Colin Lindsay

Mine's terminal!! Anyone got a spare for a 1980 2-litre car?

I bought one a while back on eBay for £1 so they still turn up; it's just like a miniature suspension spring compressor and makes the job so easy. I suppose a pair of mole grips - one each side - might do the same job. With regards to the Bendix itself I think (think!) our cars use 9 teeth, and while there are plenty of new ones out there, many are 10 teeth - does it make any difference? I've read that you can use both, but have also heard that using the 10 causes greater wear and possibly damage.

And now the bad news..... I'm still getting to grips with the underworld of this TR, which is as rusty as I've ever seen in a car that had an MOT six months ago. The suspension components are just falling off, with most rubbers non-existent. This photo is a rubber bump stop off a front strut insert; the bad news is that they're about £40 to replace... Not withstanding that the engine bolts are all UNC, the suspension components are mostly metric, and the rear suspension is UNF. Even the metric bolts and nuts are proving a problem, as some are metric fine, and others are metric coarse. Did they do that deliberately to confuse owners? I've also made the discovery that there was only one top spring pan. The spring on the driver's side was attached to the top plate with nothing in between but a rubber gasket. Now I've got to source one of these. Going by the paint on that strut, which is a metallic blue (Persian Aqua?) the strut has been replaced for some reason, and I suspect it was taken off a broken TR to save money rather than buy new parts. The best news of all is of course the front subframe, which should have been easy to remove but every bolt was rusted solid. Thank goodness for my impact wrench, which made short work of rusty bolts and nuts. The only bit of head scratching was the lower engine mount on the subframe, which caused a few aching muscles undoing nuts that the impact driver wouldn't reach, but I got there in the end. And - exactly as I had believed it would be - the subframe is rusted through. I'll have to source a second-hand one. Yet more expense, frustration and bother...

It was actually a book I loaned out, to a prospective member seeking his first Triumph... but I think he's gone, and so has the book....

Did you use new top ball joints? Those are missing their rubber boots and if you're taking them off to replace those, you may as well replace the entire unit. I can't see from the pic of the assembled wishbones if the boots are already fitted, but it's just a small point. It'll save you having to do it later on and take the car off the road for a spell when you could be out enjoying it.

I was very tempted to add another one.... my other half lives 200 yards from her work, and drives her Freelander over every morning and back every evening; so I told her it was doing harm to the engine ie running it cold all the time. She has now started walking to work, and yesterday morning went ar&e over t*t on the ice, hurting her head, neck and elbow. So: no matter what the experts say, driving a diesel to work is definitely safer.

I'm not big on electrical terms, Iain , but just to clarify - it's NOT the wall-mounted / garage electrical system that trips, just the cut-out on the compressor. Pushing it back in again starts the motor off again. It has done this in at least three garages / sheds in recent years. I'll post a photo of a similar item that shuts off below; I removed it to check the unit number to possibly obtain a replacement if required. It clicks out so that the white band is visible; if I push it back in, the compressor will run for another short while and build up more pressure. A thinner oil is now on the cards by tomorrow latest.

I used engine oil when I first got it (serviced it myself the day it arrived) and that is what was recommended to me, and it worked perfectly. THEN someone who 'knows' told me that it was very bad for the piston, so I should use proper compressor oil, and therefore I bought a bottle of SIP's own stuff. Ever since then..... the SIP stuff is a thicker oil, possibly SAE40, but I was using 15/40 before and reckoned that covered everything. There doesn't appear to be any choice with the SIP stuff, it's all one bottle and no oil variation. Maybe I should go back to good old Castrol again and see how it goes then?

I've not been able to find any torque setting or other instructions in any of my manuals so far, even the workshop manual just states the reassembly with no further details on refitting the top plate other that it's the reverse of dismantling eg keep the components in the correct order. I've always just tightened them until the rubber bush starts to distort, then locked it with the second nut; I don't think I've ever gone down as far as the shoulder. I'm going to have to run out and check now.

I've got half of one in my garage......

The strut itself is very sound, no rust at all as it's been rust protected all the way up to the top plate. Once the top plate was removed there was sound red paint underneath. If it was even slightly corroded or cracked I'd scrap it, but I'm happy that it can be re-rust-treated and then new or cleaned components put back in. Another thumbs up for Robsport, who delivered suspension components to me within 18 hours of ordering. (Mind you, they charged me £27 for postage...)

Round where we live ie Northern Ireland any ar&e who kicks a ball gets a free car from some dealership or other, apparently it helps sales. People who like that sort of thing can drive the same car as their sporting hero. After the highly publicised rape trial recently some players didn't get a new one this year, for some reason.

It's not, as far as I can tell. It's definitely not a thermal cutout. There's no burning, and no great heat other than what you would expect, but with the cover removed from the breaker it seems to reach a much higher pressure before cutting out again. This may point to cooler air getting to the unit so it takes longer to overheat, but then it's not heat, as you say, it's current. Re Scrapman's post: the garage is all new, just built and with new wiring. It doesn't trip the circuit breaker box on the wall, just blew 13amp fuses in the plug a lot when cold, and that was in the other garage which was an icebox. This one is a lot warmer so that problem seems to have gone away. The only thing I've done to the compressor that's anyway wiring-related was to fit a longer power cable directly into it, to negate the need for an extension lead. I replaced the original four foot lead with a seven foot lead using cable bought from my local electrical supplies. I think I'll give it a complete service; it gets new filters about every two years, I can replace the oil when I'm at it, and give the motor windings a good clean. I'll also try to improve the air flow over it as it's tight to the wall and may not be getting enough fresh air to the fan.

You got two!! Great stuff, mine never turned up and I'm now thinking I binned them in a moment of madness... knowing that no-one would ever want them.

It takes up a lot of room. I've a good 1200 bonnet top, and cut the rusty wings off it to save space, but it's still huge and gets in the way a lot. It's very easy to bend in the outer corners too if you stand it up on that end.

I took the breaker out to see the model number and make (to price a replacement) then put it back in again, and the pressure went right up to 110bar but then it blew again; this was with the cover off so I'm wondering if heat is rising from the motor and blowing the circuit when it's all closed up inside the black box, but not when it's open? I've also got the fan against the wall, so it may not be getting enough cooling air. It's usually run from empty and regularly drained. Circuit breaker is 20amp and it's the same rating as the one I removed from the machine a few years back when it started these shenanigans.

Well, certain sections of the population are always saying they want the Royals modernised, so all those who turned somersaults when Megan got into the family can now agree that ducking responsibility after an accident, getting caught for motoring offences, and carrying on driving no matter what offences or punishments are hanging over you is about as commonplace as you can get these days. I don't know if you really can stick two fingers up at the establishment when you actually ARE the establishment, though....

I have a SIP Airstream 3hp/200 litre compressor and it's been behaving badly for some time now. It no longer gets anywhere near to operating pressure, especially for the sandblast cabinet, and cuts out well before that. The problem is that it's not the pressure relief valve that cuts out, but the circuit breaker. It used to cut out at about 130bar and cut back in about 60, but now it cuts out at about 70 by virtue of the circuit breaker blowing. If I reset it, it'll maybe get to about 80 then go again, and it runs right to empty without ever kicking in again. I replaced both the control box and the circuit breaker a few years back thinking that might cure the problem, which of course it didn't. I can't blast anything any more as there's not enough puff, plus I have to keep going to the compressor and resetting the breaker. It used to blow fuses regularly when cold, and I'm wondering if the oil is at fault - it's proper SIP compressor oil although when I first got it, quite a few years ago, I ran it on car engine oil for a month or two until this was pointed out as harmful, but it ran like a dream. Ever since I used the proper oil it's been sluggish and hard to start when very cold. Any ideas or thoughts to help me get back to blasting rusty bits clean again? I've just removed the circuit breaker to price a replacement which is why the top cover is off.

The driver in the other car is now whingeing that she hasn't received an apology. I'm assuming that if she gets one, she'll drop her massive injury claim?

Got called out at 7am this morning to a horse trailer with a seized hub. Thankfully I brought the essential equipment with me - something to kneel on on a wet road, a 6-ton jack, and a huge hammer, which turned out to be all that was required once the wheel was removed. I'm a big fan of the percussive-repair technique. As there was no point in going back to bed I hit the garage and removed one of the front suspension struts from the TR7. Never in my life have I seen such a quantity of dried mud that fell from the area of the McPherson strut tower. Who on earth decided to put metal ledges up in there? The strut is now removed and a complete mass of rust with many of the rubber components just a collection of shreds. I think the strut top plate may also have to be replaced, although it's really just flakes of rust and no perforation. I'll see how it comes out of the sandblaster. The strut tower itself is really sound so no worries there. The front wheel will still not come off the driver's side, so I'm stuck to one side only for the present. The strut itself came apart easily enough except for the insert, which is held in not by the expected hexagon-shaped strut end but a metal plate with two small notches. I'm assuming it was some kind of special tool for removal, but I'm hoping I have something along the lines of an angle-grinder wrench that will fit these. Otherwise it's off to the in-laws' engineering works for help. As usual I never saw the time go in so I'm assuming it's now breakfast time....

Does the horn sound continuously, or intermittently as the lights flash? You'd expect it to be intermittent if the switch circuit was causing a poor earth, as it would be interrupted regularly as the hazard system switches on and off. If it's constant then it's earthing regardless of the switch internals. I'd string an additional earth cable from the switch to a handy earthing point, even just temporarily, to see if that stops the horn sounding.

The Duke of Edinburgh is 97 and even he had to be helped out of his car earlier in the week... (Colin runs and hides... very speedily)

Thanks Pete; that's really appreciated. I've had a glance over the diff section and it merely says 'tighten the flange nut' so your figure is a great help - no doubt figures are elsewhere but it'll take a bit of reading to find that bit. I hadn't had time to check if it was a collapsable spacer or the like and didn't want to do my usual trick of 'dismantle now, find out the hard way on reassembly' sort of thing. The plan was to get the TR on the road asap and save the GT6 from the worst ravages of the Winter roads, but now it looks like a full front subframe / rear axle removal and rebuild. I'd be embarrassed to present the car as it is for MOT. Biggest problem of the last few days is that one of the front wheels won't come off - it just wobbles on the hub and I've nothing in the way of huge pullers to try to haul it off. I can't work out why it will not pull straight off, but no amount of rocking or thumping from behind will shift it. I've already obtained a pair of spare hubs to recondition off the car, so might have to remove wheel, hub and all and work on it somewhere else with better access. I'll be rebuilding the front struts anyway so everything is coming off in the end.

No more fluid leaks onto the paintwork, so it does what everyone says it should. It's also unaffected by alcohol so if driving home from the pub, you'll still be able to stop safely.

I'll agree with that, Waxoyl tastes horrible. Next time I won't find the groove in the cap by feel, so I can see that it's facing away and not towards...