Monday, July 31, 2006

What every good workshop needs....


Got this from a mate on Saturday... a mighty work bench FREE....

You can never have enough decent benches :-)

Note my recent purchase ...a late model TR with optional metallic type paint and sporty 5 spoke alloys....

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Future brake upgrades






Got the above shots from a very kind guy in NZ who is building a mean 2.5 PI.

http://www.triumphowners.com/931


They show exactly what I have been planning to do to improve pedal feel and consistency with my Willwood calipers which my Stag M/C currently fails to provide!!!


Monday, July 24, 2006

Wanneroo Sprint

Cool start... this was my Stag covered in ice at 7am !!!!
Just been playing at Wanneroo circuit courtesy of the WASCC (West Australian Sporting Car Club) Good day out apart from a rather cold start when I thought my fingers might fall off with frostbite... (no heater in the white thing!)
Humphs 2.5PI (ex 2000) cactus and black.... nice tyres but they're too soft!!
The team ready for the off ... below are a couple of TR's hat also turned up ... Andy Millers just pipped the blue one and easily saw off the red one.


Andy Millers lovely TR6 ... original paint!!! plus a few subtle mods End the day best times were as follows

White Mk1 71.8secs

Cactus Mk1 75.3secs

Red TR6 (Andy Miller) 75.8secs

Blue TR6 75.9secs

Shiney Red TR6 83secs

Full results here (my entry listed as name only number 72)

For myself it was a bit disappointing... my brakes are no better (ie crap) and I didn't better my time from last year (71.7secs).

The average speed and times keep improving so what would have once been a good time now barely gets you in the bottom 1/3 of the placings!!!



Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Near disaster with a dodgy dizzy

Picture the scene... I've been working all wednesday rebuilding my wifes main car... after a little fettling of carb linkages , choke settings and a good clean I pronounce the car fit and healthy.

I have driven the car about 300 miles on Thurday without a hiccup to get some initial miles on a tight engine and it hasn't missed a beat.

It's Sunday lunchtime and we're heading down to the coast for a big Birthday lunch with Humph Hale (fellow PI racer etc)..........

About 10 miles from home (it's about 30 to the coast) Del hears a nasty screech from the engine which combines with the rev-counter going nuts. Bugger I think it's either the dizzy or (worse case scenario) the drive gear picking up on the new cam .... YIKES...

Anyway it still drives perfectly at this point so I decide to continue to lunch amid general abuse aimed at old cars in general... the noise gets worse and the rev counter gets more random... but we make it there no worries...

Over a beer and lunch me and Humph decide it must be the dizzy bushes running dry and picking up... a check of the shaft confirms plenty of play... we limp home... literally as the wear gets terminal and the points and hence timing goes very random up the big hill out of Perth ... much abuse, etc...... :-)

Get home at 3.30pm and quickly bung in a brand new 43D dizzy with Pertronix (bought from Witor cheap I had recalibrated it and was saving it for the white car .. well that was my best excuse why it wasn't on Del's car) and all is well....

Just another near disaster ( I was flying to work Monday so Del could have been stranded) in the life of old cars as everyday ones.....

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Back on Track


Well the engines back together so it's back to installing the EFI.

I have worked out with the help of Rick Patton how to reprogram and datalog the ECM (the brain of the ECU) . He has a mad supercharged TR6 well worth checking out

http://topshamautoparts.com/tr6/index.htm


Takes all of 1 minute with the flash burner and downloaded software.

I am now waiting on some injectors from custom efi as John has decided my engine has the potential to be producing too much power for the original injectors he included in the kit.

First job will be to set up the loom and get the engine running with the 3D ignition and check that the sensors are doing their stuff using the Win ALDL logging software http://www.customefis.com/winaldl.html

This will be with the engine still running on carbs but with a 3D ignition map and O2 and MAP sensor in operation. It will be interesting to see how well the car is running with the present SU carb set up

Monday, July 03, 2006

Camshaft fitting and start up booked for Wednesday :-)

Del has finally dropped the cam of at Markich and this will be fitted Tuesday then it's my job to bolt the head and ancilaries back on Wednesday. Should be back on family duties by evening...

Stag has been performing admirably as everyday family car..about 400-500 miles a week. Just wish the heater was a bit better on frosty mornings.

Glad I fitted the kiddy seat mounts... Josie seems completely unfazed about being loaded from the back under the soft-top frame... just a big pram for her :-) .

Finally fixed a fuel smell on the Stag which has bugged me for a while... turned out to be a wasp nest up the fuel breather... whipped the tank out and was glad to find no rot or bad news... just dusty mimosa paint.
More stories and pictures soon.....