Colin Lindsay

Put this on a sticky somewhere, it's nice to see the definitive answer; however - why does the head not expand correspondingly with heat, and therefore require some degree of movement too? Perhaps the best option is an all-metal gasket?

That's nice! Seems more... balanced... than my method.

Horse tranquilisers?

It's a stable block....

I can believe that; I nearly dropped at the price of insulated sheeting (Kingspan is the local name) over here when I needed to insulate my old garage roofspace, an 8 x 4 sheet was not far off £40... but at least your beams are condensation-free...

Wish he'd included a photo of the 'modified' sump....

Last time I was on Kefallonia (Cephallonia for you purists, no idea if that's English English or American English!) I went to the till in the local supermarket and spoke to the elderly attendant in Greek. "He replied, in perfect English: "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you spoke Greek." I gave up after that.

Does it say 'top' anywhere? Some do, but not all. I'd be tempted to say metal to top, however it's said that if they don't have the orientation marked on them, then it doesn't matter. On most these days all the holes are symmetrical, so you can't fit them back to front; this also would have meant that if they only fit one way from back to front, they'll only fit one way top to bottom too. I had to run out to the garage to check, but all mine are either copper or full metal - I bought three off eBay a while ago as part of a huge load of gaskets, and they're all unmarked on either side, so no help there. Some will say put the metal to the top because the head is allegedly hotter than the block; not sure if that makes any difference. I don't use any sealer on mine, members recommend a small ring of head gasket around the rear oil channel from head to block but that's really it.

This is the only photograph that I was able to find on my 1200 engine on the stand, just after all the blockwork was completed but before I started on the head. It's just held on with threaded rods from B&Q cut to size, large washers, and nuts, through the backplate as shown. I did go for holes as close to the block as possible to avoid distortion that may have occurred with some of the more distant ones. Not the best solution in light of the proper method but the engine was held solidly enough and rotated with no difficulty. I did the same with the GT6 engine when it was rebuilt, and again no problems detected.

They're generally fairly poor quality; I have one, a 10mm on a 5m cable and it's rubbish. I needed to check cable access behind a ceiling recently and when the camera was pushed through existing cable holes, you could make nothing out at all other than blurry shadows. I actually bought it to check the insides of antique musical instruments through the soundhole - looking for woodworm! - and unless you massively boost the light, the leds are too poor to allow you to see much. Having said that if it's only to look for a fairly large nut in a recess somewhere, it may do the job. I wish I'd 'borrowed' one of the big professional-standard ones I used to have at work...

Check if your new starter has a drain hole on what should be the underside, but when fitted to our cars becomes the top - on mine, this allowed water into the motor with the result that it seized solid after a year or so of use and had to be stripped and cleaned. Plug it with rubber sealer or the like to keep water out.

Apparently you don't bolt it to the end plate, but into the block itself - this was never explained to me when I bought mine so for years I just bolted the arms of the stand to the end plate with threaded rods and large washers, but you're supposed to use bolts that will screw into the block. Where you get them from these days is another matter! As far as I can tell my endplate is undamaged after aforementioned abuse, but on both of my recent engines I went for alloy replacements anyway so it was immaterial. You can also bolt to the side of the engine block where the engine mounts fit - this will hold the engine side on to the stand as opposed to end on, but it still rotates sufficiently to allow access to the important bits.

Remember that it's always the last quarter turn that does the damage.

Boil them in water; the heat expands the metal sufficiently, or softens the rubber and crud, to free the internals without doing any damage in itself, and you can then gently pump the bits out with grease or air. You'll need a complete refurbishment after that, though.

That's an instant MOT failure.

Remove the dashtop ashtray - useless these days if you don't smoke - and fit a dial pod with the wiring and plumbing down behind the dash. You can get period gauges that actually fit into this aperture which are quite retro.... but a good well made (not yucky thin plastic!) gauge holder will do the job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dash-mount-2-52mm-double-gauge-pod-Land-Rover-90-110-dash-panel-fit/251960098020?hash=item3aa9fdfce4:g:XwgAAOSwoydWi9gZ

+1 on the sockets; when I was getting my garage wired I got five double sockets on one side - where the benches were going - but none on the other side. WHY????? You learn by your mistakes, at least I do every time I have to string an extension lead across the garage.....

It was a slight let-down for me when I finally got round to buying a two-post lift for the garage and when it was installed, it wouldn't lift Triumphs.... the front arms would reach the main chassis rails, but the rear ones wouldn't... or the rear ones would and the front ones wouldn't.... even at full extension I was about a foot short on one set of arms. I obviously can't lift the car by the outriggers or sills. I got round it by having a length of heavy steel bent to drape over the jacking rubbers of the short arms and bridge the gap between, then with it under the car, measured and marked where the chassis main rails are. These two areas are raised with rubber pads to clear the exhaust and floorpans so the weight of the car is on the main rails, with the other arms sufficiently long to reach the main rails without any help. Trial run this afternoon and it works!! It needs the sharp edges trimmed slightly, then painted and the rubber blocks attached permanently. Now I can do my gearbox and diff oil changes without having to slide under the car on a cold floor...

Paranoia loosely cloaked in 2018 legal-speak. If I say: "It WILL be ok", and it isn't, I'm probably liable to legal action for posting incorrect advice on a public forum and COULD end up being sued by someone who follows the advice and has a breakdown, or damage is caused to their car. On the other hand, if someone else comes in with THE definitive answer covering all the options, then I can say: "and THAT as well..." thereby appearing knowledgeable.

Cost saving. Prices were high in the 60s compared to wages and in order to sell more cars to potential buyers who could just about stretch to the price, the heater was optional to save a few pounds. Many cars of the period had a large (usually tartan!) blanket on the rear seat as heating was often minimal in any case and the passengers froze - obviously this wouldn't have applied to GT6 passengers...

Basic wheel spacers are about £23 on eBay; you can go for super-duper machined alloy versions from around £70 up to a couple of hundred. I'd agree with Dick; uprate the standard wheel studs to the improved Freelander version as the extra load could break standard ones.

I'd advise against switching off - as long as there's a fuel flow to the carbs, even at idle, there's less chance of the dreaded evaporation. I've tried the heater trick many times, no idea if it helps at all, but it's got to remove some heat and therefore can't hurt. Best advice is to keep the system clean and as efficient as it can be, and it should perform alright.

I don't get this at all... I've been out of bed amazingly early the past while, often around 6am and the other morning, 5.22am by the clock - wide awake, coffee and early morning TV, with the pheasants stalking around my garden and glaring at me through the window. This morning I had a 9am physio appointment for a shoulder injury - and even at 8am I couldn't get out of bed. it was a real effort. Is it some sort of psychological thing? BTW Mark make sure you test everything once your LHD switch is fitted, otherwise you'll indicate back to front, flash the rear lights instead of the headlights, and have to sit upside down to dip.

A great set of reference photos - many thanks.

Triumph white is a creamy white, when mixed the paintshop will add surprising quantities of yellow and even black to the base colour but it's a warmer colour than the Sebring White which is an icy, almost blue colour. There was also shades called Nimbus White or Spa White available back in the day, Spa was also a warmer colour, but none of them are as creamy yellow as the Old English White, which as you say is a BMC colour. I'll attach a colour chart - which shows 19 as 'Pure White' - plus a photo of my 1200 Estate, resprayed in Triumph White, in the hope that it will give you some idea of the colour. A photo unfortunately never seems to reproduce a colour as accurately as seeing it in the flesh, though.