Nick Jones

Sorry, I promised to send you a link before.  Unfortunately the company I used seems to have died or changed its name. I did find this  http://www.huco.com/products.asp?cat=48  (site a bit flaky tonight) - nice but possibly a bit dear! Also mostly US based RC model sites with decent looking and reasonably prices rod ends intended for RC cars, but some easily beefy enough for throttle linkage.... Also http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/category/Mechanical_Parts/Throttle_Linkage_Parts,b.html Nick

It is a nice bit of road.  We actually went that way on the RBRR 2008, not because we were lost but because we wanted to!  I think it's more fun going up though (yowling 6 pot and yipping tyres  ;D) and we went down it that time as we were going north. Nick

Really lovely 🙂 Just to add to your gearbox choices...... you should seriously consider a Toyota W series, the W58 being the pick of the bunch ratio wise. Dellow (in Oz) and Conversion Components (in NZ) both do kits for the TR6 which would get you a bell housing and clutch sorted.  I also suspect that if you can find a bell housing for a 2WD petrol Hilux (late 80s early 90s maybe) with 21R petrol engine and W series box, you'd be able to make that fit just by modifying the backplate. The W58 will fit with chopping anything but you may need to bend the inner chassis flanges downwards a bit.  Good ratios, nice change and should be unbustable with a Triumph lump. If you do talk to either Dellow or CC I'd be very interested to hear what they want for the bell housings as I got so bored with waiting for them to answer my emails I made my own...... James Beaumont (Jango) has one in his GT6.  Pretty sure that's a CC kit as a friend of his imports them to the UK. Returning to the type 9, there's a company called HI-Gear Engineering here in the UK who make  a T9 conversion for the TR5&6 using a specially cast bellhousing rather than an adapter plate.   http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/content/view/18/33/ This might use the short input shaft?  Though if you've already got the other kit it's probably cheaper/easier to swap the input shaft. Cheers Nick

Hmm,  might have to do a recce "shed to the med" run next year to stay in practice  :) Nick

Good god man, haven't you finished yet?!  :P  Best get an MoT booked to spur you on.....   ;):P Nick (You are making the rest of us look very idle)

Looks superb! You could get some brushing synthetic mixed to match the colour easy enough and invest a couple of hours with a brush on the floors - would finish it off nicely  :) Nick

The engine is certainly very heavy..... approx 180kgs. Nick

Jason wrote:Could the fuel issues be down to the contents of the tank being sloshed around a damn sight more than usual? Could be a factor in some cases.  Mine gets thrown about fairly often which may help to keep things clean.....  :P  Another reason to use them properly on a regular basis  :) Nick

GT6_Don wrote:There seemed to be so many problems with fuel and poor running it might be better to ask who didn't have problems and why they didn't? At Last year's Classic Le Man there were so many poor running cars in all that heat...come on who has cracked it? My EFI Vitesse worked without temperment in spite of the heat and altitude.  Most will consider this a mod too far I suspect! It always gets 95 fuel and therefore has been exposed to 5% ethanol regularly (It has seen E85 in the past too, but it didn't think alot of that!).   You will have almost certainly encountered 5% ethanol in the UK unless you religiously use the premium fuels of just one or two suppliers, so I'm not sure that is really the issue, although there is no doubt that the ethanol content tends to dislodge the fossilised hydrocarbons lurking in the fuel system.  The comments about the blue colour are interesting though - could well be that there are formulation differences. Suspect that the main problems are: - higher than usual ambient temperatures - higher underbonnet temperatures, partly as the result of the above, but also due to working hard at relatively low speed on long steep hills (!) - altitude. - Modern petrol containing more volatile components than the 60s/70s stuff the cars were designed for. All of this conspires to cause fuel vapourisation and rough running.  We discussed this with Mike and Libby and the conclusion was that on the carb equipped-sixes, it is as if they are designed to promote fuel vapourisation with carbs over the exhaust, mechanical fuel pump and fuel pipe between the two hugging the hot block and thermostat housing.  Solutions discussed included an electric fuel pump mounted somewhere cooler, re-routing the fuel lines and heat shields for the carbs.  A fuel return line to allow fuel to recirculate rather than hanging around in the hot engine bay was also considered. Nick

Yes.  Although as a Garmin owner I'm not yet sure if it is any use to to me. Nick

I've not heard anything bad about County pistons.  The opposite in fact and, as Bill says, they come with decent rings too. I seem to remember that the racing boys used to use VW/Audi 1300 pistons (made by Mahle I think) but that involved changing the little end bush size and possibly and in between bore size. County will likely be fine. Nick

My experience is that the 1500 dolly starter will work with the Spit/Herald ring gear although it doesn't sound as happy as it does with the right ring gear. As for the other way around..... it will engage about 1 time in 20 and make a truly horrible noise the other 19....... I'd guess the Denso will work but I'm guaranteeing nothing!  I always found the pre-engaged Dolly one to be very effective - goodness knows why it was unique to that car though. Nick

Unusually good bearings for a 1500!  Cam is thoroughly wrecked though. Nick

Two door Toledo V8..... yummy!  Might need to tweak the name a little...... I think "Torpedo" might be something like right 😀 Nick

Nice colour....... nice finish 🙂  That is going to be really lovely Nick

If the Rover system can be tweaked sufficiently to do a good job then I can see the attraction.  Seems like a fair enough first step.  You can always change ECU later if you think there is more to come.  Relatively small job compared to the initial install. Either way it's got to be worth a go - Stag engine cries out for a decent induction system 🙂 Nick

Julian, Neil, No arguments on the hardware side, but as far as the management side goes, you will find it easier to get the fuelling right across the rev/load range using a mappable ECU rather than trying to tweak the old Rover system.  You won't even need an air flow meter then.  You can also control the ignition timing which also brings big benefits in my experience.  I like Megasquirt because it's cheap and I'm mean but there are many ECU choices. Cheers Nick

Oil pressure looks very good and compressions don't look all that bad - ring probs on no. 3 maybe....... You also might want to check the valve lifts on nos. 1 & 4 exhaust (two end ones) as these do seem to wear first and worn exhaust cam lobes sometimes seem to give higher cranking compressions (not sure why!). Nick

I have been experimenting for a while now as the Vitesse engine is well past it's best and now drinks ordinary 20/50 like a rabbit hole..... A rebuilt head with valve guide seals made very little difference even though the old guides were completely shot  :(  Some oils are definitely better than others but all get tired after about 3000 miles.  My current fave is the cheapest Comma 20/50 I could find with a can of Wynns added.  That works pretty well (back up to nearly 1000 miles/pint from about 200!) but the oil pressure is a bit scary when cold! I've now got just about everything to build a fresh bottom end but seem to have acquired another project along the way which is taking priority..... Nick

In my experience you don't loose that much oil down the inlet guides unless you have an unrestricted external rocker feed..... even if you have 6 inlet guides.  Worth a try though. Nick

Can't really manage to sleep in the Vitesse so two nights out really hurts - Hence marshalling this year...... Have never used Red Bull, Pro-plus or even coffee on these events - they just make me feel really ill.  I have been know to use Lucozade sport and that works ok.  Other than that, just normal food where possible - full English breakfast seems to be pretty much ideal.  Had some really evil French cheese on the 10CR last year - that caused some fairly serious emissions problems!   Interesting idea about piping the co-driver up to the engine and feeding them beans..... was thinking about lpg anyway.  Might want a flame trap though, exploding co-driver would be messy  :-/ Nick

Actually, gruesome looks and suspect handling aside, I didn't hate the C3 as much as expected.  It actually went quite well (provided the AC was off) and went significantly better by the time I'd finished "running it in".....  It's possible that 2nd and 3rd gear plus anything connected with the steering may fail surprisingly early though .  Excellent brakes. Nick

Citroen C3 Picasso diesel hire car....... (aka the "Blue Hippo").  Scary amounts of understeer  (so much so that I was moved to check the tyre pressures).  At least it was economical and the AC was welcome. Nick

Just got back from 10 days in the eastern Pyrenes..... boy do they have some great roads there - these wide, well surfaced alpine passes with barriers are for girls   Special mentions to: D618 Amelie les Bains  -> Bouleternere - was tired after that one even with PAS N116 Prades to Mont Louis D118 Mont Lois to Axat (especially after Puyvalador) D4 Matemale -> Olette - absolutely barking mad road - too extreme to send a group down though. D613 Ax Les Thermes to Quillan - as used on 2009 10CR - still great but not quite the same without the yowling 6 and RWD...... D25 Ax les Thermes to Escouloubre (see pic) used on Tour de France (those guys must be HARD) You could spend a week in the Pyrenes just doing passes..... there is even a signed route "Route des Cols".  Pity it is such a trek down there.......  Sorry not more pics - I was driving 'cause the boss wouldn't 😀 Three days in the Alps doing passes would be fine too 🙂 Nick

Megasquirt is not OBDII or even OBDI.  ONly worth using Megasquirt if the car is not already injected as it can then perform both the Petrol and LPG functions (dual maps) as well as the ignition control if wanted. On a car that is elready electronically injected it makes more sense to use the "piggy back" ECUs that the LPG folks supply. Nick