Colin Lindsay

Ok back to the tub spread. My little set of trailer ties being insubstantial, I borrowed a huge set of ratchets. This certainly had an effect, it pulled the spot weld off the top of the b-post on the passenger side, where the rear wing overlaps with the B-post. Thankfully I was able to hammer it back into place and the rear trims will cover it. The passenger side is now quite presentable and the door actually latches, so I'll call that side a success - the photo shows how far the top of the wing bends in under tension before springing back out when released. The other side has proved more of a problem. In order to only bend one wing I've slanted the ratchets at an angle so as to pull on the top of the driver's side but the bottom of the passenger side. This pulls the wing in, okay, but then causes a problem at the top of the wing and the door shut. When the bottom of the wing is in place with the lower part of the door skin, the door is sitting too far in towards the B post and the gap has moved from the outside bottom to the inside top - again, think diagonal. When I close the door against the b-post it's now hitting the windscreen frame at the A-post, almost as if the whole door has been tilted at an angle. I'm debating shimming the door back out at the hinges, if that's feasible. When I pull the wings together the gap at the top of the door becomes quite alarming - here it is bent back in from 48" to 46.5", which is where I want it. in this photo below the bottom of the skin is correct to the rear wing, so it's quite an angle. As the wings bend in, you can see the floors flex, and the holes for the seatbelt anchors on the gearbox tunnel actually drop by about an inch. I'm going to allow it to sit for a time under tension, then release - which it does with quite a bang. Hopefully this will have stretched it back into place sufficiently for me to say it's done. I still don't like that passenger door gap - it's just an 1/8 inch out, but is annoying me - I'll phone a couple of mates later and see if they're able to call over later in the week and do the donkey work for me while I do the fine adjustment - sliding and gapping a rear tub in three dimensions is not an easy job for one.

Great! Now DON'T do it again.

Bill at Rarebits used to sell an extension cover moulded to clear the bolts, but it's no longer on his website.

Given a speed limit of 70mph over here... that's more than adequate. Anyway most drivers who reach 70mph do it in the 30s....

Inspect the flare when you remove it, and see if there's any deformation caused by tightening - this will give an indication of what's down the hole causing the leak. Those look like Kunifer pipes? Copper being softer will compress more and give a better seal - might be worth a try?

TOMORROW!! WOOHOO!! 1st July. From the crack of dawn... or doom... I'll be on the phone to book a test for the GT6 - testing resumes from July 20th for cars that cannot avail of a TEC. It can only be booked by phone but cars which cannot get a TEC will be given priority. Here's hoping...

It could be based on the JPR Wildcat replica, most of which were based on Ford running gear with a tubular chassis; it all depends on how much modification or construction the GRP worker actually did. I know there were both Challenger and Wildcat replicas but they've folded for some years now due to lack of demand. The bonnet looks very Vincent Hurricane, though.

Awwwwwww.... I love to sing in my Triumph, it drowns out the noise from my gearbox. In fact it sounds just like the noise from my gearbox...

So YOU'RE that seller on eBay????? "The photo makes them look worse than they are, these will clean up easily and are good for years to come. No returns accepted."

TSSC NI is heading out tomorrow night, but for a run, not a 1st-of-the-month-sitdown meeting. We can shout out of our car windows at each other. I'm bringing a brush shaft with a metal ring on the end so that when we stop for ice cream the vendor can just set the cone into it from a safe distance...

They're manufactured, ok, I just can't find a supplier - every time I try to link to a photo, the link is dead or the webpage no longer exists. I bought replacements from Paddocks last month, but just in rubber. The instructions in the WSM are to screw them as far as they will go then back off until they will rotate freely in either direction, this for me has been 'screw tight then back off 180 degrees' so that the rubber cap is compressed very slightly. Next thread down ie a complete 1.5 rotational unwind is too loose.

Looks like a PO-added section; it's a usual spot for rust due to road dirt and moisture thrown up during driving. I doubt that even in the bad days of 1970s quality control that they'd have sold that to anyone.

Any seal in the caliper should be down inside where the flare seats and the brake pipe end doesn't usually screw in so far that it has to mate with the caliper edge. Is it leaking out around the pipe where it enters the pipe end? I'm wondering, have you used the correct pipe and pipe end? I know there are both metric and imperial and mixing won't be as good a seal as a matched set; similarly, what flare did you use? Just pondering the causes and options out loud... but I've never liked using any kind of seal on the braking system, it should be fluid-tight by itself.

I'll agree with that. Don't chance those, even for a short trip. When they go, they really go, and having had two halfshafts snap over the years (non-roto GT6) the amount of damage caused, and the resulting bother and cost of repairs is far more than replacement doughnuts would have been. The halfshafts both snapped at relatively slow speed; I'd worry that those doughnuts would continue until they get too much force, maybe cornering at speed, and off you go through the hedge. I paid £1300 in bodywork alone, plus the cost of replacement halfshaft assemblies and original panels, for the repairs to my current GT6 and although it's a swing-spring model that's twice the cost, at least, of a CV conversion. Even the cheaper doughnuts, expecting to have to replace them after only a year or two, would be better than risking those.

Pin or bush could really be either... I'd be replacing the bushes as a matter of course, but when you get the unit stripped down, look at the threads for wear, or rock from side to side to check for movement. Hopefully it will be trunnion rather than vertical link. These threads are badly worn, and will need the entire link replaced, otherwise they'll break off at the weakest point.

Not the old white tubular versions, those bring back memories! You can get boring modern clear versions but you'd never make a rocket or a submarine from them. Nor can you cut the bottoms off and use them for paint, or the top half as a filler funnel for petrol, or anything else that's useful...

I never modified mine but just push it back past the last notch, so that every time I brake sharply it slides forward until it clicks, and I have to push it back again...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-Instrument-Binnacle-with-Oil-Pressure-Gauge-Ammeter/193529442229?hash=item2d0f40efb5:g:Hp0AAOSwocFe64JE Comes with a nice little binnacle too... there's also a gauge on its' own for £9.50.. but why do I think that's TOO easy? I thought I had one until I remembered that it had been +50 to -50 and I sold it on eBay long ago. I like this one, from a Jag: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaeger-IP-2500-02-Smiths-Gauge-For-Amps-And-Oil/392848085847?hash=item5b77921357:g:P-UAAOSwiX1eUlmM

Of course, you could go completely gutterless / seamless at the front...

Simple enough to replace the switch straight to the block and see if the light goes out. Similarly - just remove the t-piece and crank the engine; oil should fly out of the hole. If you suspect oil is circulating but just not being shown to be, remove the rocker cover and see if there's fresh oil around the rockers / head. As a light aside - don't get depressed, this one will puck you up in no time....

Definitely a lot better than the single-skin metal versions which are like bacon slicers if you're not careful! I had to remove a long metal version with radio and two gauges from under the Herald dashboard when it kept slicing my legs. Lots of older cars used instrument pods, keep an eye out for any coming up for sale as they sometimes look nicer than modern versions. Don't forget: they don't call them worry gauges for nothing...

Sorry, didn't realise that we had established the tacho as being the problem; was thinking about gearing etc.

I don't think it takes any pressure, any kind of funnel with a tube of suitable size will do, even the old Blue Peter washing up liquid bottle will squeeze a quantity in. Assuming the oil pick-up pipe has not been blocked by anything - the foil top off the oil container didn't drop in? (Seen that done, and the resulting bother to find it again!)

Or, if you can, get hold of a little stand-alone rev counter - you can buy them for just over a tenner online - and wire it in paralell as a test of your original unit.

I think the Herald was the same; I have a metal pipe from an early Herald that is shaped to go round the front of the engine.