Clive

Top tips for sump removal. Drain the oil, and leave the car for a day or 2. That way you are less likely to need to pressure wash your hair with truckwash. A hat is a good idea too. Better, a shower cap!

I did with my mkIV, so may be slightly different. I had to hack some of the foam off the front (ie under the screen) of the original dash to get it in, still quite tight. But as my dash was cracked, it has made a huge visual improvement. I will be speaking with a mk3 owner who used one, so will enquire how that went.

Manufacturer should be the same for a CU and its contents. Wylex RCBOs are not cheap! (and that is why they are not used much domestically, customers are given the choice, £80 or £180 for a new CU, and they don't understand the benefits. Or the fact it is adding a smallish % to the overall costs.

Bit of a grey area that would cause an argument on an electricians forum! From memory, if no RCD protection the cables need to be buried at least 50mm or (I think, need to check) 3mm steel protection. So I should be OK. But a 100mA would be a sensible precaution. Plan B is to use a switched fuse, which are difficult to blow. Some RCBOs are very cheap now, £10ish, so I could use those in the garage. But not compatable (from regs point of view) with my Wylex CU and mainswitch. Besides, a single RCD should be adequate for a garage. I need to be careful, as I said much of this is not "normal" stuff that I deal with day to day. So I should refer to BS7671. Danger is that it will send me to sleep before I find out what I need.

Std house wiring thesedays is a dual RCD board, with upstairs power and downstairs lights on one RCD, and vive versa. Better is a bank of RCBOs so each circuit has its own RCD. Not good practice to have a 30mA RCD in the house, and have that protecting teh garage, with another RCD in the garage. If you do that, it should be a 10mA RCD in the garage, but that is hopeless with power tools. What I want to do is fit a 100mA RCBO in the house to feed the garage, but a C curve so it copes with my welder better. It will be OK with current regs as the garage supply cable is SWA and buried more than 50mm under floors etc. and nearly a metre deep across the garden. Then I can fit a 30mA RCD in the garage. That will be more convenient for when I cut the grinder cable or whatever.

This is worrying. Do you not have RCDs in your consumer unit? If not, it is time you did, or fit one before the CU. Or best of all, fit a full set of RCBOs.

I have a very good late 1850 gearbox sitting here.... And know a chappie who has built a few of the hybrid gearboxes. Just in case....

It is a tad more complex. The J type gearboxes for a 6 cylinder both originate from dolomites. The earlier type is essentially the exact same box as the std gt6/Vit gearbox, but a J type od. It is the exact same length as the std GT6/Vit box, and also has the same small mainshaft tip. The input shaft uses teh coarse splines, same as gt6/vit. The later Dolomite box is single rail. Reverse next to 3rd gear. That uses a mainshaft with the bigger 18mm tip. It requires a fine spline clutch plate from a late dolly 1850. The gearbox is an inch longer, so bespoke propshaft required. There is also a bit of grief fitting the gt6/vit bellhousing

Simple answer is reverse position. single rail it is next to 3rd 3 rail next to first (or second, but that side)

Let me know if you are down my way soon, or I will be in Ringmer 19th Dec

Doug, what type of temp/fuel gauges? Jaegar or smiths? I only have a Jaegar fuel gauge, but have both in Smiths. I might have a dashboard somewhere, but I haven't seen it for a while. Can investigate.

Looking at this another way, why has the battery discharged in the first place? If there is a vampire device in the car draining the battery, and it has made the battery completely flat, the battery may not recover. But the supplier should replace under warranty. Once you get this issue sorted, you need to check what is going on, a battery should hold charge for many many months. And yes, do try the charger on another battery, they too sometimes go wrong. Ho hum.

GB is herald 1200 I think. But all of the herald gearboxes (except the all alloy ones) are the same internally. So nothing to be learnt. The stabaliser thing, I think you can safely remove that. Was is a exhaust steady? I can't remember now.

All heralds use the same steering wheel splines.

Most of the people building gearboxes or diffs rely on a supply of "core" stock from dismantled units. So when inspected, they will replace any damaged or unservicable parts with good ones. This may apply to bearings too. My t( box needed a 5th gear, BGH supplied a good used one. Likewise they replaced some of the synchros with better used items, as they refuse to use any of the new synchro rings available. A lot of this stuff is down to experience of the builder. And teh kicker is that with diffs, some shims are impossible to find. As the stock of used ones disappears (as it now is) goodness knows what will happen. Recently one of the guys who has been doing these for many many years said he had trouble finding shims for a rebuild, having to take several apart to find one that was usable. He has a lot of core, but no longer offers diff rebuilds. Expect to see this to spread.

No reason to change bearings if they are still good. The trouble is knowing how a good bearing feels. Likewise the layshaft pin, and synchros. A friend is very good with gearboxes, but he is always very keen to know what issues a box has before he strips it, so he has a clue what he is looking for. Indeed when I took my T9 box to BGH they wanted to know why I wanted it worked on. So if you have no experience with gearboxes, it may be best to simply clean it out, waggle the input shaft to feel for excessive play (usually the mainshaft tip bearings) and change the rear seal. I think the frnt has a scroll seal, so not replaceable, but you should check. Then drive the car once assembled, and hopefully all is well. A lot of the money is the labour to strip/clean/inspect/reassemble a gearbox. So that is unavoidable if you get somebody to do it for you.

They are both between the needles you already have, so I would ask to try both. See what works best? I am sure Danny can be bribed.

It is Ellis who is in charge. I just help out with the website side of things. However, I believe there are a few things still being sorted causing some delays. I am sure we will all know when a date has been set, and an email will go out to all members.

ABT are std 1500 needles, so somebody may have some they can lend you to try?

But if you want teh 6 cylinder noise, and to build a pretty std spit 6... 1. Inlet manifold. Needs to be a proper GT6/Vitesse type, all others WILL mean cutting holes in the bonnet. Other option is PI or EFI, but if that is your intention, ask. Nick is your man for EFI 2. Engine. The 2litre v 2.5 debate is unending. The 2 engines are very different in character. The 2 litre is revvier, the 2.5 is more torquey and pulls better at lower RPM. And it is not a subtle difference. You really need to drive both, and then sit down and have an honest debate with yourself about what you really want. Be aware the 2.5 is going to stress the gearbox and diff more, and solving that issue is not simple. 3. Gearbox. The simple option is the std GT6/Vit box, with overdrive. Better is to use the internals from a later dolly 1850 or the whole single rail box. It has a bigger mainshaft tip, and comes with the stronger j type OD as std. That requires a little fettling, particularly to the GT6 bellhousing for the selector rod. And a bespoke 1" shorter than std prop. 4. 3.63 diff a good choice. 3.27 better for a 2.5, but it is weak and liable to fail (from experience, others have fitted LSDs to help)

http://www.mintylamb.co.uk/suneedle/ ABT maybe? Or take a file to the needles. The trouble is that the needles move down under acceleration, so you are working with a number of variables. The spring and damper oil will affect mixture under acceleration.

Last I heard Canleys made their own kits up as they were not happy with the quality of the available kits. The nylon ball seems to be the main issue these days. ( so don't ever throw a decent one away)

Shoes are really comfy! TJ is around I think, not sure how active though. I am more or less replicating his kit, except using the bigger version of the discs and late Escort calipers. How hard can it be?? Currently waiting for some 8mm steel bar to make the adapters. Want them plenty strong enough. Then I need to get some braided hoses made up. I think that is all.

I have recently fitted a pump off a Yamaha motor bike. I bought 3 used ones, but all genuine. One is on my vitesse, and is quiet compared to the Facet wch I have used on other cars. It is also low pressure, about 2psi, so causes no issues at all. And the bike has more bhp than the vitesse, so fuel delivery won't be an issue. Yoiu can hear it tick away when you start the car, getting the float chanmbers full, it then slows right down. When dric=ving, I really cannot hear it. It has be be fitted close to the tank and ideally below the tank. I will be fitting the other pumpo to my dolomite, and the 3rd will be a spare to carry on the 10CR etc meaning it will never be needed. Best of all, I bought all 3 for £30!

Pulling the choke out when hitting the 4k should help diagnose weak mixture. I think the 1300 uses richer needles than a 1500, and I think ABTs are std 1500 needles. I am sure somebody like Canley Classics or Burlen can suggest a suitable needles.