This month is sad with the passing of one of our friends and great club member Gwyn Evans. Gwyn was one of the clubs biggest supporters in the area and beyond and known to many in the TSSC. He was a true gentleman and always had time for everyone to chat about their car and Triumph related problems. He will be sadly missed and our heartfelt condolences go out to Babs, son Tim and their family.
Like all areas of the club we have all been keeping a low profile for the last few weeks and supporting key workers and our heroes in the NHS. I have found that an old spitfire brake drum on a piece of rope makes an excellent bell to clang in support of key workers on Thursday evenings at 8pm. I have heard from a number of club members who are either in lock down or like myself stock taking in the shed or garage. I came across an interesting demonstration of the effects of ethanol in modern fuels. I have a Spartan Kit car which is fitted with a Mk1 vitesse 2 litre engine which I rescued from Crazy George when he was having a stock reduction sale a few years back and it has been an ongoing project sadly neglected due to Stag rebuild work at Bern’s unit.
Having laid up over the winter I decided to take the covers off and have a look at what the ravages of time and damp had left behind, I can’t garage it as my Spit is in the garage. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Spartan was in very good condition with the engine turning freely and in general good nick. As part of the usual pre-flightchecks I was checking the fuel condition and had removed the fuel line where it feeds the Twin Stromberg carbs to check that fuel was getting through. Being a Mk1 vitesse engine the fuel pump has the see though glass fuel bowl and filter so I could see that fuel was present. This type of fuel pump has a manual lever to presumably prime the system. I started pumping the manual lever and of course there was little or no flow and a lot of bubbles and gurgling. Clearly there was a problem and I removed the fuel pump for a closer inspection. Now I’m guessing that the pump diaphragm was probably last replaced in the late 1990’s so the rubber probably was not ethanol proof but ravages of months if not years of exposure had taken their toll. Luckily I had a rebuild kit to hand as I must have guessed the problem would raise its head at some point. Replacing the diaphragm is an easy job and the kit also contains replacement one way valves which have to be put in the correct way round or the pump will not function. I got some new fuel into the fuel line and the tank and primed the Stromberg’s. I will point out the obvious at this stage do not start a car which has been laid up without checking the oil or priming the oil pump.
Cheap filters sometimes do not contain non return valves so the oil over time runs back to the sump leaving all the bearings and journals with little or no oil lubrication. Take the plugs out and put a little squirt of regular 20/50 in each cylinder bore and with the plugs out turn the engine over on the starter motor until the oil light goes out or you can see oil pressure on the oil pressure gauge if you have one fitted.I put the plugs back in and checked the condition of the points contacts which always corrode over time. A gentle rub of the contact faces with some emery cloth and all was good again. I reconnected the coil and chanced turning the ignition key. To my amazement it started up and ran first turn of the key with a bit of smoke due to the oil in the cylinder bores. It was at this point that my wife appeared and said “I thought you were cutting the grass?”I hope you are all keeping well. If you cannot get out to drive your Triumphs get out and do all the jobs on them you have put off but most of all Keep Safe.
Al