Nick Jones

If new (repro) calipers, it will be this. You can prove it by removing the pads one at a time, carefully pumping the piston out a little, then levering it back in just enough to squeeze the pad back in. Repeat for the other three. If you now have a decent pedal, the issue is proven. This will remain for a few miles until the pads wear down as they’ll “adjust” back to where you are now. The best solution IMO is to remove the repro tat and return to supplier for full refund as unfit for purpose. Or you could waste hours of your life (as I did) repeating the above at intervals in the hope that the seals will “get the idea”. They won’t. You could try fitting alternative caliper seals in the hope that’ll resolve the issue. I tried 3 different versions including some used OE ones from an old caliper. That didn’t work either. IMO the shape of the seal groove is wrong. Certainly it’s different from OE. I’ve posted about this on here before https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/3884-suspect-repro-girling-type-16-callipers/#comment-42468 Nick

Isn’t this a bit of a generalisation? Had a Polo hire car that had both ABS and hill hold, yet drum rear brakes. Was a surprise to me I admit? Other reasons for rear discs (on an old Triumph) might include a desire for self adjustment, a desire not to pay £60 each for new drums, or a desire for decent friction materials…… I once might have added “a handbrake that works”, but for some reason the handbrake on my GT6 is actually excellent, a first on any small chassis car I’ve owned, which have varied from barely-adequate-on-a-good-day to adequate. Just wish I understood why so I could apply it to the others!! Nick

Can relate. Have those (except the rear discs) on both my cars and programmable engine management on one of them. Starting from a rotoflex car does make CVs much easier. Nick

Except the ones that have whole load of balls and spacer blocks in them……. Finding them all, picking them up off the floor, cleaning the all up and coaxing them back into place is a loooong job. Not usually found on Triumphs though - don’t remember where that one came from. Was a bad moment when they all came cascading out. Nick

Sounds like a sensible plan to me. Good luck! Nick

I would say so yes. If that’s how it was before (sounds like you think it is), that’s likely the real reason for your rumble. Nick

Should have said end tank then..... ....... the red-ringed part. There is a divider in there between the pipe stubs to send the flow out along the top two rows of tubes, into the open end tank at the other end and back along the two bottom sets of tubes. If I've misremembered the flow direction - tough! It's possibly different on mine anyway as the Smiths valves went in the bin years ago, as did the manifold heating. Doesn't matter anyway - the point is that if anything happens to the divider, the flow shortcuts and misses out the tubes, so you get a matrix that appears to flow just fine but produces little or no heat. This is what the other end looks like with the cover off. Red line shows the position of the divider at the connection end Nick

Mostly this, plus the diff is a small mass, flexibly mounted whereas a live axle is a much bigger mass and considerably damped by being pressed firmly on the road via nice squashy tyres. Nick

Was going to suggest to check the valve. The other thing that happens is that the division in the header tank that is supposed to force the circulation through the matrix fails, allowing some or all of the flow to pass directly from inlet to outlet, bypassing the matrix altogether. Nick

I’ve looked into this in some detail as the thought of converting my GT6 won’t leave. I’ve even spoken to “Moggy” of Vintage Voltage fame about it. He wanted £60k for a turnkey job or £35-40k in parts. That's definitely well on the high side, but unless you take the route of cobbling something together with old fork lift motors, home-brewed controllers and lead acid batteries (which is entirely possible), you will be looking at at least £10 - 14k in parts alone. Nick

Chi’s Witor is a good shout. Alternatively you could try a Newman PH1 which has fairly conservative timing but plenty of lift meaning a decent idle and plenty of low end torque. Nick

You never did answer the question of whether you are starting from a rotoflex car or swing axle….. GT6s came in both forms. You can go CVs on either but to convert a swing axle car requires parts from a rotoflex car and some extra brackets on the chassis amongst other things. And if you are starting with a rotoflex car, £750 for the shafts isn’t too bad a price. Nick

^^^what Dan says…… Nick

Do you really need to be “competitive” in this one event? Is it not better to just take a tried and trusted car as it is and enjoy it for what it is? A 1500 conversion is straightforward enough but really needs to have the gearing sorted at the same time - swapping to the 3.63 differential is especially important and overdrive is recommended. Also recommend an oil cooler. Nick

I’d be a bit surprised if you can buy pins alone. They normally come with pistons…. I agree with Pete on using the existing ones. With the proviso that old and new pistons are from the same manufacturer. Nick

Excellent 🙂

One of our Spitfire mounts is made almost entirely of Tigerseal after an elderly original fell apart. Definitely a bodge and only intended as an emergency temporary measure…. Though four years later we may be stretching the definition of temporary! The new one bought to replace it got used to replace the not very old repro one on the other side when it failed because…. We’d run out of Tigerseal…… (other PU sealants exist but I’ve not tested them in this application). Nick

Are the bolts holding the backplate tight? Nick

There’s your problem. The sensor is measuring mostly engine load rather than radiator efficiency. You need to raise the switching point a little. I had similar problems with my Vitesse for exactly the same reason as the fan is switched by the ECU which gets its temperature from the thermostat housing. My GT6 has a well shrouded Golf radiator and runs dead centre at all times except in traffic when it creeps up to 3/4+ because the Golf switch point (on the rad outlet) is a bit high. I’d prefer it a little lower but it doesn’t seem to cause any problems. The reason that your engine temperature goes up at high speed in spite of the airflow is that there isn’t enough air going through the radiator and the engine load is quite high. Whether this is due to lack of shrouds/ducting/engine side panels or simply the air not being able to escape the engine bay, I don’t know. Nick

Blimey….. my Vitesse has electronic fuel injection and MGF seats….. must be worth a few quid! Haven’t bothered with an expensive stereo (can’t hear it and has 6cyl music to listen to built) and electric windows seem unneeded. My son put EWs in his Spitty using Honda Prelude parts, not quite sure why though. Nick

Compression tests should be done warm with all plugs out and the throttle wide open. I generally allow 5 compression strokes per pot. Absolute results are a bit lower than might be expected, but the compression gauge is an uncalibrated device. They are nice and even though, so if it’s running well and not breathing heavily or burning oil, I reckon it’s likely fine Nick

Mine (elderly sidevalve Honda) ran on E85 for two seasons using up the results of a mis-fuel. It was a bit of a bugger to start from cold (sniff of carb cleaner saved my arm) but other than that, you couldn’t really tell. It did chew through it quicker than standard petrol. Long term effects? Well, we are probably 12 years on from that now, but apart from a new plug and a couple of oil changes it just clatters and smokes as it always has…. Nick

That would be me…… they, Falken SN832s, were and still are brilliant in the wet. Also, now they are about half worn, they are pretty excellent in the dry too. Bit squirmy and squeaky in the dry with full tread, but admittedly that’s while trying far harder that I generally would on the road. Now have them on my GT6 and my sons Spitfire too.

Yes. It will be the same. I've tried most size combinations over the years and always just swap the pushrod over. As long as the holes are not worn oval - all is good. Nick PS Current state of play in my fleet Vitesse: 0.625" Brake master (std 0.7") to reduce pedal effort (at expense of a bit of extra travel) 0.75" Clutch master (std 0.625") because Toyota gearbox and hybrid clutch GT6: 0.75" Brake master (std 0.7") because remote servo 0.7" Clutch master (std 0.625) because MX5 gearbox and concentric clutch

Just swap the push-rod from your original master. 1 circlip, takes under a minute….. Nick