Colin Lindsay

Don't be disheartened by a lack of response; people like myself, who have absolutely no expertise in things like this, look on it as a very welcome source of help - but only when it's needed! Once something unavailable breaks it will probably be my first port of call, but only when; and if someone has gone to the bother of drawing plans for my much-needed part, that's when it all makes sense. It's going to be the future way of doing things - you need a part, someone draws up the pattern and saves it in a library, maybe even just for club members, and you either get it manufactured yourself or else get it printed / made through a listed outlet of places endorsed by the club or its' members. Having a resource like this sitting in the background is great, but having it there when you need it is priceless. Keep it going!

It's a unique model to the MK1 (and one of the TR range) Get it refurbished here: https://classicrecons.wordpress.com I had mine rebuilt earlier this year by Anthony and to be honest I'll probably send him the spare one I have, too. It came back like new.

I always did it starting furthest from master cylinder as the pipes run, then work back. The pipework crosses from driver's side to passenger side so although the cylinder is on the driver's side the pipework crosses over and so the two driver's side brakes are actually further away in pipework terms. That would mean - on UK cars - driver's side rear, passenger side rear, driver's side front then passenger side front.

It was the TV screen that caught my eye; sat nav and DVD presumably, with very natty side speakers?

On the other hand it's a rust-free bonnet and a huge weight saving, so could actually add value... It's all in the way in which you phrase the advert. Luke - have a look at adverts on the TSSC website, and on eBay or Gumtree - that gives you some idea of what prices are like at present. Compare yours as like-for-like as you can and it will illustrate the current going price. There's no such thing as a set price, it all depends on the market and the expertise of the buyer, and how badly they want one, or how badly the seller needs to sell. Eventually you have to bite the bullet and set a price, and see who enquires.

Rimmers have a lot of 'overheads' hence their higher prices and higher shipping costs. Many of the parts come from the same manufacturer in any case. Chic is great for phone discussions on parts, advice on fitting or alternative parts and an excellent returns / refund policy if there are any problems.

I just bought a new one last time, saves me worrying about what side it came from.

I complain regularly on here - makes Doug laugh - but an £8 sheet of felt and £9 postage? Especially when I can buy a 5m x 60cm roll of soundproofing elsewhere and get free postage? The last one was Newton Commercial where the seat straps were £30 and the carriage was £35... I've just had 25kg of sandblast grit delivered from the UK mainland for £14 carriage, and 25kg would be an enormous quantity of felt.

It was multi-storey car parking, the lintels at the top were to prevent caravans and campers from staying overnight. As regards radio suppression, shouldn't we ask North Korea for the best method?

Roll on 2020, that's all I can say.

They should be the same all the way round; I know some cars have a poorly-fitted bonnet so a large gap where the door hinges are, and sometimes pattern sills don't fit as neatly as the originals so gaps can be larger than optimal but it should be a neat uniform spacing all round. Heralds are 3/8; no idea if that's the same for the GT6.

https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/product/986/felt A metre of this stuff may do the trick, although I went right through to checkout before finding that the carriage costs more than the felt. That's becoming a pet hate of mine; I must try to source some locally.

I'd bin it. For all it costs, it's the peace of mind of knowing you're running on good clean fluid and whilst your jar may look full of clean fluid, your brakes will soon let you know if it isn't.

The new owner called in with an old mate of mine earlier in the week, at the other end of the country, to buy wheels - I'm assuming alloys - but when he mentioned where he had bought it the vendor knew immediately who had sold it, even though I had not seen him in ages. This is why I couldn't sell a lemon, it would come back to bite me at some future stage! This country of ours is too small and I guarantee I'll run into it again at some show or other, so don't want to be hiding from new owners just in case...

Big variation in the price of Graphogen. I paid £27 for a 125g tube, and prices online that I checked yesterday were varying from £29.50 for a 50g tube right up to £43 for the larger.

Lovely work. Did you buy the felt as a specific piece, or cut it from a larger section? I'm trying to identify a modern equivalent that I can buy in a larger section and cut to shape for various small jobs, plus I'm looking for a modern replacement for the foam in heater boxes - you know the stuff that goes round the matrix?

Great - an interpreter!

Buying from China doesn't worry me, I'm more likely to catch something nasty from my local supermarket which is full of goods that have travelled halfway round the world. I think we've more chance of catching something from the bubble wrap - which is full of air from places unknown - than the items themselves... What I do dislike it buying online from UK sellers, only to find that the items are despatched from China and take weeks to arrive. I'll agree with Pete, I've thrown out more brake bleeding devices than I can remember, and always reverted to feet, the pedal, and a short plastic tube.

It's amazing how much you see - wrong - when you return to a car that you haven't looked at in 17 years... the bulkhead was fitted wrong, a lot of the suspension had been wire brushed and Hammerited, and even the engine had just been fitted with no more renovation than a coat of paint - and green, at that. Now I'm hopefully doing it properly, the body will go on much better and the engine has been rebored, and all other bits are sandblasted and painted properly. The benefit of a few more years of experience!

I still reckon the starter is seized, probably with rust; remove it, dismantle it - only two screws - and you'll see that the internals are not moving no matter how much power they get. The inbuilt solenoid throws the gears forward and at the same time they get current to make them spin; as they're stuck then they're not moving forward to engage, hence the car will move freely but the starter will not turn. I can't find the photos of mine, it featured in The Courier years back, and shows the state the internals get into when water gets in through the drain hole.

I would disagree with you on one small point.... have more than one biscuit! Wait until you have two fingers of each hand holding the seal in place while you hold a small screwdriver in your mouth and hook it around with that. But, well done; it's always great to know that something didn't defeat you.

They had a tin on the quiz programme QI, but explained that you usually opened it under water; if it had been opened in the studio they claimed the entire place would have required fumigation.

Unless they fit somewhere on the bonnet that I don't know about, I'd guess they go on the boot floor, but maybe your Spitfire is too late for what I'm thinking of - rear overrider reinforcement panel brackets? My GT6 has two of them which hold the rear overriders on - part number 29 in the attached diagram. What's throwing me is that later cars don't have rear overriders, unless they're used for the rear bumper?

14s are simple; I found them much easier than late 16s that I had on the GT6, and I think they're also a lot easier than 12s. I'm using 14s on both Heralds so have not yet got round to trying any work on the type 12s - I split one once both to get a seriously rusted piston out and to see what they looked like inside, so must go back and complete the job if I ever get enough free time. They're easier to work on in two halves! The little rubber seal between the halves is available from suppliers, part CS1 (caliper seal 1)