Peter Truman

Could be a candidate for 3D Printer possibilities, there was a thread somewhere.

ref fuel pump DIY spanner, I have an old box spanner I use its hex and thin walled fits snugly then I attach a normal socket to the free end and easily undone or tightened up. The box spanner doesn't have the bulk of a normal 1/2 in drive socket.

Hope I remember your sunrise tool in 20 years when I have to do the gaiters again. Well done now would you take it off and do a video for us on how you did it only jossing! I have a brand spanking Herald rack which is solid mount. on the shelf & Thankfully The gaiters are good

Non member my 68 Mk2 Vitesse has the body number on the RH/drivers side and the small Comm plate on the LH/passengers side wheras the Spit Mk2 66 has both on the passenger side. nothings Standard about Triumph!!!

I read all the preferred process’s and I drain then remove the filter, then as they say reverse the process, filter then oil in say a min of 15 min. BUT what do you do if your’ve got a new engine after rebuild everything is dry and cold similar to the conditions detailed above, SO why don’t we have a problem then! we probably spin the engine by the distributor drive, then start it With no issues that I’ve ever heard. It’s obviously an exceptional event and must be recorded for reference but with a warning of how long to try normal starting Before realising there’s an issue, like Paul did. well thought out everyone very interesting

Well done I was contemplating the filter adapter and the compact Mann filter as it enabled the filter to get nearly horizontal when I tried the adapter with th normal suspect screw on filters it had to point upwards to much so I’ve always stayed with the original system think I might follow dads rule “if it ain’t broke @@@@@“ Re oil pressure union leaking is it a nylon pipe I find the brass olives bite into the nylon and it can weep it’s never totally failed I’ve tended to go copper pipe for that reason. Peter T

why did Triumph put both the driver and driven fingers on the same side of the donut surely one on each side would have been OK I think the Imp is like that? It would have been peesy easy to replace!

I have QH ones purchased around 1983 by the FI Law in the UK and fitted around 10years ago only recent road service tho' they appear to be OK, no cracks yet. I fitted them without removing the outer axle and upright. I undid the compression band sprung the donut over the two spiders, then I'd made a new heavier compression band (hexagon in two halves) and screwed/clamped it back into shape and fitted the 6 bolts, unconventional but I'd do it again I kept the crude home made clamp in case!

I found my spare Lucas switch sans the red knob I must have used it on the fellow club members switch to replace his substandard flimsy one Bummer! Not to worry someone local will have a spare there's enough scrapped Triumph saloons around. Here's my DIY assembly incorporating the flasher an and switch, same as brought ones

Ian a fellow club member here fitted a clubs version which looked the same as the original Lucas switch except for the red knob with black face and I must admit the aftermarket knob wasn't as good as the original so we simply replaced it with a scrap later Triumph cars original all red knob and all was OK I also fitted the original same Lucas push pull type (ex Scrap car) to my Vitesse and fabricated the bracket and cover similar to the club option & other than the contacts requiring operation say monthly its no problem, leave it to long and the brass contacts in the switch get an oxidised coating which has to be cleaned by several operations. The switch itself is very robust. The aftermarket plastic cover to the switch keeps it all very neat and I made mine by cutting and folding cardboard and floated super glue over it which made it very strong just looks like the 35GBP club version for nix! During lockdown I should make another switch and cover for my daughters Mk2 Spit, I like the simplicity and originality of the Lucas multiple contact switch system. Peter T

Always wondered why the angled pick up pipe on the 1500 Spit. The explanation re the loss of pump suction is the same as our swimming pool pump it always starts immediately discharging water UNLESS you remove the lid on the built in filter bowl to clean it then you have to play silly buggers as the filter bowl is dry ie no drowned suction to the pump if you just switch the power on it won't suck water into the filter or pump BUT if you start/stop the pump repeatedly sometimes up to a half dozen times you can see the water slowly being drawn into the filter bowl and hence pump it can take 3 mins to totally get all the air out ie drowned suction. Unfortunately you can't bucket water fast enough into the filter bowl to keep water in there and get the lid sealed down. Very very occasionally even the start/stop action doesn't work and I have to disconnect the creepy crawly cleaner and put the garden hose on full flow up the pipe to fill the suction pipe. Glad it didn't happen today when I serviced the pool it was down to 1C, so I didn't have to put my hands in the skimmer basket! Peter T

As there is a filter adapter could it be slackened and moved so the filter is nearer vertical for the purposes of filling the outer ring and priming the pump Easier and not so messy.

Re Mk2 Vitesse PRV nearly 50 years ago had a problem when driving the wife to catch a very early morning flight I noticed the oil pressure gauge had dropped from its normal >60psi to <40psi I pushed on as time dictated and I had OK pressure at just under 40psi at> 2000rpm on getting to Middleton I parked immediately shutting down, dumped the wife & had a good look round no oil leaking so as the only thing I could externally check I removed the PRV it looked OK, put my clean hanky on a screwdriver poked it down the PRV hole, all looked OK no perceivable blockage, valve OK, spring OK, so put it all back and whoopie oil pressure back up to >60psi where its remained to today! The oil pressure would drop to around 20psi at lower revs, but I cannot remember if the oil pressure light came on at idle as I shut the engine down immediately on parking. So without looking at the oil route could a stuck open PRV just let the oil circulate or blow off without building up pressurize, don't think I saw a response on the PRV findings

Did I read somewhere in the content there was ref to a 3/8sq socket I've used the 1/2in on very troublesome gearbox sump drain plugs can't remember how I got a double female sq socket but I'll go to the Kingchrome warehouse to see if they have one if they do I'll get a 1/2 and 3/8 versions. I know the 1/2in was a bit loose so maybe the 3/8in is a better fit, I'll try it with my spare plugs.

Graham my daughter was more communicative than yours Eons ago Di’d brought a New Mits coupe for running around the daughter returned from working with VW in Germany and needed a car to get to work with GMH so she purloined the Mits long term That was OK as wife and I had two other daily drivers. Daughter moved out took the car with her and whilst driving to work one day she rings me “Dad your car needs a service can I borrow mum’s Jag whilst YOU get the Mits serviced!“

Will go my usual brake shop and check I have always brought my brake cleaner From The general motor factors Our Autobarn ie like your Halfords.

Can you buy brake cleaner in a bottle I’ve only seen/purchased it in an aerosol can, gawd it’s cold when you get it on your hands. Similar carby clean very cold but both very effective in doing their job.

Colin, only on turnbuckles we put them in backwards! so the LH thread is right and the RH thread is left!, confussed! David, the taper on my NPT tap appears to be around 1.5mm in 25mm or 1 in 16 approx. Hey searching thro my surplus taps today I found a band new 3/8 BSP non taper tap Why did I buy that, can't think wat I'd use that on? David if you really want to get confused follow my travels as a kid till I got married, born England NEfeb 45, left around June 45 for Toronto Canada, left there for Melb Aus in 49, was brought up here till I was 16, returned to England in 62, finished school started work, in the 11 years I was supposedly a resident of the UK, I spent around 50% of the time overseas working in Canada, USA, Sth Africa, Brazil, Greece, France & Korea. The Co I worked for was very large built Chem Plants, Oil Refineries, Blast Furnaces & Rolling Mills, & Gas Production facilities pre natural gas. Dad was a senior Exec & Director hence our many moves. In 72 they wanted me to move to London I said no and left, couldn't have stood all that public transport travel, so got a job in the Water Industry Operations & that is how I came to return to Melbourne in 74, where I continued my Water Operations employment, retiring in 2001( I had 30 company cars in 27 years, really, we only kept them for 2 years or 45,000klm, & I averaged 50,000klm per annum! the last time I caught public transport, a train was August 1974), after retiring l consulted back for the next 13 years before hanging up my train set, that's what I called the water supply network shunting water from the harvesting dams to seasonal storages, transfer reservoirs, service reservoirs & to customer tap. The irony of when I was working in the UK for the large Petro Chem & heavy engineering Co in the NE, my wife was the secretary to the MD of our main opposition, and when I was tendering international jobs I was sleeping with the enemy! It caused some funny events,

Kevin I understand re the staged tapping must admit I thought they were for blind holes, I have several sets of 3 taps in their individual box's for metric and Whit which were hand me downs from an old fitter, unfortunately no UNF's, those were single parallel single taps. The run of the mill el cheepo UNF tap and die set I use (35+ years) have a single tap for each size , each starts with a short taper then a parallel section say 30mm long usually used for re-threading, but sometimes to cut a new thread. Mind you that UNF set is a bit like the woodman's axe, how many new handles and axe heads. The 3/8in NPT tap I brought was purchased as a taper thread & if run right through would be too large for a bolt or sump plug which would be loose, I had to be cautious and just tap the min depth. to ensure a good seal. Thanks for your clarification and expertise all helps to the knowledge base, will we make page 6. Peter T

I was intrigued when someone quoted that the female or boss welded into the sump was a parallel NPT thread, as when I ran the 3/8in NPT tapered tap through it penetrated the boss easily for a good distance. So on a cold 5C morning here in Melbourne I went into the garage in my jarmies to measure the spare GT6 sump I have, wouldn't dare bring it into the warm house. The welded in boss for the sump plug is 11.5mm long, the inside the sump boss ID is 14.78mm, and the external sump boss ID 15.08mm, appears to be a 0.3mm taper in 11.5mm? Two of the 3 spare tapered 3/8in NPT threaded sump plugs I have measured 16.2mm at its end (14.8mm thread root) and 17.2mm (15.9mm thread root) at the top over the threads, over length of 13.3mm, the third plug was slightly smaller dia's but same taper. So the plug has a taper of 1mm in 13mm length, whereas the female boss 0.3mm in 11.5mm. In the finality I don't think I proved anything, except I got cold! Is the sump boss tapered or not or is the dia change due to years or screwing the tapered plug into and enlarging the boss ID? Peter T

With all these pro’s n con’s we could go for 6 pages!

On the previous page there was ref to 1/2in sump drive sockets I sometimes use the sq drive, but 15 years ago I brought these profile cut spanners made from S/S esp for sump plugs off UK ebay, very well made and have the two ends orientated at 90 degrees so you can always fit in a tight place. The spanner is 1/4in thick. I brought and a dozen for our clubs shop and they all sold.

like Nicks the iron lump on the Spit is a bit sad being heavily pitted around its water passages and on the mating surfaces, the Vitesse one is good, but hey if I can buy one for the daughters car I'm having one too! Jumping Frogs wbclassics note I'd read before re US and poor quality & that was what concerned me. Ref the poor tapped threads & studs I might consider my usual trick with aluminum of drilling and heli-coiling, There's only $10 difference in the combined cost between Bastuck & Canley so I'll see what the postage is and decide, and yes part of the reason is the looks, bling. interesting story re porosity in castings in this case cast iron pump body, the co I worked for in the UK in the 60's was a major petro chem and heavy engineering consultant & construction contractor who also had major fabrication shops and a foundry, an overseas job I was project managing, the foreman was showing me the defects in the casting & we were discussing if a new casting was needed, my dad who was a director came into the foundry to pick me up and the foreman dad welcomed each other having know ea other over 40 years and discussed the numerous small blow holes in the casting which weren't in a stress or major water passage/pressure area and the decision was to fill the holes with iron filings and sulphuric acid and the resulting rust would seal them, and the casting would even outlast me the youngster. These days they would be epoxy coated to seal, improve hydraulic efficiency and stop any corrosion. The wife's X type baby jag we brought 15 years ago had to have the AC compressor replaced in the first 6 months as it leaked ie porosity in the Al casing! Thank you all for your feedback, its been a great help. Peter T

I think I'm going to splash out on the Alloy versions of the Spitfire (144274A) & Vitesse (307095A) Water Pump Housings, there doesn't appear to be a lot of variance in the costs from the 3 main suppliers, Canley, Rimmer's, & Barstuck in Germany. Can anyone advise who supplies the best quality product, I have heard in the past good quality alloy needs to be sealed internally due to porosity, true or false? Alloy heads have been around for eons & I've never heard of them being sealed! Any help would be appreciated. Peter T

In the depths of my mind I remember a recommendation when servicing the rack to use diff hypoid oil at the regular servicing ie 6 pumps thro the grease nipple reason the old grease in the rack can go hard and stop lubricant pushing along the rack tube. don’t know where I got the idea from, but I’ve done it that way 30 years when I’ve undone the rack boot on the near side oil has been there! if I was rebuilding a rack I’d do as Colin recommends ie smear grease along the rack before assembly subsequent servicing your choice