Playing with "moderns"...........

We collected Sam's new car last week. 07 plate Focus Zetec. My old Mondeo I'd had from new as a company car, then we bought it off the Leasing Company and Sam's been running that for the last 3 years. But, at 122k, it was starting to feel its age........... so we treated ourselves.

I have to say, I am immensly impressed with the Focus. Very roomy, nicely equiped and very comfy.
However, the Mondeo had a "manual-rear-parking-sensor", ......... aka A flippin' big towbar. The new one has an expensive looking rear bumper......... hmmm.

I put parking sensors on my Vectra last year and I have found them very useful so I went back to the same ebay shop and bought another set. £17.99 + p&p............... simple beep-beep ones. Ordered a dark grey rather than black.

The Focus has a grey panel in the rear bumper, and when I looked at a factory fit set (£450!!!!) they were set into this panel............ game on!

I ordered a new plastic panel (£12.05 from the Ford Dealer) and set about fitting them this afternoon.

Took about an hour......... easy peasy!

Ford assume each car will have parking sensors on, so the bumper behind this panel had cutouts already in for the sensors to fit in, there are holes with uncut grommets in behind each one for the wires....... even has the loom spliced by the reversing light ready to take the power feed off! Thanks Mr Ford........ made my life easy.

They even look like factory fit........... for £20 rather than £400!!

Well worth fitting to your "modern" bus.

The kit comes with everything you need, even the correct size hole-saw............ 4 sensors, control box, buzzer and the wiring loom you need.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rear-Car-Parking-Reversing-Sensors-4-Sensor-Buzzer-Kit_W0QQitemZ220259813174QQihZ012QQcategoryZ75330QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

Dodging the rain............

Rain, rain and yet more rain!! I can't remember that last time I saw the sun!!

Never mind. We took the Red PI to the CT National at Hatton Country world. Great to see so many faces and meet some new ones.

Many thanks to all those who voted me Car of the Show............ the trophy has pride of place on my mantlepiece at the moment.


Last week we attended the Triumph 2000/2500/2.5 Register National in Pickering...... guess what................ MORE RAIN!!!

Excellent few days despite the weather. Came 3rd in the Concours Masterclass, missed 2nd by 1 point......... I obviously didn't polish it enough!


Back home and back to reality. Spent today working on the yellow estate (RBRR is approaching!) and dodging the rain showers.

The new Police Spec gearbox has now had its leak fixed. A small pinhole in the casting which has now been repaired by Canley Classics, so I "threw" the box back in today. I really hate doing gearboxes!!

Once I'd done that, I started to fit my new woodwork. My uncle re-veneered all the wood for the estate and finished it to a high gloss. Looks fanatasic (Thanks Uncle Ray!) Put all the door cappings and the load space trims back in. Just the dash sections to do but torrential rain made me give up and go in.

Just got to do the rest of the wood, do the engine mini-rebuild, new PAS rack, found a couple of patches of grot underneath that will need a small bit of welding to, then MOT.................. Should be done intime for the RBRR............. I hope!

The great Window saga.................

Ever since I have had the Stag, the drivers side window occasionally falls down. The arm from the electric motor jumps out of its track, so after it happened very quickly and scared the living daylights out of me (huge bang as the window disappears!!) I thought I should do something.

The problem is the plastci bush on the end of the arm was mullered, so I bought a new one from EJ Wards and then set about it.

To get the motor assembly out, you have to lift the entire window frame up by about 6 inches....... not overly difficult but fiddly.


So, here is the offending bush............... mullered does not do it justice!
Heres what is shoud look like!
Simple job to drill out the rivet and replace it with the new one, put the window back together an hey presto......... one working window!!

If only everything in life were this simple..........

New Radiator

The Radiator on my Stag was starting to weep so I bought a new one whilst at the Prescott Hill Day from EJ Wards (got a special show discount too..... excellent!!)

Finally got round to fitting it the other day. So, many thanks to Sam for her wonderful birthday present of magnetic wing protectors!! Finally got a chance to use them!


It was a bit of a challenge to get the old rad out. To get to the bottom hose you need to remove the battery, to get the battery out you need to remove the PAS pump........ not a simple task but I got it done and the rad out fairly swiftly.
Here's the new one, all shiney and black.......... pretty! I decided it would be prudent to have the uprated Radiator. Not that I have ever had any cooling problems with this car, even with a leaky rad, but I decided it would be prudent. So, I bought a new Supergill 5 row Radiator.
Here's the old one, got to go back to Wards as an exchange........... if he can do anything with it that is!)
All back together, fresh antifreeze and running with no leaks. All I have to do is to put a new pipe on the overflow bottle. For some reason the pipe on new Rad was a smaller diameter than the old one....... not to worry, couple of quid for a new hose should see it all sorted........... the road beckons!!

Prescott Triumph Day

What a fabulous day that was!! Sun shone, loads of Triumph's and lots of tyre smoke going up the hill climb!

Sam & I took the Red PI and a picnic and had a very pleasant day. I had decided that I was not going to put my car on the hil climb........... that would be irresponsible..................

However, a good friend of mine had engine trouble at his hotel, and his TR6 was out of action, and he had 2 runs up the hill prebooked............ seemed rude to waste them!!

So, up we went, one gently, one a bit harder................great fun!! I want more!!

Above are some pictures, some of mine, some of others.......... and a link to 2 short video footage of mine going up the hill (Thanks to Lee Smart from the 2000 Register for those!)

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/dallliiisss/?action=view&current=MOV00120.flv

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/dallliiisss/?action=view&current=MOV00121.flv

Highlight of the day has to be being taken for a blast up the hill in Ken Bryants Triumph 2000 with a TVR 4.2l V8EFI beastie.................... you cannot imagine how fast that thing is!!

Crich Show

Just got back from the Crich show, what a fabulous day!! Really enjoyed it, loads of friends there (some I have never even met in person!!) and loads of Triumphs!

Really looking forward to next year.

Dave Marshall's Saffron 2000 and my PI, resting in the maintenance yard!


Triumph's Triumph's everywhere..........
Lee Godfrey's white MKI PI saloon, and in the background, Tim Picketts Jasmine MKI PI estate......... now how rare is that??? (I think there are only 2 on the road at the moment, 3rd on the way........) and its for sale!!! Offers over £5k I think......... well worth every penny.
Tony Edgeworth's stunning Inca Yellow 2500S Saloon............
David Guzzeta's TR5. Stunning does not do it justice. The panel gaps on this are the best I have EVER seen. Its not polished unused car, but a well used and abused car (how rare is that for a TR5??) but still simply stunning....................

What's the point (the condensed version.....)

What's the point, the condensed version....................hmmmmm.

Well, I finally got round to fitting electronic ignition to the PI..................(geddit!?!?!?)

I decided after finding quite alot of points scatter that this would be a good idea, plus I hate messing about with points and condensors.................I just don't see the point!!!!

Anyway, I bought one of the "discreet" kits which fits entirely inside the distributor. I chose the one by GEC which was advertised in the latest "Club Torque". Not that I am advertising here, but George Coombs (The man at GEC) is a wonderful bloke, very helpful, even when I managed to somehow order the wrong unit first time round.........oppps!

Anyway, fitted it in about 15 minutes, and that included using heat shrink tubes to hide the 2 wires on show (one to the coil, one to the ballast resistor) This is the unit inside the dizzy, replacing the points and the condensor........



Very neat, and even better is the picture below. Apart from one extra wire from the coil to the ballast resistor, you can't tell if is fitted (ideal for Concours cars!!)

I have not had chance to drive the car yet, but it did start much quicker and cleaner than before and the tickover is certainly much smoother..........I took the opportunity to put in new plugs and run them at 30 thou gap rather than 25 thou (stronger spark now!) and I'm looking forward to seeing how it drives on Sunday when we are taking it to the Marque day at Crich.

Anyway, a few pretty pictures for you, and no, I haven't polished it this week either!!

So, if anyone wants this excellent kit, go to http://www.gecelectronics.com or see the half page advert in the last "Club Torque" magazine.........