RBRR entry opens soon, so I'm leaving the country :-)

Well it's that time again, the flurry of activity that surrounds the opening of the RBRR entry list.

As I reported in my last blog posting, this year has been an interesting one for me, I'm on my third job (and second redundancy) but it is all good at Chinn Towers. My new job is starting to pick up, I spent all week in London (the first time I've stayed over night in the city for probably 20 years) next week I have a week in Sweden then I'm home for about 24 hours before I'm off to San Francisco for another week+.

Around that time all you Club Triumph members will get your magazines, I think it leaves the printers on the 14th or 15th so a couple of days later it should drop on your mat. It's then time to get your entries back in the post so I am expecting to come back from the US to a nice pile of paperwork.

I won't be processing anything until the week of 25th so Mrs C will keep the envelopes in order for me and ready for my return.

Please be patient, as soon as I am able I will publish the list through the RBRR Blog plages.

Ticket please!

Well it's been a long time since posting anything here! Apologies but life's been a bit hectic recently - two changes of job and lots of travelling has meant my attention to Triumphs has been pretty lacking.

Anyway, the ticket in the heading is an MOT test ticket, secured today by my every jolly and reasonable MOT man - really good bloke and always helpful, I know MOT testers come in all varieties, from jobsworth right down to pedantic git but occasionally you find a good 'un. Sun Garage on the A4 between Reading and Thatcham.

The Clutch issue has been improved, I replaced all the hydraulics and tidied it all up - there's still a hint of the stickiness in there and I think I might just take the whole pedal box assembly out and have a proper look - I always suspected the pedal bush so will have a look at that. Such a pain in the neck to get at though!

My thoughts about heat were rubbish, the slave is the on the opposite side of the engine to the exhaust!

The brake light switch had disintegrated and so I bought a new one but the modern replacements are far too true to the originals, ie they're flimsy and so I followed a few posts on the TR Reg forum and identified a German part that was both cheaper and more substantial - it's a metal switch made for a Merc or BMW

The eBay listing said

BMW 2 PIN ADJUSTABLE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH, ALSO FITS OLD MERCEDES VANS & CARS AS IN THE PICTURE.I HAVE SOLD QUITE A LOT OF THESE THANKS TO A MENTION ON A TRIUMPH TR 6 FORUM &  WAS TOLD THEY MIGHT FIT THE TR RANGE, SORRY THAT IS ALL I KNOW & WAS ASKED TO LIST IT SO, WE ALSO SELL THE ALUMINIUM FAE SWITCH.FITS E3 E6 E9 E10 E12 E21 E28 & E30OLD SERIES 2 3 5 6 & 7MADE IN GERMANY TO THE HIGHEST OF STANDARDS.OE 61311368786 / 500496 and he was right, it's got two nuts on the threaded body so it's very adjustable enabling me to set it up just right. The indicators played up on the way back from the MOT and I suspect a bad earth somewhere as with wiggling I can get all the bulbs to work. That's for another day as I am now full of a summer cold/flu with streaming nose and eyes - so I'll put the car away ready for tomorrow and the Hook meeting. There I hope to meet "Team Torpedo" from the US who are doing the Ten Countries Run. Speaking of which, I'll be driving down to South London somewhere to park up in a strangers drive and meet my crew and car for the event. Yes, the screaming blue 2000 of Nigel Gair will be my home for the rest of the week as we upset foreigners all over continental Europe again. I feel it's our gift the world, the sight and sound of old cars being driven hard, enjoyed and used. After that it's back home for a few more days before I start a new job. Having spent 6 months working for Accenture I decided to move on, the job was good, the people very good but there was something missing. An opportunity arose with a competitor and I pursued it. That meant that the week before last, whilst in Johannesburg I accepted an offer and effectively made myself redundant again for the second time in 6 months. Last week Accenture paid me off - cash in lieu of notice, which was nice. That means I'm technically "unemployed" as I don't start the new job until the 17th Sept - great :-) My new employer is an American company, based in San Francisco - so I'll be back out there again soon. The job will involve more travel - which I like, they pay better - which I like too. I may not have much time with the Triumphs but I'm hoping I can carve a decent slice for messing about in old cars :-)

Clutching at straws

The Bank Holiday weekend saw me take the TR over to the annual Isle of Wight Triumph Weekend. It's a family type event, not hard core driving but getting there and back can be fun in holiday traffic, especially when loaded up with camping gear!

I'd spent some time (with help - thanks Tim and Carl) getting the new exhaust system on the car, what a nightmare that was and it's still not right but it worked OK (ish). I'd raised the rear end with some poly spacers and the TR was no longer dragging its arse over every bump in the road - which was fortunate as there were a lot on the island.

It ran OK and apart from the windows rattling terribly (must install those new seals) I was quite pleased with it - no overheating issues despite some pretty hot ambient temps and a lot of sitting in traffic.

No the issue this time was one of the clutch or perhaps more accurately the clutch pedal I think. I had noticed a slight stickiness to the pedal a few days before and found a rather weak return spring on the pedal. I lubricated the pivots and ordered a new spring and thought that would cure it - the spring didn't arrive until the day we left so I just threw it in the glove box and thought I'd fit it later if the problem persisted. It persisted.

Here are the symptoms - clutch engages and disengages OK, no funny sounds, it's a bit heavy but not bad. Occasionally (more so that I'd like) it feels like the clutch pedal won't come up properly and it feels like it sticks just after the biting point. It kind of goes light and as you lower the pressure of your foot on the pedal it  comes up a bit sharp, bites harder and you get a little jolt, almost a kangaroo moment. I've stalled it a couple of times but as the clutch has bitten before it goes light I can usually get the car moving and then the engine is spinning enough to take a sharp engage.

I thought it was doing it more when hot but I'm not so sure. It felt like the pedal was binding so I investigated the mechanism, no play but a rather tired looking spring on the pedal. I replaced that and over the weekends driving around the Isle of Wight I tried several other springs I had, including the correct one from the glove box - this improved things but it's still a pig to drive in traffic.

I'm suspicious of the hydraulics now and having taken a look at the fluid it's pretty crappy but plenty there and no signs of leakage.

So I think I will replace or at least service the hydraulics with a rebuild of master and slave with new fluid. I will try and see if the pedal bush could be worn but is there anything else I should check?
What are the symptoms of cross shaft failure? Is it obvious or is there a gradual deterioration then failure?

As I write this I wonder if there's a correlation with the heat of the exhaust getting to the slave? I can't picture it so will have to go have a look next time I'm in the garage.

Thoughts welcome :-)