Sunday 23 March 2014

Moving cars

Busy weekends at the moment, all concentrating on getting ready for the house move. I borrowed a proper legal braked and plated towing dolly from a friend (thanks Craig!) and loaded up Sam's Moggy first. I took the chance to fill the boot with garage stuff and then hauled it about 3 miles to my Mum's house. Her Mercedes is very kindly giving up its garage space to allow us to store out cars there until we move.

 I managed to get some longer rivets, so I finished off putting the trim strips on the tank cover.
 I then "threw in" the tank and put the trim in place. It will have to come out again as the tank needs to be painted, but for now I needed it back in for transport and to support the floor!
 I then "threw in" the spare wheel! Again, space and storage meant this was the easiest way!
 If you look really closely, you can spot the trim panel which needs re-trimming...................
 Boot filled with "stuff", on the dolly and over to my Mum's. I now have a (nearly) empty garage and more packing and sorting to do.
Due to the house move and the amount of work needed once we get there, this may be the last post for short while, I'll be back on it when I've done the decorating, fitted the new kitchen, done the kids rooms, boarded 2 lofts, sorted the garden out.................................why am I doing this again?!

Sunday 9 March 2014

Rear Bumper..... again!

Well, its been a while....... sorry! Been busy!

It's about to get busier too! It looks very much like we shall be moving house in about 4 weeks, so all the spare time is on sorting, packing etc etc. Where did all this rubbish accumulate from! Trying to be ruthless and not take junk. (don't worry, no Triumph parts have been harmed in this operation!) although moving house with 2 cars which don't run, the caravan, two other cars, a trailer, 2 children, 2 dogs.... the logistics of how we are going to do this is getting hard, but I think we have solved it all now!

 Anyway, it was a nice day and after a long walk in the park, the girls homework, lunch etc, Sam was home from work and Kiona went to a friends house for a play-date, so I had a couple of hours free this afternoon, right on with it!
First problem, which has been around for a while was the fit of the rear bumper. It just was not right. As soon as I pulled up the bolts for the quarter bumpers, they touched rear the arch. The flared rear arches are the prob;em but I just couldn't work out why they touched now when they didn't before. Eventually, it came to me. I examined the pictures of the strip down and found the issue. The "tube" going between the outer wing and the inner structure had been cut (badly!) to allow the wing to flare. The bolt was now squashing the two parts of the wing together, hence the clearance issues. How did Mr Lines get round  this? He simply bolted the quarter bumper to the outer wing only!!!!!!! Really?
I need to tow with this, so I wanted a bit more strength than that. So, I cut some Zinc plated square spacers so they would slot over the bolt, eased the wing out, popped them in and tightened it up. Trial and error showed that 3 spacers gave the right clearance. Bumper tight, clearance between bumper and wing. Result!!
Until the captive popped in the quarter bumper!!
Grrrrrr!
Quarter bumper off, captive out, new captive nut, bend the tabs back, refit. Drop the spacers down the inside of the inner wing, use magnet on a stick to retrieve. Refit..... again. Done.


 I then finally finished gluing the tank cover carpet. I cleaned up the stainless trims only to discover the holes in the wood are bigger than the rest, and the rivets I have been using just pull through. I need some bigger rivets with larger washer on the base.
By this time, it was time to clear and go and fetch Kiona. At least I have solved the bumper issue now. Just need to get another 3 spacers and repeat on the other side.