Colin Lindsay

I once had a gentleman in Banbridge, Co Down ask me what part of Wales I came from. I told him "About 200 miles west of Cardiff." As a good natured bit of fun (and honestly it is that!!) we refer to friends of mine from across the border as "coming from the Dark Side"....

A test e-mail to the club has just been returned to me as undeliverable.... wonder why? I got the following reason, and note the "unnecessary spaces" part... Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try\r\n550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or\r\n550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at\r\n550 5.1.1 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser q8si1732110pgc.308 - gsmtp

Just out of interest, does anyone know the temperature range between the gauge being at half, and then at two-thirds? If it's only a slight increase then there's nothing to worry about, just the lack of airflow at slow speeds causing the rise. (as nearly everyone has already said!!)

Try again Chas! I know BT broadband is absolutely useless for any kind of good connection however I still get a daily digest of messages / e-mails through, albeit slowly. I usually open Mail then go and get coffee for five minutes or so. Is it anything I can help you with on here?

You can always remake them by cutting the end of a suitably sized masonry nail.

I did e-mail them a while back regarding Herald springs but got no reply either way. I'll maybe try again as it would be good to have a source of new leaf springs (or even components to refurbish your own).

Those are nice, but I'd try to get them all the same i.e. matched... looks much more 'factory' if you know what I mean! I managed to find additional Smiths ones for my GT6 - oil pressure and voltmeter - and had to paint the needles orange with Humbrol enamel... worked a treat. Re Doug's post - VDO make / sell shunt ammeters but they're pricey - search eBay!

Awww... nice!! I just love the early cars. I'm jealous as mine are also covered up at present due to my house move, and although the new garage has passed planning and may be started on Monday coming it'll still be a few months before I get back to work on them. Having said that I've been approached concerning the sale of an early Spitfire and might just show an interest myself... yours has certainly sparked my interest again!

Or even worse... get a car that's less polluting or complies with the rules... yes I know there'll be the odd hard-luck story which is overinflated by the press, people will be starving, unemployed or sold into slavery, but in the main it's not the driver, it's the vehicle that causes the pollution, and there are many cheap petrol vehicles out there for the taking. Students can pollute the air just as easily as the rest of us... (must be the diet of baked beans... :0. )

There is also a very thriving Triumph Club of Greece; I've been in contact with them recently and they're bound to have a few local contacts.

Don't forget that Cyprus has many local small-garage or back-street mechanics, many of whom are well at home with this age of car if the rest of Greece is anything to go by. It may seem daunting now but once you get it there you'll soon find the local experts to assist and repair as required, and a lot more cheaply than in the UK.

"Diesel cars older than this are not eligible for a badge".... does that mean they're permanently banned or is it an age-related exemption and don't need one? The number of black diesel cars we have locally - the front is the normal colour but the entire rear is just solid dull sooty black - won't do us any favours if our government is considering it....

Robin - I could be easily talked into it, as I am most things these days..... just let me make sure I don't need them for any existing project.

I usually get modern underfelt from any scrapyard. Sells for pennies if not free and is totally waterproof; the more 'luxury' car you source it from the thicker it usually is and the better for soundproofing. Many scrappies just throw it in their skips so you can sort through for the big bits that can then be cut to size.

There is a thriving Triumph scene in Greece... although a grille badge I bought some months ago never arrived.....

They were available some years back; from the colour of the protective coating on this pair I have I'd suggest Chic Doig can probably make and supply them.

I doubt many owners will 'revert' once they have the new setup given the cost of initial purchase, however there will be enough purists who will want a replacement set of axles to recondition off the car whilst keeping the car on the road using the original set. I'd sell them on but bear in mind the postage costs - could be high - and of course make sure you advertise them as used with the added caveat that the seller understands they are worn and sold for reconditioning rather than immediate fit.

The problem with the GT6 Register of days gone by was that it was a lot of work to keep up to date, with members buying or selling cars, members enquiring about cars, dozens of forms landing through the post and every owner wanting to know the entire history of the Triumph they had just bought... and it just wasn't feasible in the days of data protection to have an unpaid and unregulated member of the public holding other members details in a private computer system with no regulation or security of data. Modern times, but that's the way it is. Nice in theory to have a record of everyone's car, but difficult to work in practice. It raised a lot of expectations among new members who seemed to think that we had every detail of their car from day one, along the lines of the Lotus Owners Club where factory records are readily available and can be used as reference. Best plan of attack is, as here, to advertise and see who knows the car.

The bush should fit through ok, have you compressed it so much that it's pancaked out?

What makes you think it's the alternator? Any more clues? The red light may come on due to low idle but not necessarily an electrical fault. It could be a fuel fault; overheating in the jam could have caused a vapour lock, the fan runs due to the heat, but the engine dies due to lack of fuel. It could be running rich - the carbs flood, the engine dies but once the excess fuel evaporates it runs normally again - been there! It may also have been something as simple as dirt in the fuel line, stirred up by the long run. The fan may just be a red herring. Do you have the mechanical fan fitted or can you refit it? I'd try a few runs without the electric fan just to make sure there isn't a combination of issues, and clean out the fuel system just in case, refilling with good fresh petrol. Nice to see a Triumph getting good usage this time of year!

Someone on eBay has been trying to sell a Triumphtune version for really funny money; I can't remember the exact price but it's around £300. I sold mine for about £30 if I recall correctly; it cost me £20 in the first place. What about a nice chromed version from an early GT6? Last one I sold at a local auto jumble went for a fiver.

Hammerite? Yuck! Terrible stuff that chips really easily and never seems to last except on drainpipes. Sandblast the valences then prime with a good rust-encapsulator-type paint, I use Vinylkote matt black then a good top coat of black gloss. I've started using it on my suspension components too, gives a very nice finish.

I think in a lot of cases it's the fitting of the old Carlos Fandango super-wide wheels that causes the bother, as you're often working further out on the wheel studs than standard wheels need to.

A recore to three row modern core is around £120 (based on my last Herald recore). There are companies all over the country, try a quick Internet search around your location. You can probably fit any modern radiator provided you don't mind a dogs dinner of large hoses everywhere and the word "Honda" or "Nissan" glaring at you every time you open the bonnet. Aluminium rads are (or were very recently) on eBay for less than £200 (from China I think) but it's a toss-up as to whether they're really any better for normal road use.

I've just upgraded my Mac to another model so haven't yet transferred across all my reference numbers but is this the compression ratio code, not the part number?