Peaks

Cutting out the inner arch on one of these vehicles allows you to look right down the box section made up by the inner and outer sill. In my case it also allowed me to look at a lot of crusty metal. "I can't sell it like that" I thought, so off came the sill.You will notice that stripping the paint off the side panel revealed a huge amount of filler where the side of the van had been scraped down something pretty solid. In places the filler was an inch thick.

The arch came off and I found lots of rust in the inner wheel arch. So I got busy with the welder and either bought or made up lots of repair panels. The state of the seat belt mount was particularly worrying.

It all started when I decided that I should replace the off side front arch on my 1972 VW camper before I put it up for sale. Oh, and I was also going to repair the lower rear arch and fit a new windscreen washer jet. That should get it through the MoT I thought.....

Back in the early '90's a good friend and I had our Triumphs restored, my Vitesse and his Spitfire 1500. I still own my Vitesse, but have often wondered what became of his Spit. As the title suggests, the registration was VBP 58T and it was Pageant Blue. It was traded in for an Audi 80 in 1995-ish . The MoT history site lists the car as not being MoT'd since 19th May 2008, but the tax check states that it is currently taxed and MoT'd - very odd. I'd love to know what became of that car as we had some great times in it in our youth, blasting around the lanes of South Devon. If you know of it or have seen it at any shows or TSSC meets please let me know its alive and well! This photo was taken in Dartington in the early 1990's, not long after the car had been restored.

Blimey John, what did you hit?! Were you ok? To my eyes that dumbbell on the engine is a cordless angle grinder, but as my wife frequently reminds me, I'm often wrong...

My two penneth: Having tried EBC Green Stuff on several different cars they really are not any better than cheaper pads. Mintex 1144 however transformed the braking on my Vitesse. The TSSC supplied the correct pads for my 1970 car and they needed no modification at all. As for asbestos pads, I'm not encouraging anyone to do anything, but using up the very few remaining asbestos based pads remaining in the world is really not going to make any difference to anyone's health (assuming a modicum of common sense and no one is actually snorting the dust). The real issue was when asbestos was pretty much everywhere in daily life.

I agree to a point with Steve’s comments about the rise in car prices being coupled to low interest rates, but investors only buy low mileage, low ownership cars in totally original and A1+/Concourse condition. So a totally correct two owner from new, 50k miles 1972 Porsche 911? Absolutely. A 1965 Herald with who knows what miles, replacement engine, gearbox, trim and welding carried out to keep it running through the years? No. Even if it is rust free and has a great paint job. And yet classic cars like that Herald are increasing in value, and that’s got to be due to the fact that people are appreciating them for what they are and what enjoyment ownership can bring. I am of the school of thought that thinks a rise in values - within reason - is a very healthy thing indeed, and will encourage more borderline cars to be saved, better quality restorations, better maintenance and care of the cars and higher quality & an increased range of remanufactured parts. I’ll caveat the above with the statement that I agree entirely with the previous comments/sentiment that prices being asked for the cars in the links are ridiculous. To add to them, I happened to see a MkIII GT6 locally which was for sale for £35k. Crazy.

Gun Metal with red interior. Lovely!

Hi Henry, I had a similar problem on a non Triumph and it was caused by a failing hose (the inlet hose into the pump in this case) collapsing at higher revs, thus blocking the flow of water. All seemed fine idling on the drive.

Maybe they will provide cover overnight Doug, but only for an increase in premium - I didn't ask that.

I'm with Peter James and my policy covers travel to & from a single place of work at no extra cost, but not actual business travel. I have to say having renewed my classic policy a couple of weeks ago and receiving quotes from all of the TSSC panel, that Peter James was by far & away the best cover and for a price that was three figures lower than the others. Of course everyone's circumstances are different, but for a middle aged engineer living out in the sticks PJ is the way to go. They even covered my classics whilst they were being stored/worked on in my workshop 8 miles away from my house for no extra cost. I'm very impressed! One thing that had changed this year though was that when the cars are kept at my home address they will not be covered for theft between the hours of 22:00 and 06:00 unless they are in a locked garage. That clause only related to one of my (higher value) classics before.

Nice cars Richard. I particularly like the alloys on the Triumph. Yes, cosmetic preference. Several years ago a friend was breaking a Mk1 2 litre and as the bits were lying about I played around with the look of my car. That photo was taken a couple of years ago and the Vitesse now sports the correct grille and headlight surrounds again. Still got the Vitesse 6 script on the silver boot lid insert though as I prefer that to the later TRIUMPH badge.

Interesting. I have a Tiger & the build quality, materials used & general engineering standards are better, as is the ride & level of comfort especially over long distances. But, I much prefer the Vitesse's looks & styling (much more striking) and it is easier to drive round towns. Technically the independent rear suspension was a more daring move on Standard Triumph's part, and at least they threw in an interior light that comes on when you open the doors and a glove box lid! As you say, the two do compliment each other well,

Thanks Richard. Apologies for the Shocking thread drift, but out of interest, which do you prefer driving, the Vitesse or the Alpine? I ask as I Also have a Sunbeam, and find it a very different kettle of fish to my Vitesse, both driving wise and quality of construction.

Hi Richard, Thanks for that. I was wondering as my Vitesse has this cap fitted. It fits fine, and appears to be fairly old, but I have never been sure whether it was correct for the car or not.

Did Standard Triumph dealers offer these, or any locking cap, or were they all sourced by owners one they had bought their car?

On a normal monocoque car I think that the roll over jigs are fantastic, although any that require you to leave the axle and front suspension on have their limitations if you really want complete access to the entire underside. The hassle of draining all the fluids etc and mounting the carin on the jig though does mean that it's not really practical for reletivley localised repairs; they are more for full underside restorations where you media blast and replace sills, floors, outriggers, the lot. Once finished you are also left with having to store the thing or sell it on which is fine depending on how much storage space you have. However, on a Triumph if you are doing a full restoration it's easier & cheaper to take the body off & rest it upside down on the garage floor.

Hi David, I battled with a vibration in my Vitesse for many years. Long story short, there was wear in the sliding joint (I think the 13/60 has the splined joint, not strap?). The wear was only slight, and the play in it was certainly within what was generally accepted as being acceptable. Never the less, that's what was causing the vibration, even as you describe, in a no load situation, although it was a lot worse when the car was in gear as the propshaft does indeed continue to spin whilst in neutral (it's still connected to the wheels via the diff). I got a new propshaft from Dave Mac and ever since the car has been a pleasure to drive. The new shaft wasn't cheap, but wasn't as expensive as you may think. Dave Mac even arranged for collection of the old shaft and delivery of the new in the price, all I had to do was leave the old shaft outside my front door for collection while I was at work. Excellent service. it may seem galling to spend more money when you have already paid for a replacement u/j, but in my case at least, it was well worth it to have a car that is nice to drive.

As the toe in is to counter the wheels splaying when at speed (at least I believe that's the reason) does using stiffer suspension bushes require a change from the standard toe in settings?

Extremely interesting & useful links: Thanks for posting John,

I wonder if the confusion comes from the fact that there are so many variables with carbs. In my experience a newly re-built and well set up set of Strombergs do give better economy and crisper performance than SU carbs in a similar state. But add into the mix people’s experiences with worn carbs, or badly set up carbs making a car run poorly then understandably they will get the impression that ‘Those Strombergs are rubbish’, or conversely ‘SU carbs don’t run as well as Stroms’ They both work on the same principle so theoretically the actual differences like for like will be very, very small.

What was the part number for the correct bushes Gary?

For what it's worth, my view is that the just having the K&N filters & sports exhaust won't necessitate any change in needles. Set the mixture up correctly, take the car for a spin & see if it shows signs of running lean. I'm betting it won't. There is a school of thought which says that the fact you're now sucking in hot air from over the exhaust manifold rather than cool air from the front of the car negates some, if not most of the benefits of having free-er flowing air filters. I haven't seen empirical evidence to prove that, but I have to say that running my Vitesse with K&N filters makes no discernible difference to the way it runs, the main plus for me is not having to change the air filters every year. The K&N's will have paid for themselves by now, even taking into account the cleaning fluid & oil they require. And of course, they look nice!

Thanks for taking the time to post this John; very useful for any old car, not just Triumphs. As the old saying goes, the pictures speak a thousand words. Exactly what this forum is for in my view, and more posts like this will encourage greater useage by TSSC members. Note to self - take pictures next time I carry out a job on my Triumph! P.S. Regarding the Polyfilla on your work bench: An insight into your bodywork techniques perhaps?

An interesting point of view I must say it's great to see the board back though, what ever colour. I love the idea of having different triumph colours! Saffron, Java, Magenta & Topaz? You've forgotten Sienna Scrapman! Gotta love the '70's eh?