MOT time

As I am a bit busy with work and other things not much happened to the TR7's. Last week I took the DHC for its first MOT in my ownership and it passed without any problems. Only remark was that the non original VIN-number was fading and needs to be renewed for next year’s test.

As I had a chat with the mechanic while he was doing the test I noticed that the CO reading was a bit low in my opinion at 2,7%. I also noticed that the rear brakes had a difference between them off 25% which is rather close to the limit of 30%. So I'll have to keep an eye on those for next year ...

More MOT preparations

As the DHC was booked in for its MOT inspection yesterday and it wasn't ready due to me being lazy, I took 't Kreng instead. And she passed with only some minor things I have to keep an eye on ... So today I finished the MOT preparations on the DHC. The only thing that needed fixing was the LH front indicator which wasn't working properly due to a bad connector. It turned out that it lost the earth wire somewhere in its previous life!

As I didn't really fancy trying to repair the old one, the contacts to go into the original connectors aren't available anymore and I hate botch repairs on the wiring, I bought some modern waterproof ones.

The idea is to try these on the indicators at the front off the car, and if they are OK to use them on all connectors which get in touch with the elements and road grime.

This one at least works, as I have a working indicator now. So the car should be ready for its first MOT under my ownership. Only thing left to do now is ad some mileage to settle the suspension. After that put some decent rubber on the rims. The tyres on there are over 10 years old now and are probably as hard as stone!

MOT preparations (to be continued!)

Had a go at the DHC to get her ready for the coming MOT. Plan was to get the windscreen washer going and have the LH front indicator working properly, but alas. It eventually took me 4 hours to get the screen washer going after which I just covered up the car, closed the shed and went home.

Still don't know what's wrong with the original system as it worked when I bought the car. Pump is running, internals off the pump look fine and no blockages in the tubing or washer jets. But no water coming out off the jets! Strange indeed.

So I took the pump out of my first car. At least this one worked when the car was laid up. This pump has the advantage that it's a rather non original VDO one, with the added bonus of more capacity so I can use twin washer jets instead off the original single ones. Just to be safe I thought it a good idea to check if the pump still worked. Well no, it had seized over the years!

Luckily it could be dismantled for a good clean and some lubrication after which it did work again. After that it only took me an hour or so to get the pump in the car. This was mainly due to the fact that one off the rubber mounting inserts had come loose. But Rob had some nice small rubber mountings lying around which are a perfect fit. Only the indicator left to get sorted!

La Carrera Caledonia

Set off to IJmuiden last Thursday afternoon to catch the night ferry to Newcastle. Despite some worries about the engine (especially the water pump) I got to the ferry without any problems. Even sitting in a traffic jam in the blistering heat for nearly an hour didn't give any problems.

After a rather uneventful and quiet crossing I got off the ferry in Newcastle. As I had all day to drive to Bradford to pick up my navigator for the event, Mik Davies, I had decided to take a nice detour through the Yorkshire Dales. So from Newcastle I headed over the B6278 and B6274 to Richmond for lunch. After lunch it was time for ever more interesting roads, into Swaledale;

Then over the Buttertubs Pass. The best bit was blasting down the south side at full throttle in 3rd and 4th gear. The brakes indeed are very confidence inspiring!

And from there over the Langstroth Chase to Kettlewell;

And eventually via Skipton to Bradford where I met up with Mik, my navigator for the event. The evening was spent at the Old Stone Trough in Kelbrook where the annual P&P P&S & Gymkhana were held that night. We should have gone to bed earlier!

Next day saw us heading up to Gretna for the start off the event. As we were a bit late it was just a matter of signing in, say hello to McJim, hand over the vlaai and off for the start.

The first day where mainly flowing through roads which went on and on. I only managed to annoy an elderly couple in a Volvo with a caravan behind. As they were in front of a long queue off cars I thought it better to quickly pull in to the road in front of them. And then he seemed to become very hasty and tried to overtake me, which off course I couldn't allow. I got the impression that he was not very pleased with that manoeuvre!

Without a doubt one off the best bits the first day was when Mik decided that we had more than enough time not to  take the A817 through Glen Fruin. So we took the old and rather more twisty road that still runs parallel to it. And this despite the fact that it had started to rain, as a result of which the road surface became very slippery indeed. Especially the last bit going very steeply down to the Faslane Naval Base was very interesting indeed.

The day ended with dining and drinking, as a result of which we missed the Rest-and-be-Thankful hill climb. And to make everything complete the second day started with some glorious Scottish rain, which actually lasted all day.

When we arrived at the start at Rest-and-be -Thankful all the teams had already gone so we could do nothing else then to be gone also. Despite the weather it turned out to be a fantastic route over some very nice roads through some stunning scenery. The best bits being chasing some cars on the road along the northern shore off Loch Awe, the road through Glen Orchry with its stunning scenery and the "road-that-will-not-appear-on-your-road-atlas" between Killin and Lawers;

This also turned out to be the worst bit off this year’s LCC.  After having to endure a soaked driver’s seat after the lunch halt in Killin (water coming in through the back off the sunroof) the wipers decided that they needed a break, just south of Loch Lyon. The timing couldn't be better, right in the middle of nowhere and in the pouring rain!

It turned out that the fuse had blown due to the choke light switch being rattled apart and short-circuiting. Nothing very worrying but I got soaked nevertheless getting out off the car to check lights and get the spare fuses out of the boot. But the stunning scenery more than made up for that.

As we were running late we had the good fortune that it stopped raining before we started up Glen Quaich so we stopped there to take some more pictures;

From there on it was all fairly straightforward except the last bit off road, the B970 into Coylumbridge which was also great fun to drive. That evening again turned out to be a great "social" event, where 't Kreng even managed to achieve the "Best Triumph of the Event" award. Again a big thank you to McJim for organizing this great event. Also many thanks to Mik for doing the navigating bit.

All in all the car clocked up exactly 2700 km over the weekend and used up some 290 litres off fuel, which is a rather decent fuel consumption I have to admit. And the water pump? That seems to have healed (or better resealed) itself as there is no more visible leak and I didn't have to top up the coolant.