Peter Truman

Assuming the front engine plate that also includes the engine mounting bracket are the same on the Spit and Herald engines then using the lower Spit turrents the sump should surely clear the rack (I hope). Colin with the Spit the rad was already at it's lowest position and still is, the Herald having greater bonnet clearance could possibly be set lower on the set of 3 mounting holes. On the Spit changing just the O/S turrent lowered the engine by about 3/8 to 1/2in. When I can get down to the daughters (30klm away) in this "Worlds Most Locked Down City" I'll check the turrent engine mount dimensions compared to the Vitesse. I'm pretty sure the Spit still has the wrong (ie Herald/Vitesse) N/S turrent as I couldn't get a replacement locally then I'd have to get it sandblasted and powder coated red, and with the O/S replacement it alleviated the problem.

I had the opposite with my daughters Spitfire a previous rebuild when a replacement chassis was fitted the Herald/Vitesse turrent had been fitted on the O/S causing the engine to sit high whilst it cleared the bonnet the top rad hose which is short wouldn’t fit far too distorted. I didn’t know at the time re the different turrents and it was only when sat looking at the turrent and comparing it with my Vitesse which had the same turrent did the Eureka moment happen, I Sourced a new turrent and it dropped the engine enough for the hose to realign, but I think the N/S turrent is wrong but that’s a bridge to far! I did have the dimensions of the respective turrent top wishbone pivot bolt to engine mounting bolts and I think the N/S is different to the O/S on the spit range.

I recently borrowed a hydraulic one esp for battery cables very impressed, at $50 locally I might invest

Doug how about being a little Nationalistic, with a local tight top, hope its not too smutty! There's a reason why I have this pic (kept in Triumph TR Sabrina file), here in Aus early 62 I think, as a 15/16 year old I had lunch sitting opposite her at a very popular regional restaurant here, family was entertaining some UK business visitors when the owner asked if she plus mgr could join our table as restaurant was full! Mum always said I was off my food that day!

Wonder if I'll get picked up here in Aus with my GB sticker on the boot of the Vitesse, I made the GB up using the black plastic number plate letters from it's original English Reg PDNxxxG, the B made up from the P & D.

Brought a set of Metrinch spanners for my son when we brought him his first car at 17, now 45, as I thought they'd fit both my old imperial and the then modern metric bolts, I don't think he has any of that set left!!! I still have the complete set of TW Super Slim imperial open enders I brought in 63, plus a full set of original Japanese sockets with original ratchet I brought at the same time (cheapies in those days), daughter has them now in the Spits boot, only damage from 50plus years of hard service (6 Triumphs, 3 Jags) was when son broke one socket trying to undo a jag's wheel nut with a 2mt breaker bar on it! Don't you hate Tyre Fitters with Ratchet Guns!!! I exclusively buy and buy and use Kingchrome nowadays, never fail me and a good range, at a reasonable price.

I've had the jiggler for years I've had to replace the plastic hose but the jiggler just keeps going, but honestly how frequent will you have use it so that E10 or GL5 will have any impact on the copper/brass content, I think you'd have to leave it submerged for a long period for it to deteroirate, .

try sitting in a hot sun 35Cplus traffic jam with a Vitesse with an engine driven fan and trying to keep its temp down, you have to keep to throttle at around 1800rpm to do any good. The situation is made worse as the mech fan is mounted on the crank the slowest moving part, at least the Spit & Herald have the fan mounted on the water pump pully which rotates faster ie smaller pully, I think from memory nearly 50% faster! Only one positive the Triumph engines are all cast iron and a lot more forgiving to overheating without blowing baskets. If only the Vitesse had another inch radiator clearance to the engine fitting an electric fan would be soo much easier, Iain has done a great job with his Vitesse, many mods required. I keep looking at the elect fan and electric water pump to get the space reqd.

As water Ops Mgr for Melb Water I spent a lot of time driving thro the catchments around 150,000 hectares which are closed to the public so I’ve hit a few Roos, wombats, emu’s, wild pigs, and other native animals but never a koala. The one that always worried me were snakes you run over them but when you stop there gone WHERE! Are they underneath, on the suspension or in the engine bay where? If I went back to HO I’d tell the garage crew to watch out, they’d then shift my car upstairs and park it next to the Chairman’s car, he wasn’t liked! I taught my daughter to drive in those catchments on the access and fire tracks she got used to sliding out and driving fast and frequently getting airborne, she fortunately never hit any animals a tree sideswiped once, didn’t stop her! After one outing she said to me “& you call this work”.

I've never had to bother at looking at the disc to caliper alignment in the past 58years of Triumphering but because I'm re-coing & using Escort/Cortina Type 14 calipers for the daughters Mk2 Spit I've been checking everything, to make sure their fit for purpose. Because I only had the earlier Spit/Herald old style uprights with separate caliper mounting brackets here at home and due to the Covid travel restrictions (10klm) I can't drive the 30klm to her place to trial fit, I trial fitted everything on the old setup and ran into problems with one of my reco front suspension/axle sets then found the short drum hub issue, hence the Q re hub to disc spacers & the availability of Stanpart spacers, for fine tuning the disc to caliper alignment.

maybe their worried about getting bogged in the bulldust or soft sand not unknown in the outback, I don't know why they all stopped? it just showed a jack knifed road train & a que of trucks waiting behind it, & with the way the WA Govt has separated from the rest of Aus with Covid with their isolation policies the (temp) loss of transport tickled my sense of humor. A bit like China having power outages due to the lack of coal, and they stopped buying Aus coal as we queried the cause of the original Covid outbreak so they banned our coal, it's called rough justice in my book!

We have an alternative way to stop the trucks, just on the news here all trucks on the Nullarbor ie the desert between Sth Aus and West Aus have come to a stop, a truck train jack knifed trying the miss a herd of wild camels, all deliveries to west Aus have been delayed!!

Pete your an ex Roots man if I remember there upside down so when you undo it all drains over you. and down the engine.

Pete my felt seal is as you state and whilst newish I soaked them in oil for a few days then compressed them hard with a press for a further 4 days then greased the surface and installed so I’m relatively happy with the seals fitting. The one with the disc hub is OK just a little off centre but acceptable. The issue re packing needed is the drum hub which isn’t as deep as the disk hub, 3 mm shorter so looks like I try and get another hub (disk) or make a shim spacer.

I have as spares fully rebuilt LH and RH Herald front suspension uprights that have Drum to Disc adapter brackets, I have one drum front hub that has been machined at the wheel flange underside to clear the caliper, the other hub is for a Herald early Spit disc set up. Putting Type 14 calipers on the disc hub set up has the disc/rotar running just off centre in the caliper channel/groove a 1mm spacer between the disc mounting flange and the hub rear mounting face is reqd to make it dead equally spaced in the caliper, whereas the drum hub would require a 3mm spacer (drum hub is not as deep as the disc hub, approx 41mm to 38mm). Question did Triumph make various thickness spacers for the disc rotar to rear hub mounting to get the disc to run dead centre in the caliper groove. Attached I've included a rough cardboard version of what I think the spacer might look like, I could use washers under each of the 4 disc to hub mounting bolts to achieve the correct spacing but it sounds a bit hillbilly, and unprofessional for something as important as brakes. I can get individual 1mm and 3mm steel spacer shims as photo made up relatively easy, but was wondering if Stanpart items are available.

Pete So t's a must have! for us oldens, there again its just more to clean when you finally remove the filter and that warm black stuff drains everywhere. Ref the bolt at the back it would be very good for priming the system after an oil change, something that was VERY problematic for one member.

I have extended a pipe up into the tank so the draw off level is the same as the reserve level to avoid drawing any debris off.

Bob a friend had a similar fuel problem the electric fuel pump on his Stag wasn't performing, bigger replacement fixed it, well he did have a Leyland 4.4ltr in there!

When I rebuilt my daughters Spit Mk2 engine around 18 years ago (need a refresh) it had that horrible leak at the rear N/.S of the head to block ie the rocker oil feed. I was bu**gered if I was going to remove the head to fix this little dribble so I made a nappie that fitted over the top of the bell housing to block joint area, which I regularly replaced/cleaned, here is our then club magazine editors response when he saw it, think you'll find it amusing.

I sometimes custom make the pop rivet if it’s to long, tap the rivet off the stem/nail saw to required length ie the of material plus a little protrusion (say 1/8in) quick file of the cut end put the rivet back on the stem the right way and fit in hole and pull up, all nice and tidy

Won't bother buying one then, usual price for a 2 Row Spit Alloy here appears to be around $150 to $180. I paid around $100 around 15 years ago for a Spit Mk2 Alloy Rad locally sourced,

Get well soon

I've seen this Spit 1500 Oil Filter Adapter advertised on ebay frequently tho' I think USA predominately. What's it purpose and why was a remote adapter reqd over the straight screw into the block filter that's the normal arrangement. Was it to do with LHD and the steering shaft alignment and clearance going thro the turrent. I'm just curious?

How can you beat this at $59Aus with free local delivery, for a Spit 1500, a 3 row Aluminum radiator. Even if the weld looks a little heavy, you can can afford to replace at 5yr intervals

plus pump to use more of that precious battery power/storage, always thought they should be converting that heat into energy, Ha!