Colin Lindsay

Just noticed that myself, and was about to post. It clicks at the same point where the wheel dips. If you've swapped the wheels over already then it can't be that. Either - the half shaft is bent or the hub is distorted - remove the wheel and watch the assembly in relation to the chassis, for up and down movement. Can you film it for us with the wheel removed?

Pity he doesn't have spec for the Dolomite 1850 box; I'd like to see how mine compares in an overdrive GT6 with the non O/D diff.

+1 again; great product for both insulation and soundproofing - both my house and garage are stuffed full of it! (It's manufactured about six miles from my house too)

Take the wheels off and swap them round on the car so that each is as far from its' original starting point as possible. Then see if that makes any difference either to the noise or where it comes from.

... just not always in his own garage...!

Add WD40 and you have the entire toolset.

Whilst I'm more fortunate than most, having married into an engineering family, I'm always conscious that there are many of us who can't just sidle up to the in-law's door with a packet of chocolate biscuits in one hand and a piece of Triumph hidden behind the back in the other hand... Relatively easy to knock up on a good lathe, including if required lightened or thinner versions, but you have to know the man with the lathe first...

Source a replacement FIRST before butchering the old one, just in case... You've no idea how hard to find, rare or expensive a part can be until you damage the old one.

Nothing, it's normal. This time with the shock absorber removed, if you haven't already, fit the radius arm loosely at both ends, then manoeuvre the larger mass of the vertical link onto the spring. It takes a lot of twisting / working about to get them to line up, but that's usual for these. Don't use so much force that it pulls off the axle stand. The last thing you're fitting should be the link onto the spring - get a long, heavy screwdriver, put it through the front eye of the vertical link then get it into the eye of the spring bush; by prising the vertical link up, and the spring down, you'll get them to line up. You may have to push a bolt through from the rear to hold it all in place; then fit the correct one from the front and as it goes in, it will push the other one out. Then you can jack the assembly up as required to get the shocker to fit. It may also be easier if you don't have the half-shaft attached to the diff; attach it when all else is in position.

Thanks Rob - I'm fitting a brand new cover which has just been treated to the Dodomat finish, but I'm aware that it's mostly sound-deadening / anti-resonance for metal panels; these new ABS covers are quite thin, rigid enough to do the job but not thick enough to deaden engine, exhaust or road noise. Assuming that it's properly sealed and fixed in place then it will keep warm air out - on the run last weekend the gearlever was hot to touch and the CD player kept cutting out as it got too warm, so while some of that must be addressed now by the new tunnel and seals, plus the insulation I've just added, I just want to achieve the optimum against both heat and noise before I tighten down all the screws and leave it for the next few years. That's why I was considering some form of soundproofing mat / material over the top of the Dodomat, and why the curiosity arose of what goes first.

My father had a 1962 Rootes Group Minx, it was built like a tank, and rusted like one too. The first car I looked at when I decided to buy one was a VW Beetle, I always loved those and have no idea why I never got into them as a hobby. I had Minis and various other small cars but when I decided I wanted a small fun sports car I remembered one of my brothers had had an MG Midget, and didn't want to copy him, so bought a Spitfire instead. That was the start of the slippery slope...

That's actually something I have already thought about... just brushing the entire thing in resin alone as a sealer / strengthener. The top will be repainted, but hidden under the carpet, and the underside will be invisible to all but me and the MOT Inspector so anything that makes it more durable will be very interesting. Incidentally - here's a question for the physicists / technicians amongst us. I want to both soundproof and heatproof it (as far as can actually be done) and also the ABS GT6 version that's arriving today from the Club shop. The original had foam stuck to the cardboard, and with a foil liner; foil closest to the gearbox. Does it make any difference at all if the silver heatproof material is stuck to the inside of the tunnel and THEN the soundproofing is put in place, or if the soundproofing is attached to the outer tunnel then the foil is placed over that so that the first layer is the foil? I'm just curious!

So it is! I bought the slightly larger kit from eBay, arrived yesterday and I started on one of the old cardboard Herald tunnels that had lost all of the insulation and was cracked and flopping about. I don't think I put enough activator in the resin - the instructions were to use half of the bottle with half of the tube, but I was only practising, so used about a tenth of each, and it took hours to set. I put two long strips on the cabin side of the top edge where it becomes vertical and seals against the bulkhead, where it was very warped and cracked, and on checking this morning it's perfectly straight and solid. I'm actually very surprised at how rigid it has become with just the two thin strips. I've trimmed it back this morning and later on will start on the inner faces where again it's badly cracked and needs attention. I'm very pleased with the results so far, once I insulate it with Deadmat it'll be better than new. I've to call in with the mate who repaired my Herald hardtop and who does all of my fibreglass repairs later today, but he's an absolute expert who knows all of the tips and tricks so I'll say nothing about doing it myself in case he gets offended...

Yes. LEAVE IT ALONE! Ok. Now, with regards to the other one... I'd love to see into HIS garage..

That works; I think that's why my wooden-handled hammer is so mangled. If you're a circus performer or a contortionist you can press it down with one knee thereby freeing up your hands to push the bolt through.

I can't wait, I changed mine last year (there was a trench which I rolled into on my side) but after buying a new mattress for about £800 it's turned out to be rock solid, like sleeping on boards. It hurts my shoulders, my hips, and my thighs however 'er indoors snoozes away all night and tells me I'm just a wimp. I blotted my copybook by showing her the bed advert which features the hippo and the duckling, then telling her I was the duckling...

OSB???? I don't even have wifi....

Go for the best you can afford; I bought one for £20, allegedly half price, from Tescos and it's rubbish. It records for about 10 seconds and the image is terrible. I bought one for my daughter's car from Halfords, cost me £100 but what appealed to me at the time was the free fitting where they will hardwire it into the car at an appointed time, so all of the wires are hidden and the power connections are into the fuse box. I could have run it through a 12v socket but like yourself didn't want the wiring to be untidily visible. https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/nextbase-322gw-limited-edition-bundle-236166.html I see the offer of free fitting has expired, now they're charging an extra £35... but out of all the dashcams I looked at this one seemed to fit the bill.

With the circlip removed and the cap and spring also on the bench I moved the plunger moved forward with light tapping of the outer casing, I used a plastic-headed hammer, but it would not come fully out; it just sat right at the end. I tried a pair of pliers in the end, pressing them outwards to wedge into the plunger but no go, so eventually managed to get the head of a small screwdriver in to the end of the plunger and by wedging it sideways got enough pressure to pull the plunger out. The plunger is heavily gunged up, so I cleaned it and cleaned the solenoid case out with carb cleaner aerosol; once I put it back in again it rattled as it should. If I can get the circlip for the end I'll maybe replace the o-rings that I can see, as I don't want to open the case and repair to destruction.

You don't need a spring lifter; most of the components will line up fine without one - at most you'll need a heavy screwdriver to lift the spring eyes in line with the rear vertical links.

If it hasn't been off in ages use a socket with a 6 foot breaker bar that you can walk along and jump up and down. Anything else will only give you torn muscles, apart from an impact wrench which will have it off in seconds. I even jacked the car up on a trolley jack under the socket wrench and long extension handle, which lifted it off the ground without releasing...

Before I finally close this mega thread (I was going to say put it to bed but you know how it goes on here) I've managed to get the plunger out of the old solenoid, cleaned it up a bit and now that it plays the maracas might keep it as a spare. However: I can't find a source for the small circlip at the end, which broke into rusty bits when I removed it. Any sources?

Anti-condensation roofing is a must; on my last shed I had no windows but two rooflights and the water dripped from these in surprising amounts, but nowhere else, as the rest of the roof was anti-condensation sheeting. It was metal-framed and bolted straight to the concrete floor, and the bottom metal box section rusted amazingly quickly. Even in the block-built garage next to it, there were days when everything, even the tools, were soaking wet with condensation, and that, as Tony says, was a well-ventilated garage.

In 2000 I had four brand new tyres fitted to the Herald Estate restoration, £25 each, they're still on it but in that time they've covered about... fifty feet. The tread's still great, though. The code is K4400; the GT6 code appears to be CCF1810 (Firestones) but to be honest I thought they were older. I've to buy four tyres for the 1200 convertible tomorrow or the next day so will price the GT6 too. The aged but unworn Herald versions will go on my 6 x 4 trailer.

Pass me your glasses, Pete.. I misread that as: when bedding a lass an old glove filled with sand makes a nice soft whacker...