Colin Lindsay

Greta the Liar is a perfect example; she thinks she has all of the solutions, as she doesn't yet need to run a family, hold down a job, or maintain a house. Once she grows up a bit and realises the full adult picture of society and the world in general, she'll fade into the background very quickly...

As Rob says, they're the ones to go for, as many more modern replacements are called 'pattern parts' which means they were made using an original as a template, and are in some cases not the best fit. (Which is where you see the term 'fettling', a polite way of saying they wouldn't fit and had to be made to....) If buying online from certain auction sites, you may also see parts advertised as NOS, usually with the description: "This part is NOS and was fitted to my car which has since covered less than 500 miles..."

The Guinness family seem to live off it very nicely....

Haven't seen THAT GT6 in a while! Nice to see you back here.

Not up to rack gaiters yet! Made the mistake of sleeping on it last night so it let me know it was not happy! I've been told to work at the pace of the shoulder; when it says stop, then stop. I've become very adept at left-handed screwdrivering and hammering, but aerosol cans never seem to aim as well as with the right hand.

I had mine recovered by an upholsterer for £50; original-looking material and factory stitching. You can buy covers online for about £100 to rejuvenate an old dash, but as far as I know they're all black, with coloured stitching in your preferred option.

Chic Doig would be my first port of call; 01592722999

Sounds like an idea.. I can never get the handbrake cable exact; when the cable is tight enough, it won't reach the levers and when it does, it always seems to have too much travel. Never thought to do it fully tightened then slack off.

They say 'the greasier, the easier', but not in this case. Lots of deep breaths and pauses to recover, but they'll go on eventually.

Or... just bonnet locks, which would necessitate a round hole only. All you'd have on the outside would be a small keyhole, and they could be fitted so that the latch of the lock engages with the bulkhead clamp.

Does the unangled cable clear the main rail ok? If standard cable works then you wonder why they used the extra expense of an angle drive.

I'd guess those are roughly equivalent to Polybush blue, or maybe slightly harder, but not as hard as reds; they're squeezable with enough pressure. I bought a number of sets online maybe ten years ago, they were made by a Triumph enthusiast called Kevin and I featured them in the GT6 Register at the time, so these have now been dug out of the spares pile to fit the Herald.

Only one set for a Triumph 6-cylinder on eBay, and they're +40. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-GT6-MKI-MKII-VITESSE-2000-MKII-2000TC-CORDS-PISTON-RINGS-0-40-NEW/162111107055?hash=item25be932fef:g:IV8AAOxyVLNS6UCI Unless anyone knows if any of the other 34 sets listed would fit a Triumph?

The pin I was sold has a circlip round the top and looks good for as long as it takes the circlip to rust through; which in normal road use in the UK won't be too long! I didn't risk it, but went for one with a visible top like a nail; there's little chance of it dropping through for the next few years. The Chic Doig version is in the other photo along with the bronze bushes and the head on it is huge, so it will probably outlast the car; it's in my other Herald which has an alloy bellhousing, so might wear more quickly than the cast version.

You're not using silicone fluid, are you?

Did you go for the uprated version? I've been supplied, in the last month, with one that's just a metal cylinder, and while it's a good fit now, any wear will see it drop straight out the bottom. You can get versions that are like a nail, with a larger head (£2.95), and Chic Doig sells a really heavy duty version that's going nowhere for years.

Held in by the original rubber mounting housing, so if you use alloy mounts they'll fall out... unless you put a hose clamp over it. Rubber gaiters are not bad; I've done a Herald rack recently and you do need four hands, but they'll go on eventually.

Aha! I knew it would come to me eventually! It's only taken six weeks.... Early Spitfires and GT6 had one earth for the body / battery and one for the engine block; the engine earth was connected to the base of the starter solenoid. This is what my MK1 had. Late Spitfires and GT6 Mk3 just used one long lead that forked, so engine and body all earthed through the same point at the battery. I added one of these longer forked leads to my GT6 after taking it from a scrapped MKiv. It was almost twenty years ago, but I knew I had done it for an upgrade... now that the meds are wearing off, it's coming back to me. All I need to do now is remove that bright green donkey from the ceiling.

According to John Thomason at KE10001 the engine was detuned due to the fitting of the 2000 saloon head; to increase compression again they used domed-top pistons. I've no idea what other changes were made to the head to prevent fitting to a later block; I think all of the manifold changes, breathers etc were common to all MK3s.

I like the sound of that, Tony. All else seems okay, and the head is already well on the way to being refurbished. As for mileage, 500 - 1000 per year, max.

That's the clincher. I'm dithering over a 1200 engine at present; a mild lip on two cylinders only but I reckon it will cost me around £300 minimum for a light bore and replacement pistons. Others have advised me that it doesn't require any work at all, but they're not experts. So: do I have the engine checked over by the local company who are by all accounts quite pricey, and who are insisting that they supply pistons, and trust that they will not go ahead with any unnecessary work, or do I risk a simple hone and new rings? Crank is fine, I have good bearings already purchased, but I don't want to throw hard-earned cash away on something I don't really need. I just can't find anyone to give me a definite yes or no, without charging money up front. The photo shows the worst piston, and it's barely a fingernail-scratchable mark.

Having an idle minute I had a quick surf for this company; they've been on eBay since 2013, have 100% feedback for 233 transactions as a seller / dealer, and the name obtained from feedback was Brian, who is apparently very knowledgeable about cylinder heads. They seemed to sell a lot of polybushes for steering racks and anti-roll bars back in the earlier days but have branched out into a lot of things since. Other than that, nothing negative.

Thanks Mark. I'm working on one at present, blue smoke from exhaust - so was wondering if I could be lazy and just replace valve guides. Guess not...

So if it's simply a case of making more room for the larger reservoir on the Spitfire Mk3 onwards (larger reservoir but same bore of piston) then they're required for Spitfires with that type of master cylinder, but optional on any of the other cars in the range. Heralds have loads of room so are unaffected. For peace of mind I just needed to clear up that it was not for any braking efficiency, increased pedal travel, wear or other factor.

That is a lovely colour in the first place, but amazing looking now. Here's wishing you health to drive for the coming season. My Gt6 has gone off for bodywork and they've found corrosion in the rear spring tunnel and lower parts of the inner wheel arches, so I hope they do even half as good a job as yours.