Peter Charlton
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Posts posted by Peter Charlton
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And here is my Stag after I spent a huge amount of money restoring it.
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Here is the mad thing with the Ford Essex 3.1 V6
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Here is my first one.
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Pictures now seem to be working, white one is my current one.
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I am on my third MK1 Saloon. The first one I bought from a motorcycle racer around 1989, sold it to a young friend who was rather impressed with the way it out accelerated modern saloons of the time. It cost me about £400 I sold it as I bought a Stag instead.
The second one I bought for £500 around 2003 purely because a friend told me his welding teacher was selling it, when I heard its spec, I could not resist it, best car I ever drove. It had an "X-Pack" spec 3.1 litre Ford Essex V6 in it. That was written off unfortunately. I do wish I had kept it and rebuilt that rather than the Stag.
I sold the Stag in 2017 and replaced it with my current Vitesse, I specifically didn't want a Convertible as the Stag taught me the faffing around isn't work it, this is my only car.
It was a genuine 32,000 mile car, totally original apart from door bottoms which is the only rust welding it ever had, and a blowover. Seems the days of £500 Vitesse Saloons are no more. Having looked at one for £6700 where the corners of the chassis did not exist due to extensive rust, I figured the £9000 I paid for this unmolested example was probably about right.
I have done a few things as it is my only car, though I do not use it very often, I fitted an overdrive, and a brake servo. I did clean up the under bonnet area somewhat as this seems to have been neglected. I also fitted Koni shocks all round.
I would add pictures but it always says "Upload Failed".
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Thanks for that Clive, 8 inches, that's quite a difference!
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Hi, I have purchased an D type overdrive with G/box mainshaft and a propshaft to convert my Mk1 Vitesse to overdrive. The parts came from a GT6.
I note the overdrive propshaft has a different part number for GT6 and Vitesse, can anybody tell me what the difference is please?
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If it has broken, I wonder if, and by whom, these things can be repaired, also, wondering where I can get an attachment lead from, there must have been so many about with ambulances and the like using them.
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Marvelous, now to see if I can get the lead and socket and somebody to fit it if it doesn't work.
The First owners had this car for 30 years, an indication that they looked after it I think.
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Starting to clean up the engine bay of my recently acquired Vitesse MK1 and I see this interesting device in the hose that leads from the engine to the bottom of the Rad. It has the name "Bray" cast into the side. Any ideas what it is for please?
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Thanks Darren, The Mega squirt is a bit expensive without considering the fitting of fuel injection. So will probably be the Megajolt.
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1 hour ago, Darren Groves said:
Go Megasquirt or Microsquirt, can do just ignition but if you ever feel the need to go EFI it's already there. Have used both MJ & MS, MS is a better package in my opinion and better supported.
Darren
Do you have a link of the product please?, all I can find are ECUs
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11 hours ago, Mjit said:
I've gone Megajolt for my Spitfire and wouldn't go back. The engine's 'tweaked' and no-one could get it to run well across the rev. range as it wanted a "U" shaped advance curve, with lots at low RPM, then less, then more again as you went up. I took the easy/sightly more expensive route of a conversion kit from Trigger Wheels (http://trigger-wheels.com/store/contents/en-uk/d46.html) and after a rolling road session have a solid, sensible tickover, and don't need 3,000RPM to pull away. Even John from JY Classics commented on how well it pulled for a 1300.
I've left the dizzy in place (disconnected with the points/condenser/coil in the boot) as if you remove it you need to fabricate a blanking plate to cover the hole - and it's good for confusing people when the bonnet's up.
Maybe you have swayed me back to the Megajolt. Now, If I leave the old dizzy in place, will the rev counter still work from it?
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I am about to purchase a D type overdrive set up from a GT6 to go into my MK1 Vitesse, I note the prop shafts have different part numbers?
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21 minutes ago, clive said:
Nope, they all rely on the conventional distributor for advance.
And those do not have the cable drive for your rev-counter.
The is a 1-2-3 distributor available, that is more what you are after? have a look http://www.123ignition.nl/products.phtml?brand=Triumph
If you want a fully programmable ignition, best bet is megajolt if you don't like the idea of the 123
But one of these get over the loss ofcablefor the rev counter.
Simplist solution is just fit a pertrix etc, and get the dizzy overhauled if required.
That 123 looks exactly what I am after except for the lack of rev counter drive. Anybody able to report on the reliability of the 123?
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2 hours ago, clive said:
Nor I.
I had pertronix in my vitesse for 12 years, faultless. Herald, 8 years, and I believe it is still in service 4 years on.
In my slant 4 dolomite I have the cheap accuspark, whoever designed that delco distributor ought to be hung/drawn and quartered. A change to leccy ignition was a no brainer.
I set up megajolt on a zetec engine, pretty easy as it already had timing sorted via factory flywheel. My wife's spitfire came with megajolt, so has a timing wheel attached to the crank pulley. The vitesse is easier to set up I believe as it has a useful bolt on the crank pulley to attach the timing disc.
I really would not entertain anything that uses the distributor as part of a mapable ignition, too much of a compromise.
But Peter, you say that on motorbikes the electronic ignition altered the advance curves?The Pertronix etc stuff we are discussing here is just points replacement, nothing more, and still relies on the distributor for the advance curve. There are some versions that can be mapped, but don't use vacuum advance so you will loose economy and torque at cruise.
So any ignition system that still uses the dizzy will still use springs and bobweights to advance the timing but also have the advantage of vacuum advance? What about an elecrtronic dizzy like the following link, would this use an electronic advance but still use the vacuum advance? http://www.simonbbc.com/distributors/6cyl-standard-electronic/45d6-triumph-electronic-distributor
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Cheers Andy, so you felt the performance with the Pertronix was just as good as the Luminition?
My reasons for being a little determined to find the best ignition is due to my experience with classic English motorcycle electronic ignitions where the most popular ignition is actually quite disappointing performance wise when compared to an early Lucas product that had such a perfect advance curve.
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Cheers guys, have any of you also used Luminition in order to give a comparison with your recommendations?
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Hello, just sold my Stag which for 25 years went quite happily with the Luminition it came with. I have just bought a 1967 MK1 Vitesse with points and wonder what you guys think is the best ignition system?
I dont mind spending a little money, obviously my main criteria is long term reliability but I know a good advance curve can make so much difference.
What about this systems that are triggered from the crankshaft and dont use the distributor at all?, would I be able to leave the old dizzy with points in place but electrically disconnected to use as a back up if the crank triggered system ever failed?
WHERE ARE ALL THE MK1 TRIUMPH VITESSE SALOON,s
in My car's history
Posted
Other things I did to my present one is to fit electronic ignition, and to fit this Princess centre console to mount a radio, USB meters and the Fuel ratio meter I have. None of my mods have altered the car, I only used existing holes.