I recently met a fellow who didn’t know about my penchant for Triumph’s oft-maligned Triumph Stag. He charged full gallop into his pet hate, Pommy cars, with a special revulsion for the worst of them all – Triumph’s big GT, the Stag. I didn’t bother trying to defend the car because he knew all about them. He’d never owned one, but friends of his apparently did. These friends, hearsay would have it, either died in debtor’s prison from trying to fix their Stags, or died from being hit in the head by bits that fell off while being driven. This is rubbish, of course. Stags were so bad that they weren’t capable of being driven long enough for any bits to fall off. Obviously, this acquaintance’s loathing for the Stag knew no bounds. Is there any information in circulation that reinforces his view? The short answer is “yes.” The long answer you are reading now.

Well, you breakdown of course!!! Don't even make it out of their hillclimb driveway and you pick up a tack-tack-tack-tack-tack. 

You know the sound don't you. No? Neither could any one else there. It wasn't that cold either. As it would turn out there was a brass monkey around. Under that cute bonnet. What is that? Tack-tack-tack-tack-tack.!!!!!! 

No you lot press on. We'll be right, no you enjoy the day! We'll be fine. 

90 minutes later a Harvey Tow truck meanders up the hill with a well spoken & fluent driver to get us back up the road before dark. A scary ride later the TR is reversed into it's ‘snug harbour' none the wiser. 

What is that? Tack-tack-tack-tack-tack.!!!!!! 

Several passionate calls go by, pleas of help, desperation, it's gotta be fixed by next weekend!!!!! Mt Cootha is on.!!!! We can't miss that, can we? 

What is that? Tack-tack-tack-tack-tack.!!!!!! 

Manifolds unfold, compression test, OK!! rip the head orf, Well, well, well, looky there!! 

Tiny, little, mashed up, brass screw that parted from the butterfly of the Dellorto's at high speed and enjoyed a chat with the head and those nice "marhle" pistons. Closer inspection proved no damage to piston crowns or head, no valve damage, no scores to settle in the sleeve, by God, we can re-assemble by Saturday and be ready to slap it around the closed roads of Sir Samuel Griffith Drive with not a worry about the constable around the bend with his hair dryer hanging out the window. OOPS, sorry we were only the touring party not a competitor. 

Keep those Brass Monkeys warm fellas, life does go on, and no more bloody, Tack-tack-tack-tack-tack.!!!!!!

It was great being 2 of the 102 participants at the 2009 West Australian National TSOA Rally in 2009. 

6 Queenslanders decided to do the journey. 2 were Chris & Christine Roberts who left weeks earlier as they were the courageous ones to accept the task of driving a vehicle over. It was a V8 Discovery but by the time they reached Busselton it was a TR 8 FHC [4WD], of course. It was capable of being a recovery vehicle while it was there and thankfully it wasn't called upon to do so. Brian & Linley Falloon and Kayetryna & I had made last minute decisions to make the trip, in so doing we were happy little aviators taking the journey to the "wild west" in comfort in a TR Boeing. 

The Strong's had decided to leave earlier then required to have a look around Perth, Freemantle and areas north of Perth before setting off to the South to discover the wonders of the SW corner of WA. Our second afternoon in Perth fpound us tracking whimsically thru unkown carriageways into "Freeo" in the search of a brewery called "Little Creatures" along the wharf front, thanks to Simon. Amazingly, the "Navman" we took with us did not have the capability to find anything within WA so it was only of assistance in telling us our current location, speed and direction. We successfully located the brewery and found Simon's friend who showed us the inner workings of this boutique brewery which certainly pumps out a good drop, it is also available in our own State cellars, and bought some samples for "Ron". If you are ever over there between now and then it is worth a look in. 

Our journey north on the Thursday was to see the northern beaches and beyond. We journeyed off to Cervantes via many stops for a look see of the sea, Indian Ocean, that is. The journey ended with a drive around the great spectacle that is the "Pinnacles" a desert of some magnitude and considerable geological significance. Check your googles for that info. 

Our first Friday in the wilds of WA led us to Bunbury and a chance meeting with a chap up a lookout from Carseldine area in the "De Lorean Club", small world.

Our first sunset dinner observing the golden orb sink into a blustery Indian Ocean was quite inspiring as we toasted the next day and registration in Busselton, only a short drive further south through and past strange Tuart forests and windy thrombocytes. 

I can tell you folks the roads and the speed limits are of a greater standard than our over-rated Queensland byways. The WA registrations are also much less the Captains Bligh and Teflon Pete's misleading advice and the petrol prices weren't that bad considering the location of several off our pit stops. 

I think this will do for this month. A second installment will be available in the new years edition and we may even get some wonderful comments from the Falloon's travels and also a great story from the adventurous Roberts' family.

I was told last night I should publish some of the mods I've done to my TR6 in the case that others may be interested, so I'll start with the Hydraulic Release bearing kit that I found from Racetorations (http://www.racetorations.co.uk). 

As many of us would know, the original clutch fork mechanism wasn't one of Triumph's best designs, with the pin that holds the fork on the shaft, shearing from the moment of pushing the clutch, and the fact that its not central adds another moment. So when it breaks, it doesn't completely fail, but makes the pedal only half effective.

Add to this that many owners have also had the issue of the collar that slides over the input shaft binding after many years of use due to lubricant caked with clutch dust, and the fact that the collar isn't being pushed forward and back directly along the line of the collar, but the forces imposed on it are also down by the mechanism. 

Both of these issues contribute to a pretty sub-standard clutch pedal by today's standards. And if I were going to the trouble of removing my gearbox, I wanted to upgrade it. So I did!

We were going to the Nationals in WA. Neil had the TC so it was to be the TR7. We were going to go on the train but the train would not take the TR7, as it did not have enough ground clearance. So we tried to put it in a truck in Adelaide and fly across. The truck wanted the car empty so we drove across. The TR7 needed a roadworthy. When it was almost ready the gearbox decided it did not want to go to WA. Oil leaked out. So it was into the 4WD TR8, ie, Discovery V8. It has the same engine lineage as the TR8 and has mag wheels. It too decided it would blow a head gasket but both head gaskets were replaced and running again, the day before we left. 8weeks later we arrived at Busselton. We had been to Adelaide for 2 weeks and had driven across the Nullabor and around the SW corner of WA. Fixed the cruise control too. The resort was easy to find, there was a Triumph on a trailer parked outside the entrance. Next day it was the show and display day and a few local Triumphs turned up too. Monday was competion day and a good day was had by all, but 1. Despite 4wdisc brakes the Triumph still wanted to fly. Didn't do it any good either. The rest of the week was taken up by driving around the Wineries, navigation run, motorkahana, food, more food and more wine, then more food and wine every night. The final night dinner was a more relaxed affair than at previous rallies I have attended and much appreciated by those that I spoke to. On the way home we shredded a tyre at Wilcannia, put the spare on and while at rest area 55k later on, 1 of the front tyres was going down. Dialled RACQ and they ended up getting a tilt tray from Cobar 200k away. As it was sat night we waited till Monday, had 4 new tyres fitted and off we went back home. Will we be going to the next Nationals in NSW, (Does it stand for Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong) yes, already filled the paperwork in. Hopefully in the TR7 this time. Chris Roberts, Blackbutt.

The Nationals were held in Queensland this year, from September 13^th to 21^st.

We started off at ‘Cherrabah” a country homestead resort near Warwick on the Darling Downs with Registration and the Welcome Dinner.

Sunday the 14^th was Pride of Ownership in Warwick on a lovely day.  The rain held off until the evening but Greg Bird, (Nationals Organiser and entertainer) and his band, Tuxedo Junction, had to pack up and come into the lounge to play their fantastic music or risk the temporary shelter landing on them as it filled with water.

Monday the 15^th was Morgan Park competition.  This went well in great weather and the CAMS stewards and Clerk of Course were most complimentary about this stress free and relaxed day.

Its sunday afternoon and son Neil is in Brisbane and is having difficulty getting the TC into gear. After hunting around the TSOA website I ring President Stevan. We come to the conclusion that it may just be hydraulics and hopefully not a clutch plate problem. Stevan advises me who to get the RACQ to take the car to. I pass this info to Neil. 2 days later Neil rings to say we were correct and the clutch master cylinder needs a new Stainless Sleeve fitting. 2 days later again the TC is back on the road. Minor problem was they did not use silicon fluid, so that will be a little job sooner rather than later. So, thank you Stevan for your assistance. Chris Roberts, Gladstone.  

Our trip to the 2007 Nationals in Victoria was great as usual.   We headed down the pacific highway hoping the long lengths of freeway would help, but that was a dismal idea. Apart from a relatively quick run around sydney, it was a terribly slow trip, with poor weather , lots of poor roads and plenty of traffic. Afrer a 16 hour drive, we stayed in a B&B at Golburn, we have used before.. 

The rainy weather started again once we got to Phillip Island and washed out the 1st days’ Councourse. Thankfully the weather stayed good for the remainder of the week and trip home. The week was busy as usual, with a mix of social and competition events.

Towards the end of 2006, purely by accident, I happened upon an advertisement for a Stag that was so cheap that I thought it was too good to be true. The price was low enough to encourage a phone call to ask if it was a misprint, assuming the ten thousand dollar figure had accidentally fallen off the front of the price. When told no, the price was correct, I ventured forth expecting to find a reality something like this:

Psssst. Wanna buy a really cheap Stag? 
Rust free (we don't charge for it)
Rebuilt engine (some of the parts are genuine second hand, others as recent as third hand)
Heater works REALLY well

Tales of a TRue TRiumph TRagic

" Why am i still driving this car?" In fact i wasn't driving the car - I was pushing it-but this was what i was thinking as i was pushing my Triumph MK1 2.5PI sedan in the Aldi Southport carpark, hoping that the slight gradient I was heading towards would be enough to enable me to " bump " start the car. As I'm sure everyone is aware, these are heavy cars, and the additional weight of my 82 year old mother in the passenger seat ( she was remarkably game about the whole affair) meant my stomach and leg muscles were getting an unwelcome workout.

 A Weighty Story.

This epistle began as an idea on power to weight ratios, complete with Triumph statistics. But then it moved on, as many stories do. A complex interlinking of ideas began to spin its web. The result is a technical article without the technical bits. Read on. Conventional wisdom would have us believe that it isn’t power, but power to weight that’s important in propelling our horseless carriages at varying velocities. Right foot goes down, car goes forward more quickly. If that was the be-all and end-all of motoring pleasure, everyone would be driving seven litre Chrysler-powered Jensen Interceptors. But let’s face it; Jensens are whale sized two ton vehicles with Mini sized interiors. They don’t have fuel economy. They have fuel consumption. When new they could reach 140 miles per hour, accompanied by single digit miles per gallon. The smaller six point something litre engine can reputedly reach 16 mpg on a gentle cruise (though I doubt that). Outright grunt, therefore, is not the holy grail of motoring.

What do you do when you buy a really cheap Stag?

(episode one – there’s always more when you own a Triumph!) 

Firstly:                  worry about over-heating issues.
Secondly:             worry about the “I told you so” brigade being right.
Thirdly:                 worry about it being monkeyed about by a malicious mechanical moron.
Fourthly:               worry about over-heating issues.
Fifthly:                  worry about the vendor saying that it only needs a tune and radiator flush.
Sixth:                   See “Firstly” above and read on. 

Stag Restoration Project; or, why would you?

As members of a sporting car club, we are no strangers to misty-eyed enthusiasm driving (sorry about the pun) individuals to restore all manner of vehicles. Sometimes there's the utterance of, "Wow!" in complete awe at the breathtaking result. At other times it's "Why would you bother?" As an example, I have a friend who honestly believes his HQ Belmont is a classic car (his description). I would never be so condescending as to tell him that his mass produced, bottom of the range, spectacularly unspectacular pleb-mobile was anything but classic. He believes it is and he loves it.

This book by Roger Williams follows his earlier work entitled “How to restore Triumph TR7 & 8”.  Both books are published by Veloce Publishing and for anyone who owns one of these Triumphs the pair are a “must have” for your library.  The “How to improve” volume is a logical follow up to the first volume given that these TR’s have been subject to more modification and change than any of the TR’s that preceded them.  The reasons for that being the case are fairly complicated and would probably be the subject of a separate magazine article but put simply it has much to do with the deteriorating state of the Leyland corporate body, the industrial unrest at the time and the market uncertainty in the main market area, namely, the United States.  This was a combination of circumstances that earlier TR’s didn’t have as an influence on their design, production and marketing and it shows in the different history of the early TR’s and the last TR’s.

We went to UK for 10months. This plan included getting to as many Triumph activities as possible. That was the plan but that's not the way it turned out. I had left my latest edition of Triumph World in Oz and bought the latest one on arrival in UK. That was when the problems started. For years they had had all the events listed but the new owners of the magazine decided not to put this information in the magazine, as they said "As you are all in Triumph clubs you know what is going on". Maybe they do but nobody else does.

We went to the Triumph 3 day weekend at Malvern at the Three Counties Showgrounds. We had arranged to meet the people we had met the year before but on arrival there was really no one there. It had rained for 3 days and the place was flooded. I went into the pavilions where the organizers were trying to run the show, no matter what. I did what I had to do and found the man from Triumph World, he was packing up. I commented about the lack of information in the latest magazine, and the fact that we were not all members of a UK club. He said he would heed my comments and see what they could do. Next month there was no reference at all to the UK events at all. Bye bye Triumph World.

Went to S&S Preparations, had a talk with them about buying some cars but after a close look I could buy better in Oz. More rust than paint, but the price was right. We decided not to carry on with that venture. After touring Scotland, Ireland and Wales where we saw very few Triumphs (saw more Morris Minors than anything else) we went to Robsport International. We had not dealt with them before but after this visit, I was impressed. Yes we did go to Rimmers as well and bought some sedan parts.

When we read the brochure from P&O about luggage on the cruise ship "Aurora", it said "bring as much as you want". So we did, 23 suitcases, with a lot of Triumph parts inside, and 2 TR7 nose panels. The Aurora did not even sink down a millimetre!. For those interested in engines, the Aurora is fitted with 4, V14, M.A.N. diesels. These drive 4 alternators which supply electrical power to the 2 electric motors to drive the 2 propellors and the rest goes to run the ship. (ie, keep the lights on in the bar) This gave a cruising speed of 26knots and about 28knots flat out. One engine runs all the time in port as there is a large enough hotel load to keep one of these large engines under a decent load. Despite Reception saying there were no engine room tours, I did get one. Depends how you write the letter and being a Marine Engineer helps too. In other words, do not take no for an answer.

Now, back to Triumphs, I was impressed with the turnout for the Tech Talk at Greg Tunstalls recently, if you did not go you missed out on a good day. My son said he learnt something, not bad for an accountant. I'd like to go to the next one but it depends on what we are doing. We will not be attending the Qld National Rally as we want to go to WA next year and we cannot afford to go to both, even if it is in Brissys back yard. So we will put the money for this years event towards the WA trip. (Have to get the TR7 registered now.) After being able to move a medical appointment we now are able to go to the trip to Bowdens museum. It will be Gladstone to Brisbane on the Thursday, medical on the Friday, Bowdens on the Saturday then back to Gladstone after the museum.

Is this enough to qualify for the "C" word.? Commitment to you!

Chris Roberts. Gladstone.

E-TOLL

Toll roads and bridges have been around for many centuries, it is a sign of the times however that our public roads are again being sprinkled with private roads.    These major links do save us time and fuel on our journeys but at a cost. These manned sections do cost the Toll companies with increased overheads for the salary/wages of the booth operators.  The bean counters don’t like these expenses and as a consequence Capt Bligh will phase out all manned toll booths by 1 July 09.

That has little relevance to me, however, members of TSOAQ might want to know what is about to happen.  New accounts or E toll transponders don’t cost anything to acquire. But it does make a huge difference if we are in convoy and some of the convoy have to stop and pay cash which does hold up the whole group.

My suggestion is to get an E toll transponder sooner rather than later so our touring party can move through these bottlenecks quicker and we can get to our destinations faster.

If you are wanting to know more than get on the web at ;   www.qldmotorways.com.au

You can even order a unit through this site.

cheers

Phil Strong

WHAT CAN GO WRONG WILL GO WRONG. (TALES OF A THRASHED TR) It is now eight years since Rusty our then newly restored 1959 TR3A has been put through its paces in countless club events and a number of bitumen rallies. Over this time I’ve been asked how many things go wrong and break surely since its an old car it must be a problem and isn’t it costly ? RUSTY DISPLAYING HER BEAR BEHIND AT TARGA Well to answer these questions I’ve put together a rough chronology of what’s gone wrong over this period.