SixasStandard

Ian, My car has the spacers on the rear fixings only.

One more point to add to this thread which might be of interest to taller Vitesse drivers..........you can achieve a greater rearward adjustment of the seats by removing the springs that sit in the 'U' section of the runners (they are sandwiched by raised pressings in the runners and the sub-frame to limit the movement front and back), then drill a hole in the inboard runner to engage with the adjuster on the sub-frame at the desired rearmost position. Provide a backstop by drilling holes in the inboard runner at the back and inserting a cotter or clevis pin. One word of caution.......this allows the seat to move back enough to foul on the 'B' post if the seat is not suitably located on the seat frame using the instructions posted by Casper. I've attached some pictures to illustrate these and previous comments on this thread. Ian

Hello All, At the risk of instructing Grandma on the complexities of sucking eggs.........I have recently made a change to my Vitesse's windscreen washer bottle, which I thought might be of interest to someone out there. My car is a '68 2 Litre Mk1, and had a puny little washer bottle branded as 'Trafalgar', although I imagine that there'll be many out there with Tudor bottles of similarly diminutive proportions. The space available for the bottle is pretty limited on the Vitesse, so your options are somewhat limited if you want to scale things up. I took some measurements, then had a search about on the Interwebby to see what I could find. Rimmers and the other usual suspects do a larger capacity bottle, but want silly money for them, so instead I found a laboratory supplies company on E-Bay that produce a 1.1L HDPE bottle with a wide neck and screw on top for 1.95 + p&p (4.60 in total). https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-X-1000ml-BOTTLE-HIGH-DENSITY-GENERAL-PURPOSE-WIDE-MOUTH-LABORATORY-BOTTLE/370878294949?epid=710056100&hash=item565a11aba5:g:IgUAAOxyE3pSDTzP This bottle fits in fine, and I chose to make mine look a little bit more authentic by buying a couple of 'Tudor' labels from a Graphics company on E-Bay for the princely sum of 1.69 inclusive of p&p. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tudor-Screenwash-Stickers-Decals-100mm-Classic-Car-Restoration-Jaguar-Healey-MG/174158904245?hash=item288cadfbb5:g:4eMAAOSwZH1eIcKK I used the existing nipple and tube from the Trafalgar bottle, drilling the screw cap for the nipple and also a small vent hole, and just added on a bit of tubing to the end to get the extra depth required in the new bottle. The result works well, took minutes to adapt and fit, and has significantly increased the bottle capacity for a minimal outlay. Suck those eggs Grandma!! Ian

Hello Guys, Just thought I'd update this thread with my progress, just in case someone else is currently considering changing from a dynamo to an alternator, and wanted to see the specific changes that I've made to my car. To summarise.......I have chosen to retain the Lucas RB340 Voltage Regulator Control Box, but use it as a junction box. First thing was to dig out a spare RB340 from my shed and remove the 3 bobbins inside the box by drilling out the rivets on the base plate and using a punch to force them out. Whilst I had the drill handy I also carefully drilled the rivets holding the 'L' shaped connection on the 'WL' terminal to the larger 'D' terminal, don't overdo the drilling......just enough to be able to pry the 'WL' terminal off, then you can peen the remainder of the rivets over to keep the 'D' terminal securely in place. Don't discard the 'WL' terminal, I cut it down, drilled it and then fixed it to the 'F' terminal using a nut and bolt through the hole left by the removed bobbin rivet. This now allows you to connect the 'WL' and 'F' simply by pushing on the original cables without any cutting or soldering. By not butchering the loom you leave the option for any subsequent owner to easily return to a standard dynamo configuration by simply installing another RB340 unit. I then drilled out the rivet securing the 'E' terminal and removed it, as this is no longer required. Find a small bolt that can fit through the hole left by the removed bobbin rivet on the 'D' terminal, and secure it with a nut and washer on the inside face of the base plate. The 'B' terminal is a double, and is connected to a post inside the box which has a breaker contact on one face. File the breaker off to create a simple terminal post. I salvaged a suitable piece of heavy gauge brown coded cable from a scrap loom which already had a large Lucar connector on it, I cut this to length and crimped on a spade connector to the other end. All that was needed to complete the job was to push on the Lucar connector to the 'B' terminal post and connect the spade to the nut and bolt from the 'D' terminal. The pictures below will explain all of the above!! Regards, Ian

Thanks guys, that's the final question answered........now it's time for the spanners!! Regards, Ian

Hello Clive, After reviewing the information provided via the Forum, and with additional information from the Web, I now have a pretty detailed set of plans to complete this conversion. The one thing that I still need clarification on (and forgive me if I'm being dense here) is whether I should be taking an additional cable from the alternator output to either the starter solenoid positive terminal, or else direct to the battery positive terminal? Common sense says that the battery would be easier and cheaper, as it is physically closer and you'd need less cable, but just about every reference article I have found on the web says to take the cable to the starter solenoid. Could you (or anyone else out there) confirm one way or the other please? Thanks, Ian

Thanks Clive.

Thanks for identifying the alternator, do you think it would be a good choice for the Vitesse? Also, should I be taking the extra cable required back to the starter solenoid or direct to the positive on the battery? There's a wide selection of alternator to starter/battery cables on E-Bay from various modern cars, so that would seem the best route to source one......any thoughts? Ian

Hello Pete, Any chance of getting some close up pictures of the bracket to give more of an idea of the mods required? Great tip about the rear lug by the way. I have an alternator in the shed that was intended for my Alpine but I'm now thinking of using for the Vitesse. It was bought a couple of years ago and is reputed to be for a late 1980s Ford XR3i (pictures attached). There are ZERO markings on the casing to identify it more accurately, but there is an outfit in Salford that punts these units out on E-Bay and mine looks identical: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiP4aX9iKLpAhXIUMAKHUxqC2EQFjABegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FFits-FORD-Escort-1-6-XR3i-Alternator-1986-1990-1704UK-%2F361618526451&usg=AOvVaw2QxtfgFZEv2X_7QIGl3c5F If it is the same then it's a 75amp unit. It does have a bush in the rear lug, so the tip regarding not locking it down on that rear bush is really helpful, thank you. I suppose the 75amp output means that I need to be careful about the spec of the cable back to the battery? Also......interesting to see that your Vitesse has the bulkhead below the waistline in black........my car is also white and I was considering a similar move, as the current paint job (not the best) has reacted in this area and is peeling off.......so with a jumbo tin of Hammerite kicking it heels in the shed it seems like a good option. Regards, Ian

Does anyone have an appropriate alternator bracket from a iron block spitfire that they're prepared to sell? There's only one on E-Bay at the moment, but that already has a welded repair, so not ideal. Thanks, Ian

Thanks guys, all good tips and much appreciated. I've also found this from the TSSC Devon group: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tssc-devon.org.uk%2Ftechnical%2F13-alternator-conversion.html&psig=AOvVaw3jwF12civtI_1JIWYrVbO7&ust=1588922534719000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=2ahUKEwi-pKrrm6HpAhXy6-AKHa4mCkgQr4kDegUIARD3AQ This seems to mirror the above, so I now have a good set of instructions to follow. Regards, Ian

Thanks Clive, that sounds really straightforward.......I reckon even I could do that without incinerating the car! Ian

That's a bit harsh Richard, frugality really should be considered as a positive attribute (or in my particular case a necessity). Ian

Thanks Tony, unfortunately I don't have a voltmeter (one item on a very long list of "wants" but "don't haves").......could this approach work with some form of simple test light? Bloody electrics!!.......it's all witchcraft as far as I'm concerned!! Ian

Hello All, Just completing the interior retrim on my '68 Vitesse 2L Mk1; all now looking sparkly and new........so flushed with success I connected up the battery to treat myself to the straight six soundtrack as a reward. On cue the old girl burst into life, so after warming her up I gave her a bit of the 'loud pedal' to scare the local bird population and share my joy with the neighbors. It was whilst all of this joy was going on that I noticed.......shock and horror!!.......the IGN warning light was on permanently. 'Zut Alors' I cried (or something similar). After a quick poke around with the wiring I couldn't find any issues, nor was there any problem with the battery earth......so I'm assuming that the problem is a duff dynamo? Longer term I was planning on replacing the dynamo with an alternator anyway, so is there any information I can tap into to plan and implement this mod? and are there any other potential problems that I should investigate if the problem is not in fact the dynamo? Any help/advice appreciated. Ian

I can sense this thread morphing into a Monty Python sketch...........You had it lucky!.....we used to dream of cleaning a blocked septic tank......

If we're talking horrible jobs in general......then my all time favourite would have to be my experience of cleaning out the internals of an ancient shaping machine when I was doing my apprenticeship back in 1976. One of the training instructors thought I'd been a 'bit lippy', so I was given a bucket and a small scraper and told to clean the interior of the old Invicta metal shaping machine in the corner of the workshop. I have never experienced such foul glutenous deposits as those I found in that old machine, nor do I ever want to again!! By the time I'd finished I had a filthy black slime all up my arms practically to the shoulder (I wasn't allowed to dirty my overalls) that took days to scrub off. H&S rules were rather more 'flexible' back in those days. Needless to say I was rather less 'lippy' for the remainder of my apprenticeship!! Fitting some weather seals will be a walk in the park in comparison. Ian

Yeah right!!.......that's what some upstanding citizen had done after the car was painted back in 2016. I actually found a brand new clip in the door bottom when I went 'magnet fishing', so I'd hazard a guess that the previous owner had supplied the paint shop with the correct new clips for the seals, but the lazy buggers obviously gave up after failing with the first clip and then just glued the seals on and binned the clips. I take a dim view of such antics!! Ian

Blimey Pete.......you're not exactly filling me with confidence!! Ian

Thanks Clive......I'll give it a go. Ian

Thanks Clive, That is how I was planning to install the seals, albeit with the clips supported by a tool such as you describe to keep them in place during the process. I will experiment with your approach when the new clips turn up to see what procedure works best for me. The point you make about the quarterlight is helpful, are you able to explain further about your method of cutting a strip off? Where exactly do you remove the material from? Regards, Ian

Thanks Colin. Ian

My outer weather seals are the type with the metal strengthener inside, and will need quite a bit of 'encouragement' to go into the spring clips, so having the wrong size clip is just going to make that process all the more difficult. I need the correct size clip so that it sits up firm against the door skin return whilst I'm forcing the weather seal in. Ian

Hello Colin, The clips from Ratsport are the same larger type that I've already got from ANG. The ones from the US supplier look to be right. Ian

Thanks Pete, That seems to clear it up. The Rimmer part # 613869 is obviously the correct currently available part for the Vitesse/Herald outer weather seal, so that's the one I'll go for. The Woolies ones would probably work ok, and are a lot cheaper, but I'm not sure about their corrosion resistance, whereas the Rimmer clip looks to be plated. Thanks for you help. Ian