Henham Wings and Wheels

Show season is now well under way, this weekend was Henham Wings and Wheels, at Henham Park, Suffolk. We took along the usual number of cars in a convoy from Bungay on an overcast morning, parking up and putting up the Gazebo and Windbreak.
Car wise attendance seemed to be down, it had chucked it down all Saturday and the forecast was not good, so this may have put some owners off.
My Gold TR7 was sidelined after failing its MOT on Thursday due to poor brake effort on the RH wheel, the cylinder was leaking again, goes to show that seal kits are not worth the bother, lasting less than a month and some 500 miles. I had a new slave cylinder by Friday but couldnt get to fit it, mainly because of the heavy rain, but I was also distracted by Leeds Uniteds efforts to give me a cardiac arrest! They got their promotion to the championship in the end.

Around midday on Sunday the weather brightened, so the flying was not disrupted, and it was quite pleasant, strolling around the cars and watching the flight displays.

2 well restored cars, Alfa Fulvia and Jag.

2 Nice Triumphs, Figaro does not look out of place amongst true classics.

Very clean Escort RS Mexico Mk11, similar to the one I used to own.

Usual CT Norfolk Entrants, Jims early GT6 and Teds TR6 always attracted a crowd.


















The Breitling Wing Walkers doing their stuff, 2 very nice leather cladded girls when they came down and wandered about.

Towed Glider, with I think a Pitts special doing barrel rolls around it.

Some of the Aircraft which flew in.


















The old bill took an interest in Gills FHC early on.

He came back for another look later, so she tackled him, he took out a notebook, starts writing, worried I wander over, turns out he had a TR7, and has a boot rack for sale, now ours, ideal for Classic Le Mans.

Nice vintage cars.

Jasons 2000 eloped again to the NCVC, we will have to bring him back into the fold.

NG TF kit car, based on MG running gear, talking to the owner, seems it was bought the same year as I bought mine. Dont know why he Q plated it, as mine could keep the original reg.

All in a pleasant day, good company, plenty to see and do.

Strut Gaiter Replacement

I replaced the Front Strut Gaitors on the DHC on Saturday, not a job I was looking forward to. I did not want to wrestle with removing the bottom ball joints and the track rod ends, so I firstly removed the tie rod ends from the calipers and hub on both sides, unbolted the track arm from the subframe, removed the front anti roll bar, and unbolted the strut assembly from Turret, propping it up at an angle on axle stand and bricks without stretching the flexi brake too much.

Hub Assembly dropped from Turret.

Next I removed the spring pans, using a spring compressor to release the tension on spring, then removed the split gaitor, bump stop and spring.

Spring Pan Removed.

Whilst suspension was off the car I applied a fair amount of waxoil to the turret/wheelarch area, plus a fair bit over myself!!! Hate the stuff.

Waxoil on Turrets/Inner Wing.

Re-assembly was next, alwys harder than removal! I replaced the nylon bushes on the spring pan with needle roller bearings from S and S Preparations for better slow speed manouvering.

New Gaitor attached to Spring Pan, showing needle roller bearing in place of nylon bush on spring pan, the shocker sticks up through the hole locating on bearing inner face.

Spring, Gaitor/Spring pan and bumpstop where then placed in postion over the strut, then cone and upper mounting fitted and nyloc nut attached to hold in position before removing spring compressor. The strut was then re-assembled loosely to turret and track arm loosely fitted to sub frame.

Next the suspension was compressed by trolley jack to enable the bottom of strut gaitor to be eased over its location on top of strut tube, a tricky and fiddly job, then held in place by tie wrap.

I then repeated for the other side, before wrestling the front anti roll bar in place, I am never sure of the correct way to fit the anti roll bar easily, however I usually compress suspension on both sides so that track arm is at its max outward swing point, I place one end of anti roll bar loosely in one track arm, then with someone under car to guide the other end in, I place one foot firmly on the end, back against my fence, and push like hell, those in Norfolk CT will know of my back problem, so with much grumbling Gill had to do this bit whilst I guided the anti roll bar end in.

Next was to fasten Anti roll bar back to subrame, with anti dive kit blocks and U brackets which did not give any problems, then tightened up all fixings, and fitted track control arms back on.

Job Complete.

I was going to apply some paint to the struts and clean the wheels on Sunday morning but rain has stopped play for a while

Gills FHC came off SORN on Saturday, so we picked that up from the Barn, dumping her Citreon there for 6 months, on the drive back everything seemed OK, so we have now got two Triumphs at home.

Had a few hours of clear weather in the end today, so finished off by painting the front struts, a good clean up of the alloys, then a little spin to check out everything. The needle rollers in the spring pans really do help with slow speed manouvering, parking, etc. Much easier on the arms, by way of checking I also did the same manouveres on Gills FHC which is much harder to park with standard setup.

Drive it Day

Gill and I organised a run for Drive It Day, the run was from Wymondham to Holkham Hall. 10 cars where at the start in cloudy weather, but as they set off the rain came down heavily which was a shame after the fantastic week of weather we had just had. The route took us out of Wymondham, on country roads to Dereham, then on to County School Railway Station for a quick stop. County School, at one time a naval acedemy. then a private school was served by this station until Dr Beeching cut rural branch lines. Now restored, it forms part of the Mid Norfolk Railway, but is not yet connected to their running tracks.
On from County School the run went through pretty North Norfolk villages heading for Holt, then on to the coast at Blakeney, before turning up the coast road to Wells next the Sea, past Morston and Stiffkey and on to Holkham Hall.
We had provided a route description and tulip diagrams, so no one got lost.

By Holkham, the rain had stopped and the sun came out, Gill had arranged parking in front of the Hall, allowing some good photos.
The group where able to sit and eat outside in the courtyard, before taking advantage of the reduced entry to Bygones Museum and the Hall.

We spotted other classics out and about for drive it day, a bunch of Rileys, 4 Reliants, a group of MG,s, including a broken down one, a few Ferraris, a lone E type, and at Holkham Hall some Morris Minors.
On the way home Gill and I saw some Healey 3000's and a couple of TR6's.

We had hoped that some Stag Owners and Wensum TR Reg cars would join us after we supported their events recently! We did have a lone TSSC Herald with us and we made them very welcome.

Getting the route maps.

Daves Mk 2500 PI.

Getting wet at County School.

More cars at County School.

Reliants at County School, including unusual Reliant Fox.

View from Holkham Hall.

Line up outside Holkham Hall.

Early Bentley owned by Earl of Leicester.

Some other older cars in the Bygones Museum.

Cracking Weekend

Its being a cracking weekend here in Norfolk, Sunny all weekend and quite warm. Out and about on Saturday we spotted a Herald estate on French plates, we introduced ourselfs and found they where an english couple visiting relatives for a couple of weeks. They may turn up for the drive it day run next week.
















French registered Herald Estate.

Also took a trip to the lock-up to check on Gills FHC, which is due back on the road in May, usual things, start up, check lights, check brakes not locked on, etc. Could not get in gear, so presumed a stuck clutch, which was easily cured by starting in gear. Quick spin found everything else ok.
As it is back on the road soon I finally had to confess to Gill about the damage to the wing caused when the lock up door had swung against the car in the wind. Needless to say I am not in her good books!!!

Oops!!!


Also took the time on Sunday morning to fit EBC Green stuff brake pads to my 7, only took about an hour. Braking did seem to be improved slightly. With an Mot due soon I noticed that both front shocker gaitors where split, not sure if that means a fail, will have to check with Mot station, whatever its a pig of a job, and means dropping complete front suspension strut. Might also be the right time to fit roller bearings to front strut tops in place of cones for improved low speed steering.

EBC Green stuff Pads ready to be fitted.

The rest of a hot Sunday was spent on a recce for the Norfolk Area Treasure Hunt around The Broads, great driving with the hood down. With only 2 crossings of the River Bure either end of the Broads, and clues on both sides of The Broads there will need to be some careful navigating!

Looking for clues.

Norfolk Inter Club Meeting

Following on the inter club relations theme, the 4 main Triumph Clubs held a small show and shine event at the Bird in Hand, Wreningham, near Norwich on the 12th April.
With some 20 Triumphs attending on a cold, but sunny evening the event was quite well attended, however I think if held a month later we could benefit from more cars and lighter nights.
1st place in the peoples concours, voted for by drivers and passengers was a nice TR3, with 2nd place being taken by our own Ted Williams with his TR6.
Here are a few shots of the evening.

Early arrivals at Wreningham.

Stags in the Sunset.

Some early TR's and a Spitfire.

Judging the peoples concours.

 Smart Stag and PI.

Teds 2nd place TR6.

The TR2 and winning TR3.

Norfolk Area Update

Thought I had better do an update on the Norfolk Area events now the season has started.
Meetings are still well attended,with a few new members,although with the bad weather a few moderns have been seen in Caistor Hotel car park over Jan, Feb, and March, mine included, as I had a brake cylinder leak again.
21st March saw a good contingent of cars from Club Triumph and the Stag Owners Club complete the re-arranged New Years Run, now called the Spring Run!
We where on holiday on the narrow boat, but reports stated that all enjoyed the run.

Some of the runners at Caistor Hall.

Couple more entrants.

At the finish.

Thanks to Keith for the photos.

28th March was the first show of the season, This was Langley Daffodil Day at Langley School near Loddon.
A small show, but well attended with classic cars. We where sidelined with the brake cylinder leak, the TR7 was driveable,but low on silicon brake fluid,I cannot seem to find any silicon fluid to top up in my local motor stores, so had to order on line which did not arrive in time,so we took the modern.
Thankfully there are a large amount of indoor activities, including good food, at Langley where you can keep warm on such a windy and chilly day.

CT Norfolk cars at Langley.



















Steam Traction at Langley.

Easter Bank Holiday Gill and I recced the drive it day run for Club Triumph Norfolk, picking a bad day to do it, shortly after leaving home we where met with an enormous storm, rain and hail so heavy the TRs wipers could not cope and we had to pull over for a while.

Storm approaching.

We had picked an interesting route from maps, and after the storm we converted this into Tulip Diagrams as we went along, hopefully making for some easy navigation for the entrants.

Interesting stop on the drive it day route, restored railway station.

Spotted another couple of Triumphs on route.

This year we have lost the big Triumph event of the year in Norfolk, ie The Mile of Triumphs, therefore the main Triumph Clubs are developing a policy of co-ordination eg:- trying to share runs and events, thus on Easter Bank Holiday, 5th of April, Club Triumph Norfolk, TSSC, and Stag Owners Club where invited to join the Wensum TR Register Breckland Run.

Starting at High Lodge in Thetford Forest this pleasant 62 mile run around the Breckland region of Norfolk looped around the army ranges at Santon Downham, where they train for Afganhistan, around the pretty Thetford Heath area and through the large areas covered by Thetford Forest, before a good meal at The Crown in Mundford. Weather was dull, but the rain held off. For the record there where 40 cars, many of which where Stags and TRs 2 to 6, plus the Club Triumph contingent.

Stag Owners and Club Triumphs at the start point.

Some early TRs.

Having a break at 40 mile point.

Club Triumph cars at the finish.

CT Spitfire at the finish.

Thankd to Wensum TR Register for a well organised run.

Idle TR7

Not a lot to report on the TR7 front from Norfolk, Gills FHC is stored away in the barn as we normally do every winter. Mine is unused and unloved at home, with the combination of bad weather and the short hours at work last year I have had to SORN it for a few months to save some money.
Only work carried out has been the replacement of the BAL needles with some richer BCA needles I aquired from Burlem.
Suspecting wrong needles I had finally found my Triumphtune booklet after a long search, The recommendations for needles listed in the booklet are:

Standard Set up-----BDM needle
+ K+Ns ------------BDA needle
+ extractor manifold----------BAL needle
+ fast road cam-----BCA needle
so with my Stage 2 Cylinder Head Specification of:- Heavy Polish and port and Fast Road Camshaft, the BAL needles where not correct.

You can see the richer, slimmer needle in the middle of this shot. They are quite easy to replace, I also took the float chamber covers off and cleaned out some small particles in chambers, and checked needle valves.

I then tried to tune up as best as I could with a old colour tune kit I have had for a while, dont think its too far out, but I will need to take to an SU specialist when re-taxed in March for a proper tune up.
I have to say I have missed using the car, but with the weather we have had it is best I had it SORNed as temptation to use it in the snow would have been too great!! I would have ended up in a ditch.