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Colin Lindsay

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Posts posted by Colin Lindsay

  1. You have to tighten the cover screws gradually, testing for free dropping all the time. Tighten one gradually, test the drop, tighten another, keep checking for free movement and adjust as necessary until the cover is fully tightened and the piston still drops freely. You probably already know this but I’ve seen owners tighten the cover down fully with no adjustment then try to move the piston afterwards, with predictable results.

  2. Just the usual lacklustre performance. 

    It shouldn’t be, as Clive says. Maybe in relation to a modern, servo-assisted car they seem poor, but in their day the brakes were as good as they needed to be. You just have to get used to putting more pressure on the pedal, and much earlier.

  3. I think you’re right, it was white / pink or white / red for the radio connection; earth was just strung from the unit to any metal point. Other cars used the spare terminal on the ignition switch; not sure if it carried over into the later ones? 

    Speakers were often just hung under the dashboard within inches of the head unit so no real cabling required. 

    You’ll probably have to route your own, under carpets and well away from any sharp edges where they may get damaged, and as Clive says use a good in-line fuse on the power cable. 

  4. Choose the ‘more reply options’ button at the bottom right and at the bottom of that text box you’ll see an option to ‘Attach files’. Select your pic and attach.

    I don’t use Photobucket for this forum but I think it’s the square box to the bottom left of the smiley icon, the little green tree icon above the text box, that allows you to enter code for a linked photo from a storage site. 

  5. Can you actually fill the hose with water through the rad cap with the engine cold, i.e. does that hose fill up when the system is topped up? If so, when it’s hot, does it expand out of the overflow? I’d reckon if the system is running well enough then it’s getting enough water to cool properly.

    Watch your fingers on any rotating / sharp / hot objects and with the engine running squeeze the hose to expel any air. Just a handgrip is enough to get a lot of air out and let water through again. However it’s worth bearing in mind that the hose doesn’t have to be full of water, it just has to have enough to allow water to be pumped into the radiator, so will probably expand out of the system again once it gets hot. If you can see the water pumping with the rad cap removed, it’s working. One point to bear in mind is that when the system is hot and the water has expanded, the system loses it into the expansion bottle; when cold, it’s drawn back in again by vacuum. If your rad cap seal isn’t tight, it won’t return back in. This may be the reason your hose appears empty when cold, but when running at full heat is actually carrying water. Does it get hot when running, and you can feel the hot water running through it? I’d keep an eye on the level, but as long as the temperature is ok when driving, it may just be a case of losing it to expansion without the system refilling when cooling down. A new rad cap seal may help. (Is the cap the correct poundage?)

  6. I think there are only two nuts holding that section of dashboard on (the passenger side triangular bit?) - put your hand up behind after removing the glovebox and you’ll feel the nylon nuts over the threaded mounts which are screwed to the back of the wooden fascia. There is already a hole in the metal backplate, which if you’re lucky will have shaded / coloured the backing of the dash after all these years so will show you where to cut the wood. In my Mk3 I had a clock there, but also had three additional dials in the radio cut-out which are easier for the driver to see.

  7. on the other hand...last time I was in Argos to buy a toaster there were hundreds to choose from!!

     

    white, silver, black, 2 slot, 3 slot, 4 slot, digital displays, bun warmers, racks, keep warm..defrost setting!!!..it was a minefield!! ha ha

    Last time in Curry’s when I went to pay for a toaster the girl behind the till informed me they were 'three for two’… I could only ask why on earth anyone would want three toasters...

    (To be fair it was across the whole brand and included kettles, electric frying pans and electric irons… but the look she gave me was priceless)

  8. Not wanting to hi-jack the thread but I wish they’d bring out a K&N filter that fitted inside the standard air box… I prefer the look of it to the two huge chrome pancakes (used to have them then removed them again) but the original paper filters can be hard to find… anyone know of any straight fit filters of that size?

  9. Cheap oil ...I remember an  elderly relative who , as an  engineer reponsible for a large fleet  of heavy lorries,prided himself on the lack of engine failures  and used to tell  all who would listen how he insisted  on more frequent oil changes  than were  specified and how he used   the best quality oil,... "Oil's cheaper than engines,thou knows, lad"......

    I’m a great believer in changing the oil regularly whether the car is used a lot or not. Tescos sell Castrol GTX for £6 per 2 litres - a claimed price of half their usual RRP - so for around £12 plus the price of a filter I get a year’s clean oil around the engine. Check yours the next time you dip the oil and ask yourself if you really want that black gritty stuff floating around the insides of your engine...

    As Richard says, you can tell the engine is running more quietly after a change and good oil has been used.

  10. Are you sure it’s the alternator that is causing the sparks when you attach the battery terminal, and not something else shorting or left on?

    However as thescrapman says five terminals points to an odd style of alternator that may not use the same wiring as tyne more common versions fitted to Triumphs. I’d look for a three-terminal version and fit that, just to be sure.

  11.  

    What are your thoughts on the state of the new car market?

     

    More choice than ever or no different to choosing a toaster from Argos?

     

    I was looking for a first car for my daughter recently and had a look at the Toyota Aygo plus Citroen / Peugeot versions; I have started to notice after many years of driving the same two cars - Volvo V70 T5 Estate and Landrover Discovery TD5 and so letting other cars’ evolutions and development pass me by -  that a lot of new cars are essentially only the same rebadged model. A bit like the old Wolseley / Riley / Triumph / Austin / Morris days… things may not have moved on THAT far!

  12. S’funny but my GT6 ones are quite good, despite having been fitted for years - can’t remember if I did it or not, but they’re little skinny silver ones and seem to clear the rain off sufficiently for me to see out, although a better demister on the front screen would be a big improvement. I have a few bubble-cards of NOS ones so assuming they’re still serviceable after years of garage roofspace storage I’ll use them on my Herald when it gets that far.

    Landrover ones (Classic Landies) are really skinny little ones but they do an excellent job; ok I know the Landie screen is flat glass but the blade is microscopic and still clears the rain off. 

    Halfords ones lasted a few minutes on  my  Discovery…. 

    Even a good clean of the rubber blade with windscreen washer fluid works wonders at improving the cleaning power.

  13. Incidentally you can’t dismantle a Delaney on the car as the front cover is screwed right the way round with small self-tappers; you can’t get at the bottom ones while it’s still fitted. Smiths' covers with the large clips may be able to be removed; I’ve never tried it on the car. The Delaney matrix is larger than the Smiths so theoretically should put out more heat; the fan is also a different design.

    I’m in the middle of rebuilding one and the quantity of dead leaves, twigs and other debris that was inside the box was amazing, so removing that, if nothing else, should aid air flow.

  14. Thora Hird drove a Herald, but it didn’t cause a massive surge in sales.. :)

     

    However: this is a thought-provoking sentence from 1904Vitesse: "I personally believe that each classic has its time when it joins the next level in the world of classic cars and as such all owners

    should embrace this and price their car accordingly regardless of weather it puts the value out of reach to others."

     

    A car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, so we can talk figures all day long, but it’s sales that count. Prices of our cars are up as other Marques become too expensive for the lower end of the market. It’s a knock-on effect; if Triumphs become too expensive then prospective owners will move on to something cheaper; we’re left with cars that swallowed huge amounts of money on rebuilds but won’t reach anywhere near that on resale. It’s another boom-and-bust, like we saw back in the 1990s. Cars become more expensive to buy so become more desirable to restore rather than scrap; prices go up, they end up in the hands of speculators and rich collectors and everyday enthusiasts pass them by, so sales slow and prices drop. Even adverts on eBay are reaching funny money; why pay £5- or £6000 for a Herald when you can pay £2000 or less and still get a good one? 

    Incidentally Hugh Robert’s Vitesse was priced over £20000 back in the 1990s when he built it, but it doesn’t mean they were all worth that.

  15.  

    Just not sure if this is accepted by the club or frowned upon because an original Triumph would have been destroyed in the past to build it.

    If it kept another car on the road then it was worthwhile… senseless destruction of good cars i.e. banger racing are one thing; breaking an end-of-life car to save others helps us all. Done it myself more than once… :) 

    • Like 1
  16. It isn't a difficult job (unless you struggle with shifting heavyish bits of metal)

     

    Cover your floors with heavy cardboard or carpet or you’ll lose a lot of paint in the process; it’s easier to slide the gearbox until you can get a good grip on it but the damage is already done by then.

  17. Please don't get confused between the device known as 'Tracker' and a GPS tracker, although I'm not suggesting anyone has, but it's worth mentioning the difference.

     

     

    Actually I was, not having looked at the Club shop device but just going by the name ‘Tracker'. Apologies for confusing the two! However, as with any theft these days, the criminals are becoming more and more sophisticated and with the influx of cheap technology from dodgy elements overseas, readily available over the Internet, you can scan / disable and thieve till your little heart’s content with very little risk. As we say over here: “A lock will only keep an honest man out…"

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