Fleet Maintenance.

I'm writing this partly for your interest and partly as a reference for myself of all the jobs that popped into my head as I was driving the tractor down to the petrol station to fill it with Winter diesel earlier today.

Today I managed to tighten the loose ball joint on the Tractors steering so that it now doesn't swing widly from side to side every time you hit a bump. The castelated nut was too far in and hence the split pin did not stop it from loosning. A couple of large washers sorted this out. I also found out where the coolant was leaking out of. I think I fixed this and I filled the rad up with anti-freeze. I also gave the lawn mower a quick brush off and clean and removed the battery for winter storage in the basement.

It's a long list, and some of these jobs won't be started until next summer, but here goes.

The Opel

Pretty much up to date with servicing and the rest, a few small jobs really.

- Replace the bonnet cable (again) so that you don't need pliers to open the bonnet.
- Get a new clip for the drivers side window winder. I lost the old one whilst I was fixing the door handle.....

The Landy

Plenty to do here, mostly because we havn't really finished restoring it yet (even though I've been driving it for the last 2 years!!!). There's a few service type jobs too. Planning to use the Landy through this winter and then take it off the road for a little while next summer (whilst I'm using the Spitfire.... Yipppeee).

Service Items...

- Purchase and install New dipstick, the old one broke.....
- Fix Sidelights, they've got water in them and don't work most of the time.
- Fill grease into all grease nipples.
- Clean Injectors, it smokes a little too much when it's cold.
- Get new springs for the wiper arms so that they don't lift off the windscreen at 50 mp/h

Longer term...

- Treat inside of Chassis with Dynax S50.
- Clean and re-paint/protect outside of chassis members, as there is already some surface rust showing.
- Paint front wings
- Remove the bits of body which don't fit properly, make them fit and attach them permanatly.
- Rub down all of body and spray a couple more coats of Top coat.
- Attach missing door trims.
- Replace passengers door after accident with 4 post car lift
- Install Door Seals
- Mount front grill
- Sort out interior and seats.

Tractor and Trailer.

Since moving in over 18 Months ago, I've been using my Zetor 7245 quite often and I have, ashamed to say, really negleted it's maintenance needs.

Tractor

- Oil change
- Change/clean all filters, oil, air, diesel, hydraulic fluid and so on.
- Fix the heater valve (was leaking so I've had to bypass the heater)
- New windscreen wiper blade.
- Fix demister
- Find out where the brake/clutch fluid dissapears slowly to and fix.
- Fix hydraulic leak.
- Find out why oil drips out of engine and fix.
- Replace all water hoses.
- Fix lights (most of them, half of them don't work).
- General Clean and tidy.
- Fix temperature gauge (or maybe it needs a new thermostat).

Trailer

- Fix Hydraulic leak.
- Straighten bent light mount, change broken light cluster and make lights work.
- Grease as required.

The Triumph

The plan here is to complete this over the winter so that it is 100% ready for the first days of Spring, as soon as the sun is shining and the salt is gone from the roads.

It's out and driving, but there's a fair bit of body work and interior left to do. a very quick summary here, I'll try to catch up with my project updates shortly...

- Finish body work (bonnet, doors and boot lid)
- Change Windscreen
- Interior

The David Brown

Other than towing this undercover, discovering the 3-cylinder deisel engine is seized, taking the injectors out and pouring deisel down the bores, we've not got any further with this either.

We plan to focus on the garden next year and the bucket of the front of this would be very useful, so the plan is to do the bare minimun to get it usable before next spring.

Sorry about the rubbish picture, it's the only one I could find, from the estate agent, taken before we bought this place. The David browns now tucked in a corner with all sorts of stuff in front of it and hence is not so Photogenic at the moment!. Expect Photo updates when I get working on it.

Before Spring

- Persuade engine to rotate
- Persuade engine to run
- Assumming sucessful in above, change clutch.

Longer term

- Restore.... Paint, New hoses, new glass and so on.

The Lawnmower

Again, for the last 18 months we've just used this and not really given it much attention. The price of new ride on Lawnmowers is rediculous so we really need to look after the one we've got. Not much to do really.

I don't seem to have a picture of the Lawnmower, but it's pretty much like any other basic ride on jobbie.

- Oil Change
- Wash
- Top battery up and charge it fully before storing it in the basement for winter.

Snow Blower

Last but not least on our list of Internal combustion engines. I got this as a spares or repair before last winter, got it working and made good use of it. I reckon it's really good, Mrs VL, reckons it's too noisy and heavy to use!!!!

Before the snow comes!

- Check it still runs, we've had no snow yet this year!
- Oil change.
- General Lubrication/greasing.

Longer term

- Restore/Paint.
- Fix clutch so that it always stops when it's supposed to.
- Fix the wire/handle that rotates the spout.



Plenty to do, I'll try to fit time in to post updates as I work my way through these tasks!!

Oil Change

As those who know me are aware and those who don't have probably guessed, I am interested in all things mechanical, regardless of age, speed, power, function and so on.

Whilst I am still playing catch up with the Spitfire project reports, I thought I would come right back up to date with last weekends trip to Mrs LS Uncles farm on an Island outside of Bergen on the West Coast.

The farm and the farm machinery is not new to me as I lived there during my first 6 months of our time in Norway. Mrs VL's uncle is house bound and the farm is mostly held in control by some sheep which are grazed on the land. For this reason the last time this very peculiar tractor was used was by myself together with Mrs LS and "the thoughtful scotsman", 18 months OK, to assist us with loading the 7.5ton lorry we used for moving, as seen here.

First job of the weekend was to chop up some large trunks with the chain saw (also not used for over 18 months, started first time) and to fetch these up along with a few other piles which the Sister in Law had already chopped up by hand. So we trudged down through the inevitable mud and found the tractor exactly as we had left it in the bottom of the barn. Did all the normal checks, fuel, oil, clutch still went in and out, brake pedal and lever still moved freely. On opening the fuel valve fuel leaked out of the top of the carb, probably a bit of muck, which I hoped would clear once we got some petrol flowing into the engine (as indeed it did).

I got the starting rope out the little tool kit, wrapped it around the main pully and gave a gentle tug to make sure the engine stil turned, not really trying to start it. "Put, Put, brrrrr", it fired into life first try.

We got our hands on some suitable oil, drained the old stuff out,

filled the new, found out how little it took, drained some of the new back out again so that it wasn't over filled,

found a grease gun, greased the umpteen grease nipples and gave the whole thing a good clean.

Leaving it ready to be put into good service for the weekend. Mrs LS's Uncles wet and hilly litle farm is really suited for such a vehicle. A real full size tractor would make such a mess.

Project Spitfire Update #3

After the dissapointment of not making the date for the test, a new date was booked for the 29th of September. At the same time we arranged hood fitting for the 25th so that the car would have a test run before the test and that we wouldn't be so reliant on weather on the big day.

After our trip to England and Ireland in the Opel I had a weekend concetrating on other things before getting back to the spitfire.

I had arranged for a mate to come and help for the Saturday before the big occasion. Before this I had completed the following,

Re-wired and tested the overdrive.

Changed the reversing light switch and got them working.

Sorted out the fuel tank sender wiring, which I got worng such that battery had discharged.

Attached the front quarter valences and got the sidelights and indicators working,

and charged the battery....

Two of the main jobs for the Saturday were to fit the tunnel and to sort out the Carbs, which were still a little bit sticky and tempermental.

As typically happens, my assistent was assigned what turned out to be the days most difficult job. This was drilling/cutting the neccesary holes and fitting the new fibreglass gearbox tunnel. No way near as easy as we first thought.

It took concentration

caused mild insanity



but in the end fitted nicely.

We also corrected the incorrect fitting of the wiper mechanism, fitted new wiper blades and then got those working. At the same time Mrs LS worked on the hood frame, which by now was in component bits.

The next, and again not as easy as expected, job was to fit new seat belts. These took a bit of figuring out and were a little fiddly to get right but in the end we got them to fit.

At the end of a long day we were tired but satisfied,

and felt justified in allowing ourselves the pleasure of a little test drive.

The Carbs had to wait for another day (which meant again we were starting to run short of time). Another update later (who knows, maybe the blog will catch up with real life shortly)....

Project Spitfire Update #2

After a huge amount of time spent on the body, way more than we had expected as always seems to be the way with body work, we were way behind plan.

Our test was booked for Thursday 17th August, with a 2 month waiting list you have to book in advance. I'll pick up the story on the Saturday before the big day.

Bodywork wise, the situation looked like this



The underside had been primed, painted with a stone chip protective layer and then painted with the blue 2x top coat. The inside was primed and I had started some filling/prep on the outer panels.

Mechanically it was as below,



pretty much as per the previous post but all rear suspension components were more or less ready to install and the engine work was also pretty much completed.

Body wise, I arranged some "hired help" for the Sunday and the Monday evening, 2 guys well experienced with body work and prep so by the Tuesday morning the body looked like this,



ready for painting.

In the mean time my wife cleaned the gearbox



and I reconstructed the rear suspension, complete with new wheel bearings which were changed by a local garage as I don't posess a press.



Tuesday was a frustrating day, the high build primer which was supposed to be on the body by 10 o'clock wouldn't flow from the gun and the compressor I had couldn't keep up. More details of the nightmare I had painting can be found here on The Club Triumph Forum. In the end, again way behind the days plan, I got it all painted with the primer and looking pretty good.



During the few hours the primer needed to harden I got the chassis on 4 wheels for the first time and with some help drafted in we got the engine and box hoisted up, rolled the chassis under and dropped them into place. One job that went well.



I then installed the propshaft and by the time that was completed we were ready to start flatting the body work, this went relatively quickly and with 2 compressors joined together spraying the top coat went relatively well, although finishing at nearly 1 o'clock in the morning was far from Ideal.

Bright and breezy the next morning (Wednesday, 26 hours before the car needed to be road worthy...) we were all ready to re-unite the body with the chassis, which we wheeled out in the sunshine,



so that we could wheel the newly painted body on it's trolley into the garage.



We carefully attached the body to the ceiling and using the 2 chain blocks I had borrowed from work raised it up off the body trolley and high enough to wheel the chassis back under. This whole procedure went well and remarkably enough, all the neccessary holes in the body lined up with the captive nuts in the chassis. Seems we achieved something during all those drunken weekends in my old garage in Cockermouth...



At this point, the photos dry up and about 14 hours of frantic bolting back together ensued. I had assistance during the evening and into the early hours from a mate, and despite extreme tiredness good progress was made. Whether the tiredness and late hour was a factor in the cracking of the old windscreen during installation is a point for discussion.

Not wanting to accept the inevitable truth that the car was not going to be driveble by 10 a.m. the next morning and ever the optimists it was back out of bed at 5:30 am, less than 4 hours after we had hit the sack. Everything continued to take more time than expected and the deadline came and went. However, out of pure stubbourness we were still going to drive the car on the same day.

Around 5 p.m. the engine turned over for the first time in 8 years, but as with all other jobs starting it wasn't totally straight forward due to a blocked outlet valve in the fuel pump. Once this was fixed, to great rejoicing the engine started as soon as petrol got to the twin SU carbs. The occasion warrented the first photo shoot of the day.



If you look closely you can see the fan spinning just above the top of the radiator....

After this momentous occasion spirits were lifted slightly and we set about the remaining tasks of sorting out brakes and installing seats, in otherwords the bare essentials for the first outing. Having sucessfully bled the clutch with the assistance of one of the neighbours lads, Mari was left in charge of bleeding the brakes. This was one of the few jobs that went surprisingly well and quickly. In the meantime I got the seats installed and by 10p.m. we were out on the lane guided by very dim torch light. No speed records were broken and we were far from finished but there was satisfaction that we had managed to get the main major functions more or less in order and there was light at the end of the tunnel. We went to bed naturally disappointed but all the same with a great feeling of achievement.

Project Spitfire Update

OK, it's been a long time since I announced that we had started this project again, but I hope, from the photo's that it is obvious that I have been very busy indeed...

So, here's what's been done.

Chassis prepped.



Primed



and painted in French Blue, Triumph Colour code 126, as per original.



All front suspenion components have been reconditioned/painted, anything that is made of rubber has been changed and new wheel bearings installed in hubs.



And then bolted to chassis,



Diff complete with new output bearings and seals, rust treated and painted installed on Chassis



Body trolley built



Prinicples of leverage applied



with a couple of helpers



Giving a decent working height and the possibility to move the body in and out of the garage as required.



That's all the pics I have available for now, there's been progress since then (last photo is from 2 weekends ago) but nothing majorly obvious. The job of tidying up the body and welding on the last few brackets is pretty much done. Rear spring has been installed and a couple of brake unions mounted.

Motor, gearbox and propshaft are ready, just waiting rear suspension and a gearbox mount before they go in.

That's all for now, will post another update (in a couple of months probably knowing my schedule).

Garage Storage Solutions #2

The Misses suggested that the old coat rack lying around in the top barn would be useful on the wall in the garage. My response was that there is no way that I am hanging clothing up in my garage. However, women have an annoying habit of being right. When confronted by the problem of where to hang Spitfire bits for painting, here is the solution

Garage Storage solutions #1

As many of those who had the pleasure of working in my garage in England will know, organisation and tidiness were not among my stronger points. What will surprise you, is that I have learnt from this, and I am not going to end up in that situation again.

I am already beginning to see that the time and frustration saved by having everything in a specific place is significant. I am also enjoying the benefit of having a clean and painted garage floor on which you can find the nuts and such that you drop.

What has been frustrating up until now is that all my tools and garage supplies have been kept in the basement due to the lack of shelving in the garage. On Saturday, by completing a very rare "1 day project" this problem was solved.

I made use of a drawer unit that my wife acquired (good and solid, with metal drawers), bits of wood from the wood store in the top barn and some of the paneling, which, if I have done my calculations correct will be left over after the other side of the wall is complete. It was a bit of a design as you build affair, but the end result is satisfactory and all in all very solid. Drawers for tools, shelves for parts and a nice clean top for Haynes manual/Drawings/clean parts..... By the end of Sunday the shelves were adorned with most of the Triumph parts, new and old all carefully segregated and labeled, paints, nuts and bolts and so on.

So now that things are beginning be in order it's full speed ahead with the spitfire. I'll attempt to write a report of progress to date and what's planned for the next few weeks soon.

The wall #3

A few weeks ago I was finally back in the country after an unexpectedly long stay away from home with work.

Since then it's been all go, both in the Garden (see some reports on Norwegian Wood) and in the garage. The garage wall is now paneled completely on the garage side and is awaiting the installation of a light switch, sockets and cables before insulation and paneling can begin on the other side. This job may now wait until the completion of the Triumph project, which, as it is now summer has a higher priority.

At least with the Spitfire chassis sitting on stands in the middle of the garage I am satisfied that the garage is more than big enough for the sort of work I have planned, could be a different story with the Landy or the David Brown tractor in there though. Time will tell. Now all I need to do is organise lighting and sockets, sort out some shelving and keep the place as tidy as it is now.

A Project is Reborn

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

It is for exactly this reason, combined with the experience of the Landrover project, which although on the road is a long way from finished, that my dear wife has been elected project manager for our latest under taking. This appointment is with my full approval. I relish the idea of being told that I'm not spending enough time in the garage and hence falling behind plan. Also, on a more practical front, being forced to think through the order that I am going to do things and what parts I need in advance should save a lot of time and wasted effort.

This project is not new, however. It's been with me long before I met the project manager. I acquired my 1975 Triumph Spitfire 1500 as a student in 1995. Whilst it could look good, in the right light when it was raining... (as with so many of my cars) there was never any doubt that one day it would need serious work. Every MOT was a bonus and I kept it on the road for the best part of 4 years covering around 40,000 miles in that time.

After it was taken off the road, it was worked on at times with great, often beer fuelled, enthusiasm and at times it went months without any attention at all. Filling my garage with the landrover, in pieces, was the final straw for the Triumph, and work became impossible. Since then it has been in the back of a lorry along with everything else we own, been stashed in a damp car port on the west coast of Norway, been in the back of a lorry again and finally landing here.

So after a long (around 4 Years) break, planning is nearly complete and work has begun in earnest. I hope to present the plan in full detail very shortly and give regular progress reports.

I hope you enjoy the little photo history of the project before the rebirth......

The Wall #2

Progress. After a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, the frame for the wall, as you can see is completed and mounted in place. I have decided that it is a good idea to include a door in this wall due to the difficulty to open the sliding garage door when it gets stuck with all the snow under it. So, there was a little bit of redesign and a few extra joints to cut.

The only slight weather related delay this time was that I had left the wood glue outside and it was frozen solid come Sunday afternoon when I needed it again......

Snow Blower

OK, it hasn't got a Turbo and it's only got 5 Happy Power but there is something deeply satisfying about working on and getting an old piece of motorised equipment up and running after a number of years lying around outside out of function.

Much to my wife's disapproval I couldn't turn down the offer of 2 non functioning, identical snowblowers which another hoarder had finally been persuaded by his wife to dispose of. I picked them up a few weeks before Christmas.

Myself and "the other cold one", who was part of the family crowds over Christmas had a couple of sessions on one of the units out in the workshop and after an amount of dismantling came to the conclusion that there was no spark and the Magneto/ignition system was defunct.

After all the Christmas chaos was over I managed to track down a local workshop that specialises in Garden machinery, old and new. I came away with 2 used Magnetos to try, a new set of points and a new spark plug. Fitted the best looking Magneto and the other bits and got a spark first time.

Engine still wouldn't fire so I poured a little bit of fuel into the cylinder and it fired first time, but wouldn't keep running. Pouring fuel into the carb had the same effect. So it was off with the carb, a quick dismantle and clean out with petrol, put it all back together and off it went. A little bit of fiddling with the mixture and off I went blowing snow.

Since then it's been put to good use. Hope to tidy it up a bit more once the seasons over. I'll probably give it a lick of paint and a little bit more of a service to get everything working properly (it's quite difficult to disengage the blower drum and it doesn't always disengage the wheels when you put it in stop). In the mean time, I'll cope with it as it is.