Colin Lindsay

Last time mine failed it was the starter mechanism that had rusted due to water ingress through the drain hole; both solenoids were working and clicking, but the starter gears were not moving. I had to strip it down, clean and regrease everything, but since then it's worked perfectly.

Not stupid at all; the rear tub is not yet bolted fully in place as the passenger door has not yet been fitted, and there is quite a gap under some of the mounting points. Once I get the doors properly fitted and gap the tub I'll bolt it down and see if it draws the sides in at all; I don't remember the tub spread being this bad when it was last fitted, so it's possible there's a bit of twisting to go yet. If I remember, the passenger side was almost perfect, so it might just be one side. The Estate has been worked on, abandoned, restarted again, abandoned again, shunted to one side and left under a cover for the last 15 years or so. It was roughly assembled, then other restorations got in the way, and then I got the offer of a free respray in two-pack in a professional body shop so jumped at the chance, but there was such a short time that it was not properly put together - the Herald was collected and taken away before I had time to complete a lot of the work. The door skins, for example, were crimped but never welded, and the roof was set in place but not bolted on, which is why it blew off on the way back along the motorway. If it wasn't for lockdown it might never be finished, it's had more work in the last few months than in the preceding decades, and even then has been proceeding slowly alongside a TR7, GT6 and 1200 convertible restoration... so never seems to get the attention it deserves.

That would be a good buy for somebody; not only will the brake backplate be dimple-free but the halfshaft won't be a dubious quality that shears when driving, like mine do.... I like the little protective cap over the threads.

Tub spread. It always has to happen to me. That's a job for a couple of mates and me, once I work out if it's both sides, and what to attach straps to in the Estate without banjaxing anything beyond repair. BTW Pete.... cheap body clamps:

Type 14? You just need four hands.

The bonnet repairs were done locally, a very good bodyworker who has sadly since retired - he charged me £400 but did an amazing job, and that was back in the mid-1990s. Chic did both chassis and bulkhead - and reskinned the doors if I remember correctly - but this was back in about 1998 / 1999 and I remember it wasn't cheap, as the chassis required one complete main rail. The repairs to the roof C posts and the respray were free due to a deal with a local garage, where I worked for them, up to seven / eight hours per day on top of my own job, and they repaid in labour. I've found another good bodyworker about six miles from me, his rate is £20 per hour, and he'll get the convertible rear tub plus other small touch-up jobs like the front valence for the red 1200. The white car has the tub back on, but not very well; in fact it was a bit of a shambles earlier. Up and down like a fiddler's proverbial. A shim at the end of the bulkhead actually worked wonders, for something so small and so simple, and the door did straighten to some extent, but now needs to drop at the front so as to rotate into the gap and align to the B post. Sadly we have serious tub spread; it's sitting out at the bottom by a mile and at the top the door is tight to the A post even without the rubber seal fitted. I can't check it that applies to both sides, since the passenger door has had to come off again. The captive plate in the A post is playing silly bu&&ers and won't line up - it does with no door on, but once I'm trying to hold the door in place and insert a bolt it slips downwards again, and I wrung two of the threads so badly the door had to come off so that I could retap them. I also found out the quality of modern day mounting clamps - cheap rubbish. I know they only tighten lightly but I hadn't even begun to abuse this one. Thankfully I have original versions and might even have some heavy duty versions made up for later use. If only lockdown would end I could have a couple of friends round and have all this done in a day, but things are dragging on too long for pleasure. .

I don't have one!! MK1s weren't reckoned to be a hazard. It's years since I had a MK3, sold my last one in 2000, so was going by photos on the Net, none of which were great - it's amazing how many irrelevant photos come up if you search Triumph GT6 Mk3 dashboard. Even worse if you take safesearch off... 😮

Don't you have any locally brewed alcohol?

That's not exactly the correct switch The original comes through from behind and has no surround, just the wooden aperture, suggesting it's attached from behind and so doesn't push in / pull out from the front.

The felt seal faces inwards ie towards the vertical link. Original ones ie Unipart are quite heavy dark felt; later ones are thinner and white felt, rarely fit too easily, and come off the metal backplate very easily. Payen NA988 or Unipart GHS110. They will press in with light finger pressure whereas the other ones need tapped in and frequently distort to destruction.

Definitely better than my first attempt... The door is as far forward as it will go, with quite a gap from the bonnet. The passenger side is slightly better but the captive plate for the lower hinge was playing silly bu&&ers so it had to be removed again. The bulkhead will require to be shimmed up and forward - today's job - then I'll see how things go. It's a difficult job for one. Underneath, the rearmost mounting is well up off the chassis, although none of the rear tub mounts have been fully tightened yet. I'll have to stop chipping paint! I think my tub has spread slightly, one door at least is out at the bottom, but I'll try to get them to fit first then see where things are.

You can buy the entire panel these days, remanufactured (Chic Doig) Wonder if the flap is still available? Too lazy to go looking... but if Mike isn't too worried about originality that's the way to go. I was very nearly doing that myself and no-one will ever see, to be honest.

No doubt there are, and there are replacement modern engines too, and all sorts of modern electronic stuff in which I have absolutely no interest. The real challenge is finding a solution that enables cars to keep their original parts as far as possible and operate as originally intended, and I doubt if the entire Classic movement will just bin their carbs and all fit Efi, so the solution is out there and I hope those in the know are working on it.

It might even be easier just to remove one of the gauges - rev counter might be easier - and work through the aperture, or the central dash section and lean in around the speedo to push the switch out. The switch looks quite strange, no surround to it which may mean that it's held in place from behind. The choke cable goes through the dash but if the knob is removable then once it and the silver bezel are removed the dash should pull off over it. It's certainly not the easiest switch to access.

Definitely one out to the right, beside the eyeball vent, and I'd guess there's a second, but not sure where; possibly lower edge? If you can get a mirror up behind the dash you might be able to spot them, but the clocks and wiring don't help in this area.

There are captive bolts on metal plates screwed to the wood and which then bolt through the metal backing, and fitted with nuts in behind. On the Mk3 left hand panel I think there are two, one below and right of the eyeball vent, and one out near the point of the left edge. They're quite small but with the glove box cover removed you should be able to both feel them and get access.

Sell you some?

The rubber boots are real hens teeth these days; I have one for each of my Heralds and one still has the price sticker from Mick Dolphin, so he may have more. All we can do is to keep an eye out at autojumbles etc but put a post in the 'Parts Wanted' section and then we'll know to keep a look out. The pipe itself can be awkward; the choice is to either cut it straight off as per the later cars and fit a flap, or else source a suitable replacement pipe. I tried it three times on my early 1200 and found out that the pipe does not come straight out of the heater panel; if it does, the heater box will rock on top of it. It needs to have a curve so that it rests off the bulkhead but not touching the heater. Twice I had straight pipes welded on and twice they had to come off again. The solution was a length of 1.5 inch exhaust pipe, using a curved section; if it was cut down through the curve at an angle then the end face sits flat against the heater panel but drops almost immediately then curves flat again under the heater and most importantly up off the bulkhead. It took a bit of trial and error but we got the right curve eventually.

You'll love this one, then.... one I bought back about 2005. The rear outriggers have metal box section, looks about 2 inch, on top of them and the tub still wouldn't level up. The door gap was quite spectacular. On my current Herald I'm using the canvas-reinforced mountings and am compressing them quite substantially, I'd agree about 50%. They're bulging out at the sides but I guarantee you they won't move about.

I hope someone comes up with a better solution than 'bin the carbs'...

I think my Heralds should be okay with what I've done so far but as for the GT6, what's the cure for the Strombergs?

I remember seeing a pile of washers on a coachbolt, maybe four inches tall, under one Herald boot... I have my rear tub roughly in place, and even when resting on the chassis the rearmost O/S mounting at the rear seat is a good inch off the chassis rail. I've paused for a bit to do other things but will get back to it before long and see how things gap up.

So: you reckon I should add louvres?

I bought TSSC side valences and cowl in about 2001 and they're good for years yet. I was feeling inferior in later years when the louvred versions came out so bought add-on louvres at an autojumble, but never fitted them... That Rimmers version looks to be painted card with a reinforced metal strip, as per the original.

I referred to one of these in the GT6 oil thread: LIDL sell them for between £11.99 and £14.99 depending on the current offers; I have a mate with a breaker's yard who uses them for brake fluid draining plus oil draining through the dipstick. I used one recently for topping up diff and gearbox oil and had no problems; it just runs off a spare battery. The only problem with draining engine oil through the dipstick is that you're never sure if you've got it all, as you can never tell where the end of the pipe is in relation to the sump, but it'll get the majority out and the thinner the oil the faster it pumps, so hot oil works better but softens the pipes so you have to make sure they don't soften to the point of collapse. It will drain the diff too if you need to change the oil and can allegedly - never tried it - be used for bleeding brakes, but you need to keep a tight eye on the master cylinder fluid level.