Peter Truman

On a General Thread re fuel pump leaking oil I referred to the fact I’d have to replace the Sprints track rod ends as the boots had split. So checking my new spares I had two sets one set with grease nipples as original fitment. I use a standard nut to pull the taper up tight before replacing with the lock nut I didn’t have a suitable nut on checking the taper thread as it is metric 10mm dia with 10threads per cm or 1 thread per mm whereas the normal GSJ158 is 3/8in dia. The steering rack thread on the track rod end input is the correct imperial 1/2in dia with 24tpi. Has anyone seen this mixture of imperial and metric threads on an aftermarket track rod end. I brought these as they had grease nipples they came from a major UK eBay supplier who I’ve never had issues with, they are usable but the mixture of metric/imperial surprises me.

Thanks off to the Auto Store tomorrow for thicker paper and blue hylomar, used to have a tube somewhere Also noted track rod end boots have gone fortunately same as Spit & Vitesse so I have new spares on a new (not reco) spare Spit Steering rack sat on the shelf.

Well that didn't work!! took the car a drive around 10klm got home under the fuel pump appeared dry, but with engine off and as I watched oil started running out from under the bottom of the fuel pump to block joint, bugger! I've had this problem before on my Vitesse but only a weep so and I changed to a blanking plate and an electric pump in frustration. Anyone got any ideas, the fuel pump bolts are high up & off horizontal centre so the pressure on the bottom mating face is reduced? I've tried Sika make a gasket and aviation non setting gasket goo!

is that a Dowty washer, my J types have always had plain thin copper washer, obviously extra thickness doesn't impact.

Think I've worked out why the original Leyland manufacture were bolts not studs! I undid the work I did yesterday in sealing the leaking pump to block gasket & removed the pump again and replaced the bolts with studs mounting the pump was easy BUT the bottom of the pump body flange sat proud from the block face. I checked the new gasket which appeared to be the same size and profile of the pump mounting flange and it seated OK but when I offered the pump to the studs it sat proud at the bottom ie wouldn't seat home, replacing the studs with the bolts you could fit and seat the pump flange then fit the bolts thro with a little juggling, obviously unnecessary fine tolerances. I wanted to persevere with the studs so I trimmed a little off the bottom of the pump flange which was beveled outwards midway thro a cross section of the flange, this enabled me to ensure the pump flange seated flat to the block mounting using the studs. I'll let the aviation gasket goo set overnight then check for leaks?

Good point re access Pete but the Sprint fuel pump has reasonable access just awkward but I suppose the designers decided to use bolts on all fitting as a matter of policy

I think the latter one item vs two a stud and nut

I had several Mitsubishi fIrst model of the Magna in the 80’s which had a button in the gear knob presumably an overdrive like you Colin I don’t think it did anything

Does any one know why Leyland chose to switch from studs for manifolds and fuel pump mounting on previous Triumphs to tapped bolts direct into the block and head with the Sprint and presumably Dolly 1850 and TR7. I've just had to remove and refit the fuel pump on the Sprint what a pita, reason to stop an oil leak.

Ref S/S not the bee all it sounds like, in the Water Industry here we had a 900mm Alligator valve simply like a jaw & mouth opened around hinge pins which controlled res inflow between 25 and 650Ml/d (650 flowrate = 2/3 of Melb daily demand) Obviously at throttled flows there is a lot of vibration and wear on the valve teeth/gums, so the valves require a rebuild every 5 years, a bright spark in out Mech Maintenance Dept decided to fit S/S replacement gums/teeth held on with S/S bolts tapped into the body. The fixture lasted 3 months when the valve leakage increased to 200Ml/d, so after a lot of revalving we dewatered the inlet chamber (the pipeline is 22Klm long between valves as a Transfer pipeline only) and found the replacement gums/teeth missing, so we had to dewater the Reservoir to find the replacement gums/teeth, which showed fatigue fractures in the S/S and the bolts had sheared due to fatigue where they were threaded into the gums/ teeth, so it was back to the drawing board. Similarily on S/S reticulation pipe repair clamps the threads on the screw down bolts had to be coated with Teflon to stop galling of the thread when tightening down, also the S/S clamps construction welds had to be passivated to stop severe corrosion & eventual failure at that point. I'd be wary of S/S studs in a cars exhaust manifold/joints.

I know but I’m building a 1500 for daughters Spit and I prefer Strom’s to SU’s the inlet manifold has DIY adapters fitted for Storms and I believe SAH or someone had a conversion kit so there must be a spec somewhere. Also Strom’s easier to get over 1.5 SU’s

It would be very much appreciated, fortunately it’s only one dash pot. There’s no reference that I can find for twin Strom 150CD on a Spit 1500

mark re your twin 150CD's do you know what needles are fitted and the diaphgram damper spring colour none, blue or red. Query is I'm fitting twin 150 Stroms to a spare 1500 engine for daughters Spitfire'

Colin on the daughters Spit I used a half nut as the second nut holding the pipe bracket

DaniM thats what I did 15 yrs ago when I rebuilt the daughters Mk2, put a welsh plug in the old breather tube fitting in the block.

if i remember correctly the flasher blub is wired backwards ie the bottom centre pole is (-) and the bulb casing is positive, that's why a normal LED doesn't work.

Iain were both springs the same length when unloaded, could one have been inadvertantly stretched a little increasing the load resistance.

Colin re joke about my inability to post photo correctly do remember I got it halfway right so as not to offend anyone as living in Aus I could have posted upside down!!

Here's a pic of the Damper Spring Test Bed, with weights, rule marked at 2.09in

Iain this is what I've gleened, I wanted it for twin 150CD's I'm fitting to a Spit 1500 engine, I made a test rigup to check the springs I had, one light and one heavy as per below info, plus a shorter length spring that approximated to light, I stretched that one to the same length and it recorded 75gms at 2.09in compressed length.

My Dolly has a DatsunJap Jayco one fitted it was slightly smaller OD but fitted in one piece into a modified Smiths case,you can’t tell the different face size and it works a treat. I had the Jayco that I picked up from an old neighbour when he moved.

Re heater pipe I’ve always used annealed 1/2in copper pipe bent to shape with Yorkshire fittings for the tee’s I’ve never had a failure of joints (iPad predictive text put loins, Ha!) or pipe even with the exhaust manifold heat.

Interesting thread never thought starter ring could/would move on flywheel. when I replaced daughters Spit starter ring I waited till the wife went out, flywheel in the freezer for an hour, and starter ring in the oven at 200 plus for 1/2hr the flywheel onto concrete patio and dropped hot starter ring on it just fell into place no assistance read and immediately locked in place.

Pete ref your comment re the old solenoid positives being on the same terminal, Hi Torque starters have their own inbuilt solenoid, which can be directly wired to the battery so the original solenoid can be surplus to requirements, hence your alteration of both input and output supplies on the same terminal. You could retain the old solenoid for originality but wired as normal as well as the hi torque built in solenoid, ie split the input and output + supplies as normal, so when you turn the starter it activated the old solenoid completes the circuit supplying power to the hi torque starter's solenoid and starting the car. That's the way I chose to set my Vitesse up when fitting a new Toyota Trooper Hi Torque Starter, but I think in retrospect I might remove the old solenoid and supply battery power direct to the Hi Torque solenoid removing the original solenoid, reason the Vitesse original solenoid is in an awkward position down on the front of the bulkhead right next to the throttle cable linkage, which results in me tearing the skin on the back of my hand every time I tinker! You will also have to extent the ignition activation cable (WR) to the Hi Torque Starter solenoid as well, and I think(?) it has to be fitted to a different terminal.

Colin I quoted your response to MG's to my B owning mate, he sent me the following MG club mag caption in response, and here I was thinking MG's and Triumphs had nothing in common!!