Colin Lindsay

Yes, it's a bit farcical but often a good laugh, like when they recorded Clive Manvers and played it back over the phone to his staff... Enjoy it before it gets banned for some reason or other...

Yes - had to check my post again but that's the one I've mentioned, the small black one! Sorry if I confused any.

Even on four cylinders, for me, it's the whole package - engine, gearbox, the lot as original as possible otherwise what's the point? I'd guess that you can fit almost any engine or gearbox with sufficient surgery and adaptation, but you lose a lot of the driving experience. It has to be something more than just efficiency or availability of spares. It's a personal thing, and the choice of any car owner, but for me I'll try to keep the nostalgia factor of 1960s engineering and overcome the obstacles. I'm taking a Herald block for reboring later this morning and no doubt someone in that company will ask why I don't just fit a Mazda engine or the like.

Looks the same as the WIX WL7213 that I'm running. It's about the best angle that I've been able to get without the filter touching anything.

A few years back I bought a few NOS carbs, not specifically for Triumphs, but for the reason that the bodies are going to be unworn and can therefore be (hopefully) brought up to Triumph spec if or when required. At a fiver each they were too good to pass even just for the shiny screws, new dampers and other attachments.

Was there no selling price on the original eBay classified? I was trying to see if the price had been inflated, but there's no longer any price visible.

After that happened to me (second time in twenty years, both on GT6 models!) I bought new as I couldn't risk another 50/50 'was-it-left-or-right-originally' used one, and when I had both halfshafts reconditioned for my Herald made sure each side stayed in the correct orientation. Having a wheel drop off is no fun!

Two potential new flavours of air freshener?

I'm actually the other extreme, I tend to undervalue cars. When I (only half-jokingly) offered my Mk1 GT6 to someone in March 2018 for £7500 he told me I was indeed joking; in all honesty I'd have taken £5000... I put in a new valuation and it's now Insurance valued at £18000, yet I still reckon that, despite it winning trophies and looking great, I wouldn't have asked more than about £10,000. A Mk2 sold locally for £14000 recently. It's just hard to appreciate how much prices have risen.

I think that the guy who posted that originally meant that there was nothing left to rattle! (Of course now I can't find the site I read that on, when I was looking for examples of wear due to lack of oil for the original post!)

I couldn't get a box reconditioned recently by Mike Papworth as he no longer has the parts; he could supply second-hand, but not new. Given that we can tool up adaptors to make modern gearboxes fit Triumphs, is it really any more difficult to get parts made for our boxes rather than having a lot of expense on making other gearboxes fit? It's an easy option to make say an MX5 gearbox fit our cars - bit of fettling here, bellhousing adaptors, shortening propshafts, gear lever extensions or remotes etc - surely it can't be much more hassle to make gears for existing boxes? I was watching the in-laws making huge gears for plastic-extruding machines the other day from 3d scanning - the machine scans the old gear, plots and plans a bit then off it goes and cuts an exact copy; fascinating to watch. If they weren't so flat-out busy I'd get them to try gearbox gears...

Easily done, in fact the only problem I ever had was with the spindle bushes and that was down to me rather than the carbs or the parts... but easily sorted in the end.

i always wondered - and got shot down many times back in the day - why we didn't just go for better internals for our original boxes; surely if there was demand then suppliers would have found it cost-effective to improve our current boxes? Instead, a lot of people ditched them in favour of modern boxes regardless of where the gearstick ended up, requiring expensive adaptors and in some cases drastic surgery to the car, and so now we're in the situation of original gearboxes running out of internal parts with which to refurbish them, suppliers refusing to make the parts as they're not cost-effective, and no really suitable alternative. Surely with today's technology we must be able to make gearbox internals that are superior to the originals?

That could be one of two things - either you haven't noticed it, as with a lot of things you never pay it any attention until someone points it out and then you get paranoid, or else there isn't any, which I read recently happens on worn engines... 😮

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-2000-VITESSE-GT6-STROMBERG-CD150-TWIN-CARBS-CARBURETTORS/352850477684?epid=14009151667&hash=item5227870274%3Ag%3A0jcAAOSw3ehdnvfP&LH_ItemCondition=3000 I've just found that pair and if they're as good as the seller claims they're definitely worth a punt.

No definite idea but having changed both a Freelander and a Mondeo this week the filters - both paper inserts - are incredibly small compared to my Triumphs, so it's not about size.

Original Vitesse carbs are (I think!) 3137F and 3138R front and rear respectively. 3116R is a 150CD from a 2000 saloon; the closest I can find for a 3166 is a 150CD from a Triumph Toledo but it doesn't have the 'N' suffix. No doubt wiser than I will be able to advise properly but at a guess I'd hope that the bodies are suitable and a pair, and all you need to do is match brackets, needles and springs, but there may be variations in vacuum take-offs etc. I think Vitesse needles were the same as the Herald 13/60 ie 6J.

I found this recently, elsewhere - someone has lost a pair! That engine is impressive, nearly as much as the original 'Sabrina' too....

Amazing!! I'll bet that wasn't easy to find. PM sent. Colin

Sorry Clive, didn't mean to, but you've also done the same with me - I didn't take it as a personal statement of yours, but one I've heard many times from others, particularly the young!

Well do I remember the phrase: 'Make progress!" and also the saying: "Anyone can drive fast, but not everyone can drive well."

I'm still running the second-hand J-type box I bought for £180 in 2001 in my GT6, no problems other than wiring rubbing through and shorting a few years back. As for spares, I've found out recently that if you throw it out, you'll need it within a month; if you give it away, you'll be amazed at how much you could have sold it for, and if you sell it on an online auction site, the feeling of guilt at how much it sold for will linger for quite a while.

That sort of comment has killed many a person over the years. One of the reasons I gave up reading Practical Classics and the like was their disdain for basic cars, and their never-ending praise for bigger and faster. 'Boring family classics'.... well, they may be, but 'young driver killer' isn't really a label to brag about.

Wheeler Dealers yesterday featured yet another American car (although it was a Honda Civic so technically Japanese) but Mike was learning how to drive with regards to fuel economy, part of which was not to brake for bends as the necessary acceleration afterwards uses a lot of fuel. Be at a speed that the car can cope with when cornering, don't brake, and by the end he managed about 57 mpg.

It's a bit like unleaded heads; we know the valve seats wear as there's no longer any lead to cushion them, but how quickly? Obviously much more quickly on a car that's being used every day rather than one that sees occasional use, but there's no real hard and fast rule of how many more miles you'll get. Same thing with oily bearings. Maybe a magazine like Practical Classics - if they still feature cars more the ten years old - might want to run an experiment?