Colin Lindsay

Don't forget the charity shops, nothing but these days... they're rate free so get the prime spots in town centres. None of them ever sell tools though... probably some kind of legal thing as they can't accept electrical items either.

That one is an angled one; mine is perfectly flat for a flat surface ie the rear wing top. I couldn't find a similar one so got them to throw this one in as well. What they threw it in, I'm not sure...

Thick, clear polythene works for me. You can attach it with silicone sealer, even if it sets hard it can still be peeled off and to be honest: how often are you ever going to do it?

The GT6 parts have arrived back.... there's a dent in one of the overriders (if it was there before it was chromed surely it should have been taken out?), the petrol cap has a scratch and the aeriel bezel speaks for itself. You can see the dimples, imperfections and swirls under the chrome in the petrol filler cap. I can't really be bothered sending the stuff back as I'm trying to get the car on the road but I'm a bit let down.

It's the ones that are screwed up so tightly that they flare the ends of the metal tube... some of the 'kits' don't show which tube goes with what, so you do get incorrect fittings from time to time. Not to mention the ones that are rusted solid after thirty-odd years of neglect.

Thread drift alert!! I've just done the same, after darling daughter twice flooded the upstairs bathroom which brought the ceilings down in the room below. I've stripped the room to a bare shell and rebuilt, awaiting the plumber but all the fittings arrived today. It's amazing how, in this cold spell, many workmen are glad of a stint indoors so not hard to get plumbers and plasterers this week! Sadly I haven't been in the garage in a week, tho...

Bound to be... but then you can keep a dummy radio in the dash, and run the speakers from your phone or iPod.

It's the mentality. Lurgan, Co. Armagh has a considerable share of toe-rags and a certain unsavoury gentleman in his early 20s came into some money through a compensation claim. He bought himself a car. A few weeks later he was out with mates on a bender, they did a bit of rallying about under the influence with the result that he smashed the front wheel off a kerb and rendered the vehicle undriveable. Off they went back home on foot; however one of the passengers ran back to the car and returned a few minutes later. He had regrettably forgotten it was a legitimately owned vehicle and torched it, as they always did when legging it from a car... If you ever ask why they do these things, they don't know.

So you now want to sell me an unwanted early Herald water pump???

I'd keep the old nut, and use new copper pipe - long enough to attach a rubber hose to - and a new olive. That should seal any leaks around the pipe where it goes through the nut whilst being a lot easier than having to source the correct threaded nut. You might want to flare the pipe slightly or add a flange to make the rubber connection more secure.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help and enthusiasm that's gone into my suggestion to make it a reality... I've already posted on it!

That's more likely a radiator issue than a cap issue (and not your Dad's cap either) - due to the way the lip of the filler is profiled, the cap rotates and tightens until it hits a stop on the filler neck flange. You'll probably find yours has been dented or damaged by caps over the years, so if you can, get a screwdriver in under it and prise it out again. Just be careful not to damage anything else. Weren't we talking about steering wheels?

Probably to keep dirt out whilst allowing the joint to swivel around the sleeve; they don't move as much as the front ones do so don't need the same kind of lubrication. The bushes are a firm fit in the housing and rotate around the bolt whilst the metal sleeve prevents direct wear on the rubber. A squirt of copper grease into the metal sleeve will prevent the bolt from sticking to it. It's also amazing the number I've seen that are tightened up fully with no mission of ever moving as they were designed to.

Just thought I'd be the first post!! I need a MK1 GT6 drivers door quarterlight glass in clear glass; mine is etched with another VRM so looks bad. Part number is 574064. They're currently NLA so anyone got a spare one?

Stop cornering hard then! Seriously, if you're going round bends so hard that petrol is coming up the filler and out of the cap, then that's a lot of centrifugal force. I take it that it only happens when the tank is full? I had an ** Metro Turbo (I'm ashamed to type those two letters these days!) and it used to do the same on left hand bends, but that's because the filler was low down on the side, and the petrol came out of the key slot in an impressive spray. I had the car twelve whole weeks back in the early 1980s, and lost it due to.... cornering hard. I'd look again at your seal, it may not be fitted correctly or else your replacement isn't the best match.

+1 on that, Richard. I'll leave the regulations to those that know. Just this week alone (and it's only Tuesday!) I've had e-mails from three Herald owners searching for parts - they aren't as au fait with the Net as some of us, so I was able to identify the exact name of the part they required, the part number, and in two cases the part being sold second-hand online. However I understand there's a world of difference - and we're also talking legally - between me offering to supply a part for free, offering to sell it, posting a link to an online sale, or recommending a supplier who has it listed or available. I'll leave the fine print to the powers-that-be!

I'll throw my usual spanner in the works and confirm that my second-hand O/D box, purchased for £180 from a private seller back in 2003, is still working brilliantly... so it can be hit and miss to some extent, but not all doom and gloom. There are good used ones out there, but price will reflect the quality, so anything dead cheap is likely to be just that: dead. You may - depending on who you use - get more comeback from a reputable dismantler who will stand over the used parts if they turn out to be defective.

This is my rifle, this is my gun.....

Are you taking the p***?

Off the top of my head - small trim clips such as Estate rear trim 'S' clips, odd nuts and bolts (the idea came to me from Martyn Wright's post on hood shoulder bolts which are all NLA), brackets such as sun visor brackets, original Herald door hinges, certain original badges, things like these. Members could post, and if anyone has a link to a OE or alternative substitute supplier, an eBay sale, a breaker etc then post the solution, or else offer to supply the part themselves. It's as much to help finding a source of things as opposed to another member selling them on demand, although this is also something that could be looked at? I've been looking for at least three parts this week for members and they're all listed NLA, but not completely unobtainable if you search the right places. It's just to consolidate things into one easily browsable section. Gumtree has a 'Stuff Wanted' section and it's amazing how many things you have lying about that someone else requires.

Fitting a new hood is something I've never tried; there are plenty of instructions on how to do it on the Net, but I think it'll be very noticeable if you make a hoo-hah of it, and of course you want it to be watertight, as far as our hoods can be... like most jobs on our cars it's probably not that difficult if you take time and learn the pitfalls in advance. I may know someone local who can fit my Herald hood so I think I'll chicken out of doing it myself....

Yes but whose life? I always wonder about that phrase. Car, driver or the oil itself? Any time I top mine up, which is usually annually if I have a car with an MOT, I siphon as much old oil out as will work before refilling. With the cost of repair or replacement units it's worth an extra few pennies of oil.

Made by that well-known Irishman, J Y Kelly...

Thanks Martyn; if you get some - please post a photo and maybe some dimensions, as I've realised mine are somewhere in storage and I may never recognise them otherwise....

Haggis - I can certainly supply photos and measurements? I've one fitted to my Mk1, a couple of screws undone and a handy camera will oblige. Let me know.