Colin Lindsay

I'm of the same mind; I wonder if the noise is the drive turning, but not actually pumping due to fracture? Dizzy out, and have a look at the the oil pump shaft under the drive gear.

Does 'Going the Full Monty' mean taking it right back to the bare chassis?

It's the way you've worded it that's throwing me a bit - I would picture it that if the pedal is pushed down, then the switch plunger is also depressed. Extended to me means in the open position ie pedal is at rest and brake lights are off, and the plunger fully extended out of the end of the body. That's why when you said you can depress the plunger with the pedal fully up - as opposed to down when you put your foot on it - I took it to mean that you can activate the switch with the pedal in the rest position and thereby, yes, there would be enormous pressure on the switch when it came to actual braking. It's just the wording - I can picture it now. And no, the Vitesse never used hydraulic braking, which is why I'm doing it on a Herald....!

This is the one I used most recently; for SAAB, BMW and Volvo. A straight fit and seems good enough so far.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but if you can activate the brake lights with the pedal fully up, doesn't this mean undue strain on the switch when you do press the pedal? I'm skirting round any problems with my early Herald and fitting the hydraulic brake switch directly into the brake lines, as per original.

My 1987 Rover 213s used to have a label on the engine claiming: "12 valve"...

I spent over £400 back in the 1990s to have the bonnet of my 1200 Estate rebuilt by a local bodyworker, as I wanted to keep as much of the car as possible - I was concerned about originality as the rear part of the car was almost completely gone when I found it. These days I'd just stick a replacement bonnet on and count the money saved... But if we can find BTE for you, we'll do it.

I always wonder, when owners show off their Mazda-engined Ford-gearboxed Subaru-diffed Triumph with MGF seats and Montego wheels, Capri calipers and Rover suspension, what percentage of the car is still Triumph? You could argue that a leather sofa is still a cow, as the outer skin is still animal hide, and the internals are out of sight... (No offence intended to anyone who has done it, by the way - just playing devil's advocate....)

Where is it listed? Go on, give us a clue... ok got it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-VITESSE/153562489979?hash=item23c109a47b:g:SsYAAOSwCg9dJ3v9 The seller has even taken one photo in the dark, to make it look better.... but well worth the money even for parts.

Usually those with leaded heads.....

Nature had it right all along; most (most!) people's inlets are larger than their exhausts.

The original post in that last entry by myself was querying the accuracy of the carb, so it's probably not the original Stromberg, but it's the linkages I was hoping were the correct version for the 13/60. As it happens, they're not.... This one below is the only photo I've been able to find in any of my manuals showing the proper setup.

All the rear springs are transverse in the Herald, Vitesse, Spitfire, and GT6 family - they go at right angles across the chassis / line of drive - but swing spring means a spring that pivots in the middle and is not fixed in place. Fixed springs are bolted with all six studs into the diff, but swing springs, because they pivot in the middle and must be free to do so, are held on with the outer two pairs of studs only. A swing spring will have the centre leaves bent to allow a pivot bolt, and fixed with a box-like housing, whilst a non-swing or fixed spring has no hole through the leaves and is held in place with a six-stud plate on the top only. Top photo is fixed, lower is swing with the mounting box attached, and then without showing the bend for the through-bolt. Re the diff casing: it's common to have a six-stud casing used for a swing spring upgrade, simply by blanking off the two unused holes, but it's rarer for a swing-spring diff casing to be used for a fixed spring as this either means using only four studs or having two holes drilled and tapped. Other than that, the casings are nearly all identical.

Ignore the yellow arrow (it was for another query) but this is the best photo I could find on the Net; most others have the airbox attached which blocks the view, or else have modified their cars to take all sorts of aftermarket carbs and engines then flooded the Net with photos, which makes finding an original setup quite difficult. PHOTO DELETED AS INCORRECT

According to the BMIHT certificate my 1200 Estate came with 3.5J wheels, so not all estates had the wider wheels. Easiest way to tell the width is to use a small coin, like a penny. It will overhang the narrower 3.5J wheel but sit comfortably on the wider 4.5J wheel. The black wheel is a 3.5J Herald steel and the white my 4.5J spare from the GT6.

Just an update to thank the team for all the excellent suggestions; I went with threaded 5/16 rod and stainless dome nuts. I was able to cut the rod to length, insert it into the chassis nuts then slide the carpet and h-frame down over the top before adding washers and nuts. It looks better than it has in years, even if I never really noticed until recently that the bolts didn't actually grip the frame due to wear, and only one was holding it in place. A little thread-lock on the ends will keep it secure for the next few years. Just one more little job complete thanks to the forum.

That used to be illegal on road-going cars; has the legislation changed?

Yep, that sill should be in behind the treadplate, but it doesn't matter with regards to moisture - there's nowhere for water to gather anyway. What way has it been fitted at the front of the door / A post area?

It's a short circuit; the horns feed is permanently live and earths through the horn push, so when you turn the wheel something shorts out and sounds the horn. Check the state of the wiring up the column, and around the wheel and the pencil-connector that links the horn push to the ring under the wheel. Re your speedo - is the cable sound at both ends; wear or fraying will shorten it just that little bit which is enough for it to make insufficient contact at one end or the other; in this case the gearbox. Try pulling the inner out at the gearbox end, just slightly, so that it still operates the speedo and see how much you have left to engage the gearbox drive - this might just be enough to engage both ends and get it working again.

No disappointment here, Karl, only envy that you're way ahead of me! I've seriously started my Herald as of this evening and will start a thread on the restoration asap.

That's a pair of Moss-supplied - or at least manufactured - type 14 calipers. The codes 7406 and 7224 appear on the ones they supply; as far as I can ascertain, 7406 is left and 7224 right.

Then walk round the garage for days searching drawers looking for both the key and the spanner, until you remember where it is; usually when it falls off after you've given up looking for the key and pushed the car across the garage floor. I've seen THAT done... 😊

Last time I was at Stoneleigh I managed to get two bags of stainless screws that matched those around the edges of the DG heater box; hopefully they'll not rust as easily as the originals. I like that look as opposed to the screws being oversprayed in black to match the assembled unit.

Funnily enough I never noticed for years that I had three chrome and one unchromed, and two of the chrome ones were loose in the frame. The frame appears to have been drilled out for some reason and the bolt heads were too small. I made up a rectangular plate for each side with two holes for the bolts, then inserted it under the h-frame cover before regluing it again, and this will enable standard chrome bolts to tighten the frame once again. It's very thin, no thicker than washers, but may have raised the unit just high enough so that the old worn threads at the top no longer gripped. I'm going to try threaded rod with dome nuts - four purchased from the Net yesterday but for £1.65 if they don't work it's no big loss. The next step will be helicoils and if that fails, I'll replace the captive nuts in the chassis with new items welded into place and try those. I'll get there - it won't defeat me!

Tw excellent ideas there; I had just considered helicoiling it to see if that makes any difference with the original bolts; painting the nuts black is something that had never occurred to me but the idea of a threaded rod makes a lot of sense, especially as I can use dome nuts or some other nice looking blind nut. All I need now is about six inches of threaded 5/16 rod... in fact I don't even need that as I can behead four 5/16 bolts and use the threads. Off to the garage I go...