Colin Lindsay

Haven't looked at the car yet, am trying to figure out why the girl has no trousers on... and what she's done in his hat.

I suppose you can't put the car in gear?

Aha - so you ONLY have intermittent now? Not good. Can you adapt an old Herald light switch, which is three position but keeps the round knob?

I had my wiper motor rebuilt last year which really improved things, but the biggest improvement I've made in years was new wiper blades - now they actually clean the glass. I suppose the old ones were almost 20 years old but it's still no excuse... Have you considered changing the gear wheel, Doug? The smaller the sweep the faster they go... and the passenger doesn't really need to see out

Keep them both. Spares are becoming harder to find, and getting very expensive when you do, so with a spare engine you can take bits off for your running engine at any time, especially when yours breaks something simple but necessary and might keep the car off the road while you source a replacement.

Top unmarked switch might be for wipers; the t-switch is just the washer pump and has no electrics.

Opened fine on my Mac, but when you say 'that's the unit at its' fastest' isn't that just the intermittent? Next step is wipers fully on? I don't know exactly how the replacement unit works but surely the point of intermittent is to slow the wipers down and not have them on all the time, and you have the normal operation option for heavier rain? Unless I'm barking up the wrong wiper, so to speak?

Buy four aerosols of silver-reflective paint and use the caps....

I followed 'Er Indoors into one of those small boutiquey-type nik-nak shops yesterday; you know the sort, Christmas ornaments with an impressive price tag. They had face masks by the door in some kind of soft material for £25 each... the box said: "These do not generate O2. Not to be used in any toxic gas environment." Thank goodness they spelt that out, but for that price I'd expect a complete haz-mat suit.

Is there a clip that holds the cable in place? I remember this from many years ago on a Mini, I thought that if you tightened the accelerator cable fully it would give more movement at the carbs - no - and then when I slackened it off, it kept dropping off the pedal rod. It does need a certain tension to hold it in place but on some cars there's also a clip to keep it there.

I've just read that this part is a rivetted metal moulding; firstly I'd try Chic Doig for second-hand or if possible a photo of the profile. If you need simple waterproof water seals or hard plastic mouldings where the metal version is unavailable, don't rule out bathroom supplies / shower seals. Many of them have an entire range of seals and edge mouldings to clip onto shower glass that will easily fit metal panels or car screens.

Many thanks to Andy / Cookie for having this excellent illustration on his blog:

You'd think he'd come up with something better than bl&&dy scotchloks. It cheapens the look of the kit.

When the BBC filmed my Mk3 GT6 back in 2000, they ruined it and it took me forever to polish all the marks off again. Found the trailer for that movie, the Vitesse features from the start.

Didn't know that!! The tape is incredibly messy, but I used it on the GT6 when I replaced the old Spitfire spring back in the mid-2000s with a new GT6 swing version and it seems to have stayed put with no holes so far; I do regrease it every so often as part of the annual service - in fact I cheat and spray it with Waxoyl or spray grease - and it has not, so far, unwrapped, frayed or split, so I'm well pleased with it. I was expecting to have to replace it within a few years but it's still looking good. What I found recently was, due to the weight and length of the spring, that my gloved hands were okay but my arms and clothes ended up covered in the stuff.

Wins International have a version for the 1360, costing £165 on their price list, but no details nor photographs. Canleys and Rimmers both sell for both 1200 and 13/60, Canley's list theirs as 'Weber' and I know there are Phoenix versions available, around £350 or so. There also appears to be a choice between one piece, which will fit to a single pipe (possibly needing a single adaptor sleeve) and two-piece systems which require a y-shaped joint. My own for the 1200 is a Falcon, TT1300SS part number 30997 but I haven't narrowed down a current supplier so far this morning.

It's actually not the highest point in the system; the radiator cap is higher than the thermostat housing so it bleeds very well provided you squeeze the hoses as you fill. I think the heater matrix is the highest point.

Badly distorted, Graham - I left it with the in-laws or I'd have posted photos. It stretched on one side before breaking. The stud I had used to force the pivot pin through pushed through one side of the hinge, but in the vice I forgot to check that the release arm, now free on one side, had not moved off centre. The stud pressed on the release arm body rather than the pin, just a fraction to one side, but it was enough to fracture the hinge once force was applied. I've been in contact with the Standard 8 Owners club, they tell me it appears to be the same as on their cars, yes they have some in stock, but they only sell to members...

"Re-advertised due to a couple of timewasters and unwelcome comments from certain areas." Wonder what?

Well, we've had our first setback in a while, and how serious it is remains to be seen and depends on other parties... I've bought an all alloy gearbox - £30 - and it's in quite good nick, so decided to refurbish it and use it in the Herald as a novelty feature. Whilst the casing and rear end have been well stored, the front of the bellhousing has been open to the elements and as a result the entire release arm and bearing assembly is seized solid. This is a unique item to these boxes and is secured by a unique hinge - part number 112235 - which is screwed directly to the bellhousing, as opposed to the pivot pin through the bellhousing of later cars. Whilst I was able to remove the arm by simply unbolting two bolts and puling it straight off, the hinge was seized solid, as were the other metal parts on the arm including the long clutch adjustment rod that later cars do not have. It was therefore a matter of using lots of penetrating oil gentle heat, and some force to move or remove the parts. I was able to free up the hinge to a point where it moved under gentle force, but was nowhere free enough to use under pedal pressure alone. I found that using a suitable drift and a series of spacers, I was able to force the centre pin out of the arm halfway, but my Record vice was not big enough to get it out the entire way. It moved so far, but no further. The spacers by the way are Herald seat spacers which have the same centre bore as the pivot pin and worked admirably, up to a point. So: off I went to the in-laws who have huge engineering vices, and set the same assembly of spacers and washers to work. Unfortunately if something was going to give, it wasn't the pivot pin. With an enormous bang the hinge shattered in two parts and flew off across the workshop. I should have known but I got carried away when it started to move, and so applied too much pressure. So: now I have no hinge, and unless someone knows of an old Standard gearbox that has a spare one, I'm sort of stuck. The In-Laws have offered to machine a replacement (in steel, which won't really make any difference to the setup) but it will be after Christmas. If anyone knows of anywhere who could make one of these in alloy, please get in touch. It's unique to these cars, as is the release arm itself, and I doubt if there's a replacement one anywhere, so I'm off on another challenge to have one remade. All help appreciated.

And if the car behind you refuses to dip his headlights, you can flick a switch and blind him back....

Well today we'd say it was made by the same people who make replacement panels; looks nothing like the original and doesn't fit. However it was a fibreglass mould taken from the GT6, so therefore resembles the outline if not the finer detail. If, as Doug says, the GT6 was designed before Le Mans, take that as the 'conception' part; it never actually hit the road until 1966 so you could say it was actually born four years later, AFTER Le Mans. Gestated at Le Mans, maybe? NOW: just to throw a spanner in the works, we agree Spitfires raced at Le Mans, but in 1966 Triumph embarked on the GT6R project, a six cylinder fastback with triple carbs with an estimated top speed of 160mph to race at Le Mans, but it was later abandoned due to regulations. Did THIS vehicle, ADU 5 A, have any bearing on the finished GT6 that became the production vehicle we all know? Anyway, enjoy the video of the Spitfires, below.

'Er in doors says a few months back: "Take my card and get a fill of diesel". That's very nice of her, so off I go, full tank and paid at pump using her card. Next morning she's hopping mad. "My car is still empty." So? She said "take my car" not "take my card"... One of the the benefits of being half deaf.

I had one of those on the TD5; quite handy for bleeding the system as it was at the highest point of any of the hoses. The heater hoses in our cars would be ideal, but I suspect they're too thin for that valve compared to engine coolant hoses which are thicker but all lower?

Now THAT one you could see yourself driving, it's a realistic price and not one that you'd be scared to take near the road for fear of damage. I'd sort that heater hose, though...