Nick Jones

On a 6 presumably? No machining needed on a 4. For a 6, cam bearings are not necessary unless the block is worn or a very high lift cam/high rpm/strong valve springs are planned. Otherwise it's just a fairly expensive "nice to have". If determined to have it done, from bitter experience you need to be sure that your machine shop has the machinery to bore the whole length of the camway in one pass (it's too long for many) and the expertise to use it properly. Anyone who thinks they can do a satisfactory job by working from both ends should be avoided. Cost me a fully machined block and a lot of pratting about to learn that. Nick

Nothing new under the sun...... If the failure was snapping the skinny end off at the pin-hole, our take on the reason for failure is that the part is actually a bit short as standard and holds the handle off its rubber stop. This means that if the handle is leant on or pushed towards the car, the part is put under tension and fails at the weakest point - which is the pin hole. In normal operation they are in compression. The "production" ones are a touch longer to prevent this. They are fitted to the handles and work fine but not tested on the car yet. Nick

My son Chris has been fiddling about with the doorhandle mechanisms on our GT6 project. As usual, there are broken plastic bits to contend with and these are apparently NLA from the usual suspects. He has dealt with this by getting drawing them up in Solidworks and getting a friend to 3D print them in ABS plastic. It's the orange one in the pic though other colours are available. These could be produced in moderate quantity and retail @ around £ 10 ea were there a market for them. P/nos. 520260 - RH and 520261 - LH He's also looking at the plastic rocker that operates the door lock (the ends have snapped off both of ours and been bodged) which might be a little simpler, quicker and thus cheaper. Anyone interested? Whole doorhandle assembly is ~ £ 100! Nick

Indeed, I've had Dolomites and big saloons (mk2) and these self not-adjusters are a royal pain. To be fair the ones on my PI did work a bit and would adjust from hopelessly slack to merely very baggy.... Nick

He's smoking the wrong kind of fish....... or perhaps cheese....... I is confused. Nick

Hi Phil, Long time Vitesse owner (30 years) and serial Triumph botherer, based in south Somerset, so only 20 miles from you. My Vitesse is a runner....... but my GT6 project has some way to go. Nick

21 year old son runs a Spitfire 1300. Premium this year is in the 600s but he's passed the 21 milestone and has 3 years NCB. Classic insurance seems hopeless. They don't want anyone under 25 and you need to be insuring another car too. I do know a young gentleman who runs a Vitesse 2L convertible with reasonably modest premiums (sub 1k). He's 20 now but has been running it since 17. Uses the mainstream insurers like Admiral, Hastings, Aviva etc. LV is one of the few I've found with worse online reviews than Hastings........ Nick

Yeah...... but front may not be at the front any more. That's why the Sprints have a proportioning valve on the rear brakes. Forgetting to reset its position when lowering the suspension can lead to very sideways moments under braking, especially in the wet. Roto cars have the earlier, narrow drums and manual adjusters. The more expensive ones obviously. I need a pair too. Nick

Early TR7(4 speed) and Dolly 1850 I think. Sprint has pretty big rear brakes - pity the fronts are the weedy things used on 1300s ! Nick

I have a later 2 speed wiper motor on the Vitesse. Fitting it wasn't particularly straight forward (there was a lengthy thread on CT about it back in 2008) and I don't find the high speed any more effective at screen clearance. Header rail leaks...... yes. A hood that is too tight does help either as it tends to make the header rail tip back, especially at speed when a low pressure area forms above the car. Sudden increase in wind noise from there is another clue. I tend to fit a strip of Duct tape along the join if I'm going out in the rain, or just going to be travelling fast with the hood up. > 60mph is when mine gets bad - and yes the hood is too tight now - it's shrunk! Nick

How much is alot? Audi consider up to 1L per 600 miles acceptable for warranty purposes! (I don't). Pretty sure Triumph reckoned up 1000 miles/pint could be considered normal...... You can burn quite alot of oil before it shows as visible smoke, especially when the oil is coming past the rings. People talk about valve guides being a problem, but on the OHV Triumph engines you won't get much smoke or oil use from this unless you have an additional oil feed to the rocker gear. Conversely, even relatively low volume leaks make a big mess..... Nick

Senior Management also very happy about the rain as she was getting very bored with watering all her pots (well, if you will have 70-odd pots!) and water butts mostly empty. Should you be in need of a new and unused OE Spitfire rear lamp panel........ I have one. Hopefully not bad enough to need one as removing and refitting those is serious effort! Very bad news about boot lid...... New ones very expensive and wrong curvature. Nick

Arrrgh! Isn't the yellow visible enough???! Not too severe I hope? Nick

Clive, How did you get around the issue of the calliper sticking out past the wheel mounting face of the hub if you move the disc outwards by machining the hub? Wheel spacers? I can't used spacers as the wheel/tyre combination I have is on the limit of poke already. Been mocking things up this morning. There are a number of ways to skin this cat, but they all have drawbacks. This supplied "kit" has 10mm calliper spacers plus 5mm washers to move the callipers inboard. This does basically work. The drawbacks of remain as per original post plus the calliper is very close (less than 1mm) from the hub. The kit does not include longer calliper fixing bolts, which are sorely needed. Not in itself an issue, but kit incomplete! The 10mm calliper spacers are 3mm bigger than they need to be to accommodate the extra disc thickness (7mm). We've knocked up some 6.8 mm ones from some aerospace Alu alloy we had in stock. Fitted with 2.5mm washers the callipers are now well clear of the hub but disc not central in the calliper. Machining 4mm from the back of the hub would sort that and allow me to ditch the washers and even fit the dust shields, but then will need to relieve the hub and maybe the calliper slightly and the calliper will again be outboard of the wheel mounting face, though only by 2 - 3mm........ Had not realised there is so little to spare in the OE install. No wonder the TRs have big wheels! Nick

Taper roller bearings in most applications have the inner and outer tracks firmly fixed and all relative motion is via the rolling element. This is the design intent of the bearing maker. Further, most taper roller sets run with a degree of preload, at least when first installed. This ensures even contact, maximum load capacity and no scuffing. I suspect that when conceived, the original hub design did include the centre spacers (as fitted to earlier MGB and other old stuff) but it was discovered that as they are, by bearing standards, quite lightly loaded, they can survive well without if left slack enough. Therefore they were quietly dropped as a cost cutting and simplification measure across the car industry. In effect, a production bodge. That said, they do work pretty well and last a decent mileage when properly set. The rear axle of my A6 uses the same arrangement. I renewed one side last year at just over 300k miles. The other side is still going at > 312k. The stub axles are slightly worn though giving more play in the 12 / 6 plane. Interestingly enough Audi specify just removing free play when adjusting. I generally leave just a hint. Nick

My Vitesse ones are set to just eliminate any free play at the wheel. This has worked for several 10CRs, including much Alpine action and prolonged high speed cruise on German M-ways, as well as a couple or track days. The beauty of these is spacers is that the bearing inner races are clamped together and to the stub axle so they don't turn on the stub axle. This means they don't weld themselves to the stub axle or wear it out. I would not set the bearings this tight without the spacer for the reasons Pete mentions. Nick

James (vendor) is a true Triumph nutter, CT stalwart, veteran of man a crazy long distance event and all round top bloke..... Produces some interesting and high class parts too. Surprised about the Herald/Spit ones not selling well, especially as I thought it had been established that they would also suit TR4 - 6 (use same bearings as Herald/Spit amazingly) - perhaps I'm wrong about that. The TRs certainly need these spacers...... A good selection of shims is supplied with the kits along with decent instructions. Need to buy another set for the GT6...... Nick

Those those are good. Fitted them on my Vitesse and. 2.5PI. Not hard at all. Herald / Spitfire ones are slightly different (he does them too). Price has gone up significantly though. Don't think this is what Darren means though. There are alloy hubs available which use completely different bearings with stub axles to match. Pretty sure Canleys sell them (they certainly used to) but think they were originally developed for Caterhams and similar which also use the Triumph based suspension. Same origins as the trunnionless vertical links. Nick

Would probably be ok. I've always used the ones fitted by Peugeot, Citroen (easy to spot in the scrap cars). I think Same used used in Freelander and various Hondas. Get mine from scrapyard direct as much cheaper and I can liberate the matching plug as well. No relay needed but suggest an inline fuse (10A IIRC) Nick

Indeed, if it works, why mess with it. However, many do have problems with vapourisation. A number of factors can stack up, main ones being - ambient temperatures, which affects under bonnet and fuel temperatures. - traffic. Being stuck in traffic for long periods on a hot day is worst case scenario as it leads to high underbonnet temps. - how much fuel in the tank. Low levels make cavitation in the pump more likely - presence of a fuel filter between tank and pump, especially if dirty adds to losses and increases cavitation risk - fuel type, specially how much ethanol. E5 has an effect. E10 (not much in U.K. so far) is worse.

In our Spitfire, with pump in the boot, you'll here a couple of muted ticks when you turn the ignition on but nothing when the car is running/driving. My Vitesse has a Bosch high pressure pump under the boot floor (fed from the tank drain) and that produces a high-pitched whine/buzz which is rather more intrusive. Nick

Main advantage of using an electric pump is the opportunities it gives to reduce fuel vapourisation, modern fuels being much more prone to it. The mechanical pump, bolted directly to the block is a particular hotspot and heat-induced cavitation in its valves will bring you to a spluttering halt. The factory standard block-hugging pipe work doesn't help either. On our Spitfire project we used a Huco pusher type pump mounted at the base of the tank and ran the pipe work along the bulkhead. It works. No fuel problems, even sat in traffic in recent weeks! We do have an inertia cut-off switch Nick

Vented brake discs? MoT subject done to death and beyond elsewhere....... Nick

Does sound like it's going lean under load. Might not be fuel starvation due to the pump though as that will normally give you some "go" in the short term and then die off as demand outstrips supply and float chambers empty. Quick and dirty test - pull the choke out when it's faltering/holding back. If it then pulls away and keeps on pulling it is simply going weak under load due to the wrong needles or incorrect setting. This might be because: - You used a Colourtune. My experience with these and SUs is that if you get a nice blue colour at idle it'll be too lean everywhere else. - You have non-standard air filters and/or exhaust system so the engine is flowing more air and the standard needles are now wrong for it. - You have the wrong needles fitted. - Dashpot springs are missing or the incorrect ones (too light) Nick

Already been MoT'd after the cut-off date. I intensely disapprove of the moronic VOSA/DVLA MoT exemption. Should have been changed to an MoT "light" to test the safety related features that the older cars actually have fitted with commensurate reduction in time slot length and maybe even modest cost reduction. Returning to the original question, I also note that although the actual increase in disc thickness is ~ 7mm, the spacer kit spacers are actually 10mm - implication being that I either actually need to move the disc out 5.5mm to centre the calliper - or bin the nasty looking spacers that came in the kit and make some nice ones that are 7mm! Nick