Colin Lindsay

Latest update: new switch arrived and fitted; no more fuse blowing, all facilities on that fuse now stay on and we have reversing lights... but no overdrive at all. I replaced the metal cable cover on the underside of the steering column with a nicer one from the spares pile and it fitted a lot more easily, so there has been a lot of distortion over the years; no more compressing of the cables, all nicely routed up out of the way with cable ties, but went for a run this afternoon and no overdrive at all. At one point I thought I felt the familiar 'lurch' as it came in (or more exactly - went off) but moving the column stalk does nothing at all immediately. I'm wondering if the solenoid might be dead? It clicked once when the replacement switch was tested, but not at all since. The ICE has also stopped working, so more detective work is required.

Longest pipe to shortest; in the Herald the pipe runs under the heater to the passenger side but then runs back across to driver's side across the chassis, same at the rear, so driver's side rear, passenger side rear, then driver's side front and passenger side front. You shouldn't have to bleed anything else. Just keep the MC full as you work, and make sure it doesn't drop to empty as you're doing the bleeding.

Good point - clingfilm over the MC rarely works on its own. (Can't I claim that open brake pipe as a leak? )

Yes and no! They were on original sills as additional fittings to the chassis rail; just bend them straight and, keeping the sill as straight along the lines of the car as possible, self-tap them to the bottom of the long outer chassis side rail. Now: having said that, I've seen replacement sills which had none and which seemed to stay in place pretty well. If they're missing it's not the end of the world, the sills will do fine without, but they're a belt-and-braces approach. You can always make brackets to replace them; bond them (saves having to weld them) to the inside face of the sill in the same place as the originals on the other side and then screw to the rails.

If it empties, you've got a leak somewhere! The pipes don't really hold that much fluid; refill, bleed all four and then watch for evidence of leaks or drips at any of the junctions.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/triumph-stag-Original-V8-Engine-For-Rebuild/202976960990?hash=item2f425ea1de%3Ag%3AHIgAAOSwKb1ep0ru&LH_ItemCondition=4 This guy has lots of them, varying conditions. There's also a Mk2 V8 on eBay from a private seller, but he wants £1000 for it, and it needs a rebuild too. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/triumph-stag-Original-V8-Engine/203034217004?hash=item2f45c84a2c%3Ag%3A6F0AAOSwvfFe-Reh&LH_ItemCondition=4

Ouch!! Hope the wrist gets better. When doing these I attack from the end, you can see a small gap between the channel and the bottom of the glass, so a good long screwdriver blade in here will prise the two apart. For resealing I just use Tigerseal round a rubber channel cut and shaped from an old inner tube. Works for me!

Two interesting points to that: Firstly putting the UJs in the fridge to solidify the grease... never tried that. Secondly not using any additional grease; I do on greasable UJs; with the grease nipple removed fill the caps with grease, and as you tighten each one to the correct position the grease fills the entire inside before squeezing out of the grease nipple aperture. Saves faffing with a grease nipple especially when you can't see how much grease is going in. I have also never ever got the hammer method to work! Most of mine, by the time I've come to replace them, have been horrendously rusty UJs from basket cases so need a lot of effort to remove.

Wait until you retire and £25 on a new switch becomes a major expense..

My speed went from about 100kbps - on a good day, sometimes it was about 35kbps - to around 34mbps when I moved house and got fibre; both were BT but I was 4 miles from the exchange, now I'm 50 feet from the green box. I used to leave the computer updating for three or four days for basic software updates; now it does the same in 20 minutes which includes installation time. One thing I've noticed, though - if someone else in the house is on the Net - Netflix, or surfing on a phone - it boots my computer off and I get the message: "Your connection to the server has been lost.".

Seems to have reached the reserve; currently sitting at £4100. Nice to see one that isn't telephone numbers.

I was going to suggest flooding; excess fuel builds up until the carbs flood, but then evaporates so that after a time you can drive again, but if there's no fuel that's hardly likely. On the other hand, could it be a blocked breather at the fuel tank - the vacuum builds up until the pump can't overcome it and so can no longer pump? Have you tried it with the fuel cap off?

I remember when the Ford conversions were THE big thing, no matter what mods were required, and where the gearstick ended up, and remember thinking then, as now: surely for that sort of money there is someone out there who could commence remaking the internals for our own Triumph gearboxes, uprated if possible but at least OE quality, so that we would have the proper parts to keep the originals running. Last time I talked to Mike Papworth he didn't have sufficient parts for reconditioning Herald gearboxes. £2500 plus VAT plus fitting per car is a lot of remanufactured parts for the original boxes, and I can't believe that someone can't come up with a solution.

Aren't their conversions very expensive? £2465 for the TR version... that would buy a lot of Vitesse gearboxes!

Round button versions are everywhere, the square ones with the small red button are much harder to find these days.

If the two cables to and from the switch were frayed and touching each other, inside of the outer coating, it would just short out the switch, so that the circuit would be permanently on. I don't think it's so close to the indicator that it's touching the metal body, nor could I find anywhere that was obviously shorting to anything metal, but in any case, the new switch has arrived so I'll be fitting it with extra care and making sure everything is isolated.

Markus - the fuses are correct, I have to buy them (in large quantities recently!!) online. Nowhere in my locality has them any more. Peter - no idea! The wires under the outer sheathing on the first were badly frayed, but the second is all in good nick, everything else is plastic, but the two column stalk switches blow the fuses and a substitute doesn't. Even if the wiring under the sheathing was frayed and touching, it would only leave a permanent live so that the overdrive would be permanently on. I can't find a break anywhere which would short to earth. I'm going to try to rewire one with slightly heavier cable, just for the interest factor - it's only two soldered joints but as usual not as easy as the factory would have made it - and see how the rewired one performs. New switch on the way so we'll see what difference that makes when it arrives.

Of course it is. It's Summer.

Remember that you only need the things you don't bring.

Yep, J-type don't have one - they take the power straight from the reversing light circuit. If you want to see what it looks like, have a look at my 'GT6 blowing fuses' thread in the Electrical section - photos on page 2.

I don't need any additives... ( or are you referring to bromine?) Just building the interior back into the car and finding out that the fuses still don't blow afterwards will be a real high.

I downloaded his parts list but couldn't find them....

That appears to have happened with the first switch, Gary; I've found damage under the sheathing and the exposed wiring is quite green. However: I removed the NOS switch that I fitted after that one and replaced it as a test with a small pull switch, and wonder of wonders nothing blows and you can hear the solenoid clicking (or it did the first time...) This second column stalk is perfect - no damage to wiring, no visible damage to anything else, yet I've tested it again and it blows the fuse immediately. So: at this point it's the switch. Now I just have to wait for the one I ordered online earlier and confirm. I think I'll route it outside the column clamp. Thanks for all your help and enduring my thinking-out-loud in large amounts on these pages which helps focus the mind immensely.

I fill the spare wheel with spares; rubber gloves, cable ties, insulating and gaffer tape, a length of rope, a couple of screwdrivers and spanners - adjustable are good as they can fit a multiple of sizes, and booster cables - mostly just general stuff to get me home rather than specialised repairs. Some form of groundsheet to lie on too, as these things usually happen when you're not in your garage attire. If you put it all in a plastic tub you can use that for carrying water.

It was one of the first things I did, replacing the switch... but I'm wondering if it was all ok under the outer sheathing? I'm also wondering if... I broke the indicator by careless headbutting when I came up out of the footwell, and replaced the indicator stalk, and it's possible the fuses only started after that - I remember blaming the wiper motor, which had frayed cabling, and got it all rebuilt. So: I replaced the original overdrive switch with an NOS spare; what are the chances of the replacement also being damaged, either before-hand, or at the fitting stage when compressed by the column shrouds? Therefore Peter - and you too Rob - may be right about the switch; I'll have to strip the outer sheathing on it to check the wires underneath. I'll fit a small pull-switch into the circuit as a stop-gap and that will confirm.