Hi guys,
I haven't posted much on Retro Rides, but I spend so long poring over other people's build threads that I thought I would put up a few pictures of my car. You might recognise it from Classic & Sports Car too, so apologies if you're having to sit through it a second time!
I've owned a few of old snotters over the years, this one coming about after doing the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run with my pal Matt in his 1972 Triumph 2000 back in 2016. Apparently, at some point in deepest darkest Wales (and having had no sleep for about 30 hours), I said I fancied buying a 2000. I joined all the Facebook pages and saw quite a few cars offered for sale, but most were complete wrecks and well beyond my limited capabilities. Eventually this heap came up for sale on eBay with a starting bid of £2000. I watched it fail to sell before getting a text from Matt asking if I was going to make an offer...
I wasn't sure and said I couldn't go to more then £1500, which was good, because that's what he'd already offered the guy on my behalf. A couple of weeks later we went to pick it up and boy was it a shed. Within a mile or so of our trip back to Peterborough there was a god-awful bang from the back end and it nearly boiled over while I got out to investigate. The driveshaft UJs were completely shagged and the prop wasn't much better. Anything over 40mph and it felt like the thing was going to fling itself to pieces, a bit like those Youtube videos where they fill an old washing machine with bricks before sticking it on a spin cycle.
We ended up taking it straight to a friend's workshop who very generously welded up two small holes – one on the rear offside floor pan and one on the nearside front floor pan. Beyond that the car was incredibly solid, despite being painted about a dozen different shades of red. We drained the gearbox oil, which looked like pure mercury, and greased what needed it.
By the time I'd driven from Peterborough back to Croydon the propshaft had almost let go, so I bought a secondhand unit and had it rebuilt. It made a massive difference and I was able to tool around it a bit without the fear of it bursting through the floor. Still looked like I'd dredged it up from a canal.
Wasn't a massive fan of the bumpers, and seeing as the previous owner had removed the front already I thought I'd take the back one off too – plus the tow bar. Turned out the captive nuts were shot, so I spent a Saturday morning annoying the neighbours by grinding them all out.
I haven't posted much on Retro Rides, but I spend so long poring over other people's build threads that I thought I would put up a few pictures of my car. You might recognise it from Classic & Sports Car too, so apologies if you're having to sit through it a second time!
I've owned a few of old snotters over the years, this one coming about after doing the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run with my pal Matt in his 1972 Triumph 2000 back in 2016. Apparently, at some point in deepest darkest Wales (and having had no sleep for about 30 hours), I said I fancied buying a 2000. I joined all the Facebook pages and saw quite a few cars offered for sale, but most were complete wrecks and well beyond my limited capabilities. Eventually this heap came up for sale on eBay with a starting bid of £2000. I watched it fail to sell before getting a text from Matt asking if I was going to make an offer...
I wasn't sure and said I couldn't go to more then £1500, which was good, because that's what he'd already offered the guy on my behalf. A couple of weeks later we went to pick it up and boy was it a shed. Within a mile or so of our trip back to Peterborough there was a god-awful bang from the back end and it nearly boiled over while I got out to investigate. The driveshaft UJs were completely shagged and the prop wasn't much better. Anything over 40mph and it felt like the thing was going to fling itself to pieces, a bit like those Youtube videos where they fill an old washing machine with bricks before sticking it on a spin cycle.
We ended up taking it straight to a friend's workshop who very generously welded up two small holes – one on the rear offside floor pan and one on the nearside front floor pan. Beyond that the car was incredibly solid, despite being painted about a dozen different shades of red. We drained the gearbox oil, which looked like pure mercury, and greased what needed it.
By the time I'd driven from Peterborough back to Croydon the propshaft had almost let go, so I bought a secondhand unit and had it rebuilt. It made a massive difference and I was able to tool around it a bit without the fear of it bursting through the floor. Still looked like I'd dredged it up from a canal.
Wasn't a massive fan of the bumpers, and seeing as the previous owner had removed the front already I thought I'd take the back one off too – plus the tow bar. Turned out the captive nuts were shot, so I spent a Saturday morning annoying the neighbours by grinding them all out.
