Trust No One Part 2

So half shafts are off the car, managed to grab this not very good photo of one before they where taken away. Clearly shows how the bearing and spacer are either not pressed on enough, or they have moved, bearings and oil seal should be tight against plate, I cant see how its moved as they need 2 tons of force to press on. Perhaps they had a first day apprentice on the job. No further progress as they have not received new bearings, so another week of the road.

Trust no one!!!

To say I am p---d off is an understatement. My tales of woe go on! As has been recorded here on my blog I had my axle reconditioned before Christmas by a transmission expert, highly recommended by a few Norfolk people with classics, the re-conditioning included crown wheel and pinion, diff bearings, pinion bearing, and wheel bearings on the halfshafts.

When I re-fitted the complete axle to the car, it seemed OK, and although not totally quiet, the horrible whine had gone.

It has got noticeably noisier as the weeks have gone by, last Friday I noticed that on the straight, reasonably quiet, but on a long sweeping bend there tends to be a noise from either side, suggesting wheel bearing problem.

So further investigation was needed.

I jacked up the rear wheels, and noticed a good 1/4" play on the rear wheels, both sides, I could physically pull the wheel in and out by this much which explains the noise.

I took the wheel off, and pulled out the halfshafts to find the bearing retainer collars ULC2350 are fitted the wrong way round, they have a groove round them for the circlip ULC2362 which is not fitted to either halfshaft, the circlip should lock onto a groove on halfshaft to keep collar and bearing in place. This means that eventually the collar and bearing could work loose and move down the shaft, they have!! Either that or the collar was not pressed on far enough in the first place.

Picture showing bearing retainer collar wrong way round, no lip showing on collar, the groove on halfshaft for circlip obscured by retaining collar which has moved.

Diagram clearly showing Circlip ULC2362 and Retaining Collar ULC2350, along with Bearing and Oil Seal. Not totally clear, as I did it wrong in the past, but soon realized, however the experts had the parts as I supplied them wheel bearings, which where a complete kit and they should have seen the circlip when they took off old bearings.

This is how it should be, with lip in retaining collar and circlip ready to be driven down and to lock in position with groove on halfshaft.

Needless to say I have had a few arguments with a less than apologetic supplier. They had the cheek to say take the axle off and bring it in. Now I have them coming to house to remove the half shafts, take away and replace bearings, then return to re-fit! They wont be getting a coffee!

On top of this problem the Kenlowe Fan Thermostatic control unit has now gone bonkers, fan comes on at low temperature and stays on, or works intermittently, even with manual override switch. Fan is Ok when wired to battery. It is the type with the capillary tube into rad hose which I have never liked, I have never got a good seal with this on both my sevens so was going to change anyway. I may try the thermostatic controller with the sensor tube that straps to rad.



New Alternator

Having had the alternator fail, and looking at the ridiculous prices from the top 3 TR suppliers I chose to purchase a much cheaper and similar unit meant for a Dolomite. £50 including postage as opposed to over £86 not including posting, and the same amp loading. This was promptly delivered, however I had to rotate the casing to suit the TR7 and also change the distance tube for bottom pivot, which is shorter on a Dolomite, and swap the longer tube out of my original alternator.

Casing on new alternator TR7 set up on left. Dolomite set up on right. Changing is simple to do, simply remove the plastic end cover, then remove the 3 long bolts, and carefully rotate aluminium casing, taking care not to seperate the Ali casings from the black part of alternator.

Pic shows casing rotated and larger distance tube shown on right for TR7 mounting, failure to swap the distance tube over will result in casing becoming distorted when bottom pivot bolts are tightened, thus internals will foul casing.

That was last weekends job, this weekends was to get Gills Blue FHC trailered to the barn out of the weather. Not a staight forward job as the battery was flat and would not charge up with battery charger, I will get it tested but sure its knackered, more money to be spent, after swapping batteries over from my 7, the next problem was the solonoid was stuck, a quick rocking in gear sorted this. With it started, I then found the clutch was stuck, quick start up in gear and all OK, then the rear brakes where badly stuck, I had to take a hide mallet to drums, then rock back and forth to free them, Finally I noticed the carpets where wet inside, seems as though water runs down door seals, collects in rear corner on top of seal, then spills into footwell, so had to pull out carpets and felt sound deadening to dry out, will investigate later. My mate then turned up with a less than standard car trailer and some planks as the proper trailer was hemmed in by a lorry with keys not handy, getting it on was a bit dodgy but we got it to the barn ok.

Finally got the dammed thing on the trailer.

Battery and Alternator

So after the battery dying on me on the New Year run, I pinched the battery of the wifes Blue TR7 and took the car back to the barn to work on it on last Friday afternoon.
It got me there without problem and seemed to be charging OK.

The rest of the afternoon I chased about for a new battery, firstly having the battery checked, which was confirmed as U/S. Dont know if both my cars wiring is an oddity, but my positive terminal is to the left, which I was told is quite rare on modern batteries of the size I required, I also needed a flat top battery due to the Dis-car-nect device which isolates battery, otherwise I would have to modify cables, again difficult to find as most have an inbuilt handle.

After trying 3 tyre and battery places I eventually found a Unipart battery to fit, this was duly fitted on Sunday, alternator was checked and appeared to be charging OK. No time to have a run out on the Sunday as I had homework!! seized float valve on water tank in loft.

New battery fitted.

So come this Fridays early finish from work, I pick the car up from the barn, get a couple of miles down the road and the ignition warning light comes on and stays on. Pull over, turn off, start up, no warning light, off we go again only for ignition light to come on again when near home. At home, a quick check with the meter confirms not charging. So I took off the alternator, checked the brushes which to my untrained eye look OK, and gave it a good clean out, plenty of dust in there which was cleaned away. What I can see of the diodes looks ok, ie: no burn marks and all wiring contacts look OK. After re-fitting the unit the light is on straight away, and still not charging. Not a lot else I can do, so looks as though its gonna swallow more money. Will pinch the alternator of GIlls FHC for a week or so.

New Year Activity

Having got the Gold DHC up and running before Christmas, I had to fit a new water hose to Gills Blue FHC. This was the rubber hose under the inlet manifold, a bugger to get at. This entailed removing the K and N Filters and backing plates, dissconnecting the throttle linkage, then removing the steel heater pipe at the union under manifold to release the rubber pipe. After re-fitting everything I ran engine up to temperature to check all was OK. Had to fix this at home as the car is now out of tax and mot, thus marooned in the back garden. Should be in the barn out of the rain and away from the cat who likes licking water off it, but with my luck I dare not risk the 12 mile trip to the lock up.

I need to get it under cover soon so will have to borrow a trailer.

Thirsty Cat.

New Year Run - SOC Frostbite 2011

On the 2nd of January Club Triumph where invited on the Stag Owners Club Frostbite Run, a run of about 50 miles on a cold, damp Sunday. 8 Club Triumph and around 12 Stags started out from Harford Tesco, taking in some wet and muddy roads, baulked by an unscheduled road block, in my neck of the woods I knew a detour that added a few miles to the run to halfway point for coffee and cake at a Garden Centre.

Club Triumph Cars at the start.

Stags at the start.

More Club Triumph cars at start.

More Stags.

At the Halfway Halt.

After the coffee stop the run carried on through the Tas Valley, yes we have valleys and hills in Norfolk, only smallish, before heading for the finish at the Dove Inn at Poringland. About 7 miles away from the finish, I noticed the heater fan slowing down and voltmeter showing way down, No warnings from the ignition light so I dashed to the finish point. After stopping in the car park I thought I had better try to start again, the battery was so flat I only got one click out of the starter relay, then nothing.

Home was only about 17 miles away, and I realised I had to get the car home quick whilst still in daylight, so got a jump start and caned it home, returning quickly in the modern so we could still join in the meal.

At the Finish.

I must remember on one of these runs to find somewhere photogenic for a shot of the cars together.

We enjoyed a deserved pint and a good value roast dinner and sweet, and a little bit of chit chat before heading home. thanks to Stag Owners Club for the invite.

Norfolk Area Events

We are now starting to get a few events and run details in for 2011, I will start a 2011 events page over on my website shortly.

Christmas Acitivity

A busy time was had prior to Christmas, Firstly I finished the axle re-installation on the DHC, fitted the brakes, then after bleeding, took for a long test drive. Great to get back in the car after the prolonged cold spell, noticed a big improvement in drive train noise levels, further checks under the car also found a badly perished gearbox mounting, so a new one was ordered and fitted. Prop also has a bit of play, so that needs attention too. Having racked up the miles in the last 2 years as a near daily driver I am beginning to pay for all the hard work the car has done.

Perished Mounting and New Mounting.

After this Gill and I attended a rather flash party at my current employers, Lotus Cars, They pulled out all the stops, massive marquees erected, free champagne, and a lavish meal for around 1500 employees, dancing to a fantatastic group, more free drink, and free gifts of an exlusive model of the new Esprit, and handouts of promotional material, tee shirts, etc from the Paris Motor Show. The CEO unvieled the Lotus Renault F1 team colours, also on show was the line up of the 5 new proposed cars.

Lotus Renault F1 car.

Lotus Elite.

Lotus Elan.



Lotus Esprit.

Exiting times at Lotus, hope they get round to making them all, although I think they won't all be UK made.

Following this we had another lavish meal, The Club Triumph Norfolk Area Christmas meal, at Diss Golf Club, I think there was about 25 of us there, everyone enjoyed this, with silly balloons and other fun items to keep amusment levels high and an ongoing music quiz as the evening progressed.

Table set for revellers. Heres to another good year for the Club.

December Update

Thought an update was due for December, I have had the master cylinder back for a few weeks for the blue DHC, but it was always too cold to work on it where it is immobilized in the garden.

We did not have much snow in Norfolk, but it turned into a solid block of ice overnight that took ages to thaw.
I would recommend Past Parts for any brake items, they did a good job and a quick turn round and having a look around the workshop they are capable of restoring brake parts for almost every classic.

Re honed and sealed cylinder.
Once there was a break in the weather this was fitted, the brakes where bled with my new Gunson easy bleeder, uses the air in the tyres to force fluid into system, another useful tool. After sorting a dead battery, the car was started only to find a water leak on the hose under carbs, probably frost damage despite fresh anti freeze so I have still not got the car to the barn for winter.

The DHC got its axle back last week with a new crown wheel and pinion fitted, again good service from a local transmission repair specialist, this was fitted to car last week, but I still have to fit brake shoes and brake springs on, it was just too cold in the barn, my hands where freezing. Hoping for a mild spell at the weekend to get this sorted.