7/2/10

Yesterday was slow so I cut out early and went to have a chat with Jeff Sloan at British Auto Specialist. I'm just going to copy what I wrote in the journal thingy I'm keeping about Nadine rather than trying to remember it all. “He, as a purist, was not on board with me ‘bastardizing’ the car with a Nissan engine. He did not however have anything to say against the Hot Rod Wires harness. Of course he did not have anything to say for it either but I’m going to take it as not-disapproval. I promised that I would not do any bastardization until he has had a chance to see the car and assess whether it is worth more to him as a ‘restorer’ or to me as a ‘renovation’ (bastardized toy). He has my number and directions to the shop so hopefully he will come take a look at it soon.” He also told me how to remove the knobs from the switches in the dash. They have a little “pip” which Juan is supposed to push in with an awl or something and then pull the knob off. However, they are probably going to be fused on there with such vigor, and replacements are cheap and plentiful enough, that cutting them off will be more likely. I'll probably just leap right to that method. We discussed several things about the car. He said that the compression rings ought to come back to life but the oil rings are probably shot. The thing should fire up and run but it will probably always use oil and may smoke a bit. Stee-rike one for the Hoyt-Clagwell engine. We talked about the dried gunk in the cooling system and he said it really needs good clean coolant passages or the head gasket will blow on those free-floating cylinder bores. Stee-rike two, that engine needs a rebuild. As for the shifter issue, he said it is most likely that the stick’s pivot is just stuck with corrosion and it ought to break free with a little persuasion. I asked then about the overdrive unit. That was when he really worried me... no, that was when he confirmed that if I'm building this car it is getting a Nissan engine. He said that in all likelihood, that unit will need to be rebuilt. Stee-rike three! I'm going to follow through on my promise to not do anything radical or heinous until he has had a chance to look it over but as far as I'm concerned, the tractor engine is history for MY Triumph. If I'm pulling that cast iron lump from the engine bay, I'm sure as hell not putting it back in. He also told me just how heavy that engine is, something on the order of 450 pounds! That’s like big block V8 heavy! I wonder how much I'm going to have to lower the front end when it has a nice lightweight KA-24 in there. I guess I just need to nut-up and get over the guilt about “bastardizing” this car. Nadine, the lady, will just have to understand. I think if I show up with a running and driving reasonably pretty car, and don't open the bonnet, she’ll be OK with it. If not, sorry about that, at least the car will be alive again and not rotting away in the garage. Well, my back is killing me. I think I might just have to call it a day early. Y'all have a nice Fourth of July weekend. We'll talk again Tuesday.