jondhm

Suggest you go along to a local group meeting. You will get some good advice, possibly get a lead on someone who is selling locally, and most importantly meet a great bunch of people.

I hope it is not one of the later CDSE carbs, because these don't have the same means of adjusting the jet. I would be inclined to ensure all mating surfaces are really clean - if the air valve moved OK beforehand, then it should move OK when reassembled. And then rotate the cover a few degrees either way before screwing it down to bed it in.

Interesting to see how this thread I started is still of interest. A couple of points - with our old engines one of the key things is viscosity. You need to stick to a 20/50, and many modern oils are a lot thinner And better to use a straight mineral oil and change it reasonably often, unless of course you are doing a lot of very high speed runs in hot weather.

Many thanks for the suggestions. Richard, how do I PM you? Jezza I'll go and have a look next time I am in that area.

I've used Chiswick Car Craft for many years, but it has now closed and Mike Keenoy has retired. Does anybody know of another good Triumph / Classic MOT garage in West London? There are a few places out in Bucks, but I would prefer someone a bit nearer. Any suggestions greatfully received.

I have started using Dynax after years of using Waxoyl, and find the large aerosol cans plus the long spray tube are really excellent in getting coverage deep into box sections like the sills and main chassis members. Dynax came out well in a Practical Classics test. For me, the key point is getting good coverage - if you can get the spray into hidden areas, that is the most important thing.

Hi Rick Assuming from your nickname that the car is a Spitfire, 155 13 80 are the obvious choice. 175 13 70 have the same approximate rolling radius, but you may run into clearance problems on the wheel arches. Also, you need to consider the width of your wheels. 155s are fine on 4.5J rims, but 175s really need 5.5J rims as I have on my GT6. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies. Am using Dot 4. I fill the master cylinder to the line of the machined flange inside, about 1 cm down from the top. Will have a good look at the cap. This is an incentive to move ahead with a stalled project to fit a low brake fluid warning light, which would then mean I would be more relaxed about the fluid level. So far I have acquired a float from a Rover 800 and have fitted it using Araldite to a spare cap. Now I need to wire it all up, and then I will write a thread about how well it works. Roll on the Spring!

Checked the GT6 after leaving it for about 6 weeks, and found the brake fluid level had dropped in the master cylinder. The master cylinder seemed to have sticky yellow residue all over the outside, and there is fluid on the bulkhead, but the pipe union does not appear to have been leaking. Can brake fluid seep out of a porous master cylinder? I have had this problem in past winters, and with previous master cylinders. Any thoughts?

Try Chiswick Car Craft in Acton. Mike normally has at least one Triumph in, and knows the cars really well.

Same fixing on my GT6 Mk3,to the bell housing. No problems in the last 38 years, so suggest just be careful to avoid stressing it. Should only get gasket problems if stressed, or if you mount the exhaust to the chassis at this point, and so get flexing due to the movement of the engine on the engine mounts. Hope this makes sense.

I can understand the arguments for fitting relays. But the existing wiring looks over-engineered, in that the wiring should take the headlight current with little voltage drop. Has anybody actually measured the voltage drop across the various components, including the headlight switch, the various connectors, and the earthing circuit? I would suspect that the really dodgy bit of wiring would be the the loop to the bonnet, which has had to cope with years of flexing every time the bonnet is opened, plus the earthing between the headlights and the chassis. But I would really like to see the facts. If nobody has done this work, I will carry it out when the weather is a bit warmer in the Spring. Particularly because I have had my GT6 for 38 years and the wiring is original. Views and comment welcomed - I want to open out this debate and see what comes of it.

At the moment the forum and the Courier are run entirely separately. A starting point could be to make them complementary. So the Courier could highlight particular threads in the forum, or explain things in more detail. The forum could pick up where articles in the Courier stop, and add other people's experiences. I currently value both the Courier and the forum. The Courier for a good read each month, and the forum where I can get rapid help with a problem, and can also give others the benefit of my experience. What do other people think?

Just seen more information provided in a personal reply. I have suggested checking out the ammeter as this is would be non-standard, and may have dodgy connections (which will cause the control box to misbehave). Disconnect the battery, bridge the contacts of the ammeter, and see if the control box behaves itself. Then check all the connections in the charging circuit, including the dynamo.

If the battery is good enough to crank the engine, then it is probably not the problem. Next thing is to clean up the control box contacts, and then have a quick look at the dynamo. A multimeter is a cheap and really good investment. Hopefully in a few more days you will get some additional suggestions - if not, try Googling it, and then look for a garage with someone old enough to understand control boxes. I know just the chap in West London, but I don't know where you are located.

Could be a duff battery, and the control box is trying to charge it but getting an open circuit. Did you jump start the car, or did you fit a new battery to start it?

Tapping the pump is a trick with SU electric fuel pumps - but a GT6 should have a mechanical fuel pump driven off the camshaft and located on the side of the engine. So I would also suggest you look at the ignition first. Following this, take the air filters off , and you should be able to see if excessive fuel is getting into the engine when you crank the engine. That would then lead you to problems with needle valves and float chambers. But, as Kevin says, start with the ignition.

80mph and 5000rpm do sound wrong. Rather than just focusing on the diff ratio, may I suggest checking the speedometer calibration. If you have a sat nav which shows speed, just try it in the GT6 and check the reading compared with your speedometer.

Me again. Don't overlook the simple trick of pulling the choke out so the engine idles at 1,500 rpm. The fan rotates faster, so you get a bit more cooling when stuck in traffic.

GT6s are particularly prone to overheating because the fan is mounted on the crankshaft rather than on the water pump pulley as in most cars (including from memory Spitfires, Heralds and Vitesses). This is because of the very limited under bonnet clearance. So the fan rotates more slowly (just look at the relative size of the pulleys) and also tends to suck some air from under the radiator rather than through it. Also, the position of the fan means it blows less air around the top of the engine. Mark 2 GT6s at least have vents in the bonnet to let some hot air out. I have a Mark 3 GT6 with plastic fan, and I am not sure it is much better than a metal fan. I live in London, and have now fitted an electric fan as well, which I have adjusted to cut in when the temperature gauge gets to the 3/4 mark. So far this setup seems to work well. By the way, don't drive through floodwater in a GT6. The fan, being low mounted, hits the water. With a metal fan, this sprays the engine and floods the electrics. With a plastic fan, the blades flex forward and slice through the radiator core (and yes, it has happened to me!)

Having used the new Forum for a few weeks, I prefer not having car specific categories, at least for the small chassied Triumphs (Herald,Vitesse, Spitfire, GT6). This reinforces what Kevin says above. I would support separate categories for Stag and large chassied Triumphs (TRs), and also for Bond bodywork being glass fibre. Triumph 2000 is an interesting question, with common engine components, and also some commonality with Stags. But I'm happy to let owners of these cars decide. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all your comments. So that's a job removed from the list. Really helpful to have these views. On the subject of oils, I would agree with using a better oil if doing lots of long fast runs. But I don't do many runs like this, and prefer to use a cheaper oil (Halfords Classic is £20 a gallon) which I can buy locally without incurring postal charges, and change it more frequently. Historically I have used Castrol, but Halfords oil looks and smells like Duckhams. Halfords recommend on their website that the oil is changed every 2000 to 3000 miles. With many of our cars only doing a small mileage, this means every 2 to 3 years which is quite long enough for an oil.

Went out for a long fast run on the motorway in my GT6, and after 50 miles at 70mph the oil pressure was sagging a bit. At 60mph (3,000 rpm) I was getting 60psi, and at 50mph (2,500rpm) 50psi, but at 750rpm I only get about 18psi. Bear in mind that this was with the engine and oil at full operating temperature on a warm day, with the water temperature gauge running at slightly above normal. My Haynes Manual gives a 'normal oil pressure', whatever that means, of 40 to 60 psi at 2,000rpm. So what do people think? Are the oil pressure readings OK? Other information - Halfords 20/50 oil, Club spin-on oil filter conversion. Engine has done approx. 110,000 miles, a lot of which has been long fast runs. All opinions gratefully received.

Even more reason to buy direct from a manufacturer. Check out the Dave Mac Propshaft website - they are in Coventry, and were very friendly and knowledgable when I phoned them. They appear to make small batches of a particular shaft when they get an order, and as I said in an earlier post it looks to be a well engineered bit of kit. And I am a Chartered Engineer and started my career in the automotive industry, so I can normally tell when something is well made. More to the point, the new prop shaft works well. No doubt there are other equally good suppliers out there, and the Forum is a great way of identifying them. JohnM

This is a common topic on the old Forum. If I recall correctly, the consensus is that you can run OK with unleaded fuel on an unmodified head because of the memory effect (the valves and valve seats retain the old lead). However, it is worthwhile using premium unleaded, such as Shell V-Power, because our cars were designed to run on higher octane fuel than normal 95 unleaded. I have run fine on V-Power for some years, but just keep an eye on the valve rocker clearances. If they start to close up it may indicate valve seat recession. Hope this helps. JohnM