Colin Lindsay

Well you could, but that would remove the reserve capability. It may not seem like much of a reserve but it may just get you to a nearby petrol station, or home, someday you really need it.

I agree with Pete; unless you have gasket problems it’s probably an incorrect rad cap. Does the system refill when cold, or does the level drop then stay at the same?

Magnolia Hammerite is a very close match for the shade if by any chance you can’t get the correct road wheel colour.

The standard of welding in the front passenger footwell doesn’t bode well for the rest of the work. I fear the decimal point in the price may be in the wrong place….

Go to eBay for all the Herald-specific equipment that’s on offer, such as cup holders, mobile phone aerials, air-con pumps, spot lamps, electric screen-washers etc that were all fitted as standard when the cars were new. It’s only when you read the small print that you realise that an ‘Air-con pump - fits Triumph Herald’ is actually “not suitable for Triumph Herald”. I never realised there were so many Herald accessories that I could buy that aren’t actually suitable for the Herald, until I started digging...

I’ll watch this one to see what it eventually raises. I have a cheaper, round locking version and even the price of these has seriously gone up; having said that, it’s still possible to find a real bargain sometimes. I think I’ve also one of the Waso versions in bits waiting some spare part or other... must go look now that I’ve remembered!

A nice item. Prices do tend to vary, though.

I know that late Spitfire turrets are slightly lower than earlier Herald ones, despite looking similar, but thought that was for bonnet clearance. I never knew they’d raised any of their engines; it’s always great to learn small details like this. Given the basic standard of engineering - advanced enough for its’ day, but not radical - I don’t think it was for any weight distribution or handling purpose.

"This is tomorrow… Heaven help us!" I agree… not a Triumph in sight! I take it she doesn’t mind having a blue interior including exposed paintwork, but a pink outer? Wheeler Dealers would have done it properly…

I hope you can make this out - my dash has been removed for rewiring (remember the article on the LED bulbs? Never got it all back together yet.. ) but the centre section slots under the long dash support bracket and two screws go up through the two holes in the L-shaped metal strip and into captive nuts behind the support bracket. Once these are loosely tightened the top two screws can be fitted then the entire section aligned and tightened. I’m just holding mine in place with fingertip pressure.

Happened to me in the queue for the MOT. Got out to talk to another driver, got back in, then noticed little springs and bits all over the floor. I had a spare switch at home so had to go back for a retest an hour later at a cost of £18 extra.

At a guess it’s either a MK3 Spitfire reshelled with a GT6 body, or a GT6 Mk1 rebuilt using Spitfire parts; I’d guess the former. The shape of the door glass reflects the Spitfire and the body appears to have been adapted / built up for this shape of door glass. The lack of rear overriders, the large brake master cylinder and various other assorted ‘bodges’ point to, as Colin says, a bitsa. No doubt some hopeful seller has decided to raise the price by claiming it’s a factory experiment, but I very much doubt it.

Engine valences cover the lower part of the block and don’t really make any difference to heat dissipation. Most modern cars have them still in the form of inner wings (more or less). Keep a good flow of air through your radiator and keep it moving i.e. as John says let it escape through properly sited ducts or else with electronic help e.g. an electric fan. The difference between properly functioning and overheating isn’t great so it only takes a good flow of air, not an arctic blast. A well-maintained system is more than adequate for even stationary traffic and remember a good heater will also remove a lot of the engine heat if necessary. Just keep the windows down!

The two lower screws screw up through the L-shaped metal trim into captive nuts on the under-dash support. I can get pics by tomorrow if that will help?

Good point. All the extra heat has to go somewhere and it will put more strain on your cooling system, so that needs to be top notch. Is your under bonnet heat really excessive, or causing problems? I’ve always found the best solution to be a good free flow of air, possibly with an uprated fan.

Personal taste, Aidan. If you ask for opinions you’ll get as many people saying to fit one as you will saying don’t, you’ll also get people telling you how good a Webasto is in their own car, which won’t be a GT6, and you’ll always get someone who hi-jacks the post with the problems he’s having with his own vehicle and thereby effectively kills the thread. (Long experience, that…) However: I’d get it done professionally, if at all. It’s a big step cutting a hole in perfectly good - and quite rare - roof.

Is a roughly Triumph-shaped car, with nothing mechanically Triumph about it, still a Triumph? I’ve debated it for years and been shouted down many times by the vociferous mod-brigade - it has to be faster / better / safer / stronger than the original, so lets use Subaru diffs and rear axles, space frame chassis, Mazda engines, Ford gearboxes, all sorts of weird and wonderful wheels and interiors and by the way it’s still a 1973 Triumph for free tax purposes. And why oh why won’t the DVLA believe it’s only slightly altered from factory spec? It won’t affect Triumphs that have been rebuilt to original spec, or restorations that use like-for-like components i.e. a donor engine. It will affect major alterations until this minority of cars can prove they’re properly made and no danger to the drivers or other road users. It’s the usual story of a few ruining things for everyone else by bending the rules further and further.

Treat them as a service item and expect to change every two years or so. They don’t make ‘em like they used to!

You may find the gauge and the sender are from different eras of Triumph; stabilised or unstabilised. Mixing the components will cause this. You need either a 10v stabilised gauge and matching sender or a 12 volt unstabilised setup. Does it have six screws around it at the tank, or a locking ring?

The early cars were always rare, when I bought my Mk1 it was positively unloved and unwanted but they’ve increased in popularity in recent years. Don’t believe the hype about poor roadholding and how the Mk2s are much better than Mk1, it all comes down to personal preference these days, so don’t expect to automatically pay a higher price for the Mk2. Just make sure owners know you are looking - maybe post a wanted ad - and see who responds.

Your ears will be your best guide; listen at the bell housing while someone gently depresses and releases the brake pedal. You should hear sufficient creaking noises as the release lever moves and the clutch depresses to let you know that it’s moving. Try a long-handled screwdriver with the handle against your ear as a stethoscope.

I like it!! When my convertible finally hits the road I’ll be looking out for one like that.

It’s probably the same residue as you may find under the rocker cover…. possibly caused by a blown head gasket at one stage but certainly caused by water (condensation?) getting into the oil. You’ll see more of it if your car is sitting idle for a long time or if it’s only used for short journeys where the car doesn’t really warm up enough to burn the moisture off. Just clean it off and use a good engine oil when refilling.

I used the hard yellow bushes from ksclassiccarparts - Kevin was at the TSSC International for a few years and had a stand selling these. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-SPITFIRE-HERALD-GT6-VITESSE-BOND-FRONT-WISHBONE-POLYURETHANE-BUSH-/251068317849?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a74d68099 I have them on the front suspension of my GT6 and found them excellent; I also have blue Polybushes on my diff and red polybushes on the rear radius arms, so an entire selection on one car. The red bushes are quite unforgiving, I needed a hydraulic press, but the yellow ones are good and I have two more sets for my Herald restorations when they’re ready for suspension.

Errata: for ‘NOT’ read ‘NOW’. I’m starting to really hate spell checkers.