Colin Lindsay

Nothing in the manuals at all regarding either removal or replacement, but it's supplied in the kits I checked just now and for some reason in a different colour - yet both dished and cup are supplied with the relevant kits and neither the early nor the late engines take the cupped version. I've just been out to check, nowhere else on the engine takes anything close to that size. I've got three bucket and one dished, all too small by at least 1mm or more.

Sadly I did when the block was being cleaned up and rebored... I've just nipped out and checked the dished one I have, and of course it's 44473... so I've wasted £3 buying another one. No butter on the toast tomorrow. It's at least 1mm too small; if as Johny says it needs hammered flat it's going to take a lot of battering to get it to expand sufficiently.

I'm still checking for photographs... I had a full set of pictures on rear belts fitted to a convertible by use of a roll bar, will dig those out, but there should be someone who has routed them without.

Is there a return spring on the pedal? If it's missing or slack then the only resistance is from the hydraulics themselves, which may explain the slow return but also the lack of real feel.

There is a shoulder ok, so I'm wondering if the original was dished, it's not deep enough for a bucket version - can't remember nor can I find any kind of reference photo - but the dished plug from Rimmers is too small. I have two early 1200 engines, both dished but in a different shape of housing, so this later version may be the same except I can't compare... plus the dished plugs supplied are much too small and all of the suppliers refer to them as '2 inch." Rimmers do show two, one 2" and the other with no size but a different part number.. must go look it up. 44473 is listed by other suppliers as 'Triumph Cam rear core plug' but no size listed, but I've ordered one for £3 and free postage so it's worth a try.

I heard it was in Harvard in 1947, where they actually removed the dead moth, stated they had 'debugged' the computer, and sent the moth as proof. It's supposed to be still there in Virginia and visible as a museum exhibit of the first computer bug.

I think you're correct; mine are both 2 inch and are far too loose a fit to even grip the sides - that's why I was thinking: "surely they can't fit into the inner part, as there's no room?". I've actually got three, all supplied by major suppliers, with two supplied as part of complete kits, and all are too small. My early 1200 engine is dished but I think (may be wrong?) that the later engine from 1967 on is bucket - I'm simply saying that, as the core plugs are all dished in the early engine and bucket in the later, so I'm hoping the cam plug follows suit. As you say Rob the lip is very shallow so the sides will need to have a good grip. Now I'll have to find a supplier...

1200 engine, 1967 version... and I cannot for the life of me get the core plug to fit that covers the end of the camshaft. I have the proper version, going by the serial number etc on the label on the bag but it will not fit. There seem to be two diameters at the back of the block, one large shallow aperture then the tighter one that the cam sits in. The core plug is too loose for one and much too large for the other. I have both early dished and late bucket, in fact two of the latter and they're both the same size, from different suppliers, and neither will fit. Before I do lasting damage to the block... any tips? I've tried freezing the core plug for a couple of hours but despite being very cold it was no better.

How can you be afraid of a guy with a head like a gearknob?

Whinnie's quite finished lets' trot back to the mane thread...

+1 for that, the original and best.

A good topic for a restoration thread. Plenty of photos and let us know how you get on. I declined this one earlier in the week... lowered and race-prepared but definitely not for me.

Grand Master and the Blue Rocket Crew... is that our official band now?

"Every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you..." That Paul Young?

You'll miss him. I lost a great friend in 2003, totally unexpectedly, but he was a real mine of info on Triumph things and would detour miles from his job to help me in the garage. (He used to deliver and collect industrial-sized generators and machinery and always seemed to be stuck in traffic when passing my house, sometimes for hours). I know that without him I learned a lot of things myself, rather than just watching him do it all for me, but I still miss the chat and the crack in the garage. Working on a car on your own isn't as much fun, but I know he'll always be in your thoughts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154488958626?hash=item23f8426ea2:g:k-oAAOSw1clgwxlH NOW: This is the one I'd go for, with the clear top panels... by Smith and Deakin, same as mine. The fact that it's starting at 1p is also a big bonus. Anyone near London fancy a bargain?

Don't confuse me like that!! I had to check to make sure I was only meant to have two... After all that palaver, I had to nip out to the garage and by means of a large magnifying glass and torch I can confirm I've fitted mine with the copper side outwards so oil grooves against the crank, as per the very first post. Relief!

Mine are as above, copper one side with grooves, white metal the other with part number stamped. This means Haynes is correct as the oil grooves face outwards, not inwards as shown in the exploded diagram - so it's wrong, and I think I've fitted them correctly. The Autopress manual says: "fitting the two thrust washers to the rear journal with their white-metal faces bearing against the crankshaft faces, as shown in fig 1.27." This appears to show the copper side with the two oil grooves to the outsides - the hand to the right is holding the rearmost washer and you can see the grooves pointing towards the rear therefore the rotating face of the crank, but it's confusing as it refers to the white metal faces and they're actually copper, the silver side - which I got confused about with all the talk of white metal - is the 'wrong' side. All I can do is go by the illustrated position of the grooves and put them against the moving crank. BTW Peaks, you have four? I've only got two... Heralds don't have the lower pair. Are we all agreed in any case - coppery side with grooves against the crank faces, and silver side with stamping against the housing?

That's what I thought - it seems logical, the white metal side is to the moving part ie the crank; but then it begs the question - why have the oil grooves against the non-moving side? That's the way I fitted them, white metal inwards, and then only after when I was looking for another part spotted the Canley's diagram with the thrust washers facing the opposite way. Now all I need to do is confirm I have the bearing caps on in the correct orientation; I marked them 1 2 and 3 but not front and rear... does the 'Stanpart' side go to the front or the rear? There's always summat...

Lindsay Porter's book also says: 'ensure their oil grooves face outwards'. To me, 'outwards' means away from the crank bearing housing so the copper sides will be facing front and rear, not both facing each other in the inner sides. I've just fitted mine in the opposite direction to the diagram above, silver side to the moving crank. I can see a lot of headscratching coming on... thankfully I have a spare engine I can check, but only as a last resort...

Looks like a home-stamped job; I don't think they ever spelled the actual colour ie 'beige'... but always open to correction!

The Haynes manual says thrust washers should be fitted 'with the oil grooves outwards away from the bearing'. This means copper side outwards, silver side inwards. Canley's exploded diagram shows the grooves pointing inwards. Unless I've interpreted the instructions incorrectly, somebody's not right... so for peace of mind with a newly rebuilt 1200 engine can someone confirm?

It looks like a seismometer... any earthquakes round your way? Of course it could be a simple weather station; if the pointer sways about it's windy and if it's wet, it's raining...

It doesn't seem to be constant, one minute I've got a striped thingy that looks like Idi Amin's epaulette and the next I'm back to the blue rocket again.