Prince Brainier of Meccano

I have had the oil light come on a few times in the distant past, and having dipped the 710! there was oil. It has always been a tired pressure switch.

Thanks. Classiclife. Re assured now.

What are acceptable oil pressures when idling hot and cold and running hot and cold please?

I was concerned with overheating so I put my temp sensor in a pan of boiling water, left it to be at temp for a while and then measured the resistance. While this was warming up I earthed the sensor wire through a resistance box and with the engine running, set the resistance to put the needle just into the red at the end. For mine I had to add resistors in series with the sensor to make it the same as "tested" value for boiling hot. I then knew that with the needle in the red it was at unpressurised boiling. The readings came down on the gauge and weren't so alarming.

Yep. Just one "flash" from battery "live" to the field coil. This sets the residual magnetic field in the pole pieces the right way for your car. When the generator first spins up it self excites so its important that it starts off in the right polarity. DON'T DO what I did and due to the close proximity of the battery and the generator, and not having a bit of wire nearby I carefully bridged the gap with 2 spanners. All ok, didn't short the battery to frame, but when I separated the spanners the back EMF from the coil nearly chucked me off the wheel!

Sorry if its been spotted before. Just binge watched Life on Mars and really enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the 70s fashions and Annie Cartwright. The Rascal in one episode drove a dark green GT6. A good few minutes of a great car in a contemporary context.

Possibly just the main clutch! My first thought was oil low and sloshing away from the OD pump. The test for slipping main clutch is to select top gear and rev the engine and then see if the engine stalls when you lift the clutch. If it does the main clutch is OK. Main clutches slip more in higher gears as there's more torque on them. To test if its the OD clutches, drive normally in OD top and accelerate. Does it slip? Then do the same in 3rd OD. Does it slip sooner? Probably the OD linings as more torque is coming through to the OD in 3rd. Hope this helps.

A frequent problem with stored cars. I cleared mine on a few occasions by finding a quiet road and starting on the starter motor in first gear. Then depress the clutch and accelerate/decelerate until it clears. has taken a few minutes at times. The first though that came to me with problem I had on a vitesse and the dimple in the middle of the release fork had worn through! Hard to believe, eh? It was used for driving instruction so the clutch took a bit of a bashing.

Been thinking about this for a while. I know the main fan on the 6 pots is on the crankshaft but heralds have it on the water pump. How about replace the dynamo with an alternator and drive just that from the crank pulley. Then, using the old generator as a motor to drive the water pump and fan with a variable speed drive from a temperature monitor. With 6 pots simply use an electric water pump and add an electric fan. Might improve warm up with no water flow and take the load of the fan/pump from the engine. There's no need for it to waste the energy it does at high revs when directly connected. According to Vizzard the big heat load is at low to med revs on full throttle, when the pump and fan are not going that fast. cruising at middlish revs the fan isn't needed at all, just the circulation. I realise the energy has to come from the engine via the alternator. This way the energy is applied by need not circumstance. Was going to try it on a morris minor I had but didn't get round to it. Thoughts? Objections?

Having looked at the diagrams of the guts it is indeed a bit of a job. I thought all the epicyclery went on in the parallel section but it extends into the cone bit at the back as well. Shame. I was quite looking forward to some fun. As to the meccano comment I remember in a hot car mag from the 70s a boy racer asking for advice on bodywork mods. He finished with the a statement "I'm quite good with a hack saw and dreadnaught file as I've done a hairdressing apprenticeship." You have to admire a tryer.

Has anyone though about the possibility of adding overdrive to overdrive? Not at all sure about the way it might work. But a short length of splined shaft to replace the output shaft straight into the next overdrive, perhaps? And if it would, just bolt the flanges of the 2 together or an adapter plate? Might need to move the handbrake to the back seat. That won't matter as they seldom do much any way on heralds/vitesse. 0.8 x 0.8 = 0.64 reduction in revs for economic cruising.

Hi All. Just joined. Been hankering for another Triumph for too long now. Been out to try 1 GT6 2.5 but that overheated on the test drive. Another GT6 Lovely but by then I found it too tricky to get in and out of being old and fat. A super Vitesse that was withdrawn just as I'd decided to buy, So looking again. Loads of historic experience with these cars. My parents, and laterley I, were driving instructors in Letchworth Hertfordshire. Dad had one of the first 948 heralds and then a 1200 as soon as it came out. That one was built on the 948 chassis so before the chassis with 2 rings dangling at the rear. Next the revelation of the 1600 vitesse. and then on to 2ltr versions. All used for instruction. At 14 I was changing clutches, gearboxes and diffs as these took a bit of a bashing in instruction work. Head jobs and valve grinding etc and just generally getting experienced with how cars work. Dad passed me the 1200 as my first car when I was 17 and I was through the test and on the road within a few weeks of my birthday. I tweaked the 1200 with a twin choke webber from a 1500 cortina. (It was on the scrap pile at a local garage as the corner of the float was snapped! Bit of araldite fixed it.) I made the adapter plate from layers of aluminium fitted to the original manifold! The big mistake was mounting it with the float at the back so it flooded on heavy braking. But, what a difference! I think it was faster than the 1600 vitesse. My Dad who was a bit of a racer tried it and was amazed at the difference. Then a branch exhaust manifold and it really flew. But the old ironworms got to and it went the way of all steel. I do like the newer cars but you can't do anything on them. I presently have a fiat Multipla (don't judge me.) This is just so good for everything. economy, similar power to a vitesse if needed. Flat floor for the crap I move about. 6 seats, even boarded over at the bottom of the windows and made a rudimentary camper for touring. Sleep underneath. cooker and bikes on top. But I need to tinker a nice simple traditional triumph. To sit on the wheel and look knowingly at the plugs, to stone the points, to lift the carb pistons and sniff the exhaust all with an oily rag in hand again! That 1/8th of a turn on the mixture and advance it 3 clicks at a time without being able to tell if its done anything, that's what I want. Looking for a Mk1 Vitesse. Ideally with OD. Don't like the donut rear drive at all. Or a vitesse estate, even better. PS I did have a Mk2 vitesse and with one bit of wire under the gearbox cover I disabled the 3-4 OD switch and earthed the relay out through the reverse light bulb. That made OD available on all forward gears and failed safe to exclude reverse. Due to the lag while the pressure built up to engage the OD it came in just right on first to give almost 50 MPH!! The man I sold it to was so impressed he said he'd probably only use 1st and second. I'm sure it was a joke.