Colin Lindsay

Mike Costigan's book shows four photos; 948 Herald, drum braked 1200 Herald, disc braked 13/60 Herald and Vitesse, and all have the brake pipe running behind the heater. As it's the only reference I checked, it made me believe that they were all like that - maybe some models differed?

Well, if they're in KPH you're in the wrong country... so turn about smartish and head North.

No, that's a 13/60... and my eyes aren't good enough to spot said clips...! However: it may be the case that early cars routed the brake pipe from the master cylinder across behind the heater; later ones routed it across in front of the heater? In which case they're for a later car than this should be... but they were welded on in accordance with reference photos when the bulkhead was restored and before it was painted, so I may have used a 13/60 bulkhead photo for reference rather than an early one... no worries, I can hang a spare ignition lead or fanbelt or the like from them.

I suppose we should start a 'Things you've always meant to ask or wanted to know' part of the forum, but on working on my 1200 bulkhead there are two metal clips above the bellhousing that don't seem to do anything - see photo; I've added black plastic covers to make them stand out more, just below the heater box. Neither the loom not brake pipes route anywhere near these on any of my Heralds and I've just spent a half hour perusing photos, and none of the Heralds in those seem to have any use for them. Anyone use them or know what they're actually for?

Glad you're sorted; I kind of see the forum / club as a country-wide general thing but the local areas as the grass-roots on-the-ground part of it. They're the guys in the know!

Why don't you ask the local area members? Not much point in the TSSC as a club holding records of services if the local members don't have any to supply; but conversely if they can tell the club, they can also tell local members?

My village has big signs which say 30, which causes real confusion as no-one knows if that means 60, 70 or 80...

No reason why not; the Herald just has an overflow pipe that vents to the ground and most filler caps these days are the same design, so unless I'm missing something in the mechanicals, you could just add an overflow bottle that would draw the coolant back in again, same as in the other models. It's a throwback to the early days when any kind of trip meant checking water and oil etc before starting off, so in theory the Herald should lose a small amount of water due to expansion which is then regularly topped up. Even if the system doesn't want to automatically draw the coolant back in, at least you can just pour it back in when cold and therefore not waste it.

Lucky you stay alive long enough to get older, you mean. When I think of some of the things done to my first cars, and even my friend's cars... 😮

I'll find a photo somewhere.. I took a few at the time, and not for the nostalgia either. Even the boot floor was a solid plain sheet of metal, no dimples or spare wheel well, either. The vendor asked me: "Would you give me £2000 for it?"... my reply of: "I wouldn't give you £200 for it" may be the reason he slammed the garage door down and walked back into his house.

That's why I phrased it: 'you would think' as it seems the obvious way to go, but it's not the solution. I've been searching for photos of a white 1360 convertible I looked at a few years back; there were no seams at all, even round the rear valences. Everything had been filled in with a kind of resin and painted over. It reminded me of a boat.

You would think that the way to treat that gap at the top of the bonnet is to shim the bulkhead at the front so that it slopes backwards and therefore allows more room for movement along the base of the windscreen; but this then moves the doors back closer to the B-posts and if you move them forward, they hit the base of the screen pillar. Factory instructions were to get the bulkhead and bonnet right, gap the doors to that, then slide the bulkhead on to allow a 3/8" gap at the B-posts. Easier than it sounds...

That's what came into my head, too... one part of the car is pulling against another and the weaker may not necessarily be the B post. That's why I want to pull against something static, so that all of the force is directed against the part I want to adjust.

My GT6 horn only works when you turn the steering column slightly; press the horn push, nothing, but sight sideways pressure on the steering wheel and it goes off full blast. I'm wondering what the cause of that is?

I have always been fond of Apple Mac since my first 'proper' computer, a 603e Performa back in the mid-90s. I use a PC for simple programmes like photo editing that I can't get for the Mac, but otherwise stick to Apple. Recently they've jumped on the bandwagon, slowing older Macs down deliberately in the hope that people will buy a new 'faster' version, and releasing updated versions of their Operating System which are all-singing, all-dancing and then you find that nothing works with them any more. I'm keeping one Mac in an old OS so that many things, including my iPods and music software, will continue to work, rather than having to shell out on the 2020 versions of both hardware and software in order to have things work as before. Can you imagine Triumph selling you a car, then bringing out fuel that the car won't use, making you upgrade to a different engine, then making that engine obsolete in a year or two so that the keys won't work, and the radio won't work... but we put up with it on computers.

"This approach (introduction of E10 by 2021) has been backed by the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA) and the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs(FBHVC), providing that E5 was kept available in a higher octane ‘protection grade’. Since then, Sir Greg Knight MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group, has written to Parliament and been assured by a DfT Minister that the Government recognised that historic vehicles needed such a fuel. In response to a similar written question from FBHVC President Lord Steel, the DfT reply went further and stated that the Government intended to make the continued availability of the protection grade fuel a legal requirement for five years, which is the longest period permitted before a review. There are already various additives available to stabilise ethanol, to suit vehicles with or without catalytic converters, in a similar vein to lead-replacement additives." Those are the two important points that will kill it for us - remember leaded? LRP fuel? We were told it would be sold alongside unleaded to suit vehicles that required it. Where is it now? FIVE YEARS is nothing - by 2022, let alone 2026, you'll have trouble finding good fuel in 99% of fuel stations. If there are additives available, the the view will be that it is up to US to buy them to make our cars compatible, not for any garages to stock a costly and limited-market fuel that might just be used by the occasional Classic Car that passes by. (And not all classics, either - given that a classic these days seems to be any car that has left the showroom then Classic Cars that can't run on E10 are in a small percentage, and so only a niche market.)

It all depends on what you anchor it to - the trick is to pull each wing in by the required amount; and then to stop pulling on the wing that has reached the optimum point whilst still exerting force on the other. They may not both move, which is a problem. My passenger side moved in to almost perfect but the other side still springs back when released. I tried anchoring one end of the strap to the post of a car lift and it simply pulled the car across the floor, sideways. I'm debating making up a metal brace which will attach to the floor - maybe to the centre tunnel seatbelt mounting point, and so screw through to the chassis - that will brace the passenger side and allow the driver's side to pull inwards.

GT6 Mk2 also, according to the parts list.

If the nut is turning, but not biting the threads then what's holding it on? Nowt. Pull or prise it straight off. If it's held on by some threads, then it needs to be prised to a spot where the threads will get a better bite. It's not a big job. Go remove it, young man, and get a large pat on the back from all of us when it's done.

It even appears on my Mac, asking if I want to install it, despite having NO Microsoft programmes on the computer. How do they do that?

Surely if you delete the photo it's gone? Go to your albums and see if it's there, then delete the actual photo, or else remove it from wherever it's stored. I had thought that if you change your signature to anything other than the photo, then this changes all the posts. Try a line of text instead, save and see how that goes.

You mean the signature picture? Go to your name at the top right of the page, then drop to account settings, then choose signature. You should be able to remove it.

but only if you really have to...

Thanks; it may not apply to the 1200 but just in case I've forgotten... Incidentally do you have any good closeups of the starter solenoid and the route the brake pipe takes round it? I've routed the brake pipe and now the solenoid won't fit...

No; it will just spin the nut around and maybe cause damage due to the speed. The nut needs to be unwound but also prised / pulled outwards on the remains of the threads. That's why I was suggesting a screwdriver in between those two washers; hammer it in if necessary to get it started but the outwards pressure may push the nut off the damaged section. A twisting motion of the screwdriver as you unwind the nut will also put outwards-pressure on it. The aim is to remove the nut but not damage anything else, as a replacement link costs quite a bit these days.