Bitumen Boy

The plastic line that failed on me simply had the plastic line pushed on to a plain brass spigot at each end, and the engine end came off the spigot. It had no barb, no clip, no anything to hold the two components together apart from simple friction, perhaps not the best idea for something connected to a pressurised oil system! The braided ones at least have a crimped section at the ends, OK you can't see what it's crimped over, but then I haven't heard of one of those failing - yet..!

There's a lot of chancers like that on fleabay, I reckon they're looking for people that are either drunk or just plain daft. For another example, try searching for pretty much any rare-ish out of print book, you can guarantee someone is selling a copy for somewhere north of £150 on a buy it now, just waiting for the drunk or desperate buyer.

I too had one of the plastic oil pressure lines fail at the engine end once, had to hike a mile in pouring rain to a garage to get more oil but apparently no more damage done. I have heard of someone being badly burned by hot escaping oil when one of these plastic lines failed at the gauge end, IMO they're not fit for purpose.

Well, I've given the new pump a few smart taps and nothing's broken so will try fitting when i get time. Didn't get far drilling the shaft end, it's so hard that I couldn't centre punch it - instantly flattened the point of the punch when I tried - and with only a handheld drill to work with I'm not going to get far without a punch mark for a start. Current plan, then, is to fit new pump to get mobile again, then get old pumps rebuilt for the next time, which I suspect won't be too long coming.

Care to share who did the work for you, Colin? PM if you like. I have the brass impeller pump removed last week and one from waaaay back that I thought I'd chucked out ages ago - only found it yesterday. Everything about them shouts "quality" compared to the remanufactured items, nice brass impeller, grease nipple, even the body casting is nice and smooth unlike the new ones which are dog rough.

Mark 2 will be pretty - it's still on the prototype at the moment. When I get round to it...

IMO those want replacing, as Pete says they will be cheap enough. I think the problem with Minis is that they lasted in production with grease points long after other cars stopped having them and people didn't realise what they were for...

A few years ago now when I fitted twin carbs to my Herald I made up a heatshield from an odd piece of steel I had kicking around. It's not pretty but it does provide a useful spot to mount the throttle cable to, plus I have far fewer - practically none, thinking about it - of the issues that I used to put down to fuel vapourisation with the old Solex carb.

Well, I was thinking of a bit of big hammer work to make sure it's not hanging on by a thread like the last one must have been before it was boxed up will be a start. Drilling a wee hole in the shaft end to assess the material is a good idea too. Realistically there's not much more I can do beyond keeping everything crossed....

Spoke to supplier this morning about this broken pump. He didn't believe me at first but emailing those pictures across soon changed his mind. New pump on the way (doubtless they're all coming from the same source, unless anyone knows differently), needless to say I will be giving it a very thorough inspection before fitting. Longer term I think I'll see about getting the original pump overhauled, I don't really trust the repro ones after seeing this.

I bet you could drop an original Stanpart pump off Beachy Head without it breaking.

The waterpump on my Herald started leaking a week or two back, so I ordered a new one from one of the usual suspects and it arrived one day in the week. I opened the box and had a quick look at it but had no time to do any more until today. Old pump came off without any bother, cleaned everything up a bit, went to fit the new pump. When I took it out of the box though I found the pulley rattling round loose... the shaft has broken just inside the pulley. No kidding, a 5/8" diameter steel shaft snapped off cleanly - at least it should be steel, but to my admittedly untrained eye the fracture is suggestive of cast iron. Hate to think how much damage that would have caused if it had broken on a running engine, I imagine the rad would be totaled at the very least. Needless to say the supplier will be getting a call about this Monday morning, at least it's not something they can bullshit away! Pump is branded "County", I know some of their stuff isn't reckoned to be the best but this..?

Any more photos of that one, Steve? Looks interesting.

Likewise, I hope the CT forum is eventually sorted and becomes an effective resource again. In the meantime, however...

I'm annoyed that I renewed my CT membership at pretty much the same time as the forum stopped doing its job. I'll likely be coming over if (as I rather expect) the situation is much the same at next renewal time.

I like it! I've sometimes thought of a Herald pickup but retaining a steel roof (essential in Wales IMO!) and the standard rear screen, wonder how practical that would be? The current legislation around modifications means I'll probably never find out.

I wonder how many replies I would have gotten on the CT forum inside roughly 24 hours? Not that many I suspect! I still have a look but with the speed issues it's not a quick look...

Sometimes you just have to move on, but it's good to see so many familiar names here. Should have taken the plunge earlier I guess, but didn't fancy the hassle of registering for another forum. Top marks to TSSC for a relatively quick and painless experience on that front!