PI bits

Today I found a box full of shiny PI gear in the post. A nice Christmas present I gave myself. A couple of weeks ago I have sent a spare MU, 11 injectors and my Throttle bodies to Neil Ferguson in the UK. He reconditioned the lot for me and it seems he has done a good job on it. All the bits came back nice and shiny. The MU is now converted for unleaded fuel. The TB's had a lot of play on the spindles which are replaced. So far I'm happy with the results and hopefully the PI should fire up soon!

Snow magic

Spotted this when I came home from work today. Thought I would share it with you. Sticky snow!

Dreaming of a white Christmas too!

Well, not dreaming.... it's actually happening this year, a white Christmas in the Netherlands. Wishing you all the best and of course a happy new year!


Soon there should be some PI progress. The reconditioned injection bits are on it's way back from the UK and should arrive soon. In the meantime I keep myself busy rebuilding the Mini front suspension. (After killing it during last nachtrit). Our friend and Mini specialist Freek told me there are some bumpstops missing and this has possible caused the damage. Got all the subframe mountings polybushed and also the bushes for the lower arm and tiebars are replaced. All a very straightforward job once you figured out how to support the body and subframe. We've got the Mini nearly for a year now and rebuilt the complete front and rear suspension and subframes on it. Also it became new tyres (Yokohama) as the Falkens were a complete waiste. No grip at all in the wet. The car was extremely dangerous to drive. Must say things have improved a lot after the tyre change and rear suspension rebuild. I recon it will become even better after the front is done. Our little Cooper is so much fun to drive, anyone should have one!

The End

Well, this is it. Today I made the decision to take my GT6 off the road. After a better investigation of the chassis it turned out fixing the MOT failure wasn't that straight forward. Either it would become a bodge repair or the body had to be lifted from the chassis to do it properly. Not looking forward to both options means this will be the end of life for my beloved GT6. A life that started 10 years ago when I picked the car up in Abergavenny. It was meant to be a donor car for my red GT6 but it turned out to be to good to break. After returing home it has been brought back to life with little efford and had served me since. Although it had let me down on several occasions I did many miles in it. Enjoyed them all! Doing the 2006 RBRR must have been one of the highlights. Unfortunately we just missed out on RBRR 2010 because of the MOT failure. So far the story of KE509O...... but the story continues. One day it will be back, better than ever I hope. Finally it will get it's destination as a donor car. Building a new GT6 seems to be a good plan. I've got all the ingredients to make it to the car I have always wanted. But first I will concentrate on my other Triumph. The 2.5PI will get full attention and I promissed myself that it has to be finished before starting building the GT.

New nose cone badge

Ow yes, I've been working on the PI again. Incidently I found a mk1 nose cone badge for sale in the Netherlands. Call that unique! It seemed a well preserved example for a fair price so I bought it as a replacement for the currently not so nice badge. Just swapped it over so that's another job done. The car is still not running though, hopefully I soon make some progress on that subject too. First the GT6 will be prepared and checked for the "nacht van het oosten" rally. The car hasn't run since November, so fingers crossed. Looking forward to the rally and driving the Triumph again after not being used for such a long time.

Old and new badge

Fitted!

First time out

The Mini scene in the Netherlands must be one of the most active scenes outside the UK. Loads of action going on all year round so we decided to visit a local run and find out about the Mini hospitality! Just a couple of miles from home we arrived at the start of the Mini rally. 23 smart little cars found their way to the pub, which wasn't bad as the weather forecast wasn't really promising. The run turned out to be Mini indeed, as it was only 50km. Map reading this time!They gave us a map which showed 10 spots that all had to be visited. At these spots they had taken some photographs of unique objects in that area. We had to find the correct photos at the correct position. It turned out that our navigation skills were excellent, we found the 10 spots in no-time! Finding the photographed objects seemed to be a bit more complicated. Or maybe it was because we couldn't be bothered jumping out of the car and inspecting the area like a true Sherlock Holmes. The photos were too much in detail. In the end we managed to find at nearly all spots a suitable photo. Back at the pub we realised that some of the Mini folks took this photo searching very serious. In fact, it now seemed that there could have been found multiple photos at one spot, something we didn't know.... So you can imagine the results of our first Mini event. Well, we didn't come last! (but as close as you can get). Anyway, we had loads of fun in our little car. Els had her first wheelspin experience! She really enjoys driving the Mini. Which is great! The day ended in good atmosphere, being invited by some local Mini friends having a meal at the local chip-shop.

Another British Classic

And no, it's not another Triumph (I wasn't allowed). The new car added to our fleet is a classic Mini. Els always wanted one and I thought it was about time to find one of these little cars. So we started our search on the web which lead us soon to the car we bought the other week. It's a 1991 Mini Cooper with factory "S pack". It has a modified head, single SU carb and no cat. It became a waxoil treatment when new. The results can been seen today as it's still a very solid car. A full history and being well equiped made this car to the one to have. Don't think we could have find a better one for a fair price. Anyway we're really happy about our new little power pack. Finally some pics.

Update no 9: Nachtrit 2009

The final update is about the November nachtrit. It was the first time for Els being a co-driver in this sort of events. She was a bit nervous about it, but once started things went really well. The first couple of miles we took it easy to get used to the tulip diagrams. It didn't take long before we could speed up. She really got the hang of it and all was going well, both enjoying the event. Unfortunatelly Els became sick during the first section of the rally. At the halfway stop we deceided to return straight to the finish as she still wasn't feeling well. Which was a shame but also the only right thing to do. The way back was good fun! I enjoyed myself driving the GT6 back by following the "fastest" route designed by our TomTom. Some very fast roads through a forest brought us back to the motorway. Satnav can be fun sometimes! GT6 went really well. As a test I removed the rubber seal on top of the bulkhead. It made all cooling issues dissappear. Apperrantly there's a much better under bonnet flow with the seal removed. I'm happy with the results and didn't expect it to make such a difference. Hope it will cool things down in summer as well. Time will tell.

Update no 8: Car exchange

Well, as our dog became bigger we realised that our little Saxo became to small. The Citroen had to go. As it was Els her first car it was quite an emotional goodbye. It was a good car, never let us down. We´ve taken it to Scotland and the Alps for holiday. In fact we drove it into a gletscher one day!



We found this as a replacement, Audi A4 1.8T Avant. A nice car which has plenty of space for our favourite pet. Drives really well, but is also a bit dull. (like all moderns?) Nothing exciting about it, it just brings us from A to B and back. Which can't be said from the car behind it.........

Update no 7: Nurburgring 2009

Again we visited the Oldtimer Grand Prix weekend at the Nürburgring.

Friday was good! Nice weather, lots of entertainment at the Nordschleife during the 3 hour race for sports and GT cars from the 60's, good BBQ and many tasty beers.

Saturday was foggy, very foggy. In fact it was that foggy that all races had been cancelled until the weather would clear up. Eventually at the end of the day there were some cars on track, but still not racing due to the weather conditions. Luckily we found this log.......















Sunday it was time to go home. It wasn't the best Nürburg weekend we had so far, hardly seen any races. We spent most of our time at the campsite and made the best out of it. It was great, 2010 Here we come!

Update no 6: LCC 2009

There was a plan! Entering the Carrera Caledonia Rally in the 2.5PI followed by a 2 week holiday in Scotland. The only issue was that the 2.5PI still wasn't running after converting it back from carbs to PI. Somewhere in April I started working on the car, building a new fusebox, wiring up the fuelpump and arranging the fuelsupply from tank to metering unit. Luckily as the car is an original PI all the original fuellines were still in place. I managed to get it all finished in time, only the car refused to run. (and still does....) As I ran out of time we decided to go for plan B, better known as the GT6. So we packed our stuff, filled the boot of the GT and off we went. On our way up to the ferry the engine started to play up. It wasn't running properly and temperatures were rising high. This wasn't feeling right.... As we had plenty of time we decided to return home and go for plan C, better known as Citroën Saxo. After repacking the car we went off again and managed to make it in time for the ferry. Here we met Theo and René who also entered in the LCC. After a rather rough crossing we arrived in Newcastle early friday morning. First day of our holiday we drove across the Yorkshire Dales heading for the P&P night in Kelbrook where we would meet other CT members who had entered LCC. We enjoyed a freezing BBQ and some rather funny tasting hamburgers (Martin you will taste proper burgers in August! ). It was a good night out! On saturday it was LCC time. Again a great route, amazing sceneries and loads of fun. Our humble Saxo was going really well, I was actually enjoying the handling of this little french car. If only it had some more power... Els was doing great on the navigating part and we both enjoyed our first CT event together. Dispite not being in a Triumph. On monday we continued our way up north headed for Tongue, in the very very north of Scotland. This would be the first stop on our tour. We had a top holiday discovering Scotland, been to Tongue, JoG, Ullapool, Lewis & Harris, Isle of Sky and finally back into the civilised world of Edinburgh. Unfortunately at the end of our money we had to return home....

Sunday at the Dreadnought, The Nottingham crew gets ready

Queens view, Scotland doesn't come better!

Yellow submarine! Els wants this Stag...

Our Little Saxo on it's way to Tongue

Arriving at Lewis and Harris

Standing Stones

Update no 5: Why the GT6 stopped running and NvhO 2009

A couple of weeks before the first event of 2009 I thought it would be about time to investigate the GT6 and find out why it stopped running during the November Nachtrit. As there was a problem with the fuel supply I had a suspicious feeling that there would be a blockage in the fueltank. I was right. After removing the sender unit I noticed what was wrong. When I bought the car in 2001 it had been stored in a garage for 14 years. Unfortunately it had a nearly empty tank which caused a very rusty tank. I then solved the problem by sealing the inside of the tank with "tank-cure", a 2-pack sealant. For some odd reason after 9 years this sealant had come loose and caused major blockages. I changed the tank for a fresh example and the GT was back in business again! Just in time to start in the Nacht van het Oosten rally, a.k.a. the Chinese rally. Well, what can I say, it was a top night of entertainment. Rutger found some very interesting roads and also we had to discover 2 new navigating skills. This time it was not only "tulips", the rally started with a section of mapreading. Just before the halfway stop there was a special stage on an empty industrial estate. Oh boy, did we have fun trashing the GT6 around the wide roads. We managed to do the exact route only we forgot there was a controlpost with a stamp. Well, actually we didn't bother about the stamp. It was too much fun trying to go sideways around the corners. The second half of the rally went really well, we arrived without any trouble back at the chinese restaurant.

Update no 4: Christmas present 2008

This is our latest addition to our family. Some of you have already met him at the 2009 10CR Nürburgring stop, our friendly dog Tommie! It's quite a character, full of temparament and energy. His battery never goes flat! His specialty is ruining our garden and chasing rabbits ducks etc. Of course he likes Triumphs, we even took him out once in the GT6, although I'm sure he prefers the more spacious Saloon.

Tommie at 9 weeks, little and sweet

Not much later, discovering the world!

Sometimes he's self destructive!

The final product after one year of feeding!

Update no 3: Nachtrit 2008

November 2008

Well, we didn't finish! All was going really well in the first section. We found a good pace and enjoyed trashing the GT6 around. Co-driver Paul did an excellent job on the tulips, no mistakes at all. Soon we were behind Rob in the Escort and both cars were flying on the twisty roads in the Belgium Ardennes. One of the highlights of the route was a ford which had to be crossed. A bit too enthusiastic maybe and after a couple of 100 metres the engine stalled. We pulled over and inspected the dizzy etc. After wiping out the wet parts the car was running ok for a while then stalled again. The Escort crew didn't see us stop and continued their run. After changing cap, rotor and plugleads the car still wasn't running ok. In the meantime Rob in the TR7 V8 pulled over. He suggested to check the fuel supply. Well, he was right, there was no juice coming at all. After cleaning out the filter inside of the facetpump the engine went again. Eureka! So we continued the rally. After some 10km the engine stalled again in an uphill section. We pulled over again to check on the fuelpump. Cleaned it out and off we went. Followed by Rob in the TR7 and Mark in the Volvo 480 we carried on. Not much later when we had to pull onto a main road the car stopped again. This time I was really fed up and decided to stop. It was just too dangerous with a car that constantly cuts out. We parked the car up at a farmhouse and continued the rally on the backseat of a Volvo 480. Up to the halfway stop to have some delicious spagetti (or was it tomatosoup?). After that we went straight back to the finish. A bit dissapointed about the results we went home. The day after we left home early to collect the GT6. Luckily (not) the car was parked up at the most far point on the route,actually not far from Namur. When we arrived the car was still there and fired up immediately. It could be driven onto the trailer. Of course Theo had to do his photographing but soon enough we were heading home. After a gentle drive in the Land Rover we arrived home around noon. The end of another interesting weekend!