Snoozin's 1974 Triumph 2500 P(I)

[Snoozin]

So... I really miss my old white Trump, so I figured leading into the warmer months it might be a good idea to get my mitts on another one. Coincidentally, everybodies favourite pinkfluffytellybunny Joe/Goat/Flange (you will be 'Flange' forever and always btw) was flicking his 2500 PI for a reasonable sum... with the exception of it's injection gear. A sum was agreed upon what seems like several months ago, and we both finally got our shit together and rendezvoused in Masterton to arrange transfer of the Trump.

Money was exchanged. Volk mesh wheels were substituted for stock 13" steels Cut springs and associated struts were exchanged for stock items And shortly enough I was driving it home.

Before I so much as cleaned it, I ventured out today and snapped a few shots.

Externally, it's pretty decent although probably not as clean as the pictures might suggest. Some minor rust in both front doors, patchy paint and assorted dodgy paint 'coverups' are all around it, but this isn't a biggie... will simply be a case of fix the rust, get the correct badging back on it (it's missing both rear badges) and a PI grille back on and we should be ready to roll for summer. Couple of super minor issues like aligning the front bumper properly and replacing a dented/rusty section of the rear bumper will also need to be sorted.

Inside, it's a little worse for wear in parts. However, black interior is a HUGE bonus... probably the rarest of all the interior schemes provided in Mk2 2000/2500. This one has benefitted in the past from a retrim, at least as far as door trims and carpet goes... bare minimum I'll be popping a new center console in if I can find one (this one is quite cracked) and make up a couple of new front carpets for it, tidy interiors are probably one of the more important factors in a car for me. It would be awesome to retrim the seats (just the cloth part) in a similar fabric, but I suspect this will be beyond budget so black sheepskin seat covers will do the biz nicely.

Initial plans for mods - think along the lines of my old white car. Bolt my Brights onto it, remove parts of the springs and just drive it for now. Long term I have a bit of a period style rally theme idea bouncing around in my head. 15x7 custom steels in gunmetal, big Cibie Super Oscar spotlights up front, matte black bonnet, number circles on the doors and period sponsor decals and striping. Not to mention removal of bumpers, and some appropriate mudflaps touching the deck.

Inspiration photos:

Roll on summertime

[Snoozin]

So, I haven't done a lot on this, bar a cut and polish and steady accumulation of parts.

Have compiled a list of tasks to get the thing ready for summer

- acquire correct/tidy badging and grille to put it back to PI spec exterior wise

- remove 1.5" HS4 SU carbs and Trump 2000 manifold

- acquire and fit 1.75" HS6 SU carbs and correct long runner 2500TC manifold (got carbs)

- make a new interior vinyl trim section to go behind passenger side rear door

- repair rust in passenger and driver door bottom edges

- touch up repairs under the bonnet - needs prep, priming and painting

- thorough engine bay clean

- get some sheepskin seat covers to hide torn front seats

- service (oil, coolant, plugs, rotor, cap, points etc)

- sort out autobox kickdown and figure out how to make it hook 1st manually

- new audio, just some amped 6x9's in the parcel tray and a decent CD player

- fit Brights

- adjust spring length

- interior clean and acquire new front carpets

CRUISE.

Will put some new shots up over the weekend of the trouble spots, plus a few parts I have grabbed already.

[Snoozin]

Red denotes tasks completed ^^^ Finding time lately's been a bit tough. Fitted up the 1.75" carbs, was a mission to get it running, ended up sussing some air leaks then taking it down to Rodney at Roskila Autos to balance and set the mixtures... runs like a charm now.

Tidying up has begun in earnest, need to have this thing presentable for summer time. So, boring picture update of sandblasted and primered engine bay shit.

Airbox/plenum type thing that bolts to carbs.

Air filter housing... attaches to the previously shown part with a flexi hose

Rocker cover... to be painted some kind of wacky colour. Suggestions welcome.

Aaaaaand in primer. Have since thrown a topcoat of satin black on them, so will update again shortly.

Discussion link - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772

[Snoozin]

More pictures!!!

Well, I've been busy cutting/polishing and whatnot, the old girl has finished up what I'd call presentable... it's not immaculate by any means, and never will be but I think it's too a standard that I'm pretty happy with (barring the faults in both doors... dorty ol' rot).

Today's progress included polishing all of the chrome trim (including the hubcaps!), getting all 4 headlights working again, and fitting the cherry on the top of the Trump cake... the proper grille for the car, from a wrecked 2.5 PI.

Note the AA Otago badge kindly supplied by Mr Kyteler himself... matching window sticker to appear soon.

False advertising... but I REALLY wanted to get it back to spec exterior wise.

Took the opportunity to test fit the roof rack that Hot Ham Sam was awesome enough to bring down to Swapmeet for me... fits pretty well, just need to work on some tidying up of it plus make a new clamp to replace the one lost in transit.

Then I got thirsty, so thought it might be a good idea to drive it to the shops for a few beers.

More to come.... much much more. But things are progressing which is neat. On target for summer.

[Snoozin]

BAM! Rocker cover artwork, modelled by Jarvois.

[Snoozin]

Nevermind that then... Couple of pics from Targa Parc Ferme when I was there snapping away, I really ought to get onto posting those photos! The light in the evening has given the car a weird colour in these shots.

Anyway, car's been in the shed, I've been tinkering away with all the little bits and pieces that need tidying up. Shot down to John's place and fixed a diff oil leak, involved removing the diff etc etc but as it turned out it was a pretty simple task.

Also tidied up and painted in good old PA10 the rust repairs that were left in bare metal when I bought the car...

LHS bonnet hinge area

RHS bonnet hinge area.

So... the door rot that was holding me back has begun to be rectified! The passenger door isn't thaaaaaat bad, it's not completely through (yet!) and it will get away with a treatment and a slap of hairy bog, if only to get it looking nice. The drivers was the worse one though, with rust extending along a stretch of the bottom edge, as well as creeping underneath and into the structure of the door (ie. beyond the door skin). It was going to be uneconomical for me to repair this, and I have neither the skill, nor the time at the moment to learn the skill to repair it. I eventually unearthed a solid door in Wanganui, so the car is now sitting at the panelbeaters awaiting door painting and fitment. Should be looking smart by mid next week.

Looks less serious than it is...

The engine bay is clean and tidy(ish) now too... well, as tidy as a fairly unorganised 70's BMC mess of cables, pipes, wires and random bits of steel is going to get. A quick going over with the steam cleaner followed by a clean and wipe with prepsol has resulted in this. Note the freshly satin black painted airbox/plenum thing setup from a 2500S, and the SU HS6's in place of the HS4's that were slapped on it when I got it. HS4's are from a 2 litre...

And finally... I have fitted some contemporary audio. Had to make up a new wooden trim for the center console to achieve this, easy enough to do, simply traced an existing one, then added the DIN size slot in place of the old AM radio sized slot. The ONLY issue so far is that I haven't got enough space in behind the unit, it's hitting on something in behind it and sits proud about 8mm... it's solid in it's cradle though, so I might have to leave it like this for a short while until I can solve the clearance issue. Will shortly be hooked up to the period Pioneer rear deck speakers that are on their way

In summary; things are happening! Car is looking to be on track for a WOF in the next couple of weeks, which is exciting! Following that, the angle grinder will be introduced to the springs and the result something similar to the white car, complete with the set of Brights bolted to it.

Discuss: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772

[Snoozin]

Mid next week has passed...

And it's now been over 2 weeks, but things have been happening. I guess it's always the perils of saying "there's no rush" when panel and paint is concerned, so I'll let the pictures do the talking for now.

Car sitting doorless, as it turned out the sill was a little rotten so the decision was made to also rectify this.

Closer view of said sill. What appears to be bubbles in the shot is just dust sitting on the primer.

This hinge needed some coercing to fit the replacement door. According to the older guy there, the handbuilt nature of these things meant the hinges were fitted to the doors, then welded to the car, and it's a bit rare to find a door that'll fit straight on. Whether or not there is truth in this I don't know, but I do know the shut lines were totally ridiculous when the door was trial fitted.

"If we just walk around the back now, you'll see there has been some additional work on the passenger side."

On closer inspection, the myriad of bubbling in the LHS rear door revealed a dodgy past (bog!) repair, so once again, decision made to strip it back and repair it properly.

To wrap this post up, a shot of the roofrack the car is now wearing. It's a bit more compact than the other one I had, as well as a more ornate and detailed design. Win win!!! More pics to follow, as well of some other old junk I have scored to attach to the car.

[Snoozin]

So, the car has actually returned from the panelshop now, it ended up costing more than I had budgeted but I can't fault the job really, the car is looking fantastic! Even managed a relatively good paint match to the original paint, not perfect but pretty close... so coupled with a thorough buff/polish the whole car has come up looking very, very tidy. pics to follow soon, once I have had time to clean it all up properly, vacuum out all the bog dust etc etc.

In the meantime, I have brought the car closer to the ground, by way of Black and Decker perma-slam kit in the rear, and a team effort of between Black and Decker and a kind suspension engineer to reshape and retemper the springs to fit the OE spring seats to save any WOF grief. Still... no photo's yet, but in the meantime imagine the ride height of the old car, and remove an extra 10-15mm or so and you get the idea. The bottom arms are 10mm off the chassis-mounted bumpstops so I'm going to remove those, trim them, linish them and then rub them in the dirt so they look 'stock' in order to gain required clearance for a WOF.

Anyway. Some of the parts I have got for the car, some I have already installed

We'll start with the front shocks. I picked these up out of the boot of a PI I was thinking of buying as a parts car, however the car had been sitting in a wet shed for around 20 years, and was just too far gone in every respect to bother with. Upon popping the boot however, I did find these beauties... a brand new, untouched set of old Monroe-Wylie oil shocks for the front. $40 later I owned them, and as it transpired it was a worthwhile purchase as the original shocks are toast!

Second in line, we have my favourite new acquisition. John (CXGPWR) kindly gave me a spare set of steels so I could undertake this minor project, which were then duly sandblasted and primed by A1 sandblasters in Palmy (great service and price btw) then a coat of PPG GE69 beige was laid on by a friend, with a hearty clearcoating to bring out some gloss. They look a little browner in the metal than these shots suggest.

Now, you may have noted a couple of updates ago, I installed a head unit. At this point, it wasn't powering any form of speakers. A search on Trademe for "retro speakers" turned up these gems, a pair of very very tidy Pioneer TS-X5 rear shelf speakers, circa 1981 vintage. They're a bit odd in that they use a passive radiator (unpowered cone that moves with the waves created by the powered driver, in theory it boosts the bass) as well as a 4" dualcone driver. I'm not expecting big things in either sound quality or volume from these but they'll do the trick and enable me to listen to my Supertramp and ELO all day long.

Concluding this update, I have a bunch of rings... beauty rings! They needed a fair whack of TLC so with the assistance of the marvel that is Autosol, they've been tidied up to resemble somethign vaguely respectable. Currently torn as to run these on the beige wheels or not though, the wheels look spot on against the red car as they sit... thoughts/opinions/ridicule?

Thanks for reading Stay tuned for another update this weekend!!!

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772 <---- chat about the Trump here.

[Snoozin]

Ladies and gentlemen...

We have a result!

This first set shots were snapped the moment the car was dropped off the jack... freshly beige'd wheels bolted on, car still wearing it's thick coating of panelbeater dust (that stuff is IMPOSSIBLE!!!) inclusive of the inside... which I also took the liberty of taking a quick shot of, since an upgraded interior light seemed to cast enough light to make shooting it in pitch blackness possible!

Front....

...back...

...and peeking out from behind a plastic bumpered something.

High shot, lurking in the workshop corner.

Crouching down, the steels minus the beauty rings at this stage while I debated attaching them... once they're clipped onto the wheels they're there to stay, since the clips scratch the hell out of the paint.

The shot of the interior, as promised earlier. Note thick grey dust coating everything. Yuck. Beaded seat covers make up for it though.

Following pickup of the car and a wheel alignment, the moment of truth was very shortly upon me and the Trump. The dreaded WOF time! Thankfully, it flew through, with a couple of minor discrepancies... the first being some slight play in the steering rack, and the second being a non-functioning windscreen washer. Either way... I'm now road legal!!!

A hose down, a suds up, another hose down and a thorough wipe and finally she's ready for some shots of the (pretty much) finished product. I opted to go with the beauty rings after a moment of agonising, and to be fair I am absolutely stoked with the result. Pictures below before I start rambling anymore....

So yeah... a project that's pretty much concluded? As near as I've been before I think, total cost exceeded budget in the end with the cost to date (inclusive of purchasing the car, and every last nut, bolt and fluid ounce) hitting $2236. Still, not bad for tidy, retro motoring I reckon.

Enjoy, and discuss, praise, ridicule or make suggestions here ------> viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772

[Snoozin]

Shifting my engineless KP out to my fokls for storage stipulated it therefore, must be towed out on a trailer.

I came up with this idea:

Didn't tow too badly... car clearly lacks enough weight to be a serious tow beast though, trailer had a noticeable effect on the car. Cruised at 90km/h with no hassles though!

Also having some issues with my headlights, any help welcome in this thread here ----> viewtopic.php?f=2&p=617778#p617778

Discuss how I'm a silly bugger for towing shit with it here ----> viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772

[Snoozin]

Headlights seem sorted - reattaching a stray earth found behind the RHS lights, and a new sealed beam unit from Y-Max seemed to have worked a treat. Basically just been using it when I can now... like yesterday! Went for a hoon to Hamilton for a CJC/S Chassis meet, great day for it.

Roo (of the 'Stay Classy' blog) leaned precariously from the passenger window of an ITR and snapped this one. Blew my mind when I saw it, looks a million times better when it's actually in motion.

The auto is causing a few minor issues now when putting full load on it - I'm getting a rough vibration up until about 30km/h and the change into 2nd is quite violent, I'll start with a trans flush and service (band adjustment etc) and see how I go with that... there's no slipping or anything as it sits.

[Snoozin]

Trans issues have meant this car won't be making it to OS Nats now... the auto is slipping in 1st, 2nd, and also demonstrates a concerning grinding/squawking sound under moderate to heavy acceleration from low speed - top gear is fine however.

This afternoon myself and John attacked the trans with some new fluid (Valvoline ATF Type F, designated for Borg Warner 35's) a thorough filter clean and a band adjustment in the hope that it would rectify the problem. Sadly, the car is unchanged so I limped home, parked it up and will decide what the next tactic is. Quite likely a manual overdrive gearbox and associated parts will find a home in it.

Anyway, here's a few shots from today, as always I had my camera on hand.

The innards of a BW35 autobox (filter removed in these pics)

Floorpan - dirty, but very solid for the most part. Note comprehensive undersealing, a feature of the English assembled cars such as this one. Too many mufflers too - if a manual conversion goes ahead then I have a feeling there'll be a couple less mufflers in the system so I can capitalise on the sweet straight six howl the Trumps eminate.

However - careless (yet calculated ) poking around revealed this... so another thing on the list to sort. Hopefully not too tricky to fix - anyone in Auckland keen to have a go at it? The steel immediately surrounding the obvious crustiness is pretty solid.

[Snoozin]

Thanks to the wonderful community that is oldschool.co.nz a replacement 'box is en route as we speak. I'll elaborate more after the weekend, installation is set for Friday. Thanks in no particular order to CaM, KK, Jaydub, Cammmy and shortly CXGPWR. GC's among men.

New filter and seal kit on the way also just to ensure as complete awesomeness as is possible. Just need to pick up another 4l of Valvoline ATF Type F (it's specifically mentioned as suitable for Type 35's on the label at the back!)

Pictureless update ftw.

Also received some chrome fender mirrors from Alex (yoeddynz) so will also have a bash at installing those prior to Nats.

[Snoozin]

A long weekend - and an opportunity to slot a new gearbox in. Pictures tell a thousand words, so....

New (old) Borg Warner 35.

Shallow depth of field means I'll spare you the detail of the old BW35. Just bear witness to my attitude towards this now paperweight.

Insert 1x autobox here. Once again, underside is pretty solid on this car.

Half of Joe's parents driveway fell out of the gearbox crossmember.

The swap went pretty smoothly - even popped a new gasket and filter in the box - however we hit a minor snag when it was ALMOST ready to go... the selector shaft thread on the replacement was absolutely buggered. Unsure why they decided it needed 5 million bellhousing bolts though. Recut a metric thread on and managed to get it to hold - the trip to Nats will be the test for it though!

The new box behaves pretty well, it shifts positively and shows no sign of slippage. It does hook top gear a bit later than the old box... nothing to be overly concerned about though, and it's a little more violent on the 2 -1 downshift if you stop in a great hurry. But, all it needs to do is get me the hell to nats!!!

See you there (in a Trump )

[Snoozin]

Made it down to Nats and back with no worries... car seems solid as a rock mechanically, and while still exhibiting a driveline vibration I'm rapt with how it went. New UJ's will go in it shortly and should rectify the vibration issue.

Slapped the Brights on it after cleaning 1000 miles of travel gunk off it, went out to take some pics. Got precisely ONE shot before the heavens opened and quite literally rained on my parade

Agreeable.

Discuss ---> //oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772

[Snoozin]

Since that photo sucked, this evening I managed to get out for some shots, and actually end up with some decent results

This shot shows the fender mirrors kindly supplied by Alex (yoeddynz). Proper TEX branded English fender mirrors

This shot made the evening for me:

Anyway... plans were afoot to buy another Trump this weekend, a brown '78 2500S manual. I called the seller (in Rotorua) on Saturday and agreed on a price, then advised I'd be in touch on Sunday morning. The seller was fine with this and look forward to getting the call - or so he said - as upon trying to call/text/email/voicemail all Sunday morning I finally gave up about 2pm. Gutted.

The idea behind getting this other car was go gather all the parts needed for a manual conversion in one easy hit, as I'd also be able to suss out how it all went together as well after pulling it apart. So yeah, a manual conversion IS DEFINITELY on the cards as I feel it would just change this car and make use of the sweet sweet PI spec 2.5 engine much better. I'm on the lookout now for a flywheel, clutch master, clutch slave, clutch line, pedal box, driveshaft and a brand new clutch. If anyone can help I'd be rapt - will take master/slave cylinders that are unknown or leaking, as I want to recondition anyway prior to installing.

There will be another update yet

//oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772 <------------ Discuss me :D:D:D:D

[Snoozin]

A bit of a fail update (since I haven't really done anything) but I picked up a set of 15x7 SSR's for a friend in Wellington, and will be couriering them down. Since they were of course, the classic 4x114.3 stud pattern I figured it'd be rude to deprive myself of what they would look like on the car.

Measurements are 15x7 +13 and 15x7 +1.

I have however concluded that the style of wheel doesn't look all that flash on the Trump. Something about the particular style doesn't quite gel for me. The size is bang on however - so I now have a benchmark to work with when I get the 15" CRV steels widened to for the car. As well as a tyre size - these are a 185/55/15 and are a perfect fit.

Actual progress for the weekend - well, with the help of the amazing Mr. Sheepers the rust in the sill is all fixed up. Very nicely as well I might add. Tick another task off the never ending to-do list associated with old British crapheaps. Oh my inside rear view mirror also crapped itself and decided it wouldn't dim/the internal glass just flops around inside the unit now, so I replaced that. Yeah. Baller upgrade.

//oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772 <--- This is where you talk about it.

[Snoozin]

Conversion time is upon us!

Finally... I have amassed all of the appropriate parts for the swap. Shortly it'll be see you late Borg Warner 35 auto, and hello 4 speed with Laycock overdrive for maximum self-gear shifting satisfaction. Anticipation of having a manual car again is high... haven't owned a driveable manual trans vehicle in 3 months, it feels as if I need one to experience motoring 'properly' again.

So, this is going to be something of a step by step - just because I haven't come across one prior and have had to ask a lot of questions and figure stuff out for myself. First up... the parts involved in swapping an auto Triumph Mk2 saloon from auto to manual.

First up, the most obvious component - the gearbox! Picked this up off John (CXGPWR) and it seems to select all the gears ok, does have a leaky front seal however. I have received a package from Rimmer Bros. in the UK http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/ containing a full gearbox seal and gasket kit, as well as a new rear main seal to replace as a matter of course since it is seeping from between the bellhousing and block. More a case of preventative maintenance rather than necessity. The switch on the top of the gearknob is the OD selector, choice relic of motoring past if you ask me.

Clutch control - pictured above is the clutch master cylinder which I have had reconditioned, with new seals and new internal spring. The bore was in good shape so thankfully no sleeving was required. The slave cylinder is brand new. Not shown is the mounting plate that bolts onto the bellhousing, as well as the pushrod to actuate the clutch fork. I also have the stupid plastic clutch line they run standard - this will only be used to get the car mobile, and will be replaced with a hardline almost immediately.

Clutch kit! Nothing special here... off the shelf item from the kind chaps at Autoclutch in Morningside who were extremely helpful, not to mention well priced. Additionally I needed to buy a brand new release bearing carrier since luck deserted me when I searched for a second hand part. This arrived in the post this afternoon after a perfectly reasonable wait time of a week from http://www.chriswitor.com/ in the UK. Top notch service as well for what it's worth - I asked Chris via email what part in particular I needed and had a response within a day with the part numbers and links to what I required.

Freshly machined flywheel, again sorted for me by Autoclutch. Looks too awesome to install... it's also stupid heavy, the total rotating assembly must weigh nearly 20kg.

Replacement gearbox mount, universal between auto and manual boxes. Once again, another piece of preventative maintenance since the 2 I already have are fairly second hand and oil soaked. These soften/collapse which then causes the gearbox to slump on the mount under acceleration resulting in a groaning noise.

Pedalbox, it's actually identical to the auto one, it just doesn't have the pedal installed on the spindle for the clutch.

Gearbox crossmember. Not something I actually need, but it came with the correct spacers and hangers to suit the J type overdrive gearbox. The A type overdrive boxes use shorter hangers fwiw.

Another wee change with the J type manual cars is the speedo cable - it's longer than the others used on either auto's, A types and non OD boxes.

Driveshaft is also different... flanges at both ends as opposed to the spline on the auto at the gearbox end. New UJ's will find their way into this.

And the cherry on the top? The console trim/gearboot. The console itself is the same, this just clips in place of the existing auto selector gate trim thingio. Technical terms only round here...

Got the pedalbox and clutch master cylinder installed last night. On the difficulty scale it doesn't rank too highly, requires removal of the parcel tray under the dash, and adviseable to have a second pair of hands present - the clutch master itself is threaded, so securing it is a matter of screwing the bolts in from the inside. Either way, the result is I now have 3 pedals hanging from the scuttle... one task down and only the minor matter of chucking the manual in. Hah.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23772 <---- Am I mad?

[Snoozin]

Rightio, so no pictures or anything but I'm way excited and I needed to get my share on!!!

Exciting news on the horizon! By way of a Trademe wanted classified, I have been offered a mostly complete crashed '75 2500 PI... COMPLETE WITH MECHANICAL FUEL INJECTION SETUP!!!! So this heralds the eventual return to the Lucas PI system for the Trump, six throttles, mechanical metering unit, a million psi of fuel pressure and complete badassedness.

The price for the car was way too good to turn down... it's also packing a manual overdrive gearbox, 3.45 diff, extremely tidy bone coloured PROPER leather interior, late spec 2.5S small diameter steering wheel, dual circuit brakes, a near new 2" exhaust, fresh bushes throughout the suspension, new front shocks, hubs and wheelbearings shortly before it was written off among other stuff... I'd be an idiot if I didn't buy it for the spares alone.

Every part that is rough on mine, this car has perfect examples of... so it's a chance to put together my dream Triumph.

[Snoozin]

Red Trump is no longer an automatic, as of about 9:30pm last night it was a fully functioning manual with electrically operated Laycock J type overdrive on 3rd and 4th.

I didn't take any photos since my hands were either greasy, or in gloves that were greasy... making camera operation a bit dicey. so here's a wee story about it instead.

Installation was pretty straightforward. Thanks to the help of many different people in a few different countries I'd managed to assemble all the correct bits... as pictured above.

So, first up, removal of the old auto box. Easiest technique is to drop the driveshaft, then the rear gearbox crossmember and let it hang off the front engine mounts. This essentially gives access to the top bellhousing bolts, all of which are best accessed by a ratchet or air ratchet with a very long extension. Torque converter bolts also need to be removed, accessed through a bung in the leading edge of the engine backplate. Disconnect speedo cable, shift linkage and auto kickdown cable and she's ready to slide off the flexplate.

Next part confused us slightly... trying to remove the flexplate was a bit of a bastard since it seemed to be stuck fast on the spigot. Perseverance and swearing saw the flex plate finally removed, revealing the end of the crank. Now, logic said that the flywheel would simply bolt on where the flexplate did. However, the factory flywheel bolts I was supplied with the flywheel were millions too short to even reach the threads on the end of the crank. Hmmm....

Turns out the auto cars have an extra 'spacer' type plate on the end of the crank that obviously positions the flexplate in such a position that the ring gear is the correct distance for the starter to engage. So this spacer type thing requires removal. Once that's done, it's simply a case of slotting the spigot bearing in the space provided (thanks to John for turning a new one up on the lathe), popping the flywheel on, torquing up the bolts, followed by the clutch plate and finally plonking the pressure plate on the top and torquing down it's six bolts. Rotating assembly - check.

The gearbox was given a half hour bath in the workshop's Turbowash parts washing machine. Awesome result, it came out clean enough to eat off. While this was happening I took the opportunity to remove the old speedo cable and run the new one into the cabin and attached it to the speedo. No worries! The old auto shifter was unbolted from the trans tunnel and promptly thrown in the pile of now redundant auto-specific parts.

Clean gearbox in hand, it was time to replace some of the seals and gaskets. Off came the top plate, gasket replaced and a chance inspect the internals (everything looked fantastic in there too!). A quick change of the input shaft seal along with a nose housing gasket meant it was time to sort the release bearing. These use a knock off type bearing, on a reuseable carrier (which I ended up having to buy brand new ex-UK since I struggled to find a 2nd hand one) so the bearing and carrier were combined and slipped perfectly onto the nose housing. As a matter of course I also replaced the slipper pads on the clutch fork.

Onto the trans jack, and onto the engine. The clutch plate lined up easily and after tightening up the 6 million bellhousing bolts the engine and box were one again! A small note - the spacer plates under the starter motor need to be removed so the starter throwout to the flywheel/ring gear is correct. Clutch slave cylinder mounted to the lower left hand side of the bellhousing and connected to the middle hole on the clutch fork lever.

Clambering into the car, the shifter was dropped down into it's 'socket' and tightened accordingly. Next up - wiring the overdrive up. A very simple circuit, consisting of an inhibitor switch to prevent the OD being engaged in 1st and 2nd, the switch on the gearknob and the solenoid itself. This system takes it's power from the reverse light feed, and is a simple daisy chain style circuit, positive feed from the reverse switch, to the inhibitor, to the gearknob switch, down to the solenoid then the solenoid is earthed to the gearbox. Far easier to sort all of this wire while the box is still hanging down.

Trans was then jacked up and the rear crossmember reattached to the floor of the vehicle. Conveniently the auto box and J type overdrive box both use the same length spacers from floor to crossmember. Nice. My freshly balanced and painted driveshaft complete with new universal joints was then lifted into place and secured at both ends. Thus - the mechanicals were ALL installed.

A quick bleed of the clutch (and the master cylinder as it turned out...) and EUREKA!!! The car had 4 forward gears, as well as reverse. Test drive time... Everything went without a hitch, the clutch engaged smoothly with no juddering, the pedal felt great and the box shifted positively, if not slightly agriculturally. Reverse is a bit tricky to engage, but after some practice it's no problem whatsoever. At this point, the overdrive wires were still protruding from the end of a gearknob-less shifter. Simply shorting the 2 terminals together quickly proved the overdrive was working properly.

I AM SO FUCKING STOKED.

The car is completely different to drive, and 100% more awesome. With a manual behind it the 2.5 is a heap more responsive, plus the 2400rpm at a 110km/h cruise is fantastic compared to the 3200rpm (or so) that I was seeing with the auto. Laid back open road devouring, courtesy of Triumph.

In conclusion. Shit yeah. That is all.

I would say pics to follow but - what am I going to take photo's of really?

TL;DR?