Saturday 31 December 2011

Stub axle.... take 2 !

Went to see Ted Taylor yesterday and collected the replacement stub axle. In the end we decided it was pointless trying to swap the stub axle, it made more sense to just clean and paint the other spider..... save putting it under any undue stress. Anyway, thank you Ted...... much appreciated. Spent a pleasant few hours talking Range Rovers, doggies and Triumph's!
So today, I cleaned the unit up and then it had a couple of coats of paint..... then hung up to dry.
 Whilst I was in a painting mood I also cleaned and painted the bonnet catch assembly..............
 ................. and the Servo cover.
 Mike Weaver had very kindly donated some good exhaust manifolds. The ones supplied with the replacement engine were cracked and the threads in most of the stub holes were shot. Mike gave me a good pair (originals off the 4x4 estate as he he having custom headers built). I stripped them down, wire brushed them and inspected them. All the studs are good, so on with the next process. I made up a few gallons of Bilt Hammer Detox rust killer and dropped them in to soak for a few days...........

Thursday 29 December 2011

Fame again!

Got my January 2012 edition of "Triumph World" through yesterday and whilst reading it I found myself in print again!! Simon Goldsworthy (Editor of TW) had contacted me a few months ago as he had an email enquiry from Scott Davison of New Zealand about my car. It was featured back in 2003 when Mike Collins first bought it, and he was wondering what had happened to it. I replied to Simon, and he printed both in the mag! So, if Scott does read this........ Hi Scott, thanks for the interest, get in touch of you want....... easiest way might be to join the Discussion forum on the 2000 Register website and I'm always on there!!

 So, back to Libby. spent an hour stripping down the nearside front hub, to get the spider and stub axle assembly out. It's easy when all the bolts are either clean or new and assembled with copper-slip! So, tomorrow I'm going to see Ted who has a new stub axle for me and the right tools to "persuade" the old one out!!  Still can't quite believe I snapped the end off with a normal nut in a socket!....... must be stronger than I thought!



Tuesday 27 December 2011

One step forward, two steps back!

After a long walk in the park, all 3 girls were fast asleep on the sofa.......... so I spent a couple of hours in the garage. First up was to put the rebuilt PWDA switch on the inner wing........ job done!
 Then I fitted the new poly bush for the lower steering column.
 Then the rebuilt rack and repainted steering link arm could go on. Sounds simple, but took ages to get everything lined up!
 This meant that the offside front suspension is now finished (bar fitting the pads!) and the Anti-Roll bar.
 Then came the disaster. Whilst fitting the new nut to the end of the stub axle (the one I lost last time!) for some reason is went tight, then end of the stub axle sheared off!!! I have never seen this before. So, I now need to strip down the front nearside suspension again, and replace the stub axle!!!!