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Steve C

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Everything posted by Steve C

  1. Steve C

    Multimeter Died

    Personally I use one of these: https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-mas830b-digital-multimeter-600v/75337 You can spend an arm and a leg on fancy meters, but for a good value basic unit, these are hard to beat. Regards Steve C
  2. Steve C

    Herald Manual

    Does anyone out there have a spare black loose-leaf official Standard Triumph Herald workshop manual, in usable condition, free or cheap for a 15 year old in our local multi-marque club starting his first restoration project? Regards Steve-C
  3. Just a word of caution. I would always favour NOS parts over modern repro, but I have had a "sealed for life" QH top ball joint fail in under 1000 miles. I think what had happened was that the grease wthin it had broken down or dried out after years sitting in the box. "Sealed for life" simply did not anticipate madmen like us unwrapping this stuff and fitting it half a century after it was made! With NOS UJs at least you an ease the bearing cups off and re-pack with fresh grease before you use them. Regards Steve
  4. I flushed mine out a couple of years ago after a heater valve became clogged with yellow crud. I ca't, sadly, remember the name of the product, but it came from our local motor factors, and was the sort you put in and then run the engine until it gets good and hot. What I was amazed by is how much black, flaky crud came out of the bottom hose when I drained it. This was on a rebuilt engine with only a few hundred miles on it! Worth doing then... Regards Steve
  5. Has anyone ever changed the output shaft oil seal in a J type overdrive in situ? Or is it a gearbox out job? All advice appreciated. Regards Steve
  6. And then you will have the joy of lining the damn things up correctly!
  7. I run Vitesse front brakes and master cylinder on my 1500 Herald, with type 16P calipers, S/S braided hoses, silicone fluid and EBC Green Stuff pads, but no servo. Although I am not having to arrest the forward momentum of the huge iron boat anchor that is the Vitesse engine, I have no problems stopping, and can lock the wheels in extremis if needed. You do have to adjust when stepping into a classic after driving a modern with servo, but once you remember that the servo is now your right leg muscles, it is no problem.That is what cars were like then - if nothing happened, you pushed harder! I have heard many naysayers about silicone fluid and EBC pads, but in 7 years of use, I remain happy with both. Regards Steve C.
  8. I have a length of brake pipe with two male ends on it. And yes, the "stuck" cylinder is empty. Works for me! Regards Steve
  9. I can't help feeling that the dynamics of the club scene are changing, away from the traditional model of a group of marque enthusiasts, who elect officers and committees and set up a club, often with premises and staff, to something far more fluid. There are now a couple of generations out there who have grown up in a wired society, where nearly everyone runs their lives with mobiles and social media, and we are seeing this in the club scene, with a growing number of "virtual" clubs, where loose coalitions of car enthusiasts meet up at a location announced on social media, without any officers, subs, or the traditional trappings of a club. On one level, I welcome it, as you cannot stop social change, and it was inevitable that the new media would influence the classic car scene, especially the youngsters who favour the newer vehicles relvant to their experience. I don't miss either the petty politics and prima donna behaviour that clubs sometimes experience. On a more practical level though, it does raise issues around things like public liability and legal resiliance if one of these groups was ever to be sued for something and did not have insurance or limited liability. Regards Steve
  10. Interesting thought, but not necessarily true - veteran cars now have huge values, even if some of them were (misbegotten horrors when new), because they are eligible for the London to Brighton run. Until very recently, our cars have never been that valuable, except for Mk2 Vitesse Convertibles, because the classic car press spent years telling people that was the one to buy. A Mk 2 saloon with a sunroof is a much quiter, more usuable car, yet it was always the bridesmaid to the convertible. The 1600 Vitesses have their own virtues, yet were tagged, like Heralds, by the classic car "experts" with the idea that the rear suspension spent its days conspiring to kill you. Thwe Bonds have never been worth serious money, probably due to the restoration costs involved in cutting away GRP to repair the rust and then having to re-make it and re-bond it all, yet they are now rare. At some point the current classic car market is due a massive correction, in which those who have staked silly money on cars as "investments" driving up prices may well get their fingers burned. Once interest rates rise, watch out...and then it will be an enthusiasts market for a while, not a speculators' who would not know a Daf from a Swallow Dorretti! Regards Steve
  11. As an alternative to the greasgun method, I have an old plastic 0625 M/C I connect to the one I am working on, then fill it with fluid and shove the actuator in manually on the bench. It usually frees off the piston. Put plenty of old newspapaer down on the bench and wear PPE. If the piston is not actually seized from standing for years, it is usually a ring of grease and muck at the limit of the piston's travel that is holding them in. Regards Steve
  12. That switch on the gearknob may have looked neat, but it was the invention of Beelzebub, and almost designed to short out and cut through wires. A column stalk, or (as in my own car) a longer switch under the dash close to the steering wheel, gets rid of a lot of potential issues, and you can then have a nice TSSC gear lever knob (insert plug here for our excellent club shop) as well. As previous correspondents have said, check oil level first, and then electricals. If it was slow to slur in and out, and then stopped working, oil level would be my bet. You need to appreciate that the Laycock unit itself is actually a really quailty peice of engineering, made to far higher standards than the gearbox itself, so engineering issues with it are rare if it has been looked after and the filters have been kept clean. Most gremlins are down to things like feed wires chafeing through or getting burnt on exhausts etc. Neat wiring will fix those. Regards Steve Regards Steve
  13. I have thought of doing this myself, because the keyhole washers and bolts routine is such a faff, and I don't bend as well as I used to. Mine is a fibreglass tunnel, and I thought about using one of those big plastic bungs you get in those cardboard tubes containing pictures, or plugging sill cavities and the like on moderns. Trouble is I also have an early Spit footrest bolted to the tunnel for my ex-clutch left foot, and I don't want to lose that as it is really handy. Regards Steve
  14. I have to disagree Andrew. I have re-rubbered lots of cylinders over the years, without problems. As long as the bore is clean and without any scoring it is a lot cheaper than a new cylinder (and Rayhills was new to him). I would also rather re-rubber a Girling original part than use something repro from the far east which is probably out of spec and made down to a price. regards Steve
  15. "Suspect everything between the bumpers. Then include the bumpers" Nice one Colin, that made me laugh out loud - and so very true! If it is metal, it rusts. Remember that they are now between 50 and 60 years old, and had a design life of probably ten years. No-one anticipated that a bunch of lunatics like us would still be driving them in the 21st Century. Regards Steve
  16. Hi Shaun If you have a knackered header rail, windows that won't wind up with the hood up, and a shrunken hood thatno longer fits,then you will be in for a lot of work to replace the header, re-adjust and reposition the frame and seals and, fit a new hood. The more forgiving "squidgy" seals on your Honybourne hard top will probably fit a lot better, and you will be more watertight if the heavens open, as they are wont to do whenever you drive a convertible in Britain. Convertibles are very pretty, and great on the few days a year we get when good weather conincides with taking them out. The rest of the time they are a pain in the backside (and I own one..) In our climate, a saloon with a sunroof is a lot more practical! Regards Steve
  17. Hi Pat Aluminium can be re-polished, and there are metal finishers around who can do this, and remove shallow scratches by polishing them out. The process involves a sisal machine mop wheel and some polishing compound. If you fancy trying it yourself, Machine Mart do a kit here: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/categories/?search=polishing+kit What you cannot do is polish out deeper scratches, gouges or dents. Alternatively, Bob Rowland at Triumph Valuations is currently trialling having Vitesse aluminium bumpers recast, and you can contact him either by a PM to his Facebook page, or via his website: http://triumphvaluations.weebly.com/product.html Don't be put off by the odd typo on his website, Bob is a straight bloke who has put a lot of time and effort into getting obsolete castings re-made for us, and deserves all our support. My Herald is pictured on his website with the headlamp rings he commissioned. At present I think he is looking for expressions of interest for the Vitesse bumpers. They will not be quick, or cheap, but as Henry Royce said, the quality remains long after the price is forgotten. Good luck Steve C
  18. They do say the Lord loves a tryer! Eight pages in, and you are still at it! In case it all gets too much, you know there are these newfangled gizmos you can get, called "carburettors". These are kind of a bog cistern hanging on the side of an air chamber,into which we pump petrol.From the bottom of the bog cisterns we have a bit of tubing leading to the chamber called a "jet". The bodies of these chambers have a "floating piston" inside, damped by a soft spring, and the piston goes up and down all by itself. The clever bit is that as it does, it shoves a "needle" in and out of the "jet tube" where the petrol comes in, releasing more or less petrol, as required by the volume of air rushing through, which is itself regulated by a flap, controlled by a cable linked to your right boot. It's so simple it might just catch on, and requires no electrickery whatever! Simples... Good luck Steve C
  19. The Chairman of our local multi-marque club used waterless coolant in his Stag, at considerable outlay. It still overheated, damaged its heads, and is now known to members as "the kettle". We have all told him to fit a Rover V8 and forget about having two Dolomite engines sellotaped together. As my Herald has had water and glycol in it since 1965, I think I will stick with what I know works... Regards Steve C
  20. Adrian They can prove to be a bit of a puzzle! The only spring required is the long one behind the push button. Tension on the assembly comes from the handbrake cable itself. If it is not ratcheting up correctly it can be because the pivot has become sloppy, and this will be obvious if the handbrake lever can be moved from side to side. The pivot should be a shouldered steel pin and some washers, held together by a circlip in a groove. If any bits are missing, or if the bracket has spread for some reason, that will be the cause of the ratchet problem. A good fix for pivot issues is to replace the pin with an appropriate sized bolt, washers and a nyloc jam nut. I did this after becoming sick of the circlip pinging off. The whole assembly now feels a lot more secure. Good luck Steve C
  21. Ah, but having the memsahib actively involved gives her a stake in the whole business, which means an easier task for me the next time I have to negotiate for funds when the damn thing has thrown its toys out of the pram and requires urgent expenditure at Rimmers or Canleys! Steve C
  22. Jam jar, plastic tube, wife on the pedals, and "down" and "back" bellowed from below work for me. Like Colin, my Easibleed blasted fluid all over the bulkhead (fortunately DOT 5 Silicone variety) and did not come with a cap to fit a Vitesse master cylinder. It has sat on a shelf ever since. The older I get, the more I believe that the simplest solution to an engineering question is often the right one. (As in bog-basic SU carbs over EFI for example!) Steve C
  23. Always thought myself that a small engine + auto box = gutless, and I am an auto fan, but preferably with at least two litres in front of it. Auto Minis and the like were for grannies. Standrive was a developmental blind alley, and anyone with one today is going to struggle for parts, as they were never popular in period. Speaking of developmental blind alleys, what about the Commer TS3 "knocker". Now that was an interesting bit of kit, and what a racket! Regards Steve
  24. Steve C

    Car SOS

    Quite like the old WDs myself, although the recent Ford Bronco one stretched credibility to the max (By my count, all that was left of the original was the engine!) At least China does know his stuff, and you are spared the endless faux deadlines you see in the American-made shows, which seem to serve as a retirement gig for out-of-work heavy metal guitar players. The other thing with them is that for their domestic classics, the parts industry over there is so comprehensive they seem to be able to buy anything off the shelf. Car SOS would be great if only we had 100% of Fuzz and they binned Tim Shaw, whose shtick gets under my fingernails. He is as funny as a virus. I met Fuzz recently when he came to speak to my local club, and he is a really nice bloke who knows his stuff inside out. The show also falls victim to the "let's add a deadline and make it exciting" syndrome, but that is probably the Director's doing. All matter of opinion I guess, but at least we now have TV for classic car fans. Years ago the best you got was the odd item on (old) Top Gear when Count Quentula was on it, before he went on to that awful show with the wooden supermodel. Steve C
  25. Thanks for that. The ones I have are 7 x 1.25, so clearly for a Standard 8 or 10, not a Herald. Regards Steve
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