Monday 26 September 2011

DHC back home at last

Since this afternoon the DHC is back home again from the 10CR. Time to invest the damage caused by the little rock that crossed our path on the Friday evening of the event ...



Overall impression is that the damage is not too bad. All damage is to parts that can easily be removed from the car for repairs or a new coating. And the damage to the front spoiler looks as if it can be repaired fairly easily. Not visible is the damage to the wheel rim, that'll need a fair amount of attention.

Sadly somewhere between Austria and home (but probably in the workshop in Austria that inspected the car before it could be sent home) they managed to chip the paint on the front quite badly. On both front panel and bonnet all layers of coating are completely gone. Looks like they closed the bonnet with something wedged in between bonnet and nose panel ...



It will come as no surprise that this one will be continued. Glad that my insurer has promised they will pay for the extra damage and then will try to get their money back one way or another. But the repair will be very difficult/expensive to get done properly. So not very happy at the moment.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Preparations for the return of the DHC

At the moment the DHC is still not back home, estimate is that she’ll be back home early next week. But I haven’t been completely idle. As I don’t want to take of the gear box for the next ten years or so, I have decided to go for a rebuild gear box. So last week I went through my spare gearboxes in search for the most suitable ‘box for a rebuild. In the end I decided on the original ‘box that was fitted to GB-16-YP at Canley early in 1980. A bit in doubt as to its serial number though ...



And although this ‘box has covered over 200.000 kilometres, it felt to be in fairly good condition, with hardly any play on the bearings. So first thing to do was dismantle the ‘box, to get a clear picture of the internals. I started with an inspection of the oil that came out if it. Was good to see that is was fairly clear and didn’t contain any brass contamination ...



With the oil drained, it was time to start dismantling it in earnest. First part of the ‘box to remove was the rear extension containing fifth gear and the oil pump, which was fairly easy once the rear flange was removed (easy thanks to a proper air powered wrench).





Was good to see that (again) the internals of the oil pump were in fairly good condition, especially regarding its high mileage. And the first gears (fifth) to come into view also looked in good condition. Only some slight play of the gear on the main shaft, so some new needle bearings needed here.





After everything from the fifth gear was removed, it was time to separate the main casing from the mounting plate. Again no hidden horrors. All gears look in good condition with no noticeable play on the main shaft.




Only real sign of any wear was visible on the selector forks. Will see if I can get pair of proper (original) new ones, otherwise these will be reused as they aren’t that badly worn.



All in all this ‘box looks like a good choice for the rebuild. The only parts showing real signs of wear are the main bearings. Although there was no noticeable play, they all have visible signs of wear on the outer races

Saturday 17 September 2011

10 Countries Run 2011


Thursday, the 8th of September, saw the start of the 5th edition of Club Triumphs 10 Countries Run. Four years ago I chose the (than still unrestored) DHC to do the event, though I did have some doubts this time, when preparing the car for the event. But I decided to ignore my gut feelings. 
As in previous editions we started from Steenvoorde in the north-west of France. This again being the continental start for the event. We arrived there fairly early, so we had a few hours to relax and have a coffee or two, while we waited for the first of the entrants to arrive. After an hour and a half the serene quite of the service area was disturbed by the arrival from Calais of the first of the teams.


After saying hello to some of the more familiar faces, and collecting the starters-pack from Ellis, we also hit the road. First bit of the route through northern France wasn’t to interesting with mainly motorways to get a decent amount of miles under the wheels quickly. But also a few stretches of the famous routes nationale and routes départementale, like the D961 near Mecquignies.


The ”official” route would take us from Steenvoorde via Lille, Valenciennes, Hirson and Charleville-Mézières, for the first control stop. Turned out to be rather crowded with Triumphs there. In the end we managed to find a parking space just outside the city’s centre, in front of a Turkish kebab shop. Needless to say we didn’t bother to walk back into the city centre to collect a signature for the road book! And the meal was good.
After the meal we headed further east towards Sedan and Carignan, but after that we decided to take a “shortcut”. Instead of heading into Belgium (which we had done already) and Luxembourg at Thonelle, we headed south-east towards Montmédy, following the D643 through Longuyon and Briey towards Metz, were we would pick up the official route again. It turned out to be a very nice and relaxing road to drive with little traffic. And during this stretch I again was reminded of the wonderful world of Lucas - Prince Of Darkness. The dashboard lights were working perfectly, great! Not so great was the fact that by this time the clutch had developed a tendency to stick rather randomly. This meant that quick gear changes were out of order, which definitely hampered progress on the rest of the run. A sign of things to come !?
But after some 100 kilometres we re-joined the official route, just south of Metz, taking the A31 towards Nancy. This gave us also the opportunity to fill up the fuel tank just south of Pont-à-Mousson. Was again a pleasant surprise to see that the car easily managed well over 10 km/litre. (±30 mpg) on the Route Nationals.


With both fuel tank and ourselves replenished we hit the road again, following the A31 motorway till Nancy, where we joined the A33 towards Lunéville and after that the N59 towards Baccarat. We actually followed the N59 all the way to Sainte-Dié-des-Vosges, where we left it to enter the Vosges Mountains This turned out to be (again) a great and challenging drive over passes with interesting names like the Col du Calvaire, Col du Wettstein or Col du Platzerwasel.
But the most challenging of them all was the Collet du Linge which was covered in dense fog. At some places visibility was less than 10 metres. It will come as no surprise that our average speed suffered a bit more here. And to add to the fun the wipers decided to go on strike. Luckily it happened just when we came out of the mist. With the weather turning dry at that moment, I decided to keep going for a while till we’d find a parking space with a street lantern in one of the villages we’d pass through. This we found in Sondernach, in deepest darkest France.


My initial thought was either a blown fuse, which would be easy to get sorted, or a knackered motor, which wouldn’t. I checked all the fuses, but they all turned out to be OK, bugger! As I couldn’t find any loose connections and don’t carry spare windscreen wiper motors across Europe, there was nothing much I could do, but carry on and hope for the best. But while setting of again there was some doubt in the back of my mind, so I stopped again to check something else. The wiper motor was still hot, but it hadn’t been working for more than half an hour. Weird to say the least! I switched them on again and nothing happened. But when I gave them a little push, they moved to their parking position under their own steam. The joys of Lucas electrics. Clearly the motor is to gutless to move the wipers over an (almost) dry windscreen!
But we could carry on safely and keep enjoying the roads till we hit the N66 just west of Cernay. From there it was a short trip through Mulhouse towards the next control stop in the village of Bartenheim. When we arrived at this 4th control stop at around 03:20 hrs, we were reminded of the fact that our chosen route might have been shorter in distance, but clearly not in time. The parking lot was filled with Triumphs, and after switching of the engine the only sounds that could be heard was some light spannering going on and lots of snoring! We tried to get some sleep here, but for me that was a rather futile exercise. In the end we left just an hour after we arrived, heading for Switzerland. Aim was to be on top of one of the first passes at sun rise.
The First stretch through Switzerland was fairly easy so my navigator decided it was now time to sleep a bit. Needless to say I promptly missed the exit for the A8 towards the Brünigpass. As I only found out my error when we were halfway the southern shores of the Vierwaldstätter See, I decided to carry on from there straight to the Sankt Gotthard Pass.


Needless to say that there was still no one there to sign the road book! Added bonus was that we reached one of the, in my opinion, most beautiful passes in the Alps just before sunrise.


Especially the old Tremola Straße with its small cobblestones is an absolute brilliant drive. And because it was so gorgeous and completely free of traffic at that early hour, I drove it twice just for the fun of it!


And with the sun coming up, it was time to put down the roof and start enjoying the roads, the scenery and the weather. As these pictures taken on of the  San Bernardino Pass illustrate very well.





The last really enjoyable pass was the Splügen Pass, an old border crossing between the Swiss Rheinwald and the Italian San Giacomo Valley. This still is a very nice pass, but sadly here (as many other passes in the area) time didn’t stand still and the best bits, the narrow tunnels and very sharp hairpins, have been widened to accommodate the ever larger mouse grey Euro boxes …
After the Splügen Pass traffic slowly but surely became more and more dense. Especially the Passo del Maloja, between Chiavenna and Sankt Moritz was a bit of a disappointment, with long traffic cues due to roadworks, lorries and Ultra slow Camper vans (mostly “Grey Wave”). Luckily the Bernina again was much quieter, giving me a chance to have some fun with an Aston Martin Vantage (the modern variant). It won’t come as a surprise that as soon as the road was wide enough and with no oncoming traffic, the Aston whooshed past and quickly vanished out of sight. I wished I had ‘t Kreng with me! From there on everything seemed to go very quickly. After lunch on top of the Ofen Pass we were over the gorgeous (and partially unsurfaced) Umbrail Pass and on top of the Stilfserjoch before we knew it. Even got caught by the webcam on the top!


And although the views from the top of this pass are still as impressive as ever it has lost much of its old time charm.


Only one reason for that, it’s far too crowded with stupid and selfish people who don’t know how to behave or drive properly. Nicely illustrated by this mouse grey Euro box on the descent of the northern slope ...


But in the end we managed to get off the mountain at around half past three, time for a, by now rather traditional stop in Sponding, and a well-deserved beer!


So far so good with no real problems, although the clutch still had a tendency to stick a little so now and then. But on the positive side the engines’ temperature remained rock steady irrelevant of the load and the conditions. Clearly the new viscous coupling I fitted two weeks ago is paying off. Even the fuel consumption remained very good, still averaging at around 10 km/ltr. or just over 30 mpg.
And not unimportant, the brakes, although pretty hot on some occasions, remained very effective so far. We also used the stop to make some plans for the rest of the day. My GPS calculated an estimated time of arrival at our hotel near Sankt Ulrich of 18:20 hrs. And that was via the quickest route. As it had been a long day, we decided to go for this option.
Sadly just before we reached our hotel I managed to misjudge the last corner of the day, clipping it too tight. As a result I got into the grass verge, were a hefty piece of rock had been waiting just for that to happen!


The damage; one shredded tyre, a bent wheel, a damaged front spoiler and some minor damage to the RH front suspension. Nothing I could do but walk to the hotel to get some transport for the luggage and navigator, and start phoning around for some emergency repairs and a new tyre (yes, I don’t carry a spare wheel). Didn’t go to plan, so I went for a few beers and a good meal.



Luckily next morning turned out much better, the tow truck that had been promised for the previous evening turned up nice and early. The damage to the suspension was negligible (some parts need to be re-coated) and the bearing seemed OK. Only the rim was bent a bit, but nothing a few well aimed blows with a hefty hammer couldn’t sorted. Not good for the coating, but that was damaged already by the rock. Biggest problem was the tyre, 185/70x13” isn’t what you call a current size. In the end I had to go for a compromise (165/70x13”) just to get us home half decently, but the car was road worthy again.
And just before 10 o’clock I was back at the hotel, to have a cup of coffee and to say goodbye to the friends and staff. So by the time the first Triumphs appeared in the Val Gardena, we set off for the second day. But instead of taking the main road to the west and the A22 Brenner Motorway, we took the old road which was more northward bound. Turned out as a big advantage, as it gave us some views off the A22 before joining it. It was jammed with traffic. So instead of taking the A22 we took the old road again, the SS12 heading parallel to the motorway. Glad we did it, as the traffic jam stretched as far as Sterzing, where we should have left the A22 for the Jaufenpass.
But by the time we reached the foot of the Jaufenpass the tourists and day-trippers were starting to emerge, so the run up the pass was at a fairly sedate pace.


This prompted my decision to stop for lunch at the Alpenrose, in Walten, mostly because we passed it around lunch time. But they also have a nice balcony with a lovely view, overlooking the pass road and the valley beyond. So while having lunch we could enjoy the sight of the first Triumphs heading down towards the last proper pass of the day, the Timmelsjoch.
With our lunch finished we also headed in that direction. Despite the very fine weather the road wasn’t too crowded, and we could maintain a nice pace. The car was still behaving quite nicely, although just under the top of the Timmesjoch it developed a slight rumbling noise. It sounded like it was coming from the left hand rear, and only occurred  when turning sharp to the right. But as we came over the top of the pass at around 3 o’clock, while changing down a gear, to drive into the parking area, there was a dull crack from underneath the car,  and all drive was lost. With the ‘box still in gear I stopped the car and released the clutch, nothing happened. Could either be a broken clutch, gearbox or snapped half shaft. But when I looked underneath the car the prop shaft was where it should be, but it wasn’t spinning. So definitely the problem was in the transmission, either the clutch or the gear box. Exit 10 Countries Run and goodbye finisher awards!


Time to get the phone out to get us of the mountain. And in between several phone calls for a recovery truck, there was not much else we could do but wait and enjoy the views and the other cars, most of whom still had to pass the Timmelsjoch by that time.

Picture thanks to Howard B




By half past five I had another phone call, just to check what was keeping the recovery truck from showing up. They told me someone had been up there over an hour ago and that there had been no one there. As I had been outside all the time, with a sharp eye on the road from the Austrian side I couldn’t agree with them. The long wait went on. Luckily out of the fog the last Triumphs to come over the top of the Timmesljoch that day, appeared to keep us a little company and to liven up the wait.


But at a quarter past seven in the evening we were all on our own on top of an ever foggier, darker and lonelier Timmelsjoch. Even the restaurant had closed for the day and the staff had left the mountain. A typical case of it is lonely at the top!


Half an hour later the recovery truck emerged from the foggy darkness at last!


After that it was down the mountain to the village of Sölden. Here we found a hotel for the night, thanks to the driver of the recovery truck. He even managed to persuade the cook to wait for our arrival, and prepare a meal for us. And a very nice meal it was!


After which I spent the rest of the evening on the phone to get us home, all very frustrating. Always nice to see that in such cases no one from the insurance companies gives a damn. They screw up the first recovery, leaving us for 5 hours on top of a mountain and then refuse point blank to get things sorted properly (“sorry we can’t reach any one this late”).
In the end I managed to find a hire car through the driver from the recovery truck the next morning. And at 10 o’clock on the Sunday morning we were in a taxi and heading for Innsbruck, to pick up a nice low mileage Dutch Ford Focus estate hire car that needed returning to the Netherlands. Very convenient!


We left Innsbruck and headed north-west towards the finish at Rolduc Abbey by 11:30 hr. The drive was rather eventful too, with lots of traffic jams due to just too much traffic on the Fernpass, a broken down car in the fast lane near Ulm, and a burning car on the hard shoulder near Frankfurt. The fact that the last holidays ended in Germany that day didn’t help either. Nor did the downpour on the A61. But in between the Focus managed a very decent pace easily cruising at 100mph. We even managed to overtake 5 teams in the last few hours before the finish. And at around half past eight in the evening, we turned onto the drive of Rolduc abbey. Time to ignore the fabulous library and head straight for a few well deserved beers from the abbeys bar...


At the moment (Saturday evening 17th of September)  the car’s still not back, but I have started on the repairs already. I ordered a new (now uprated) clutch kit from AP Racing. I also sourced a useable gearbox from my spare parts collection and started dismantling it in preparation for a rebuild.

Edited 8th of September 2021: As it is 10 years ago that I set of for the 2011 edition of Club Triumph’s 10 Countries Run, I decided to freshen up the pictures using the original digital “negatives”. Also added a few extra pictures and edited the text where necessary. And what went wrong on top of the Timmelsjoch is covered in these two posts;

Monday 12 September 2011

New Sprint engine (part 3)

On returning home from the 10CR’s finish at Rolduc earlier in the day, I was met by a courier (call it timing!) who handed me a medium sized box containing this ...




A Weber DCOE manifold, still being produced by Mangoletsi. And in my case purchased through Demon Tweeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to drop of two bare cylinder heads and the manifold at a local engine builder soon, to get them ported and polished. Also the manifold will be aligned/matched and dowelled to the head. After which I can slowly start on the new Sprint engine. But I have another more urgent job on one of my cars to complete first ...

Sunday 4 September 2011

10CR Preparations Day 2 ...

A fairly early start this morning, as the car’s preparations continued. First thing to tackle were the front brakes. As an inspection some four weeks ago had shown, the pads needed replacing, So that’s what I did. As I haven’t had time to pay a visit to nearby brake specialist C&C Parts, I took the pads from the attic that came with this brake set when I purchased it many years ago from S&S Preparations. Hopefully they are up to the job, will know next week. But more interesting were the pads that came of the car. They definitely were past their prime, showing clear signs of some excessive heat ...




With the pads changed, it was time to check and clean the front suspension ...


And the rear brakes and suspension. Brakes at the rear were fine, but I am a little undecided on the condition of the left hand half shaft bearing. It has a bit of lateral movement, which isn’t to worrying. What worries me more though is the fact that there was a fair amount of grease, which had escaped from the bearing. A discussion point for tomorrow afternoon, when a friend comes over to assist with flushing/bleeding the brakes and clutch.


After lunch I busied myself with a job that wasn’t really necessary from a reliability point of view. But as I had to take of the original starter motor to sort a rattling heat shield, I took the opportunity to change the rather heavy original starter for a modern light weight one ...


On the left 3.5 kg and on the right 7.5 kg! Fitting took slightly longer than planned as I had to adapt the wiring a little to get a proper fit. But the end result looks rather nice, with much more clearance from the exhaust on all sides ...


While in the Alps earlier this summer, I found that the temperature was wandering up and down more than what I am used to with my TR7's. Having checked various possible problem areas, in the end I decided it was time to fit a new viscous coupling. Turned out that the old unit had a fair amount of play on the centre part. Also there was hardly any resistance left in the old unit, irrelevant of temperature or revs. So probably all fluid has escaped from the unit!

Removing the viscous coupling from the pulley assembly wasn’t too difficult using the proper tools. I did support the assembly under the viscous coupling. And with a small outer diameter socket on the pulley shaft it could be tapped out. As the coupling was shot already I didn’t worry too much about damaging it!


When refitting the coupling I supported it under the rotating part of the pulley assembly. And gently tapping it in position using a correct (outer) diameter socket on the couplings inner ring and using a new tolerance ring of course (please note the clearly visible old and flattened tolerance ring in the picture above!).


Turning the viscous coupling showed that the new item has much more resistance compared to the old one, so hopefully problem solved. With the new coupling fitted to the pulley, I thought it a good idea to clean the fan a bit, as it had collected quite a lot of dirt over the past year. But it had also acquired something else, a few cracks ...


As I don’t like the idea of fan blades attacking my bonnet I picked another one without cracks ...


So remain the following items on the to do list before this Thursday;
• Second opinion on LH rear bearing;
• Change brake and clutch fluid;
• Sort dashboard lights;
• Finish general check over.