Nick Jones

Hum..... perhaps the one in my garage loft is worth hanging on to to supplement my pension then...... Nick

Have seen this before. Was reported on Sideways a few months back http://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/8852-new-spitfire-stub-axle-and-bearings-loose/&tab=comments#comment-120312

Nice but not concourse. Crazy money. Especially for magenta..... Nick

The other aspect to it is service interval. Modern car pads are hard so they last a long time. Typically by the time the pads are worn out, the discs are too. On some of the cheaper aftermarket makes the pads outlast the discs (yes Eurocraparts I’m looking at you!) Nick

The Payen head gasket is coated and doesn’t require any additional sealant. That said I do tend to put a very thin smear on the outer edge by the tappet chest and also around the oil feed hole at the back (stay back from the hole a bit so it doesn’t squash into it when everything gets compressed. I’ve used blue hylomar and Reinzosil for this in the past.

Problem with most modern pad compounds is that they are designed for cars with servos. Therefore too hard and too lacking in bite for cars without. I have a servo on my GT6, so the brakes work fine with standard Ferodo pads, if lacking in initial bite before the servo wakes up, which is a bit disconcerting and makes it harder to drive smoothly in stop/start traffic. Vitesse has M1144 for the bite and vented discs for the heat resistance and the brakes are excellent. The DS2500 with solid discs work pretty well too and did good service for many years (good thing, very expensive pads!). Couldn’t handle dry weather track days in the end - cooked the calipers as well as the pads though to be fair they still worked fairly well. Nick

When I first out my Vitesse on the road it had real Lockheed asbestos pads and the brakes were great. They wore out. They were replaced with modern non-asbestos motor factors pads listed for it. They were about as much use as greased weetabix. I bought some Ferodo branded ones. No better. I overhauled the calipers (they were fine anyway). No better. I bought some Green stuff ones and new discs. They were worse. The car was scary to drive. Brake pedal and steering wheel bendingly scary. I was on the point of throwing in the towel and fitting a servo. Then I discovered M1144. Suddenly I had brakes again. Even from stone cold. I have no idea why anyone thinks M1144 would be in anyway inferior to the horrible tat masquerading as brake pads that are otherwise sold as fit for purpose. I have also used Ferodo DS2500. Roughly equivalent to M1155. They have a bit less cold bite, but are still better than the standard tat and are bloody brilliant from vaguely warm to smoking hot whereas is it possible to fade the 1144s. 1144s are a great general purpose road pad.

From the look of the fracture surface that is cast iron, not steel. So relatively brittle anyway, especially in tension. Nick

I have previously been told by Chris Witor (who is a pretty reliable source in these matters) that there is a problem with the Payen AK280 recessed block gaskets for the Mk2 6 cylinder engines. Basically the fire rings are made wrong and they don’t work as gaskets! Can’t comment on the rest. Nick

And BMW and Audi from mid 2000s onward, over-complex, overpriced, underbuilt. Horrid to work on too. And this from someone who has run Audis since 1994..... older Audis. 108 (sat nav) in two places on the Nordschlieffe and on one occasion on an autobahn. That was the old engine and as fast as it could go I think. The new engine brought 112 on an autobahn. There may have been a little more to come, but that was more than enough. 90 is plenty in a Vitesse convertible - all gets a bit flappy..... Saloon maybe a little less noisy/alarming....... Nick

Blowtorch......🙃

While I don’t wish to be negative and I do appreciate the difficulty of getting parts where you are, is a brief sanity check in order? The engine chosen seems to cause maximum difficulty on all fronts. No engine mount bosses and, I assume, a long-backed crankshaft, which is presumably why the Vitesse gearbox can’t easily be used? So, in order to use this engine you will need to find a way of mounting it, and a way of mounting the gearbox, and a way to make the clutch work, and a modified Propshaft, and a way to connect/calibrate your speedo....... Is this engine known for absolute certain to be in perfect running order?If not, it cannot be worth the fairly extreme effort? Nick

Oh dear. Does sound a bit “endy”. Crank pulley nut, flywheel bolts, drop sump to check shells..... If it has eaten shells, question that follows..... is why?! Nick

Sounds like the best use of it. Should be great in a 1200. 948 ratios might be an irritant, 1200 gearing is short enough as it is.

Pretty sure it’s a mechanical gauge Richard as he mentioned the tube. Has the oil filter been changed recently? If you have a filter with no anti-drain valve (or the valve just plain doesn’t work) it drains completely while standing and takes ages to refill. Not good at all. I wouldn’t Rev it with no pressure! Nick Edit: I see Pete an I are thinking along the same lines.....

25k is not a bad innings for one of these boxes behind a six. Especially since most of the components had already been around at least once before..... Nick

You clearly do get a bigger spark as it takes more energy to jump the bigger gap. May slightly delay the spark. Nigel’s point about increased pressure on the other HT components is well made. Decent quality red rotor arm strongly recommended! Nick

I usually buy mine from Rally Design but that eBay price is probably impossible to beat. They will need the pin holes opening out an possibly a bit of extra fettling to allow the inner one to go in far enough. Nick

Yes..... but using the same cheese layshaft probably...... and who knows what other “repairs”. The occasional driver won’t find out for years, but someone who really uses their car as you do will get trouble just after the warranty expires. Could be ok, but you don’t know without looking inside. Nick

Layshaft made of cheese and the rest of the damage due to the swarf in the oil. Mainshaft tip can be machined down so that a proprietary bearing sleeve can be pressed on. It’s hard but machinable with the right inserts. Likewise with the input shaft bore, though you have to be careful as it’s already a big hole. Maybe use a a drawn cup (Torrington) roller bearing - if you do that you must drill through the root of the gear to the back of the bore so it gets lubricated. Will die very quick if not. Probably a lot of fine swarf in the overdrive too. Nick

Right angle drive for the speedo and possibly a different speedo cable. Possibly the speedo calibration is different too, not sure about that. Nick

The Trooper 2.6 starter is definitely fine on the 4cyl cars ...... having recently fitted one to our Spitfire. However, my feeling was that it wouldn’t be a great fit on a 6 due to the general orientation and especially cable connections. Our Trooper starter cost a princely £48 delivered for a UK supplier. Te manufactured I suspect, but it works just fine. Nick

Triumph followers should never be convex! They should be dead flat - flat enough for two to stick together if oiled and pressed face to face. If they rock even a hint when played face to face they need to go back to the supplier. Re-profiling a slightly worn cam is acceptable, if it’s not too far gone. Nick

Go back to Triumphs original metered feed design even.....

I was always taught that the correct place for the switch was on the radiator outlet side as that way it’s actually measuring whether the radiator needs help or not.