ahebron

I wonder if there is a head number that relates to that. I have a NOS bare head for a 1600 in my shed as a spare and my car and engine are 1965. Adrian

Use the handbrake but as you want to service the brakes that might not be working option. Have the brake pedal pressed either with a length of wood jammed between the steering wheel/seat front or use a length of person to press the pedal. If its getting desperate and either of those options don't work you could lock it up at the universal joint on the axle you are working on. Adrian

Fitted my support from Comac, 1735 Length was a 100mm shorter than your measurements Colin and the boot is nearly vertical. I had to remove the bottom rivet securing it to the bracket to swap sides and I also cut the bracket down to fit behind the lower support bracket plus give it a wee band to sit at a similar angle to the top one. Including freight it was NZ$39 Adrian

Replaced the seal today. I managed to undo the nut with just the handbrake on so that wasn't torqued up. The old seal wasnt sitting correctly and the seal surface wasnt round. Pinion had no vertical or horizontal movement. It was easy to drill a piece of angle and put two bolts in when I torqued it up. Refilled with the old oil as the car has not moved. Fingers crossed. Adrian

Hi Adrian Any photos of the plates in action. What you have done is most likely very logical but my brain isn't in that mode today. Does working with Americans cause this😉 Adrian

Personally I prefer to use the time honored method of remove drain plug and drain oil. On my current VW Amarok I have fitted a Fumoto valve, as I did on the Range Rover and Discovery before. With a hose on the end they are great for directing the oil into a tray instead of down the chassis or suspension. http://fumotousa.com/ Probably not a viable option for the small chassis Triumphs due to lack of space. IIRC JohnD had a wee bit of cardboard origami to stop it running down the chassis on the Triumphs. . When draining the oil you can see what it coming out the bottom of the sump ie sludge, metal etc that you wont always see with a siphon. My pump used to get used a lot by mates with boats draining sumps and me for filling gearboxes and diffs but these days I use a 500ml syringe for those jobs as its a lot less messy. Just my two cents worth. Adrian

Or when you are young and know it all when you take the car apart but old and forgetful when you finally get to rebuild it🧐 Adrian

As an aside to this I have been using my scissor lift a lot during the last 3 months and it has been invaluable. But due to our wee Triumphs being narrower than most modern cars I have had to use it sideways under the Vitesse as the hoist is wider than the track. Fortunately this has been of benefit as when not being worked on the car sits on 4 wheel jacks and slides against the wall and the hoist slides back to the same wall under the car. The bit that sticks out is covered by a motorbike parking over it so no one trips. Mechanically there is nothing I cannot reach when it is on the hoist and the car sits on rubber lifting pads at the junction of the front outriggers and the main rails and at the rear side outriggers and the main rails. Just being able to lift the car makes working on, in and under it a lot easier as bending over is reduced. Plus if need be it can lift it over 1m so it is easy to sit under the car to work on it. Adrian

Hi Adrian I have one of those gearbox drain plugs with the magnet and it too leaks. Its a little bit less with plumbers tape wrapped around it a few times but next time I might try the loctite pipe sealing stuff that i have used on other things. My o/d is J type and h a home built mounting bracket that leaves the whole underside of the gearbox clear till directly below the mount. It bolts underneath the flange on the chassis rails utilising the original holes Adrian

Thanks for the replies Nice tip Pete, I hadnt thought of that and it makes it easier. Colin the car is on my scissor lift hoist so goes up pretty level. I will change is as I have the new seal on its way and who knows what the existing one is like Thanks Adrian

Good afternoon Can some one please tell me the open and closed dimensions for the Vitesse/Herald boot lid support bracket Possible source for these is https://www.comac.co.nz/lid-stays-support-stays support stay with safety catch. Section K has what looks like the boot catches for our cars and section N has the glove box latch. Thanks Adrian .

Whilst setting the handbrake on my Vitesse 6 I noticed a new spot/pool of new oil on the garage floor, it had me puzzled for a few seconds as I had moved the car sideways to work on it and there was nothing that would have had oil above the spot. Back tracking the cars recent movements, 3 feet to the left, and it is the pinion seal leaking. As the car has done zero miles on its own wheels but plenty of feet on wheel jacks I can only surmise that the seal has gone hard over the 20 years since the diff was rebuilt. Breather pin will have nothing to do with this leak as the car hasn't moved and it is free. I plan on doing the seal while the diff is still in the car so will make a removal bar to lock the pinion whilst undoing the nut. Any tips to make this an easy task? Pinion seal 109054 has been ordered locally so will hopefully arrive before next weekend so I can do the job saturday. Thanks Adrian

You could sell the old one for good money as handling enhancement🤫 Adrian

Is there such a thing as a Mintex 1144 pad to fit the Vitesse 6 Girling 12 caliper? I've looked but cant find one. Thanks Adrian

It doesnt have to be stainless steel woven mash. Expanded Aluminium would do jjust as well and would be in keeping with the original aluminium grill. When I bought my Vitesse 6 back in the 80's it had a cut up Holden grill of some sort that came to a point under the centre of the bonnet. Sorry no photos of it back then, I was driving it not taking pictures. But I still kick myself for not buying a new grill for NZ$100. Adrian

Thanks to all who have assisted me with the work on my car during the past few months. I used the time our country was in Level 4 lockdown and I was effectively unemployed to work on my Vitesse 6. Luckily for us the Govt paid people who had jobs on hold $585.80 a week till June 12th, this was for employed and self employed. So I got paid to rebuild my car. I treated it like a job and initially only did week days for work hours but that started to drift to all days. When we went to Level 3 it meant I could go back to my Electrician work which was at mates warehouse conversion and that started to interfere with the Vitesse progress. Level 3 had contact tracing and distances to observe but the advantage for me was no one else was on the site. Now we are on Level 2 and looking at Level 1 next week as our country is on day 16 of no new cases and only one person with symptoms so life is returning somewhat cautiously back to our new normal, borders still closed to non approved people Now my proper job of being a Film Technician is calling and I 'have' to go back to work tomorrow for a possible 20 weeks. I am extremely pleased with the work I have managed to get done on the car in the past few months. Work on the car will only be at weekends for now and it depends how I will feel, work 11-12 hour days minimum. And other things in life get in the way. Once again thanks for all the help you guys have given me. Take care out there Adrian

Yep same on the six and I see that Iain has the big clumsy type that I have on my coil pack. Adrian

Another job ticked off the list. I found a piece of nitrile rubber (well it has nitrile written on it) in the spares dept and it is 2.7mm thick. Two hole saws, a wad punch and the job is done. Sender is now in the tank. Adrian

Hi Iain Bit of a thread hijack but where did you get your HT leads from? I have an Edis 6 to go onto my Vitesse 6 but as yet do not have any leads. Coil caps look the same as yours. Adrian

I reckon a Bentley type mesh grill would look good on the front of a Vitesse. Adrian

A solution looking for a problem. I have fitted the fuel cut of solenoid for lpg/petrol conversions to a few cars to act as a petrol valve. Power on fuel flows power off it doesnt and they have a manual screw if it fails. Fitted before the pump it will ensure the pump stays primed with fuel when car is not being used Last one was on a vintage car that sat for a long time and I controlled it with an oil pressure switch to ensure then engine had oil pressure before starting. It had a good starter motor and battery😉

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-VITESSE-MK1-2L-BONNET-GRILL/293588476081?hash=item445b3ca0b1:g:pAAAAOSwELtdgVMu

I have one that looks like the one in the photo. Its in my spares and still has gauges. IIRC the dash it came out of had been trimmed. Adrian

What I learnt recently when I pulled the gearbox out of the Vitesse is that you can rest engine back on two pieces of wood wedged between the chassis and the rear engine plate on both sides once the gearbox is out. No need to worry about leaving the sump supported. []\( * )/[] Adrian

Evening Can someone please tell me the thickness of the cork gasket that is fitted to the 6 screw fuel tank sender on a Vitesse 6? Thanks Adrian