Hi just to say I am back from the Trip, I ended up doing 338 miles,
averageing 34.8 MPG over the weekend. Considering the mountinus region,
single track roads, how many welsh drivers you need to overtake and other
problems I am very pleased.
I went through the area where the TSSC meet had been before, I saw peple
look at the car, see the words Triumph and then get out the way. One chap
even turned into someones driveway, wated untill I had passed the carried on
folowing me.
The Spit i's perfect for thoes roads arround the that area, and the
overdrive makes overtaking easy, ontop of the moore I had to overtake 5
welsh drivers folowing this one paranoid driver doing 35 mph in a 60 zone
with perfect visibility, you could see the road ahead for miles, one of them
was a Masda sports coup. They are easy pickings, not like the drivers
arround here, but because of the roads you have to folow them for miles
untill you can see to go safly.
I had a couple of slight problems, mainly due to the 30 plus temperatures we
have been haveing. I had put my mechanical fan back on, because I knew this
weekend was going to be hot, I'm so glad I did!
Wen I was going realy fast down the dule carageway, (it sounded like I was
about to brake the sound barrer) the back end seemed realy floaty and
twitchy, even with the boot stuffed full of camping stuff. I got a lot of
wind buffeting which made me nervos.
First was the the down tube exhaust gasket blowing, dule bore type. I had
new studs with new spring washers, and new brass nuts on a wire brushed
clean surfaces, and I had taken all the corrosion off the copper with some
wet and dry, no greese on there what so ever. It started to sound as I was
winding my way on the Gloucester - Ross road. Overdrive is grate, I only
needed to chainge gear twice. Considering it was'nt hot that day, and the
temperature hardly went above half, I can't see why it went.
I have for the first time experienced problems with the waxstat jets on my
carburetters, tin foil from some food carton has now fixed that. The
manifold must have been running realy hot, because it happened at about 75
mph I just started to loose power, the vachume gagde told me I basicly had
the butterflys almost fully open but I was decelerating. It was almost like
going up a steep hill, but you didn't get the vibration the 1500 gives from
each cylinder fireing.
Coming back today, the first strech and the Gloucster strech was unbearable.
It was so hot, I had my platipus (drinking system for hikers and bikers) and
so I managed to avoid sun stroke, but the car was suffering. Going along at
50 mph and it would overheat with the mechanical fan, so I turned on the
electric, almost no difference. Stuck the heater open and got it defrosting
the windscreen, and I managed to keep it a littel over half. I am so glad I
don't have a GT6! I had to stop at the top of birdlip hill and somewhere
else, keep the electric fan going and run the engin for a few seconds every
couple of minutes until I had cooled it down a bit. Dousing the carbs with
water, I could see the splas on the cylinder head was boiling where the
manifold was! Then all of a sudden the weather cooled by as little as a
degree, and I had no problems, no electric fan on, no heater, just the
mechanical.
I know my radiator is perfect, so I wonder if I have a bad water pump, how
do I tell if I am not getting a good flow from the beast! I supose I might
get my self an extra wide radiator in the end.
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