Mark B

Good work as usual. Like the battery powered LED garage lights. They give out a lot of light. My lock-up has no power, navigated by touch and a torch.

Make sure the exhaust down pipe is supported at the bottom of the gearbox bell housing.

Hi Gary Thanks for the info. Need to get the Spax off and have a measure. I think your probably right that they will be the off the shelf spec as were originally bought years ago for my mk3 Spit. May attach the top mount to the chassis and have a measure. Like the idea of fitting koni though. Thanks Mark

Hi all. My mk2 Vitesse is running sliding spline drive shafts. I originally had a flatter 3 leaf spring made up with assisted coil over shocks. The car sat low and firm as I wanted and handled very well. In the intervening years local council fitted every imaginable type of speed hump and obstacles designed to knock your exhaust off to all the local roads. It became a pain, so shortly after putting the car back on the road I reverted back to standard leaf spring, retaining the chassis extensions and fitted some ex Spitfire Spax shocks I had stored away. With me and a passenger in the car all's well. Briefly had another couple off passengers in the back and felt the shocks bottoming out. I could attach the shocks directly to the chassis and do away with the chassis extensions, not sure if this would give me any more travel. I no longer have doughnuts to avoid, but prefer the more vertical shock angle using the chassis extensions. Does anyone know the open and closed lengths of shocks used on c.v shafts either using the chassis or extension mounting points? Thanks

Many years ago I would leave tools outside whilst I nipped in doors to make a cuppa or get something, never had any problems. Would never do that now, or haven't for the past twenty years or so. I live I SE9 London, and have had a few car break-ins, tools, trolley jack stolen. If I take a wheels off when working on the brakes etc. I lock them away. The new trend of people leaving unwanted things outside their house, for passers by to take, sets a bad precedent in my opinion. We live in a different world nowadays where some think nothing of stealing stuff left unattended, and their twisted logic is it's your fault for leaving it out.

Does anyone know the original colour of the mk2 bonnet grill. I know the later grills were black plastic, the earlier versions were made from an alloy, but have seen these in satin black and silver alloy. Similar story on the mk3 Spit. Have a feeling they were black from 1970, same time the reverse and number plate light revisions took place on both models, but I maybe wrong.

I took my old one to Halfords and matched the thread and design, and went for one of similar size, as some varied in length.

I've owned a few 13.60 Heralds and more than a few Vitesse. Currently own a mk2 Vitesse convertible. I think I would prefer a tuned Herald convertible, just feels lighter and more nimble. The Vitesse does feel heavy in comparison to me. Convertibles are as floppy as a wet lettuce, in my opinion, probably more noticeable in the heavier Vitesse convertible. Saloons feel more solid in both models. Nice sounding straight six with nice torque. A tuned 13.60 would give a Vitesse a run for its money.

That's come up really great! Don't know what it is with some reds, and why they go dull and chalky. I have an old red citroen relay van, paint comes up nice with a lot of polishing, but if left for a couple of months goes flat again. The back doors always stay shiny, must have been replaced in the past and a differrnt paint used. I've tried using different waxes etc. But nothing works, so assume it's caused by UV.

I had a similar problem with a miss under load recently on my gt6, similarly the car has sat for the last couple of years, occasional start up, new plugs and points few years ago, but no miles. I assumed the plugs had got moisture in them and deteriorated. Removed plugs, surprised to see no's 4 to 6 were sooty, cleaned up and runs fine. Must have been initial start up on choke had Fouled the rear three plugs. Worth checking you have oil in both dash pots though, for overall performance.

I would think a miss or stutter is more likely, plugs, points, leads etc. I unknowingly ran my Vitesse which has Su's fitted, with hardly any oil in one dash pot. Ran well, only sympton was a rattle, eventually traced to the front carb.

I've been trying to track a leak on my Vitesse, dripping from the rear edge of the sump bottom of the bell housing. There was a tiny amount of oil weeping from the oil filter tracking along the edge of the sump around to the rear edge. That's been cured but there's still a small amount of oil coming from somewhere. I started from the rocker cover down. I do have a small leak rear corner of head, spark plug side, but no evidence it's tracking down between the block and back plate. So in my case it is either leaking from the rear of sump gasket, or possibly from somewhere on the back of the engine. Its a tiny leak, but want to cure if before the interior goes back in. Suffering with bad back last few weeks so works been on hold, as there's a fair amount of work involved removing a sump on a Vitesse.

Hi From a distant memory, I think the gaiter is usually stapled to a piece of black card slightly curved to follow the tunnel and I think screwed on each corner to the floor. The gaiter then pops through the hole in the carpet.

Hi all Owned my mk2 gt6 for about 18 years, somewhere along the line, or possibly it came with the car, I have an extra board that is shaped, I believe, to cover the area where an occasional seat back would usually fold flat when not in use, and to extend the load area. This board would have the same effect, by covering the area behind the front seats. I was wondering how it would have originally fitted. Presumably there would be brackets attached to the inner wheel wells for the board to sit on. Any one got one fitted? Thanks

Looks Great!

You have achieved a lot in a short time! Getting me motivated to start on mine. Looking good.

I used a ready meal bowl as the base to take a fibreglass cast from. I extended the top edge with a return so that it could be pushed through the hole from the front and sealed with silcone. Yup, for a car alarm. I have an FIA type cut out on the vitesse which caused all sorts of issues. The only answer was to run an independent circuit, switches and siren for the alarm.

I recently fitted a stereo and speakers to my Vitesse. The car had never had a radio fitted in its life and I initially fitted the speakers under the dash as I was reluctant to cut the door cards. I knew I was loosing sound quality as it sounded like the speakers where shut in a cupboard, when under the dash, but came to life when held top front of doors. I knew all Heralds and Vitesse's have a hole cut in the door behind the card, not sure if they were intended for speakers. Two things that concerned me, speakers getting wet, and how to route the wires. To keep the speakers dry I made a couple of fiberglass pods and sealed them to the door shell. I didn't want to risk the speaker wire getting chopped, and I couldn't see a way of doing that by going anywhere near the hinges, door check strap, courtesy light area. Instead I went in through the side. Tricky as once I committed and made a hole, I came up against a structure inside, not sure what but continued drilling, being careful not to catch any wires that may have been there. Lots and lots of fiddling and poking around cursing and almost giving up, I managed to feed the speaker wires under the dash. The speaker wire is a flexible type I bought from Halfords. As the door opens the wire peels away. The holes and grommets allow the wire to slide slightly. The hole in the bulk head is slightly higher than the one in the door so hopefully any rain water will run down the wire and into the door and not the foot well. I also had to be careful where to drill the hole as it can be seen in the gap between the front edge of the door and bonnet, this is acceptable to me, but maybe not to others Time will tell if its a good idea or not, if it doesn't last I can just plug the holes with grommets and have a rethink.

Didn't realise Honeyborne had made a hard top with the quarter lights. Most of the roofs I've seen had only the rear window, so assumed the quarter lights were a DIY mod.

Probably whoever is bidding lives close enough to collect. By the time you add postage, rubbers, perspex, paint, I've seen complete ones go for less than £200 in the past year.

Pleased you have got it sorted. Top end sounds like a sewing machine, sweet, worth all the effort. Regarding allergies, a several years ago I developed some food allergies, all nuts, radish, some spices, cheeks swelled up like a squirrel. Skin test also showed iam allergic to peaches, pineapple, tomatoes, and several others, although i still eat tomatoes most days with no obvious symptons. Mark

I've fitted a few screens, the last in a Vitesse. Prior to that a mk2 gt6. I used a windscreen rubber sealent on the gt6, but after a couple of years noticed rusty water marks around the seal. When peeled back on the edges the screen surround was festering with rust. The screen surround had been primed and repainted prior to installing the new screen rubber. The rust was exstensive and in a much worst state than before the screen had been fitted. I think the screen sealant I used had reacted with the paint, trapping moisture and allowing rust to fester under the newly painted screen surround. I used rattle cans, so cellulose or equivalent. I removed the screen, repaired, primed and painted again but this time didn't use any screen sealant, and it's been fine for the last five years or so, no noticeable leeks. When fitting the Vitesse screen a year or so ago, I decided to fit without a sealant, ad I was concerned about paint reaction. Seems leak free up to now. I am pretty sure the factory would have used a sealant as found evidence when removing old rubbers. If I find that there are any leaks in future I would be careful to make sure whatever I used was compatible with the painted surface I was applying it to.

I thought the mk2 gt6 had plastic covers over the spokes or did I dream it?

Looking really great Conor! All the hard work and dedication has paid off. Total transformation. Just keep looking forward to the day you will finally be able to drive up the road!

As I mentioned earlier, there was no oil reaching my rockers on first start up with a recon head fitted. The oil gallery that feeds the rear pedestal was blocked. Not obviously apparent, the hole looked clear and could poke a piece of mig wire into the hole for about 15mm. I thought I was hitting the bottom of the gallery until I poked the same piece of wire into a spare head and it went in a lot further. Realising there was a blockage I used more force on the Mig wire and gradually broke through. You can access the same gallery through the small bolt right rear of the head. The blockage looked like hardened compressed oil. Rockers, shaft and pedestal was blown through with cleaner and compressed air.