Mark B

I have the original Desmo wing mirrors on the Vitesse, flat glass, pretty useless. Does anyone know if you can upgrade to convex glass, or does it mean a pair of new mirrors? Mark

With the back light out, you may be able to jam the nut and stop it turning in its cage with a long screw driver. Usually either the square edged nut is rounded off or the cage has broken away allowing the nut to turn. Plenty of releasing oil. If you mange to jam the nut and get the bolt turning, keep it moving as the heat generated helps if move. Mark

I want to fit some sort of sound system to my Vitesse, and was thinking there must be a modern alternative to the traditional door speakers. I've been impressed at the sound quality you can get from the single small Bluetooth speakers, and was wondering if there was a 12v version that could be hidden under the dash, and buy a modern Bluetooth head unit to play through it? Mark

Thanks for all the replies, pics and links. I've got some webbing i can use, and just made up some plates to clamp it to the boot floor. Another job ticked off. Thanks for clearing that up. The jack that came with the Vitesse is green and a larger version of my black Spitfire one.

Hi all Can anyone remind me of the the original location for the sissor jack, handle and wheel brace on a late Mk2 Vitesse. I remember there was the remains of a strap on the drivers side boot floor and think the scissor jack should wind up under the strap to hold it there, but not sure about the handle and brace. I also have a large black plastic bag/pouch that did hold a jack and wheel brace but can't remember if this was for a spitfire Mark

Hi I had this on my Vitesse on full lock, fitted with 175, 70, 13 tyres. My Vitesse sat very low initially after restoration, the look I like, just about clear speed humps, but on full lock with a passenger I could hear the tyre rubbing, with resulting witness marks. The bulk head slopes inward, the lower down the bulk head you go until you reach the outrigger. A little height adjustment makes a lot of difference to clearance. I made up some slider plates when setting up the suspension so it was easy to turn from lock to lock adjusting the height to give the clearance. Spring rate obviously has an effect on the amount it dives on hard braking so maybe worth upping the spring rate. Also worth checking front suspension bushes for movement, flex and that the lower wishbone mounts to chassis are torqued up correctly. Mark

Hi all Re-cheked the rack position today as I am trying to get all four wheels pointing in the same direction following the rebuild. I fitted solid mounts a few years ago so don't have the original brackets and rubber to set the rack in the original position. I measured between the front chassis rails and marked the centre point on the front cross member. I measured between the two plates welded on the rack to find the centre. Lined the marks up and clamped the rack down. Counted the turns left to right centred the steering and fitted the steering wheel. Both track rod ends are set with the same amount of exposed thread. Looking by eye and some basic measuring with string it looks like the passenger side is towing out while the drivers side is straight ahead. Now wondering if the centre of the rack is between the two welded plates as it looks like the rack needs to move over to the drivers side a few mm. Any ideas. thanks Mark

Hi all Thanks for the replies. Mark

Hi all Fitting the sills to the Vitesse and the tabs on the bottom edge of the sill almost line up with the steel tube holes in the side rails. Long time ago but I thought the tabs on the sill attached to the side rails with self trapping screws. Can anyone confirm how the sills originally attached to the side rails. Thanks Mark

Hi all Thanks for the replies and conformation. Mark

Hi all Is the short piece of cable on the angle drive that locates into the gearbox square or elliptical on a J Type Overdrive gearbox? This is an uprated J type gearbox built for the Vitesse. I found an angle drive but not sure which car it originated from. The reason I ask is I know the later Spitfires had a different shaped cable drive from the Speedo than earlier cars, and this angle drive has a square drive for the output and input. The square cable will go into the gearbox, so is probably correct, but could probably get an elipticel cable into the gearbox as well, but not tried so thought I would ask first. Thanks Mark

Hi On my Mk mk2 Gt6 the scissor jack handle/bar clips onto the underside of the spare wheel cover board, and adds some support to the board. Mark

Thanks for the replies, one less thing to do. The front overiders appear to be handed, they are not semetrical and one is the mirror image of the other. I can't work out the reason why as they will fit either side. Only thought is there maybe differences if fitted on a herald. I know the mounting brackets are different between the herald and vitesse but I thought the 1360 used the same valence. Mark

Hi all I have been refitting the front overiders and ally bumpers and can't remember if originally there were black plastic finishers between the end of the bumpers where they but up against the overider. I have fitted them to the curve on the rear overiders, which makes sense, but can't see a logical way of fitting to the front unless they fit to the edge of the cut outs on the front balance, but would probably interfere with the bumpers. Mark

Hi I used these staples to restore my door cards, can't remember where i got them but they measure 4mm from the top of the staple to the end of the leg, so think this is what they refer to when quoting the size, and not the length of the leg. I used standard thickness harddboard, not sure of the original card thickness probably the same, but these staples never protruded through either card. Mark

HI all After a lot of elbow grease and a combination of a silicon lubricant spray and a micro fibre cloth, I have been able to remove the skin formed on the surface of the rubber. I ran out of silicon so carefully used cellulose thinners as I know it will turn rubber to goo if left on long enough. It even came off just using a cloth if rubbing in one spot long enough to get the rubber hot but a lot of effort. I think any solution, I even used furniture polish acts as a lubricant and it is the friction and heat generated, using the right type of cloth, didn't work as well with a smooth cotton cloth, but the bobbly micro fibre, grabbed the skin an roller it off. Good Couple of hours effort, but as they are £45 odd now, worth the effort and satisfaction that didn't have to buy it twice. Thanks all Mark

Gave a few bottles of shower gel to my niece, came from Christmas gift sets, never could get a good lather up, and felt sticky. She later informed me they were moisturiser cream. Mark

Hi Rob Thanks for all the links, a good mix of ideas. Mark

HI all I bought a new screen seal for the Vitesse several years ago, kept in a bag in the back of a lock-up, now ready to fit. There is a whitish yellow chalky discoloration formed on the surface, so tried swarfega. I can rub the coating off with my finger and rolls and scrapes off with bits everywhere. When dry, I get the same chalky surface appearing. Didn't want to have to buy another rubber, but it's looking that way. I've had track rod end rubbers, side window seals fall apart during the admittedly long restoration, and the cars not even left the lock up yet. Any suggestions what I could try to rejuvinate the seal before I bin it? Thanks Mark

Great, thanks. Mark

Hi all Should the reverse/no.plate light ally cowl on the mk2 Vitesse have a gasket between it and the boot lid? I know the Herald with the shorter cowl has a rubber one, but can't remember if one is fitted to the Vitesse, and can't see anything listed. Thanks Mark

Hi Thanks for all the replies. As yet I have not fitted the boot stay. The space between the rear deck and boot lid is pretty even. I've been here before, when fitting front and rear tubs, doors, bonnet etc. Trying to get all the alignment close enough. Thought fitting the boot lid would have been straight forward, but I should have known better. Like you say something maybe slightly twisted. I may dig out the original boot lid and see how it fits. The replacement boot lid looked a good fit when trial fitted a couple of years ago, it's different when everything is bolted up tight. Mark

Hi Karl I did try a couple of wedges of card between the boot lid and rear wing, but once removed it springs back over. I do have a couple more boot lid frames I could try but I don't think it will make any difference, as the boot lid position seems to be decided by the hinge mounting holes in the boot lid and rear deck. I may try some old hinges, but in the end I want to use the new shiny ones so I may have to resolt to drilling the boot lid holes out a bit. Mark

Hi all Instead of starting a new similar thread, hope you don't mind me posting here. I have just dicovered a similar problem with my nearly finished Vitesse Mk2 Convertible restoration. I don't have a problem with the overall width of the boot opening, although not measured as yet., its trying to get the boot lid centralised that is the problem. This is not helped by fitting new repro hinges, and a good secondhand boot lid. I have the hinges fitted the correct way around, as these are handed, but when frame and hinges are tightened up, it keeps wanting to pull over to the passenger side. Although not touching there's about a 3mm gap between the rear light chrome trim and the edge of the boot lid. The drivers side has close to 8mm gap. Iv'e loosened everything off several times, applying pressure over to the drivers side, as its tightened but it ends back up in the same position. There doesn't seem to be any damage to the frame or boot lid. I was thinking of enlarging the boot lid hinge holes slightly which should allow a little sideways movement, and maybe enough to get the lid more centralised. The handle and latch are not fitted yet, and it did occur to me that moving the catch over towards the drivers side may pull the boot lid over slightly when the handle is turned. Before I start drilling out the boot lid I thought I better ask, just incase Ive missed something and theres a better solution. thanks Mark

Hi all Just fitted the tank and left the bracket off. I was going to seal it to the floor before dropping the tank and foam seal in place. I found that the rubber drain plug is in the way so the bracket won't fit flush with the floor. The position of the bracket is determined by the position of the tank drain plug when the tank is bolted in. All seems ok minus the bracket, so onto the next job. Thanks Mark