So how was everyone's weekend?
After a fun filled time at the British Motorcars of
New England's summer festival weekend (thanks guys)
the trip home reminded my wife and I that there's
often a downside to true Triumph happiness.
The groaning and rumbling of the alternator bearings
started just 25 miles into the ride home. We had 175
more to go. But the Lucas was still putting out a
minimal charge, the tank was full, the sun would be up
for another 3 hours, and I had a series of crash
points and friends picked out along the way if we blew
up.
So we went for it.
Although my foot was numb and in true pain due to
steady positioning, I never let off the gas and
dropped below 2500 rpm's once. My wife offered to
drive but I feared any chance that slack in the belt
would give the altenator a chance to do bad things.
And for once in my life I was dead right. As we
pulled off the exit only 2 miles from home I had to
stop for a light. It seized immediately and all hell
broke loose. The noise, the smell, the swearing (me).
What to do? Punch it, run all the red lights and
head for home - smoke pouring out the rear. Past the
cars lined up at the mall, past the police station,
through the intersections we go with no regard to the
law. The belt then finally let loose and we started
to overheat!
Barreled through my neighborhood at 50mph (wave to the
pissed off neighbors) and into the driveway. Oh oh,
the other car is in the garage. "Who's got the keys?
And where's the door opener?" All the while the
Triumph is billowing steam now out from under the hood
(neighbors now understand).
We laughed like hell when it was all over.
So after 16 years of owning a 27 year old car it's
time for Trevor to get the GM alternator conversion.
Dan Masters is my new best friend. I'm downloading his
instructions off of the vtr pages now.
Reports to come.
Joe Merone
CF18928
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe triumphs
///
|