Badwolf

Doug - My 'Chinese Loom' fuse is pink and has 40embossed on the spine, which is a bit of a give away, and also what concerned me as I think that the cable will fry before the fuse.

Sorry everyone. I certainly appear to have stirred up things with this one!! Doug- I have a similar, probably the same, Chinese headlight conversion kit. I just thought that I would check the size of the in-line fuse, to find that it was 40a, which I though was high. Now it turns out that yours was supplied with a 10a.. interesting. Is the manufacturer just putting in fuses that happen to be handy as there appears to be no consistency (not surprised on this sort of import) in construction. As to the fuse box with the original high and low beam fuses, if these are now lower current due to the relay, should they be on the same value of fuses as before (probably, in case the relay ever gets removed in the future) and should the single live feed to the relay unit, which takes the combined load of high and low beam, have its own (say 25a) fuse.

Just noticed that the in-line fuse in my headlight relay kit is 40amp. Is that not a little high for safety, and how would that fit into the new fuse box system? I reckon that even in prolonged 'flash' mode 4 bulbs (2 x dip plus 2 x full) at 60w shouldn't pull more than 20amp.

Doug - Thank you, you strike again. I do indeed have a pump lever, and it works. My Spitfire is a 1972 MkIV, but is fitted with a Herald 13/60 engine, which I only discovered when recommissioning. Unfortunately, I have no idea how much of the original engine fittings were transferred with the replacement block so it's very much a guessing game when ordering spares etc. as you will have seen from my restoration thread.

Doug -I have a primer lever!! Where? Didn't know that. Is it on all models or just GT6s Johny - Just had a one way valve delivered and due to fit it. I will report back in due course. If it doesn't work I may resort to the service kit.

Is it fairly easy to fit the 'service kit' on these? As mentioned elsewhere I have a problem with petrol syphoning back to the tank and am thinking about getting a kit on my new spares order, as they have replacement non return valves. Don't want to get a modern new unit, but never messed with the pump before.

ASP123 - Welcome to the forum and the 'joys' of Triumph ownership. Don't worry about asking basic question, no one is worse than me for that. The great thing here is that there is usually someone who had had the same problem or, just generally knows the answer. Make good use of the 'search' routine as its probably already here, if not ask away, but be prepared for not only the answer, but a discussion that wanders off.... who knows where about who knows what. Thats the beauty of this forum over all others... kinship.

I have a friend in the 'fasteners' business, but he only has a very limited stock of unf. I usually get whay I need from either 'Spalding Fasteners', 'Bolt World' or 'Massive Attack' via fleabay. All are fairly quick and have a decent stock.

OK. Waiting for the cable etc. Then I will document it for good or bad.

Shaun. If its not too late take out a brand new policy with Perfomance Direct but do it through 'Top Cashback'. Use a different email address to book policy. Then you get new policy rates plus cashback. PM me if you've never done it before.

I only had choke on one carb (su hs2) for years.

Take you time, we (I) need you

Doug - Bless you.

Hi Phil. Welcome to the forum. Car looks nice but your drive has one h*ll of a slope.

Clive - Congratulations.... but this is driving me nuts!!! Doing this to make my hobby safer, not to do my own degree. I just wanted to know what size wire to connect the back blades of the fuse box with, safely. 2mm, 3mm. 10mm... I don't care what size, diameter, cross section, square meterage... just what the h*ll do I go out and buy, steal, find in my tool box or dig out of a skip. Maybe I'll just leave it alone!!!!!

Ok gentlemen. I get the point and thanks. So a complete turn (there and back soldered to the blades) of 2mm, should be sufficient and safe.

Iain - While I value your contribution to my ignorance, acronyms don't really help me much. Afraid that while N/M will understand you I'm afraid, not me.

Ok gents. So, you are dealing with a man with a soldering iron, crimp pliers, the fuse box mentioned earlier, the original 3 wires with 12v coming to the box, 10 wires going out and the need to connect 4 blades for one wire coming in, and three blades for each of the other two coming in. Do I take it that 2mm (25amp) will be sufficient to take the load using it as a 'bus-bar' connecting the blades of the fuse-box over a length of no more that 3 inches, power into the center blade on the blocks of three, and off center (blade/power/blade/blade) in the block of four. If not, what do I need for safety. The enquiries before were based on trying to make sense of some of the previous posting, total confusion now reigns... yes, it shows doesn't it!! I assumed that the 4mm in Aidan's post was the wire diameter, obviously now I know its the area.

Just about to start the job, when I will move over to my own restoration thread with my version (how to do it wrong!!). However, before I do start can I just clear up the wire needed for the fuse box interconnects (bus-bars). The general advice is to use 4mm stranded wire. Silly question, are 2 x 2mm wires twisted together as good, or running even 2 x 2mm on either side of the terminals? I suppose there are horrendous calculations about amps, resistance, heat transfer etc... also.... I don't have any 4mm cable handy but have a stack of 2mm. There is always domestic flex, but I don't think that I have anything heavy duty enough. Over to the sparkies on the team.

Adrian - Be warned, you are going to get a list of impossible to source spares, with offers like that... now, where's my list?

You could try autosparks https://www.autosparks.co.uk/ I haven't used them but some have recommended them.

Doug/Aidan - What gauge wire did you usd to link the input side connections of the new boxes. Was it single or multi strand (Doug, just noticed you used single strand)

Hi Jas, welcome to the forum. I would drive the car and enjoy it as your Dad left it to you for the time being and decide about rims and tyres when you have spent some time behind the wheel getting used to the handling.

Doug - Tested the leds on this particular fuse box and they work either way around so there is no problem of reversing the po!arity (older Doctor Who fans take note).

Thanks for that. Personally, I hate crimped connections but understand the reasons for them. These days, I usually pass the wire through the connector solder the front and crimp the back to get the best of all. I notice that the loom connectors appear to be soldered on my Spit as this (which proves your point) caused problems with my brake lights as the solder only partially caught the wire but melted the insulation. When the joint fractured, the cable was still held in the connector by the insulation so the problem was not immedistely visible.