Steve C

You will be amazed what a new matrix will do for the heater output - mine is toasty! Steve C

Worth mentioning for the newbies also that once Nylocs have been on and off a couple of times they should really be renewed, and always chuck any that have the nylon ring insert coming away. Know what you mean about torque settings Pete. Experience teaches you when something is nipped up tight enough. Of interest, Alf Francis, Stirling Moss's number one mechanic, even did up cylinder head bolts without a torque wrench. He recounts in his book that he had a spanner cut to the required length which he knew when given the required amount of heft would set them just right. Steve C

Can you get E Flat on it?

My car also "dries out" in storage over winter, and I used to flatten the battery trying to get fuel back up to the carbs. Modern high-ethyl level unleaded is incredibly volatile. You only have to see how fast it vanishes if you spill a bit filling the lawnmower! My preferred method is an electric pump on a board, which sits on the front top wishbone, with a couple of croc clips to connect it to the battery and two lengths of rubber fuel pipe, one ending in a short piece of copper fuel tube. I split the fuel line on the outboard side of the mechanical pump, and connect in the electric pump and draw the (fresh) fuel through. I use the same rig to empty the tank before I put the car away in Autumn, putting old fuel in the modern, and always put in fresh Shell V-power for the spring start-up). It then takes only a few cranks to fire her up with a bit of choke, and it's off to the petrol station for a few gallons more of V-Power for the first events of the season. I suppose the real answer it to use the car more, but it is a bit chilly in winter for my old bones in a convertible. As to electric pumps, to each their own, but for me, been there, got that T shirt, and more hassle than it was worth. Regards Steve C

John, it looks superb, and it has been a pleasure to follow the project. Well done! Which shows will you be at this summer? I am not at Santa Pod, but I would love to see it in the metal. Best wishes Steve C

Worth mentioning also that there is quite a range of adjustment on the mountings, with slots in the brackets and in the front chassis tube. A good clean up of all the fixings and brackets and a sousing in waxoyl on reassembly helps. If the bolts on the over riders are rusted solid, it can be a pig of a job to get them out, and I have known cases where they have had to be sacrificed to the angle grinder and replaced. When you do refit the valance, stand back and look at the curve of the wheel arch, and aim to have the valance continuing it. Regards Steve C

Hi Rob, and welcome to the forum. If you click on "bodywork and fittings" and scroll down a bit you will find lots of stuff on alternative seats for your Vit convertible. Both Mazda MX5 and MGF seats are popular choices, each with its own fans, and are a big improvement on the originals if you are not worried about originality. Regards Steve C

Hi Rich There is an excellent time-lapse here of a complete rebuild, done by Peter Dunne. See also other videos posted by jademuttley on YouTube for individual jobs. Peter is one of the most meticulous and skilled guys out there, so if you follow his methods, you won't go far wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fzj-dW5ALU John - know what you mean about the bonnets - I had one and sold it on to a guy from London who collected it in a van full of veg at 11pm on a Saturday night! Floppy and horrible, but their valances, sills and boot lids are OK if you want to shed weight and are prepared to do some fettling and modifying to fit. This really needs to be taken as a given with GRP panels in general. Regards Steve

I favour the footwell method too, and made my own panels from hardboard covered in black carpet, secured with screws and brass cup washers. They look a lot better than the millboard. In the end I did not need to put the speakers there after all, because my MX5 seats have them in the headrests, which is handy on a convertible. Maplin online are a good source of speakers. Regards Steve C

Also worth adding that any "sealed for life" type joint sold as NOS or that has been in long-term storage may have dried out, and will fail quickly. I have just changed mine for the greasable type from Canley's, having had this happen with two brand new QH joints put on in 1990 when I started the rebuild, which managed less than 2000 miles. Sealed for life is not a lifespan without limit! Regards Steve C

Sad to relate Pete, that project seems to have folded for lack of takers. I am on Bob's list for a pair, but have not heard anything from him for some time. Regards Steve

HI Simon If you are prepared to do most of the work yourself, and learn the required skills as you go, a Herald 1200 is an excellent starter classic, with easy mechanicals, excellent parts availability. They are a poor liar in terms of hiding rot. Just inspect the chassis carefully, particularly the outriggers, the main rails around and under the diff and the body mounting points. On the body itself, full rear wings are NLA, although repair panels are available, and those headlamp rings which give it such a pretty "face" compared with a 13/60 are no longer available, so if they are pock-marked, you are stuck with it. The main areas to watch for up top are the screen pillars, which if they have holed, allow water into the A-post, where it can rot everything out. If you find a car with really good panel fit and gaps, particularly the doors, direct your eyes to heaven and give thanks - it is rare to find this on cars outside the concours arena. On the road, they are surprisingly capable, as long as you don't intend staying on motorways all day. The drum brakes can be adjusted to work reasonably well, but if the car has the optional discs, so much the better. The controls are light, and visibility all round is good, which is why BSM used them as driving school cars back in the day. If you don't expect it to drive like a modern hatchback, and recalibrate your expectations back to the 60s, you can relax and enjoy it for what it is. It is eminently possible, if a car has a sound chassis, to repair any rot as a rolling restoration, doing it as you can afford to, and as your skills improve. I would recommend asking someone who knows the cars to go with you to view a potential purchase if you can. I am sure the local TSSC area will help . Where it is possible to come unstuck in this hobby, and I have seen it happen, is to buy a car without the necessary skills, or the inclination to learn them, expecting to farm all the work out to others. Unless you have very deep pockets, at today's; labour rates this can get very expensive. It is a fact of life with classic cars that something always needs doing, (even stuff you have done once already). Back in the sixties, cars were not the sealed-for-life, ultra-reliable vehicles we now take for granted - they spent regular time in the garage, and needed constant fettling. Modifications can also make these cars easier to live with in modern traffic, and the sky is the limit. 1500 engines, overdrive gearboxes, later seats, inertia reel seatbelts have all been done, and well-documented in the Courier and elsewhere. I hope you find yourself a decent car, and have a lot of fun with it. There are some great people in this club, who will always advise you on here, with a lot of experience of long-term ownership. Good luck! Steve C

And then check the valve clearances! Steve C

Repro pumps, IMHO, are poor substitutes for the originals, and I would not be remotely surprised to find that they are well out of spec. If you can source a decent S/H pump from a breaker I would go that route every time. As to electric pumps, I know the go-faster boys like them, but they add a whole layer of complication with regulators, power feeds, inertia switches etc. every one of which becomes and additional thing to go wrong. To each their own, but I don't rate them. Regards Steve

Hi Kevin Have you tried this lot? http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/brake-master-cylinders-reservoirs Regards Steve C

You can rescue the original soundproofing simply by binning the old (usually torn / damaged) polythene and re-wrapping it in some new polythene sheet, which is sold by garden centres for peanuts, and is on every farm and market garden. I used an ordinary stapler to seal the edges. Rather than glue, which has a habit of drying out, I used twist ties, through 1/16 holes drilled in the cover, to fix it at key points. This has held up well on my Herald for five years now, and cost me almost nothing. Regards Steve C

If the seller is admitting clearance issues with both the exhaust and the prop shaft I would be rather suspicious. The issue with converting any small-chassis Triumph to auto has always been the narrow space between the main rails, The auto Vitesse that is still within the club has a substantially-modified chassis with "stepped" main rails to accommodate the auto box from (If I remember correctly) a 2000 saloon. While it would be possible to source a compact auto box from something modern, and either adapt the box to a Herald block or fit the whole drivetrain from the donor, it is a lot of work to end up with a car that would have a power-sapping auto, on an engine that was never that powerful to start with, or if fully converted, a car which would be substantially non-Triumph. I actually like autos, but only on big engines over 2 litres with the grunt to cope. Steve C

That sounds very much like stale petrol to me. If it is trying to fire on carb cleaner it clearly wants to go, but the fuel it is getting has lost most of its volatile component from evaporation. As Andrew suggests, the other possible cause is that it is not getting from the float chamber into the carb venturi and into the cylinders, but I would expect to see some over-fuelling at the carbs and leakage if the pump was fighting a blocked needle valve or similar? Keep plugging away at it methodically, you will get there! Steve C

Blimey John, that looks tasty! Allez le Bleus!

Hi Rich You can get a suprising number of GRP panels if you are not too concerned about originality, try Honeybourne Mouldings, who are still going. On the plus side they are easier for the home mechanic to prepare, repair, and modify, and they shed weight. On the negative side, they always require some fettling to fit, crack if stressed, and never seem to fit quite as well as steel. You have quite a project there, but I have seen worse. The key is organisation and method, and then doing little and often. Get all the stuff you don't need yet boxed, bagged and labelled, and into dry storage, then try to accomplish something each day, and run a job list. Butt weld everything for a neat job, use original quality steel to make repair panels, get some decent zinc-heavy primer on and then the rust won't come back. Making friends with a good sandblaster will also save you hours of work. Keep posting the pics, and good luck with your project Regards Steve C

Hi Adrian As stated above, and as an addendum, you will know if the bearing is correctly seated, as the sound will change once it hits the ridge as you tap it home. Remember also to liberally grease the bearings themselves, and the grease cap, but it is not necessary to fill the void in the hub with grease - it does not achieve anything. Regards Steve C

GT4A nails if for me, and if people don't understand it, they can pass an educational hour or two improving their minds with a good marque history. It would be even stranger to call it a six when it plainly is not. It is what it is, a fantastic one-off, which is neither a racing ADU Spit, nor a GT6. (And I still like A for alligretta!) Best wishes Steve

Hi Andrew I think what you are referring to is the extruded aluminium panel with angled ends which was I think, an official dealer accessory. They are now quite rare, but do come up on flea bay from time to time. If you go on newoldcars.co.uk and look at the pictures at 1205 of a Herald 1200 fitted with one, you can see what I am on about. Regards Steve C

I have just received my April-May copy of Triumph World, and ye Gods, they have "redesigned" it, and not for the better. The pages are now a kind of matt finish recycled Izal bog paper, and the colour images look like poor colour photocopies, with no depth or definition. Frankly, it is awful, and I will be telling them so. I doubt I will be renewing my subs. What do any other subscribers out there think? Yours, feeling cheated Steve C

Hence the "if" in my post above, and I am as sceptical as you are, particularly about feeding all the suspension loads into an offset coil-over, located on what was intended to be a shock absorber mount! Given the big racing scene in the US, and people like Kas Kasner's (proven) expertise with these cars, if there was an easy fix for the "widowmaker" rear end, someone would have found it long ago and proved it on the racetrack. As a long-time fan of American cars and the hot-rodding scene over there, I know that there are some excellent engineers scratch-building some amazing cars, but equally, there are also some backwoods bodgers doing horrible things like sticking Chevy smallblocks into E-types. This was the nation that thought drum brakes were a good idea on muscle cars with 427 big block (or larger) motors. Regards Steve