Nick Jones

You'll only get 4 in there with a swing spring Roger. Just plug the extra holes ☺️

No argument there - and definitely not putting your nicely sorted beast in that category ☺️ Thought it needed putting out there though as getting double the power out of any Triumph lump is very challenging, and keeping it road-usable at the same time even more so. Anyway, you are being modest..... it's a bit more than double isn't it.....? I ain't no purist

That is the anti-flooding hole that drains excess fuel from the inlet manifold. It should have a little metal pipe in it (3/16" or even a bit less) held in with a small compression fitting to direct the fuel away from the hot manifold. It looks a little..... err..... "productive" at present. Could just be the float chamber overflowing into the carb throat due to fuel warming and expanding after switching off and may indicate the float level is a little high.

Courtesy of 1990s Ford technology mind 😛 Sticking with a mostly Triumph engine, after about 15 years of development my own Vitesse 2L Mk1.5 is up by about 40%. That involves a gas flowed head, increased CR to match the more aggressive cam, 6-3-1 manifold plus bigger bore exhaust and electronic engine management. It's not really any noisier than standard and is quite a bit better on fuel. We'll not go into the cumulative costs and aggro though! The Mk2 Vitesse (and GT6) engine is one of Triumphs best efforts as standard and some care is needed not to spoil it.

Pete is correct about the cross-shaft being prone to issues, but does the clutch seem to "recover" when cold? If so, you are on the right track with the braided hose as the OE nylon thing gets soft when hot and balloons a little leading to lost motion. Even small amounts of air in the system make matters worse and they are a right sod to bleed. That Lockheed master cylinder is a horror. I finally successfully bled my PI by taking the slave cyl off clamping the piston fully in and holding it above the level of the M/C whilst bleeding. That did it.... Nick

The trouble with this, certainly on the new repro Type 16 calipers currently available, once the pads wear down a bit, the problem recurs. They just don't seem to be able to self adjust properly and you have to repeat the above procedure. There's another thread on here that covers this in detail and the update from me is that I'm now sufficiently fed up with it to have bought a used pair of OE Girling calipers to rebuild. Nick

I have a Halfords “3 year” 063 battery date stamped mid 2004. It still works though has recently been relegated to garage spare/test battery as not quite what it was. I got it used from a scrapyard at about 2 years old and it has mostly been in the Vitesse since. Does get trickle charged from time to time which is meant to help. Sparks around the terminals of a battery that has been working hard are bad news. Very scary and dangerous if they blow up!

Pretty comprehensively covered above..... I have done many of these. A few come straight out, others take literally days. I've also seen the aftermath of many a botched drilling out attempt. It really needs to be done in a mill, Don't cut the bolt until all other avenues are exhausted. Proper penetrating oil, serious heat (repeatedly sometimes), and strong bench/vice and a long breaker bar are your allies. I have even been known to drill small holes through the wall of the link into the bolt to allow the penetrating oil a better chance of getting in there. These need to be welded up (or similar) afterwards although I know some like to put grease nipples into them. As for the radius arm bracket bolt - unless you have a really pressing reason, just leave it be! Nick

As Pete says, the bearings fail faster due to too much pre-load rather than too much end float. Shimming these (whether for the OE shaft or a CV conversion) is a fairly fiddly procedure and easy to cock up if you've not done one before. So could well be just down to incorrect shimming. Having said this, I am also very curious about the longevity of the standard bearing setup when used with the Rimmers/Jigsaw/CDD shafts. The reason for this is that whereas the Canleys shafts use 1500 FWD CVs at the wheel end with exactly the same spline and support-land profile as the OE shafts, the others use a modern CV that has been modified to have a much shorter support land. Basically the generous radius between CV face and spline has been machined square. While this does provide enough room to park the spacer and shims it will hardly protrude into the hub at all. The original shaft support-land did protrude well into the hub and was in fact a light interference fit as well, thus providing considerable re-enforcement to the rather thin spigot that the inner bearing sits on, even expanding it slightly to fit the grip the bearing. My concern is without this the bearing may spin on the spigot or the unsupported spigot may fail. I have some evidence for this risk as my very first CV conversion used Ford outer CVs that happened to fit the Triumph hub. It lacked any support land at all and had a large radius at the end of the spline meaning nowhere for the shims. My solution for this was to get a spacer made and put it and shims as needed between the bearings. This is actually stronger than the OE setup because the whole lot is clamped up solid when the hub nut is tightened - and it worked fine for the 20k miles I put on it. However, others who semi-copied the idea, but with shimming arrangements similar to OE, had persistent problems with the inner bearing and spigot failures. It is a simple mod to put a spacer and shims between the bearings but doesn't make the shimming process any easier. There are quite a few of these shafts out there now and I've not heard of any failures...…... Nick

This is true - except they do physically fit, they will just be more or less fully closed in the normal running position so constantly bouncing off the internal bump stops. The "normal" swing axle shocks are slightly too long for the extension brackets and their effective rate is slightly increased by the reduced operating angle, but they actually work fine. I've run OE Armstrong ones on my roto Vitesse for 30 years. Possibly there is some variation between different makes. Nick

Koni. Part no. 80/1717 I think GT6 Mk2 spring is probably worth a go, especially if used and a bit saggy! Nick

Yes. Classic Mini front shocks as mentioned above. You have to drill out the sleeve in the bottom bush or swap the whole bush but straightforward otherwise. If you car has actual GT6 Roto shocks fitted they are too long and with a lowering block in the equation too will be bottomed out most of the time. That gives a hard ride. Also, you kit car is likely lighter than the Vitesse donor, hence the need for the lowering block. Loosing the block and taking a leaf or two out of the spring is probably the way to go. Nick

Porosity in those welds suggests not enough shielding gas. Nick

Looks like the bottom of the door needs to go in at the front too? As far as the rear lower corner goes, bringing the front upper out will also tip that in. Think diagonals. Failing that, doors sometimes twist when reskinned. You can twist them back provided they’ve not been welded at the corners. Patience rewards...... worth taking the time to get the right. Far too many out there with poor fit

Look like Vitesse instruments.

That third gear circlip is notorious for breaking or escaping. Similar issues on the big T / TR boxes too. When rebuilding my PI box I had persistent issues with it as the process of fitting it was stretching it to the point where it wouldn’t sit down properly into the groove. I tried clips from several sources but all were similar. In the end I used Spiralox following a tip from Steve Smith in Vegas. He also sourced the clips for me as I couldn’t find a UK source or a US one that would ship outside US. Worked a treat and rather easier to fit!

Yes, Minispares nuts with integral washers are the business for Mk1 and 4 cylinder engines. The standard offerings are usually trouble free for the Mk2 6s with their sensibly sized studs provided the correct deep nuts and hardened washers are used. Never seen a nut crack in half like that before - thread pulling out is normal failure mode. Mind you, with the torques used AND special lobe you're lucky you haven't pulled the studs out of the block. That would be messy! Nick

I wouldn't attempt Tarr Steps ford in a Vitesse - at least 12 - 18" deep even in moderately dry weather. Would need a good reason to attempt it in my A6 - I've seen an A4 drown in it, though partly due to idiot driving!

Agree on the capacitors. Especially if it used to work and now doesn't as the capacitors age, decrease in value, and may cause motor current to rise as a result. If you are already close to the edge on the breaker, this will tip it over the edge. Equally it is worth checking the various electric connectors along the feed path and seeing if any are getting warm, indicating poor contact and thus volt-drop, which will also cause the current to go up. Nick

The witness mark on no4 could be steam cleaning due to head gasket leak or might be a squish shadow due to some wear in big-end bearing allowing the piston to make a closer approach to the head than usual. Would have thought you might be able to hear that much wear though. Not too bad a job to drop the sump to check the bearings if so inclined, though a wipe-clean head is an advantage! Nick

Also check that the locking peg in the door mechanism that engages with the striker plate flips over easily and positively. There is a little spring in there that should give a distinct “over-centre” action. (Flip it to the shut position with a finger, return by pressing the door handle button). Without this they tend not to latch fully and the door pops open. If found to be sticky, try lining first.

Proper UJ is nicer IMO. Forged version slightly more compact. There’s always a bit of slop left in the rubber coupling version. Nick

Ah, ok. I would agree with your diagnosis Doctor. The extreme angle is costing you motion. Dolly Sprint carriers are very long. Certainly too long, but could be shortened. Nick

Tried a thicker ARB from a swing-spring Spit on my lowered, but still fixed-spring Herald. Ruined the turn-in and made it understeer horribly. Soon swapped back.

A thought. You seem to be saying that the friction plate has worn very quickly and you had problems with overt slip when you tried longer pushrods, yet still had problems with failure to clear. As I’m sure you know, the cone angle of the clutch diaphragm fingers when everything is bolted up to the flywheel gives a pretty good wear indication. When you first fit a new clutch, the fingers will be near flat, but as you approach the worn-out point they become noticeably conical. This means that when you set a release mechanism up with a new clutch you need to be sure that everything has enough travel to allow the carrier assembly to move back gradually as wear occurs. Without this, you will get a situation where the clutch cannot fully release, so will bite less well, slip a bit more and wear faster. You may also get a situation, when the limiting factor is mechanical, where the hydraulics don’t reset between operations so you don’t get a full stroke. I think that is a long winded way of saying that you check that your carrier is not (counter intuitively) too long. Nick