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Oil temperature varies with different things to coolant temperature, so it's completely expected that different driving style / conditions will result in different oil temperatures but the same coolant temperature. This isn't entirely the rationale behind oil coolers but it is the reason they're recommended only for people whose driving style warrants them. I have one on my Spitfire (1500 in a Mk3) because without it I had oil degradation issues. Fit a thermostat if you do decide to go that way - you don't want your oil over-cooled either.

Really? The OP described himself as having a "6'3 frame", which suggests to me that his seating position is likely far enough back that the dish won't be a problem, and might even gain a fraction of an inch extra thigh room.

My Mk3 GT6 has a 13" wheel with 175/70 tyres. It's heavy but not impossible. As johny says, tyre pressures make a big difference, as does getting the geometry right.

The engine mounts bolt to the front of the suspension turret - so on the "outside" if I understand your meaning correctly. Occasionally people get it wrong, or do so deliberately to move the engine back or correct for a bent engine font plate (often the result of a crash). There shouldn't need to be any spacers between the mount and the engine front plate but occasionally they get fitted to fix a clearance issue on the sump to steering rack or, as in my case, asymmetrically to move the engine a fraction for clearance on a tubular manifold.

... as long as it's in decent shape. The usual problem is that your 50 year old alloy thermostat housing has a surface that resembles some of the roads round here - more pothole than surface - with the added joy of a coating of loose corrosion products. Sort that out and the hoses shouldn't need much effort from the jubilee clip.

So we conclude that it was not a design fault, nor a general feature of dynamo-equipped Vitesses, but rather a fault on Nigel's car at the time? That would make sense as I frequently used to drive a 2L saloon with a dynamo at night and never had any hint of a problem.

That model of cutoff does work in either orientation, but vertically is preferred. It's the same as I have on my Spitfire (Facet pump in the boot, no relay)

The horns draw a fair current, so for them to work the switching circuit needs to be below 1 ohm. The steering coupling is part of that circuit, so you're looking for less than an ohm, which is the region where the meter isn't very accurate and the quality of your probe's contact with things becomes a significant factor. You should probably use the "200 ohms" setting rather than the "diode" one, though, as the diode setting displays voltage at an unspecified small current.

The WSM's colours would make sense (powered off unfused brown, switched side to ground) but purple/white is shown in the Vitesse/GT6 WSM ('cos they have fuses) and I suspect the reality was that the colours got commonised before 13/60 production.

Alan was there, already drinking coffee, before me 😁

I'm a (motorsport) software engineer by trade but I have a physics degree and some experience as an electronics engineer.

No, they would keep the car body at ground potential but the point is that car bodies sit at ground potential anyway, because the tyres are poorer insulators than, for example, your shoes. When you get a static shock off a car door, it's not because the car is charged up, it's because YOU are charged up and you DISCHARGE yourself to the car door. With only the rubber tyres to ground the car, this discharge is slightly muted, so the earthing strip makes the static shock worse. However, this is all irrelevant to the earlier discussion of "earth" points for testing, because in those discussions we mean the vehicle electrical earth which is explicitly not the same as mains earth or true ground potential. In electrical terms, "earth" merely means the reference potential for the circuit in question, which in the case of car wiring is the body/engine block/battery negative.

Yes, you will, because the "12V" side of the horn is permanent battery positive (possibly fused) so that test is simply shorting the battery out. Bad idea! The test you need to do is to earth the OTHER side of the horn. You can also test by connecting a wire from a good earth (e.g. body) to the ring at the top of the steering column. If the wheel is off this is visible. If it's still fitted, poke the wire down the hole where the horn pencil goes.

I'm hoping Pete's gang are going to have photo ops at some point on today's route from Baldock services to... a garden centre?

I did a summer job at a computer manufacturer back in the early 1980s. They had decided to update their systems image by ditching the beige-and-black colour scheme... for grey. To that end they had a local powder coating company produce a selection of available shades or grey to compare. The selection included both full black and full white. On that basis, my first Vitesse was "grey", as is my GT6.

When re-fitting the rack mounts it's important to clamp the U-bolt things toward the flanges on the rack while fitting, so that the rubber bushes are slightly compressed. Otherwise there'll still be a bit of unwanted movement in the rack.

a) Undo the clamp that attaches it to the rack, then you can collapse the column to get the UJ clear of the suspension turret the other side. b) I see you've found the one that was there.

It's not enough just to earth the rack. You need to ensure there's an electrical link across the steering column UJ, as the OE one is non-conductive.

Wow! Full width radiator, two cooling fans, and TWO oil coolers? Are you planning a holiday in the Sahara next?

I think you mean "the massively over-hyped but not actually that big environmental impact" And as Clive said, recycling is already well established and quite easy.

No, I believe you are misreading the rule. They are mandating a tell-tale that the switching circuit is closed - which yours does. The fact that the rule ONLY APPLIES to MANUAL SWITCHES shows that the intent is to alert the driver to his own mistake. It is NOT intended as an onboard diagnostic for the vehicle electrical system.

I've never seen a car with a reversing light warning light. Fogs, yes, that's a requirement... but it's a requirement to warn the driver that they're turned on. There's no requirement to warn if the bulbs are blown. My modern's reversing lights don't work. At first they were intermittent. I knew perfectly well when they were working and when they weren't, without any need of a repeater light, as GrahamB said.

I'm guessing the five 'i's in a row means they're right for both Mk2 and Mk3 engines (I'm fairly sure the guides didn't change). The engine was designed not to have seals. If it's properly built (which it should be since you are fitting new valves and guides) then it won't need them. In fact, it's better without as you want a tiny dribble of oil to lubricate the guides.

Switching temperatures for bottom hose will be lower while those for in-head or thermostat housing will be a bit higher. And there is considerable debate as to which is best.

What johny said! No problem with halogens and dynamo, but a significant part of why the original lights are dim comes from old wiring and switches. The relay makes a big difference (but does increase current draw) while the change to halogen improves light with no further increase in current. The only issue is that, if your voltage is dipping at idle, a halogen bulb is more likely to suffer from that (due to silvering).