Mjit

TECHNICALLY it's illegal to display the old "GB" code...but in reality nobody is actually going to care! I know I've done most of one Le Mans trip in my Spitfire with no GB sticker (having watched 130kph on the Autoroute win out over the strength of the sticker's magnet) and ever other Le Mans with an illegally positioned GB sticker (sits on top the boot lid as I've never found a magnetic one that will fit in the tiny metal spaces on the read of a Mk IV Spitfire). Only time I've been stopped was in a convoy with two TVSs - and only then at some road works in a tiny French village and because the local police were bored and wanted to take pictures of the cars

Mr Lindsay may be able to answer this one but my impression has always been that Northern Ireland were always perfectly happy, nay proud of their own "NI" national moniker? All this because of a divisive Brexit referenum held purely to counter in-fighting in one political party. Divisions that said party believe they can heal with tokenism like changing the stickers on our cars from "GB" to "UK" and trying to cram Union Jacks into every TV interview😞

Even electric cars need radiators.

Agincourt? Reminds me more of Steve Mcqueen in Le Mans. Plus the whole coming from showing you still had your bow drawing fingers in the 100 years war being an urban myth of course.

OK, so I think I may have cracked it - it was of course the biggest PITA to access component in the system, the inhibitor switch. Despite having tested the switch on the bench before fitting as I know what a swine it is to change on the car, having swapped it for a new one the O/D seems to be behaving (so far) and testing the old one on the bench now shows intermittent contact depending on exactly the angle it's pressed at/how far/just randomly. On the one hand I have a working O/D again (subject to more miles to check this WAS the issue and it's not just a good spell on another intermitten issue) and also a seatbelt warning like that comes on when I'm in o/d (switches inside the seat belt buckles are dead and not sure I want to try splitting them open to fiddle around). And on the other a renewed exasperation that Triumph's engineers managed to put 2 holes in the 2000 transmission tunnel, one for the gearstick and I'm guessing the other something for autos - but neither of them in a useful position for accessing the inhibitor switch!

On the technical side, yes you can. Part of the US DoT brake fluid standard #5 requires it to be compatible with fluids that meet standard #4. Automec, the main DoT5 brand we get in the UK explicitly state you DON'T need to change seals when swapping DoT4->DoT5. On the practical side, it's often a false economy not to. No seals last forever and DoT5 fluid's quite expensive, so when was the last time to changed yours? If you replaced them all 12 months ago they I'd just swap fluid. If you can't remember when you last changed them you'd be better off doing them all now as part of the swap than changing fluid, then losing some of that purple gold bleeding the brakes as and when each seal needs replacing.

It's one of out amazing Brexit bonuses - freed from the yoke of the EU our government has been free to...make us all throw away our perfectly good "GB" stickers and buy new "UK" ones instead. (Even though this is a purely national decission that the EU don't care about and we could have done at any time - a bit like the colour of our passports)

Yea, but then you've got the cost fo the ferry crossing to France and Covid tests out and back to find a piece of road where you can do that!

So the temporary solenoid wiring is: Loom +ve feed -> female bullet in cabin (standard). Male bullet -> one side of gearstick switch (standard). Other side of gearstick switch -> female bullet in cabin (standard). Male bullet -> female spade on one side of solenoid (standard). Female spade on other side of solenoid -> female bullet back up in cabin (testing addition). Male bullet in cabin -> male spade under car (testing addition). Female spade -> earth ring on overdrive mounting bolt (standard). This is the standard wiring, just with the "solenoid female spade -> earth ring on overdrive mouting bolt" temp. extended to look back up inside the car where I can quickly and easily fiddle with it on a test run. The test bulb is then connected to a pair of fly leads, one ending in a male bullet, the other in a female bullet. For "Is the overdrive working?" testing I run it exactly as outlined above. I can then swap the test bulb between: 1. and 6. to confirm I have power coming in from the loom, both static and on the move. 3. and 7. to confirm the switch is working, both static and on the move. 1. and 2. or 3. and 4. to confirm I have a circuit from 1. through to 7. when switched "In", again both static and on the move. I'm not specific trying to/expecting to have a working overdrive with the test bulb in the circuit, just swapping it in when the O/D isn't working to try and identify an intermitten supply/switch/earth issue, so proving the electrical side of the circuit is sound. In these tests I can run the same short road loop, flicking the switch (no bulb) and have no O/D, then swap the bulb in and run the same loop flicking the switch as normal and get a solid light each and every time. Swap the bulb back out of the circuit and repeat and it's no O/D again. This leads me to belive it's not an electrical issue. 'Life' means evenings are out for car time so I only have lunch hours (when I get one) and weekends - and the car's outside so that's weather permitting. Today's lunch hour was only time to get everything out, the car jacked up, the solenoid swapped, the car back down and everything put away in time for a quick drive around the test loop. Not sure I'll get a chance to tinker tomorrow so will try listening up close and personal to the solenoid Friday/on the weekend

So tried a brand new solenoid and...no difference (well other than the fact it never seems to engage now, rather than working perfectly some times/not at all others - but that started with my last round of testing. not with the additon of the new solenoid). Blub still lights solidly each and every time when plumbed in to the circuit, so electrons getting happily from the battery +ve, through the switch and solenoid and back to the battery -ve OK (the purpose of the test bulb). Can't say I can hear any clonking from the solenoid when power switched on/off but then does a J Type solenoid actually make much noise? Next chance I get I'll try running some jump wires direct to/from the battery while the car's up in the air and see if I can hear anything with my ear right next to the solenoid, rather than the wrong wide of the 2000's soundproofing. I feel a shower in EP90 in my future to drop the O/D sump and try to work out what can be safely unscrewed and cleaned... Or is it time to invest £60 in a J Type pressure gauge - can you fit one to the O/D on a 2000 in situ?

Courier #488 (https://www.tssc.org.uk/tssc/uploaded_files/488 February 2021.pdf). In brief: 10ml syringe and short length of 6mm o/d PVC pipe. Remove blanking plug/nipple. Screw end of PVC pipe into hole to use hole thread as a die to 'cut' a thread on the pipe. Unscrew, fill syringe, screw back in to trunnion. Gentle pressure on syringe until oil comes out under dist cap.

So... Solonoid/earth cable replaced. Cabin/solonoid cable replaced. Geastick switch cable inspected (looks good and running inside cable cover so could only be short-circuiting the switch and not earthing out). For testing solonoid/earth cable extended inside cabin (so runs solonoid female spade connector/female bullet connector inside cabin, male bullet connector inside cabin/male spade under car, then female spade to earth). All the same Initial run with standard (cabin loop) wiring -> started engaging OK, then had a slow engagement, then no more engagement during test run. Swapped tell-tell LED into earth circuit -> LED goes on/off with the switch but no O/D. Popped off switch, pulled switch cables out of column shaft and reconnected switch 'hanging free' -> LED works fine but no O/D. As above but with LED removed from circuit -> No O/D. Bypass switch, hard-wiring O/D "On" -> No O/D (just huge fear of forgetting and then trying to reverse ). The solonoid piston is nice and free - though I will pop it back out and give it an 'oil side' clean (what in?) - and when working (both hot and cold) engages instantly when it does engage. Starting to sound like I need to waste another can or 2 of EP90 draining down and cleaning something else in the O/D sump - but what (considering I'll be doing this outside, under the car, not on the bentch)? Or do people still think it's electrical and have some more tests I can run?

I've got an all metal UJ fitted so can confirm you DON'T need the earth strap with those. With the original 'damped' type you do.

I wouldn't worry about compressing the ram till you've spoken to the supplier and resolved the bolt issue. As this came from the club shop I'd expect it to be designed as a bolt-on/bolt-off kit and NOT require any non-reversible changes to the car. Either you were sent the wrong ram kit or the ram kit had the wrong fixing. Once you have that sorted and are able to bolt it to the car compressing the ram will be straight forward.

Fitted a club boot ram to my Spitfire years back and didn't need any holes changing. The ram itself ends with a threaded section and you then screw on the fitting of your choice. At a guess either you got sent ones for the wrong model, or your year of car has a different thread to others. Either way should be easy enough for the supplier to send one out with the correct fitting. You probably will have trouble getting the ram to compress using you arms - it's designed to hold the full weight of the boot lit up so take a bit of force to start compressing without that weight. Not as bad as the bonnet ones though that you "Just compress to fit". Yea, after you've popped out for some pound shop rachet straps!

Didn't get a chance to mess around with the car yesterday (and the way work's going might not today either ).

Yep, solonoid seals have been replaced (in 2 solonoids - would be in a 3rd but piston shows no interest in coming out of that one!). Gearstick wiring all looks good and I don't get electric shocks (as I did when it was shorting once) but will try swapping to the wires from my other car and running them outside the gearstick. No, pushing/pulling the gearstick doesn't make any difference, either to o/d engagement (doesn't drop out when working/in when not) or test bulb display (always stays on clear and strong).

For the inhibitor switch if it wasn't engaging then there wouldn't (or shouldn't at any rate) be a circuit through the o/d switch and test bulb to the solonoid - and the solid 'light on' every time suggests that's all fine. Will re-check the solonoid connectors as they are quite exposed and always at the "I've managed to get EP90 oil running down my arm again" stage so do get refitted in the "get the connectors on and get out" stage

Doh! Forget to say in my original post "J-Type overdrive". Bulb was added because everything always seems fine what stationary so was trying to see if there was any difference between when it worked/when it didn't. Will try awapping to in parallel with it's own earth.

Seems to have been a run on overdrive threads recently - but none that have helped me get mine working properly in my 2000 so thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas... So I took the gearbox and overdrive that always worked out of one of my 2000s, rebuilt the gearbox and swapped it in to my daily driver 2000 - but since then it's been hit and miss. I can jump in the car and drive the 2 miles to the supermarket and it will work initially, then stop engaging overdrive. I can then drive 1/4 of a mile from there to the bakery and it won't engage at all - but then when I jump back in to drive home it will engage every time on the drive home. So far I've: Replaced the seals in/refitted one solonoid that didn't 'clack' before but did reluctantly after - no difference. Repleace the seals in/fitted a second solonoid that 'clacked' OK before/very positivly after - no difference. Checked the oil level - still full (and when the overdrive is working it engages the inistant you flick the switch, suggesting the pump's generating plenty of pressure). Checked the inhibitor switch - not loose and as best I can judge looking through the inspection hole only fiitted with 1 washer. I've tried adding a test bulb inline in the switch->solonoid circuit and that came on every time I flicked the switch "In" - but the o/d never engaged like that. Remove the bulb from the circuit and it would behave intermittently, as before. I wasn't expecting the bulb load to have an impact but swapped it for an LED bulb - which again lights up every time you flick "In" but with buld the o/d never engages/remove from the circuit and it does, intermittently. Logicially to me: The fact it works instantly when it does work, and can work both hot and cold (not just when the oil's cold and thicker) suggests it's not a pressure issue. The fact the test bulb works every time suggests it's not an electrical circuit issue (a temprimental inhibitor switch would cut power to the bulb). The fact it does the same thing with different solonids suggests it's not them - or I've managed to get 2 that have failed in the same way, regardless of their 'clecking'. Which leaves me...well scratching my head - and confused why the test bulb shows a powered circuit but somehow stops the o/d engaging. Any ideas...?

Another cause of this can be the angle of the steering rack/column, especially if you have a solid UJ. It's easy to fit the rack in a position where you end up with the steering column/UJ making contact with the front suspension turret where it passes through. Worth checking/slackening the rack clamps and rotating to get the steering column passing as close as possible through the middle of the hole in the turret if it looks at all tight to one side.

Loving the way they've even managed to capture the couple in the car having an argument - she's clearly got the hump in the passenger seat!

Another one I've had is the pin holding the plastic arm+scren assembly fall out. Think a split pin fixed that one.

Yea, think you might have some 'nodding dog' issues with that bracket - or does the catch tank actually sit on the bulkhead and the arm's just to keep it upright?

Take a look at the image of the 3.89:1 ratio diff on the Rimmers site - https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-RTC2305R You can see the breather pin on top of/just ahead of the big hole for the rear mounting bolt on the D/S.