JohnD

Wagger, An alternative question, please! I have a TRansit (Mk6) as my race barge, and as such it doesn't get used a lot. I have a CTEK battery charger that lives IN the van, plugged into the battery. When it's parked outside, I run the camp-ground 'hook-up' cable to it from the garage and the CTEK lights up. I just leave there , until I use the van again, maybe in three or four weeks time. Is this good/bad/OK for the battery? Thanks, JOhn

Try a good clean, get all the old oil off, and then dust it with flour. Yes, good old self-raising. This sticks to the oil and can show you the source. John

Thanks, Wagger!

Wagger absolutely right! A "clamp meter" has a 'claw' that is closed - loosely! - around the wire to be tested. It reads the current without even touching it! Incredible! I don't have one, so I looked to see and they come at all prices, £10-60! So affordable to mmmmmmmmmm-Could do - but! What price for a 'decent' one, Wagger? John

You have a short from the starter solenoid. But that doesn't tell you much, as the power supply to the rest of the car comes via that. See: Your analytical method is excellent, it may be easier to use your meter, if it can measure currents, but beware - most cheap multimeters can only tolerate less than 10A, and your short drops bettery volts so quickly it may be more. Good luck! John

The 1600 wasn't such a sparkling motor then? Triumph missed the boat by never putting a 2.5 L in, but then it would have competed directly with the TR6. Even more so with the GT6!

There was a twin engined Mini at Golspie a few years ago. Its solution to the perennial problem of synchronising gear changes was PNEUMATIC!

Didn't they make more 1600s than 2L Vitesses? Just never come my way!

And of course, accepting the Bentley 4.5L story as recounted in Casino Royale, that makes Bond at least 111 years old. Or young. No less likely that anything in the Bond oeuvre! John

Bond cars? DB5/S/10/12, Z3, Lotus and possibly a 2CV as a joke, etc. etc? A Stag??? Pah! Toute arriviste! Contemptible! The one, the only James Bond automobile is so clearly described in the very first book: "Bond’s car was his only personal hobby. One of the last of the 4½-litre Bentleys with the supercharger by Amherst Villiers, he had bought it almost new in 1933 and had kept it in careful storage through the war. It was still serviced every year and, in London, a former Bentley mechanic, who worked in a garage near Bond’s Chelsea flat, tended it with jealous care.” Perhaps, this one, although he did rather lose it when the fiendish LeChiffre dropped a 'stinger' in front of the car later on in that book.

Each to their own! If you do want to release the injector valves, then there are two types. One has a 'needle' projecting from the sharp end, the other does not. To release the valve, pull on the needle with your finger nails , never pliers! The other type you can't do this, end of story: JOhn

Thanks, Pete! Never worked on a 1600, never had one in the workshop! Every day's a schoolday! John

Wot? Where? I don't recognise what you describe, Pete. Never, ever seen "a pack of perforated gauze plates" secured by "the two bolts ( down near the fuel pump)" and I've built a few 6 cylinders. Was this some very early part? But where? There is n or opening that might be sealed by two bolts next to the fuel pump! The crankcase, on every single Triumph 6 I've seen is vented via the rocker cover. John

Curiouser and curiouser! Certainly not rings, certainly not head gasket (phew!) But defo, oil smoke. Where from? As Pete has suggested carb dash pots? Else, has to be down the valve guides (check that little "filter" in the rocker cover, as he also says), or via the crank case vent system. If that pressure regulating valve between the crankcase and the carbs is supposed to prevent excess crankcase gas being drawn into them at idle when the vacuum is greatest. Has that stopped working? John

Yes, Paula, as Pete says, compression test indicated. If blow-by is increased due to failed piston ring seal, then much more crankcase gas, with oil spray up into the rocker cover and out through the breather. A quick test would be to remove the breather while running. A gentle breeze out is normal, a mighty wind is not! Absolute compression numbers not relevant - you're looking for equal pressures across the block. John

I suggest a sling, webbing of some kind, one loop each end of the 'box and around the back of your neck. Remember! Never lift bending over, straight back, bent knees! Ask me why I know? John

About half a pint/300mls.

Pete, and DannyB, The responsibility for unsatisfactory goods, as far as the ordinary buyer goes, lies with the supplier, not the manufacturer. So my suggestion of telling Payen's new owners was misplaced. Take it up with Rimmer's! John PS I have a couple of Payens in stock that will be the original type, but I'm sorry, I'm hanging onto them!

Thank you, Pete! You have convinced me! Previously I would swear by Payens, but my faith is broken. Will you be writing to whoever makes "Payen" now, to tell them of your dissatisfaction at their poor product? John

Aidan, The bracket comes off. Take it with the nuts and bolts to someone who can weld. Tell them what you want. Probably do it for 'a drink'! It would take five minutes! John

As above. And consider welding the nuts to the bracket, with the bolts from under, for next time! John

See 'exploded' diagram at Canley's: D Type Overdrive : Canley Classics The O/d box is, obviously, longer and has a different mount plate to th non-O/d, between the chassis rails. John

Pete, I did offer my respect to your experience, but truly, I feel that you must seek another reason than just the gasket for the lack of any compression! Please tell us wat you find when you take the head off again. John

As you say, that's a disaster. And easy to blame on the gasket, but that would be like blaming the bathwater, when baby disappears down the plughole. With respect, Pete, I'd suspect faulty installation or previous damage. "The old gasket has signs of blow by , most nuts quite loose "! Could there have been erosion of the block face or head? And, "there is no need to reface the head its as flat as a pancake" To a true engineer's straight edge? John

Valve not seating? Have you tried adding oil? Warped head? 50psi sounds very low, but compression gauges vary. What is the progression along the block? JOhn