MarkB

I assume you are meaning powder coating?, as you mention the cost of powder. In which case as far as iam aware you need an oven to melt the powder to create the coating. I think DIY would mean small items, wishbones etc. anything larger you would need a commercial size walk in oven. There is also an electrostatic paint process that uses wet paint, but I think is only viable for a commercial set up.

I think you may have a problem with space if fitting to the front screen surround. I think all the electric arial are quite bulky, my one is fitted rear drivers side, so plenty of space below. Because electric arial are heavy they need extra bracing, and don't just rely on the threaded arial base to hold it in place, so need a fair bit of space.

I fitted an old school, I think Audioline, 70s 80s electric arial on my Vitesse. Fitted something similar to my first car when I was 17. Basic toggle switch for up and down. Found on ebay, someone clearing their loft out I think. I have no faith in newly manufactured parts, from personal experience. For the same reason I found a NOS Selmar pendelum alarm.

The old and new heater valve on my Vitesse both take a similar effort to move manually, but twice as hard using the the heater control knob despite lubricating the cable. It's caused by the curve in the cable needed to route it to the heater valve. I think the solid inner wire binds up against the outer corrugated sleeve. I was thinking of using a modern plastic outer sleeve retaining the solid inner wire, needed to push and pull the valve, but more involved than it looks, and not got around to it yet. Similar story on the choke cable, used to be quite common to see the T type knob fitted to the later Heralds, Vitesses snapped.

Thanks Rob, something I wouldn't mind owning one day, that or a Tr6, got to many cars cars on my plate at the moment.

How does this work for gt6 convertibles, Spit tub on gt6 chassis and running gear?

Great work and progress, hope the migraine is easing up.

Think the base has a rubber diaphragm hooked to the frame.

Not checked for clearance of the S manifold on the gt6, but now you mention it I think i read the same somewhere. I'll have to have a closer look. The Sprint set float lid pipes are orientated differently to the 2.5 ones. As you suggest I'll have to research part numbers, as the sets I have could have been mixed and matched more than once over the past 50 years, so in reality could have come off numerous other cars that used the twin Hs6 set up, and I shouldn't rely on the ID tags.

Hi all I have sprint carbs on a 2.5s long manifold fitted to My 2ltr Vitesse, runs great. I have another set of sprint carbs and s manifold which I will be fitting to a 2.5 engine that's going into my Gt6. I have a rebuild kit to use on this set. Whilst sorting through years of collected spares I have found another 2 sets of Hs6 carbs, think they originally came from 2.5s and TC Triumphs. Apart from the shorter Dash pots and dampers on the Sprint carbs, they appear identical to the other sets of HS6 carbs I have. All the bodies are ADU9 and the pistons are AUC 1332. The sprint carbs are early sets taged 545 think around 1973/74. Not compared the needle sizes. Think the later sprint carbs had the idle screw going through the casting where the early sets dont. Thought I heard or read somewhere that there where internal differences to the Sprint carbs? I was thinking of building up the best set, and using the shorter sprint Dash pots and dampers to clear the gt6 bonnet. There's not much between the sets really, maybe a marginal differences in spindle wear but probably not worth worrying about. Anyone heard of any real difference between Sprint Hs6 vs those fitted to 2.5's, other than what I've mentioned above?

Sorry, not a clone, should have read Woodhead, presumably Jonas Woodhead & Sons, founded in 1850, believe started manufacturing shocks from the 1940's

Recently changed the doughnuts on my mk2 gt6 (3rd time in twenty years), not a lot of miles in that time, same old story, the rubber perishes and splits. Shocks are still mounted to the inner arch, so they were removed, cleaned up and repainted. Changed a couple of rubber bushes with good used originals, I throw nothing away. Still working perfectly, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are the original shocks. They are made by Woohead.

I fitted John Wolfe's ARB drop links to my Vitesse, nicely made items. Not found an ARB yet without some amount of twist in it. I think there was some debate wether they were originally made with a degree of twist, either way, with the Ajustable drop links you can adjust any preload.

I bought a walk around tyre changer several years ago, was quoted £10 per wheel just to remove and dispose of the tyre. Had over 20 tyres to remove, all triumph steel wheels. I have 4 raw bolts in the concrete outside the workshop, just bolt the changer to the floor when needed. I reinforced the bead breaker part as lots of the old tyres had welded themselves to the rims. Since then I have swapped tyres around numerous times, and changed out perished valves on my trailer all old steal wheels I did split a brand new tyre bead, which meant bining it, that peed me off, so bought two tubs of propper tyre soap which make things easier. There's a deffinate process and technique getting the tyre bead in the correct part of the wheel well otherwise you will ruin the tyre or wheel trying to stretch the bead over the rim. I almost gave up several times. It's a pretty physical workout. The tyre changer I bought came with a long steel tyre leaver, which is pretty brutal, which I used on steel wheels. I have since bought a bar designed for alloy wheels (not cheap) which I used on my Vitesse alloys as I found all the valves were perished. Needed lots of padding and protection to the rim, getting one half of the tyre bead removed to get to the valves. If you do change your own tyres you you still may need to get them balanced which can be expensive, which is usually thrown in at a tyre shop. I did buy a diy balancer, and weights, but need to experiment with that. In my case, I had loads of tyres to remove from old steel wheels, so definately saved me money, and has been handy for replacing valves, and the odd tyre, but that was after lots of practice and failures. If I bought a new set of wheels and tyres I would get them professionally fitted and balanced, as unless your very careful and had lots of practice, it's very easy to damage a tyre or rim in my experience.

Lot of hard work, but it will be well worth it when it's done.

Nice looking Vitesse. Like the de-trimmed look. I can see the bell housing, and mods to the bulkhead. Was that to try and stiffen it up or to create room to reposition the engine and box. Lots of mods, looks good.

Hi I purchased a pair a while back from Canleys. Good quality parts. They are handed, a suttle difference, from memory, and I think they tend to point inwards slightly as the boot is closed. I have  a feeling if you fit them the wrong way around, I think over time there's a chance they will become stressed and possibly snap. Mark

Sorry posted just a bit to late. mark

I replace the lower rear wing on a Vitesse several years ago now, and cleaned the lip of the upper wing section using a blow lamp and screw driver to dig and scrape out all the Bitumen sealant /deadening that was there. I then used a wire brush to get back to metal before drilling and plug welding with a Mig. As I recall the main problem was clamping the two sections together as there is a 90 degree return on the top section, I did have the correct type welding clamps but wasn't happy with the fit as they opened up the seam when locked down so I used self tappers every other hole, plug welded the holes removed the screws and finished off the welding. Both surfaces must be dead flush and clamped very tightly together, as if you get molten metal between the two surfaces you have problems and lots of work to rectify. The pattern rear wing I purchased was a diabolical fit but thats another story. If I was to do the job again today I would probably use one of the modern panel adhesives. I spoke to a chap after fitting mine who had just had rear wings fitted to his Mk3 Spit and the body shop had used an adhesive to join the rear arch lip to the inner arch, which again can be tricky to weld as it can be difficult to get the two surfaces to meet for welding with out causing distortion. Mark

I've removed the captive plates from several cars that I broke. Long time ago but don't recall it being that hard. Think it involved levering part of the cage out of the way and sliding the plate out. Personally I would replace the plates and not drill and re-tap to a larger size especially more than one as you will reduce the amount of adjustment when refitting and lining up the door. In my experience these kinds of mods have a knock on effect. Mark

I replaced this on my Vitesse restoration years ago can't remember where I bought it from, but it pinched and gripped the window to tightly making it impossible to wind up and down. I ended up shaving it down with a scalpel, so there maybe more than one size available out there. Mark

Hi I am self tapping the hood trim and poppers on, but the round sholdered clips look to be one with the countersunk head of the rivet, one piece. Also the original holes along the side of the car would need a large self tapper, to big to countersink below the head of the trim clip. when the time comes I'll have to try riveting one and see how i goes. Thanks for the suggestions. Mark

Hi all I have bought some of the rivets that have the specially shaped head that the chrome side strips clip on to. I need to drill some holes in the new door skins. I was going to repaint the rest of the car then rivet the clips on. My concern is when the rivet snaps into place is it likely to crack the paint? Alternatively I could fit the rivets to a primed surface and and then top coat. I Drilled the originals out years ago, can't remember why possibly to make it easier to strip the paint and sand the panels. Whats your thoughts? Thanks Mark

Hi all Thanks for the replies. Manged to loosen the joints yesterday, rusted very solid, but after lots of heat and penetrating oil I got both sides moving, now they flop side to side with ease. I carefully clamped the end of the header rail in a vice above the welded joint and worked directly on the arm. It would be very easy to snap off at the weld if not held securely. Thanks Mark

Yes my thoughts as well. I think the reason a lot of header rails crack in this area is because this bar seizes and stresses the joint when latching the hood down. Mine was Ok just a bit of rust caused by moisture under the vinyl. I did heat this joint up today to see if it would move but its going to take a bit more effort as it is solid and I was waiting conformation on here before I really go for it.