Colin Lindsay

Consider it a divorce. It's going to cost, particularly in lawyers and legal fees in the short term, but it'll be the long-term rebuild that really matters. If you ignore the big domineering players like France and Germany, and the idiotic give-nothing-take-all hangers-on like Ireland, there are a number of mid-range countries watching to see how the UK goes, as they're interested in leaving too. In a year or so things might be quite surprising. Hardly the result of the engine clean, unless the released power became more than the exhaust could handle? I was buying a bathroom mirror recently, and was checking reviews on Amazon; there was a concave mirror which the buyer gave a really negative review to, as he had placed it on his bathroom wall where the sunlight caught it and the magnified rays melted his uPvc window frame. Not really the fault of the mirror....

Firstly thanks Markus for that excellent post on compressors; I'll forgive them for being American and try to translate most of the jargon into English. Secondly: Iain - that breaker is a direct replacement for the original that was fitted to the unit by SIP, I put in the unit code a few years back and bought an identical one when the original did exactly the same thing. It's rated 20A and to be honest I'd be wary of upgrading to, say, 25A unless I had someone else to blame.. I was sandblasting today and on initial startup the pressure went right up to about 120 on the gauge, maybe 130, then the breaker cut off again. When the pressure dropped too far for further blasting I reset the breaker and this time it went to about 70 or 80 and stopped there. Further resets went no higher. I'm now running it with the cover off so there's absolutely no discernable heat rising from the motor. I'm intending to replace the breaker with a (hopefully) better unit if I can identify a 'good' 2 terminal push-button replacement, this one is listed as a thermal magnetic circuit breaker on many sites, including the one I almost bought a replacement from - except that the cost was £11.50, VAT brought it up to £13.80, 'handling charge' was £3.99, postage was £5.99. Ripoff city! https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/fuses-sockets-circuit-breakers/circuit-breakers/thermal-magnetic-circuit-breakers/

Can you STILL get Frosties? Probably banned now due to the high sugar content. You can still get the Esso stickers, though: https://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/ourshop/prod_1482388-Put-A-Tiger-In-Your-Tank-Sticker-9.html

They're GREAT! Or was that a different tiger?

Not quite; Brexiteers might LIKE to use one, but are being prevented by Remoaners who want a second vote before they let them put it in, they want a guarantee that the UK petrol station which sold the fuel can still smuggle it in from the continent after Brexit, and require a backstop which states that in the case of any doubt, the car is NEVER to be tested to see if the fuel additive actually does work, to protect the jobs of those who make them.

Apart from those metal 'lozenge' thingies that you drop into your tank and which save you millions of miles of fuel and allow you to run on unleaded from the word 'go'...

May have obtained one from Wayne at Robsport; I'll get him to send it to me and hopefully it's useable; a bit tatty in the photos he sent me but much better than mine. Steve at S+S also has some if any other owner requires one.

I used to use it all the time, but haven't recently. I remember various arguments on (this?) forum claiming that if it did any good, the oil manufacturers would have included it in their oil; which I don't follow, as with the usual cost-cutting and penny pinching I reckon they'd give you the bare minimum, and let you add anything else you needed yourself. Never did my cars any harm that I'm aware of, and since some of my vehicles ended up with quite astronomical mileage, it might even have helped; but then so does regular oil changing with quality oil.

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....