Mike Lester

I've always used Penrite Damper Oil, it's quite light but seems to give a good effect. You get good resistance when pushing the dampers back into their pots.

My Mk1 had one fitted by the previous owner, who simply exchanged the push-pull lever on the dash face for an electrically operated push lever and fitted the corresponding electric pump in-line with the washer fluid output from the bottle. The pump was mounted to the firewall. Works just fine! Though the wipers are still a bit crap.

Might be worth asking Simon to look into it. I only suggest that because I use a lot of different forums and this seems to be the only one that doesn't sort by "recently replied to" by default. When a topic is replied to, it should jump to the top of the forum it belongs to. This is how every other forum I've ever used operates. I'm a prolific computer user and forum poster and it confused even me for a moment. I'm worried it may actually put people off posting if they post a topic only to seemingly have it "disappear".

Cheers Darren, that looks like an extremely valuable resource, I didn't know about that guy before. The only other thing I'm having trouble with is getting the Mk1 head to be oil tight on the pushrod tubes. On this engine they're removable and I had to get most of them replaced at great cost as they were crushed and generally in very bad condition. The problem is that they leak as if they weren't there at all, I understand this is oil squeezing through the gaps at the top and bottom when under pressure while the engine is running, and I have been told they can be sealed using an appropriate compound. But no one can tell me what the best thing to use to seal them is. Something that needs to withstand both oil penetration and the heat of a running engine, obviously.

Cheers guys, I'll favourite this thread and go through it once I have the engine all apart. I'll know more what to get once I have it apart and can see what it already has. I have no idea what the previous owners did to it, if anything. I highly suspect it's never been rebuilt and ragged everywhere.

After further research, I am definitely switching to a swing spring. Someone in the distant past has put the correct ratio differential for the overdrive on it, but it's a four stud differential. Then they refitted the fixed spring to it!! Yes, you heard me. Four stud fixed spring. Not six. I should find the previous owner and have a "quiet word" for making something so bloody dangerous. No wonder I couldn't get the correct clamping force on it.

Hi guys, I'm no stranger to rebuilding engines from the ground up, I've done several 105 series Alfa Nord blocks, but never a Triumph block. They look relatively simple. As it's a Mk1 block I'm not going crazy with the rebuild, no hot cams needed, it's just a road car and will never be raced. Main reason for rebuild is it leaks from literally every gasket and compression is very poor, piston rings are dying in slow but spectacular fashion. I did consider the TSSC engine rebuild service after speaking to Garth at the AGM but considering the high cost and the fact I can do this myself (I would just be being lazy if I opted for it) I have put this option aside. So I was going to just buy an off the shelf kit but I noticed all the ones for sale (Rimmers etc) are listed as "Mk1 Late > KC5000", but mine is an early engine with number KC4034F. Is there such a vast difference that the later kit won't fit? I only need a short block kit, not the full engine one, as the head already has unleaded inserts and has been de-coked recently so doesn't require attention, the valves are all lapped in and in perfectly good condition. I already know about the recessed and non-recessed block differences, but didn't know the later Mk1 blocks were any different to the earlier ones. Are they? The car itself is a bit of a mish-mash thanks to a previous owner. It has a later gearbox and overdrive, for example, likely off a much later model. Those will also be pulled for a rebuild as currently choosing a gear is like stirring pudding with bits of rocks in it.

I'm using cheap comma or halfords oil at the moment. ... mostly because it comes out as fast as I put it in . Engine is being rebuilt this winter.

I had a look at these today with the cars rear in the air, but could detect no play in any of the UJ's. I think I'll live with it for now and when I pull the engine for its rebuild I'll also pull the drive shafts and have a proper tinker on the work bench. Can only do so much from under a car.

Well, good news and bad news. Good news; there's nothing wrong with my ARB. The front is not at fault. Bad news; the rear is at fault and it looks like the leaf spring is to blame. I rebuild the spring at the same time I did the rest of the suspension, adding new nylon thrust buttons and being careful to keep all the leaves in the same orientation. Mounted it to the diff and bolted it down firmly. But it looks like one side is higher than the other (two bolts further down than the other two) where it mounts to the diff, making one side slightly higher. Bear in mind it only sits 1cm higher on one side, it's not a lot. Tried to tighten up the other side of the diff mounting bolts after taking load off the spring but all four are as tight as they'll go. Soooo... *helpless shrug*

Cheers guys, I'll have a look at the drive shafts as Pete suggested with them on the car in order to eliminate that as the cause. What's funny (or tragic depending on your view) is that I rebuilt the suspension front and back because it was rusty to the degree of it was a block of rust in the vague shape of a drive train, the car drove smoothly but would struggle over 50 MPH with a lot of wandering and weird noises, but was smooth. So rebuilt with new components and proper workmanship, I do a lot of work on classic cars so I'm no amateur but freely admit I'm still learning as I go, all the noises have gone away and it looks lovely and factory new. But vibrates to hell and back! Also used solid steering rack mounts but I think I'll go back to rubbers, because even though it feels more "planted" you end up getting vibrations through the wheel because of the lack of a rubber dampening effect.

Okay, I'll check if it's front or back first, then disconnect the ARB if it's the front and see if it helps. If it is a bent ARB at least there's a silver lining; it'll nudge me into getting a swing spring conversion with thicker ARB.

I noticed something the other day, my GT6 slouches to one side (drivers side). Suspension fully rebuilt and it has settled in the months since I did it, but is very slouchy. Now I did change the front anti roll bar drop links for new ones and now people are telling me the new rubber components are a bit crap and the preload is all wrong, causing cars to sometimes slouch to one side or the other. Would these help? http://www.wolfitt.com/wolfitt_products_1.htm#Anti%20roll%20bar%20drop%20links%20-%20rod%20end%20conversion It's more of an annoyance than an actual problem. It just makes the car look a bit weird when seen front on.

Probably. The prop was looked at by a professional prop balancing and manufacturing company in Newcastle, they do a bang up job and sorted the UJ's on that. The drive shafts.. I don't know how you'd test that in a garage environment without completely dismantling them again? Really don't want to do that if I can help it. The rear trunnions/hubs were refurbed with new bearings and properly greased so I know it's not those. The vibration is like you're driving over one of those concrete stretches of motorway, all the time.

Had a think about this today and I may tootle down to see Jigsaw anyway, because for the last few months I've been experiencing a steady vibration at speed (65+ MPH) which makes long motorways quite unpleasant. Had the prop shaft balanced and this helped a little but it remains a constant fixture and it dampens my spirits concerning journeys longer than twenty minutes. You do get a nice back massage from it though. They should have the know-how to look at the car and advise me on that too. I rebuilt the suspension myself and even though they are a very simple system I may have missed something. Probably something simple and stupid.

Solved it. They are there, but you have to click "START DATE" for them to be arranged correctly. This is not selected by default.

Always an option, Pete! I restore classic cars though mostly dealing in 60's/70's 105 series Alfa Romeos (adjustable everything, easier to set up), which there are a few garages for already in the North East. If I can train myself up to sort Triumphs correctly in regards to tracking and tuning I think I may have spied a business opportunity being that there is NOTHING here for Triumphs locally. Think I'll have a crack at it myself and see how I get on. Can always flee to jigsaw on a beavertail if I mess it up.

Hi, I didn't see a post about this so thought I should chime in. Surprised no one else has noticed? Or maybe they did? Either way, this is a bit difficult to explain. If I've just created a post in a forum, then go back to the forum directory, I can see the post on the right hand side in the "most recent" bit, but when I click on the forum it's not listed there. So I can only access it via the main directory on the "most recent" box. This happens for every forum, whichever post is at the top of the forum can only seemingly be accessed via the "most recent" box on the main forum directory, it does not appear on the actual forum until it is no longer at the top of that forum. Very odd!

Would love to use them as I'm fully aware of their reputation with Triumphs, I saw their work last time I went to the TSSC HQ Open Day and they had one of their cars there. Unfortunately they are a 3 hour drive away. They are on my option list but still looking for somewhere closer. The North East seems to be a bit of a wasteland in terms of Triumph specialists. I think I do have the unladen specification in my manual, Pete. But I also have some construction blocks that can be chipped down to the correct weight so it's not too much of a problem.

Hi guys, I'm having a devil of a time finding anywhere in the North East that will do the tracking on my Mk1 GT6. I could have a crack myself but I fear messing it up. Currently running without any shims at all after a full suspension rebuild and feels like it wants to throw me in a hedge, so want to get this done sooner rather than later. Most of the places that offer laser tracking run a mile when I mention shims, or look at me with a blank stare. Also need to source a decent place for tuning for the future so a Triumph specialist would be ideal. Don't mind travelling outside the NE if it means a good job is done.

Last reply was months ago but hey ho better late than never. My GT6 Mk1 still awaiting hubcaps on its new 5.5j Mk1 steels.