Valve Bounce

TR gearbox mounting

I've had many problems with after market parts in the past, this is a good example...The TR has an overdrive conversion to the later J type. This needs a special mounting for the rear of the box, these can be bought from you friendly TR parts man off the shelf. The only trouble is that after you've driven the car a bit this happens...

This isn't ideal! The first time you notice is when the prop-shaft starts drumming against the gearbox tunnel as you go into a corner. The only solution it seems is to make up a heavy duty replacement. Racetorations made this one up for me. It uses an engine mounting and some heavy duty plate. They did talk about making a few and seeing if anyone was interested, I'm not sure if they did that in the end, but it does seem to be holding up well.

Can't you buy a fan belt anymore??

I spent some time at the weekend changing the v-belts on the Mercedes. There are 3 belts. One for the alternator and a pair for the steering and water pumps. One of them was breaking up a bit so I thought I'd change them all just in case (and of course the one that needed changing needed all the rest to be removed to replace it). I always like to see the pair of belts, why not pair up all fan belts? No more side of the road belt changing...Anyway the point is that high street motor accessory shops don't seem to keep car spares in stock anymore. I guess there is no demand, but on a Sunday morning when you need a fan belt or three, I had to go to three different shops to find what I needed. Over the last few years several local car shops have closed and the stock in the existing ones seems to be mostly cleaning stuff and fluids (oil, antifreeze etc...). You can't even buy a few nuts and bolts or electrical fitting nowadays, I have to keep spares and hope for the best. Does nobody do their own servicing nowadays? I'm slowly realising I'm not a typical motorist!

What a glorious motor...

Garaging in London

Keeping a few cars in London does pose a few issues when it come to parking and garaging. I'm reminded this week because one of my lock-ups is having some work on the roof to make it water tight again, so I've had to move the TR and park it on the drive.

Parking is an almost religious experience around here nowadays! I am lucky enough to be able to park two cars on our drive but we don't have a garage at home. So I rent two lock-ups; one rather conveniently is almost next door behind a lock of flats, the other is a 5 min walk away. There a several companies that seem to buy up all the garages around here and, I guess, make quite a nice profit renting them out. Although most seem to be filled with junk not cars. Does anyone care enough about their new car nowadays that they'd park it in the garage? Maybe people don't expect to keep them long enough to worry.

Leaving your car locked up in a garage 5 min walk away and only visiting it once every few months seems a little alien to anyone out of town, but I suppose you just get used to it! I've thought about security cameras and tracking stuff. In the end I resort to big padlocks and taking bits of the distributor home with me, anyone got any better security tips??

After renting lockups for the past 15 odd years I dread to think how much I've spent on them, but at least the cars look better for it!

Cambridge Motorsport Triumph TR4

These are quite old photos - taken at the Motorsport show at Stoneleigh a few years ago - I just found them again and it's nice to see what can be done...I never did find out how the dual brake set up was done. I think they had a set of Tilton pedals  in the car, it would be good to see how that was done.

I believe this car was up for sale at the time (a 40k racing package) I wonder who has it now.

Madonna's 280SE Cabriolet

A present from Sean Penn apparently!

Norwich Union MSA Classic 2007 Video

Official video

plus Daily Telegraph reports here

Norwich Union MSA Classic 2007

We spent a very very pleasant day on Sunday taking part in the MSA Classic . A gentle amble through the countryside, stopping at a few interesting stops on the way, and finish at Silverstone for a few laps. My wife was navigating and our two year old daughter was in the back…

We started from Epsom in the 3.5 Coupe. It was perfect weather for driving; sunny but not too hot, we had the sunroof open most of the time - the reason will become apparent later! It was good to see a few old faces from the MSA EuroClassic events that we’ve done over the last ten years at the start. The selection of cars was also good with a nice range of ages and values… At the Epsom start we were next to a very well presented Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet. It was fresh from winning its class at the Mercedes Owners Club Concours event and was showing off its fabulous black paint work and new red leather interior.

First stop was Longcross proving ground which has a good mixture of fast sweeping corners and a central twisting hilly section. I’ve not had the coupe on a track before so I was interested to see how it would perform. There was plenty of grip from the 185 x 14 Michelins, the body roll is not too bad - but quite noticeable - but the size and weight of the car are not ideal for tight corners! I always really enjoy driving it, and the automatic gearbox is an unexpected joy…it’s easy to drop down a gear instantaneously just by clicking the gear stick back a notch and blipping the throttle. This makes it easy to control the car into a corner.

The trouble is all this driving seemed to have a nasty effect on my daughter who (for the first time) got violently car sick! She decorated the back seat and carpets quite comprehensively…Time for a stop and a change of clothes! The odour did mean the sunroof came in very useful. She recovered quickly and seemed to enjoy the rest of the trip!

The finish at Silverstone was very busy – five routes with 600 cars finishing together - a we managed a couple of laps on the grand prix circuit only to suffer the indignity of being overtaken by Malcolm McKay’s Sierra.

The car ran very well. Replacing the inlet manifold gaskets has made it so much nicer to drive, but I must add a few things to the to-do list; a rattle from the drivers door, a slight chuffing from the exhaust (hopefully the union just needs tightening up) and some new v-belts need to be installed for the steering pump...

As always from the MSA a very well organised event and a lot of fun.

OK so maybe there could have been more effort made at Silverstone, some better catering at the finish would go down a treat, but they are minor gripes…

I hope it runs again next year.  

Loads of photos from the event here

Volvo Amazon 121 (1966)

Last but not least is not the prettiest thing in the world but it has my respect! It's the Volvo 121 which I've had for 9ish years. What a brilliant bit of over-engineering, since they are built to deal with Swedish winters a bit of London rain is no problem. These days these cars are winning all kinds of historic rallying events, which must prove the ruggedness and inherent reliability of the tough 4 cylinder B18 engine.

My car has had 3 previous owners and had about 80k on the clock when I bought it. It now had about 180k. I've made very few mods. It came with a twin carb conversion but only had a standard cam so I changed that to the proper 122 cam. I also put in an alternator conversion after getting stranded on a gridlocked NCR one night with a flat battery...

It has only let me down that time. otherwise and I used it daily for many years, until recently, going up and down the M1 to Hemel Hempstead for work.

I throughly recommend Charlie Garrett at Amazon Repairs who has help me out on a few occasions when people have driven into it and I've needed a bit of welding, a new panel or two and paint. That's why it's at least four shades of red! It's always a pleasure to go down to his workshop to have a mill about looking at his collection of 1970's bikes and guitars that he keeps there. Oh and his Mercedes-Benz 220 SEb Coupe that he's been restoring for years...

On Mercedes BLVD

I picked up and 3.5 Coupe today from Schmitt Automobiles in Swiss Cottage who have had it in their garage for the last 3 weeks. It's been having a few problems with inlet vacuum leaks since I bought it. This was causing a fast idle (2000 rpm!).  I've been driving around for several months with the idle adjusted right back and the timing retarded just to get the idle down.

It is now fixed I'm pleased to say. It needed a new set of gaskets on the inlet manifold and is now happily idling at 600rpm. Fabulous...

I also had a problem with one of the propshaft union bolts failing. It dropped out somewhere on the A1 causing a vibration through the gear box and the rubber union had started to breakup as a result. This was replaced, so no more vibration. I also had the sub-frame mountings replaced which were an advise on the MOT.

Prior to all that the car has also just spent a week at Nigel Coopers body-shop to get a bit of corrosion on the front wing dealt with, he seems to have done a great job and also realigned the drivers door to get the gaps a bit better. This has made the car look a lot more presentable. He had Jay Kay's 250 GT Berlinetta SWB (that's what it looked like to my untrained Ferrari eye) in primer in the corner so we were in good company.

I'm now hoping that is the end of any heavy maintenance for a while so my wallet can recover.

So now it's all set for the MSA classic at the weekend! We're on the Epsom start and am looking forward to showing James May (there in his Bentley) what a real car looks like...

Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Coupe (1971)

The 3.5 Coupe is new to the stable the has been earning it's keep this year with a trip to the South of France and a holiday down in Devon. It's also swallowed a large sum of cash! But I'm sure now that it's back in regular use that's behind me....

I bought it in August 2006. It's a UK car (one of only 250 made for the UK market), 2 previous owners, 135k on the clock (i.e. just run in) and fresh paint.  There are still a few things on the to-do list but I've been steadily working through them this year. A great drive and beautifully engineered.

Good article here on W111 Coupes

Electronic ignition and injection and built to last. Makes you wonder what progress has been made in the last 36 years of car design. Apart from they might be a tiny bit safer with all those anti-lock brakes, traction control, air bags etc...