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Near side front wheel off this afternoon, as grabbing hold of the front wheel and one could feel a discernible amount of play in the steering, and it also produced a very noticeable clonk. Because the clonk is only from the near side, and the track-rod-end looks to be new, I mostly ruled out the likelihood that the rack & pinion was the issue, next out then is the inner ball joint. This is hidden under a rubber gaiter but I felt would be accessible without removing the rack. And once dismantled it has shim adjustment. . . ^ The gaiter is passed its best, not least because wire was used to secure it, and that has cut into the perishing rubber. Can't complain as it that wire has most likely done its job for the past 20 - 40 years.! ^ There's the inner ball joint. But no discernible play was to be felt. ..good news or bad news Pete ?? Excessive play was found in the mounting of the steering arm onto the hub.. well when I say excessive, I ought to quantify that there shouldn't be any at all. More of that in a moment. First thing was to apply some fresh grease to the now exposed parts of the steering rack and to slip the gaiter back on place. I particularly like CV joint Lith-Moly grease (lithium-molybdenum) for this sort of application, but the downside is that the grease is black and slimy to handle anything ..and it tends to get everywhere. . . "Oh what fun I had" ..trying to get an already split gaiter, slippery with black grease, over the twice-as-large knuckle of the inner-ball-joint. I tried pushing and poking, I bent a teaspoon handle to hook and pull it, I carefully eased a small screwdriver in there to slide the gaiter up ..all to no avail (..temper intact but I was starting to get warm enough under collar to remove my jacket !) So, off to the kitchen to raid the store of plastic pots and jam jars. I had an idea . . . ^ up-cycling the plastic walls of a sour-cream tub to be used as a cone to slide, and to evenly stretch, the gaiter up. It's surprisingly easy when you know how, but it's just not something I had experience of doing on my old motorcycles ..which don't even have rubber gaiters. hey ho., summer holidays are over, now every day is a school day ! Having succeeded, very neatly if I might smugly say, to get it over the knuckle ..I then needs to get the plastic out. Too slippery to grip well enough, but my small vice grips came to the rescue. ^ The gaiter is now back in place, this time with a couple of cable ties. I'll order new gaiters and replace both sides in due course. In the meantime., it's back to the steering's clonking and looseness. . . ^ The steering arm was loose, but its securing nuts were good n' tight. When the nuts were removed the rust was obvious. The arm is rusted onto the bolts and most probably have been like this (with a little slack) for a very long time. I applied penetrating oil and levered with large screwdrivers, hammered and sweated the arm on its bolts, and I used plain-washers under the nuts to pull it tight. I then undid the nuts and sweated it some more, and then again, and again. The arm barely moves on those bolts., and with it in situ I'm not going to apply heat, so (again) for the time being, there's more penetration oil squirted on and I've pulled it up tight. With that tight, and no clonk, I can still feel a little play in the steering rack ..that ought to be addressed at some time, but it's not excessive, nor probably enough to vary the toe-in very much. More jobs to do tomorrow, but for tonight ..it's time for supper. Bidding you a good evening, Pete.

Well done for getting to warmer clime's before the shenanigans. Cold and damp here in Ipswich ..wish I were there.! I guess I'd better find myself a pretty little ex-pat lady whose settled over there, ready for this time next year. ! Naturally she'd have to like travel light when touring around in an open top sports car The classified section of this website (..on which I believe there are two TR6's for sale right now), and also that of the TR Register, are good to watch because adverts appear there ..often long before the lead-in time for the magazines have them dropping on the doorstep. Otherwise you might want to drop a note to those companies that specialize in selling TR bits, and indeed to each local branch of the clubs, as they are often in the right place at the right time to hear of cars not yet listed for sale. Because of my own circumstance (..lack of funds) I placed a wanted advert in the club magazines and bought my TR4A from a TR Register member after receiving a personal reply to that. This car was not, to my knowledge, otherwise advertised ..which in turn gave me some leeway to finally get my ducks in a row to afford one. Hope that helps. And yes indeed good luck ..and be aware that those rose-tinted sunglasses usually lead to unexpected costs ! Pete.

^ Sorry to keep you hanging, time for a quick ( ! ) reassembly . . . First, I fitted the replacement trailing arm, looking very neat and clean, sealed in clear lacquer and complete with the poly-bushes. As the brackets on the chassis rail hadn't been loosened, the task was simple enough.. I first loosely hung the rear of the trailing-arm on the damper's drop link to hold that end up, and then fed the polybushes forwards and upwards into their brackets, aligning the pivot-bolt holes first with a screwdriver and then with a tommy-bar, so the bolts (liberally coated with Copaslip) then slid in easily. I then refitted the (cleaned up and well lubricated) brake-shoe adjuster onto the backing plate. Before moving onwards to fitting the handbrake cable. . . ^ A minor mod being fitted, for the handbrake cable. . . Good man Marco, in Germany also has a TR4A and while investigating the poor performance of his own car's handbrake, recognised that the Bowden cable's run wasn't in the same plane as the actuating lever arm on the brake. As a consequence, as the handbrake was applied., these arms (one on either rear wheel) would twist down / be tilted at quite an angle, instead of their being pulled perpendicular to the backing plates. And this of course caused binding of the supposedly-sliding brake mechanisms and so a good percentage of the applied force (by the driver on the handbrake lever) was being lost. The solution was simply to raise the height of the cable run.. to that of the actuating arm. To do this, he very neatly turned on his lathe, an aluminium block to fit under the cable's original end-stop. Naturally this block was sized and carefully shaped to fit onto the trailing arm's casting, without further modification to the arm or any other original fitting. It of course had to be robust enough to take the full force of the handbrake cable, and so a steel inner sleeve was made and internally threaded to accept the stud of the original end-stop. ^ Unfortunately I assembled things in the wrong order. And having bolted the post in place on the trailing arm.. the end-post of the cable couldn't be twisted and screwed in. Duh .. I must have been having a greying-blonde moment. Never-mind I thought, I'd just undo the end of the Bowden cable, remove the original end-post so that it could be screwed on. Wrong ! ..the cable end doesn't come off ! Hey ho., the height post from Marco had to come off again, to be first assembled onto the Bowden cable, before it was fitted to the trailing arm. I took the opportunity to clean and lubricating the end of that cable. ^ assembled and now with the handbrake cable in the same plane as the actuating lever. Nice one Marco He also specifies, for better still efficiency, a very stiff spring (suggesting one from a sprung clutch) to be inserted between the cable's end adjuster-nut and the forked-end-bracket. This is to give a bit of elasticity in the cable's length ..to enable pulling an extra notch on the handbrake ratchet. Unfortunately as I no longer have a garage full of bits to rummage through, I didn't have such a spring to hand.. so that'll be acquired in due course, to be retrofitted on another day. The bolt through the cable end / lever arm was replaced for one which had a plain shank. ^ Rowlocks.., the thread of the height block was too long, to allow the flange of the half-shaft to go through. Out it came again, for me to cut the thread a little shorter. This sort of thing is quite usual in prototype development and so no big deal. I suspect that there is a slight variance in the wall thickness of these trailing arms. ^ There she goes, and all is good. ^ With the half-shaft back in place, the hub was bolted up to the trailing arm. The brake shoe was refitted, and the cleaned and now working adjuster used to accommodate the wear of the brake shoes. The handbrake cable was then adjusted to length. The loosely-fitted lever arm was disconnected, with the trailing-arm resting onto the trolley jack while the coli spring with its collars were refitted, and then this jacked up again to refit the lever-arm's drop-link. The half shaft flange was re-bolted to the differential with new locknuts. Lifting under the rear of the trailing arm to take this side of the car's weight (suspension compressed), I slipped back under the car to pinch up the polybush pivot bolts. Wheel back on - Job done. I haven't yet done the same (cable-run / height) mod to the near-side handbrake brake cable yet, and I never recorded braking efficiency as it was. Nor does the recent MOT record the braking (in)efficiency from before. Although I had well-lubricated the sliding brake assembly before, I've now correctly adjusted things. Still., I can categorically say that before .. the handbrake was not nearly secure enough to tighten up the wheel nuts. But Now with the handbrake and its cable so configured, those same wheel nuts tighten securely with absolutely no indication of the handbrake not holding. The difference in feel is so obvious - I'm really pleased with it. Highly recommended. It's also worth remembering that without dual-circuit brakes.. the handbrake is truly an emergency brake. Thank you for this excellent work Marco, and thank you again Rich for your generosity with the trailing arm. Pete. ...Next please !

I just used what I had to hand ..and I happened to have brought the all-thread from my storage container to use as a spring compressor for the front suspension's coil. Another item on my job list. ^ This is just being pulled (or is that pushed ?) in against the one end. I am unfamiliar with the GT6 radius arm, but would this not work. ? Pete

Yes indeed the nuts onto the studs which hold these hubs on, have a specified torque of just 16ft/lb. imho using an UNF thread into a cast alloy is poor engineering practice .. but hey what do I know. Pretty red ones of course ^ I didn't actually know 'Polybush' was a actual brand, I presumed it was just a generic name for bushes of this material, but these have the name moulded onto them along with a code 34F. Not a nightmare at all, imo ..just a little time consuming . . . ^ Replacement RHS trailing arm (left) courtesy of Rich, who had it blasted, and then visually inspected and refurbished it with new grommets, studs, thick washers and nylocs. All very nice too ..would recommend. There are quite a few detail differences, and the castings were clearly re-tooled, so it may be that the new one may be from a later car (ie., a TR6). Aside from the fact that Katie's had a big STANPART cast into it, whereas its replacement doesn't - the most obvious is of the stiffening web between the coil spring cup and the tube which encloses the half shaft. I haven't run a tape measure over them to compare but the part numbers are the same (marked onto each of these arms) I'm guessing they are dimensionally interchangeable. I flipping hope so anyway ! So out with the polybushes, and.. in with the polybushes . . . ^ Firstly I drove out the steel compression tube from each polybush. I used an extended socket to do this with a block of wood as a hammer. Thereafter this illustrates the extraction technique using a simple length of all-thread some washers and two nuts. Sophisticated I know but I don't have much else in the way of facilities to hand. (photo timed at 12:02 pm) ^ Going, going . . . ^ Gone. ^ This is the other end being drawn out. This photo was timed at 12:22pm, so it took me 20 minutes to set up and extract these two nightmare red polybushes. ^ The inside, where the bush is fitted, was a little rough from where it had been blasted, so I quickly ran some emery paper through to smooth the high spots off. I then thought to clear lacquer the replacement arm ..to avoid surface corrosion and lessen grubby finger prints on it too. While that was air drying, I moved over to cleaning up the rear brake adjuster. And then, back to fitting the polybushes . . . ^ I used a liberal smear of this 'synthetic lubricant with Teflon' inside the hole to help prevent corrosion of the aluminium, and to aid fitting. Non was applied to the polybush itself. Then using the same length of all-thread I pulled the bushes into place. (This photo was timed at 14:11pm) ^ drawing in ^ and then I moved the nut and washers to the other end, to fit that, again just the hole is smeared with the synthetic lubricant. ^ Getting the first 1/8" of wider rim in is of course the most difficult part, but a pair of grips helped squeeze it. I similarly used the grips (with soft rag) directly on the polybush, working my way around it to squeeze from different angles. It soon submitted to the pressure from the all-thread pushing it in. NB. the steel compression tube is not in there yet, as that would make compressing the bush rather difficult. ^ Once the rim is in, then a block of wood onto the end nut is quicker than winding the thread in. The block of wood (mallet) of course is used at an angle, as required to straighten the bush's alignment. ^ that was not at all too difficult. the bruising of the block of wood (which is only 350mm long so not at all massive) shows where I clouted onto the end of nut (while doing both ends). This photo was timed at 14:43pm so with my dilly dallying around with running the nuts up and down that all-thread, my taking piccies, and making a cuppa coffee too, it took me 32 minutes to fit them. Naturally I didn't break a sweat and, unusually for me, I didn't have cause to curse either. ! The compression tubes were cleaned up, with a power wire brush, smeared with the synthetic lubricant, and the all-thread used to pull each in for the first few mm. then they were knocked home with the block of wood.. ^ Job done. Pete

Yes I think so. Cast aluminium cylinder heads and similar parts of engine are often welded up ..although of course those are mostly in compression or unstressed ..and this is very much subject to tension and possibly torsional loads. But still it ought to be weldable by someone capable, even if they feel the necessity to add extra material to beef it up. Still, I spoke with my friend Rich earlier in the day, as he had mentioned he had a couple of odd trailing arms, but wasn't sure which side they were from.? This evening he's dropped me a line to say that I'm in luck and he has the offside ..so I'll swap this trailing arm out for one that has already been refurbished. I will of course need to swap the polybushes over from one to the other, which ought to be interesting as I've never done that before. Pete

I took advantage of yesterday's calm and dry weather, to finish off the entrance-end of the gazebo and then also in lacing down the polythene's edge beam along the low side wall. Today it was blustery and wet but the extended gazebo is doing a great job of keeping most of the wind n' wet out, so I found a little motivation to get on with the TR (Triumph Recommissioning). . . ^ Back to Katie s rear suspension's 'other issues' ^ while I remember it and have access to grease the outer UJ ^ probably hasn't been disassembled and greased in many years, so although the adjuster turned easily enough, the two pistons were really very tight (ancient dried grease). And as a consequence of someone having used the wrong size of spanner ..the 1/4" square adjuster end was chewed up. [ Tip : If you don't have the right tool to adjust these.. might I suggest you use a very small 1/4"-drive socket inverted over the square peg, and then use an Allen key in the nut-end of the socket. It really is that simple and very compact tools to keep in your tool roll. ] ^ to get the adjuster out I cut a screwdriver slot across its end. ^ Not wanting to disconnect the hydraulics, and therefore have to later re-bleed the brakes, I hung the backing plate / brake assembly (less its adjuster) on a cord, and dropped the trailing arm out from underneath. Btw., it's nice and easy to get the polybush bolts out.. having slightly slotted one bolt hole in each bracket so the bracket's pivot axis are now in line (ie. without twist in each polybush). Of course, short daylight hours, combined with starting into the job late in the day, means working in the shadows. I've brought some LED lamps home from the container so tomorrow I'll be rigging those up in the gazebo. ^ That's off and ready to be repaired or replaced. Removing it took a little less than an hour and a half from start to finish ..working at my usual casual pace. Aside from the brake adjuster, one of the studs which hold the wheel-hub has stripped out and also there's a crack in the underside flange (see below). The first two I could deal with in situ., but if I am to have the arm welded then it had to come off. . . ^ Seems as if the prior owner, the TR specialist who swapped the chassis ..and the MOT man missed this crack in the trailing-arm casting. That's a sad state of affairs ..another one to look out for gents.! Whether it is coincidence, just a wear n' tear thing, or they are related - I can't say, but this side / the offside of the car had been T-boned (while driven by the previous owner). It was professionally repaired with another door, sill and possibly other panels. I replaced the half-shaft because the sliding spline was clonking. The wheel bearing was also loose, and then I found one or two of the studs holding the wheel's hub on were stripped. While underneath, setting the rear suspension camber & ride height, I spotted this crack, but wanted to get that job done before being diverted by these 'other issues'. That's it for today Bidding you a good evening, Pete

^ Looking rather forlorn, the parcel from Bob arrive safely, albeit having been delivered to the wrong address first. Great weather for working out in my new polytunnel, so I opened the parcel today . . . ^ Katie's old dynamo (left) is a 22704H and the one from Bob is a 22700. Very slight difference as you can see in field-winding case. but overall the brackets and pulley wheel offset are the same and so the two are interchangeable. ^ again slight variation but nothing much to write about ^ As a matter of course I opened it up to check the brushes, their springs and to lubricate the plain-bushes. All looking used but good. The brushes were fine, as were their springs. The bushes are little worn but serviceable for next 100,000 miles. I'll most likely replace the bushes and springs in Katie's old dynamo to see if that's why it stopped working, so while at it I'll get a spare pair of bushes for this one. Lubrication of those bushes is a bit hit and miss. In the third photo you'll see that there is a hole in the end for oil. inside this is felt pad to hold the oil and then a metal plate to keep the felt in place. On the TR4 / 4A the exhaust down-pipe is close behind the dynamo and so I'm not sure how one is supposed to get in there to oil it, and if one did then how to gauge how much oil is going in. I did this one by sitting the end cap facing up and filling the bush with oil until it dribbled out through the felt and the oiling hole. I think it's worth taking the dynamo off every 25,000 miles to lubricate it. It wouldn't take long to do so. I didn't dismantle the pulley wheel off the front of the dynamo, but I'm thinking the bush at that end is similarly lubricated by oil in felt. I don't see a lubrication point though. With the field windings lifted off the armature, I could see grease had squeezed out of it. so I cleaned that away (not doing anything anyway) and stood the dynamo on end and used used a small paintbrush to apply oil around that bush so that it ran down into it. I hope my presumption that there's a felt pad in there is correct. Anyway after a bit of cleaning, a good go at lubrication, a light burnishing of the armature's brush contacts ..and my tarting it up to look pretty . . . ^ looking good for a 60 year old, well better than I'm faring anyway p.s. what are the three tapered lugs on the fan-belt pulley for ? I might only guess for winding the dynamo up to speed when testing, but as far as I can think of.. nothing else has this sort of built-in test feature. So perhaps there is a tool to engage with those to help fitting the fan belt, sort-of-like a tyre fitting lever ? If so, I don't recall ever seeing one being used. ^ Job done. The bolt for the adjuster was a different thread than Katie's previous, but all is now back together and suitably (very loosely) tensioned. As before the red warning light comes on at tick-over speeds but soon goes out when revved even just a little. BIG THANKS to Bob for helping me out with this. I owe him. Pete. p.p.s.. If you happen to build an almost closed polytunnel or similar over your patio ..remember to first close the patio door before you start the car from cold. Exhaust fumes in the house are not clever.

Would you not find that 9ft-9in (max width) is a tad too tight to stand back and spray paint.? I guess those gazebos are light enough to carry / walk across by a foot or so when working on one side rather than the other. You'll note that most have a disclaimer saying not to leave up overnight or unattended (..because they can tend to blow away). Pete

aah ha.. sorry, I thought you were about to suggest some sort of banding or webbing or Velcro strip to help tie the battens down. Yes I have full 6m length of double 25mm x 38mm timbers screwed together to sandwich the polythene edges along the house and the low-wall. I'm planning to tie the latter down to bricks along its length. I've used a single batten of 25 x 38mm along either side of the roof, to keep the top taught. And I have a short (8ft) batten across the top of the entrance which I've yet to staple the polythene to. The loose end over the honeysuckle is the one I'm not sure how to secure. That faces due east so is not the usual wind direction but nevertheless it it were to come from there with any force then that side is also an open field so things could get exciting !

what are they ?

..continuing on yesterday, in nice but again gusty weather . . Following on from the " architectural plan " of the previous post towards the realisation . . . Nice light inside.. The (presently) hanging side (right of photo) is next to be lifted up to the wall of the house, which will give a very useful extra 4ft of inside width. Now where did I put those seeds ? .. it's a car port, 'onest gov ^ work in progress. For drainage, and also to try and stop the wind getting under the cover., the beam alongside the house is being forceably bowed to be three brick-courses lower at the far end (by the end wall) and two brick courses lower at the entrance end. The high point of the bow is of course by the patio door, which is also where the two 4m wide pieces of plastic overlap. ^ the morning after.. This morning, after rain showers the sunshine is occasionally breaking through, and although quite blustery the canopy is serving well as an airy conservatory. From just yesterday, there are a huge number of oak leaves to sweep up inside this poly-tunnel (?) but the objective of keeping out 90+% of the wet has been achieved. I need to ensure it doesn't blow away or shred itself in the building winds, but what I see so far is very encouraging. Pete. p.s. for those interested, the material cost for the original 10ft x 8ft gazebo, and now its extension to cover the whole of the 20ft x 12ft patio has been around about £350, with the timber being bought at Wickes and 20m roll of polythene sheet off ebay. I've used about 14m of that roll including closing the entrance end ..so if I get a major tear then I still have enough material to replace half of this cover. I see that cost as an investment to protect the car through the wet seasons, so I've saved in not having to buy a new car cover and there's no chafing of that against the car's paintwork. It's also added passive (out of sight) security, and it gives me an undercover but airy garage to work in for the next six months. It'll not be that warm but minimising the wind chill and wet will make it mostly tolerable. As a conservatory it extends the living space of my apartment, and it should help a little with the heating bills.

^ indeed ...one or two other little jobs to do.

Didn't anyone warn you about bullshitting a bullshitter ? Gravity has nothing to do with it. The inertia of anything within a vessel pitching and rolling around in even a modest sea will often exceed the meek but persistent force of gravity. So each cock ought to be rather tight to turn, even when liberally greased. Indeed any decent marine sea-cock is adjustable in its tightness. The spring in the one on my TR engine block serves the same function ..to keep its cone tight within its socket. You are correct in saying that a lever in-line with the pipe would be with the valve open ..which is a clear visual check as to it position. You don't want to start a marine engine with its sea-cocks closed, or to pump a sea-head with its cock closed, nor would you want to leave a vessel unattended with its sea-cocks open ..so a very quick but foolproof visual check is an everyday occurrence. Sea-cocks are fitted any-which-way inclination on a vessel (and therefore gravity) ; some being near horizontal up near the waterline, while others are inclined down to some 45 degrees or more ..such as the sea-cock for the heads in my own boat (..which is very low down below the turn of the bilges). This is of course according to the hull shape and what is being drawn in or to be flushed out. And these are then inclined to a further 45 or more degrees in a heeling sailing boat. First and foremost their position has to work well relative to the water-line and the flow of water passed the hull, and they need to be readily accessible. They are also turned any-which-way-around relative to the hull's opening. This is so, when being closed - the turn of the lever (to 90 degrees) may clear an adjacent hull frame, stringer, bulkhead or cabinet, or even other sea-cocks, and pipe or cable runs ..of which there are multitude of each, always just where a sea-cock needs to go ! As a consequence - a sea-cock's lever, when closed, may turn to point to the left or right, up or down, or any other way ..it really doesn't make any difference. But always, when open, its lever is in line with the pipe. Of course the TR engine block's drain tap doesn't normally have a pipe on it, so it poking out when closed (its normal position) is counter intuitive, and to my mind - more vulnerable. Pete.

As above.. No to the raised floor, a raised floor would have to be bigger and wider than the car to move the trolley jack around. The hope is to stop 90% of the rain water from getting on the patio, so the slabs ought to be mostly dry. And then I lay down or kneel on a 2ft x 4ft rug which can be cheaply bought from the likes of Dunelm. Have you seen the prices of 8 x 4ft marine ply ! ? Pete

Nice ! and an amazingly low price if the car is as good as the advert implies. ..obviously a very different driving experience from the Vitesse but hopefully it'll be a joy to the new owner Well done Russ. Pete

yes, I still have the container, used primarily for storage though. I found that the farmyard was wet and muddy very frequently, because haulage & farm vehicles & equipment would come off the fields and be washed down ..and due to the slight incline and where my container was parked ..that very muddy water would flow past the door of my container ..just where I was trying to work on the car.! But then when the weather was dry, then the yard was a dust bowl.. Particularly noticeable when I was taking the rocker cover off., whereby everything was soon covered with sand. In short, I didn't do at all well with its location. If it wasn't for the need of a crane.. I'd asked to be moved.

Progress has been slow this year in whatever I've tried to do, in a large part due to the wet weather. Yes, it has been mild but still when working under a classic car is supposed to be 'fun' ..I've sorta been losing my sense of humour when lying flat on my back on wet ground. The gazebo I build worked well to keep the car mostly dry from above, but it's pretty apparent that if I'm going to motivate myself to do some work on the car this coming 'wet season' (..rather than loose the next five or six months to wet &/or wind-chill ) then I needed to invest in my working environment. And as that was best done during the present dry spell (before next weekends forecast of rain) work on the car was set aside for a few days . . ^ The gazebo I'd originally made was 10 ft x 8ft .. according to the sizes of timbers readily available and also because I didn't want to cover the whole of the patio through the summer and autumn seasons. Now with the changing weather the priority has changed, so I've extended the gazebo to the trellised bench-seat by the end wall. The extension timbers were 8ft long and the trellis (nicely overgrown with honeysuckle) is another couple of foot deep, so we're now talking about 20ft long overall. Previously there was a 2ft passage on either side around the gazebo, but its now across to the low side wall. ^ the patio itself is 20ft x 12ft and my intent is now to have it all covered. Firstly though I added some seat-belt type webbing-straps across the beams so as to help prevent pockets of water loading it up too much. I've been surprised by how much water the old blue tarp would pocket if it was not kept really tight ..but then (if that taught) the eyelets would pull out. Surprised also but how much water could splash up my trouser leg and into my welly boots when I tried to clear that rain-water out of the tarp ! ^ the ridge and side rails of the extended gazebo was padded with pipe-insulation from the plumbers merchants, so as to reduce the chafing of the new cover when wrapped over those timbers. ^ and then finally for today's photos, the 1000g weight clear-polythene cover being worked over it. Not an easy job working with 6m x 4m pieces, in gusty condition when working alone. Still I did OK and the two covers are now stretched over the full length and 25x38mm battens have been screwed along each side rail to keep it in place. I've also clamped the bottom 6m-long-edge of the sheet where it drapes over the low wall between other battens. More piccies tomorrow. I plan to tie that bottom edge to bricks, outside the low wall so that rain-water is shed into the garden and not onto the patio. (hence the pipe lagging on the outside of the capping stones of that wall. Then to cover over to the house. As you can see in the above photo the polythene is presently hanging down 1.3m. That material is to be pulled up and sideways to be hard against the house, but still be just loose enough for it to drape like a gutter. So as you can see no work done on the car.. but hopefully this cover should make a lasting improvement to my getting on with the jobs yet to be done. Bidding you a good evening, Pete.

I think I'm now Sorted - Thanks.. I've been offered a working dynamo by Bob on the TR forum ..for just the cost of postage. He'd swapped to an alternator on his car and has two dynamo's sitting on the shelf. Seems that's the way many TR owners go, possibly because they don't like the wide belt. Personally I sorta prefer it as it can be run very loose and still not slip, and that of course puts less load on the water-pump bearings. Pete

I've now been offered a working dynamo by Bob on the TR forum, for the cost of postage. He'd swapped to an alternator on his car and has two dynamo's sitting on the shelf. Seems that's the way many TR owners go, possibly because they don't like the wide belt. Personally I sorta prefer it as it can be run very loose and still not slip, and that of course puts less load on the water pump bearings. Pete

I'm not sure there is much wrong with it. One of the brush springs is very weak and so its iffy contact is possibly why it has stopped working right now. "It was OK until it broke " ..Those copper coloured filings are from the plain bush, the other end bear doesn't feel too tight either. My last experience with a dynamo (from one of my Sunbeam motorcycles) being professionally refurbished is that it cost me £200., plus post and packing x6 times back and forth to a London specialist, because they didn't seem to believe me that their repair hadn't worked. This was when I was trying to sell the bike and so things were delayed and delayed. Eventually the prospective buyer took the bike.. knowing the issue and then had his local chap (down in Devon) look at it. Initially he couldn't see what was wrong with it, but that it was barely kicking out any charge ..and the skimming of the armature each time it was rebuilt had left the clearances a little too large. However he was a persistent chap who liked the challenge.. and after several weeks discovered almost by chance that the armature had been wound back to front ! So much for official Sunbeam motorcycle specialists &/or the London dynamo experts who had done the job ! Often owners upgrade their Triumph's dynamo to an alternator and a narrow belt, so it's quite plausible that someone has had one sitting on their garage shelf for the past 10 years, which is perfectly fine ..and much less hassle and cost than I experienced in having one refurbished. Pete.

Today I also pulled this out.. ^ It was leaking just a little but it's not good when the radiator is half empty (..and that's not me being a pessimist ! ). I feel rather grateful that it reluctantly came out, rather than shearing off (..as the water heater valve had), so then it was just a matter of cleaning it and the hole up, and putting it back in ..this time with a fibre washer rather than goo. ^ Everything cleaned up fine, and was greased, but it strikes me as odd that the 'open to drain' hole isn't in line with the lever.. That's just so counter-intuitive to me. ^ with the lever in this position - the drain is closed. Hey ho., what do I know ! ? ..but that it ain't that way with my boat's sea-cocks. Anyways up., another little job ticked off the scroll. Pete

Dynamo - Wanted - for 1967 TR4A with wide fan-belt. also in Home Parts and Cars For Sale, Swap or Wanted, maximum value £250 Dynamo - Wanted - for TR4A wide belt. ^ Tested it and the output was 1-volt at tick-over. Should be around 14 - 15v. Mssr Haynes proposes its field windings are culprit, so I took it off and opened it up to have a look see. . . ^ One of the brush springs is very weak and so a lack of good contact is possibly why it's stopped working right now. but those copper coloured filings are from the plain bush, the other end bear doesn't feel too tight either. Undoubtedly it could be refurbished with new plain-bushes, etc., but the rest of it doesn't look too bright ...so if you happen to have one on the shelf that'll fit ? Cheers, Pete - in Suffolk

Dynamo - Wanted - for 1967 TR4A with wide fan-belt. I discovered today that Katie's dynamo is ..let's politely just say 'worn'.. and has stopped working. If someone happens to have one that's cheap and serviceable ..and could be posted ? (they weight 6kg + packaging) then I'd be interested, as long as its bearings (I'm referring to plain-bushes rather than brushes) feel tight and smooth to turn. ^ this can be refurbished with new plain-bushes, etc., but the rest of it doesn't look too bright ...so if you happen to have one on the shelf Cheers, Pete - in Suffolk

Btw., the inside arches of the bonnet are different colours. One's black, the other looks whitish over red-oxide, on a red car. So something there has been replaced. Looks as if the bonnet comes off a white car, which could have been due to rust ..but still it's worth checking the front end, chassis and front suspension for accident damage. Pete