Wednesday, October 12, 2005

All quiet on the Western Front

Not much happening at the moment... baby duties and a long holiday in the UK have stopped any motorsport fun for the moment although a Triumph only sprint at the rebuilt Collie circuit beckons in November. Humph is busily fitting a spare Quaife LSD and 3.7 ratio I sold him last week to try and be more competitive.

The family 2500auto saloon is behaving itself.. oil consumption for the first 5000 miles was a worry after the rebuild (S/H pistons with new rings) but it has now settled down nicely using a 25W/60 Penrite blend to about 1500 miles per pint which is OK.
I plan on rebuilding the carbs with new jets and needles to sort out a slight weep and try and get the mixture closer to ideal. It is currently doing 22mpg overall (including a fair bit of towing and town driving) which is Ok for a 2500 auto but I would like to squeeze another 10% improvement by getting the mixture spot on. The fact that most 2500's over here are still running after close to 30 years and cover vast mileages (300,000 miles is not uncommon) means the carbs get very worn and mixture adjustment get increasingly vague!!!

I have fitted a new re-cored radiator for the summer heat. It has much more open core pattern which will hopefully cure the high temps seen last year (admittedly whilst running in with a very tight engine) .

I have bought a new hood for the Stag (mohair :-) ) and am currently fettling the hood frame which was rather abused and sad. Hopefully this will be fitted in a week or two so that I can work on baby seat mounts in the rear for Josie.

Still searching for some Ferodo race pads for the PI...