Clive

Ummm, you haven't been in my car at 7000rpm in 4th with a helmet on. Audible would be hopeless! I am seriously thinking of a 20psi oil lamp. but a superbright LED. Maybe a shift light too, I tend to forget until I hit the rev limiter.... Gauges are too distracting when driving. Honest. they just worry you! Even on the modern I find myself constantly glancing at the mpg thingy or whatever it is set on. Better off watching the car ahead.

Which car? And which bit of trim?

I have solved all my oil pressure problems. Remove the gauge! (have kept the light though) Seriously, I was getting obsessed by it. Now I chuck in decent oil and off I go. I must say, for most people any of the decent oils will be fine. And I mean that, they are perfectly adequate. However, if you intend doing a trackday or similar wher the car will be shown a thorough thrashing, they will struggle, and that is where the Millers CSS (and other similar high spec oils) come up trumps, they cope. The others just go thin. Even VR1 thins a lot on track. And another "quality" oil that may or may not have been mentioned cost me a crank at Goodwood. The oil pressure plumetted to zero at 6000rpm. The following year with Millers CSS that just did not happen.

I have thought a lot about this malarky, and come to the conclusion that once yu have got over the theory and start using actual results either position will work just fine as long as the switch is suited. ie lower temp at the bottom of the rad. Which temp is the tricky bit, and I have a collection of switches off modern cars, the dual temp ones are handy!. (both my triumphs use VW rads, so easy to fit temp switches, and did I mention cheap/efficient)

Polish? Crikey. Saying that I have just washed my helmet bag and even gave my helmet a bit of a buff... (the visor had too many bacon/chip/hotdog smears from my last trackday!) Uni challenge? Hmm, I feel lucky to get more than a handful of questions correct

Auto? just a guess....

I think the idea is that the centres of the bearings and the spacer lock up solid. Just like a modern bearing pack. The actual bearings should have enough "play" in then to cope with expansion etc. That was my take on how they work. If in doubt contact James Shackford, he should be helpful.

Seems a bit steep. Nothing that would suggest it is a good buy anyway. No OD, several colours and admits it needs sills. But without a good look in the flesh you will never know, if the rest of the body is good, it would be a good purchase.

I shall put it in a safe place....

If you can be sure the seals and bearings are higher quality than are being used in the new units, it would make sense. Or find genuine NOS ones, they do turn up. I have a Unipart spit 1500 one here I ought to sell...

That pitting/marking above the threads worries me. I have had 2 break, both in that spot. Check VERY carefully, ideally crack-test. (but don't ask me how!) I ended up all new (and went trunnionless) as the cost was not a lot more once new trunnions etc were taken into account. Bit late now. Sorry.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAPER-UNIVERSAL-O-RING-SEAL-PULLER-37439-/311468853295?hash=item4884fd882f:g:4UkAAOSwhcJWJn2- A good investment! bit late now (sorry) Also handy for getting core plugs out...

Nothing at all special about Borg and beck. First line, an aftermarket maker, bought the name a few years ago, and now put the B+B name on loads of stuff that B+B never made. There is much better stuff available.

RB are correct (99.9% certain) as the TR cars do share the same little bearings as spitfires etc (who said be careful with big wheels on a spit?) whereas the GT6/vit bearing is common to the dolomites. Seems mad.

Not many 185 80 14 tyres for cars (beware, lots of van tyres, totally unsuitable and dangerous) I am guessing the current tyres are pretty old, the traction and temp ratings are not the same as the very recent ratings If you need h rated, even fewer, but T rated may be suitable? Have a look here http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-185-80-14.html#

Yep, but there you have linked to the big bearings and the smaller spacer, you want the matching set! James Shackford is a top Triumph bloke, nothing but decent quality stuff. Buy with confidence.

http://club.triumph.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum10/Blah.pl/Blah.pl?m-1357991518/s-0/ That has a thread about them, worth a read. Many of the people commenting REALLY know their stuff.

It is increasingly difficult to get hold of suitable filters locally. I bought the very last one available one in Brighton (actually just outside Brighton, speedy spares) about 5 years ago. So just use the specialists, or buy at a show or whatever. The problem is the 5/8 thread on the filter. If you can get hold of one of the thread adapters (looks just like the one on all our engines) but has 5/8 for the block and 3/4 at the filter end, you have a massive choice of filters including OE VW and Ford. And a fantastic filter that has a double anti-drain valve that comes from a diesel escort and has a reputation for completely eliminating the oil pressure lag at startup.

Foam inserts? Please, don't tell us you have those thin "chrome" pancake filters. Please no.

Been thinking about this. The extra core is useful even if a 2 core is adequate. Eventually some of the core tubes will get blocked, even with correct antifreeze the engines have spend many years living a miserable life, so bits of crud will eventually break loose. On a 2 core read, if you lose a few tubes cooling may become marginal, but with a 3 core you have so much more spare capacity. So will make for a longer-lived rad (hopefully!!) However, I still cannot believe how cheap some modern car rads are. Yes, ali and plastic, but they do last perfectly well and cool efficiently. A shame there is not enough demand to get a batch made, but the numbers would be just too high to take the risk.

If the body really is almost rust free, and you have checked it over carefully, and is complete the asking price is around the correct figure. the car apears to have overdrive, that alone would set you back £250+. Check by jacking the rear off he ground, start he car up, run it through the gears and flick the overdrive in. Should feel it "change gear" as the OD kicks in but may take a good few seconds. If it doesn't work, problems are often poor electrics., so not a deal breaker but a strong negotiating point. However, many sellers won't want you to have the car doing 40mph whilest jacked up! Really you want somebody who knows the cars to have a look over it. Have you asked at your local club meeting for a volunteer?

Difficult after a night out! But if all the codes are in a line the air flows smoothly. If off set it swirls about. I suspect swirling is best, just intuitive. Worth researching.

I "think" there is a bit of the law of diminishing returns. By the time the air has got to the third row is has warmed up, but it must still help. I reckon the pattern of the cores is important too. Does a disruptive pattern work better? If a rad is being recored, I would pay the extra for a bigger core. If my rad was OK, it would stay unless there was a problem. However, most issues are down to blockages in the cores, so a std recore should be adequate, but we all like a little extra reassurance.

Spitfire seats would sit you very low in a Vitesse. In all honesty the MX5 are probably the best, and as they are available in plain black (cloth, leather black, tan and many shades too) do not look out of place. I believe MGF seats fit a saloon, but foul the B post in a convertible.

Now you have plenty of bits, so you can buy another herald that is poorly and rebuild it with a mixture of parts. You got it for a good price too, especially as the blasting will have found all the rust, and means you won't be spending days getting old paint and filler off. Well done.