New Shite

[wilko]

Hi folks, been a long time since I checked in here!Still driving shite - just picked up a Triumph Acclaim off a mate that I have helped keep on the road for a while - she got sick of it and bought a new car, so I got the Trumph for nothing, with T&T. It is scabby, but I'm only the 3rd owner and still under 50k on the clock - you can't knock free shite!

[mouseflakes]

Nice one wilko - if I recall correctly you came on here asking for folks' opinions of the Acclaim when your friend was thinking of buying it? How do you find it? I think they're smart little motors - I owned a very scabular one in its final days - drove really nicely though.

[wilko]

You've a good memory! Yep, I posted up when we picked it up orginally.It's good fun to drive - back tyres are ancient & fronts are new, which gives huge amounts of lift-off oversteer in the wet, which is a hoot! They go very well for a 1.3.Brakes are very good, 5 speed box means it averages almost 40mpg if treated gently.Exhaust fell off recently, but I welded it up OK and seems to be holding! The fact I still can't persuade the heater to work very well is the only downside. I took the hot water control valve to bits and found it silted up, so I unblocked it - can now get a reasonable amount of heat when parked up, but this drops to a chill in motion, which is not great! More investigation due this weekend!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

new thermostat perhaps?

[wilko]

Not sure - the current one seems to work as it gets halfway up the temp gauge when started from cold & then drops slightly when the stat opens, so it is closing when cold... might be lazy though!I've flushed & reverse flushed the matrix, but judging by the amount of silt in the valve, I suspect it is fairly gummed up. Might try a stat before I start pulling out lumps of dashboard to get at the heater itself. Rev counter is the only other non-working part - that has never worked, it appears to be driven by a cable off the end of the cam!

[mouseflakes]

From the above I quess it's not an issue at the moment, but beware coolant temperature sender failure on these (screwed in the OS lower corner of the rad). My Mk1 Civic and my Acclaim both suffered this - I understand it's very common. In fact, the previous elderly owner of the Triumph had wired up a nice 'old-codger-friendly' cooling fan switch on the dash - complete with rubber extension (like on the old minis) to make it easier to use.

[wilko]

Fan kicks in OK on this one at the moment, so no worries there. Most of the electrics are a bit "intermittant" though! It's been lavished with about a litre of WD40 all over the shop & the interior light now comes on when you open the driver's door, which it didn't previously!It's got some superb old codger bodges - half the carpet is B&Q special after he spilt bitumen on the original, the back wing on the driver's side has been resprayed in 1k - it looked Ok 2 years ago, but after a couple of years living outdoors, it has flaked. The back arches have started to disintegrate as well, which was to be expected I guess! Both bumpers have a dent in too!Probably destined for the banger track next year, unless I have an attack of conscience in the meantime!

[mr-reno-139]

regarding blocked heater matrixes have had great sucess with industrial dishwasher product called scalefree block or clamp one pipe use funel and put 1liter neat into matrix leave one hour then if you have got airline carefully( remember this is corrosive stuff)blow bubbles into pipe leave another 15 mins then flush and reverse flush with garden hose fixe a clio last week that was solid and old boy had had no heat at for last 3 yrs how dare you mention bangers

[25v6turbo]

If only the Acclaim was an Avon Turbo????

[wilko]

regarding blocked heater matrixes have had great sucess with industrial dishwasher product called scalefree block or clamp one pipe use funel and put 1liter neat into matrix leave one hour then if you have got airline carefully( remember this is corrosive stuff)blow bubbles into pipe leave another 15 mins then flush and reverse flush with garden hose fixe a clio last week that was solid and old boy had had no heat at for last 3 yrs how dare you mention bangers

I was thinking about trying plug or drain unblocker! I'll have a look for the dishwasher version...Are banger racers still seen as the offspring of satan here then?

[VWPowered]

what no pics

[wilko]

No digital camera in my household I'm afraid - it's a sort of metallic burgandy colour with a black cloth interior if you would like to picture it in your mind - sadly not "CD" spec with electric windows though!

[Ratdat]

Fan kicks in OK on this one at the moment, so no worries there. Most of the electrics are a bit "intermittant" though! It's been lavished with about a litre of WD40 all over the shop & the interior light now comes on when you open the driver's door, which it didn't previously!It's got some superb old codger bodges - half the carpet is B&Q special after he spilt bitumen on the original, the back wing on the driver's side has been resprayed in 1k - it looked Ok 2 years ago, but after a couple of years living outdoors, it has flaked. The back arches have started to disintegrate as well, which was to be expected I guess! Both bumpers have a dent in too!Probably destined for the banger track next year, unless I have an attack of conscience in the meantime!

I'd be interested in buying the engine and box to go in my Mk1 Civic if and when you do get rid. If it's okay that is. And a manual.

[wilko]

OK, I'll bear that in mind - engine has done 49k and appears to be in fine fettle.Do you happen to know whether any of the later Honda lumps bolt up to the acclaim/civic/ballade gearbox?

[Ratdat]

OK, I'll bear that in mind - engine has done 49k and appears to be in fine fettle.Do you happen to know whether any of the later Honda lumps bolt up to the acclaim/civic/ballade gearbox?

I couldn't honestly say but I have a feeling they probably don't as whenever I've seen something about a late model Honda engine being swapped into a Mk1 Civic, they swap in the box as well.

[wilko]

Heater update - thankfully, this is now functional - couldn't find any dishwasher stuff, so I used industrial strength plughole unblocker :DIt isn't exactly volcanic in temperature, but I had to turn it off a couple of times on the way home from Oxfordshire yesterday night in very sub-zero temperatures as I was getting too warm, which is good enough for me.

[Rod/b]

Any chances of some pics, Wilko? My grandad (and then dad) owned an Acclaim CD in Silver, complete with blue vinyl roof and pop up sunroof when I was younger.I'd quite like one now but they don't half rot.