The TSSC International at Stafford once again saw the Yoof group pitching their tents in the very noisy area, the description being especially apt, with the music in the area lasting till 4am on Saturday and 5am on Sunday! I never sleep the best in a tent at the best of times, and despite having earplugs I didn’t end up getting too much sleep… Still was a great weekend nonetheless!
Once again on the Friday night we got our dose of Ste’s guitar/singing, this time in the warmth of Ben’s caravan! The performance was interrupted however by a string snapping, and by a stroke of luck, this happened at the same time I was filming the performance!
Still no major issues to report with KBA she’s still behaving herself, and long may that continue!
In the past month I’ve been down to both the TR Register and TSSC international weekends. Both of which were great fun and KBA behaved impeccably throughout!
First off was the TR Register’s IWE held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. The Northumbria group’s convoy set off time was far too early in the morning for me, so I decided to head down later on, leaving mid morning instead! I decided to risk leaving the roof off for the journey and thankfully there wasn’t too much rain on the way down, and doing motorway speeds it mostly didn’t enter the car anyway… except for one occasion when the traffic decided to come to a standstill just as a light shower started… at least it didn’t take too long for the traffic to get moving again!
After arriving the Yoof set up camp in the Very Noisy area and we got ourselves ready for the weekend ahead.
Just realised that I’m rather overdue updating this, so thought I should get a new post written!
KBA stayed locked up warm and safe in the garage over the winter months as there wasn’t really decent enough weather to take her out and avoid all the salt on the roads! However since the weather has improved I’ve been going out in her quite often when the sun has been shining
Out on one drive though a problem did manifest itself, the window winder mechanism in the drivers side door broke. It decided to do so whilst the window was about 1 inch from fully up, meaning it was no use to stop water getting in if it were to rain, and in the dry would have meant driving round with a window (mostly) up, which would not be ideal!
So this meant a fix was needed and so I took off the door card, and removed the mechanism which allowed me to spot the proplem… some of the teeth on the mechanism were damaged.
Since I last wrote in my blog KBA’s been running along smoothly with no major problems to report. When the weather has been decent it’s been nice to be able to run around in her with the roof down!
This weekend just gone was the 2008 TR Register International weekend at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. KBA managed to make it down there and back up to Durham with no major problems whatsoever which was fantastic.
The weekend itself was good fun, meeting first with Phil and his Spitfire and Jony and his Dolly Sprint at Leicester Forest services on the M1 (once they’d finally worked out where they were meeting ) and convoying from there down to Malvern. Once we arrived we got ourselves set up in the noisy area and were given our group banner (the weekend being the official launch of the ‘TR Yoof’ section) and our numbers gradually grew as people arrived. It was good to catch up with everyone, as well as meeting the ‘new recruits’ to the yoof section!
It’s been a good couple of weekends overall for KBA, although they’ve unsurprisingly had the usual share of her stubbornness!
Firstly I got the replacement distributor fitted. A relatively straightforward job except for a typical TR7 reason… getting to things! As I’m sure some people reading know the bolt holding the distributor in place is in a rather awkward location. Thankfully I had a spanner short enough to undo it one flat a time!
With the dizzy freshly installed I met up with Wayne and Rach and convoyed with Wayne’s purple Grinnall down to the Harewood hillclimb, picking my dad up on the way where I got the following pic
There were three TRs in action at the Hillclimb as well as a whole load of other cars ranging from a Nissan Micra to some single-seater racers. Was a good fun day and you can see some pictures I took here.
I kinda intended on updating this blog a bit more often, but to be honest there’s not really been too much to report over the winter months. In part due to the weather not being brilliant, but also because the engine hadn’t been running too smoothly and eventually refused to start!
With the MOT looming at the end of April KBA went back down to Willow Triumph, the problem found to be with the distributor which has something worn in the internal workings. This was given as much of a repair as possibly, and electric ignition fitted but until I get a replacement distributor fitted (which should be arriving any time soon) the wearing causes play in the workings that in turn leads to the engine being prone to coughing when under load. The replacement should fix this though
After a couple of other things fixing KBA went for her MOT and passed, so is road legal for another year! And with the glorious weather we’ve been having recently I’ve been able to use her a fair few times since. Though I can’t wait till the distributor is sorted so she drives smoothly!
The other night I was able to go to a TR Register Northumbria Group meet for the first time this year roof-down in a wedge which was really nice to be able to do. There was a really good turn-out from the TRs, obviously brought about the dry and sunny weather! Definitely more than the following pic suggests! Hopefully I’ll be able to continue getting stars next to my name for turning up in a TR on a regular basis now!
What next, well there will be the distributor to sort of course, but also I am hoping to take her down to the Harewood Hillclimb meet on Saturday where there will be some TRs running. Hopefully the weather will hold up and KBA won’t let me down! I’ll update you in due course!
Well KBA’s now back on the road! I picked her up yesterday afternoon from Willow Triumph, just in time for the latest TR Register Northumbria group meeting!
Those observant ones who have seen KBA before may notice a couple of changes since she was last on the road. Firstly I’ve finally got round to getting tyres on the Alloy wheels that Ally managed to get for a 4-pack of Stella. They do look so much better than the old steel wheels, though I do need to get some new centre caps for them. Secondly whilst she was down at Willow Triumph the sills have been stone-chipped /painted black, which is a) better than them just being mostly primer and b) looks much nicer
What else has been done to her… well the main jobs that were done at Willow Triumph were:
Replacement fuel tank fitted.
Fuel lines replaced.
Front-to-rear brake line replaced.
Electric fan fitted.
Offside wing mirror fitted (saved me drilling the bodywork myself!)
Undersealing (saved me a yucky job!)
So now hopefully all I’ve got left to do is wait for a nice day to take her out for a good drive! That said, taking bets now as to what’s going to fail next
I have now inherited ownership of KBA and have decided to do a blog on my experiences with the troublesome green wedge! I imagine it won’t be as good a read as Ally’s blog was but hopefully I’ll be able to do her memory proud in keeping her pride-and-joy going!
Not much has progressed on KBA for a while, though things are starting to move forwards. She has now been re-taxed and is due to go into Willow Triumph this coming Tuesday to get various things sorted, including getting the new fuel tank installed.
So hopefully before too long KBA will be back on the road, I have just got to hope that the weather will stay decent and the mechanical gremlins stay away so that I can get some decent use out of her!
This post and the entire blog are dedicated to Ally’s memory:
) and convoying from there down to Malvern. Once we arrived we got ourselves set up in the noisy area and were given our group banner (the weekend being the official launch of the ‘TR Yoof’ section) and our numbers gradually grew as people arrived. It was good to catch up with everyone, as well as meeting the ‘new recruits’ to the yoof section!
