Unkel Kunkel

They’ve been around for quite a while. When I bought one it came like this:

I think my views on petrol have been rather skewed by a week-end battle in 2018 , cleaning out an ancient copper petrol tank which needed agitation with lengths of chain, steam from a converted wall paper stripper, acetone and several hours of citric acid at 50 C. ”That’s the replacement tank, as well” remarked my oppo. as we finally refitted the it. “Oh, so when was it replaced? “ We checked... - 1946

I don’t know how long petrol remains useable but I have had a curious gelatinous fairly clear, goo clog up a small generator carb. that I forgot to drain and it was a tedious job to sort. It isn't easy to fully drain some vehicles or machines, and they can stand idle longer than intended I started using this stuff - maybe unnecessarily, who knows? - but I haven’t had any problems since and it costs very little ( under £2 a bottle) “Dose“ is 50ml per 15 litres petrol (With very little petrol in a tank pro rata only a tiny amount is needed)

They seem to crop up frequently on the U.S site “triumph experience .com” but until now I don’t recall any mention about them here.Maybe I just missed them. They seem interesting idea. - anyone had any experience of them ?

Sill replacement , for an basic amateur like me, was a very difficult and an extraordinarily time consuming and frustrating job! The sills had been replaced sometime in the past which probably didn’t help, but I ended up with a large “ step out “of the lower edge of one door, despite bracing and doing it “on chassis“ etc. I resorted to taking that sill off again, scrapping it and simply just starting all over again after drilling out and realigning much of the middle sill- and using a new Heritage sill.(lesson 1) This was a better, but far from ideal fit. lesson 2 .- The fundamental answer = make everything fit around the door( as also mentioned by Brooky here from advice from Chic Doug) Lesson 3.- This might make you wince, ..but to get a better fit, I had to cut along the top edge of the brand new outer sill and insert a fillet of metal, butt welded in - varying from about 8 mm wide at the front to nearly 10 mm towards the rear of the sill under the door area, so that the “step-out” of the lower door edge was eliminated. This really seemed the only way to make everything fit. To get a an even better fit : Lesson 4. ...the rear wing also needed slight adjustment too - it too was cut along the crease line ( the one that runs horizontally after the door opening to the wheel arch) and a small amount of metal removed to get a good fit, the lower edge where it attached to the middle sill and floor were “un done”,realigned and shaped and the join butt welded and filled. Good fettling!

Asbestos related disease is far from straight forward. Some people seem unaffected by prolonged exposure, others , many years after a relatively brief exposure ,far very badly.Especially if they are smokers. Some nurses and doctors who worked in some London hospitals are developing an asbestos specific lung cancer - mesothelioma .The suspicion has centered on the underground passages between wards which contained crocidolite asbestos lagged pipes.- the type of asbestos and the use it is out to seem relevant.The “blue”, crocidolite as pipe lagging has a particularly evil thing to encounter.Recently there have been cases in teachers whose only exposure has been to school lagging in the 1960s/ 7Os.It is still being debated. A number of German ships taken to Barrow for dismantling after the war, produced a trail of serious asbestos related disease amongst the workers who stripped out the lagging, directly traceable to the specific vessels- over 30 years later and it was all rather grim. The asbestos cement - board used in millions of homes for soffits and garage ceilings appears to be very much less risky - especially if left undisturbed and preferably “encapsulated” and not smashed up, or carelessly drilled/sawn. Why hasn’t the huge amount of used brake and clutch lining dust which must have been be generated for a hundred years or more, not affected us that much ? It doesn’t seem to. One theory is the abrasion and heat alters the fibres to some degree and renders them les irritant and carcinogenic. With memories of energetically blowing dust out of drum brakes 40 years ago - I hope that’s right.

Mmmn.. Could this section have maybe sustained some sort of damage so that it was replaced ? If it seems “ original” either in production / assembly slipped off a jig. ? or if it was later, could a disintegrating u/j or loose drive shaft have caused damage.. Don’t know !

Or a central heating brass 8mm micro bore compression fitting stop -end

These look very similar to the ones I bought from “ C-J Autos” based in Heywood in Lancashire.( See website -they sell all sorts of car access equipment) As Andy says no problem about access - spoiler etc. Also they are very substantial and feel very safe and secure Highly recommended.

My compromise in the grease/ oil battle is to use EP 90 - but with added molybdenum disulphide. OK, the rationale is a wee bit simple, like me. EP oil is best.. but only if it is there - if it gets a bit low then the MS2 will at least. provide a degree of dry surface lubricant and at other times perhaps increase the performance of the EP 90. I mix one of these to a a litre of EP 90 for trunnion oiling.

This is not my idea ( I lifted these pics from a post from the US site “Triumph experience” - Have to admire their imagination to think of using a valve! .. well at least it won’t drop out!

Compressor starter capacitor failure is does seem the No.1 thing to look for if motor just buzzes when switched on or starts very slowly.( or capacitor start motors on other things). As always, U-tube to the rescue re how to test etc !

Ideas that provoke thought are never daft, Gav. I don’t know how you would 3D print it. Perhaps more on the lines of -“rotational moulding “ which I understand is the process used for all sorts of plastic containers of all. shapes and sizes like my Titan central heating oil tank. and there is “blow moulding” where the plastic is blown into a mold I would imagine the cost of setting it up would be prohibitive. Some sort of ethanol/ petrol resistant resin or epoxy could be utilised for a fibre-glass construction? That aluminium tank sounds an attractive option..

I have welded and soldered a tank. The only reason -it was a 1921 car. I wouldn’t consider it for a “modern car” like a Triumph where a replacement can be found. I found it to be a really, really tedious job - especially the Mig bit as trying to avoid pinholes was a real difficulty. Please don’t underestimate the bit about petrol vapour. There are of horror stories of explosions.I’m not really sure about the car exhaust gas method, though CO2 and Argon seems sound. I am not advising anyone how it should be done but I steam cleaned the tank for hours and hours and then filled up the interior of the tank as much as possible with water.I was still rather apprehensive. Soldering a patch on will still involve a naked flame (unless you have an unusually powerful soldering iron) Old tanks are in terne plate (which is like tin plate but 80% lead the rest tin) so effectively the tank is “tinned” already and will solder (relatively)easily.An annealed copper patch ( source - old hot water cylinder) can be sweated on with some lead plumbers solder. I tried the “small nuts and bolts or gravel” in the tank and had a frustrating time getting them all out again -small length of chain is easier. Your arms will ache agitating the tank.Some advocate using a concrete mixer. Acetone will shift the goo and “varnish” (Buy from builders merchants who supply glass fibre supplies to roofers) Finally, agitate with phosphoric acid.Jenolite is very expensive.Machine Mart’s version seems just the same and a fraction of the cost.

I find Kent Waxcoat aerosols convenient for small jobs -even comes with its own handy probe for cavities. Also comes in shutz type can for compressor application. Tend to see it in the big motor factors that supply the trade so perhaps not as easy to get. More Dinitrol-like than Waxoyl .Smells nicer. Waxoyl is fine - but the solvent appears to be white spirit and I suspect many dilute it further to help it spray better with that hopeless spray thingy they supply.( A really good garden sprayer works better, but a compressor and Shutz gun and lance set up is in a different league if you can hire or borrow ) I suspect that white spirit evaporates - dries, leaves a coating that cracks rather easily. The answer,I think is to dilute Waxoyl with something other than just white spirit. I have used paraffin, engine, gear or thin “spindle oil” ( think Three in one ) New oil, that is. Don’t use old engine oil- this job is messy enough without guddling around in black carcinogenic muck (it is probably corrosive in box sections anyway)- Warm weather and warming the can make the job so much easier. This is flammable stuff, though -No naked flames and loosen the cap as it will expand - the shutz type can is a very weak thin-walled can and won’t stand much pressure..

I would say, in descending order: Solvol Autosol>T-Cut>Brasso>toothpaste.

Machine Mart or B&Q interlocking workshop floor tiles can be cut to make any number of squashy gasket type things /seals. Sample pieces in oil and others petrol for over 3 months seemed fine.

Please let us know when you have done it and how you got on. I removed the body from my Mk1V with slings and an engine crane some years and will probably replace it the same way (if I can remember how it came off).

Came across one of these recently Don’t see these that often. Any one guess how old it must be ? Simple tool but very useful for old car and bike electrical bullet connectors

Before we all get too gloomy ..reflect that the ban is for “the sale of new vehicles” ..

Thanks John. Just got to sort Sue’s C Max electrics now, Getting the alternator and drive belt off -what a job!

You are absolutely right. The problem was, John that it I knew something was draining it, but only sometimes - when I was confronted with a battery as dead as the proverbial. Recharged and started up it would be absolutely fine for weeks/ months with absolutely nothing amiss in between. The recalls seemed to related to failure - i.e. the pump just stopping which didn’t seem apply to my situation, though with the clarity of hindsight, there were a few mentions of failure and battery drain and some mentions on “VW forum”... Meanwhile, all sorts of other things were considered. That night was the first inkling of what might be happening -that it might be it down to the pump not switching off sometimes. I slept well that night. My oracle - U-tube, provided me with the next answers - and Ebay a new module. Early on, I even replaced a perfectly good battery ...Grrh.

It’s a lovely car to drive with a startling performance,but for the first two years of ownership it was the most infuriating , troublesome car I have ever owned. Faults sorted, (I hope) these last three years it has been exemplary. Modern car technology has a formula - “2FC /2 “ -Too f....ing clever by half.

That’s reassuring. I have now got to sort out the missus’s C Max’s “ smart charging “ problems - which aren’t.

Sorry a bit late ! Firstly, Nick - you got the closest! That odd sound was coming from the plastic fuel tank! It wasn’t that full , so maybe it was a bit more resonant. These cars have a fuel pump in the tank. Although the ignition was off and the car double locked - It had not switched off and was vigorously pumping away and steadily flattening the battery. Not some old fashioned on/off thing like wot God intended, but a pump whose output depends on the frequency of repeatedly switching on and a square wave current influenced by the engine demands etc. The tank is under the floor, under the rear seat Removing the rear seat I found this a ” Fuel pump control Module “ -and it felt very, very warm. Now 3 hours on, the battery was flat. I replaced the black box. All solved. It had kept me awake at nights. That was nearly three years ago. Absolutely fine since...so far. My missus mused -“Why do you think the car had a brand new battery when we bought it? Do you think they knew there was a problem?” She is probably right - of course. - I kept my thoughts to myself - what would have happened if we had been involved in a crash and the pump had continued to merrily pump petrol over us...