Colin Lindsay

Lennon’s Roller, allegedly painted in Romany Caravan designs.

Same car, different group photo. Lennon drove a Rolls Royce himself, a totally hideous paint-job but de rigeur in those days...

My Gt6 has a Dolomite 1850 J type box fitted, works great and no leaks… does this mean there’s no oil left? (Love the smell of gearbox oil in the mornings…)

I didn’t think a f*rt was compressed… it was released? Hence it can be lit at the exhaust port but doesn’t spontaneously combust?

Thanks John, my mistake. I fitted new discs and pads recently and the instructions were that they can take up to 800 miles to properly bed in; 3 - 400 with worn discs but longer on brand new ones. Even my Clio discs and pads, changed for new items two weeks ago, still haven’t got the contact band for the full width of the disc after 200 miles or so. The EBC pads just didn’t get the mileage to do anything at all…

Or cheaper brands of whiskey…

Remember that heavier pads (i.e. fast road or race) will take ages to bed in, so if you’re not using your car every day or driving like a…whatever… they may be a waste of money. I threw my EBC pads out after one season, they weren’t getting enough use to bed in properly.

New bushes will cure things to a certain extent but the rubber is no longer as good as it used to be due to different allegedly-greener processes and chemicals. Certainly older worn bushes will move about more and the sharpness of new components is amazing. you’re really talking longevity; it’s not a job you want to be repeatedly doing. I fitted blue polybushes to roll bar and diff mountings as a fit and forget; red for radius arms for the stiffer grip but the wishbones etc got yellow nylon bushes, very hard nylon with no flex at all and it really transformed the GT6 handling. Ten years on they’re as good as new. There’s no increase in road vibration at all.

As always it’s not the doing, it’s the getting caught…

NOW: on a slightly different note: a Tristan-converted saloon for sale at a higher price than many genuine convertibles, due to its’ alleged ‘rarity’? Missing sunvisors and flaky paint but, because the seller claims not to have seen another like it, it’s held to be worth a lot? At least the cigarette lighter still works…. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-herald-convertable-1970-13-60-/201433175146?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Totally agree. It’s a learning process as well as an enjoying process; in fact both maintaining and driving should be part of the pleasure of owning older cars. It’s not only older cars either, I’ve just taken ownership of an MOT-failure 2001 Renault Clio from a friend who gave up on it after one too many let-downs and botched repairs; in the last fortnight I’ve learned how to change injectors and seals, replace modern cam belts, clean out blocked breather valves, replace coil packs, sort out aged electrics on everything from radio to power socket, free up dragging brakes and sticking calipers, clear blocked sunroof drains and replace the seal, and repaint horrible black alloys to a more conservative silver. And - it was actually enjoyable! It may be a terrible car in any case but I wouldn’t have tried half the things on something of value. Now I can put my beloved Landrover into storage and have a cheap commuter, with the pride that I did it my way - and it worked!

I thought the Club Shop made dashboards to order and at the owner’s specification? I know they used to, I had my four-dial GT6 dash made to order.

Latest update: replaced all four injectors, no change…. replaced the old coil pack and this appeared to work, so cleared the fault codes and away we went; just back from a two mile drive with only a slight misfire at idle. Looks like the replacement coil pack was faulty out of the box, which didn’t help at all…. £35 down the tubes!

Ok so got an OBD reader, tells me that there’s a misfire in one cylinder THEN says” cylinder not specified…”! I KNOW THAT!!! In any case now replacing the injectors as one of the plugs is shiny clean and looks like it has never fired since fitted earlier in the week, so possibly no fuel getting to it. I think ‘Gallic Travesty’ is perfect, shag.e. but needs must; it can be parked anywhere and if it’s stolen… they’ll probably take pity and leave it back only cleaner and possibly roadworthy…

43 12 is for the earlier cars, where the coil pack is square, later cars have them all in a line… hence the photo of the one I bought. No-one seems to list the lead order where they exit the coil pack. Clios use the ‘waste spark’ system where the plugs spark twice per cycle instead of once; on the exhaust stroke it makes no difference, but it means they can be 180 degrees out and still work…. unlike Triumphs. It’s now revving very high when started with the orange coil light showing, that wasn’t before… I think I’ve REALLY broken it this time.

Only slightly Triumph-related, this one! I’ve been using a 2001 Renault Clio 1.2 16v for the last week after a friend reported a slight rhythmic shudder as it drove; last Thursday it suddenly developed a heavy shudder, loss of power at lower revs, and a flashing engine management light. I gave it the once over and was able to see gas puffing out around one of the spark plugs. After buying what appeared to be an inordinate amount of specialised tools - long thin plug wrench, torx bits, hex sockets, all sizes that none of my kits have, I was able to remove the whole manifold assembly and gain access to a few parts that required cleaning; plugs out and replaced and a new ignition coil pack and leads. Started up and the shuddering is still there, if not worse. The entire car vibrates at idle. It has all the symptoms of being a cylinder down, but also has the symptoms of being out of firing order. On turning the key there seems to be slight resistance, then it fires and at higher revs, say over 2000 rpm runs as normal. The errant plug - No 4 - was loose and has now been replaced, and the replacement tightened as normal. Not one web forum I’ve been on has told me how to read the ignition lead sequence from the coil pack end - they’re all in a row and unnumbered. Before I start on compression tests or suspecting a faulty replacement coil pack, does anyone know how to tell which lead is which? Firing order is 1 3 4 2 taken from the flywheel end, but in what order do the ignition leads leave the coil pack? They’re all the same length so no help there. Photo of coil pack attached - there are no numbers anywhere to show any order. I fitted them using the old pack as a guide, which had different lead lengths depending on the cylinder they went to, but there may be a variation I can’t find. Any ideas?

I hope he buys a spellchecker... it’s “amasing!!"

Chic can make any panel as required, he once pointed this out to me when I mentioned in a Courier article that some of the floor pans were no longer available. Many aren’t pre-made or kept in stock but any section can be remade to order.

I know that ‘name and shame’ sections of forums have been tried before, with all sorts of legal problems… how do we know that a buyer didn’t incorrectly fit a part, or use incorrect tooIs? Is he a trained mechanic or technician? It’s a legal minefield, any solicitor can have a field day with it, and one which the TSSC will no doubt be eager to avoid. I know we all mean well in trying to help others avoid pitfalls, but publicly naming a supplier on an Internet forum and making allegations can incur enormous legal costs as well as hefty punishments… so be careful!

I always reckoned that with things as tight as they were in pricing and costs, if the valences weren’t required, they’d have been removed by Triumph. Consequently there had to be a reason for their continuing fitment - probably keeping dirt off the engine and improving airflow. As for K&Ns… everyone upgrades when they first buy, then after a few years they ditch them and go back to standard… my first Spitty got oil cooler and thermostat, electric fan, uprated springs, K&N filters, additional dials.. then they all came out again when I realised they were for show - because everyone else was doing it - and didn’t make one hoot of difference to the car’s performance or longevity.

As John says a blunt paint scraper is better than a razor scraper. Keep a petrol-soaked rag handy to wipe the debris out of the bores. A soft kitchen scourer - not metal - soaked in oil also cleans them well.

Swing spring works wonders and is the simplest mod to make; although having said that I converted my Mk1 many years ago not because of any wayward handling, but because everyone seemed to say I should. I never found any problems with it but then on roads with a 70 mph speed limit maybe I just never tested it to the extremes. Try to get the proper rear spring; a Spitfire one I used originally bottomed out all the time until I fitted a genuine late Mk3 version which has been superb ever since.

I don’t know about a cheap rebuild but H&H Distributor Solutions will rebuild one as new. There are some on eBay, one at present for about £25, might be better than your current one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Vitesse-GT6-distributor-/331626412173?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

I bought one of the stainless adjustable ones (had a bit of spare cash, once!) and was really aggrieved to find they’re just fence-wire tighteners! They work well on the alternator though….

….and I’ll wave it goodbye. Maybe they’ll add stocks and shares, and local airport timetables too. I’ll just stay here and post the occasional message.