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Hi Gary I'm also building a Spyder from a Mk2 Vitesse and am only just over the river to you They'll get a bridge built one day. untill then will have to make do with Dartford.
Good luck with the build and all those household jobs.
Lancia - ifying your cars and adding rivet detail , random scoops , vents , panels etc is a look I really will enjoy seeing ....when I eventually get around to building a keeper I intend to do exactly that sort of detail...
They seem to be doing a special on that application.
Regarding the rivets, what iwas going to do is along the seams where you think the panels would overlap if it was aluminium i will tape down a length of ali , quite thin and run some filler against it and feather it out onto panel. Then take ali away which will give me a panel line. Does that make sense?
What make is the bonding paste people are using? Also, roughly how much matting and resin will a normal build take? Just need to go buy it all from my local suppliers and didn't wanna end up with too much or not enough
I ended up using a bit more bonding paste than Trevor and i've probably used 1.5 5kg tubs as i've also used it to fit my inner rear wheel arches.
Probably about the same amount if fibreglass, but i bought the large kits from Halfrauds one at a time as i had no idea how much i'd need. in retrospect i should have bought the kit from ebay as it should have been cheaper!
I've also got through 1.5 large tubs of body filler, although most of that seems to have ended up as dust on my garage floor and door!
Nothing to do with me, but there's a 1969 Herald 13/60 just come up on classiccarsforsale.com. It's £1000, but will surely be negotiable, and people seem to be having quite good luck selling unwanted bits on ebay. The good thing is it's driveable and mot'd.
Question. I have a 71' mk.2 Vitesse and i have been looking at the Canley schematics trying to identify my inlet manifold, but i don't recognise it. Please see attached.
In your picture you show a Vitesse 6 Solex inlet manifold. However it was not uncommon back in the day to use adaptor's to covert to Strombergs. Presumably this is what has occured to your car.
There were a number of companies offering conversions including SAH.
The later Vitesse 6, and the 2 ltr MKI inlet manifold dispensed with the 45 degree carb mounting detail used on the earlier Solex manifold (like yours) when Triumph themselves went over to Stromberg's.
Personally i think that finding out the history of our cars is a much fun as building them!
I was handed a binder chock full of receipts from the last 42 years including all of the documentes when the owner did the upgrade to the Vitesse Mk2 spec, the after market electronic ignition, the instructions that they "allegedly" followed switching from a dynamo to an alternator etc. Although critically it was missing any details about the twin SU's that came with my car! So i ended up putting a set of twin Stromberg's back on it so that at least i could just refer to the Haynes manuals
If your manifold does turn out to be a turkey, i do have those twin SU's on a manifold gathering dust in my garage that 'should' fit
I've been trying to find a site that lists when changes were made to engine spec by engine number, but the best I could find was this one that looks solely at the prefix letters:
So all those bits i have are not wasted... Couldn't of told the wife...
But i do have some rear shocks that aren't required!
Hmm, I'd fit those rear shocks if I were you Gary.
I like your thinking: there's an obvious weight saving to be made by deleting non-essential fripperies from your chassis like the shock absorbers and brake calipers, for example, but the trade-off is that you might find the ride gets a tad unsettled without them.
Question. I have a 71' mk.2 Vitesse and i have been looking at the Canley schematics trying to identify my inlet manifold, but i don't recognise it. Please see attached.
Hi
There are two main ways that a 1600 or mk1 cylinder head differs from a mk2, firstly the mk1 had separate push rod tubes pressed into the casting, the mk2 has tunnels in the casting. Also the inlet ports were raised to improve breathing so a 1600, mk1 head has the inlet and exhaust ports in a straight line whereas the mk2 has the inlet ports above the level of the exhaust ports giving a zig zag effect. The head in the photograph appears to be a 1600 or 2 litre mk1. Hope this helps
The meccano type construction of the herald based cars lead to a lot of people mismatching parts. I once had a spitfire 1500 which handled rather worse than I would have expected, I found out after a bit of detective work that someone had fitted Herald half shafts which are quite a bit narrower resulting in a back axle with toe out. Your engine would appear to be a mk1 2 litre and there is nothing wrong with them, on paper they are slightly less powerful than a mk2 engine but in a lightweight package like a Sammio I would imagine it will do the job. I hate to ask but have you checked the rear suspension on your Vitesse? It has got the rotoflex couplings not the swing axles hasn't it?
i have rotting metalastic doughnuts but i have a full rebuild kit for them. I even have rear shocks, not having noticed the telelever units? can i rebuild them or should i just exchange! heres a pic
i have rotting metalastic doughnuts but i have a full rebuild kit for them. I even have rear shocks, not having noticed the telelever units? can i rebuild them or should i just exchange! heres a pic
I'd exchange them if poss, Rimmer Bos can do that I think. You can get conversion kits to fit telescopic shocks if you want adjustables I had this set up on a Burlington Arrow and that worked well. Rimmer Bros supply them as well.
I will get them, save wasting the shocks i bought. just need to look at gasket set to see what won't fit as i bought for a Mk.2. i also want to do alternator upgrade, any info.
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but i have a full rebuild kit for them. I even have rear shocks, not having noticed the telelever units? can i rebuild them or should i just exchange!