Adrian

A slight variation on the original discussion but how can you tell if the struts have failed? I bought my car with struts already on and must say I can open the bonnet myself but its not exactly easy and there is probably a slight twist until I get a grip in the centre. Not noticed any oil or pitting. Is it a case of removing and just checking resistance? Adrian

I bought the new Lucas electronic dizzy from the club shop. Not started it yet but they ask specifically what year to be sure of the correct curves.

Good to hear, thanks all!

Hello all Just looking through some rebuild photos on a damp afternoon with the rugby on and noticed my diff is FR9376. Looking on various websites this seems to be a spitfire diff. I haven't had any problems with it and I think has been on the car since at least 1990. The FR's are 3.63:1 whereas I should have a 3.89:1 on an overdrive. The ratio seems to sit in the middle between the 3.27 non-overdrive gt6 and the overdrive3.89 Any idea what the impacts are likely to be? top speed, acceleration? eventually crumbling? Who knows what else i'll find is off a spitfire - I can be certain of the roof though! Cheers Adrian

Hi Richard its the standard crimp cv clip. Ps did you see the car sos sunbeam last week?

There’s an earlier thread on this so worth looking up. The fundamentals are dry assembly and measure. Didn’t work right for me so I followed the trial and error gradually adding/removing 1 thou shims until there was a very, very slight play on the wheel when wobbled. The fundamentals are the end float prevents the tapered bearings from being over compressed when torquing the drive shaft in the hub. Something like that anyway. Hope that helps Adrian

I fitted the jigsaw ones before the club shop stocked them. They are the same product. Went on like a dream, shimmed like a devil but that’s my inexperience. I did note that the inner boot clip rubs very slightly on the top of the chassis. Adrian

Mark at jigsaw gave my car the once over before I bought it. Very knowledgable and I spent a fair penny with him, including the cv upgrade. I don’t think he’s exactly cheap and the cv upgrades are also stocked by the club shop now. most of my interior was from Owen, top grade stuff but yes communication can be difficult. Don’t be afraid to ask for other bits not on his site as he made me a set of rear wheel arch trims. cheers

Hi all, I know I'm reviving the old thread but it may be relevant. I've been doing some background reading on Distributors. When we attended if I recall correctly Aidan had wandering timing on idle. This may be duff information but I found a thread which said if the distributor float is too small it can lead to irregular timing. Now to my daft question. I have a brand new dizzy from the club shop. If I get No.1 TDC with I think its 13 degrees advance what do I do with the dizzy - I know it only fits the drive gear one way SO, I haven't as yet checked if the dizzy has a particular mark for orientation but do I need to twist the dizzy drive to a mark before inserting it to the drive gear slot and consequently do I need to get the drive cog slot orientated to coincide with dizzy drive before putting it all together OR do I just shove it in and attach the leads (obviously in order). (I have sorted my float requirements (just need 3 No. 0.06 gaskets. I thought it would be simpler to ask my question here than start a new thread. Thanks Adrian

My daughter has just had her renewal after her first year of driving, £600 with breakdown cover etc. It includes the black box. Last year was around £900 for the Nissan micra 56 plate.ironically it was with direct line as I had my car and household insurance with them they offered a good discount for her and me being a named driver made a difference as well. I do believe there is a gulf between male and female new driver insurance costs. Might be worth giving them a go. i must say there is a big difference between the safety of a modern and classic, but personally find I don’t need to drive fast in the classic but that could be me. There is however no accounting for other dangerous drivers hitting you. All food for thought, good luck.

Just thought I’d close out this thread. Went for the laser stud removal tool. Fantastic grip came out straight away 5 mins for all 3. But it does mess the stud up. Your comments gave me great confidence. I will leave the one in the head though as it is still serviceable.

Richard, Wow, never knew that (genuine). Will have a look at the link. thanks all

To be honest I'm only using WD40 which obviously does nothing for rust. I'll look up some rust buster. I've already got the brass nuts. Its been a slow process because there has been no disassembly maintenance on the engine (other than gear box) for nearly 30 years. I was expecting the nuts to shear because as you can see the stud threads are in very poor corroded condition. I was surprised they moved as all the manifold nuts were rusted steel. I suppose I can attempt to drill out and re-tap or as worst case drill out and bolt.

Hi Chaps I've got one manifold stud that just won't budge. Did the two nut trick - I felt if I'd pushed anymore it would snap. Remaining thread is healthy so should I just leave? I've replaced the others - should I use copper slip or would that just burn off. Secondly the manifold to exhaust studs are in much worse state. I'm much more cautious of these as its cast iron. Use as is and hope? I think the only way would be to drill these out. Thanks Adrian

All the best Shaun totally agree, I know where you are coming from, my Dad has weeks if we are lucky. I don't know what I'd do if Mrs Q wasn't around to soak up the emotions! Although if I gave her a squeeze she might get the wrong idea and anticipate I'd done something wrong!! Adrian

Thanks very much for the feedback, really useful. AIV I think is the agreed insurance valuation but am liking the armoured vehicle!

Last year the triumph was 120. When I got the mini (1980) it was just an extra 12 for 6 months, but the renewal skyrocketed. They are both off the road for the winter but I think I’ll be looking elsewhere in the spring!

Hello all, i just wondered if we could get a feel for insurance. My cars are insured as follows gt6 in garage and mini 1000 on drive very limited mileage 2000 each. My renewal was £220 for the 2. I accept all the other variables, location, age (51) full no claims, etc. Is this reasonable in your experience? Yet a 15000 mile a year daily driver land cruiser is £400 thanks Adrian

When I said focussed I meant as a topic, not the usual expected thread drift. Looking at the various headings it seems the none triumph projects seems to be the best place. I’ll literally start with an initial assessment and see where we go.

Wow, polar opinions but as always very constructively given and explained. As I had the inlet manifold faces skimmed I’d say probably a good candidate for dry fit. But I’ll check other faces are true as well. i have got hematite, blue hylomar and welseal, so plenty to choose from if need be! the rest of the exhaust system is still insitu so it’s just the manifold joints. As always, thanks Adrian PS can we start a mini focussed portion of the site as I’m sure many of you have comprehensive experience, not just of bleeding knuckles!

On every gasket surface? Won't it get burnt off on exhaust connections?

Hello Chaps Probably another T-shirt question. When I stripped the manifold off there didn't appear to be any gasket seal, (between head and exhaust and inlet manifold and also inlet manifold to carbs) on this basis I intend to rebuild with no seal on the new gaskets. Also the manifold to exhaust also appeared to be lacking any gasket seal. Am I correct or in your experiences would you add a sealant? Thanks Adrian

Hello all As a double check for those in the know and those who would like to know I'm going to attempt to put together a quick step by step guide on checking and adjusting CD 150 carbs as per Pete's great instruction during the tutorial day. Just so you know - I've never touched a carb before and am not a mechanic so if anyone wants to refine this please feel free. 1. Visual Needle adjustment. The basic setting is the washer on the needle at the base of the float should be more or less be flush with the base of the float. This is adjusted by as long allen key or special car adjuster tool (the adjuster has a centralisation sleeve to prevent diaphragm damage). Please note, float chamber disassembly does not result in parts springing out and getting lost although caution should be used to prevent threading of the screws / sockets during re-assembly. I think this is sitting a little too far out (correct?) Check the diaphragm isn't distorted. If it is soak in petrol and it should reform to its original shape. Don't forget during re-assembly to make sure the tab on the underside of the diaphragm is located in the corresponding 'socket' in the carb body. Right hand side of the photo. Obviously carefully re-insert the needle into the slot as seen in the photo. 2. Temperature compensators. As I recall these are to facilitate consistency between cold and warm starting. Not all carbs have them. If you do they are easily recognised....The yellow plastic covers. If you remove those bigger screws adjacent to the plastic cover you get the following Note the two rubber washers. Basically it is a bimetallic strip which operates the cone in the middle of the above picture to adjust (I think air into the carb)? With the washer off it should offer slight resistance when pressed, if no resistance adjust the nut on the inside until you feel the slight resistance as follows. The nut should move freely with pliers. All of the temperature compensator adjustment is totally irrelevant if the air intake on the carb is covered by a wrongly / deliberately placed gasket. They can operate without them and it was apparently a common feature to blank them. You can see the cut out for the intake in the above although ironically the intake for the other carb was blanked by a reversed gasket - perhaps that is why it never started particularly well. 3. Choke. Pete said to make sure there was no corrosion on the plates, if there was, clean them. Fortunately spotless. Although may have to get a gasket as the one on there seems a bit rough. 4. Finally - balancing (if that is the right term) - visual The picture of the carbs above shows a screw on the top right of each carb. This adjusts the opening of the baffles? (the brass thing!) I just adjusted them visually until they both operated the same. Then it is a good clean of the outside with 00 steel wool and carb cleaner. Hope I've remembered it correctly Pete! Adrian

All very useful information. So the copper slip I used on the big vertical link suspension bolts may not have been the best solution.

Thanks Darren, did it this afternoon (I must be getting impatient in my older years). Took about an hour to get it back in (don’t need any weight training after wriggling that in) so reasonably happy with that just need to bolt up the Bell house to the block. adrian