Peter Truman

Another way to look at carrying spares is it reduces the luggage space so SWMBO can’t buy more new clothes esp on a 2 week club trip to Tassie Oh and I didn’t need any of the spares so a win/win.

I wouldn't buy PRC today but it was 15 years ago, when the PRC weren't the piranha's of the world & poor world citizens they are today!

It has long been thought that Leyland Aus offered their 4.4ltr P76 all alloy V8 as an alternative warranty replacement for a failed V8 Stag original unit, the P76 engine was 192bhp with 285lbft torque @ 2500rpm, vs the Stags V8 of 145bhp and 166lbft torque @ 5500rpm. A friends Stag is equipped with the Leyland 4.4ltr unit and performs very well, the P76 engine was installed when the car was only 9 months old, such an upgrade here requires an Engineers certificate, which confirms the installation date, the front springs were also changed as the Leyland unit being all alloy is very light.

Our Spit has what I believe to be a cheap Chinese Aluminum rad, it was supplied locally, its been fitted at least 15 years and even in our hot weather performs well in cooling the engine, the only issue I have re quality is the inlet/outlet pipes their wall thickness is very thin and easily damaged in fact if you were to be a gorilla I think you could crush the pipe, for a 1/2P more a decent pipe could have been fitted which would also have permitted the pipe to be bend rather than the cut bend that looks very cheap! But hey it was cheap at under $150, its lasted well showing no signs of blocking, and performs well even up to days in a traffic jam at 40C temps, what more can I ask. For the Dolly Sprint I've toyed with a Rousse Al Rad but the cost is very expensive esp with shipment and would it arrive undamaged! so I think I'll wait till it has to be addressed! Interestingly I had a NEW AMI, CKD, Aus made and fitted to Aus made Heralds as original equipment, it was obviously copper/brass rad & interestingly it was of very thin construction and only 2 core, Whether AMI built down to a price OR actually did hot weather testing I don't know, I passed it onto a club Herald owner, who was as happy as Larry to have an original new rad for his Aus 12/50 Coupe. My Vitesse original rad was recored here in Aus 25 years ago, it reqd modification as the Aus tubing/fins were different to UK so the floor of the header and bottom tanks had to be replaced, but it looks original, & still performs well. In all my cars I use very good quality inhibitors (Penrite or Nulon 6 year) at 30% strength and change every 2 years so there is no sign of any corrosion, Melbourne's water is soft which in our water mains increases their corrosion so I presume the cars cooling system is at the same risk, there is no sign of that white hard water deposit or blocking tubes. Our Jag service provider always used deminerilised water in the systems, & Penrite racing coolant/inhibitor.

A club member here in Aus race's a TR7 and his rear drums were out of spec, his research indicated that the Fox body Mustang (4 stud 9in) rear drums could be adapted, with some machining to the rear lip face and the centre flange hole enlarged to 71mm, and a spacer made to fit. So with all our cars we may have to become resourceful in the future adapting other car bits. Wish I could get Alfins for the Vitesse, the Spits converted, as Pete L says a 'must have' that isn't really reqd, but they look good!

just worked it out to, you do realize Aus was nearly French, french ships were just days from Botony Bay when the first fleet arrived in 1788 (La Perouse Expedition) if I remember my history! or something like that, it could be worse we could be Dutch, Dirk Hartog on the WA coast some where around late 1600's.

Yep and NZ won't let them into port either, well its eons before it'll happen and things change! My french ain't that good so will have to translate, re boomerangs trouble is they come back and you don't want that, maybe a frizbee!

He's upset with you lot he's really pis**d off with us Aussies, I think I understand our Gov'ts action the French sub contract was late and many times over cost, and there were ongoing arguments re local content, so you have to pull the rug on a non performing contract sometime! and lets face it with China singling out Aus as a weak link in the wests chain and their postulating stronger re Taiwan the US support & weight in the area would be a lot more hands on than France's! I sent some info of the GB car sign fiasco round to British members of my local club one responded re wonder if the Brits will lease us some subs in anticipation and if they have GB insignia on their hulls!

Is the aluminum mounting plate that's fitted to the bottom of the plastic module of your new Accuspark unit the same as your existing unit. I run Accuspark in the Vitesse (Lucas) and the Spitfire (Delco) distributors and their mounting plates o the distributor baseplate are different, could they have provided a different unit? Because the module is located in a slightly different orientation to the points when I strobed the timing I had to rotate the dist round slightly to get the timing corrected!

might be 18 but them claws are at the ready

learnt to drive in auto cars as a teenager in late 50's ie family cars, and in Aus from 74 my own family and works cars have all been auto (30 works cars in 27 years renewal policy 45000klm), I've left foot braked from day one of driving auto's but when driving my own manuals it's never been a problem then left is clutch and right acc and brake both together usually. It's only lately that any confusion has set in and its not me its the new bl***y modern Mazda it doesn't like the brake and accelerator being operated together, beeping and flashing of the LCD dashboard it goes mad!! I'm dammed if I'll change my style, ie brake into the corner whilst covering the accelerator & power on, or slightly depressed throttle whilst holding the car on the brake for a fast lights get away!

Never thought that latterly, I always assumed because the Mk3 hood had 3 mounting bolts each side a shortish and loose push in tube wouldn’t be strong enough! Thinking about it there would be similar forces when up whether Mk2 or Mk3, but there would be more stress pulling up and down as with a Mk2 you put the frame up and lay the onto it. Have to think about that one

Early 70’s saw the wife doing it on my Vitesse nearly ripped the tyres off, since then always did 3 point turns or reversed, I think it’s called mechanical sympathy!

You can convert to a top hung pedal eg Spitfire Style I believe it’s been done by some

Ultimate loading is a 2lt Vitesse full lock wonder how many trunnions have been broken that way!

Hey we’re kosha too, basically those living island who can remain isolated from the hoarding mobs & can remain RHD.

The daughter Spitfire Mk2 US Robbins vinyl soft top is nearly 20 years old now & whilst not leaking it is getting a little raggy around the front windscreen sealing pocket esp at the ends. I could get it repaired, but I also have a NOS, but old now vinyl Robbins Mk3 folding soft top. Looking at it the modification necessary at the rear to fit the steel bar to slot into the two chrome rear panel anchor lugs should be easy and there is enough loose and spare vinyl at the front to make the seal bar pockets which fit under the upper windscreen frame aluminum lip. Has anyone done such a conversion/modification and if so what if any are the pitfalls? I had intended to convert the hood arrangement to a full Mk3 folding arrangement and over the years I've collected all the parts eg to fit a Mk3 folding frame, header, clamps and hood onto a Mk2 except the inner panel of the B pillars which require a different profile and anchor plate to mount the Mk3 folding frame onto it. In retrospect I just think this is an unnecessary amount of buggering around compared to modifying the hood itself. Any advice would be welcome Peter T

There’s a Maccas ad on tv here just like that, chap walks past rubbish on the nature strip see’s a side light on an old table writes $2 on it some one stops and buys it he then buggers off to Maccas for a $2 burger!

Re the GT heater esp the demisters has the dash top been recovered the early Spit & GT had the same windscreen frame and the daughters Spit had the dash top recovered when we got it on one wet club run I’d shut the cabin heater vents putting all the heater air to the windscreen, there was no effect. A bit of a bugger to manually keep the screen clear on the 200klm home run. When I got the car into the garage and dried out dropped the hood I looked down from the top of the windscreen with a small torch and to my surprise the vinyl dash cover had not been cut under the demister vent. I obviously with great difficulty due to the windscreen rake got a razor style knife thro the demister slot and cut it, Ithen with greater difficulty removed the demister covers and with a seriously bent small electric soldering iron blade carefully melted the vinyl along where I’d cut the slot. The hardest job was yet to come putting the demister covers back all very tight and you have to hold the demister trumpet below the dash in place whilst you put the screws back. In retrospect probably easier to remove windscreen glass or even the full windscreen frame. I’d love a GT6 but at a bulky 6ft 2 once in I’d be in it for life! I drive my mates E Type conv/roadster quite a bit and with the small doors, very wide sills, and ridiculous short leg room that’s quite a challenge, but hopefully his medical condition will improve so I don’t have to continue being a contortionist. By comparison getting into and out of the daughtersMk2 Spit is easy just have to take my hat off and comb my hair every time, and once in the leg room is fantastic, I can easily drive 3 hrs without a break.

When we first got my daughters Mk2 Spit 20 years ago the engine sat to high at the front just clearing the bonnet and the top hose wouldn’t align, it took me couple of years of measuring and research to determine it had Herald front turrents not Spit, I couldn’t find the offside one in Aus, but I happened to be walking the dog over the over side of Dingley Village at the hard rubbish time and low and behold I passed a house where I knew a chap had previously had a Spit and low and behold there was a RH turret on the rubbish. I grabbed it hoping it wasn’t a Herald/Vit/GT6 version got it home measured the engine mount offset Yipee it was a Spit turret. Had it powder coated red and fitted, engine dropped down so all aligned, sometimes the stars just align up! And for nix too. I’m not usually that lucky!

Our beagle dog Baron was a bugger at crawling under the car when I was working on it and pinching my spanners then he'd race off and bury them, easy enough to find, but wasted a lot of time, I reckon he came back from the after life and taught the rottie Nelson, but he buried them deeper! Baron would also pick up the 2.7lb lump hammer (pipe lead jointing caulking hammer) and run round with that by the handle thumping you in the shins as he ran past, I'm sure he had a laugh on his mouth, Got Ya! Still got the lump hammer with his teeth marks on the handle end, and TVCWB (Tees Valley & Cleveland Water Board) burnt into the handle.

Here some councils once a year have a hard rubbish collection where you can put your bigger rubbish out for them to collect eg old TV's, fridges, BBQ's, 3 piece suits, carpets, beds, kids toys, car rubbish (got rid of old wheels, gearbox casings etc), except tyres & building material, the total size that your allowed to put out is relatively large 4mts long by 1mt square. My two kids usually bring their rubbish over and put on our pile! There's a continuous stream of illegal hawkers trawling round picking the best parts out (interesting seeing we're supposed to be in Covid lockdown & curfew), before the council pick up what's left. One mans junk is another's treasure! Whilst it's illegal to pick thro, we locals don't normally object if they leave it tidy. We currently have a pick up next Monday the 2mt high mains pressure hot water heater has already gone, must remember NOT to park either the Vitesse or Sprint on the nature strip! Ha! Also I've opportunetly replaced all the old grubby carpet tiles from under the cars in the garage with new and the old ones have gone out, 4 stacks each around 750 high, job well done!

he could of replaced the door card with plywood and stained it but even then the self tappers in cup washers would still have been over the top!!

The std alloy spacers frequently come up on ebay

I used a Holden/Isuzu Rodeo/Trooper Hi Torque starter the spacer had to be reduced to nearly half normal thickness as per the US Telglizer website modification all works well at a very reasonable cost around. $200 or 100 quid UK.