Dodgy alternators etc

Whilst running errands and generally sorting out the move of my PI estate from painter to trimmer yesterday the Stags alternator decided to start dying - blown diode diagnosed but still managed to just keep charging at 13v volts rather than 14.3v

Of course nothing is as straightforward on a Stag as a saloon. You need to dropdown the front ARB and delicately extract the (35+ year old Lucas 17ACR) alternator which I had fitted a few years back when the original 18ACR died

Now I had a choice - fit a Chinese made copy or a 40 year old original known to be OK - simple really - all votes were placed on the RH alternator being more reliable and the shiney new fake will be returned for no charge.

You'd never guess it was 2012 in our staff carpark this morning - more like a mid 70's hotspot for playboys and charlatans. 1965 CV8 (running a bored and stroked 440 big block) 1974 V12 XJ and 1973 Stag with scruffy alternator to match the paintwork..

Friday evening at Markich Motors

I realised recently with arrival of Ken Bryant who goes to all sorts of TSOA meeting that I rarely do anything with the local Triumph club apart from the odd sprint or Hillclimb - I guess my default "Triumph" social gathering is at 51 Irvine Street , Bayswater most Friday afternoons .. here is a selection of the cars and people in attendance last week

ek

Airbox modifications and exhaust manifold fitting

After a fair bit of pondering and a few false starts I have decided to go back to a modified version of the original PI air plenum on my white PI.

A study of the ram tubes internal to the Triumph part says they are identical in profile to 45 DCOE weber ram tubes. The arrangement certainly facilitates easier introduction of cold air and the main issue seems to be the lack of overall diameter meaning cylinders 4-5-6 may be progressively starved of air in extreme conditions.

I have started to trial fabricate an alloy air box around the intake and intend to enlarge the inlet end of the plenum to maybe 110mm up from the current 84mm

Another thing on the list before I fit the new 2100 engine to my everyday saloon was to get the new 6-3-1 fittted with O2 sensor and collector properly fabricated with the 2" Witor system.

I will need to drive the car without a collector or silencer fitted to the local exhaust fabricator to get the collector finished and the Witor 2" sport system fitted.I didn't want to drive the new engine unsilenced and not have good mixture control due to lack of wideband sensor with the new engine so this needed doing before the main swap.

I removed the old exhaust and the witor SS 6-3-1 for resale in a couple of hours and was pleased with the fit of the Gareth Thomas manufactured 6-3-1. I was also glad that I made the effort to make the inlet manifold one piece with detachable loom as it made the whole swap very quick.

Back together and running (loudly) in less than 3 hours