Henry Boler

I think you might be on to something there Doug! That might explain its uselessness! Oh well, I've machined the recess away that would have taken that filter, I drilled out the centre hole and put a stainless thread insert into it as well so I can tighten up the new seal really hard! Hopefully it will work now. If this doesn't sort it I'm going electric! Oh and I realized what the solid state bit refers to now on the electric pumps! I thought is meant the whole thing but it's just the control circuit! I bought two replacement diaphragms for my pump as the little T shaped connection on the rod always wears through, I was stuck in Torquay about 3 years ago and had to weld it back up to get me home! It's a dodgy design, no bearings of any sort in there whatsoever... Pete the lever looks to be at a very different angle to my one... But that's just from looking at the picture! Maybe I could fit an electric backup pump just in case, so that I don't have to jam an old drinks bottle full of fuel on the carbs to get the car off the motorway next time!

That's something I might seriously look into doing. I've always wondered, how does a solid state pump work?? For the pump, I've just tried something different, on the pump body where the seal touches there is a sort of double flange for some reason, I just stuck it in a lathe and removed that, bought a big fat 60mm o ring and squeezed it into the lid and bolted it on, appears to work now!

Hi Pete, I actually meant the rubber seal that goes under the lid, just over 2" OD.

Hi All, I've always had problems with my mechanical fuel pump continually wearing through metal parts and leaking etc... I took it to bits again last night for a service after a near 1000 mile drive this weekend and I was wondering if I could look at another option which is replacing it... The main reason I don't like it is the stupid design seal on the cap that it has. There is no land on the pump body for the gasket to seal on so it either falls in the pump and fuel just pours out or it is just about working but weeps... This is what the pump I have looks like. Is it what should be on the car? This is another option with a different style top on it that Rimmers etc. sell as an alternative. Let me know your thoughts. Henry

Oh yeah, that is a bit yucky! Mine are lovely chrome and enamel painted badges, I think they look lovely! Had them on my old spitfire too!

Yeah, the weather is absolutely lovely today! Always gotta have an old Triumph in any nice view!! No, it is in fact the forum degrading the image quality! It's actually a union jack, so hopefully I'll be okay!!! I never had leyland badges on the car, am I supposed to?

I think that old stud was just worn out... No big deal, it's only a stud! You will be pleased to know that she made it the whole 250 miles to South Wales with absolutely no issues whatsoever! And what a view!!

Okay, so as per above, I have re-tourqued the cylinder head. Managed to strip one of the rocker studs at the same time!! All sorted now! Lets hope this all stays working! Thanks for all the wisdom everyone! Henry

Okay. So to be clear, how is best to do so? Pete, you say to back off half a turn first, I assume that is just to crack the nut incase it has jammed? Half a turn is enough to completely remove the nut from the head on my car by the way. Henry

Haha, I try my best!! What can I say! And another (Positive) Update: I decided to bite the bullet and drive her to London today. Got stuck in a massive 3 hour traffic jam on the M3 in the blazing sun, she got quite hot, which was mildly concerning, but as soon as I put my foot down, she cooled down immediately, which is great! On the way home, the roads were clear, I've literally just got back and I really bullied her all the way home. She didn't even think about heating up, not even a touch. Also I met a lovely green TR6 on the A34 near Didcot, had a brief cruise together, nice to see others out and about and one not afraid to put his foot down!!, a very rare thing these days I feel! I have one question regarding the head gasket change. What's the consensus on re-torqueing the cylinder head? I must have done 300 miles since I changed it now. Henry

Another (Positive) Update - Just drove home, no problems to report.

I never said it was sorted, just changed! It's not sorted to me until it's done some long hard runs with no problems... Today when I got to work there were some bubbles coming out of the overflow and the pipe was warm... It has now sucked water back in to the system from the overflow bottle. Not sure if that's anything to worry about yet or not... Also just took the radiator cap off and there was no sign of air in there. Put it back on and tried pumping all the hoses with no air sounds anywhere either, so perhaps just a genuine airlock this time. Henry

Okay, all done. Back on the road all shiny and clean inside, with a Payen gasket instead of the old type in now. Running fine so far...

Update... So I got to Tadley and back, but the engine was not happy. Struggled to start this morning and blew most the water out on the way... The engine sounded slightly rough at high load as well. So the cylinder head has just come off! Looks like there are blockages in the water ports where the head meets the block. More details when I have a proper look tomorrow! Got all but two of the studs out, they are very stubborn! Henry

And another update of today. Today started very strangely, car wouldn't start properly, which has never happened before, immediate thoughts were oh finally the head gasket has gone and a cylinder is full of water! Would you believe it, an O-Ring on the plug in the front carb float chamber had shrunk overnight??? So there was a petrol flood down the driveway, how this happened and why at the same time as the water problems I'll never know. Anyway, two o-rings later and shes running beautifully again! Loads of driving done today about 4 individual journeys including motorway. Got out before switching the engine off and checked the sight glass, then switched off and continued keeping an eye on it. There has been no signs of air in the pipe at all today! It actually looks like it's working perfectly now! The heating has been working fine also. I guess this was just a really stubborn air lock in the system... I'll keep you all posted as time goes on. I'm going to drive her to Tadley, the other side of Basingstoke tomorrow, that's a good 50 min journey mostly on the motorway so should be a good proving run. Then hopefully the weekend after I'll drive to London, then the week after that Wales! Night All.

To confirm, the other day, I used the drain taps to drain all the coolant into a container, It came out so clean you could have sold it as new! I really don't think I have anything in my cooling system that shouldn't be there.

Yeah I hope not too! If it's any consolation I have seen no such jelly stuff anywhere at all... It's been running the red stuff for about 5 years now too... Update Today: So I made three journeys today, from my parners house to work, then work to home, then home back to her house. The last one was down the motorway for about 6 miles at high speed, I have not topped up the system today or opened the rad cap. Changes to note, after each journey there was air in the overflow pipe, however the water level in the overflow bottle appears to have stabilized, there are no ferrocious bubbles coming from the overflow and also the overflow pipe / metal parts of the sight glass were cold. They have been too hot to touch in the past. There was also not coolant all over the bodywork from the overflow. Just to put a spanner in the works! I love old cars, they're so mysterious! Henry

I've just ordered a new head gasket. I will however take the car to a garage tomorrow and have the coolant sniffed just to see what it is!

It certainly looks like that's gonna have to happen. Mines a flat top block, no recessed bores. I never had any luck at all with my spitfires recessed bores and head gaskets! I just worry, I think I did about 20 head gaskets on my old spitfire... Never really worked! I reckon the GT6 could be done in a couple of hours no problem! I assume that was just a bad block... Had everything else done and fitted the head a different way everytime, 20 different ways!!

It's very annoying isn't it! Can't trust her on a long run now... Yeah, that is rather odd... Also I had a similar ish issue about 4 years ago with her which was solved by changing the water pump...

Just got home. Still got bubbles... New thing though, the rear most external head nut was bubbling from the thread!?

Where is it then??? I see, so is it a problem that I have pink stuff in mine? It was washed out very thoroughly before it went in. This stuff to be precise http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/engine-oils-fluids/antifreeze/halfords-oat-antifreeze-concentrate-2-litres... Okay, the overflow bottle does seem to fill itself up a lot, I keep siphoning water off it to keep the level down so it doesn't make such a mess every drive! The rad cap I bought this week from Rimmers had a very thin seal on the top so I changed it for a spare I had on another cap, that now seals fine. You can tell it works as every time the engine cools down as the sight glass fills with water. So if I could extend the radiator filler with a tube of some sort that is higher than everything else, I should be able to run the engine for ages with no air coming out? The rain has stopped here now!! Henry ​ ​

Haha, well ate least someone is!! That's good to know, rules out one other thought I had... It's been very useful to me in the past so I will always have one on every car I have!

This is the sightglass if you wondered. It's the shell of an old fuel filter...

To add to that, I just drowned myself in the rain to have a quick look. The sight glass has filled back up with water from the overflow bottle. I took the rad cap off and managed to get a thimble full of water in, that includes pumping the bottom hose to help move water around in the system. The overflow bottle is full right up to the neck with coolant. Just a thought, what would happen if there wasn't enough antifreeze to water in the system? Also is there a right and wrong antifreeze to use? My system runs @ 13psi...