Updated adventures of the triumph toledon't

[MrsJuular]

Making this all one thread since it was started by @juular

Last time I updated this was when it had a nice successful 800 odd mile trip to FOTU 2023.

Since then the car has had a fair few things done to it, mainly due to the small issues during its last trip. 

I started of by removing the cracked alternator bracket. It was the subtly slid  under @juular's nose while he was welding his amazon and TADA it was fixed.

The car was jacked up so I could check underneath. I accidentally leaned on the wheel and I heard a horrid scraping noise. Upon investigation the front driver side wheel bearing was completely buggered. 

Ordered a new one, pressed in the bearing and installed. Good as new.

Since the car was very leaky I decided to remove the sump, timing cover and water pump in order to reseal and hopefully make a bit less leaky.

All removed, new gaskets where needed and rtv sealant for extra water/oil keeping in power.

Timing cover off and cleaned up

New gasket for the water pump

Gasket and RTV on the timing cover. I also used a small piece of bent metal on the tensioner before I reinstalled it (what a pain the arse job that was to get back on).

Timing cover back on.

Water pump installed.

All in it wasn't too bad a job. I quite enjoyed it. I forgot to mention that in order to get the timing cover off I had to take the crank nut off.  Myself and @juular tried everything apart from removing the engine and using a rattle gun. In the end we jammed a crowbar wrapped in a towel up inside the engine to wedge the crankshaft in place.  The following photo looks odd but that's how we got the nut off. If it works!

The sump was then also sealed with a gasket and RTV and put back on. 

TBC

 

[purplebargeken]

God, I love Toledo’s.

[Rustybullethole]

Top marks for inventiveness there and for getting the moneys worth out of that wheel bearing too. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, purplebargeken said:

God, I love Toledo’s.

Any smoll Triumphs are ace, tbh.

[somewhatfoolish]

15 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Top marks for inventiveness there and for getting the moneys worth out of that wheel bearing too. 

That. It exploding on the M74 would have been a bad way to end the day.

[High Jetter]

19 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

That. It exploding on the M74 would have been a bad way to end the day.

You younguns, no sense of adventure:)

[MrsJuular]

So the radiator in the Toledo was tiny and out of a Honda something. The temperature did go into the red a few times on its trip to FOTU 2023 but it never overheated.

I decided to replace it for something with a little more fluid holding power so I bought a radiator and thermostat housing out of a sprint. 

I had to make brackets for the radiator, reroute some of the coolant hoses and space out the fan for it to fit. 

In the end I used some elbow connectors and many jubilee clips. It all worked and had no leaks. The car also ran a little cool so I bought a different thermostat to fix that.

While I had the bonnet off, I thought I would address some of the rusty looking areas around the engine bay area and bonnet. 

For the engine bay I first I cleaned with acid, sanded down to the metal and then painted with zinc.

Then onto the primer and rattle can with British racing green paint. Its a really good paint match.

The bonnet also got the same treatment. Acid, zinc then primer. 

I then gave it a few coats of underseal.

TBC

[chaseracer]

Accurate job.  No overspray on the Volvo at all...

😉

[MrsJuular]

1 hour ago, chaseracer said:

Accurate job.  No overspray on the Volvo at all...

😉

I was very careful not to affect the ecosystem it has growing on it. 

[Supernaut]

What sort of acid is it that you two use on rust? Plus where do you get it?

I'm tempted to try some on some steel wheels.

[MrsJuular]

21 hours ago, Supernaut said:

What sort of acid is it that you two use on rust? Plus where do you get it?

I'm tempted to try some on some steel wheels.

We buy this stuff. Easy to get and use. Works really well. 

[MrsJuular]

The final job I did on the Toledo after FOTU 2023 was to rebuild the front calipers. When braking the car would pull slightly to the right. 

Calipers came out easy enough.

I attempted to take the pistons out without separating the calipers but had no luck. I had to separate and that was not a fun job. Took some time and a lot of swearing. 

Most of the pistons came out with a little force but one required a sledgehammer. As you can see. Must have been seized for a while by the looks of it.

Then on to cleaning and rebuilding. The fun part.

All went well and the brakes seem better.

So that's been a year since I done all this work to the car and it was time to get it ready to take it to FOTU 2024 so we could get all 3 triumphs together.  

TBC

[Stinkwheel]

Always good to see this kind of ongoing improvement and maintenance, the stuff everyone had to do (and could do themselves) to their cars back in the day.

As a tip for anyone who cares, if compressed air carefully applied to calipers wont pop out the pistons, beg steal or borrow one of those 'body repair' sets that have a hydraulic fluid pump, often called 'porta power' after one company in particulars product - connect to caliper, pops out any piston, no matter how stuck.

[MrsJuular]

1 hour ago, Stinkwheel said:

Always good to see this kind of ongoing improvement and maintenance, the stuff everyone had to do (and could do themselves) to their cars back in the day.

As a tip for anyone who cares, if compressed air carefully applied to calipers wont pop out the pistons, beg steal or borrow one of those 'body repair' sets that have a hydraulic fluid pump, often called 'porta power' after one company in particulars product - connect to caliper, pops out any piston, no matter how stuck.

In the end a grease gun and force was what worked. It was a nice satisfying pop when it finally came out. 

[captain_70s]

On mine I took the caliper off the car but left the hose connected, wedged a metal bar in between the pistons where the disc should be with some screwdrivers and stood on the pedal.

The Dolly club insist you need to send the calipers away for pressure testing if you split them, else nuns and kittens perish. I just did a few emergency stops and called it good. There is an O ring...

[juular]

13 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

On mine I took the caliper off the car but left the hose connected, wedged a metal bar in between the pistons where the disc should be with some screwdrivers and stood on the pedal.

The Dolly club insist you need to send the calipers away for pressure testing if you split them, else nuns and kittens perish. I just did a few emergency stops and called it good. There is an O ring...

Same as I did on the Amazon, and received the same nun and kitten genocide warning. 

As long as you change the O-ring and check for leaks after, it's fine.

[chaseracer]

Religio-feline implications are often overstated, IMHO... 😉

[MrsJuular]

Next up was getting the car ready for FOTU 2024. Was so looking forward to finally getting @captain_70s and @blackboilersuit's triumph and mine together for a rare photo in front of the castle. 

So to start prep I broke my bonnet pull and replaced it with a cable tie for the time being. This lasted 2 pulls before I ripped it off. I had no choice but to remove my the cable and grease it all and reinstall. Wish I had done it months ago TBH but NVM, Works great now. 

Time to fix an annoying clunking noise from the back. It had been going on for a while so I finally looked. The exhaust had conveniently separated/ rusted  into two pieces and the back section was being held on with an exhaust mount and thumping off the back axle. I did wonder why the car sounded a bit more fruity than usual. Anyway a 2 inch exhaust clamp was modified to join the two sections back together along with the trusty aluminium foil tape.  FIXED!

The filters were getting clogged pretty badly with tank rust so I installed another filter to catch the finer bits before heading towards the float bowl and carbs. (I will fix this properly at some point).

My track rod ends had deteriorated badly after the 800 miles so instead of buying my 4th set of new ones with rubbish rubber, I decide just to rebuild the existing ones. @juular has a collection of old new rubber bits that will hopefully last longer than 2 minutes. It only took 10 minutes. I should have done this ages ago!

Next was to do another job that I had been putting off since I bought the car and that was to change the diff oil and gear box oil.

Diff oil took a fair bit to top up. I'm guessing  it will be slightly happier now. 

The gear box oil was an interesting colour of very shiney brown and not much was in it either.

The gear box plug was given the name Larry. I have no idea it just looked like a Larry. 

He then got a haircut

It all got topped up and I swear it sounds less screamy. 

The car was then taken a longish test drive on some farm roads to make sure nothing fell off of went bang. 

Apart from the massive traffic jam on the way it all went well. The only concern was the car was running a little on the cool side even after kicking its arse on a hot day. 

This is were I should have just left it and went lets see how it goes but noooooo. I never knew that me changing the thermostat for a brand new one would cause the trauma that the weekend had in store. 

Anyway I was happy so I decided to give her a wash and proper wax. 

 

She looked perfect, ready for the trip.

I was not ready for what happened next but they made it. The whole experience has been blocked out and will not be spoken about for a very long time. Please refer to the FOTU 2024 thread for more info.......

Still to come. Lets find out what happened!

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, MrsJuular said:

This lasted 2 pulls before I ripped it off.  

SNORTLE - BEAST

1 hour ago, MrsJuular said:

Time to fix an annoying clunking noise from the back. 

put @juular not in the boot next time

 

 

My track rod ends had deteriorated badly after the 800 miles 

OOER MISSIS

 

 The whole experience has been blocked out and will not be spoken about for a very long time. 

❤️

and yes.