Colin Lindsay

Can't Santa bring one?

...and as such your advice on building and renovation work will be very welcome. It's good to have a wide range of experts and advisors on the forum. You never know what we'll be planning next.

Little round white ones that put you into orbit. They're great. You can watch the One Show and not feel a thing.

I've had the dressings changed, it looks nothing like a keyhole, looks more like the bit the medication makes it seem I'm talking out of. AND there are three of them.

Much too tempting. I've had to go over posts so many times to remove spelling mistakes I'm afraid to bid on anything in case I add too many zeros.

Oh Gawd whatever they gave me in the chop shop wore off yesterday... woe is me. Can't even drink alcohol. Slept sitting up, at one point opening eyes and grabbing for the steering wheel... We could have Christmas compo, how many words can you make out of whatever Pete's on? Personally can't wait to get back to earth, let alone engine ones.

Anaesthetic is wearing off but floating on Cloud 9 on painkillers wheeeee! I know that Heralds when sent CKD were sometimes painted in whatever paint was available locally to the assembly area and so while it may be green, it may not be any officially recognised Triumph colour. Astons were painted in metallic green and it's a lovely colour - see photo - so could easily have been purloined for a Triumph, maybe even at the buyer's request. That's the first I've ever heard of Tara green, I know TR7s had a metallic green but it differs vastly in shade from John's car. I must do a bit more research and see what's thrown up. .

I think I said that back to front Doug. They have an extra bit that earths to the bodywork as well as the battery terminal, but on the one I used the entire cable forks into a y-shape rather than just two bolt/brackets. Given that the sweat is breaking on me with the effort of typing this I'm not going to hobble out to the garage to check how it differs from the original one-piece that the GT6 had... so someone about here will know what I mean. I hope. Put it this way: it was worth fitting all those years ago as it had an extra bit. I just can't remember where...

Some Spitfire models have a battery earth strap that extends right down to the bellhousing. I have one on my GT6, it means the battery has more than just the short cable to the battery earth beside the tray.

Classic cars don't sell at this time of year, other than as Christmas prezzies, but there's always someone trying to move one on to raise funds and few people bidding as they've too many other expenses to consider. Scour online auctions especially Christmas Eve fot hings that have no bids. Christmas Day itself sees the start of the unwanted gift sell-offs so good choice but no real bargains. Personally until I get something on the road I ain't buying anything else unless it's amazingly rare, very close geographically, and cheap.

Good deal! There are some to be made at this time of year as people's minds are on other purchases. Especially in cars, which no-one is buying so prices are subject to negotiation.

I have bits of it left over from a stable, will take a look.

Worth looking into! Am currently out of commission due to having my own trunnions repaired - you should see how long it's taken me to type this. Will check in New Year as I'll be limited in what I can do until then.

As Pete says the only way you can tell is to look at the seats and see if there's an insert. This is the sort of thing you're looking for - a clear ring of modern metal that has been fitted into the head around the valve seat. It'll be hard to see with the head on, but where there's a will.. ! I

And expensive! Isn't it quite thick for that job?

Modern tyres are a different kettle of fish from the originals, I know the handbooks will give a figure that these days seems quite low, maybe 24 - 26 but I run all of mine somewhere between 28 - 30 on the advice of my fitter.

Workable until the 'member' decides he doesn't want to be a member any more, and off he goes with the tools... unless there's a refundable deposit which is more than the tools cost? It always ends up a lot of work, and a lot of trouble, for somebody! Much easier at local level where you can send the boys round to retrieve it..

Is this ORW that went straight to Gaydon? Or is there another one lurking about? I know there are supposed to be at least two, as press photos of the time show two different cars. From Triumphworks: http://www.triumphworks.co.uk/the-last-car-at-canley/ "The last Spitfire still exists – it can be seen on display at the Motor Heritage Centre, in Gaydon (now called the British Motor Museum). It is an Inca Yellow car with factory hardtop. The VIN number of this particular vehicle is: TFADW5AT009898, Paint Code is: 94 (Inca Yellow), Trim Code is: C11 (Black). The body number is:127962 FH" Did you look into the petrol tank yet? See below... "they (production line workers) had originally requested that some sort of plaque be added to the dash of the last few Spitfire’s to celebrate the 18-year production run. Unfortunately no money was available for such PR. Undeterred, Ted and his colleagues were determined something should be done. Wanting to wish the cars a fond farewell, as a token gesture, small magnetic St. Christopher charms the size of a five-penny piece, were secretly placed in the petrol tanks of the last few Spitfires. The petrol tank was chosen because they knew that the charms would very likely remain there undisturbed for the life of the car. Ted can’t remember how many cars were treated to a St. Christopher, because production was very stop start at the end, but he does know they originally bought 100 St Christopher’s and that they definitely put one in the tank of last Spitfire they’re standing next to in the photo!"

Thank you!! I searched that forum but couldn't find a thing. Just been out after leaving the car all night on wooden blocks, but no further in than before. I don't really fancy cutting a groove and threading them in... so have tried spray grease and back onto the blocks again. Wonder how the factory did it?

Old mudflaps used to be the thing... if you can find any these days!

Nice in theory, but fraught with peril in reality. Having been 'stung' recently, by lending a reference book to a forum poster in need who then promptly left the forum, taking the book with him (and who as far as I know never joined the TSSC), it's open to abuse and in many cases more trouble than it's worth.

That's the one I studied too but it doesn't say which are metal and which are rubber. If Pete's correct about the front bulkhead ones being metal then dammit I've just removed two unnecessarily! Will have to replace them again... but the body's been fitted incorrectly and will require serious adjustment and shimming - can't get the roof to fit at present!

Well we're back on four wheels again; rear axle on, rear anti-roll bar fitted, brakes fitted - twice - and handbrake cable on. I rebuilt the driver's side brakes, then went to the passenger side, but wasn't happy with the fit of the self-adjusters, so had to dismantle the driver's side again to make sure I'd done it correctly. I'd rather worry about it now than at the first junction I come to when it's back on the road. I lowered it down onto the ground a few minutes ago amidst creaks and groans of new suspension settling - or was that my joints when I straightened up? I'm off to the chop shop on Thursday for an operation on my shoulder so won't be in the garage for a day or two and didn't want it up on the ramp for so long. The only thing left to do on the underside is to fit the rear bump stops, the ones between the axle arms and the chassis, but they will not fit. Not even slightly. I've tried lowering the car onto a wood block set between the axle and the bump stop to see if that forces it into place but it just squashes out at the sides. Any tips?

If that's me you're replying to, John - yes, I know that it's a TR4 but the problem is identifying the odd flywheels. The photos are for illustration purposes only to show mounting holes / PCD! The one I reckon is saloon (might be 2000, Pete) looks very like the original flywheel that I had on my GT6, it had an ME prefix engine so 2000 saloon. It's immensely heavy but very smooth when running - the pic shows the thickness compared to the GT6 one I took off an old Mk2 and which I replaced it with.

This is a Herald flywheel that I'm currently working on. It looks quite like the one in your lower photo, on left. This one is a MK2 GT6 6-cylinder version - quite thin; this makes me think the thicker one to the left in your top photo may be some kind of saloon wheel?