Gully

Are you sure you put the washing soda in the right car?! ? Good to see you on Sunday, Gully

Welcome - that's some Triumph kit! Good luck with the restoration, Gully

Thoroughly enjoyable day - big thanks to Pete and Ray for Twiddling and to the Club team for hosting us so well. Also a great opportunity to save on postage from the Club shop ? Gully

It depends really how early a Mk3 engine it is. Prior to KE10001 the engines were pretty much identical - just tweaks to the carbs and air box. Thereafter there were changes brought about by the standardising of heads with the 2000 saloon - domed pistons were introduced, along with a milder cam and longer push rods. Compression ratio dropped from 9.25:1 to 9.0:1. As Peter has noted above, the change in heads corresponds with a different gasket to work with the recessed bores. My early Mk3 (engine KE154) retains the same oil filler cap and crankcase ventilation set up as the Mk2 engine. Gully

Pete, I organised the insurances for Vulcan to the Sky Club for the past 6 or 7 years - I'll drop you a note with some useful contact details for an insurance specialist dealing with the Club and voluntary sector. We had a similar issue with equipment and stock when out at shows and when in temporary storage at members' homes. Gully

Welcome from a J plate Mk III owner! I use Canleys and Paddocks mainly. Moss are pricey, but have a few parts others don't seem to stock - as long as they are common to Spitfires or TRs. Gully

Welcome! I'm too far south for any useful advice re bodywork, but I'm sure your local group will be able to point you in the right direction. Gully

I second that - will dig out his email addy and send him a note too. Thanks for highlighting, Badwolf. Gully

Welcome! Sounds as if you're doing everything right in your search for your ideal Vitesse - good luck ? Gully

Am I the only one who can't see a date for this?! Gully

Welcome! You know you need another Triumph in your life ? Gully

Just logged in for the first time after yesterday's hiatus - all seems to be working fine and looking clean. Certainly the unread content button and various headers are all appearing on the iPad. Gully

Think I'll stick to running whatever 20/50 the club shop has on offer. The engine's 40 years old and I'm sure has survived worse treatment than a couple of thousand miles a year 'normal' road use between changes! Gully

My 1974 Haynes is correct... More confusion... Gully

Saying this quietly as I believe these cars listen, but I think it's fixed! I started off yesterday by trying John's suggestion of testing the gauge / sender combinations using nigh on boiling water and carefully immersing the sender. That showed that the old sender first removed as faulty read much lower than both the new ones (which were very similar). The new ones appear to be a single piece of machined brass, whereas the removed one is steel bodied with a copper sensor section inscribed Smiths Industries. On the basis that very hot water was giving me a reading below red, I began to wonder if the thermostat could be faulty... Having removed the thermostat, I checked it in a pan of steadily heated water alongside a spare I had in the shed. Both 82C stats and they opened together and fully, so I reinstalled and tested - same result: gauge rose rapidly and was off the top of the scale before the thermostat opened, but with no sign of overheating. Pushed the car back under the car port and left it to cool overnight. The only positive of removing and refitting the thermostat was that I removed a large piece of debris threatening to block the intake manifold pipe (looked like build-up from behind the sender). This morning I decided to check out the voltage stabiliser. I removed the dash centre panel and initially checked the voltage being fed to the temp gauge and fuel gauge - both read just over 12 volts. I then searched around a bit, but no stabiliser. I knew there wasn't one on the back of the speedo and I soon spotted a dark green feed connected to a pair of light green cables and by their location presumed that the voltage stabiliser had been deleted at some point in the car's history. I pulled the spades apart and re-checked the feed to the gauges which was gratifyingly non-existent! A new voltage stabiliser had arrived from Rimmers earlier in the week and I fitted it into the circuit, mounting it on the rear of the speedo to earth it. Hey presto - 10v at the gauges. Having run the car up to temperature (and covered a few miles in it tonight as a proper test), I can report the temperature gauge is now functioning normally with the new sender and stabilised voltage to the gauge. Happily, my over-reading fuel gauge is now accurate too (never dropped below a quarter before at lowest point and I'd previously bent the float arm so it was a quarter tank at this point, so returned the arm to the right profile this afternoon). So an interesting fault to chase through - I'd love to know what the specification of the sender was that went on the blink originally, as it had been working perfectly happily for at least 4 years giving sensible readings with a 12v feed to the temperature gauge! Many thanks to all for your helpful suggestions. Gully

Mine's KE83 and came off the production line in November 1970 before being registered in January 1971, so will be interesting to learn where your's got to! Gully

There are a number of sellers, including www.carbuildersolutions.com which is where mine came from. Their product reference is radcap13ss. Gully

Yes, that's why I said In my initial post that I didn't think it was the stabiliser, but will have a good root around behind the dash over the next few days and trace where the supply to the gauges is coming from. According to the wiring diagram, there should be a feed from the hazard light switch to the stabiliser and from there in light green wires to the gauges. Will put the voltmeter on them in the first instance. Gully

Also check that the lower seal on the rad cap is engaging firmly in the neck of the radiator - if it isn't, then the water will expand out of the system and not return. I bought 3 caps before I found one with a sufficiently deep insert to seal properly. It was a Fahler 13lb one. Gully

No sign of anything voltage stabiliser-like dangling loose behind the dash. I did fleetingly look for one when I changed the speedo back in the Spring as I knew it should be there, but everything was working and I dismissed the fact I couldn't find it. I've ordered one just in case and will pull out the middle panel to trace the feed to the gauges (supposedly from the hazards switch via the stabiliser), but not tonight - the light is fading! Gully

Well, new sender arrived from Canleys earlier in the week and as tonight was the first dry evening since it landed I've now fitted it and test driven. Result - reads high off the scale in exactly the same way the previous replacement did! Grrr. Again, everything else seems normal. Once it's cooled down I may try re-fitting the original, as that was reading sensibly intermittently. I guess I now need to decide if I try changing the voltage stabiliser next, or replacing the thermostat again. Gut feeling is that the fault is electrical. Interestingly, even though I've changed the speedometer previously, I've never found the voltage stabiliser, so some tracing of cables is going to be needed! Gully

That's the sort of rule of thumb we need as a sticky! Thanks Pete. Gully

Thanks Nick. I recognised the bridge, just not the garage. Hitchin Through Time covers the station and further down Walsworth Road, but misses that section. Gully

Can't place where that garage and hotel would have been - must trawl my historic Hitchin book! Gully

I wondered - will report again once I have the new one from Canleys! Thanks, Gully