Peaks

Thanks Johny, your observations made me go back and check all the wiring and you were right; the loom has been modified. The brown and yellow wire going into the back of the alternator in my photo was in fact the feed to the headlights. Now I've sussed that, I've got a switchable supply going to the alternator and the dash light going to the correct terminal. I'd love to blame a previous owner for the changes in wiring, but can't; it was me, I'd just forgotten what I'd done in the past 🤦 Anyway, all working now as it should 👍

Voltage wise? With the ignitio on zero volts either at the wire or the L terminal on the alternator. As the light is live with the ignition on, and earth's through the L terminal I'd have expect that the L terminal would show zero, or close to zero resistance to earth when the alternator isn't running, but it doesn't. It actually shows a very high resistance, although not open circuit. That's my take anyway, I am by no means an expert or even that knowledgeable on car electrics.

That wire is the one which is made live by turning tje ignition on. Earthing that wire just completed the circuit through the dash light, proving the circuitry to the bulb and the bulb itself is OK. At least that's how I saw it.

I've fitted the new alternator and it's putting out 14.1 volts at idle 👍 However, the red ignition dash light no longer comes on when I turn the ignition on. There is 12 volts at the IG wire, the one as Clive described it, to wake the alternator up, and when I disconnect that wire from the alternator and earth it the dash light illuminates. I've also checked that the alternator is earthed well and it is. Any ideas why the light's not coming on?

Going back to radiators, I wouldn't bother with aluminium ones, the full width Spitfire one from Canleys is excellent and on other Triumphs a re-core with an upgraded copper core works wonders.

Sounds very much like fuel starvation to me. Does it have a fuel filter, and if so is it clogged? Another thing to check would be the fuel lines. If they are old erhonal petrol will degrade them, making them collapse internally.

Thanks very much for the information and advice Clive.

Thanks for all the responses, good to know I'm no the only one to suffer from cheap alternators. Clive, you've convinced me! I'm going to go for a Denso. Before I buy, could I ask some questions about the fit though? Is the pulley on the Denso the correct size for the alternator to run at the right speed? I see there are three connectors on the back of the alternator, and what looks like one large one on the side (the main power out?). I've currently (see what I did there? 😁) got three wires coming out of the back of the ACR. Could you tell me what wires go onto which terminals please? Thanks

Hi, the ACR alternator on my Vitesse is on its way out. Over the last ten years and across several British classics I've replaced more of these alternators than I can remember, each time before due to the diode packs failing, but on this occasion its due to a failed bearing. I've always sourced my alternators from the local motor factor or ebay, paying around forty or fifty quid for them. But I'm getting fed up with replacing them now as they are obviously built down to a price not up to a standard. So I have two questions really: Is there somewhere I can buy an ACR alternator with good quality components fitted, that'll last more than 10,000 miles? I don't mind paying more, quite a lot more, for something that will be reliable. Or Is there an alternative alternator that will fit with minimal modifications? I've read posts on forums which mention Ford and Denso alternators, but the details of the models of these alternators is vague. Thanks

There I no substitute for opening up the matrix and rodding it through. I tried soda crystals, and reverse flushing and thay didn't make much, if any, difference. I paid a radiator recore company £40 to clean the matrix and now my Vitesse heater is almost good. Hopefully you can see in the photos the small solid blockages in the tubes.

Thanks for the replies.

I think we agree with each other Johny - we just have a different way of describing how it works 🤔

Can I just check what the crankcase breather valve is supposed to do? (to avoid confusion I've also seen this described as a PCV, but it's the breather valve between the rocker cover and the inlet manifold on a Mk2 Vitesse that I'm on about). My understanding is that it allows air/fumes from the rocker cover to into the inlet manifold, but will not allow any air from the manifold back into the rocker cover - is that correct? Reason for asking is that although my car runs very well, the exhaust note at idle is a little uneven, and if I clamp off the hose from the rocker cover to the vent valve the exhaust note becomes beautifully smooth. I've checked for air leaks into the rocker cover by pressurising it slightly (ok, that is a grand way of saying I blew into the hose on the rocker cover...) and I am confident there is no air leaking in where it shouldn't. So, I do wonder if the breather valve is working correctly.

I bought one of those quite a few years back and had high hopes of it. Unfortunately it leaked almost as much oil out as any other grease gun I'd used previously, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Has anyone fitted a DAB radio to their Triumph, and if so where did you mount the aerial? Ideally I'm after somewhere that will be unobtrusive/unseen but will still give good reception. The car in question is Vitesse convertible, but interested in the position on any Triumph.

I have just read that the author Graham Robinson has died. What a loss, I own quite a few of his books and they are all interesting reads. https://www.aronline.co.uk/news/graham-robson/

I.agree with this 100%. The cheap bearings available are cheap for a reason. If used you are building in unreliability.

Thanks Nigel, the amount dwell is what I was wondering about.

It has the same valve timing as the TR5/early 6? I as as I was considering this cam profile for my MkII Vitesse, but was concerned that I'd loose the smooth idle and low down torque.

I've just seen a white Vitesse convertible drive through Luckington in Wiltshire. Anyone on here? It sounded great!

That pretty much sums it up Andy. Valves and their seats will.all wear out eventually, but the speed at which they do is dependent on parts quality and style of driving. The best advice I heard regarding this is to use your car as you always have, and id/when the valve seats require work convert to hardened seats then. I certainly wouldn't bother with that lead replacement stuff you are supposed to pour into your tank every time.you top up with fuel.

That was me! Could never reach the bridge windows during a RAS though, we didn't have a squeegee mop with a long enough handle.

Interesting thread! It's not a myth, I too have experienced valve seat recession, but on a Ford Essex engine, not a Triumph. I agree with John; it has a lot to do with how the car is used. Also, very possibly the quality of valve/head materials originally used has a significant effect on the liklihood of recession occurring. As an aside, I am a marine engineer with particular experience in marine diesel engines. On some engines we have experienced valve seat recession on inlet valves. This has only happened on engines used in high load applications. To remedy this an inlet manifold oiler was designed, tested and fitted, and as the name suggests, this device injected very small amounts of lubricating oil into the inlet. The amount of oil injected depended on the engine.load, but it was in the region of one tea spoonful every hour on a 1.3 MW engine which would be in the region of 60 litres in size. Injecting oil, even at these small amounts, completely cured the valve ressesion problem.

The fasteners used by Triumph in their engines were actually of excellent quality, and you have to spend quite a bit to buy modern ones which will be of a higher quality. So as others have said, perfectly OK to re-use them.

I took Vitesse on a classic car run today, the first classic event I've been on since before lockdown. There were a lot of Triumphs, more than I had time to photograph, but here are some of them: