Iain T

Dave, Apart from using tube follower etc the way we used to form prototype exhausts and tubes was to fill with dry sand, bung up the ends with wood then heat the area you want to bend to cherry red and SLOWLY and in several bites bend round by hand (with the aid of extending the tube to get more leverage). The sand stops the tube from collapsing. But you must use bone dry sand or the steam generated inside the tube with blow the bungs out like bullets!!!!!! A common ruse for apprentices in the days when health and safety didn't rule the roost. Have fun Iain

Thanks Pete, Had an exciting day today, in the hunt for this spurious vibration around 2500-3500rpm I took the car to Vibration Free at Bicester who use specialist widgets to see where and what is causing the problem. However bowling through the countryside on the A418 a boulder hit the windscreen, frightened the life out of me and made crazy glass of the screen. Anyway I got to VF (as they very kindly collected the car on their trailer) and the culprit of the very harsh vibration was the 'new' alternator that I fitted only 3 months ago! It is the second alternator I have fitted from a very well known Triumph parts supplier, the first one just didn't charge after only a few hundred miles and this one charges but is of so poor quality it is unusable. Steve from VF said in his 20 years experience he has never seen anything this bad as it vibrated the engine/gearbox and chassis. The upshot is apart from all the usual suspects ie propshaft/UJ's etc just take the fan belt off and see if the vibration disappears....it could be the cr**py alternators and parts we are sold to maintain our cars!! I can't recommend Vibration Free enough, this is the second time I have used them, the first time was when they successfully identified the bell housing was misaligned. Sure enough a 'specialist' workshop hadn't fitted the all important 3/8" alignment bolt but 5/16" all round so when I put a dti on the flywheel and measured the gearbox aperture on the back of the bell housing it was over 20 thou out of centre. The limit is less that 5 thou. Try their services it can save you an expensive rebuild. Finally is a MK2 2ltr also a 6J? Iain

Pete, I have since changed the shocks for fully adjustable GAZ fronts and back which has made a huge difference to the better. I also had the car set up correctly. The car came with an uprated front roll bar and solid mounted rack which makes the handling and steering much more direct and to my taste. I might add the £40k+ bills were not mine but the previous owners but I seem to be racking up a few now to make the car into a more road friendly version! Doug Yes I probably will put the old air box back, there is a lot of heat coming from the 6-3-1 manifold and I'm not going to spend £4-500 ceramic coating it!! Do you know the numbers for the standard (bottom adjusted) and pancake needles?

Thanks All, I have no idea what the cam is as it isn't in the bumph that came with the car but it isn't right but I do have a lot of invoices racking up over £40K in costs! In fact the car as I bought it seemed to be too hard core with the shocks being ok for race track but intent on loosening my fillings on the road. My wife keeps on saying why did you buy it but I love a challenge and always had a soft spot for Vitesses from when one of my teachers at school bought one from new. I have looked at Chis Witor's cams and will see how his standard 308788 cam compares with Newmans PH1. I believe both are billet cams. I also spoke to Chris about sorting out the inlet manifold but as his guy doesn't do it any more I'm leaving it as is. I agree apart from the lack of needles the standard CD150's as fitted to my car are every bit as good as SU's in fact it could be argued a more modern design. On another note has anyone used Classic and Modern Engine Services at Bracknell, the E Type guys seem to like what they do and I may ask them to balance the bottom end and test compression etc on the head. Cheers Iain

Thanks Pete, I am definitely leaning towards a standard cam but making sure the engine is assembled correctly (time to get my pipette out!) and balanced. It was just as bad to start with the standard air box so I think the crazy cam is the culprit, just not enough suck with cranking revs. The tuners, Atspeed, did have to play around with the needles as it was running weak on tickover/low revs but fine at mid/high revs. As I have to take the engine out to hopefully sort out the last bit of harshness, changing the cam to standard seems logical as I want a fast tractable engine not a screaming racer. The car also has the Type 9 5-speed with 2.8 ratios (from BGH) and cv joint conversions so mechanically it's not a standard car but I want it to look as standard as possible and not change to SU's (HS6's?). Cheers Iain

Hi, I'm new to the forum and have had my Vitesse for 3 years and although it was a ground up restoration about 10 years ago (by the previous owner) it did come with lots of issues! Having ironed out most of them, with a great deal of effort and not a small amount of cash, I am left with a harsh engine to deal with. The head has (allegedly) larger valves, a phoenix 6-3-1 twin box exhaust and gives 115bhp and 115ft/lbs of torque on standard CD150's with K&N pancakes. However it is a pig to start even though I installed a Pertronix Ignitor 2, a Huco low pressure electric pump and have had it tuned on a rolling road. It is 'lumpy' on tickover and nothing much happens until 3000rpm so I am thinking the cam might be the culprit as a too hot cam can make cold starting involve a lot of cranking! As to the harshness in the engine I will be balancing the bottom end and replacing shells etc where required gas flowing the head which will hopefully cure this issue. My question is for a fast(ish) road car would it be better to install a standard cam from say Newmans or go for something else? Any suggestions? Iain