Colin Lindsay

I remember that on certain cars... the wipers linked by an arm. The Goggomobil always reminded me of a Standard 8... same kind of shape.

I hate professionals. This guy turns up at my house this morning in a 600bhp Alfa Romeo Giulietta, engine noise wakes up the neighbours, has a look at my Heralds... yeah no problem. We'll do this... and we'll do this... and that's no problem... I'll collect it Thursday week. But, says I, there's a problem with the rear wing. It's not been fitted correctly and won't match up with the rear quarter valence. There's a slot you could post letters through. No problem, says he. We'll just move that... and move that... and maybe put a section in there... simple. Leave it with me. I've also got strange holes in the floor - might even be from a roll bar, since they're a match on each side? No problem, we'll set a section in there, grind the welds down, you'll never know it was there. Just two things: firstly is there a chassis? Needs to be a rolling chassis. Can you bolt everything on to it? Well, I would, but it's in primer and it's just a bare chassis. No problem. Do you want it in gloss or satin red? I'll pick it up Monday, leave it back to you fully painted by Thursday, you can fit the wheels etc and then the tub to it and it will add rigidity for when we start to cut bits out. All we need is all of that underseal gone. Got any thinners? Soften it with those, scrape or rub the stuff off. This guy's good, straight to the point, and definite. Just what I need. Of course, he left me the dirty work. My entire garage, house, clothes and whatever is stinking of thinners, but it certainly removes the underseal. I reckon about 40% of the stuff is off now, but Lord is it boring, smelly and dirty work. After two showers I can still smell it on my hands and that's with rubber gloves on during the removal. Still things are moving again and in three weeks max I might even have a completed rear tub, ready for gapping to the bulkhead and finishing before the top coat. If that's the case things are going to fly along, as all else is complete and ready for refitting. Just before he left I asked if he could do anything with the Herald Estate tub sag. He looked at it for a minute, then stated: If I was you I'd do this... and he did. He borrowed a door catch, a rubber seal and a block of wood. 30 seconds later, door gaps nicely in line. Don't ask me how he did it. I blinked and missed it. I told you, he's a professional. Makes me look stoopid. That's why HE's driving the Alfa and my cars are all in bits.

Easiest way of all is to string a power cable from the +ve terminal of the battery, with an inline fuse. Permanently live if you want to keep devices powered up, but watch it doesn't flatten the battery. If you only want it to run while the ignition is on then I would guess that you could link into the white ignition circuit; but it's the 12v socket that is making me wary - I wonder if the existing wiring would handle whatever it is you want to plug in? The way radios etc used to be connected was via a spare terminal on the rear of the ignition switch; this means that the devices can't be left running and flatten the battery as once the ignition is turned off then the power stops too.

The dash 'folds over' at the front, the light is under the top layer and pokes through the lower layer. It's a tight squeeze for the light unit until it reaches the hole it drops down into. You need to widen this bit sufficiently for the light unit to be able to go in and out, just by gently spreading the two 'halves' or the top and bottom faces. The switch is the delicate part as it protrudes further than the rest of the unit; be careful not the bend it or break it off completely. The photo is taken from in behind, so you're looking into the slot that the light has to slide into with the light shining through and reflecting off the underside of the dash top.

Never tried that; this top-dash ashtray thingie is too modern for mine... but if it fits, fine... however getting it back in might be a bit of a faffle - you can see how extending the connections makes sense then.

I used to believe they were made like that; it was to aid the handbrake lever stay in place... it was only when I saw the pic of new backplates that I realised it wasn't a factory-made groove...

With the two pins out, you need to push upwards and inwards; it's sandwiched tightly between the two parts of the dash so if you can expand the dash halves to create a bigger gap, it'll move backwards. When refitting it, make up some small lengths of colour-coded cable to the terminals, maybe three inches or so, with bullet connectors on and fit them to the light before you slide it into place; they'll be easier to reconnect to the main loom rather than doing it in braille up behind the dash. (If you fit the originals with no extensions before fitting the light, by the time the light's in place the bullets have pulled out again!)

Never had them, but I've heard vacuum wipers used to stop when going up steep hills?

If the fuel runs back behind the pump every time the valves are probably done; they should be one-way non-return and keep the fuel in the pipes. If you have a priming lever you can prime the carbs prior to startup and so save the battery; if you decide to keep the mechanical pump try to find one with the lever (although to be honest a replacement pump will probably remove the problem of fuel running back anyway...)

That's the reassurance I need. I've a professional bodyshop welder coming over tomorrow to look at the job - for that sort of thing I wouldn't trust my basic standard of welding - and hopefully he'll advise on tidying up that area. When the car is complete it'll go for MOT and the last thing I need is to have a freshly painted tub pointed out as structurally unsound...

They were used on a number of cars of the period, with minor differences to mountings, brackets and other small parts - Ford Anglia was one, VW another, but you need to make sure you get the correct model. Unless you've a very early Herald it's probably the B30PSEI you need. I wonder how yours would benefit from a professional rebuilt from one of the two Pete mentions, or is it too worn to be refurbished?

I'm going to ask you guys out there what repair sections are available for the Herald rear tub; specifically the rear floor pans. They used to be available as a complete section: But alas, no longer. All I can get now are small sections that are admittedly better than nothing but not the preferred option. The problem I have is the area under the seats, to the rear outer edge of the floor pan. This has been heavily patched in the past on both sides: It may be solid, although unsightly, but this area to the outside of the drain hole is where the seatbelt mounting attaches. Originally it's a triangular pressing and the two seatbelt mounts fit into it, but mine are both missing. I do have small repair sections, not ideal but you can see the triangular area where the bolts fit: I can use those, and if properly welded they'll be a much tidier job than what is there at present, but I'd still prefer larger sections to minimise the welding seams on the underside. Anyone know of a good source of repair sections? I'm thinking Chic Doig, but all suggestions welcome. The area under the rear seat is currently accounted for: Those repair sections were bought at the International, I think for a tenner or so, many moons ago and salted away for this very necessity so now they'll earn their keep. I also remember Bill Davies making a rear spring tunnel repair section back in the day, but I'm sure those are all long gone. I'll make a few enquiries tomorrow, but in the meantime, if anyone has repair sections they'd like to part with, let me know. Cash and welder waiting...

The RallyDesign ones appear to be a straight fit. They used to say back in the day's advertising blurb that the dimples helped remove gases from between the pads and the discs and so aid braking; I remember the return argument being: if there's a dimple there's less disc for the pad to grip.

I fitted front discs to the Mondeo which were allegedly guaranteed not to rust due to some coating or other aspect of their manufacture; a year on they're still rust-free. No idea of what they're coated with. Ventilated discs on the GT6 require a spaced caliper; either a standard caliper with a spacer in between the two halves, or a wider caliper originally designed for ventilated discs. Ford Capri discs used to be a good option, if they were redrilled for the Triumph PCD but if my Bing search is correct these guys sell 4-pot calipers and proper discs:. https://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=24097

That iconic Che poster was actually painted by Jim Fitzpatrick in Dublin; I used to correspond with him when I was a student myself, although it was his Celtic / Mythical stuff that was of more interest to me. He used to reply on postcards which had his paintings on the other side, so it was a very cheap way of getting some... I managed to get some of his other artwork recently at an affordable price, which is rare these days. I don't know who's 'in' these days, that students would have on the walls.

Best thing to check is on the road with a driver and maybe a passenger; see what angle the wheels take whilst actually driving. If you set them to what you think is a good driving camber, whilst they're parked and unladen, they'll be too far adjusted when you get weight in the car and start to drive.

If they're full beam only, with no requirement to dip, it allows for more options. BTW I've found the Scimitar versions: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RELIANT-SCIMITAR-GT-GTE-64-86-H1-MAIN-BEAM-HALOGEN-HEADLAMP-5-3-4-5-75/373424109089?fits=Car+Make%3AReliant|Model%3AScimitar&hash=item56f1cfb621:g:F8MAAOSwAQ5gIZ~8

There are of course those who would argue that our industry was run by gangsterism and thuggery - you MUST join the union, you MUST do what the union tells you, and if that means one out all out then out you go; you dare not dissent, and if it ruins the business and the country, well, that's the fault of the business not the small number of privileged elite who run the unions and live like fat cats. It was a dictatorship under the guise of 'social consciousness', Luddism of the worst kind. Sadly, or fortunately, many of them were forty or fifty years too late to have a revolution and bring down the country. I wonder where all those Che Guevara posters are now?

Depends if I get caught or not...

A socket wench?

All depends where you buy them from. I don't see how many suppliers can double or even treble prices of the same item that others are selling at a more realistic price then claim 'overheads'. I heard a great example of price-psychology once; an airline was talking about seat prices. They had three prices per seat - budget, standard and luxury. People booking tickets refused to pay budget - too common - and thought luxury was a waste of money, so they all paid the slightly higher standard price thinking they were better than the plebs but not as foolish as the wealthy. In reality, it was all the same seat on the same flight and they all cost the airline the same, so they were making money off people's gullibility. Same with car parts - I've seen posters on here buying parts at quite inflated prices thinking the supplier they buy from has to be trustworthy as they're a big firm, and the parts better than others, simply because they're more expensive. It doesn't work that way. In many cases, it's all the same part.

I made a very nice souffle out of two plastic parts I was trying to heat-weld together. Does that count?

There's a song called: As I was going to Banbury The second line is: Rye-far-latter-dee-oh ...and I keep thinking: that's NOT how you spell Banbury.

We could start a new term: to be 'Bastuked'... when something you buy lets you down.

Make one... we all end up doing it! Spanner and grinder combination. Some people buy ready-made versions but they're the kind of people who put mayonnaise on chips and that sort of thing. Wouldn't have chaps like that in my regiment.