JohnD

Try a magnet on it. I think it's very, very, very fine metal wear particles, so fine that they got through the filter. If so, on the magnet it will look like much coarser, spikey slivers, as the metals forms along magnetic lines of forces, but as you say, feels like ointment. John

I'll be travelling between Coventry and Lancaster this weekend, with a small trailer in tow. If anyone wants me to collect and drop off parts for Triumphs, between those two centres, or in between, I'll be glad to consider it. Please PM me. John

Impossible to answer without dismantling the engines. The block skimming would have been either to deal with damage to the face (unlikely) or to "deck the block". This procedure also involves skimming the crowns of any pistons that are higher than others, and then the block face, so that each piston rises exactly as far as the others. Any sign of that on the piston tops - loss of normal markings? The objective is to have them all rise to the top of the block face, which production engines don't achieve - all part of 'blueprinting' a competition engine. The thick alloy gasket - how thick? To compensate for an over-skimmed head, that raised the CR too much, would need a gasket less than a millimeter thicker than normal, almost unnoticeable. I suspect that this was used to LOWER the compression below normal to allow forced induction. Could be turbo, but people have put superchargers on Triumph sixes. Such a gasket may be several millimeters thicker Anything on the car that might corroborate that? Mods to the exhaust and intake? Extra pulleys to drive a 'charger? If that was the case, then the stress on the pistons, conrods and especially big-end bearings is enormous, so look carefully at those. Your other engine - does it turn over or is it seized? You could free it up, by soaking the bores in oil and paraffin or white spirit for a few day and then turning it backwards and forwards until it freed up. Spark plugs out, of course. No point in dismantling if you can't free it. OR, just take both to the engine rebuilder, Let him choose. John PS if you don't want the other one - will you sell it?

You could start by listing all the parts you have here. And lots of people have eBay auctions for "One wheel nut - 0.1p" to advertise that they have a whole car's worth of parts to sell. "Contact me for details" they say, thereby robbing you of what protection buying through eBay gives you, and saving themselves eBay's fees. BUt why not join them? JOhn

Richard, "So the whole "car won't start" scenario looks like a red herring" No, just your car getting to know you. JOhn

Such a small drain current is likely to be small enough to measure with your Multimeter - they can usually tackle up to 10A. So start at the battery and check that there is such a small current when the ignition is off. And fripperies such as clocks disconnected. If there is, trace it through the loom, using the circuit diagram. EG next is the starter solenoid, which has three ways the current could go, starter motor, starter switch and control box. Obviously the possibilities multiply after that, but your meter will light the way, and lead you to the short circuit, or faulty unit. Method makes all simple, or as Holmes would say, " when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth" So much better than guessing. JOhn

Joining lengths might need special skills, like TiG, but knowing of yours, John, I'm sure you include that! John

Ah! Reminded me of the windscreen surround from a LoCost, as described in Ron Champion's book. He suggests "round-edged aluminium extrusion, as used in shower cubicle construction" He gives no more clues, but does describe a self-built tool to form the curves. Loads on eBay, under "aluminium extrusion". John

A frame,for the door window? If you make short angle sections and rivet them to the upper door frame, they will stop the the window being bowed outwards at speed. The windows are bent inwards as you close the door, to clear the angle pieces. JOhn

Buy your polycarbonate as sheets and cut it yourself. Mark out using the original glass as a pattern, and as Clive says, it's quite soft, and easily cut with say an electric, or hand jigsaw. Cut it slightly oversize and trim with a Surform plane. But if you want to save weight by swapping glass for PolyC, you need to remove the winder mechanisms as well, as they are weighty. And devise some means of holding the PolyC in the door. Side and rear windows can be bolted to the flanges that used to hold the rubber seals, with a strip of closed cell, self adhesive foam ("draught excluder") between PolyC and flange. You could use a squeeze of mastic, I suppose, if you like cleaning up the mess afterwards. Strange - I know exactly what you mean by the fly deflector, a strip of perpsex across the bonnet, but I know also that all the best Le Mans replicas and original cars today do not have one. John

How have you wired the fan? Sounds as if it's from the ignition, so that the volts available for the coil drop off due to fan demand and the sparks fail. JOhn

Petrol on tarmac? I had a small leak, while working on the car on the drive.. Spilt maybe quarter pint? Next day, the tarmac had a small area, the size of your hand . with no tarmac. Just a hole with gravel in it. The petrol had dissolved the tar, and washed it down into the ground. Had to dig out the gravel and patch it with some cold cure tarmac. John

Steam cleaning? Not the wet steam, wallpaper remover style but proper Live Steam, under pressure and more than boiling hot. But where you could find such a service, I have no idea. John

Two ways to safely vent to the tank. 1/ Run a hose from that tank vent tube as high as possible above the tank and then down and out through a hole in the boot floor. This will prevent any fuel splashed into the hose from escaping, and in the unlikely but dangerous situation of inverting the car, will put the opening above the tank, so fuel will not run out. As long as the end is outside the car, little or no fuel smell. 2/ Buy a "Fuel Non-Return Valve", insert it in the hose and exit the hose as above, without the long route. The valve will allow air to get in and prevent the vacuum, but not allow fuel to get out. Plenty to choose from: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Fuel+non-return+valve&biw=1816&bih=1019&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=b09DVdzPOpPKaJCqgZAG&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg John

Just restarted my Vitesse after a new engine fitted - and the solenoid was dead. Turned over well if jump leaded straight to starter, so replaced the solenoid and it works from the starter button. I don't have an ignition switch - the button is wired to replace that function of the switch. Took the old one apart to see why it failed. It's rivetted together, and small bolts could replace those, but I could see nothing that could explain why it didn't work. Ho-hum, nothing lasts for ever. John

What symptoms or signs make you think it needs to be rebuilt? And if it does, DiY is so much more satisfying, and you can put a "Built, not Bought" sticker on the back! John

Captain, Let's just run through the pros and cons. Pro - a servo lets you apply less pressure on the pedal for the same braking effect. Con - you get the same braking effect. A good idea for those with a weak or arthritic right knee, but no advantage for anyone else. JOhn

Try with the engine hot. Taking in the OP, "is it just going to stress me every time I drive the car and spend more time watching it than the road." isn't there a better, cheaper plan? The OE pressure switch doesn't trigger until the pressure is less than 5psi. That is VERY low and damage may have happened by that time. But switches that trigger at 25psi give a more useful point at which to get worried, so fit and forget, until the light comes on or stays on! Suitable switches less than £20, juts a bolt on. JOhn

Long thread on this on Club Triumph Forum recently. The way to stiffen a structure is to add air - in other words make it bigger and wider, so that a space frame is the best addition. But in fact a good body (apart from a convertible one) will make a Herald much stiffer than its chassis alone, but instead of using rubber or other non-rigid material on the chassis-to-body mount points, use a solid material. An article by John Thomasson many years ago in Courier discussed chassis stiffness, and proposed a couple of mode, one practicla and one less so. Suggest you dig that out. Is the "Technical Index" still available? If not ask HQ to find it. JOhn

Ah! Silverback! Alors, quelle tristesse! She is no longer, having surrendered forcibly to the Savage Hun on the 'Ring. The automobile that I conducted around Reims-Gueux, and Les Essarts-Rouen is the Son of Silverback, SofS. John

66lbs/ft? How long ago did you calibrate your torque wrench? Unless it was very recently, and you have a micrometer wrench so that you can set it so accurately, the actual tension will be no closer than 10% of that notional figure. At best! Micrometer wrenches cost! I calibrated my standard wrench recently, after bit of a problem and found it was under-reading by 30%! Calibration: You can buy a digital torque gauge, that fits between the wrench and the work, or set the gauge in a vice: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3pc-Digital-Torque-Wrench-Adaptor-Set-Electronic-Digital-Display-1-4-3-8-1-2-/171668867943?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27f8430b67 OR, send your wrench away to be calibrated: http://www.calibrate.co.uk/torque/?gclid=CjwKEAiAveWnBRCzjqf4zpuUkGYSJABcoZbHGpThCFmXQpboT_E4HA7vgj5VLWPTEOJfiBDmO5iZ1RoC1brw_wcB You will note from that site that even after calibration the toll cannot be better than 6% accurate. So your head could be anywhere between 62 and 73lbs/ft OR, do your own check. Clamp the wrenches drive shaft in a vice, so that the handle moves in a vertical plane. Measure a point on the handle, so that you can hang a known weight on it at a known distance. Say the handle gives you a point 18" (1.5ft) from the drive, and you can hang a known weight there, say 12 kgs (26lbs) (a 2L saloon flywheel). That's just under 40lbs.ft. Set the wrench to 40, hang oyur weight - does it click? Spot on! JOhn

So presumably the year before that, and before that, right back five years, you let the clock discharge the battery in winter. Running a lead/acid battery down and leaving it there is the worst possible treatment. They are designed to discharge by giving a very large current to start the car, and then be immediately recharged by the dynamo/alternator system, which is also designed to provide a high recharging current to get the battery fully charged again. Lead/acids are not designed or intended to run electrical equipment for long periods. If you must have a clock, fit one that has it's own internal battery, like this one: http://www.meandmycar.co.uk/retro-dashboard-clock-p-383.html?osCsid=pk142dbao8502l4no9mqb09931 That runs off a 'pill' battery, the kind that runs hearing aids or, believe it or not, watches, and is designed to run continuously for long periods on its own charge. In the same way, leaving a car over winter and starting the engine every week or so is not what that was intended for, either! Most of the wear of an engine occurs at start up, when it is cold and there's little or no oil in the bearings. Combustion produces water, so the exhaust system gets another load of corrosion. Oil that never gets up to working temperature accumulates water, leading to engine corrosion. 15-20 minutes of quiet running in the garage (I hope you remember to open the doors, else you may be corroded by CO poisoning) will cause all this. The alternative is, as advised above, to buy a trickle charger. Look after your battery, and don't abuse your engine! John

"Even the clock has stopped" Do you mean that you left the car unused over winter - with the clock running? Experience is never cheap. John

In that case why does the MSA publish BOTH an online newsletter AND a quarterly magazine? At no added cost to licence holders? A few sums: Annual TSSC Membership £46, so at most the Courier costs £3.80 a month. Add 77 pence for VAT (£9.20 a year) So the Club membership would rise - if the tax avoidance advice is correct - by less than £10. The cost of printing and distributing the Courier - I must guess at. Postage £1? Printing? £2?? How many? - again no idea of current membership - 6,000? That's £18,000. Of course the Editorial Team must stay in post! I've no wish to put Bernard and his colleagues out of work, so no savings there. Cost of 'printing' and 'distributing' the Courier online - £23/month. I repeat: Twenty Three Pounds. That saves £17977 a month. But I could have - probably have - got those figures wildly wrong. So let's do it backwards. Each issue of the Courier Online costs £23. Divide that by the membership - again I have to guess, but at 6K members that is 0.4 of a penny per copy, on your screen. Whatever the cost of printing and posting, that has to be at least 90% less - I mean it costs a tenth online VAT is twenty per cent, on top of the current cost, so the saving would be about 70%. Our Treasurer needs to examine his calculations again when the costs of online publishing are so very, very low. John

I know I'm boring about this. I know that I annoy the TSSC administration by going on about it. And I know that many TSSC members like to have a printed copy of the Courier. But when online publication is so very, very cheap - cheaper than you would believe - and the TSSC isn't rich, it has to be considered. The Motor Sports Association, that regulates four wheeled motorsport in the UK, publishes a quarterly magazine, "MSA" printed in full colour just like the Courier. It also publishes "MSA News", a monthly newsletter, ONLINE. YOu can rad the latest issue here: https://www.msauk.org/assets/msanews580215.pdf The"News" is published for them by a company that specialises in online magazines, ISSUU. You can read about their services here: http://issuu.com/pricing?entryPoint=ycpt Look at that bottom line: $35 a month, £23, not per copy, but for a magazine as big as you like, as often as you like, sent to as many people as you like. A magazine that opens itself onto your PC screen and imposes no advertising that you do not want to carry. And will link to all the social media that the TSSC now prefers to the message board format. I'm sure that the TSSC's admin are aware of how ridiculously cheap is online publishing. I just thought that the members, at least those who own a PC and use the message board, should know too. John No connection with ISSUU, or online publishing