83 Triumph Acclaim Sprint

I did try and post last night but this sodding tablet ate 30 mins worth of typing so ill try again.

All the under seal removal is really getting to me, i know I'm making progress and the end is finally insight. So as another distraction ive been eyeing up alloy wheels every where i go I'm looking well that and front lip spoilers, i quite like mg hairpins but the offsets no good, there's one megan wheel thats ok but i don't want ok. Vw wheels have VW tax on them, Vauxhall wheels are uninspiring. So far ive only seen 1 set of wheels on a car i really like and there on the chevy something or other (used to be a matiz) belonging to my neighbours daughters boyfriends and according go him they are the only set hes seen like them.ĺ
Bumhats...... id just about given up, layed in bed i remembered some wheels id seen stacked in the corner of a mates garage, then with in seconds the very same mate txt and asked if i was free to check over the overdrive on his herald unfortunately id had a couple of fizzy apple drinks to many, to be able to drive over but i was happy to go the next morning and did he still have the wheels? Yes lucky id asked as he was about to put them on ebay, so 8am Saturday morning saw me jump in the car and pick up said wheels. Barry was coming over to give me a lift with the welding so i asked him to bring his acclaim so i could try the wheels out

20160702_154736 by logicaluk, on Flickr

don't think they look quite right on Rupert but frank should be 20 to 30mm lower so fingers crossed. 195/45r16 on 6j et38 wheels they are the biggest its possible to fit without modding the arches and inner wings. Not that i was looking huge wheels but i love the style, exactly what i was looking for.

Barry did a sterling days work, he had the inner and outer cills done along with the closing panel

20160702_154712 by logicaluk, on Flickr

20160702_154718 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Yes it was fully welded afterwards, he then patched up a couple other holes before enjoying a home made pizza.


This post is brought to you in association with a rarther nice bottle of barefoot shiraz

Ahh, no wonder they look appropriate:



Factory 13" '81 Prelude wheels
Congratulations! Even if personally I think my limit would be 15" a little shock factor can be a good thing so look forward to their final fitment. The 2-tone grey & polished rim might help to break up their massiveness.

Thinking undertray might have to wait for engine & trans for accuracy.. Shame it is so much easier on its side.. though this generation get a bit fussy floored under the frt seats too..

Where did i get to.
I ordered the braided hoses and they arrived.

20160713_163208 by logicaluk, on Flickr

The acclaim uses inverted double flares as opposed to most other cars I'm used to working on using bubble flares, i checked and it looked like bubble fitting ends but i checked with the vendor and apparently these ends are designed to fit both.

After a weeks holiday in tenereife i was supposed to be going on a tour of Scotland with club triumph and after many car issues i borrowed barrys car and went, leaving a voiceless navigator at home with a nasty cold, it really gave me a mojo boost to get frank finished.

So ive been finishing off odd jobs like stripping blasting painting and rebuilding the rear hubs.

20160819_162507 by logicaluk, on Flickr]

Been distracted today as i accidentally bought a spares or repairs plasma cutter on ebay



Not got it working yet but fingers crossed

Take a look at the photos of Acclaims on the RBRR!

Good to see you on the Friday night. Despite the hold up at the start, a big one at Saturdays breakfast and providing hazard lights to a breakdown for an hour we arrived half an hour after closing.

So what have i been up to, the pile of spares on franks roof has been growing, i had a wobble on what colour to paint him and i broke my clarke rotory tool.

I found some cheap head gasket sets and other spares which it would have been daft to turn down at the price i got them for, which have taken up residents on franks roof, a tidy up is in order.

Since i started out on the full rebuild I planed to paint frank nautilus blue my favourite colour on an acclaim.



Then whilst coming home from work a month or so ago i saw a van painted in red primer with a couple of black stripes over the top and i thort now thats a good look, then i saw a factory entered acclaim whit with a black bonnet



Which also would mean i had the option to do this



But yesterday i had 2.5l of rustolium combi colour, colour matched to the inside of a nautilus fuel filler flap, Industrial Paint supplys in hull did an amasing job colour matching it and at 36 quid inc vat for 2.5l a good price too.

I had completely forgotten i had a spare cylinder head, so i an attempt to find my mojo i stripped off the valve gear and cleaned out the ports for closer inspection, the inlets
Looked to be pretty good, just the valve seats were slightly smaller than the bowl behind it, the exhaust ports looked like they could take a bit more work, the same issue with the valve seat but also a narrow throat as it transitions from the bowl in to the port, with the spark plug access on one side and a head bolt on the other theres not much room but i recon there's a little space on the plug side where its tightest to open it up, then it can be matched to the fanimold.

The inlets didnt take long then i started on the exhaust side, which took alot more time i got halfway through the first one and had to go in as it was getting late, yesterday i started back at it as i got off work at a sensible time, finished the rough work on 1 and 2 and just got started on 3 when the chuck fell out of my rotory tool and it was game over for the evening.

Mojo found and some life breathed back in to it.
Dan

Lets start with some recap pics.

There i was busy doing this

20161017_201850 by logicaluk, on Flickr

When this fell out my clarke rotary die grinder thing.

20161017_201939 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Which stopped me but at least i found my mojo.

Ive ordered a silverline mini bench with a flexible drive shaft



Which should see the head finished, but thats not here yet so today barry came over to help so lots got achieved. More rot removal was the name of the day and we nearly got all of it, barry got the really tricky inner cill and floor pan rot cut out.

20161022_161949 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Whilst i did the job that's been scaring me since I started, remember this?

631bb5f7620c by logicaluk, on Flickr

I cut these out
20161022_181930 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Leaving this.

20161022_142924_001 by logicaluk, on Flickr]

And this

20161022_155323 by logicaluk, on Flickr

Which i cleaned up and typically forgot to take a pic, but luckily barry did

IMG_20161022_220626 by logicaluk, on Flickr

IMG_20161022_220622 by logicaluk, on Flickr

So now there's only the front valance left to derust.

Ive got a half cut acclaim that was going to be made in to a camping support trailer but now will have to give up its intended use to save frank.
Dan

Well digging out the garage turned into a 4 yard skip, 5 tons of hardcore and 7 tons of concrete all barrowed by yours truly, then my daily civic snaped a drive shaft and left me stranded in the middle of a major junction luckly about a mile from home, so much for my week off.

Then this morning i wander out to the garage to find my neighbour parked up which means hes just got in from a night shift on the ambulance. So no grinding or loud work curse word.

Ill get back on with porting the head. I completely forgot to take any pics before i started but i don't think it would have shown up well, but heres what happened.

Starting with the inlet fannymould it has a fairly large lump in tbe roof it dosent show up to well in this pic of another inlet which is actually better than the one i started with.





Which was also matched to the inlet port



Then the battery in the torch died and i had to stop. Shame as i was really enjoying myself.
Dan

In holland that was called chrysler saratoga

I've put another 6 hours in to the head, and I'm finaly happy with it, nothing too major just eased the restrictions and matched the ports. I recon there is about 20 ish hours in those ports.







I even gave the exhaust manifold a smoothing off and a coat of paint.



The only thing left for the head is a dam good skim, but how much?

The acclaim has as standard a 2 star gobbling (turbotastic) compression ratio of 8.4:1, i don't really want to use super unleaded (as I'm a bit tight), I'm planning on getting a cam reground for a little extra lift and duration,I guessed 10:1 would be about right, but i have no real basis for this number.

Ive calculated this to be the squish area for 10:1



It dosent look like much difference to me, any suggestions, more info or assistance please feel free to chip in.
Dan