Well! Talking of easy fixes, it turned out the Idler was loose & that was the cause of the creaking & Colin didn't think the steering was excessively stiff. Compared to the P5B's PAS it is stiffer but the 5's have American style over-assistance so that's probably what gave me that impression. I checked the Idler's on the 4-pots but must have overlooked the V8.
He did give her a good going over & diagnosed a complete suspension rebuild. The usual wear at the rear end including one of the diff-mount rubbers & up the front, the rubber that sits in the cup at the o/s spring is distorted. The servo looks as if it's sucking in a small amount of brake fluid & a leaky rear caliper (poss 2). A couple of tiny holes in the n/s/f wheelarch & another tiny one under the sill. A few other bits led to a quote of £1200 (more depending on how things came apart) so we had to pass on that but he got the wiper delay working after a fashion, there's an air leak somewhere in the tube. The vacuum unit wasn't working at all so the foam-trick wouldn't have worked. Also the advance/retard vacuum unit wasn't working so he fitted a new one. A Stag unit as apparently you can't get the Rover items which surprised me as the Rover V8 is vastly more numerous/popular than the Triumph lump. He thought the engine was a bit flat & recommended a local rolling-road setup place at Brize Norton which I'll probably visit in the future. For £150-200 he reckoned on an improvement at the rear wheels to 100+ bhp from the 70 odd that is probably, currently there. Anyone any experience of this establishment?
Anyway, a polybush set & new springs & shocks are on the cards for the winter it looks like (along with the subframe swap on our P5B), but she seems to be running sweetly & riding well so she'll see us good for the meantime hopefully.
