Hello hello!
Long time between drinks, life's moving fast and I forget to post on RR for big chunks at a time.
So I have the serial Triumph problem. I sold off my 944 (regrettable) and we bought ourselves a house in Auckland, which isn't a super easy thing to do. Long story short, the KP project (linked in my sig) wasn't going and was a long way off going, so I thought "why not get another Triumph."
Here's the first two, the third is not worth talking about.
retrorides.proboards.com/thread/39335/1972-triumph-2000-dearly-departed
retrorides.proboards.com/thread/86526/1974-triumph-pi-featuring-pedals
Via the magic of Facebook, a chap got in touch with me about a 2500S that his uncle was considering selling. The car was a wee way down country (about a 4 hour drive) but it all sounded pretty good, so I ventured down for a look. It all checked out. The car was a '79 2.5 litre S, so it has all the "good" bits like power steer, a swaybar, tachometer, 14" alloys and such.
Body was in decent condition. The car was originally white, but had been repainted MANY years ago in red (signal red maybe?). It was thorough - the door shuts, engine bay, even inside the boot are all coated red.
It's showing it's age a little bit, but it's presentable and perhaps most importantly, it's not so tidy that you'd be scared of using it. Little bit of rust, just some small bubbles on the front arches and in the bottom of 3 doors. None of the major trouble spots are crusty, which is nice.
So I went home and had a think about it. Called the seller back, offered him an amount and we settled on a price. Due to being super busy, pickup had to be delayed by a couple of months which wasn't a biggy.
Here's some shots of the car when we first picked it up, and embarked on the 4-hour drive home.
20160515_105955 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20160515_105939 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
So I got it home, and once parked safely in my friends garage (no storage at our new house for it), in typical English motoring fashion it decided that dumping copious amounts of oil ALL OVER the nice clean concrete floor was in order. Turned out the rear main had called it a day and it was now gushing gloopy black oil from between the engine and box at an alarming rate.
Luckily, I have friends with hoists.
Sealz. by Richard Opie, on Flickr
The only shot I have of the ordeal is up there. It's not too hard really, save for the 6 million bellhousing bolts. But the car ended up with a nice new clutch kit, new gaskets on most bottom end things, a new rear main, a new gearbox input seal and a few other seals and O-rings replaced. No more engine leaks! And a clutch with great bite. Success.
2016-08-16_09-25-39 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Of course, we want to tinker with these things, right? So I binned the somewhat worn standard steering wheel and added a woodgrain Nardi that's been in the inventory now for quite some time. Perfect.
Kerbside by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Stage 2 of tinkering was a ride height reduction. Now in the interests of legality, let's just say it has custom springs in it. They are a Hitachi branded custom short spring, and the uprated spring rate doesn't ride too badly at all.
Those Lawns by Richard Opie, on Flickr
A couple of other things are probably noticeable. The first, naturally is the removal of those nasty bump-strips along the sides. These were usually fitted throughout the 70's and 80's by tasteless car dealers who thought they were doing the buyer a favour. Gross. It did leave a slight fade line in the paint. I can live with that. I figure it's a small price to pay, for not having bump-strips that weren't even level on the car in the first place!
Oh, so it also got a set of wheels. I've owned these SSR Star Brights since 2007 odd, and I thought it'd be a swell idea to give them a birthday before bolting on the Triumph. The centers are original silver anodised, the lips have been stripped and polished, new stainless hardware has been added, genuine SSR metal valve stems and topping it all off is a set of reproduction center caps by Pine Engineering. Not bad. I wish I'd uploaded pics of the resto, in stages.
Working. by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Then guess what happened? It started leaking oil again....
Working. by Richard Opie, on Flickr
I ordered some bits from the motherland to fix it. The car had an older type spin-on filter adaptor which started leaking. I don't know the technical terms, but basically the blocks on these precision-engineered cars have somewhat generous machining tolerances, and the outer surface of the filter boss on the block isn't always level with the inner. So these adaptors leak. The problem is solved with the newer type, which has a spring loaded center bit to make up for any differences. So on that went. Now it doesn't leak, although I suspect the casting is porous.
Trump 2500S-5 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Trump 2500S-6 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Trump 2500S-4 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Trump 2500S-1 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Trump 2500S-7 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
What use is a cruisy old bus without some sounds? I chucked a JVC Bluetooth head deck in, a set of old but beautiful sounding Pioneer TS-X11 shelf speakers out the back, and an Image Dynamics 10" sub in the boot in a box a mate trimmed for me in a matching vinyl. They all run off an Image Dynamics 4-channel amp pumping out about 75wrms to the speakers, and 125wrms or so to the sub. Sounds great, I can listen to my synthwave at max volume and overpower the thrum of the six.
Trump 2500S-2 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Trump 2500S-3 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Stickers are important, no? One of my best mates shot across to the Revival this year, with a request ringing in his head to bring me back a sticker for the car. he duly obliged, so it sits pride of place on the rear screen above the original dealer sticker. Also, on the rear quarter window I chose a witty Simpsons related quip. Lol, and all that.
20170120_215823 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170125_185419 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170219_193731 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
So next on the list, was to make it look older. I've never really liked the later Triumph 2000/2500 grilles and bumpers with the plastic strip in them. I sourced an early Mk2 aluminium grille, and painted it satin black to mimic the pre 1974 PI models. I also procured a pair of bumpers without the rub strip in. This was a tough ask, most are either bent, rusty or both! While these aren't immaculate, they look fine.
20170207_215157 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170207_215244 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Eagle eyes will notice the Wipac 5.5" driving lights now on the front, the bumper had holes to suit some auxiliary lamps in it when I purchased it so naturally I thought filling them would be wise. Even eagle-er eyed folk will spot the new exhaust. The ride height had me bashing the old one on everything, which ultimately caused a premature demise. The exhaust man knocked up this stellar install for me, it's a 2" pipe from the manifold back with 2 resonators only. No mufflers. It sounds AWESOME, not too loud, not too quiet, not drony. Best of all, it's tucked up nice and snug and doesn't bash things. Instead, the gearbox crossmember does that now...
Enkeez by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Then, a delivery from Japan. As the humble Trump shares a 4x114.3 PCD with almost anything that matters which was built in Japan, wheel choice is immense. I'd always wanted a set of slots, and IMO the Enkei Dish is the best of the lot. So I located a set of 14x7" -7 offset and brought them into NZ.
2017-02-14_11-02-53 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170220_193238 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
I duly blasted, polished then had the inners of the slots and inner barrels painted metallic silver. The bottom row is a set of 13x7" of the same wheel I am going to restore to use on my KP61 Starlet.
20170223_180039 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170223_175837 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Fitted up with a set of 185/60/14 tyres, I got all keen and rushed home to bolt them to the car. But there's a reason why there's only pics of the front. The rears didn't fit in the squared-off Triumph guards. They tagged the guard lip. Thankfully, another of my best mates, the mythical Sheepers, came to the rescue. He's pretty handy with a hammer and dolly, and in a couple hours suitable clearance had been attained. Not only did the lip need knocking flat, but the inner guard itself became a problem once the lip was out of the way. At current ride height, the wider wheel/tyre combo was rubbing heavily up inside the guard. Cue more hammer work....
20170301_190001 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
20170301_190039 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
2017-04-13_04-44-09 by Richard Opie, on Flickr
Boom! Next thing you know I have a free rolling Triumph with a set of 7" wide slotmags on it, looking super swish (even if I do say so myself!).
That's basically where I'm up to - I have replaced some more consumables, namely rear axle UJ's, rear wheel bearings and rear wheel cylinders as well as a good brake fluid flush. It's also had the cooling system refreshed and runs cool, even in 30-degree summer heat in stop-start traffic.
Thanks for looking! Roll on next summer!!!
* I apologise for the build thread solely in phone photos, I will make an effort with the proper camera in due time.
Long time between drinks, life's moving fast and I forget to post on RR for big chunks at a time.
So I have the serial Triumph problem. I sold off my 944 (regrettable) and we bought ourselves a house in Auckland, which isn't a super easy thing to do. Long story short, the KP project (linked in my sig) wasn't going and was a long way off going, so I thought "why not get another Triumph."
Here's the first two, the third is not worth talking about.
retrorides.proboards.com/thread/39335/1972-triumph-2000-dearly-departed
retrorides.proboards.com/thread/86526/1974-triumph-pi-featuring-pedals
Via the magic of Facebook, a chap got in touch with me about a 2500S that his uncle was considering selling. The car was a wee way down country (about a 4 hour drive) but it all sounded pretty good, so I ventured down for a look. It all checked out. The car was a '79 2.5 litre S, so it has all the "good" bits like power steer, a swaybar, tachometer, 14" alloys and such.
Body was in decent condition. The car was originally white, but had been repainted MANY years ago in red (signal red maybe?). It was thorough - the door shuts, engine bay, even inside the boot are all coated red.
It's showing it's age a little bit, but it's presentable and perhaps most importantly, it's not so tidy that you'd be scared of using it. Little bit of rust, just some small bubbles on the front arches and in the bottom of 3 doors. None of the major trouble spots are crusty, which is nice.
So I went home and had a think about it. Called the seller back, offered him an amount and we settled on a price. Due to being super busy, pickup had to be delayed by a couple of months which wasn't a biggy.
Here's some shots of the car when we first picked it up, and embarked on the 4-hour drive home.
20160515_105955 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20160515_105939 by Richard Opie, on FlickrSo I got it home, and once parked safely in my friends garage (no storage at our new house for it), in typical English motoring fashion it decided that dumping copious amounts of oil ALL OVER the nice clean concrete floor was in order. Turned out the rear main had called it a day and it was now gushing gloopy black oil from between the engine and box at an alarming rate.
Luckily, I have friends with hoists.
Sealz. by Richard Opie, on FlickrThe only shot I have of the ordeal is up there. It's not too hard really, save for the 6 million bellhousing bolts. But the car ended up with a nice new clutch kit, new gaskets on most bottom end things, a new rear main, a new gearbox input seal and a few other seals and O-rings replaced. No more engine leaks! And a clutch with great bite. Success.
2016-08-16_09-25-39 by Richard Opie, on FlickrOf course, we want to tinker with these things, right? So I binned the somewhat worn standard steering wheel and added a woodgrain Nardi that's been in the inventory now for quite some time. Perfect.
Kerbside by Richard Opie, on FlickrStage 2 of tinkering was a ride height reduction. Now in the interests of legality, let's just say it has custom springs in it. They are a Hitachi branded custom short spring, and the uprated spring rate doesn't ride too badly at all.
Those Lawns by Richard Opie, on FlickrA couple of other things are probably noticeable. The first, naturally is the removal of those nasty bump-strips along the sides. These were usually fitted throughout the 70's and 80's by tasteless car dealers who thought they were doing the buyer a favour. Gross. It did leave a slight fade line in the paint. I can live with that. I figure it's a small price to pay, for not having bump-strips that weren't even level on the car in the first place!
Oh, so it also got a set of wheels. I've owned these SSR Star Brights since 2007 odd, and I thought it'd be a swell idea to give them a birthday before bolting on the Triumph. The centers are original silver anodised, the lips have been stripped and polished, new stainless hardware has been added, genuine SSR metal valve stems and topping it all off is a set of reproduction center caps by Pine Engineering. Not bad. I wish I'd uploaded pics of the resto, in stages.
Working. by Richard Opie, on FlickrThen guess what happened? It started leaking oil again....
Working. by Richard Opie, on FlickrI ordered some bits from the motherland to fix it. The car had an older type spin-on filter adaptor which started leaking. I don't know the technical terms, but basically the blocks on these precision-engineered cars have somewhat generous machining tolerances, and the outer surface of the filter boss on the block isn't always level with the inner. So these adaptors leak. The problem is solved with the newer type, which has a spring loaded center bit to make up for any differences. So on that went. Now it doesn't leak, although I suspect the casting is porous.
Trump 2500S-5 by Richard Opie, on FlickrTrump 2500S-6 by Richard Opie, on FlickrTrump 2500S-4 by Richard Opie, on FlickrTrump 2500S-1 by Richard Opie, on FlickrTrump 2500S-7 by Richard Opie, on FlickrWhat use is a cruisy old bus without some sounds? I chucked a JVC Bluetooth head deck in, a set of old but beautiful sounding Pioneer TS-X11 shelf speakers out the back, and an Image Dynamics 10" sub in the boot in a box a mate trimmed for me in a matching vinyl. They all run off an Image Dynamics 4-channel amp pumping out about 75wrms to the speakers, and 125wrms or so to the sub. Sounds great, I can listen to my synthwave at max volume and overpower the thrum of the six.
Trump 2500S-2 by Richard Opie, on FlickrTrump 2500S-3 by Richard Opie, on FlickrStickers are important, no? One of my best mates shot across to the Revival this year, with a request ringing in his head to bring me back a sticker for the car. he duly obliged, so it sits pride of place on the rear screen above the original dealer sticker. Also, on the rear quarter window I chose a witty Simpsons related quip. Lol, and all that.
20170120_215823 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170125_185419 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170219_193731 by Richard Opie, on FlickrSo next on the list, was to make it look older. I've never really liked the later Triumph 2000/2500 grilles and bumpers with the plastic strip in them. I sourced an early Mk2 aluminium grille, and painted it satin black to mimic the pre 1974 PI models. I also procured a pair of bumpers without the rub strip in. This was a tough ask, most are either bent, rusty or both! While these aren't immaculate, they look fine.
20170207_215157 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170207_215244 by Richard Opie, on FlickrEagle eyes will notice the Wipac 5.5" driving lights now on the front, the bumper had holes to suit some auxiliary lamps in it when I purchased it so naturally I thought filling them would be wise. Even eagle-er eyed folk will spot the new exhaust. The ride height had me bashing the old one on everything, which ultimately caused a premature demise. The exhaust man knocked up this stellar install for me, it's a 2" pipe from the manifold back with 2 resonators only. No mufflers. It sounds AWESOME, not too loud, not too quiet, not drony. Best of all, it's tucked up nice and snug and doesn't bash things. Instead, the gearbox crossmember does that now...
Enkeez by Richard Opie, on FlickrThen, a delivery from Japan. As the humble Trump shares a 4x114.3 PCD with almost anything that matters which was built in Japan, wheel choice is immense. I'd always wanted a set of slots, and IMO the Enkei Dish is the best of the lot. So I located a set of 14x7" -7 offset and brought them into NZ.
2017-02-14_11-02-53 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170220_193238 by Richard Opie, on FlickrI duly blasted, polished then had the inners of the slots and inner barrels painted metallic silver. The bottom row is a set of 13x7" of the same wheel I am going to restore to use on my KP61 Starlet.
20170223_180039 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170223_175837 by Richard Opie, on FlickrFitted up with a set of 185/60/14 tyres, I got all keen and rushed home to bolt them to the car. But there's a reason why there's only pics of the front. The rears didn't fit in the squared-off Triumph guards. They tagged the guard lip. Thankfully, another of my best mates, the mythical Sheepers, came to the rescue. He's pretty handy with a hammer and dolly, and in a couple hours suitable clearance had been attained. Not only did the lip need knocking flat, but the inner guard itself became a problem once the lip was out of the way. At current ride height, the wider wheel/tyre combo was rubbing heavily up inside the guard. Cue more hammer work....
20170301_190001 by Richard Opie, on Flickr20170301_190039 by Richard Opie, on Flickr2017-04-13_04-44-09 by Richard Opie, on FlickrBoom! Next thing you know I have a free rolling Triumph with a set of 7" wide slotmags on it, looking super swish (even if I do say so myself!).
That's basically where I'm up to - I have replaced some more consumables, namely rear axle UJ's, rear wheel bearings and rear wheel cylinders as well as a good brake fluid flush. It's also had the cooling system refreshed and runs cool, even in 30-degree summer heat in stop-start traffic.
Thanks for looking! Roll on next summer!!!
* I apologise for the build thread solely in phone photos, I will make an effort with the proper camera in due time.
