Jason's Blog

Well my RBRR co-driver Andy can't make the 10CR (wedding anniversary and a conscience) so I've been quietly looking for a co-driver to help me take the Vitesse up the mountains and round the 'ring. Trouble is there are loads of people out there who'll do it but who would you trust with your car and who can you sit next to for days on end talking bollocks and getting lost? So in the best tradition of finding mates to do daft things with I was having a few beers at a neighbour's house on Christmas day when a co-driver came into view. The kids round here are a good lot of lads, we've not seen any neons but we have seen Corsas and Clios, Fiestas and Peugeot 106's - oh and a lovely VW Golf GTI turbo nutter bastard thingy. That Golf is driven by Joe, one of the older sons of the neighbourhood. Anyway, Joe's always taken an interest in fast cars and my cars as well, Christmas day was no exception, we'd last spoken over a broken crank and an engine in a thou...

I'm watching the Canley Classics - Blog avidly as Dave is preparing a 948 for his daughter's first car. My daughter has expresed an interest in getting a car and I've explained that if she wants me to maintain it, it will be a Triumph and more than likely a Herald :-) We've got a fair while yet but in less than 2 years she'll be on the road so I'm just keeping an eye out for the right car - a Coupe is her preference or maybe a convertible but she'll have what I can find and afford - the sweetener to it all is that I made a rash promise a few years ago, they have long memories these Chinn girls! I said I would paint it any colour she likes and yes, Pink is the colour she likes! My ideal would be to find a straight original car with crap paint and use that - it won't be a bare metal paint job and I may well do it myself - I have the equipment and it could be fun. I don't mind a it of graft on it but not a complete restoration so something that's b...

Just got back from Canleys with my engine and the bill :-) I'm really pleased with the outcome and although it's been a bit of a roller coaster - finding things that lead to more new bits etc - I'm philosophical about it. We didn't just replace everything and hang the expense, we carefully selected the best of the two and half engines I had. In the end the basic spec was pretty reserved, it's built for reliability. The original head's been reworked with all new valves and unleaded seats, new spring caps etc. The Mk1 rocker gear was pretty worn, the shaft is scored and so I'll use a good Mk2 set I have - I'll strip it down and check it first but it looks good. The block's the original - the cross drilled cranks and early rods are topped with new pistons which were pretty much spot on and didn't need machining - they pop-up into the gasket (Dave did give me the measurement but I forgot it!). Everything was balanced, inc clutch. The rods did need qu...

Take a trip over to the Canley Classics - Blog for new of my engine - Dave's working his magic on the pile of bits I dumped on his doorstep a few weeks ago. Avid Blog readers will know I snapped the crank on my 6 pot - without really trying. This engine came with the car and had done sterling service with the previous owner - I'd not had my hands in it and apart from a little concern about crank case pressure (it could blow a little oil on a long trip) it was a strong performer, could easily pull some seriously quick manouvres and has been reliable. I'd added fuel injection and that did reveal marginal engine vacuum (Lucas PI likes strong vac) but I'd not had the change to actually test it - I bought the vac gauge a few days before the crank snapped. Anyhoo - Dave's finding some interesting things in there, I'm surprised at the oil pump as the one thing that was always remarkable about the original engine was the great oil pressure. Dave asked if he could put d...