Easter Tour 2023

I managed to clock up well over 350 kilometres on 't Kreng's odometer over the Easter weekend. Most of these kilometres were covered during our traditional Paosjrit (or Easter Tour). I did have some mixed feeling when I set off towards the start though. It was the first drive in my (only road worthy) TR7 since the accident in Italy with the DHC last summer. So I had all sorts of visions of me crashing ‘t Kreng too 😶 I needn’t have worried. It turned out to be pretty good fun to be out in a TR7 again! So only one photoshoot at an abandoned Hotel near the small town of Valkenburg.

We stumbled upon this location by accident after taking a wrong turn. And opposite the ruined hotel was a nice pub, so we decided on a short break. As a result of which we didn’t see the other cars again!

There was only one tiny problem that I forgot to rectify on the Saturday though. Luckily it was one which turned out to be easy to repair: During bleeding the actuator piston for the brake failure switch had moved a little. And it hadn’t returned to its designated position. Resulting in a brake warning light constantly burning. The easy bodge would have been to disconnect the connector from the switch. But I opted for the proper solution. This meant removing the brake failure switch, determine the position of the piston’s cam (with a collection of small mirrors and lights), and move the piston a little so it was centred above the threaded hole for the switch. For which I used a very slim screw driver. As easy as it sounds and I even got it right at the first attempt.

‘t Krengs coolant system

To leak or not to leak, that is the question! As the driving season is about to start I decided to take ‘t Kreng for a short circa 100 kilometre trip last Saturday, to see how she behaved. But mainly to see if her fairly long period of idleness had had any effect on the coolant system. Six years ago I found a significant looking leak from the infamous connecting tube (UKC2538) between the thermostat housing and the water pump cover:

As the coolant level at the time had hardly been effected, I decided to ignore the leak for the time being. My reasoning being that the leak only appeared after the engine was switch off. This results in a short rise in the coolant system’s pressure, due to the coolant not being circulated anymore.

So over the following years I did keep a regular eye on this area. And sure enough the leak did reappear from time to time. Usually after the car had been idle for a longer period. But the leak would always disappear after a few tours. As these two pictures taken a few weeks apart during the spring of last year clearly show:

And after the car had cooled down from yesterdays trip I decided to inspect the water pump area in some detail. I needn’t have worried, the area was completely dry this time. Let the fun begin!

Spring’s in the air

Spent a few hours in the shed earlier this week, in preparation for the driving season. The first job was not exactly glamorous, sweeping the floor to get rid of the glass, metal and paint chips that were left-overs from the removal of some of the DHC’s bent metal.

Next on the to-do-list was making a little room in the shed by getting rid of the bent metal from the DHC. I also used the opportunity to get rid of a few other defective and redundant parts.

And with a little more room to manoeuvre in the shed, the remains of the DHC could change places with ‘t Kreng. This way the latter car can be driven in and out of the shed more easily in the coming driving season.

The above picture shows the projects currently lingering in the shed!

Servicing ‘t Kreng

With the spring in the air and the “driving-season” about to start, it was time for a long postponed job: Changing the hydraulic fluids in ‘t Kreng. It was the first time I did this job in the shed. And it was a bit of a squeeze with all the TR7’s inside!

As for the job itself, that is something I usually do every two years. Though this time it was almost three years since the hydraulic systems last fluid change. Mainly caused by the lack of use, as a result of which the fluids didn’t look to bad once drained from the system.

And with the proven two man bleeding method it didn’t take long to get the systems flushed and bled. Discussing the other two projects in the shed took more time 😊

This also meant I had to return this Sunday morning to finish a few smaller job. Like re-installing the brake failure switch, cleaning the wheels, and checking the tyre’s pressures.

Turned out the tyre’s pressures had dropped about 0,2 bar over the past 11 months (from 2,10 to 1,90 bar). So nothing to worry about. The same applied for the engine fluids. A gentle drive to wake her from her 11 month slumber is the next item in my TR7 scheduler.