Colin Lindsay

I'm assuming late Herald or Vitesse? Not available new, but they come up online or from breakers like Chic Doig. Part number is 706149. There's one on eBay at present for £20 but it's got a 'couple of dings', so might be worse than your own. For fitting, try a few small dabs of Tigerseal or any modern trim adhesive. The original metal clips just eat the paint and cause rust.

But: did you tell them you wanted it to work?

I can post you some if you want, haven't opened it in ages but it's on the shelf...

I hope it is an easy fix, but my idea of little coolant loss is a few drops; everything else is sleepless nights for me and one eye on the temp gauge! I'm just concerned that the gases are blowing a lot out as spray, and it's worse than it looks... but here's hoping.

Oooohhhh nice!! Must add one to my Xmas present list. Thanks for letting me see how they look when fitted.

It's more than a slight weep; it's bubbling out and after a few miles of driving would be a substantial loss to the system. Not the sort of thing that will be sorted by a bottle of Bars Leaks or the like; so I'll stick with my own - personal - opinion that it's a lot, and needs a bit of work.

Quickfitsbs have just made my set - not bad, took them under a week - and charged me £240, chromed fittings and silver-grey webbing to original spec of a pair of 3-point static front belts.

Yes; barrel is readily available but I believe that although you can buy a replacement key to suit a specific barrel, you can't buy a replacement barrel to suit a key you already have, so may end up with yet another key, unless you fancy stripping two down and swapping over the brass tumblers inside from old to new. Assuming that's not what the problem is in the first place! https://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/door-barrel-key-3

Apparently - they're used on carburettors a lot, and are designed to dampen vibrations; many are set to a specific load or spacing, so now I know that at least but - still no idea who Thackery was.

As I was out in the garage sorting other things and had a camera handy, I took a few shots of the hinges in case anyone else wants to try to refurbish theirs. The hardest part may be driving the pins out, but they drop in from the top and you can see the splines just proud of the top; some also sit slightly recessed at the bottom, so at least you'll know which way to press them, and so won't waste half a day wondering why they won't budge when you're pressing the wrong end...

That spring is actually called a Thackery washer... no idea why or who he was, but I found that out recently!

Ooooohhhh... that's not good! That's a lot of fluid loss. It looks like it's with the engine running, Pete, and that's being blown out rhythmically as the engine rotates. Head off! (BTW what endoscope did you buy, Paula?)

If you want cheaper on a lot of items, try Paddocks or Fitchetts. A lot of parts come from the same manufacturer, but many intermediaries seem to have more overheads that require higher prices. Check around and compare prices before committing to buy!

Isn't one of the saloon manifolds slanted? I seem to remember this from my own GT6 which had a saloon engine way back, but I'm not sure if it applied to the big 6 engines or just the four cylinders, and could be remembering incorrectly.

That's why the pulley came off... chain, tensioner and all seals replaced. If it affected anything else... well, we haven't found it yet.

From an online manual on CD and CDSE models: "Choke limiting spindle adjustment 0 winter setting, stop cross pin in horizontal slot in casting. Summer setting, depress spring loaded pin and turn 90°." So it seems you depress and turn for summer, as Ian says back in the first post. From this online manual: https://www.howacarworks.com/fuel-systems/adjusting-a-stromberg-carburettor "Some Strombergs have a two position screw to limit the use of the choke according to the season. It has a spring under its head. Set it with the spring compressed for summer and the tension released for winter (only necessary in freezing weather)" If I have one on any of my Strombergs, I've never seen it and furthermore never used it...

I managed to find the huge screwdriver I once used to jam the camshaft of a 1500 Spitfire, through the fuel pump aperture, whilst I stood on a six foot breaker bar, trying to undo the front pulley. The screwdriver ended up slightly... curved and the pulley stayed put for days. An impact wrench took the pulley off in seconds. Having said that, fan of impact wrenches as I am, I'm worried that stud extractor would snap studs rather than undo them?

Pins are relatively cheap and press out from the underside; you can try pressing one out and replacing it without any other work as it may just revitalise the hinges with nothing else required. Some of them can be badly eaten with rust and thereby either stick or allow movement, so it's something I'd recommend having a go at. They can be hard to press out so plenty of penetrating oil and heat should get them to move.

It's the windows they flock to, Tony, not my chin. Nor armpits, either.

MG is 2500 saloon?

I suspect the LED tubes; they're very bright and with the white-painted walls the place looks quite sunny. Flies come in, head for the roof windows, then find out it's not a tunnel they can go in one end and out the other. I just can't understand why there are hundreds of them all doing it!!

The ears, or the return springs? I found out recently that new stalks don't have them (the springs), and you have to cannibalise the old one. I was expecting to fail MOT with indicators that wouldn't stay on, but after it passed I inspected the stalk and found no springs at all, and so had to retrieve the old one and use those. There are also two different kinds of stalk, for early and late models, that use different forms of self-cancelling - the photo is the late version.

Any proprietary panel wipe / degreaser should do the job. Any of my local autofactors have a good selection, ask for the trade stuff that bodyshops use. The stuff I use comes in 5 litre containers and I used it recently to degrease a new panel, which it did very easily and completely so that I could spray a primer coat.

Funny you should mention that, we're surrounded by fields on three sides and they were out spraying last week, my garage then being inundated with flies on Saturday... the connection never occurred to me. Wonder why they swarm into the garage but never the house?

I can confirm that it works, it actually knocks the spiders down immediately. No idea what the chemical is but they just drop to the floor, tatey bread. My biggest problem is large flies, I think it's the LED lights in the garage are too sun-like and if I work with the doors open in daylight they swarm in, cover the roof light windows in their hundreds, then drop off all over the floor and have to be hoovered up. And no, the spiders don't eat them...