Clive

Who did you pay for the work? They are the ones who you deal with, and are responsible for the cock-up. As above, Ivor Searle should have notified you of damage. After all, would they have carried on it the head was cracked around the valves? I would expect not. Likewise because they never informed you, I would be suspicious that there are other possibilities (like they dropped the head before/during/after the work was carried out) They must have signed for receipt of the head in good condition. As worst I would expect them to carry out the work on a fresh head you supply to make up for their incompetence in this situation.

I fitted one to my Vitesse, along with te 2.5 engine. Downside is a very low first gear, though using a Sprint first gear would help a lot. Still not a close ratio box though. And yes, teh saloon gearbox is much much stronger and very difficult to break (you have to really try!) I used a dolly sprint slave cylinder mount and modified cross shaft. Clutch bearing a bit of an issue, I never got a good pedal, always heavy. Though it is fixable. And getting a crank spigot bearing needs some thought, the saloon normally uses one fitted in the flywheel

Rotoflex makes everything rather trickier. I can't remember the exact procedure, but I seem to remember a spring-lifter being involved and a lot of grunting. (I have CV's on my car thesedays, nice and simple!) Re brakes, rotoflex is again funny to set up, as the handbrake gets tensioned as you put the car down on the floor. The cable needs adjusting with the car at normal ride height, not full droop.

I have only ever bolted them up. Usual rules apply (good and clean etc)

Yes, but you would need to effectively fit a complete rotoflex rear end. With the CV shafts replacing the rotoflex shafts. This is because you would need a lower wishbone. In normal herald suspension teh solid driveshaft does that job, with CV's it would all flop about. Simple solution to your "problem" would be a courier rear spring with 1" spacer block, or, a swing-spring conversion (which may end up being a bit low) Both those transform the handling of a herald etc car.

Ah, perhaps my memory is playing tricks. I was sure I put a flat on a bit of round bar. But there you go!

Just plenty of engine oil. If you want to get oil around the engine without starting it, you can take the dizzy and drive dig out, and use a metal rod with a flat in it (think big screwdriver with no handle) in a battery drill. In reverse. That will pump oil around the engine (actually not sure about the rockers as they are fed by tiny pulses off the cam) Double check the starting/running in procedure. New cams usually need 2000+rpm for the first few minutes of use (no idling) which can be scary on a brand new build.

U Pol "acid 8" is a superb etch primer....... Top hint with repraying anything. Buy a tube of acrylic stopper. It is a super fine filler that is brilliant for getting those last tine imperfections, and is OK to use even between topcoats if you have missed anything (but be careful it doesn't show through subsequent topcoats, a few will be required)

wire brush in a grinder is effective. Take an hour to do a door, doesn't seem to damage good metal either.

Yep.

And the input shaft is a larger diameter too.

And I congratulate you on using a Triumph as a daily car. I have done so for over 25 years until recently. (in fact the plan is to return our Toledo to daily use soon, however it is not suitable for a lot of my work, carrying large "stuff" about)

No. But have you got water in the radiator? that could be an issue! To check if it is the gauge or the temp sender, pull the wire off the sender and earth it on the engine. The gauge should then read super-hot. (ignition on) Are the pipes/hoses getting hot? best to touch rubber hoses as not as likely to burn you. Once car has been running a while, heater hoses etc should be hot, and if hot enough, the thermostat should open and teh rad top hose also get hot. However, it is very cold out there, so that will affect things.

Try taking the heater valve out and connecting direct to the heater. The valves can get jammed and solid stopping water flow. But first check the hose coming out of the heater. If hot, valve is OK (well, letting water through) The heaters are a bypass design, so if the matrix is blocked, water will bypass the matrix, but you get no heat. using a hose and cleaners to remove crud can help, but sometimes it has to be replaced or repaired.

Interesting stuff. I have been on facebook for years, but joined so I could access info about my other pastimes (running-meeting times/routes/lifts etc posted) so for up-to-the-minute news/chat it is dead handy. I have posted a couple of times on the tssc page in the last week, but it just seems so messy compared to this for technical stuff. So yes, it seems to serve different purposes. As to the incessant cat pictures, and what I ate today type posts, please NO! (as to the club mag, after I gave away 15 years worth to the Hills, I find I flick through, read what interests me and it is later in the recycling box....yep, I am a philistine!)

I have had KYB on a few (more modern) cars and been happy with them. Yes, they are an OEM supplier, so quality should be very good. Heard a ate that a Triumph rally car kept breaking one of the makes in your girst post (can't remember which) so went to KYB and no issues at all.

Try a carb return spring? They are quite soft, but easy to use and you can pre-tension them or whatever. I have found them very useful.

No, that is him!

A very difficult man to pin down, and seems to be barred from almost all forums he has joined. I believe he lives in Estonia, but he usually pops up at the Stoneleigh spares day. Your other option is to see if any pre-owned copies are for sale?

Yep r9 will be printed on it. My local car accessory shop has started stocking it in 1/2m lengths, so it is available. But do not accept the usual hogwash that r6 stuff is OK "thats meant for injection so will be fine" or whatever they say.

No, the CR will probably be too high. You need the TR5 profile cam (ideal as it isn't designed for high RPM, just like the 1500) and a 4 branch. I am let to believe it will happily produce 100bhp, not bad for a pretty cheap mod!

Toledo was 8.5CR, but IIRC had nice big valves. That head on a 1500 and a TR5 profile cam is a great combination......

I thought there was a spring on the long arm? but a spring, or 2, would certainly help.

I suspect it is teh throttle discs opening and closing a tad (this was "solved" on late SU's by using a poppet valve, a whole other problem!) And of course, the lever for the accelerator is rather long making it sensitive. I have changed any levr/rod accelerator to cable operation to gain super smoothness and generally rather nicer to use. I doubt there is anything wrong with yours at all.

J type is stronger and no need for a relay. Having said that, I have had to replace a j type od (the cone clutch started slipping) but never a d type. D type isn't too weak at all, it is absolutely fine on even a 2.5 as many will testify. But j type is ultimately better... What am I trying to say? if you stumble across a d type conversion (rather more likely) don't dismiss it. And with the conversions, the devil is in the detail. Things like the extra OD inhibitor switch and actuator arm on the gearbox remote can be hard top find and expensive. Also a decent OE angle drive (I would use a sh one rather than a repro, unless there has been a huge improvement in the new ones available)