JumpingFrog

There are two different diameters of pinions, Herald, early Spitfire (pre Mk. IV) and Vitesse 1600 are smaller. As such the bores for the bearings in the front of the diff housing are also smaller. Converting the 3.89 will be possible, the 3.63 pinion will fit, but converting the 4.11 won't be easily possible without machining the casing.

Eric, you can also consider modifying the pedal boxes, lots of information on the Standard Motor Club forum: https://standardclub.proboards.com/thread/2180/spitfire-pedal-box-conversion I also saw someone who is planning to produce single SU carburettor manifolds for the 6-port heads, he posted on Facebook a while back: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid025oXMQayTtJPxbFPE5WTLiHrJjsnKqsy7TksGRYrFqAWwsXjZkSmU9CNRM8geywZZl&id=100085858021955

Hope everything is okay, I was quite impressed when I first saw the CDD shafts, having suffered a failure with reproduction driveshafts in 2018 whilst driving to Mongolia: Okay, that was with not much power. But I would still much rather the yoke end failure than a shear failure, at least the yoke end failure results in a slightly controllable car that kind of rolls... Seems anecdotally like 8000 miles is the magic number for driveshaft reliability testing... I also see on their website they state: "The design of the keyway is changed to help stop the shaft from shearing (the standard drive flange is retained).", actually from what I saw, both modern reproduction driveshafts currently available have a milled keyway with a rounded end rather than the more abruptly ended broached key way on the OE shafts. I hope you will share their response here, I'm interested to know what they say, I was considering buying a pair for my own Herald...

I don't think the rebuild kits matter much, I recommend you buy all the parts individually so you don't end up wasting money on say a full set of synchro rings you don't need, or poor quality bearings. Things you'll almost certainly want to replace: Mainshaft bearings - Available again, KSM are making them now in reasonable quality, RMS8NR. Mainshaft tip bearing (aka spigot bearing). Gaskets. Oil seals. Synchro hub springs and ball bearings - Available from Canley classics etc. Needle rollers in laygear. Layshaft. Circlip under third gear - Must always be replaced it's very critical. Your main issues will be if there are issues with the laygear cluster, they wear through the hardening on the inner bearing surface where the needle rollers run. It's not trivial to find a good used laygear. Similarly, mainshaft tips wear out in the same manner, although reproduction mainshafts are available, just expensive. Regarding rebuilders, if you decided to pay to get it done, ask what you're getting. If someone is just going to throw a repair kit and some paint at it but ignore wear, it won't last long. Rebuilders who have large stocks of parts are few and far between - basically only two I know of, Mike Papworth and Tony Lindsey-Dean. They might be able/willing to help with parts if you get stuck, but prices won't be that low. Other than that you could buy a used gearbox (or two) and hope it has some useful parts in it, but it's a lottery.

The one in your picture is the earlier Equipe GT, the one in John's photo seems to be a modified Equipe GT4S. Actually there aren't so many similarities between the two, both the bonnet and rear shell are entirely different. IMO original Equipe GT is much nicer than the GT4S, the GT4S bonnet doesn't look good to me.

The Standard 8 axle ratio is a bit low for modern driving, either 4.875:1 or maybe 4.55:1. You can directly fit to the axle an early Herald 1200 or Spitfire differential, finding the exact one is tricky because at some point Triumph changed the size of the quarter shaft splines, around 1968. You need the earlier smaller type. This will give you 4.11:1, a little bit more usable on the motorway and will fit your existing half shafts. However, keep in mind your speedometer won't read correctly, and I'm not sure what the speedo drive ratio is of the Standard 8 gearbox, I know this part of the gearbox is very different to the later Herald gearbox, so I'm not sure if simply fitting the speedometer from a Herald 1200 would be a solution to getting a working speedometer. https://www.canleyclassics.com/?archive=different-differentials It's type A that you want in this guide. This is basically the best ratio I think for your car, anything higher (like 3.89 or 3.63) is possible but is much more work and not a great match for a 1147cc engine.

If you're on SU's, are you sure you managed to install the jets without kinking the pipe that goes to the float bowl? Been there, done that, you have to throw the jets away, there's nothing you can do with them once they've been kinked. Really easily done if you've been incorrectly sold the black coloured jets for Minis (and other cars with SU's at 45 deg), they have longer pipes than the red jets for Triumphs (and other cars with SU's at 90 deg). I know it was touched on before, but timing will also make a big difference too, if you're running too retarded it will appear to run okay and rev without load fine, but have absolutely no power. If you've got a timing light, also worth checking that centrifugal and vacuum advance are working correctly. Best way to set timing is by ear, trying to chase the factory setting doesn't usually work out for me, modern unleaded doesn't burn the same as fuels of old.

Just to add to what Johny already said, the 3/4 synchro hub is the same as are gear bushes (under 2nd and 3rd).

Which gearbox do you have? If it's an early 3-rail 3-synchro gearbox, the tail bearing is an RLS6 (aka LJ3/4 or LS8), for later gearboxes (4-syncho 3-rail or 4-synchro single-rail) it should be an RLS7 (aka LJ7/8 or LS9). For the main bearings (104433), I think you're mistaken, it should be an RHP MJ1NR (aka RMS8N or MS10K). Unfortunately, they're extremely hard to find now. Based on this post on another forum, your best bet is to look for KSM RMS8N, the N or NR suffix is important, it needs to have a recess for the retaining clip.

What pattern are they? There are two different ones depending on if you have 3.5J or 4.5J wheels. From memory, estate should have 4.5J wheels and the trims should have square slots. Wheel trims with circular holes are for non-estate cars with 3.5J rims.

You can buy Timken bearings for all of the diff (at least for Spitfire Mk. IV), unlike the gearbox bearings it's not a big issue and the cost is not that bad. Last year it was about £150 for the whole diff, I can dig out the part numbers if needed, but there's several different setups for carrier bearings depending on the exact year the car was built.

Condition of CWP is the main thing, minimum backlash is a good starting indication, you can also pop the back off and visually inspect the CWP. If it's very shiny, it's a bad sign that the hardening has worn through. Some guide to this here: https://www.differentials.com/technical-help-2/failure-analysis/ From a good refurb you should get all new bearings (preferably decent brand, like Timken), new seals, the pinion bearing preload should be reset (with new crushable spacer for a 3.63). The carrier should be checked, sun and planet gear washers replaced if required, carrier preload should be reset along with the backlash setting.

The ironic thing is, the photo you've posted is of my car too, at least I recognise the messy blue and red overdrive wiring, by the look of it about 10 years ago when I'd just fitted new heater hoses. But yes the heater setup in my car is original, with a Smiths heater. Spitfire Mk. IV also inherited the same setup (with the same return pipe), but Spitfire Mk. III was some mix of Herald 1200 with heater fed from the cylinder head, but also with a manifold heater. The original genesis of the name is from the Prefab Sprout song, King of Rock 'n' Roll. I keep considering changing it to something more personal, but haven't. I can't explain your issue with the hose adaptors, did you try running a tap through the threads? Could just be that your water pump housing had been tapped with a blunt tap and the corrosion on the old hose adaptor stops it fitting. If your blanking plug does leak, might have to find a sump plug after all, taper plugs are less likely to leak, but fingers crossed.

I think the manifold you have there is for a 1300 FWD, hence the flange on 1, the Herald 13/60 uses the same manifold but without the flange. Flange 1 goes to the heater valve as you say, 1a goes down to the heater return pipe that runs along the side of the block to the pump housing. The basic idea is that the manifold heater takes hot water coming out of the head just before the thermostat (where the temp sender also is), this then feeds the heater at 1, but to provide a return path if the heater valve is closed, water will return via 1a into the aforementioned return pipe, there is a small restrictor in the pipe at 1a to prevent excessive amounts of water flowing through this loop and avoiding the radiator or heater core. You're right that the Herald 1200 is slightly simpler as it doesn't have a manifold heater, and instead takes the hot water feed for the heater directly from the cylinder head. I would be inclined to set your car up as per Herald 13/60, all these parts are easily available, Triumph added the manifold heater presumably for a reason, although maybe just for economy and quicker warmup times. The Spitfire (at least in Europe) never used the manifold you have, it would have had twin SUs, but the setup is similar, also with a manifold heater. You just need to buy a heater hose set for a Herald 13/60 and the return pipe if you're missing it. You also need the water pump housing with both holes tapped, one for temperature sender and the other for the manifold heater. You should cut just the oval flange 1 off the manifold, so you can attach a hose there. The diagram on Canley Classic's website helps: https://canleyclassics.com/?catalogue=triumph-herald-13/60&diagram=triumph-herald-13/60-manifold-details Note that the shape of hose 26 in this diagram is a bit confusing, it actually goes to the heater, not to the manifold as the shape shown might suggest.

As Johny says, no issue with oil level, its much lower. But be aware, the hardest part of removing the timing cover is removing the crank pulley nut, you will really struggle if you don't have an impact gun. Another tip, often the sealing surface on the pulley will be grooved, in this case it would be a good idea to use a shaft repair sleeve ("speedi-sleeve"). I would probably just use a modern seal, I don't think there's anything wrong with the quality of modern oil seals, especially if you can get a double lip type one. Part number for "small crank" engine will be 100499, as far as I can tell that's 1.625x2.375x0.500 (I don't have one to measure). So shaft repair sleeve should be SKF CR99826 (gold?) or SKF CR99162 (standard?).

I've never seen or heard of a tool to torque those head nuts without removing the rocker assembly. If you're re-torqueing them because you've fitted a new head gasket, you probably want to check the valve clearances too? If the gasket has compressed, the valve clearances will also have changed. I would be inclined to leave head nuts alone after the first re-torque, the only reason for the re-torque is due to compression of the gasket early in its life, I don't think they're prone to working loose on these engines?

Spitfire Mk. IV is equivalent, but one caveat, usually the Spitfire Mk. IV casings had 2 of the spring stud holes blanked off (actually something like a crude cut-off bolt/stud). You'll need to either remove these plugs or drill and tap the holes if you want to have all 6 spring mounting studs.

Ah this makes sense, I assumed if you had 4-synchro internals, you would also have access to a 4-synchro casing. I think as Johny shows it's not possible, 3-synchro has a small hollow space in the layshaft support, I checked some photos of casings on eBay... The main issue (if you tried to remove material inside the casing) is with the "valley" under the rear layshaft support: 4-synchro has no such valley: The 3-synchro case has a special bolt that goes through to stop rotation of the layshaft, the 4-synchro has a dowel (roll-pin). There is also potential issue in the tail housing (only relevant for non-overdrive), the 4-synchro mainshaft uses a bigger bearing (LJ7/8 instead of LJ3/4). Probably for the alloy cases, if you're very determined, the problem of the valley can be solved with tig welding, for an iron case, there's no real way to add material back into the case.

Why would you want to? If it's an iron 3-rail 3-synchro casing, there's no advantage over using the later (and stronger) iron 3-rail 4-synchro casing. I doubt there's much between them in terms of weight, changing the bell housing is always going to be the simplest and most effective way to remove weight. Very early 948 cars (and Standard 8/10) had one piece all alloy gearboxes, some have used these casings with 4-synchro internals, but I believe some modification is required. Exactly what I don't recall, perhaps the 3-synchro laygear cluster is shorter? However, many believe this casing is too weak for use with anything other than a 948 engine, it's a similar story with the early "thin" alloy bell housing, very prone to cracking, and actually somewhere I've got the stronger alloy bell housing that's also full of cracks...

If it's a GT6 (or indeed any car with the uprights using separate brake caliper mounts), I'm not sure if the water shields exist. I had this question a while ago, and ended up fitting without, I had the water shields like Colin shows, but they wouldn't fit the smaller collar on the GT6 uprights. I've come to think that despite existing in the parts diagrams, it's some kind of miss print that doesn't represent production. I've only seen the shield on later 4-cylinder cars with the one-piece upright design. But would be happy to be proved otherwise?

0.5" nominal, but I suspect it should be slightly less for running clearance of the bearing but this isn't specified in the manual. Is it a new shaft? Or has it been repaired? There was a report here about a new shaft from Bastuck being oversize causing one of the gear bushes to seize. I had similar troubles with the spigot on a newly manufactured shaft (from a well-known specialist) that I was told had swelled in heat treatment, the specialist took it back and ground it to the correct size and everything was fine after that.

It's not a sensor, it's a sorry looking block drain tap. FWIW, I would replace it with a plug (p/n 129077), since the taps easily block up from any rubbish inside the block.

I wouldn't say NOS is unobtainable, but unfortunately your best bet is to watch British eBay for several months, they come up every now and again. They really shouldn't be that rare when you consider the same parts were fitted to lots of relatively common cars (Midget 1500, Ital, Marina as well as Triumph models). I think used is your best bet if the repro ring turns out bad, but ideally you need to try a few and select the best as others mentioned earlier. In my experience 1st and 2nd wear most, 3rd and 4th not so much. Canley Classics in the UK sell used rings for a fair price - https://canleyclassics.com/?diagram=triumph-spitfire-mkiv/1500-constant-pinion-countershaft-and-reverse-shaft-gears&ptno=150328R

Definitely worth using lube if it will be sitting through winter etc. For the bearings I like Graphogen since it's a paste, and for bores and cam, just plenty of oil.

I don't know to be honest, my gut feeling is yes they will wear out eventually, but regular greasing will help. Remember, these shafts were designed for the 948 Herald (35hp?) and ended up being used for the GT6 and Vitesse (95hp), I guess they were designed to last about 100k miles, and that's about what they do. Maybe the shafts I removed had received new bearings, but my feeling is the bearings fail once the shaft wears since the bearings Triumph used were pretty decent (Hoffmann for the ball bearing, Torrington for the needle roller bearing). The only thing I can report, is from my two reproduction driveshafts that fell apart after driving to Mongolia, I disassembled the one that survived 18,000 miles and the needle bearing surface was polished but had not failed, so at least the hardening on the new shafts seems to be okay. Not much use if the yoke falls off, though. There's always the classic driving developments replacements, but not cheap... https://www.classicdrivingdevelopment.co.uk/category.asp?cID=19&carID=16&pID=105&page=SPITFIRE+UPRATED+REAR+UJ+DRIVESHAFTS