Colin Lindsay

You got to print it out, fill it in, then rescan it. It confused me for a time, too.

Pipes to the heater will be cold for most of their length if the heater is off, or if the valve is stuck or blocked. Easiest way to check is to disconnect the valve and run a pipe straight to the heater, this will tell you if the heater is working ok. You can clean the valve - in fact you can clean the heater too - by disconnecting the heater pipes and flushing them in both directions using a hose, making sure the valve is open, but it's also easy enough to take the valve off and clean it, even poking a short length of wire through it can clear debris. One other small point - are you sure the valve is opening and closing, and it's not just the dashboard control moving about but doing nothing? It's happened to me before, so check if you can see the valve physically opening or closing. Is it a Smiths or Delaney Gallay heater?

Don't have to, they drop off regularly. How thick is thick? I bought a huge sheet of this stuff a few years back to make pads for the lift, canvas reinforced rubber that was sold for HGVs, and I have plenty of it left but it's 15mm thick and I don't want a Herald that's head and shoulders above everyone else's...

Who is the best source for these nowadays? I know the original canvas-reinforced versions are unavailable but I don't want to use the current squishy-rubber versions either. I've got a full set of poly ones but am keeping those for another car. Does anyone know of good solid reliable ones that won't deform when tightened and thereby allow all sorts of creaks and groans?

Lockdown..... amazing what you do, and where you rummage about, when there's nothing else to do...!

Plus it makes the car smell nice...

The Service Training Manual has a little caveat on page 6: "The Vitesse chassis is not interchangeable with the Herald chassis due to differences in bonnet mounting and overrider brackets etc." This is the Mk2 Herald chassis and they don't mention the rear, only the front end where there is such an obvious difference in the 1200 and the Vitesse, so it would appear the rear end is okay. The body lip is quite pronounced right around the wheel arch, and on this Herald tub I'm currently working on it was removed completely but on one side only, for some strange reason; but very visible on the other side. It's been patched in that area and you'd think the PO would have added that extra bit to match.

Is this the door seal or the p-seal? One long-tried and tested tip is to slide a length of plastic tubing down the inside of the seal - on the door seals it goes in through the air holes that are dotted along the length - and this bulks the seal out enough to make it a tighter fit.

I switch to tea as soon as the body tells me it's overloaded with coffee. There are also certain biscuits that don't go well with coffee - Scots shortbread for one - so tea is a much better accompaniment. I don't drink it in the garage at all, but everytime something goes right and another job is completed, on goes the kettle. I'm only on the fourth coffee this morning, so off to the garage shortly.

Hello Marcus - you were quiet for so long I thought the corona had got you! I agree, treat the diff oil like any oil and change regularly. I don't care how good the oil is that was used forty years ago, it was never meant to last this long and I personally know of cars that have been owned for over twenty years and the diff has never been touched. Even if you can't drain the diff, then putting a lot of fresh oil in and waiting while the excess drains out, hopefully taking a lot of the old oil with it, is better than nothing.

How does it compare in price with the currently available Spitfire / Herald versions? (Between £90 and £100) I don't need one but they keep cropping up at weak moments...

One of my Estates was like that, I moved house back in 2016 and sent the V5 in to have the address changed. It was registered in my name in 1995 and had not been on the road since 1977. When SORN came in I tried to SORN it only to be told that as it had not been taxed, I didn't need to. Then of course, when I tried to change the V5 details they told me it was 'not on record' so I had to fill in a few forms and send photos to prove the car actually existed. Now we're street legal.... and it still has never been on the street.

My GT6 moved under its' own power this evening for the first time since August 2018 when we had the slight mishap coming back from a run; fitting the driver's seat was the final touch bar the two trim panels under the rear hatch - they've still to be altered slightly. NOW I need to find out if they're still doing MOTs over here; if so I can do the shopping runs in something a bit more fun than a Mondeo.

Chic Doig will make one on request, or would probably have a used one from a tub somewhere. He'd be my first port of call.

I've always known them as a P-seal and they were fitted to quite a few of our cars to stop water and wind getting in round the quarterlight frame; plus to stop the frame rattling. They're just glued to the windscreen pillar. You don't really notice if they're not there - visually I mean - but they do help with rattles. Cheap to buy if you need them: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-Spitfire-TR6-Herald-WINDSCREEN-PILLAR-P-SEAL/192147136166?hash=item2cbcdc9ea6:g:dzwAAOxy8HlSbGOH

That looks superb! What's the centre (silver) panel - two small switches and one rocker? (Just being nosey...) Your CD player reminds me that whilst my replacement JVC unit is working fine, it won't play USB sticks, just iPods or phones which I only found out when it was all installed, and which is not what I wanted at all. I wanted a dedicated USB stick of maybe 40 CDs to be kept in the slot, and be there when I took the GT6 out. Now I have to run a cable and have another player with me, which totally defeats the purpose of having no cables or bulky CDs lying about. I don't have anywhere near as many switches, though ...

Have a look at the 'blonde moments' section.. The single-rail is not a conversion that I've ever done, but from following the thread I've noticed a few things that I wouldn't have thought of. With our gearbox parts becoming hard to find it's another option to consider.

I've no experience of the 2000 but suspect it's like any of the 2 litre engines; you can remove the head with the exhaust manifold simply unbolted and hanging in place on the exhaust, but obviously the carbs are on the inlet manifold and this assembly will require removal as well before you can get down to the bare head. Just remove those and set to one side. It's simple enough and with the head off you can use the time to tidy other things, as you'll be replacing the head gasket and possibly manifold gasket etc. In the meantime help whoever will be doing the removal by using plenty of penetrating oil round the snapped plug, it will give it a head start. With the head off you'll have access to the underside of the plug so possibly heat in this area may free it up, but don't damage the head. If you have any problems, post - if you haven't done this before you'll need a good workshop manual for the sequence of removing or tightening head studs plus the torque settings of the other bolts and nuts. Take plenty of photos before you start - they're a great aide-memoire when you come to replace things. One important thing for this present time - if you've got a garage that is currently open and will do the work, great, but if you're buying replacement parts order in good time as both supply and carriage is erratic at present. Pete L has a 2000 so he with other big saloon owners will be able to advise in more detail.

Gallons of the stuff!! I used to stand the chassis on end and fill the boot outriggers with liquid Waxoyl (I have old threads on here about heating it over a gas burner until it ran like tea), then I'd turn the chassis upside down and fill very hole along the main rails, then upright again and do the same. For weeks afterwards the stuff ran out onto the floor but I know it was covered. Your Herald may well end up like mine - everything has been restored bar the rear tub, which has so much underseal on it I got bored scraping it off. I may end up painting the bulkhead floor red and just putting more underseal over the rear tub floors, in which case the front will be body colour and the rear, black. Only the MOT man will ever see...

I've just turned the key on a completely rewired dashboard and steering column in the GT6, and the anxious wait for smoke was nail-biting... but it seems to be okay so far. I'm putting off rebuilding the newly-bored Herald engine until after this lockdown thingy, when someone more experienced can look over my shoulder.

Thanks again Roger; you're very helpful. I replaced the wiper motor; in fact I had one professionally rebuilt out of two, it was returned to me yesterday and looks amazing so it's now connected and amazingly, the GT6 has started up with no fuses blowing (although I rewired the stereo and all of the column wiring so it could have been anything) All I need to do now is set the park... which is what started this all off in the first place. Interesting to note that the GT6 wiper motor which I've had rebuild has a 140 degree gear and the other has a 130 degree, which actually leaves it short on the passenger side. So thanks to lockdown and some good advice here I've now refurbished three Herald motors, two TR2/3 DR2 motors, one MK1 GT6 2-speed motor and gained a spare, and used my entire stock of replacement brushes and most of my grease.

I'm currently fitting a body to a chassis and am trying to find any hints, tips or tricks to make sure it's all fitted properly. This is an abandoned restoration where the bulkhead was fitted to the chassis, the bodytub to the bulkhead, and then the roof wouldn't fit... so something is very wrong. It's not the first one I've ever done but the others were all convertibles so less faffing with tolerances. I've got the Service Training Manual which just says that the bulkhead should simply be screwed to the chassis and all other references taken from that, but I've also read other articles where the bulkhead needs to be fitted exactly level to the chassis, so am looking for the definitive 'how-to'. Since the original canvas mounting pads are no longer available the problem is the compression of the current replacements. I'm just interested in hearing anyone else's ideas or tricks before starting this one.

Nice! I think most of the discs I have are very coarse, so eat through things - fine on antiroll bars or the like but not on delicates. Those might be worth a try. Oh, and photos of the wheel too - always nice to see someone's handiwork.

Photos, Clive, please? I can imagine it but that's never the same.

I will; thanks! It's just one of those things that niggles at me, that I have a drawer full of stalks, some even new and never fitted, but the ends are discoloured or broken. Lockdown is certainly making work for idle hands....