Wagger

I would love to have heard one! Amazing what was scrapped or discontinued in Mergers. Daimler V8 sports car (SP250). Majestic Major with 4.2L V8 higher power than 4.2 Jag.

I understand 'Neurotic fear'. I was laid off three times between 1991 and 2006. Luckily, I had 'Income protection Insurance' sold to me by a friend who was an IFA. They paid me over £10k and my payments were a mere £2k. Now I just wait for the pensions and watch the smart meter readout like a hawk. Had my six montthy oncology interview yesterday. My PSA has risen from 0.04 to 0.09. That worries me even though anything below 2.0 is not considered a problem. My mentality tells me that the big 'C' is coming back. Trying to slam the door on these thoughts is very difficult. Reading the 'Joke' section helps and trying to be constructive with other topics.

Sorry Chris if I caused offence, I really should have used the plural. Letting the brain freewheel on a rainy day seems to have landed me in trouble. I was trying to divert myself from dwelling on two siblings, one in care with dementia, the other having palliative care. I have had three appointments myself this week. Luckily, I am ok for another six months. I'll shut up now.

Ok. I was generalising and I dd not mean to cause offence. I was not accusing you either. Yes, litter has always been a problem. Every species drops it. Trees have no choice. Maybe it is a minority who are irresponsible, but that minority appears to be growing in percentage. What I cannot understand is the picnickers who go to our local park and leave all of their rubbish behind. Cans, bags, barbeques etc. Some even take it in a stolen shopping trolley and leave that behind. The rubbish must weigh less than what they brought out. Then there are the poo bags hanging on trees, and I have even been told, "Its ok, there are bio-degradable". I do tell them that will take 50 to 500 years. Can't put into print what the replies are. I have dogs and like picnics, always clear away behind me except one day when the wind caught a bag and outsped me chasing it. Had to give up at the lakeside. Wife and me actually take a bag with us, and a grabber and dispose of all in the bins. Now can we go and enjoy 'Crumpets in front of the fire'?

Nothing to do with newspapers, just my observations when I exit the M25 on any sliproad I have travelled on. Somebody dumps this stuff on a daily basis. We even have signs on the A27 here showing a road with the label, "This is NOT a bin". Perhaps you are luckier than me in your travels. This is supposed to be rural Sussex.

All of my working life I had breakfast before setting off. Packed my lunch when there was no canteen. Always a hot meal on returning home, freshly prepared. Now a large majority set off, buy a junk roadside meal and dump the rubbish out of the window. Of our three children, only two cook at home. Many have forgotted or never learned how to prepare and cook food. As a kid, we had the 'Luxury' of a kitchen range, always a hot kettle and, if you opened the fire grating you could toast a good slice or a crumpet. Nothing like crumpet in front of a fire!

The belts that I have replaced have been on Ducatos, Audis and BMWs. Always replaced the tensioners and Idlers. The procedure stated that the tensioner should be allowed to take up the slack with the spring supplied, then the nut was tightened. It stated that belts should never be re-tensioned in the procedure. A friend of mine had an early Vauxhall Cavalier FWD. A stone went through the grille and the plastic cam box, went between cam drivewheel and belt changing the cam timing by two teeth. Needless to say, it did not run very well. Many serpentine belts have spring loaded tensioning pulleys that cannot be locked. They maintain tension and negate the effect of eccentric pulleys.

I am not sure if your engine is 'Non Interference' if the chain fails. I had an 1850 Dolly which did 180k with no chain change. Usually, you will hear clatter long before failure. PeteL beat me to this, so looks like the engine is 'Non Interference'. Engines with Timing belts have made you, and others, paraniod about cam chains. Belts do fail if too old or over used and many engines suffer bent valves, cracked pistons and far worse. I prefer chain driven camshafts. With regular oil changes, they go on for years and high miles.

Straightsix, If all is running ok, leave it as it is. Your Tacho cable may be better off if all was rotated 60 degrees ACW. That could be straight forward (or not).

25 years back at a Minor meet, I saw a Minor van with a Toyota MR2 engine and transmission in the rear. Held the back down better than the conventional set up. Others had Fiat Twin cam engines installed. We chose to keep ours as original looking as possible. BIL sold it in 2005 for over £5k. Apologies to all for the diversion. It is a shame that the Vitesse is so nose heavy, I do not like chuckng mine around anything like as much as the minor. Getting back on topic, my car only runs really well when fully warmed up. No good messing with anything until it has run for about 20 minutes. Best done in warmer weather too.

It is ages since I did riveting, but they used to be available from fastening companies. Is it really essential to removes the catches? If not, just mask the stainless parts. If essential, you will have to drill them out and find replacements. They are rivetting 'Dollies' that form straight rivets into that shape. Annoyingly, I had a box of roundhead screws with some that were not slotted across the heads. They would have made good rivets. (I chucked them).

Quite so. It was a split screen 1955 two door, originally 803cc. I made and fitted an adapter plate for B-I-L to the gearbox maintaining the 'Pudding stirrer' gearstick. It all looked as originally delivered, apart from a servo.

500 rpm is too low for proper oil pressure. My 2.5L idle at 750rpm. Do as Iain annd PeteL suggest. When setting the dizzy, disconnect and block the vacuum pipe, set the dizzy for maximum idle speed and back off just a tad. Reconnect the vacuum and try driving. This always works for me. New fuel requires a different setting from the 4 and 5 star that was around when these cars were new. It makes nonsense of static and running settings using a strobe. I use this method on all old cars and my b-i-l's Minor went like a rocket (well almost) doing 85 mph tops and returning 38mpg on a run after spending a week in my care. (Was that the right word?). It was slightly tuned 1098cc engine. (Disc brakes, ani roll bar and special dampers fitted).

The production Sunbeam Tigers ended up wit an almost vertical lamp cluster at the rear. There are many different front ends fitted to MG's, Triumphs and other sports cars of that era. Glass fibre was becoming very popular back then. Quite a few experiments going around.

The Shinewater here has Electricity Pylons on islands across it. 40 to 50 roost on the lines every night. There must be a load of food in the lake. We have Grebe too, a really wonderful bird. If birds had 'Out evolved' us, they would be masters of all. No need for any fuel other than food.

Ice that is floating will not make a great difference to sea levels when it melts. Ice that is on land will. Then, the temperature of the water will make it expand. The Earth's crust may flex outwards where it once held the weight of ice, and flex in where is has more water weighing it down. As per usual, the answer is never simple. Too much for my brain. If you live on the top of a hill, you are less likely to be flooded but more likely to be blown away or struck by lightning. Live on the side and beware of water running through instead of past. Definitely do not live in valleys unless you are a duck or a fish. I have been watching Cormorants of late. What a bird, it can swim underwater, dive and fly. Should have been called a Thunderbird.

Revived this thread due to Ciaran. I was expecting far worse this morning, but it ducked into the Channel after Cornwall to attack France and Jersey before returning to Kent. My sympathy for those who have suffered. I am keeping an eye on the local Lake which is 1.3 metres above normal (Was a metre below back in June). If it rises another 3 metres, will have to move into the Moho and escape. It has not done that yet, current record is 2.2 metres above normal. If only it would stop raining.

If you compare it with the red one that is jumping on Gary's postings, it has the same lower tail as the Sunbeam Alpine. Definitely a Rootes prototype or a 'Special' fitment to an Alpine.

Definitely take the valve off and clean it before doing anything else. Mine required high pressure off mains water to clear it after a boil up in washing soda. I them cleared the matrix without removal by connecting hoses to it, raising them above bonnet level and filling with hot washing soda solution. Gave it three goes using an old electric kettle with washing soda in it. Ran mains water through it gently afterwards. Replaced all without draining the whole system, and all works fine. The flap has lost its seals, so does not divert the air very well.

Maybe not in my lifetime, but 'Run flats' have come a long way since the first ones. (Excluding Denovo). There are some really 'Comfy' ones around now and this will improve with time. I have them on my main car and use aftermarket pressure sensors that monitor temperature as well as pressure. There are many suspension mods to our classics that could cope with these if regulations ever allow their fitment to our little cars.

Very sensible advice from Colin especially. Our club has many members now aging and their descendants show little interest in continuing with cars of this age. My B-I-Law has obtained a 2002 Cabrio (Non Triumph of course) and has loads of fun with a younger age group. Don't go for cars after 2005, the electrics become too dodgy to fix.

A good small set of Stilsons have always worked for me after a good soak with penetrating oil. In the 'Old' days, somebody I knew had a drill that cut anti clockwise. It heated up about half way down and spun the remains out. If it shears off flush, spot the centre with a centre punch and drill out using a 4mm drill to begin with and work up to the tapping size in stages. Take it easy as you do not want the drill to break off. Some stud extractors are brittle and break off, then you have a real problem. At least Colin has spares.

It must have rained somewhere because our lake has risen by a foot this morning. In Easbourne the last two days have bee sunny and warm with hardly a breath of wind. Looking at the isobar chart, we appear to remain in the eye of depressions down here. Unfortunately, what wind there was came from the SE, so my conservatory floor was soaked after a brief heavy shower. I leave it open for the dogs as Our normal prevailing wind is westerly. Door faced East. I really feel sorry for those of you suffering this one. October 1987, Jan 1990 and August 1956 were very scary down here. I'd rather not suffer another.

Had a discussion at a family gathering yesterday. The main concern of us all was how will the government cope wih the revenue lost from liquid fuels? Surely, they will have to recover it from elsewhere.

OK a little more calculation. A Nissan Leaf will do (maybe) 150 miles on a 40kwh battery, That is approximately 3 hrs at 50 mph using 13kw per hr. Currently, the cost of a kwh is about 33p, so a recharge costs between £12 and £15. This does look very attractive if one can afford to buy an EV. However, if one did 50 miles per day this would need an extra 13kwh per day and that is 13 units at 33p. Approx £4 extra per day. My current usage is about £4 per day, so my usage would double if I was working. Therefore, if umpteen million of us go electric, we will need far more power generated into the grid. About twice what we use now. THEN, they will hike the price up just as they did with liquid fuels AFTER most of us had a car. I have only ten more years of driving, judging by performance of my siblings with eyesight problems etc, so I will not be buying an EV unless I win the lottery and can afford a solar installation. My mini solar station that cost me £200 is keeping the mobility scooter, phones and Vitesse battery charged for free right now. That's the emergency transport taken care of. Just need about 200 times more panels.