Gear problem

Becky made it on the HCR. The one thing I (and my co-driver) noticed that she would sometimes drop out of 5th and into neutral. I consulted my local Acclaim guru who thinks that it is a worn engine torque rod bush. When I got back to Anita's I checked it and sure enough there was lots of play so I'll be getting a replacement from said Acclaim guru. It would also explain the judder I've experienced when setting off in 1st gear.

Good to go

Becky's now ready for the HCR. I checked all the fluids and topped up where necessary. I even found a couple of jobs to do on Becky. Last night I repositioned the steering wheel as it wasn't aligned when the front wheels were straight and I don't want Tony (my co-driver on the HCR) to be caught out by it. I think I know why Becky lost all that coolant. The top hose wasn't fully in at the thermostat cover so I loosened the clip, pushed the hose all the way in and tightened up the clip. Hopefully, it should be watertight now.

Hot stuff!

The past few days I've noticed that Becky's been oveheating whiile standing in traffic. Just what I needed a few days before Club Triumph's Historic Counties Run. When I got home from work yesterday I let Becky cool down, took the radiator cap off and topped up the radiator. I reckon I put about a litre of water in and ever since she's been fine. I will be rechecking on Saturday morning before I set off. I'll be checking the tyre pressures when I fill up with pertol today after work.

Steering

I've now refitted the steering column bracket and the dash has been refitted. I'm hoping to have another go at getting the old rack out once I can remove the coupling. After that it should be plain sailing fitting the rack from the spares car and then fitting the rebuilt steering column.

Back to Baby Blue yet again!

Work is now progressing on removing all the steering components. The steering column came out with some difficulty. I had to remove the bracket which involved taking the dash off. The real breakthrough came when I removed the top bolt from the coupling and the steering column then came out. The rack is nearly ready to come out once I've removed the coupling which won't come out for me at the moment. At last I was able to fit my new steering column bush. I've also found out that the 1500fwd has solid rack mountings so the poly bushes I've bought are useless but I can use them with Snowdrop.

Insurance

The insurance renewal for Becky is coming up so I phoned Lancaster to see how much it would cost to renew with then and they quoted me the best part of £400! As Snowdrop was insured with Footman James I thought I'd try them and they were able to add Becky to the policy for an extra £89 and better still both cars now have unlimited mileage! Well worth it. Becky's front bumper is now creased so I'll be straightening it tonight.

At long last!

I've finally done some more work on Baby Blue. I fitted the petrol tank that was in the spares car. I've also fitted the filler pipe and vent hose. I just need to connect up the fuel line and I can then put some petrol in the tank and fire up the car once again. I was able to fit everything back in the boot that I'd taken out! Just shows how much space you can save by being organised!

Back to Baby Blue (again!)

I was hoping to trial fit Baby Blue's petrol tank but I've just looked out of the window and it's raining so it's probably not a goer. I was reading the workshop manual and the steering rack seems easy enough to remove. None of this "raising the engine a few inches". Just undo the track rod end balljoints, remove the mounting bolts, undo the bottom pinch bolt, separate from the steering column and it should come out from the driver's side. We shall see...
I've not had chance to do anything with Snowdrop's rear axle and Toledo's axle is giving good service so no rush just yet. I've still gotta sort out the reversing light switch as well.
I seem to be doing less mileage in Becky recently. Since I filled up last Thursday I've only done 100 miles. in the space of 6 days)

Did some work on Becky

I bought a Sony CD player from a mate for £30 and I fitted it into Becky yesterday after work. I removed the original radio and the cassette deck and after an hour it was all done. The radio even has RDS and it will play MP3s as well so I'm quite pleased with it.

Parts arrived today.

The gaskets, oil seals, brake drum screws and flexible brake hose that I'd ordered from Rimmer's arrived in the post today. I filled Snowdrop's petrol tank and put some STP fuel treatment in. I've also bought some degreaser and some more brake fluid. I'll be having a relaxing night at home tonight. I still can't get over how quiet the diff is!

Done it!

The axle swap on Snowdrop is complete. It took me just over four hours from start to finish and it has transformed the car. I can't get over how much quieter it is. I can now refurbish the original axle at my leisure.

At last I've got the rear axle off the Toledo. It took a bit of struggling but I got there in the end! Hopefully, it will be a bit easier when I do Sonwdrop's. We shall see... 

Taxing stuff

The road tax for Snowdrop is due at the end of this month and the reminder from DVLA duly arrived through the post this morning. As Snowdrop had one of the computer generated MoT certificate I decided to apply for the tax disc online. It was easier than I expected & I didn't even need to supply any insurance or MoT details.
Tonight, I'm hoping to finish removing the Toledo's rear axle. Hopefully when I do Snowdrop's it will be much quicker.

Other stuff done

I've now covered the Toledo so things look a bit better now. Last night I went round the exhaust system undoing the manifold joint and reconnecting it with some exhaust putty. I also did the downpipe-to-centre section and now my exhaust is totally leak-free. I'm not 100% happy with the tappets so I'll have to recheck them and then I can recheck the timing. As to the diff problem, I'm now thinking about doing the axle swap from the Toledo. It appears to be less work than a diff swap and seems easy enough. We shall see...

Tappets

I had a go at setting the tappets on Snowdrop last night (for the first time ever!) and it made things worse so I left it until I went back after work today armed with my Haynes and a Gunsons Clickadjust. Job done and Snowdrop is running a bit better now! Well worth it! I also bought a new rocker gasket and I used some sealant when I refitted the rocker cover being careful not to tighten it up too tightly! When driving I noticed that the temperature gauge wasn't registering. It turned out that I' forgotten to reconnect the wire which I'd taken off to avoid it fouling the rocker cover when I was refitting it. The indicator problem has now mysteriously disappered and when I was jet washing Snowdrop one of the number plate lamps came apart so I had to spend a few minutes putting it back together. I've also gotta sort out the reversing lamp switch. One of the wires needs to be soldered back on. There's always something that needs doing on these cars!

Just a bit more

My mate Brian told me that I'll need to adjust the valve clearances on Snowdrop before I recheck my ignition timing. She'll be running even better after this. At least I don't have to spend any more money!

Cooking on gas!

I cleaned the timing marks and when I checked with the timing light the timing was way out so I set it statically then I checked it with the engine running. I gave the carburettor a clean with some carburettor cleaner. I took the plugs out and regapped them, (should've done it when I fitted them) increased the points gap to get the dwell angle down and it has done the trick! Snowdrop is running even better than ever. I checked the RPM and it was a bit high but at least she's idling. I took Snowdrop on a road test and she perfomred quite well but I discovered another problem. Whenever I indicated left the light would stay on constantly. I soon found out the cause. The left front indicator bulb wasn't working. That particular lens is broken so I might as well replace it at the same time.

Not good

I thought Snowdrop would run better but now she's running worse. I've just fitted new points and condenser. I've bought an automotive multimeter and a timing light. The dwell angle is 62 deg which is more than it should be. (according to the data sticker on the inside of the bonnet) Worse still, I think the timing is way out but the timing marks need a good clean before I'm sure about that one.

And here is the engine bay after I'd cleaned it up a bit and done the rocker cover. A big improvement. I've also replaced the distributor cap, rotor arm and spark plug leads so hopefully, Snowdrop will run a bit better. They were overdue for replacement! 

I managed to get everything done that needed doing. First I jacked up the rear of Snowdrop and put her on axle stands to refit the rear section of exhaust. While the back end was up I started her up and put her in gear to trace the whining noise. It was defintely the diff. I've already arranged to have the pinion bearing and oil seal fitted at my mate's a week on Monday. The boot light was easily fixed. The switch just needed connecting and it worked. I removed the rocker cover, cleaned it up (inside and out) repainted it, fitted a new gasket and put it back on. The pic is the engine before I started on the rocker cover.