Nick Jones

Hopefully it has actually been properly repaired and not just someone taking advantage of MoT exemption….. Good luck in your search 🙂

Well, someone has just taxed it (runs to June ‘23) so it’s alive at least…. Nick

That’s come out really nice. I love the colour and the wheels. Looks classy and right. I note the wheels are the same style as the Americana parked in the background……

Petit St Bernard pass in fact (and it’s quite big enough in the dark and rain). Had forgotten the frogs! Do vividly remember trying buy fuel in Aosta and doing battle with those crazy Italian payment machines, which didn’t (then) take UK cards…… We were eventually rescued by a lovely local guy. I’ll never forget the expression on his face when we told him where we’d come from, and where we were going😀

This. The only time any of the fleet get anything other than the cheapest I can find is before going on track. Only problem I’ve had was in rural France where the (probably rarely used) petrol pump was doling out a generous measure of water. Didn’t stop it, but it did make some very threatening noises. Nick

Bourg St Maurice IIRC……? The start of a VERY long night, which ended at the Nurburgring. That 10CR (2009) was a proper mission! Nick

All true m’lud…. Both wheels and home fires have caused many deaths…..😛

Maybe ok for garden machinery or vintage motorbike. The volumes would be more or less practical and those engines probably won’t care much about octane loss. For cars….. nah….. Haven’t had any issues using ordinary supermarket E10 so far. Nick

Looks like a nice straight car. Nick

Yup….

4.11 will be fine with a 1200. Even with a bit of tuning. Nick

Single or twin carbs? On the twins there are vertical two bolts from below that fasten the two manifolds together, though quite often missing now. Are these the bolts you mean or the horizontal nuts/studs that hold the manifolds to head? There are four of those which tighten against clamping pieces which hold both manifolds. Nick

Good. Pretty much what I was suggesting as one of the options in my first response, though I didn’t know that the spring eye bush was a good starting point. And Mike’s beaten us to it…. Nick

It’s utterly unfit for purpose. It may survive in a vertical install where it doesn’t have to accommodate any rotation, but not here. You should insist that they send you a set FOC as punishment! Konis are much better in quality and performance respects. The lack of adjustable spring seats and external rate adjustment is a loss of convenience though.

It’s not a new problem https://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/1214-avo-damper-bush-failures-polybush-general-failure/#comment-15307 https://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/6987-those-darn-avo-bushes/#comment-92082 There are other threads too. Plus there used to be an epic one on the original of this forum. Nick

I can’t help with the “normal” bush diameter, but I can tell you that the AVO design will inevitably and repeatedly fail due to insufficient area to spread the load and too much rotational movement in this application. It rapidly shreds the bushes. I gave up after 4 bush replacements in about 20k miles, by which time the dampers themselves were shot anyway. Best path IMO is to bin them and fit something decent. However, if the dampers themselves are still good you could convert to a rose joint (one of the reasons the original bush design is so compromised is that the lower ring is also machined to take a rose joint) or perhaps hunt down a metal cased bush which is a moderate interference fit in the lower ring. Nick

Valeo are definitely a reputable OE manufacturer. TRW also, or they were. Not sure who owns them this week. QH always were a bit patchy and aftermarket IMO and are now owned by Klarius….. the Klarius exhaust rubbers I fitted to my Audi a year back lasted 3 months….. Nick

This may have been true once but definitely is not now! I’ve been with RH Specialist for a long time now and they seem to be ok…. Nick

We didn’t even know it was a cemetery car park until the dawn broke. Did explain why the neighbours weren’t getting arsey though…..😛 Nick

My advice would be to invest in some basic sheet metal working tools including a half decent MIG welder and crack on with it. If you can stick-weld, MIG should come fairly easy. It’s mostly about practice. My son’s Spit mk4 resto a few years back https://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/7107-chriss-mkiv-basket-case-restored-to-glory/#comments Hopefully yours is a way better start point!! Nick

Hooligan 😛 Seems quite lively.... presumably not a Triumph diff any more? Nick

Sorry…. Can’t resist it any longer, did your surname cause any comment?

Agree with most of this, except to say that they can be made to fade (though only if you are a complete animal), and I have no idea about the noise comment - I’ve been through quite a few sets of these on several cars and not had noise issues. For me they are the first choice, go-too pad. I did try Greenstuff once. Wasn’t impressed. No bite at all. Nick

It's been several decades since I owned a 1300FWD but IIRC the ring gear frame is attached to the crank pulley via rubber bushes and if they aren't right all sorts of strange and unhelpful things happen. Also make sure the chamfer on the ring gear is pointed the right way to assist the gears meshing, bearing in that the gear moves back towards the starter motor as it engages so the chamfer needs to point forward. Also the FWD starter motor runs in the opposite direction to most..... Nick

Rob beat me to it. You really don't want diagonal split. Without the afore-mentioned suspension geometry changes the car will pull very hard to one side if a circuit fails. The alternatives are To do a front/rear split as done on some late/export Spitfires and GT6s (master cylinder not at all easy or cheap to find) This won't give you as much braking reserve braking in the event of the front circuit failing but better than nothing. To use true split circuit brake calipers such as the Austin Princess ones which have 4 pistons each in 2 pairs operated by different circuits. My view is you'll probably do just as well to stick with the factory single circuit, use best quality components and keep up on the maintenance. Nick