Nigel Clark

+1 I've had exactly the same experience as Doug, plus the discs and pads wore rapidly. Like him, I now run standard discs and calipers with Mintex 1144 pads. This gives sufficient stopping power for my 2.5 litre GT6 under road conditions. I would only want a further brake upgrade if I was going to indulge in track days. Nigel

+1 Totally agree, Ivor Searle is a fantastic operation. Like Pete, I was lucky enough to spend a day in their factory. Now due to dwindling core stock, they usually remanufacture your own engine and have an efficient pallet collection/delivery service operating across the country. For the gearbox, Mike Papworth also gets my vote. Nigel

Motor Wheel Services are a long-standing wire wheel specialist, who sell direct but also (I suspect) supply a number of the usual trade outlets: https://www.mwsint.com/custom/FitmentGuide/DisplayEntry.asp?category=87&carId=FG000037&make=TR&CarYear= Size is probably a matter of personal taste. My preference would be to stay at 13" diameter and not to go too wide, so 4.5" x 13" if it was my car. Nigel

Don supplies the club shop. Quality always very good, lead times can be long if what you want isn't on the shelf. Nigel

I've had gaiters split rapidly on several recent replacement ball joints. I've replaced the naff rubber gaiters with uprated polyurethane versions, available from most of the usual parts suppliers. The uprated ones are more expensive but look like they should last. Time will tell. Nigel

The club shop semi sports rear silencer may be what you're looking for. I would suggest fitting it with a centre silencer, used as standard on the Mk3 Spitfire. I have the club's semi sports back box on my GT6, with a tubular manifold. Originally, without a centre silencer, it was quite raspy when pressing on. I fitted the centre section including a small silencer from an earlier GT6 and this has calmed it down nicely. The exhaust note is a bit louder than a standard system but not dramatically so. Purposeful rather than rowdy is how I would describe it! I'm guessing the same approach to fit a centre silencer would work on your Spitfire 1500 (like my Mk3 GT6, it normally has a straight through centre section) but you would need to ask the club shop. The quality of the club's Bells systems is first rate. Nigel

+1 Makes complete sense if you are aiming to improve a car to enjoy driving (as opposed to a complete end-to-end, factory fresh restoration). Nigel

I haven't really ragged the TR since replacing the head and fitting the breather, so I take your point and realise the engine could still sweat oil. However, under the recent driving conditions it would previously have leaked from the head gasket and blown oil into the plenum, so there certainly is a significant improvement. Time will tell whether it's entirely oil tight. I will give it a few more moderate miles followed by an oil and filter change before giving it full throttle and all the revs. Time will tell! Nigel

Is the timing cover oil seal or gasket leaking? And is the timing chain rattling? If so, it's a good idea to take the opportunity to fit replacements. If not, leave well alone. If it ain't broke... Nigel

Well I know that recon gearboxes and diffs are supplied dry and need filling with oil on installation, but would never have expected a grease-free ball joint. Live and learn! Nigel

Time for another update... As suggested in this thread, I've fitted a crankcase breather by making an adaptor plate bolted to the redundant fuel pump boss on the block. This connects via a 12mm ID hose to a vented and baffled catch tank on the inner wing. The hose rises about 20cm from the block to the catch tank. Since then, the car has covered 60 miles with three complete warm up/cool down cycles. Previously, it was while warming up that the oil leak was worst. I'm pleased to report there is no trace on oil from the cylinder head gasket. Better still, there's no oil coming through the oil filler cap vent and no oil collecting in the air plenum. The catch tank is also dry. All told, a great improvement. Thank you to everyone here who contributed with ideas, experience and encouragement. I will show the details with photos in my Practical Classics Staff Car Saga, including a positive mention for the TSSC forum. Nigel

+1 for Mintex 1144. The club shop stocks them for some Triumphs, not sure about big saloons. Chris Witor is the man for big saloon parts. Nigel

I'm sure Bernard will do an excellent job. Looking forward to reading about your engine in his Courier pages. Nigel

The pin from the ball joint on the track rod is tapered and fits in a tapered hole in the steering arm. As said above, it will need a ball joint splitter to remove it. They often come apart with quite a bang if they're tight and haven't moved in a few decades! Nigel

+1... Seeing the gasket will likely show more about how and why it failed so quickly. Also, have you run a good straight edge acrossthe head and block to see if they are flat? Nigel

It's a very common problem, not only with Spitfires. Anyone who needs to adjust the seat more than halfway back on its runners is at risk of chafing the seat corner on the hood frame. Over the years, the seat back will bend making matters worse. No doubt you've already checked that the hood frame hasn't been inadvertently bent inwards. On my TR6, I've cut a thin strip of 1/4" plywood and put it under the outside rail on each seat subframe, bolting through the strip of wood. This obviously tilts the tops of the seat backs in towards the centre of the car. It's barely noticeable when seated but does give a little extra clearance from the hood frame. Nigel

Charlie, Clearly you're going to have to remove the head again. When you do, please could you post photos here, showing the gasket, the top of the block and the gasket face of the head? Before you remove the head, photos of the nuts at the tops of the studs would also be useful, plus photos of the studs in situ after you've removed the head and gasket. There's lots of experience here and we all want to help. Photos will take some of the guesswork out of our long range attempts at diagnosis. Nigel

From memory, the club shop supplies Securon belts. These are available in a range of colours but I believe the club only stocks black. You will need to phone Angie to check but there's a good chance you can get other colours as a special order. Nigel

I will also apologise in advance for any suggestions on sucking eggs... There's plenty of good advice in previous posts above. A gasket from Rimmers would not be expected to fall in a matter of minutes, so clearly something else is wrong. As said already, Payen gaskets are among the best. Have you checked that the face of the head is flat? Rather than an expensive replacement head, lightly skimming the present head may be all that's needed. Another thought: is it possible there was a serious airlock? If the engine ran for 15 minutes without proper coolant circulation through the head, the gasket will almost certainly be toast and the head may have warped, needing a skim as above. These engines will easily get airlocks when refilling with coolant, raising the front of the car helps. Good luck, Nigel

Hi Marcus, Take a look at this. The extra bead of silicone isn't so easy to see on my black engine but it's there! As you say, the last line of defence. Nigel

The TR6 doesn't have a PCV, merely a pipe from the rocker cover to the air plenum, which in practice is not adequate. So this engine doesn't have significant vacuum scavenging. From the experience that Nick and John Davies have had, an extra atmospheric breather from the crankcase is the way to go for Triumph PI engines. Nigel

Hi Nick, Thank you for the link to your detailed write-up on Sideways, clearly there's a lot of experience behind your post there. I would hope my TR6 engine is in somewhat better shape than the engine you were dealing with but all the principles with regard to crankcase pressure still apply. My engine doesn't use much oil, maybe 1/2 pint per 1,000 miles and compression readings are consistent between 150-160psi dry across all cylinders. The bores looked decent when the head was off. I'm hopeful that an extra atmospheric breather from the fuel pump aperture will stop it sweating without needing to resort to vacuum scavenging of the crankcase. Time will tell... Nigel

My GT6 is also on 175/70-13 tyres, fitted to 5.5J alloys. This keeps the same rolling radius as original. I've bought mid-range Davanti tyres as I can't justify the cost of premium when they will go out of date before wearing out. The Davantis seem to perform well enough, plenty of grip and far better in the wet than my previous Pirellis. Nigel

Time for an update... Today I finally got the TR6 fired up and out for a drive. I've only been 10 miles, as I don't want to push my luck before fitting a crankcase breather (that's waiting for a few bits to be delivered from eBay). There was no sign of oil leaking from the head gasket joint. Before, it always leaked worst while warming up, so I'm hopeful it's going to remain dry. Reinzosil is the business! Even after its brief and fairly gentle run out this afternoon, there was a little oil coming from the filler cap hole, which confirms there's some pressure build up. The car is now back in the garage, waiting for the new breather to be fitted. Thanks for all the advice. Will report back in due course on what difference the extra breather makes. Nigel

The simplest ideas are often the best. Shame Triumph never thought to do the same as Hillman. Nigel