VYK The Russet 78 Sprint

[dollyman]

Really smart Bish Far to low though for an old cripple like me No way could i get in or out Thats how my cars used to look
What will you do with your life now Bish? Buy another.......

Tony.

[Tony Burd]

Congrats on the MOT pass

Car looks really nice

[Bish]

Thanks for kind words Gents

With regard to what to do now - look to improve the bits that I can. There’s still plenty I can do, and I’m sure VYK will keep me busy enough to not get bored.

First job is to get the ride height sorted. Then I’m going to look at interior improvements if I can find some decent front seats. Top ends a bit noisy so I would like to look at the valve clearances, then there will be a new chain and tensioner, solid rack mounts, plus some front end bodywork, etc etc

[Bish]

Well I’ve been enjoying using VYK and slowly building confidence in the car. Every mile is an enjoyable mile. There is a rattling noise, which is top end that has been bugging me so I changed the viscous coupling for a new one in the hope that that may cure it.



I think there has been some improvement but there is still some noise. I’m now guessing water pump or tappets. Timing chain seems tight but I’ve no history on when it was last replaced.

I’m going to carry on enjoying the car while the good driving weather is here and plan in; water pump, timing chain, and valve clearances for the winter.

Shame there’s no shows or triumph meets to go to. Let hope we can shake this covid thing off by next summer!!

[Bish]

Had a great trip out today. 90 mile round trip to visit my old man down near Rye. Nice mix of A roads and country lanes, with the odd blast on a dual carriageway thrown in! VYK didn’t miss a beat, plenty of get up and go, and great fun with a lovely sound track. Flicking in and out of overdrive round the lanes is pure bliss.

VYK rides a lot better now I’ve raised the suspension a bit, and I’m now not weaving round the potholes too much. One thing I did learn is that it’s best to run with dipped beam at all times. I had two seperate occasions on the way down where a car pulled out on me! I can report that the tracker jack brakes work a treat. One way to test them I suppose! Im guessing that the Russet Brown colour is hard to see?? Dipped beams at all times from now on.

I took a couple of photos. Last one with my dads TR.

Happy days.

[dollyman]

Great pic's Bish I bet you really enjoyed that run. Your dad's TR6 is rather nice as well

Tony.

[Awaiting Repair]

I will second Tony, great pics!!!

Keith

[RSi]

Great photos Bish, my favourite being the TR and Sprint together, too lovely looking BL cars.

[Bish]

Thanks for the kind words Gents.

One thing that last picture of VYK and my old mans TR reminds me, is that I need to get some period number plates. Dads TR6 wears period correct plates from tippers which I bought for him a while back. Time to get some for VYK to replace those modern ones.

Dads had Triumph cars since I was a boy. It’s all his fault! I’ve had a few classics over the years mostly aircooled VWs but have recently seen the light with VYK and before that a MK1 Vitesse 2 litre. No turning back now............







I loved the old Vitesse but hankered after a Sprint so sold it on to fund the purchase of VYK. Regretted it for a bit but not now. The Sprint is a far superior drive in every respect, it’s everything I wanted it to be. Until it goes wrong of course!!

But until then.....

[Bish]

In my quest to trace engine bay noises I had thought that I had found one, in that the distributor sounded like a Spanish maraca. When I took it out and took a look the weights, and more importantly the springs, they seemed to be shot. They certainly don’t sit snug and taught as I thought they should. The lower spring in this photo deffinately looks loose to me ...



Being as there is also a little play in the shaft, I got a quote from the distributor doctor for a refurb which came out as a baseline of £195 + the dreaded VAT. Could be more expensive, dependant on what the dizzy needs.

Whilst I was pondering the situation a dizzy came up on eBay for £165 that looked to have had a rebuild and it had a NOS Lucas cap and rotor. Worth a punt, only trouble was that ther was a seized screw in the cap.





Said screw was duly removed with a little persuasion



Internals of the rebuilt dizzy look to be in better condition than my old one and there’s no play in the shaft at all.



I did need to swap the vacuum can over because the new one had a 45d4 can rather than the 44d4. Fitted to the car and timed up, it runs beautifully. Very happy with my eBay punt!

As the weather was fine last weekend I took the chance to take VYK for a spin down to Rye and visit Dale, who owns a rather lovely pageant blue Sprint. His is a beautifully original car which still wears its original paint. It was nice to meet another Sprint owner and chew the fat for a bit. You can just see the new period number plates that I have fitted too in the second photo. So much nicer than modern plates. IMHO of course.







VYK drove beautifully well and I enjoyed every minute of it. More miles, more smiles!

[dollyman]

Good result all round Bish, it did look pretty good that one on fleabay. Some nice pics as well.

Tony.

[Bish]

Thanks Tony. I had another run out today. This time down to Folkestone to see an old mate. Took the M20 all the way as time wasn’t on my side, so no chance of pootling down on the A & B roads. VYK sat happily at 80 all the way there, and back.

I’m still building confidence in the cars capability and reliability, but have deffinately fallen for it. It drives so well, and ticks all the boxes for me - This ones a keeper for sure!

[Bish]

Hello all

I’ve been enjoying as much driving the Sprint as possible but as you all know there’s not been much chance to, what with the advice to stay at home continuing.

The car is still driving really well but I wanted to make the experience more enjoyable in terms of driver position and comfort.

So out with the old and in with the new.

Whilst I like the original Triumph wheel it’s a bit flimsy in the hands.

h

Momo prototipo heritage. Slightly smaller, and chunkier. Feels great in the hands, and looks great to me.







Next job is the seats. I’d looked at all the mg, rover, etc seats but decided to take a punt on some Fiat coupe recaros. They look retro 70s/80s and I think in terms of style they will work in the Sprint. I’ve offered them up and it seems like they will be simple to fit.





I’m going to attemp to dye the leather a slightly darker chocolate shade in the hope that they will blend into my world of brown.

I’ll report back and let you know how it goes.

[dollyman]

They do look nice seats Bish, what model and year were they out out of? I have just fitted Alfa156 seats to my 2500S and they are fantastic compared to standard.
Re.. dyeing your seats it only works well if you are going darker. They don't look to bad a match as they are, but if you just want to "tidy" it does work very well.

Tony.

[new to this]

Bish

The seats look nice, i think its the leather repair company,ive bought dye from, there make up a dye any colour you want to match, they just need a sample,you can dye lighter or darker

I went for Saab 9-3 seats but mine are only half leather,when i fitted mine i removed the saab seat runner and with a bit of fiddling fitted the dolomite runner to the saab seat

Dave