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Wagger's Vitesse.


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When I developed Advanced Prostate Cancer, my eldest son found me the Vitesse and gave it to me as a birthday present. It had sat for up to seven years, never run and the owners had passed away. The younger son found me an original GT6 and Vitesse manual in a garage that he cleared about a week after delivery.

It was an unknown quantity as the history was only from new until 1998. My son paid less than £2k for it so I expected a real disaster, but I was pleasantly surprised. The chassis was good, though abused by jacking at the front and there were some real surprises in store. Like, a late 2500TC engine fitted with a 3 rail late GT6 box and a 3.63:1 differential. Overdrive was in the box of spares minus the adaptor plate. Anyway, the badge was still on the boot, and still is!

Due to my prognosis, I decided not to do a total restoration as I would run out of time and the capability of doing it. However, a year on from receiving the car it is now fully running with all of the big issues sorted. My aim is to preserve it and prevent it from getting worse. My Cancer stays in remission and my Oncologist still gives me the same time left as three years ago. We keep hitting 'Reset' so "Hooray!!"

I am not going to tempt providence but undertaking anything lengthy. So, if you see my car, it will not look pristine or like the 'Wreck of the rally' either. There is a load still wrong, but it really does not matter. If it gets damaged by my increasing age related clumsiness, it won't look much different.

Ironically, now its is roadworthy, the rain has set in, Typical eh?

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1 hour ago, AlanT said:

Agree with ‘keep trying longer runs’. Takes time to build confidence in these old cars ability to keep going. And, worse case, it’s a nice time of year to wait for the AA! 

This is true,when my new 1500 Herald engine grenaded after 500 miles from the rebuild,i had it rebuilt again but it took some time before i was confident in it enough to go on a motorway,SEM was the fist time on the M25 in it.Now done at least a couple of thousand miles in it and it seems fine.

Steve

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On 07/06/2022 at 14:07, Mathew said:

Or just go, start with round the block then just a little futher and see where it takes you.

We all do that, my first run is always across the front of the house on the drive, then back. Next is turn left at the gate to the entrance of the huge stately home opposite, about 800 yards in total and back. Next is to a suitable wide junction three miles away and back, and if that's okay then an eight mile circuit skirting two villages, and home. Then a twelve mile circuit - that's where the top hose blew last week - and by that time we're looking at local shows. I've just connected the overdrive so that's the next test, twenty miles or so tomorrow.

BTW Lloyd, how's the sciatica? I moved a horse trailer by myself today so am walking sideways... 

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2 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Out of interest, what caused that!

Driving home happily from a trip to the coast, luckily on a B road, engine started running on 3,pulled in a side road, took the plugs out and found no.2 oily. Cleaned it and put it back in, spun it over, and a big spurt of water came out of no. 2 plug hole. Game over.

The builder said it had a cracked head, which was strange as it was tested before the rebuild as i bought it off a racer so was never fitted to an engine in my ownership prior to the build of the 1500.

Steve

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42 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

We all do that, my first run is always across the front of the house on the drive, then back. Next is turn left at the gate to the entrance of the huge stately home opposite, about 800 yards in total and back. Next is to a suitable wide junction three miles away and back, and if that's okay then an eight mile circuit skirting two villages, and home. Then a twelve mile circuit - that's where the top hose blew last week - and by that time we're looking at local shows. I've just connected the overdrive so that's the next test, twenty miles or so tomorrow.

BTW Lloyd, how's the sciatica? I moved a horse trailer by myself today so am walking sideways..

Sciatica receded enough to start the mower and cut the grass. It's back with a vengeance today. Five steps forward, four back. Bum shuffling now. Fitted acrylic mirrors to my bullet wing mirrors today. £10 instead of £50+ for the complete assembly.

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 No, they are not convex, BUT they are flexible so the spring bends them a bit. If yo made or found a nice radiused cap for the spring, that could work well. They were Sign Materials 95mm acrylic mirrors from Amazon.

They just go in without the polythene rim guard, but glue them (I used Evo-stick Serious Glue) and allow to cure before removing the protective film.

I did it for 'Show' more that actual practicality, but they are better than a stainless steel hole.

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  • 10 months later...

Woke the car up after five weeks non use yesterday. This is how it went.

Checked fuel filter in boot. No fuel showing. Opened bonnet and tried to prime. No joy. Switched to reserve and it primed well. Spun it over and it burst into life on 5 pots. Removed plug number 2, cleaned it, refitted and all was well. No smoke from the exhaust at all and there is oil in it. No crud showing in fuel filter so it shows promise for next time. Better refill my steel 40 litre can with 98 octane and transfer to the tank. I won't chance it reaching the nearest station.

The plugs are NGK BP5ES. I have read Pete's posts on non glazed ceramics. I am wondering if this plug has lost or never had any glaze. It is always this plug that fouls whatever cylinder I put it on. It happens about every 5 runs.

On my Bikes, I used to introduce a spark gap in the HT leads and this would sometimes clear a misfire without removing a plug. Trouble is, this causes RF interference, so cannot use it as a permanent fitment.

Do any of you have a stock of old unused glazed plugs?

 

 

 

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the plug fouling does seem to occur if too much choke or a slow fast idle and once its decided its pickled you cant resurrect it by any cleaning

i have a local spit mkIv on HS4's  its always too rich and the plugs breakdown but the owner just keeps sandblasting them and the problem never goes away for long 

but he wont get new plugs as they look nice and  clean  , there more to a plug than its looks 

 some suggest bosch W78 but they dont seem available now 

its the rich running you can get with carbs that you dont get with the more clever injection of more modern fueling thats  why the glazing became unnecessary

i would bin that plug and maybe less choke and up the fast idle a bit 

Pete

 

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On 13/06/2022 at 23:32, Peter Truman said:

Are these convex to improve area of vision, if so can you advise your source pls., as I need to do something with the daughters Spit.

Not quite sure what you're after, I got replacement convex for my bullet wing mirrors for £5, but setting my flebay to "convex car mirror" and "From Australia," in advanced options, I got 319 hits. 

Given the option I would fit convex door mirrors rather than bullets on the wing, but they're there now. 

Here's 1 off 319

 TEX CLASSIC CAR DOOR MIRROR MADE IN UK LUCAS STYLE RIGHT HAND CONVEX | eBay

 

I just bought a watch from a guy in Melbourne, got stung 20% import duty by HMRC :angry:. But a nice watch, Swiss Army. Took 5 days to get from Melbourne to Reading Royal Mail  Sorting Office and 7 days to get the 5 miles from Reading to Twyford! :angry:

Doug

 

Edited by dougbgt6
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should have wound it up .     might have sped up the delivery 

i have the feeling that once they have got you in their sights you get stung for anything be it gifted or not 

i got caught for the dvd of talking trucks from the Commer TS3 interview they did with me when they came over from NZ 

Pete

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Going back to my 'Project' I consider myself very lucky. Still alive in remission but with only a third of my original physical strength. Cannot even start my petrol mower now. Used to be able to do 25 push ups straight off all through chemo. Now three is difficult. Forearms diminishing due to lack of hormones. I might start weight training to keep what I have. I dare not take hormones or the disease will return.

My eldest son and grandson, are both petrol heads and will take the car on after me. The younger son deals in old tools and found me the GT6 and Vitesse workshop manual. (The big red one). I never have to buy tools, just exchange pressies instead.

I have two nephews over 55 who are also petrol heads. One also has a motor home that I sold him. So, I have loads of support.

You guys have assisted me when I have needed it and I am very grateful, especially when I joined still suffering chemo brain.

I am organising some good motorhome tours for this year, making the most of life. Using places at about £15 per night. Must do this before everywhere becomes a clean air zone.

At present, classics are ok in these. That won't last if Sad Khan finds more followers. If they allowed me to upgrade my low mileage vehicles I would do so.

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Had my eyes re-checked yesterday. Pressures down 20% so back in the 'Safe' zone for suppressing glaucoma. Retinas ok too. So now spurred on to do a bit more.

Now focussing on to the remaining paint scabs. Those done 2021 and 2022 have not decayed, showing the imortance of a dry garage. Mine has a room above and contains the boiler and is well ventilated.

So far, I have rmoved the rust, rustproofed, filled, sanded and repainted. I may try a bit of lead/tin solder on some holes. I have quite a lot of that stuff left. Trouble is, the flux can cause corrosion using that method.

I will then tackle removing the saloon 'Lug' from the left side front of the engine by cutting the front plate in situ. Nephew might get this job with his angle grinder. I cannot trust my grip for too long now. Used a hand screwdriver putting up a kitchen cupboard last week and cramp occurred with my middle finger arching backwards. Changed hands (yes I am ambi-dextrous with hand tools) and it happened that side too after ten minutes.

Then, I will use JohnD's suggestion and put domes on the bonnet. I can then raise the engne on shims and gain 10mm of sump/rack clearance. Domes will clear the front carb and top hose union.

In between motorhome trips, this will pass the Summer nicely and I'll end up with a more useable rolling resto for next year.

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Re screwdriver, Wagger.    I recommend a small electric 'driver!   Has a hex drive and small, up to 8mm, drills are available with a hex haft so it can drill small holes too.  Mine is a Bosch, like this:

image.png.20cc5f0ebca75f3c1283472098e98141.png

Others are, of course, available!

John

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