Nick Jones

Very likely. Was a well known issue back in the day. Can’t be many waxstats left in the wild these days…. Nick

It’s not a complete myth…… unfortunately. Our MkIV Spit has a fairly rampant case right now. However, the history is that the engine was built from a fairly random collection of used parts to mostly resemble a Mk3 engine, with a big valve Mk IV head. The head was freshened up by lapping the valves and a general tidy up with some light porting. The exhaust valves took a lot of grinding. I was aware that I was chancing recession, but the cure is the same as prevention so….. meh. Anyway, it lasted about 8k. At about 5k the car had an EFI conversion and not many miles after that the use pattern changed with much more fast, open road work. First sign of trouble was a blown head gasket between 3&4. I didn’t immediately twig, but did notice that all the exhaust valves were tight (especially 4) when reassembling and then again after torquing the head after 300 miles. Pretty soon after that it started having running issues which we eventually realised were due to no valve clearances on 1 &4 exhaust….. oh yeah, now we get it…… So, at present the state of play is that without additive it does about 250 miles between tappet settings, at which point it’s pretty sick. With additive…… at least 600 and still going strong….. I previously ran my Vitesse for 25k or so on a standard, well used head with no sign of recession, but did have seats fitted when I ported the head. Even then I’ve recently found the exhaust valves to be 2 thou tighter than the inlets after a hard 20k (4 track days, 3 long continental road trips plus usual running around) and the engine is noticeably crisper with them back where they should be. So well used standard head with lead memory/work hardening will last well, especially if it doesn’t see too much sustained high power usage. However, grind away that layer and/or use the car hard, and recession gets real soon enough. I’m repeating the Spitfire experiment on the GT6. It’s ok so far but it’s only done 1100 miles…. Nick

Baines are the ones. Correct profile, correct hardness, correct length. Unlike certain others. Had two from Paddocks (who were very helpful btw) that were both way too long and one was about 30mm longer than the other. Tried shortening the longer one so it was a snug fit around the screen and it was better (could actually get the screen in the car), but still wouldn’t sit right in the corners. Baines one went straight in and sat right first go. Nick

You what? I couldn’t get a quote below £300…… which is was I now have a Golf radiator which cost a 10th of that brand new…… Similar issue with the Vitesse except there’s no squeezing a Golf rad in that. Nick

I was told of problems with the Payen 6 cylinder head gasket for recessed blocks by non-other than Chris Witor, so I reckon that would be true. Not sure about the 4 pots but there do seem to have been a few people with problems recently. Nick

I reckon you can get it out without removing the window. Might not be easier though…. Especially the putting it back bit…..

You can adjust the effective stroke by moving the inside release handle assembly. It’s mounting holes are slotted for this purpose. Nick

There never was a pickup. Either a chopped down estate or even a saloon. The pictures are too few/poor to tell. Suspect a very high bodge count on that one! Nick

TR5/early 6 cam is 280 duration IIRC, but has a lot of overlap. It needs a throttle per pot to play nicely really, but then it was designed for use with ITBs and sequential injection. I meant cam timing rather than ignition timing, retarding the timing tends to move the power/torque down the rev band. If you are happy with the way it drives, just enjoy it 🙂. Mine flattens off about 5.5k when cam specs say it should be good for at least another 1k, but in practice I only ever notice on the track and I only do that about once a year…… Nick

What cam is it? What exhaust manifold? The standard Mk2 cam is 270 duration though much less lift and the factory standard engine I did have in my Vitesse was happy to rev to Smiths both when still on carbs and later when injected. That made 120bhp when injected but also had a bit of head work and a 6-3-1 by that time. So maybe a bit surprising that the cam would be the limiting factor, unless it’s timed retarded? That said, the engine in my GT6 which is built as a Mk2 with an alleged factory Mk2 cam is much less keen to rev though it is very torquey and willing low down. Nick

Either some clerk, probably long dead, who compiled the parts list made an error, which has never been corrected or it’s correct for some earlier version of the engine (948, something for a Standard Eight?) and some clerk never updated it. Anyway it’s been messing people up for 60 years or so now and no end in sight 🙄 Nick

The plenum is an empty box, but the entrances to the runners are well radius’d. If I were doing it again I’d try tapering it. A little wider than it is now at the front with the TB set more outboard and a little narrower at the back. There is no evidence of distribution problems though, plug colours very even. I’d also reduce the angle of the runners a bit to move the plenum back as the air filter is a very snug fit! Yes, the ITB runners are a touch long and may get trimmed a little, though we’ve made them tapered….. Tape measure says they’ll fit but the airbox will have to be compact! injector pockets will be next to the head and may lay them down a bit further to point more at the back of the valve. Nick

up. This shows a recess for a dished plug for sure, the obvious step is the giveaway. You “just” need to find one the right size! Should be a snug fit before you start flattening it. Any decent old-school engine machine shop should have a drawer full…. Nick

Well remembered Dave! It was a while ago now and I’ve forgotten the finer details, but there was a small water leak from the manifold heating tube into no6 runner. I was aware no.6 plug was “different” (clean!) and I was aware that I was loosing coolant, though at a very low rate. No running issues. The penny only dropped when I had the manifold off for an entirely unrelated reason and found coolant in the runner. Just bypassed the manifold tube and plugged the ends so that I didn’t get an air leak instead. Already had the EFI in the works at that point. Nick

This. The key is that the grooved sides are the ones with the bearing material, which may be silvery coloured or coppery coloured. They must face the moving parts - the crank, or bad things will very soon happen. The other important clue is that the back side usually has the part number and the size stamped on them. To add, experience suggests that the coppery coloured version are more robust and less inclined to smear the bearing material. Therefore if the size combination means I have one of each I always fit the coppery one on the flywheel side as that’s the one that takes the clutch (or torque converter) loads. Nick

My Vitesse has a homebrewed manifold made from exhaust tube and 1.6mm sheet. How I did it (very out of date!!) http://www.tengaston.plus.com/Megasquirt1.htm A PI I did a few years later using the original manifolds but with a single TB. The PI stuff fits under the bonnet on a big saloon and looks at home. That made just under 150bhp and >160lb/ft from 1800 - 5200 rpm with the standard cam (TR6 twin downpipe manifold and some headwork) The Vitesse ITB project..... awaiting the will to take a working car apart to see how much it misses fitting by! BMW K1100 ITBs are 34mm and modular. I got 3 sets for <£100 total. I've made some proper rails since the pic was taken. The throttle linkage will be a bit fiddly..... If looking for bike ITBs, ignore the sports bikes, even the small capacity ones - mostly too big. The bigger touring stuff is more about torque and has better sizes - though often not prices! Nick

I put my WR7DTC (predecessor to the W78) plugs in in 2015 when I fitted my new bottom end. They've done 20k since then and will do the same again I reckon. I had the same ones in the old engine (that drank oil like a rabbit hole) which had been in for many years/miles. They went into emergency spares stock and got handed out to a struggling PI owner near the top of an Alpine pass in 2017. He looked at them a bit doubtfully, but they worked better than the hopelessly blackened objects they replaced and he made it to the end of the 10CR. For all I know he's still using them! Nick

Lucas TBs are 46mm each….. Big. Makes part throttle mapping fussy to say the least. I run a single 54mm on a plenum. Cam is from Newman, a hybrid of their PH3 on the inlet (300 degree) and PH2 (280 degree) on exhaust. It’s on the ragged edge for a plenum manifold, just a bit of hitchiness at low rpm/very light throttle. Slightly irritating in traffic queues, otherwise fine. About 140 bhp with a stomping midrange. Have an ITB inlet based on BMW K1100 parts in the works but motivation is low as the plenum does the job pretty well and is already there! Nick

Mole grips I used. Sub-optimal......

This..... as I said earlier. Needs to be a good weld though Nick

There is no easy way I’m afraid 😟 I assume you mean the bottom, wishbone bolt? Can stick in the vertical link itself, the two bush tubes in the wishbone bushes, or, usually all of them. Heat, lots of heat (oxy-acetylene preferably, but a mapp torch quite often worked for me) applied to the base of the vertical link where the bolt runs, 6 sided socket and a breaker bar are your best hope. If you can get the bolt moving in the link, but it still won’t knock out, carefully saw through the bushes and bolt taking care not to cut into the link itself. Then you should be able to bash the three parts out separately. As for the bolt holding the radius arm bracket, in my experience they either come straight out or absolutely no chance. If the bracket and threads are usable, don’t mess with it! Nick

If Colourtune says slightly rich at idle then it’s about spot on Nick

https://www.gsparkplug.com/1x-bosch-special-spark-plug-wr78.html The original problem sounds like running rich/drowning at idle due to leaking float valves and or excessive fuel pressure. Strombergs are prone to this. Nothing to suggest anything mechanically wrong with the engine. Nick

My usual approach to the single rail gear sticks is to chop out the insulating lump in the middle and weld the two ends together. Not tried it with the Spitty 1500 version (cut down a Dolomite one for my Herald) but looks like it could work.

72 Spit would be 1300 and 3 rail from the factory, so you could fit a GT6 lever. Nick