Broadsword

Good to see all the meticulous work and that the fleet is happy!

That is exactly why I like it funnily enough. 1.4, how posh! Probably just as frugal as the 1.2, but with more go.

Looks excellent. Lovely colour too. I have a soft sport for this particular incarnation of the Clio. I really like the styling for some reason, kind of have a hankering for one once in a while. What’s it like to drive?

Good luck with the spark plugs. Looks like a mammoth job, but it should be very worth while seeing the results when done.

Also, what’s the story on the MX-5?

Alfa style teledial wheels are lovely. Lots of old cars had fantastic hubcaps. Volvo 240s in particular had brilliant chrome hub caps. I like that sort of thing on a classic. Saab three spoke ally wheels also lovely. Turbine-style alloy wheel is one of my favourites. The Jaaag XJ 220 had brilliant wheels. X300 XJR wheels also brilliant, much the same sort of look.

Welcome! Your collection will be the envy of many here (certainly me!). Good to see another Jaaaaag join the fold.

I would like to get an engine for the Herald before the Covid situation starts to restrict our movements, but that might prove problematic what with so much going on. In other news, happily the XK8 has a fresh MOT. This coincided with me selling the number plate. The car is now P750SBH SBH. In the end the welding bill was not bad and the bits I mended were pretty cheap. Getting an XK8 through an MOT is not a task one would necessarily undertake easily. All in all it went well and the car is greatly improved as a result. The the interior went back in the XK8 today, the leather being cleaned before that. Then I did the LPG service. I took my time, but it was pretty straight forward job. The liquid filter didn’t look terrible, but the gas filter was very bad. Glad I did the job. The final thing I did today was swap the broken headlight on the XJR. That took only a couple of minutes and the little plastic bits holding the light on didn’t break, which was good. I tired to fill the XK8 with LPG, but the big ASDA in York has partially closed down. I hope that is not a sign of impending issues in acquiring fuel.

My problem now with the engine is what else has the PO messed up or not mentioned? On that basis I would rather try another engine, get the car running/driving and then see what else could be wrong. There is currently this engine on eBay for £100. I’m ok putting that much into the car just so that I can size it up, but I don’t want it to turn into a money pit what with current events. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Spitfire-MK4-Dolomite-1300-Engine/283749682839?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908131621%26meid%3D018ce90748d94bb5b441e54ee3590683%26pid%3D100678%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D392732685488%26itm%3D283749682839%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100678.m3607&_trkparms=pageci%3Ac57500b6-6a18-11ea-857b-74dbd180f2bf|parentrq%3Af44b017d1700aca4517f4971ffd10204|iid%3A1

Thanks very much for that excellent information Mrs6C! The cam follower in the Triumph finally disintegrated after some heavy duty drilling. It was much thinker at the bottom than the other followers in there. Once the follower was out it became apparent that I’ve been had over and the engine is trashed. There is a sizeable portion of the cam lobe on the offending cylinder gone and the bore for the follower is damaged. Anyone know of a decent spare Triumph Herald 1300 engine?

I will have no shortage of projects to keep me occupied at home as things escalate. I work at a university so at this rate we will all be sent home by the end of the week.

This is horrendous news. My condolences to the family.

Welding seems like an idea, but whether I can do it effectively in such a small space without damaging the engine is another question. I don’t think the follower is anywhere near the cam because the guy started the engine when I viewed the car. Surely if the stuck carrier were touching the cam, the engine would grenade?

Welcome back and what a way to kick things off! Looking forward to seeing more action on the GSA, it's wonderful!

Tried to attack the cam follower on the Triumph again. It's really quite stuck in there. The PO has been very silly in my opinion. A visual inspection suggested it is slightly different from the other followers. Why would you go to all that effort to remove the head and then force the wrong follower in. I tried drilling a hole through to get some point where I could tug it out of the block. Unfortunately none of my drill bits could penetrate the bucket (it's quite hard and thick). The sides are rather brittle for some reason. I'm open to suggestions on how best to remove it without taking the engine out. More tools will be required anyway. I had a loot at the head, it's dead straight fortunately. Flicking through the paperwork suggests a large amount of monies have been spent on it on the owner before the last one. There is a receipt for the head being converted to unleaded petrol. I reckon the car looked quite nice until the PO tried his best to ruin it. In other news a large portion of the XK8 interior has been removed ahead of welding. Poking a bore-scope in from the holes under the kick plates suggest the mud hasn't got very far in, and that the rest of the inner sill is clear. I'm still scratching my head as to where all that mud came from, but hey ho.