass from the rear doors, he should remember how to put them back again!! Many hours of swearing and grazed knuckles later....... they are both in and trimmed up. Door locks, winder mechanisms, central locking solenoids, and all the door furniture except the door trims..... bit of rustproofing to do first!

Next job is to fit the estate rear side windowns, finishing wiring the central locking and alarm systems, then finish the outer chrome trim. I think underneath still needs the inner sills shutzing and then we might be ready to start the rustproofing!
Long way to go yet, but slowly and surely................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 26th February 2012 7:27pm gmt

N/S Front Door and Central Locking

A few more hours spent on the car yesterday. Got the front nearside door fitted up with glass, locks and catches etc. Had to stop because I had forgotten to buy some new weatherstrip clips for the outer seal! Once those arrive I can put on the outer seal and then lift the window and put in the glass bottom stop. It was a bit quicker than the driver side as I remembered the correct sequence to do things in!! FYI, anyone else who has to do this. Glass channel in, glass in, then roll in the quarterlight so that the channel lines up and picks up the drop glass...... then you can wiggle it around and bolt it up. Channels in last before the bottom stop goes in to allow the glass to drop low enough to get to the channel fixings!

Time to start work on the next mod. Being as the car is an empty shell, now is the easy time to do things. I wanted to fit a remote alarm on the car, with immobilisers and the one I found also came with a retro fit 4 way central locking kit...... bonus. Unpacked it, got my head round how it should work and be fitted then started putting it in.

This is the drivers door actuator, hidden in the bottom of the door, with plenty of clearance for dropping th window. New loom goes through the door frame to the A post just by the interior light switch, then the loom goes up behind the dash and across for the other front door, and down the sill to the rear doors. Quite tidy, and nothing will be seen once the trim is back in.

Finished fitting the pedal box too. I fitted this a couple of weeks ago but it just didn't look right. Found out I had managed to trap some wiring behind the pedal box which stopped it sitting flush. Ferreted round under the dash and bolted it in properly, and finished it off with the correct pedal rubbers I had sourced and finding I had bought the wrong ones!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 19th February 2012 11:06am gmt

O/S Front Door

I know it doesn't look like much............ but that's about 5 hours work to get all the weather strips in, the glass in, the quarter-light in, the door locks and handles in and the electric motors lined up and wired..............!!

Still, another step closer................................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 12th February 2012 5:30pm gmt

Seats

Had the call to say that the front Recaro seats were ready the other day. Little road trip down to sunny Bournemouth to collect them today.
If anyone wants any special trimming work doing, I can thoroughly recommend Brian Cates zagatoseven@hotmail.com He has done wonders with my old horrible seats and they look amazing now. We had discussed several options for restoring the original seats, including keeping them looking as per the original photos....... but in the end we both agreed that it looked silly having grey cloth fronts and black vinyl rears. Having collected some NOS Triumph Vinyl seat covers over the years, he used those to create the centre squabs and the rest was done in standard black vinyl......... leather was tempting but what would it match to?
The new headrests were trimmed to match, and then new Recaro badges to finish them off............. amazing.

Here's a reminder of what they looked like, in the bare bones and what I collected today........................ the photo does not do them justice, they really are stunning............ thanks Brian!!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 29th January 2012 10:52pm gmt

Two posts in one day!?!?

Second post of the day?!?!? Well, I thought I had finished for the day, but found another couple of hours this afternoon. So, I did what I wanted and pushed the car out of the garage.............. first time in about 12 months its seen daylight I think!!

You could almost see it blinking in the daylight..........!!

Once I'd put the servo back together again (got it upside down before!!) I then fitted it along with the pedal box.

Slight blunder, the new pedal rubbers I have bought appear to be 2 throttle pedals rubbers instead............ new, correct ones ordered now!!

During the clean up I found the missing piece of trim for below the O/S rear door................ quick polish up and on it goes.......... much better.

Not alot done, but every little helps............................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 22nd January 2012 5:07pm gmt

On it's wheels!

Managed to get a couple of hours in the garage this morning. Got the two front brake lines fitted. They are different to a 2000/2500 as the offside front one comes under the car and is clipped to the front cross-member before it goes to the PWDA valve on the nearside inner wing. The nearside one is just a short run, double clipped to the other one.

After that, I then torqued up the front suspension, popped the wheels on then admired by how much I had got the tracking out!! Got both wheels now looking like they point in the same direction and then it could come down on its wheels............. first time since last summer it has actually sat on 4 wheels!!

Next job is to push it outside and have a tidy up of the garage and inside the car. I can't find ANYTHING at the moment, so a general clean up is needed. Then I can fit the refurbed pedal box, the servo and master cylinder and then do the brake lines from the M/C to the PWDA valve and the short run to the rear and the brakes will be finished.
I have the centre of the floorplans and the inner sills to Shutz and then underneath will be done and I can start on the trim!
Meanwhile, here is a reminder of the state of the original front Recaro seats....... hmmmmm, tired springs to mind, missing one headrest and one badge and generally had it! So, a couple of weeks ago they went to the trimmers in Bournemouth. Lovely man by the name of Brian Cates, works from home and does classic trim and upholstery. He came up to drop some other trim off in Kidderminster and swung by mine on the way back to collect the seats. I had sourced 2 new headrests, but in black cloth and 2 new Recaro badges. He is going to strip the seats, rebuild them with new foams and then make new covers out of a mixture of black vinyl, black leather and some original Triumph Diamond Vinyl. This will mean the front seats will still be Recaro's but they will now match the rears. He is also going to recover the new headrests to match. They should be ready next weekend hopefully.

In the meantime he sent me a picture of them stripped down...................oooooo, I hope he knows how to put them back together again!!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 22nd January 2012 2:48pm gmt

Little bits

Busy day spent doing............ not a lot really! Went out shopping this morning to get some more brake pipes made up, run out of hand-cleaner, needed some longer rivets, etc etc............ ended up at the tyre bay getting the tyres put on the front rims ready for the car to come down off the stands.

Fished the manifolds out of the citric acid bath.............. that stuff is amazing, not a spec of rust or corrosion anywhere, even the insides are clean and sparkly! Got them dried off with a hot air paint gun, got them hot then sprayed with several good coats of silver VHT paint............. looking good!

Then it was time for a rest! The Audi was looking sorry for itself and needed a good clean. Spent most of this afternoon getting it looking nice again (don't call me the polisher for nothing!!) Washed, clay bar'd, polished, glass, trim....... all done!

Seats needed a clean and a feed, back soft and supple again................ not looking bad for 100k?!!

Managed to clamber over things to get to Libby's original rear bumper too.................

Now all packaged up ready to be couriered up north to help a fellow Lines Estate owner out who needs a bumper just to make it look right rather than perfect.................

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 14th January 2012 5:33pm gmt

Front suspension finishing

Managed to get a few hours on the Triumph today, starting with re-assembling the nearside front suspension with the new stub axle after my last "incident" with the old one!! It all flew together quite nicely in the end.

Next it was time to fit the Anti Roll Bar. Bit of head scratching needed to try and work out which way up things should go, but after a while it became obvious...........!

Bar the brake lines, the front suspension is now done!

Reassembled the freshly painted servo with new recon kit, then bolted on the new master cylinder.

Then I remembered that I hadn't done anything with the replacement pedal box. I had to get another one as the original one was an auto and this car is going back to manual. Dug it out of its hiding place, quick wire brush to get rid of some rust,

..... then a few good coats of black paint, should be dry by next weekend to bolt on the servo/master cylinder then I can start doing the front brake pipes.

I then fished the old exhaust manifolds out of its soaking solution....... this stuff it magic!!, bare shiney metal, just ready for some VHT paint. Still some minor surface rust where I had to keep turning them as my bowl wasn't deep enough, but I have some more "special" stuff coming on Monday and I have found a deeper bowel, so another little soak will see them perfect and ready for paint.

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 08th January 2012 5:00pm gmt

Stub axle.... take 2 !

Went to see Ted Taylor yesterday and collected the replacement stub axle. In the end we decided it was pointless trying to swap the stub axle, it made more sense to just clean and paint the other spider..... save putting it under any undue stress. Anyway, thank you Ted...... much appreciated. Spent a pleasant few hours talking Range Rovers, doggies and Triumph's!
So today, I cleaned the unit up and then it had a couple of coats of paint..... then hung up to dry.

Whilst I was in a painting mood I also cleaned and painted the bonnet catch assembly..............

................. and the Servo cover.

Mike Weaver had very kindly donated some good exhaust manifolds. The ones supplied with the replacement engine were cracked and the threads in most of the stub holes were shot. Mike gave me a good pair (originals off the 4x4 estate as he he having custom headers built). I stripped them down, wire brushed them and inspected them. All the studs are good, so on with the next process. I made up a few gallons of Bilt Hammer Detox rust killer and dropped them in to soak for a few days...........

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 31st December 2011 2:54pm gmt

Fame again!

Got my January 2012 edition of "Triumph World" through yesterday and whilst reading it I found myself in print again!! Simon Goldsworthy (Editor of TW) had contacted me a few months ago as he had an email enquiry from Scott Davison of New Zealand about my car. It was featured back in 2003 when Mike Collins first bought it, and he was wondering what had happened to it. I replied to Simon, and he printed both in the mag! So, if Scott does read this........ Hi Scott, thanks for the interest, get in touch of you want....... easiest way might be to join the Discussion forum on the 2000 Register website and I'm always on there!!

So, back to Libby. spent an hour stripping down the nearside front hub, to get the spider and stub axle assembly out. It's easy when all the bolts are either clean or new and assembled with copper-slip! So, tomorrow I'm going to see Ted who has a new stub axle for me and the right tools to "persuade" the old one out!! Still can't quite believe I snapped the end off with a normal nut in a socket!....... must be stronger than I thought!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 29th December 2011 7:56pm gmt

One step forward, two steps back!

After a long walk in the park, all 3 girls were fast asleep on the sofa.......... so I spent a couple of hours in the garage. First up was to put the rebuilt PWDA switch on the inner wing........ job done!

Then I fitted the new poly bush for the lower steering column.

Then the rebuilt rack and repainted steering link arm could go on. Sounds simple, but took ages to get everything lined up!

This meant that the offside front suspension is now finished (bar fitting the pads!) and the Anti-Roll bar.

Then came the disaster. Whilst fitting the new nut to the end of the stub axle (the one I lost last time!) for some reason is went tight, then end of the stub axle sheared off!!! I have never seen this before. So, I now need to strip down the front nearside suspension again, and replace the stub axle!!!!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 27th December 2011 5:42pm gmt

I'm Back!! (again!)

I'm back!! Not that I've been anywhere, but I just have not done any work on the Triumph since about June! Most of you know why I have been "distracted", but for those that don't the picture below should speak volumes!!

Anyway, back to car-stuff. I got a little carried away with needing some more space now having 2 children, and the Audi A4 estate is not as big as you might think! So, short term temporary experiment to see how we like living with a gas guzzling 4x4, I bought a beast of a Range Rover. Classic softdash LSE with the 4.2 litre engine, on gas. Awesome, simply awesome........ if you can put up with the terrible fuel economy!

So, after a visit to see Mike Weaver yesterday, I don't know whether he shamed me into it or whether it was just the injection of enthusiasm I needed. So this afternoon, after the girls and I had washed Peppa the Range Rover and "Freddie" the Focus ("George", the Audi didn't need doing!) I dusted off my spanners and had a look at the Triumph. Took an hour of so to remind myself where I got to, and to find all the bits! But, a couple of hours later I had 90% of the nearside suspension assembled.

All I need to do to finish the front now is to order a new stub axle nut (got knows where it went to!), then I can attach the one outstanding steering arm, then the rack can go in, anti-roll bar on, couple of brake pipes and the front will be finished!

Despite the fact that 2 hours in the garage is now making me hurt all-over (lack of practice!) I have now found that not only did I enjoy it, but I'm ready for the next bit now!!
More later, hopefully after not quite as long a gap!

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 27th November 2011 5:38pm gmt

Front Suspension

Friday evening saw me in not so sunny Doncaster with Colin. He offered to build up m front struts for me as he had just done his and could remember what went where! He also very kindly donated some better strut tops and the new thrust washers. So, couple of hours in his garage and they were done....... Pizza time!!

New shocks, new gaiters, new strut top bearings all in nicely powder coated shock tubes, cups and springs............ pretty!

This morning saw me fit the x-member and bolt it up, the I could start putting the suspension together. Spent what seemed like most of the day getting the powder coating off the mating faces and out of all the bolt holes! But, it went together pretty much ok.

New Stag discs and calipers, fully poly bushes, new ball joints, new bearings, all assembled. Just got to do the other side now, then fit the rack and do the brake pipes.

posted by Alan Chattertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152439749530077056noreply@blogger.com 15th May 2011 8:04pm gmt

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