At last I started
in earnest with preparing the DHC for this year's edition of Club Triumph's 10
Countries run. I did some general maintenance in the previous months and also
very important, took her out on a more regular basis, to see what needed
rectifying. As mentioned earlier there had been some traces of coolant leaking
from the infamous slot underneath the waterpump. But as the miles went by that
seemed to become less and less. But to make sure everything was fine or find
out what needed addressing before the 10CR, I took the car for a longer trip
into Germany two weeks ago. Which was very pleasant;
But the main
reason of course was to determine whether I needed to address the water pump or
not. If so that work could be combined with fitting the refurbished SU
carburettors. But when I got back from this 450 kilometre round trip the
waterpump was leak free. But also the carburettors had behaved in such a manner
that I won't touch them till after I return from the 10CR. Due to worn spindles
the idle speed sometimes is a bit high. But that is their only fault at the
moment. Blipping the throttle lightly will settle the engine at a fairly steady
900rpm.
All good then? Not
really! After stopping a few times I heard a not very familiar sound of a
spinning gear trying to engage a stationary gear when starting the engine.
Clearly something wrong with the starter motor. Nothing to worry about as I did
have a spare high torque unit stacked away as a spare somewhere. But to this
day I still haven't found it. But predicting I would find
it as soon as I ordered a new one, that is what I did! And I have to
say it arrived from England within a few days. So yesterday the
spanners came out to change the starter motor. All very straight forward and
with the old unit removed from the car, I put it alongside the new. At first
glance they are identical;
But they are not!
Where the old (Wosp) unit on the right needs the original spacer (UKC 6163)
fitted, the new unit doesn't.
Another item that
needed addressing was the clip for the map-reading-light, which is mounted to
the passenger door. The original plastic clip broke of somewhere during the
previous (2015) edition of the 10CR. But as I had hardly driven the car since,
I had forgotten about it. I had noticed it earlier in the year but on shorter
trips it wasn't very annoying, and the replacement clips I had in mind were
impossible to purchase locally.
So after returning
home from Germany I immediately fired up the computer for a search of the world
wide web. And sure enough within minutes I had ordered the correct items. But
it took the clips almost two weeks to arrive! And judging from its appearance, the package went through quite an ordeal somewhere on its journey from England
to The Netherlands!
Luckily the
contents of the package were undamaged. On the left the broken Hella clip and
on the right one of the steel clips. Exchanging the clips was only a few
minutes work, despite the fact that I had to partially remove the door card to
gain access to a spring clip I fitted to the back of it, to give a better
mounting point.
The final
"problems" I encountered during the last trip was a slightly stiff
gear change. As the oil level is correct I'll have a look at the gear-box'
extension. Also the (wooden aftermarket) knob on the gear lever had come loose.
And there is an (engine) oil leak somewhere. Not life threatening yet, but
enough to deserve some attention. But these are for the coming two weeks!
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