Thursday, September 25, 2014

End in sight

The estate is currently at Markich Motors where it it has had the front and rear screen and trim fitted and sealed.

Up on the lift the oil levels have been checked and to propshaft UJ's swapped out - forgot about those but then its been off the road for 10 years! It at the balancers currently.



Aircon has been gassed up and seems to produce nice icey air very effectively - just need to test it on a very hot day!

The Triumph auxillary fan ( standard on Australian market  2500S) was a bit noisy but a drop of oil in the bushes has quietened that right down.

Ian the Trimmer has completed the sun roof and boot board fitting - it's all coming together very smoothly.

Shannons insurance is partially sorted - back on the road with Agreed value of $17,000 - this will be modified once I can get it round to their offices for final valuation.


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Blown headgasket - closely followed by me almost blowing a gasket

Blew the head gasket on my 2100EFI saloon last week - and this was the reason - a Racetorations supplied (via Chris Witor - not his fault) 200 quid piece of junk!!! Really makes my angry - these retail at 169.95 quid + VAT

 The fire rings are completely randomly swaged onto the gasket material - I don't know whether its the fire ring that is too small or the gasket hole is too big but the result is when the fire ring is compressed it collapses as there is no gasket within.
 I cut the fire ring on one bore where it was crushed and the was virtually no gasket material beneath it - where it was properly made there was about 1.5mm of the gasket crushed in the fire ring sandwich.

 These "Payen" branded gasket used to be good quality but they seem to have nose dived in QA/QC in the last few years - perhaps the Made in UK stamp is now stamped for Daryl in China? It would certainly improve profit margins.

 I have a brand new one but didn't dare use it - I used a secondhand one that has been on my PI and is obviously OK.

Equally annoyingly Wishbone Classics were a good alternate source and cheaper but another run of poor QC ended in me buying 10 gaskets at $90 each which were only good for the bin - and Kai now refuses to answer my calls or email despite admitting that they were a faulty batch - he did sell me some good ones previously. Really angry about this sort of junk






Mileage 26000km since full rebuild - cam and followers mint (6000km)

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Estate Interior virtually complete

 The PI estate is ready for final assembly and prep by a few external people - ie screen fitting with new seal and trim and sealing, final sunroof adjustment and a few bit of trim that need adjusting in the tailgate area. Then a final polish and a few assembly chips to touch in.
Boot full of final bits of trim that need fitting


Just waiting on a NOS gaitor for the gearstick from Mick Dolphin.