Iain T

Another starter for 10, hands on buzzers......what is the standard thickness of a Vitesse Mk2 head? Yours in anticipation Iain

Martyn, please don't take offence but to shiney for me!! Cheers

Airbox arrived from Canley, it's exactly the same as my 'original' but has some light surface rust which I can easily remove. No dents or scratches and the seal strip is good so I think worth the £38 total including delivery. I forgot to take a picture and the car is now where I used to work as I'm taking the head (and possibly block) out. Ancillaries off just need to lift head but run out of time yesterday. However I did notice the tappet adjustment screws were up and down an indication of incorrect valve seat heights or odd valve lengths. Going to take head off tomorrow...the suspense!! Iain

It's a highly modified car........or I can't tipe.

I do have the air box that came with my MK11 (v good condition so I don't want to modify it) and it's silver with 4 air holes at the bottom by the rear carb. Paint looks original so I presume it's how it was from new.

Reason for wanting one is to replace the K&N pancakes and get some cool air into the carbs. I will probably modify it similar to one on Chris Witor's website and remove the internal filters and use an external one. Just to waste more time and effort I might turn up some stub stacks as no one seems to make them for Strombergs, loads for SU's (MED Eng do them they're 18mm rad half moon section). Then I'll paint the box............silver! Iain

Martyn, thanks for the lead just ordered used air box from Canley at £30 (incl vat) + £8 pp. I'll post condition when it arrives. Iain

Just spoke to TRGB and the MK1 has (allegedly) different centres to the MK2. Paul, thanks for the offer but I will try and find a MK2 or failing that make my own. I like your stainless fabrication, a paint shop I know can chrome paint parts if anyone wants a s/steel look alike. Iain

Does anyone have an air box lurking in their garage that needs a new home? I don't mind cleaning and painting it and I'll even pay! Cheers Iain

My company used to make trim tools for headliners, heat shields etc and they are cut with shaped blades set in the top part of a die set with a disposable sacrificial base. The blank is put into the tool the press cycled and trims and pierces the blank. These blades, basically a thin metal strip with a sharpened edge like a bendy razor blade, are easily broken so if the operator doesn't notice or compare to a master sample as a first off and in process then you get holes not pierced or not trimmed. Normally the blades are broken by over use/bad maintenance or the operator having a bad day and putting two blanks in the tool!!! Most of these manufacturing errors can be overcome by basic manufacturing techniques and quality control which is not necessarily expensive.

After a protracted altercation with an ex Triumph 'specialist' I found out the SoG Act also gives the purchaser 6 years of warranty providing the item is unused or very lightly used. The 'goods of un-merchantable quality' is a catch all phrase for shoddy goods. It does not matter what the sellers T&C's are the SoG Act trounces them. Iain

Glad to know problem solved but just emphasises again the potential issues with some of the parts from trusted Triumph suppliers. Iain

This happened when I had my Spit some 40+ years ago. It was a known fault then that then needle valve seat was poorly made. The solution given to me was to use Jaguar needles which had a fibre tip so it gave a better seal. Sorted the problem but I'm sure there are better solutions now. Iain

Robbie To be correct if you draw a line from the centres of the rocker shaft and the tip of the rocker arm (easy with a roller rocker) then this should be 90 degrees to the valve stem when the rocker is half way through its stroke. Adjust the rocker arm to touch the valve so no clearance and measure the stroke of the valve through the cycle and then halve it. If you google rocker arm geometry there are various videos to explain why and how much better than I can. All well and good if you have adjustable pushrods but ideally you want to have the correct geometry and the rocker tip in the centre of the valve stem throughout its cycle. I don't know which one is more important but as you can only realistically adjust the pedestal height (unless you want to pay a lot of money for adjustable pushrods and pedestal shims) go for shims first and see how that alters the strike pattern on the valve head. If you get a more central pattern then check the geometry to see if is looks acceptable. Have fun....

Robbie, Been where you are, haven't we all, you just want to get it right! My engine has been played with by the PO and there are shims under my pedestals. I haven't checked the contact area but the shim is about 1mm (40 thou) thick. If you have any sheet metal (or anything that doesn't compress) make some rough shims so you can do a trial to see the difference before you buy anything. The rule is the rockers should be horizontal. However if the parts haven't been machined correctly then as most things on old vehicles it's going to be a compromise. Iain

I used 12mm square closed cell foam with sticky surface on opposing sides. Didn't bother screwing cover to floor just old fashioned duck tape specially around the bulkhead. Stopped a lot of noise and engine pongs! Iain

Also while it's off make sure the two brass discs in the feeder block rattle around and are not stuck. Be gentle as I don't know if these are available if you break the tabs!!!!!!! Iain

Pete's correct (isn't he always) it may be the graduated holes in the disc are gummed, up the smaller holes in mine were. To remove the starter first ping off the spring clip that retains the choke cable sleeve to the carb (be careful because it can ping off and disappear into the bowels of the oily bits!), disconnect the choke cable from the lever arm, remove the feeder tube from the front to rear carbs (it's at the top by the starter assembly) and take out the two screws located on the B19203 starter. The whole assembly which consists of the starter and adjacent 'feeder' block with the brass tube to the rear carb can then be removed. There is a gasket between the 'feeder' block and the carb body if you are lucky this will come off intact. There is no gasket between the feeder and starter blocks, it requires fairy dust, luck or 1000 wet and drying the surfaces to stop the metal to metal joint leaking!!!! Don't forget to put a rag underneath the carb to catch any fuel when you remove the starter. You can now see the starter disc with the two sets of graduated holes that when rotated by pulling the choke out send fuel to enrich both carbs. The more you pull out the choke the more holes are exposed to the feeder block thereby further enriching the mixture. If the holes are gummed up use a carb cleaner and/or carefully clear with a needle. Note the disc and cup behind it are retained on the brass shaft by a peened slot so won't come off. You can clean the disc in situ or carefully wet and dry the peened bit to remove the tang so the disc can be removed. Best try cleaning it in situ, I took mine off and nearly lost the spring when everything 'exploded' when trying to put the assembly back on the carb. Try this first before you buy anything and also make sure the screw that actuates the lever arm is adjusted correctly. You should only have around 1200 -1300 rpm on full choke, if you have more revs then release the locking nut and rotate the screw to give more clearance to the lever. Let us know how you get on and have fun...... Iain

Hi Bfashbolt, Burlen do have one starter assembly for 150CDS, they did have two but I bought one! Part number is B19203 (no 10 on list). Although states it's for a CDSE it fits the CDS but the disc comes with only one set of graduated holes so if you have twin carbs you will need to take off your old disc with two sets of holes to line up and enrich both carbs. At a previous (difficult) conversation with Burlen they did say they have the twin hole discs but their telephone system went down before I could get any price or part number!?!? The cam is the same as my old starter assembly so all ok........ it still has a minor dribble but then so do I. What parts do you need as I have my old assembly and could help out. Pete, no not having fun it's frustrating but thanks for the link I would never have found the part. Iain

Colin, our boiler is located 5 metres from an outside wall and our original boiler had a horizontal flue. New condenser boilers need a 3 degree flue angle so condensate flows back to the boiler. Unfortunately the cavity in our ceiling isn't deep enough for the 3 degree fall. So either expensive and ugly ceiling mods or electric. As your boiler is on an outside wall the fall is not an issue. The EHC boiler is the same size as our old gas boiler as it is not just a heating coil but includes pump, controls etc in the case. It also senses what power is needed and adjusts accordingly. Iain

Best buy a used good quality welder, cheap equipment will always give problems. You need the quality to be designed in from new and good MIG welder will last years. If you really want to push the boat out take a look at Miller or Fronius, we had those and Kemppi but were used all day long so quality and productivity were paramount.

We had a 12Kw electric boiler installed in our apartment a year ago and the cost is approx 10% more than gas but that is offset against the fact that we now don't have to pay for gas servicing/inspection. Really good installation, the supplier is Electric Heating Company from bonny Scotland who have approved installers all over the UK. We have ours mated to a Megaflo hot water tank and everything heats up much quicker than gas. We had no option but to go electric as we couldn't accommodate the 3 degree flue angle in our ceiling cavity required for a new condensing boiler (our old boiler was non-condensing) so it would have meant ceiling mods, inspection hatches and lots of money. Tony, I used to live in't countryside and the farm manager who lived next door was having his sceptic tank drained and being nosey and wanting to make sure the sucker had done it's job he put his head over the hole just as the operator said stand back......!!!! The reason being to avoid any nasties in his sucker pipe he back blows and yes the manager got a full face and body flush. His wife said he stayed in the shower for hours!! Iain

Doug, Vladimir Putin is also a 5th Dan, tomorrow the world!!!

Had rolling road tune 6 months ago I just like tinkering. This is the first classic I have bought that I haven't restored so I'm feeling out of control. Ideally I would like more mid range torque but that involves engine out and build to my spec and this year I just want to do some tours and rally's. Iain

After a very bad experience with a certain company I am always on the lookout for people and companies who have the 'knowledge' and worked on Triumph cars and are preferably not 100's of miles away. I have used Stewart at The Classic Workshop at Headcorn who is very helpful, excellent work, good rates but he is a one man band and always booked up. I am suspect about the quality of work on the head and everything else done by Jigsaw (there the cat's out the bag) and as I have time on my hands might take the head off to take a look etc. If I do find anything or need to do leak test etc I want to know the best place to do any work. In reality it's just me being bored because the weathers bad and I want something to do!!!! Iain