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It's part of the coupling. Unfortunately my photo of a clean one was taken from the wrong side. It's item 19 on https://www.canleyclassics.com/?catalogue=triumph-spitfire-mkiii&diagram=triumph-spitfire-mkiii-steering

There are two earth straps involved, both of which frequently get left off. The first is from the loom (or chassis or engine) to the steering rack, attached under the bolt that plugs the hole where the grease nipple would go, on the top above the pinion. That earths the rack, which is rubber mounted and thus not otherwise earthed. The second is a little wire across the flexible coupling at the bottom of the column, where it attaches to the rack. The flexible coupling has rubber bits, so without that wire the inner column is not earthed to the rack. It's not earthed anywhere else because it runs in a couple of rubber bushes.

The brown wire tied in a knot is normal, believe it or not. Stops it being pulled through the grommet. However, I'm not convinced that being brown is normal - I think it's supposed to be white/black. Assuming that wire does, in fact, go directly to coil -ve, the colour doesn't matter, though. There's nothing obviously amiss in those photos but check that the brown wire and the condenser (black) wire are both fitted in contact with the spring of the points and not with the frame. The little knobbly white plastic thing goes between the frame and them - so from left in your photo it should be spring, brown wire tag, black wire tag, plastic thing, frame. The slightly furry black wire towards the bottom of the dizzy in those photos, which goes from the outer shell to the mounting plate, is the earth strap. If it fails you get no spark, but it looks to be intact. I'm a little concerned by all the electrical tape wrapped round the brown/black wire outside the dizzy. It suggests the wire has failed and some DPO bodged it up instead of replacing it.

Mine also came without terminals for those type. I bought the brass bits separately and I'm fairly sure not from AutoSparks.

Not true of rear lights on roundtail Spitfire and GT6. Or the front indicators on Mk1/2 Spitfire / Mk1 GT6. They all used the style Colin posted.

Is that right? I can certainly see that having the flow in that direction might assist with bleeding the matrix but in so far as there is any turbulence in the flow the other way helps keep the hotter water in. That's why radiators all flow top to bottom. You're probably right, though, that being properly bled and free of airlocks is more important.

I don't think it matters terribly much. As you have it, the valve controls the water returning from the heater matrix to the engine. The other way, it controls the hot water coming into the heater. Either way, if the valve's open it flows and if it's closed it doesn't.

The Smiths valve was applicable to earlier GT6s. The ones with CDS or CDSE carbs (including most Mk3, certainly from KE10000 on) had the breather ports and rubber Y-piece. Edit: Relevant Canley page

I think, last time I tried it, that the steering rack plug thread matched the big thread grease nipples in my assorted box that I bought from Eastwood many years ago. The picture on the Rimmers site looks like the same type, but they're categorically NOT 1/4BSP. I could believe 1/8BSP.

Yes, my GT6 is missing them, too. I think, when my brother first bought it, the reinforcement at the top might still have been there but the cardboard had long since vanished.

It is a few years since I did 2000 miles in a weekend in a Mk1 Vitesse but I can assure you it's a lot less punishing than the same thing in a Rotoflex GT6 😛

No. It's a "live" feed from the voltage regulator (or from ignition - see Pete's post above) to the gauge, then a wire from the gauge's other terminal to the sender. The sender body provides the earth connection through the thermostat housing.

Both my current Vitesse and the one I owned 30 years ago had the other "better access" mod, in that those panels are/were missing. In fact, when I bought Tessa, a pair of them did come in the pile of miscellaneous spares, but I sold them to a friend who was more bothered about it than I am.

Cold coil just means there's no current flowing through it, which is more likely to be points / wiring than the coil itself. Your "earth to the block" test showed that current will flow (the coil got warm) when the points are bypassed, so that suggests it's not the coil but the points/wiring, as Pete said. On Delco, look out for the coil LT wire falling out of the points or the earthing wire for the base plate failing. In fact, take a photo of your open dizzy and post it up here. We might spot something you don't.

Early Strombergs had what Pete calls the "Thames barrier" choke, which raised the piston from the throttle side thus, effectively, increasing vacuum at the jet. Later ones simply supply extra fuel. SUs also just give extra fuel but do it by lowering the jet to a narrower part of the needle. Choke flaps in the air way are a fixed-choke carb thing - Solex or Weber or the like.

I think the end is smaller than the bore so no good for measuring. If you change both sides you'll know they're the same, which is probably all that really matters.

I used to have green stuff on the Vitesse (from the PO) and was not impressed. Very poor stopping power.

Thinking about the specific problem you reported, with 3rd-to-2nd changes, two things strike me. 1) The wear you noted on the selector forks, particularly the 1st/2nd one. There's a distinct dimple here: That's just where the selector pin is likely to hit on a fast 3->2 change and might hold it out of line enough to catch the 3/4 selector on the left, with the result that it tries to select both 2nd and 4th. There's an interlock detent ball specifically to prevent that, which brings me to... 2) if the spring behind the detent ball has failed, it could also make it hard to select 1st or 2nd after leaving 3rd or 4th.

No, Pete, that's wrong. The intent of the voltage stabiliser is to supply 10.5V on average to the gauges. It achieves this by cycling on and off, between battery (12V+) and open (0V). If the battery is at 12V it spends nearly 90% of the time at 12V, a little over 10% at 0V, giving 10.5 average. If the battery is at 14V (engine running) it spends less time on and more off, but the swing is from 0V to 14V so the average is still 10.5V All this is for the original bimetallic type, of course. Modern electronic ones work differently and generally don't pulse.

You don't need instructions in the kit because you have the official workshop manual. If not, you can download it as a PDF, though I can never find the link when telling people that. It's fairly well described in there.

As Doug says, all but the hazards are one circuit. If directly bypassing the master light switch doesn't make them come on, it's probably the fuse box (or the fuse itself, of course!) The hazards are often caused by the switch, which gets little use and corrodes the internal contacts. Operating it several times can sometimes fix that. Alternatively, it may be the flasher unit if it's a separate unit to the indicator one - not shown as such on that diagram, though. I'm more used to the earlier cars, where it was. I think Doug is wrong on one thing, though. The hazard switch has both green and purple connections, which is both of the "other" fuses. The green one is for the indicators, it's the purple that powers the hazards.

A friend of mine has alerted me to "an appeal to find the owner of a Vitesse RGW 926F" that has appeared on a Winslow Facebook group. It is said to be parked where it shouldn’t be and a threat to scrap it has be mentioned. I know there's at least one Vitesse owner from Winslow on here but no idea whether this is connected. Some photos: Hopefully we can avoid any bad outcomes for this car!

As Mjit said, if powder coating is done properly you shouldn't get any of that bother. My Spitfire's chassis was powder coated 25 years ago and is still immaculate. Granted it's spent most of the intervening time in a series of damp barns and somewhat less damp garages, rather than being driven, but so far my experience has been good.

That sounds like you're used to the caps having a lip. Not all of them do, and I think the OP's is one that doesn't.

OK, first off it's important to know what model we're talking about. Even if it's a Spitfire, late 1500 is different to all the rest! If it's an earlier one, the horn switch on the wheel is a ground-side switch. The power for the horns is all under the bonnet.