Peter Truman

I know my Mk2 V is all original owning the car for 52 of its 54 years, the spring extension rod item 26 has a kink in it with hooks at both ends, it goes between the starter and engine block and the bottom hook anchors on the sump lip, it clears all the starter electrical connections even the retro fitted Hi Torq starter, but it can be a bug*er to clip over & fit over the sump lip. Photo can be supplied later today, I'll even unclip the extension rod 26 to show the Z kink/bends at its top, which I assumed were to be able to adjust the spring tension more pronounced.

The daughters Mk2 Spitfire originally had a wood dash, but she wanted original black the compromise was real black carbon fibre, bear in mind she's an Aero Scape Eng & lightness with strength is important? Note the radio blanking plate with extra worry gauges is also carbon fibre. 20 years and counting I must fit the heater push/pull knob!! Interestingly cutting out the carbon fibre dash killed the cheap jig saw blades totally removing any teeth in around 2in of cut length, but tank cutters for the 2in gauges lasted ok

I do use engine oil, but as I service the car with Penrite 20/60 that's the weight I use, in the past I've used 3 in 1 & hadn't really noticed any great difference, but it empties faster and becomes expensive with 3 cars, I brought the special SU Dashpot oil and it felt quite a light oil (perception only) felt more like a 3 in 1 than engine oil rubbing thro the fingers, any way it's too hard to obtain and expensive so nowadays engine oil it is! No mention of auto trans oil, tried that too, seemed ok but just messy! So engine oil it is!! why 20/60 well check your oil after a run on a 40+C day and normal engine oil runs off the dip stick like as Pete says "cat's p=e!"

I was in charge of Water Supply Ops my equalivent in sewerage was a chap whose surname was “Crapper” ! Like going back in history Smith denoted Smithy

Happened to a friends Sag on a club tour on a run down the snow fields got worse quickly couldn’t make the night stop. Remembered an old fix asked the ladies who had some nail varnish & painted the inside of the cap with it fixed the problem and it was still going a year later but he by then carried a spare!

Paul what was the film the video was taken from please if you know

nice bit of architecture/ query what's an ITB, the crane was built to last! The daughters Mk2 runs OK up to around 43C with no overheating using an elect fan which is necessary in traffic, BUT the cabin is definately not a place to be!

Are these convex to improve area of vision, if so can you advise your source pls., as I need to do something with the daughters Spit.

Pete you missed the "OH"

being nationalistic for the gearbox and diff I use made in Aus Penrite Manual Gear 80 Oil which is a 80/85 GL4, somewhere in the speel it referred to being yellow metal compatible. Locally here the Penrite owners are opening a small museum of their historic cars for classic car clubs to visit, must arrange a visit?

Yes but Colin I needed 3 tappings/outlets one each, for the manifold hose, temp sender and one for the elect fan cut in switch, hence the use of the rarer thermostat cover!

It amazes me with modern cars that the drivers sit dead on 100kph not knowing that the speedo's read 5 tp 10% high, I frequently go to the daughters 30klm away down the Mornington Peninsula the run is virtually Freeway door to door, I set the cruise at 104kph to be within tolerance and very few cars pass me! Last night I had to make the run twice between 11PM and 4AM as the young grandson had a haemorage after having his Tonsils out last week, an Ambulance job and we had to look after the other grandson & clean up the carpets! best time I did the run was 20min door to door. Re speedo indicated speeds the Dolly Sprint at 95 is consistent with the modern at 100kph, probably a tyre size issue it runs 175/70/13, which are the handbook recommended size, they are Michelin as there freebees!

I drilled mine out and tapped it, but can't remember if 3/8 NPT (18TPI), or 3/8 BSP (19TPI), to fit the sender thread, but not metric but be careful as there is NOT a lot of meat there and if out of alignment it'll be easy to cut into the bolt hole! When ever I have the opportunity to obtain the special thermo cover in reasonable condition I do just in case I want to do a later mod, so I have a couple in case an alternative thread is reqd as there's definately no room to fit a thread changing bush..

Small hole in T adapter acts as a snubber damping any surging in the instrument.

Similary my 68 Mk2 Vitesse with Strombergs has UNF but the Dolly Sprint with SU’s are UNC (we’re now heli-coiled UNF)

The daughters 66 Mk2 has the temp gauge fitted into the water pump/thermostat housing as standard, but I fitted the electric fan auto switch into the thermostat cover by using the rare cover with a thicker area and tapping thro that. My argument was that the fan won't switch on until after the thermostat is fully open anyway, so being above the thermostat wasn't an issue.

Thanks for the explanation and enlightenment much appreciated

Thanks for the feedback, I was also interested to know if using the shorter 3 rail distance piece affected the clearance of the reverse idler to the main shaft gears when reverse wasn’t selected ie no gear meshing of the idler and main shaft gears. No need to specially remove the box top but next time you work on the box if you could check the distance piece fitted! thanks

I understand & accept your explanation, but why are the modern PI air inlet/air flow pipework so large in dia by comparison? most of my moderns by design have the inlet at the front to get cold air

My recent Dolly Sprint HS6 had this issue after rebending the jet linkage the pipes had to be shortened to get a smooth carb action.

I recently replaced the Vitesse's original sender with a locally supplied Tridon unit listed as a GTR108 replacement, absolutely useless as it only just gets off zero rather than the originals 1/2 range. Usual aftermarket rubbish!

the small size of the two flexible inlet pipes from the front of the car to the air filter box always seemed Mickey Mouse to me such that in reality there wasn't any ram effect cold air yes. Modern cars with the air inlet pipework are significantly bigger. I always remember how well my car ran on a dark cold foggy night driving across the York Moors home in the mid 60's.

Scrapman during the 3 rail conversions did you use the 3 rail reverse distance piece (137687) or single rail reverse distance piece (22G1435). I used the single rail 22G1435 and had to do serious surgery on the reverse Operating Lever 106254, cutting it belting it forward and weld it up shifting the top locating pin for the gear selectors in the lever more than 1/4in in forward! I've never been happy with this mod and would love to know what others have done in fitting the single rail internals innto a 3 rail gearbox case, I did use a GT6 four syncro gearbox case! Hoping you can remember which reverse distance piece you used in the conversions and what if any alteration you had to make to the reverse operating lever.

Akubra please, pure fur felt whatever that is? Definately NBG when driving a open top, tend to use baseball caps had enough freebee's so losing one doesn't matter except my TSSC Vitesse one, which is only used in the Sprint!

Here's my DIY Vitesse Heater Bleed Valve, a 1/2in Yorkshire Tee with soldered in spigot pipes/bend and a brass threaded insert in the offtake with brass bolt inserted just loosen to bleed system and its higher than any other fitting. Idea sourced from a Renault R8 Gordini I had in Montreal in 67, whilst building a BP oil refinery there!