Rusted Points

It seems the old girl is giving me more grief than enjoyment at the moment. Went out for a drive and about 800 yards down the road it just cut out and rolled to a stand still. I was very low on fuel so thought it may have just run out but after topping it up it still wouldn't run for more than a few yards before cutting out. I managed to get the car back to base and on closer inspection the points had become very rusted as had the condenser and all associated distributor parts. I suspect some condensation and a lack of use have combined to cause the problem. More parts ordered and after swapping the lot including a new distributor cap it seems to have solved the problem.

I must get out more in the car but work commitment and really poor weather seem to be making it difficult to enjoy the car at the moment. My enthusiasm for the car is just as strong as ever it's just circumstances that are preventing me using the car as much as I would like.

Stuck Carb Float Valve

Went to go for a run in the car and on start up the idle was very erratic changing RPM from 1000 to 400 and back again every few seconds. After lifting the bonnet for a bit of expert analysis I noticed petrol pissing all over the floor from the SU carb overflow pipe. "Well that's not right", I thought to myself.

I decided it was time to get a few new parts in for various small issues and of course this latest one, so I ordered from Rimmer Bros, carb float valve, carb needles, floats, gaskets, water pump and gaskets, intake/exhaust gasket, brake pads and fitting pins/shims.

Anyway, getting back to the minor fuel leak which has led to my garage knocking me out every time I walk in there. I fitted the new float valves and floats and hey presto the fuel leak has stopped and the idle is now back to normal.

I'm still getting the whistle which I was sure was the water pump but now I'm not so sure so I will change it anyway and then probably have to change something else.  I have a feeling its going to end up being an air leak but I can't find it, hence the additional intake/exhaust gasket.

Will update when I make the changes.

Time for an Update

Well, it's been a while since my last post for one reason or another. So what's been happening?

Firstly, I decided to make myself a book as a bit of a birthday present to myself. It was made through a company called Blurb and it is basically a slightly better written version of what has gone into the blog. To say I was happy with the result was an understatement. They did a really nice job and it is a nice thing to keep in the future. I have no intention of letting the real thing out of my hands but it is easier to handle.

 

 

The car got through its MOT again which was nice. I was a little nervous as I hadn't done anything to sort out my slightly binding brakes, which were mentioned at the last MOT but I didn't get an advisory. This time I did get an advisory for the brakes but it still sailed through. I really must get them sorted before the next time....

After changing the alternator and seeming to improve the whistling sound I was getting it appears to be back again. I have now managed to trace the noise (at least I think I have as I thought I had found it last time) to the water pump. It is intermittent but I had my stethoscope on it at the right time the other day and was clearly coming from that area. New parts to be ordered soon but I have some holiday time first so I'm aiming to get it looked at in September.

Meanwhile, I am just driving it when I can and enjoying sweating a lot in "The Furnace" as I now affectionately call the old girl.

New Alternator

My Lucas alternator has definitely been sounding a little off recently and figured maybe the bearings were getting to the end of their life and was the reason I had been having an annoying whistling sound, so I ordered up a replacement from James Paddock.

It arrived next day which was good as I only went for the standard free delivery and came complete with the fan and pulley.

My Ragdoll cat was also very delighted with the new arrival

 I thought installing the thing would be very straight forward and only take a few minutes. Remebering to disconnect the battery before carrying out any electrical work I set about removing the wiring connector from the rear. Its held in place with a retaining clip and once removed I thought it would pull straight off but I couldn't get it to budge.

I removed the cap to see if there was any reason this thing wouldnt easily pull off

In the end I posted on Club Triumph forum for some advice as I had visions of broken plastic coming. It was confirmed it should just pull off so I gave it some serious pulling and eventually it did come off.

The offending article eventually pulled free

Once the old one was removed it was a simple case of fitting the new one a making sure the alignment between all the pulleys was maintained with the aid of the spacers.

Old one finally off

Everything was retensioned allowing around 3/4" bounce in the fan belt at the half way point between the alternator pulley and water pump pulley.

New one on

Connector back in place

The car fired up again no problem and the alternator is definitely a little quieter. The question is whether this was the cause of the whistling noise I have been trying to diagnose for a while. It normally sounds worse when driving so I will report back on that the next time I get out for a drive.

Winter Battery Syndrome

I managed to nurse my battery through last winter and yet again as soon as the weather got slightly cold the car failed to start. It's another small but annoying thing to sort out when I'm trying to sort the interior but not getting anywhere near it at the moment. Oh well,  that's old cars for you and they are constantly throwing up small problems to sort out.

Alternator

So the whistling noise is still there. My mechanics stethoscope arrived so I went into the garage feeling all Jim Dale in Carry On Doctor and managed to track down the noise to the alternator. So it appears the bearings are starting to whistle and a new (recon) alternator is going to be added to my list of things to sort out.

Everytime I feel like I'm getting close to starting to sort out the interior something mechanical looms onto the horizon. So I've got to sort the brakes which could include pads, shims, discs and calipers and now the alternator and probably before I can get to the interior. I'm also now looking at more work on the body to rectify some of the rusty areas but I think this will wait until warmer weather next year now.

Diff Oil and Fan Belt

Okay so continuing my search for the offending whistling item at the front of the engine, I changed the fan belt. It was fairly oily so I cleaned all the pulleys before putting the new one on and tensioned it up so there was about 3/4" of bounce if pushed at the half way point between the alternator and water pump. I will check this again after a few more miles to see if it needs re-tensioning. It seems to have made an improvement but I don't know if this has solved the problem completely as it usually is more audible after a decent drive.

I had the car up on axle stands so I could top up the diff oil as I hadn't checked this since I'd had the car either. Well, I have given up for the time being as I couldn't budge it. I haven't got a square head spanner so used a standard open spanner & mole grips with a load of WD40 and a few hours wait. Still no joy, so I'm thinking maybe applying some heat to it or getting a square head spanner or both and getting another filler plug as this one is probably going to look pretty bad if I do manage to get it off. It's not critical at the moment as the diff isn't whining or anything but I would like to sort it for peace of mind that I'm not killing my diff. Last resort I could get a garage to do it for me.

Next is to check the gearbox oil so we'll see how that goes.