Peter Truman

Colin I brought my cheap Jap Tap and Die set probably 40 plus years ago there still in the same case with instructions and maybe the 3/8 UNF tap n die are original but the rest are like an woodcutters axe how many new handles and heads have there been in that 45 years! Question for those mech minded which are better split or star anti shake washers? On alloy I prefer star,

Our chain of Supercheap Auto Accessory Shops here in Vic hves a oil disposal bin BUT it must be in the product oil containers usually 4 to 5 lts. obviously they are serviced by a local oil recycler, a good service and it stops me using the old oil to protect the perimeter fence posts from termites and rot when poured around the post in ground! As the hardwood fences last 20 years you can only use so much old oil!

I like Pete’s idea of pulling the heater hose to release Any trapped air the heater is the highest point in the system. older Renault’s R8/10 had an air bleed on the heater matrix, I’ve fitted the same using a modifies Yorkshire Tee on my Vitesse on the Valve inlet for the same purpose. Air locks can be a pain in the arse and in water supply ie mains parlance sometimes the only way to get rid of it is to drain the system and recharge!

Ingie UK, I found my DIY Rotaflex crude clamp/compressor so here's a photo of it used to recompress the rota after cutting the band and prising the new unit over the tri finger flange, worked well and permitted the lining up of the 6 bolts

I wouldn't advocate it and others will probably poobah it but I replaced both on my Vitesse rotaflex's around 10 years ago without dismantling the outer shaft, by cutting the band off the rotaflex and prising the coupling over the outer drive shaft tri finger flange then recompress the rotaflex with a DIY two part hexagon band/clamp I made so I could get the bolts back into the two drive flanges. The 2 piece band I made was crude and made out of scrap strip steel using the compressed rotaflex band as an example, I still have it in case! Maybe I was lucky as I didn't damage the rotaflex but it's still all OK. Hopefully others will respond to this DIY method with the pro's, con's, and risks of damage! A quick check in the garage and I couldn't locate the offending DIY clamp, but its there and if I can locate it I'll post a photo.

As stated elsewhere in the International Section of the Forum, I as an International member (of 15 years) greatly appreciate the recent Electronic copy of the Courier as it means I get the issue with you UK based members and feel a more inclusive member of TSSC. The paper copy usually takes 3 weeks to arrive and under Covid one too 5 weeks! Thanks to Angie who rectifies late copies. Thank you & well done COM, & in the case of International members next step do we need paper copies, I for one would rely on the electronic copy only & save the cost of overseas postage to benefit the club coffers. Peter T Melb Aus.

with parallel swarf cuts like that it looks as its been trimmed with a nibbler? also bottom left photo of the outer top corner why not trim that and seam weld like the original was! rather than protecting from corrosion with grease a coat of etch primer. I fortunately got a NOS Stanpart Vitesse front valance for the Mk2 here in Aus around 10 years ago and my repaired one went on a friends Mk2, marvellous what turns up on eBay esp as Vitesse's were never sold new in Aus!

Luggage Paula 2 cases car 4 containers , nothing like being prepared! What was that previous thread "Whats in your boot!"

I'm not suggesting this is your problem causing the hose mis-alignment but it is what we found on my daughters Mk2 Spit after a lot of searching repositioning the rad elongating holes ensuring the rad cap cleared the bonnet etc!. Her Spit had been in an accident before we brought it near completion with a full bare metal and body off rebuild by the previous owner it was determined the chassis was damaged so a replacement chassis which was in good condition was fitted (interestingly within 100 number of the original chassis), but unfortunately it wasn't realised at this rebuild time that the Spits used different Turrents to the rest of the small chassised Triumphs ie the distance from the top wishbone pivot to the engine mount differs on the Spit it is shorter by more than an inch which relates to the engine sitting lower and hence the thermostat cover and top hose having a better alignment. We changed the RH Turrent to a Spit one and it dropped the engine at the front by just more than an inch so the top hose alignment whilst not perfect is very acceptable (good quality 3 row alloy Rad fitted). It was quite a faff changing over the turrent ie powder coat the new turrent dismantle steering column, shim and align the new turrent.

gives a new meaning to "I can p##s higher than you". The UK water authority I worked for in the early 70's had distb/retic mains pressures up around 60psi at the lower elevations and I can remember transfer pressures of 100psi, do you now pressure reduce your household offtakes? If I remember in the UK only the kitchen sink cold water tap, garden tap and supply to the header tank is at mains water pressure all other house supply is from the in roof header tank, whereas here the whole house operates at full mains pressure generally even the hot water services are direct mains pressure. Interesting thing about domestic PRV's (generally spring and piston) they cannot control pressure without flow, so when you go to bed at night the pressure in your house will be regulated if you don't use any water overnight the pressure will slowly creep up to the incoming or street mains pressure so when you open the tap for the first time in the morning it'll blast out hit the sink bottom and you'll possibly be one of the wet tee shirt brigade (how do I know one recently married young lady complained, should have asked her to show me! solution told her to go to the toilet first thing before making breakfast so the cistern took the pressure blast), thereafter with normal daytime use the pressure will be regulated, we here in Melb legally only pressure regulated the house service if the mains pressure was >105mts head (150psi), the customer can put his own PRV on downstream of the meter if he wants. Our own house was used as a test service for domestic pressure reduction (in late 70's 80's) and we found you had to get down below 30psi to reduce/have an impact on household consumption, we also tried flow regulation to an upper limit using Dole valves, found below a max of 8lpm was too restrictive and the direct mains pressure hot water could cause dangers of scalding in the shower as the cold water didn't dilute the water temperature as effectively, ask the wife!! One of the 3 main Retailer Co here has had a program of pressure reducing zones more to reduce mains burst frequency min pressure in zone of 40psi, but some of it was notional ie minor reduction and not worth the expense or water quality issues with more dead ended bigger retic mains at the increased number of zone boundaries, and the workforce necessary to keep those boundaries in tact, the other 2 Retailers aren't convinced! of the benefits & haven't followed the exercise. If I remember Wessex Water used to successfully pressure reduce in tiers thro their system with pressure regulated by zone demand, ie as demand increased the pressures were increased to maintain adequate min pressures/supply and conversely reduced as demand decreased, that was late 80's and not aware how it progressed.

Just read the Sept Courier on the club Web site at least 2 weeks earlier than receiving paper copy, here in Aus. Read it using a 10in iPad The page Is bigger than paper copy so easier to read one page per screen, It’s taken some time but well done TSSC Committee and esp thanks to Bern for uploading and Int Sec’s for perusing. Maybe ask the Int members if they need the paper copy so save the postage I know Overall it’s a minor expense Peter T

What about modern car wiring thin with a harder and thinner insulation

Remember in the UK the garden hose operates at full mains pressure probably between 40 and 100psi and water contained (shut outlet) is in-compressible so a sealed matrix would be at full pressure probably many times its normal operating pressure!! I flush my heater cores out using the garden hose at 100psi mains pressure (generally in Aus the whole house plumbing/fittings operate at full mains pressure) via both the inlet and outlet pipes. It cleans the matrix out well and there will be an increase in pressure within the matrix equal to at least or probably greater than the car coolant pressures of say 15psi.

Synchroniser sounds like mine the little domed valve In the throat can be adjusted to give more air by screwing In/out a little then the little red ball will drop down towards the middle or bottom of the tube & you can balance the two carbs. Had mine around 40 years made in Taiwan I don’t know if I lost the instructions or there weren’t any?

I used nylon hose on the Vitesse as I omitted fitting the steel pipe when the body was off & to avoid a central rubber pipe joint thro the central outrigger, I strengthened the nylon jointing by using a thin internal stainless steel sleeve in the nylon at the joints so when joining the nylon to steel pipe with rubber pipe the hose clips don't compress the nylon pipe which would neck at the joint and with time ultimately leak if not supported internally

My Mk2 Vitesse fan switch failed just last month it was only 52 years old, why did Triumph use double pole switch, the internal spring had disintegrated. I simply replaced it with a single pole on off Lucas switch the Vitesse is easily accessed thro the ash tray on top of the dash. If I remember correctly the daughters Mk2 Spit has the same single pole switch

I got the idea from the 6 potter engines which have threaded ends so why not the Spit

On the 22nd I advised I had cut the steel pipe off , drilled it out for 2in and tapped the two ends of the manifold heated pipe with 3/8in NPT male threaded and barbed brass fittings, it could be NPT or BSP threads as there nearly the same and I have both? Here's two pics of the arrangement note the barbed ends to grip the rubber 1/2in hose that is a good fit.

Colin those bullets sleeves look newish so they should hold the bullets tight. I’ve had problems with the old original 50 year old bullet sleeves/connectors the spring metal internals have relaxed and tarnished and eventually break a lug off so the bullet is loose inside. I brought a swag of new bullet sleeves single and double connectors and have been slowly replacing them on the car so they are tight. Reconditioning also includes using a small Dremmel rotating wire brush to clean up the bullets before reconnecting Pushing them home. Replacement started with problematic connections under the bonnet especially at the front lights and in the boot tail lights, but continues on I will probably have to buy around another dozen or so single and half that Double connectors To finish, Think I’ve already used around 20.

Bummer re high torque starter option, If you have to replace the ring gear its not to hard send the wife out, ring gear in the oven for 1/2hour and flywheel in the freezer, make sure the flywheel is level and drop the ring gear over it, mine dropped down easily and immediately locked in place, but you only get the one chance!

I've got a set of new GAZ Adjustables to fit on the Vitesse with some dark blue new poly top bush's which are quite hard. I will probably do in the next month anything to watch out for in fitting and setting them up, noting Pete's comment re subsequent wear in the top plate. Were running adjustable Koni's on the Mk2 Spit been on 15+ years and still good, brought cheap on local eBay as NOS and I took them to the local Koni Service Centre who confirmed they were new, BUT that model/year/age had a fibre washer in them that didn't last so suggested a service to replace it, I was never sure if I wasn't taken, but the cost fitted cost me just under $230 so I was happy.

I believe a high torque starter engages from the opposite side of the starter ring to the std Lucas Bendix unit so replacing the std starter with a high torque could get a second life out of the existing starter ring gear. Anyone done this and is it that easy a fix? I've heard ref to it but never seen it done.

why not use P=V*I, simpler, 60 watt power at 12v = 5amp.

Colin I feel for you the frustration! the fact all was OK for 40 miles then the issue re-occurred, had you activated the O/D in that 40 miles? I know its illogical as independently reverse works but as the reverse power source is the common supply, have you isolated the reverse supply at its incoming supply at the reverse switch on the gearbox so the O/D is the only active circuit on that supply, then see if it still blows the fuse. I know it doesn't make sense BUT at this point I'd try anything! Thinking out loud what would happen if the reverse light was on all the time ie switch failed and circuit to earth via reverse bulb then you activated the overdrive switch via gate 3/4 would that common source already be earthed? it shouldn't be a problem till the column switch is closed and provides power! sorry just thinking out loud its doing my head in & that's not hard at the moment when you've been in isolation/lock down effectively since March! Otherwise as Non Member says isolate the new column switch at its bullets again and see if it blows or even wire in a loose hanging separate switch and see if all is OK.

I cut the pipe at the manifold drilled out the rusty heater pipe for around 2in at each end then taped the alloy manifold 3/8in NPT and Screwed in a threaded/push on hose Brass Union fitting so the hoses just went right up to the manifold