Nick Jones

Sorry...... better to find out before fitting it though! Mk1 Herald (if that is what you really mean) were 948 or 1200cc and had a very feeble chassis Mk2 Vitesse has certain suspension advantages though a same to remove a Vitesse from the fleet as I gather they are really rare in Oz? Cheers Nick

I like that - has promise. You've got lots of spline there - can you not get new circlip grooves cut further in and lop the ends off if you need them shorter? Though I wouldn't suggest doing anything that drastic until have it all mocked up in the car and can move the suspension through its full travel. Nick

Herald 13/60 is actually 1296cc - which is not so helpful....... (13 = 1300cc / 60hp) Nick

TIG brazed ought to give a good chance of being leak free in its own right. Bit wary of sealants as they keep changing the recipe for petrol....... Nick

You have it there! My company currently refuses to hold decent stock levels and treats its suppliers fairly badly by squeezing their prices. This leads to all kinds of supply chain issues like late delivery, no spares available for desperate customers and stuff like that. Damages reputation (hard earned & priceless!) and opens doors to competition and pirate spares suppliers. The cause - bloody accountants and "professional managers" who can't see beyond short-term balance sheets. Does make I very grumpy as 'tis I who gets his ass kicked by both customers (late delivery, no spares) and management (order lost to competition). And yes - remote controlled supertankers hacked by baddies...... pretty sure there's been a film or two on that theme! Nick

Hmm..... though problems with "clean" water might tend to increase the load on the dirty plumbing...... if you catch my drift.... Have wondered often in the past why anyone with a major plant control system would even connect it to the internet - at least without the mother of all firewalls. In the early 90s I working for an industrial controls company and I still vividly remember one of my service engineer colleagues demonstrating how he could change stuff in the control system of a carbon black plant in Hungary - from his laptop balanced on the bonnet of his car in our car park in Yeovil via mobile phone modem. Sure, he had a password, but shit....... carbon black plants burn quite well! They did a bit of an oil refinery too - and lots of water treatment plants. Nick

No, taper rollers are used in pairs. The shape of the existing housing does not lend itself to this. I don't think a four point contact ball bearing is enough. You can also get taper roller bearing packs with a pair assembled into a single casing (like the ones used in the MGF/R100), but these are deeper and I think too big for the housing you have. In the absence of rotoflex vertical links I really think your best bet is to identify something modern that can be re-purposed. Plenty of possibilities. FWD fronts (Golf, Escort?), RWD/4WD (Subaru, Honda) but you'll not find anything that bolts straight up. Nick

Pretty sure I've written about this before..... maybe even in an email? It is completely unsuitable under any circumstances. It has a single ball race, which has very limited side load capacity and a roller bearing which has none. In the original suspension design the cornering loads go up the driveshaft to the diff side bearing. This is also smallish ball-race with limited side load capacity but at least in this location it's seeing the side load pretty evenly over it's whole circumference and doesn't have to take the weight of the corner as well. It is also properly located in housing/on the shaft. A modern twin bearing pack would be much better - but will be wider. I doubt there is room for one as the housing is pretty small. You could get a bearing block machined up to replace the TRiumph one that is able to take a twin pack or pair of taper rollers. You don't want the bearing housing to swivel in the vertical link anyway. Better to use rotoflex links or adapt something from a modern vehicle. Nick

Halfords......... They do have some pretty decent tools and some good deals on ICE, but a poor place to buy car parts, even simple ones these days. Your proper local motor factor should be able to help. We have an excellent one in Yeovil (Honourable mention for Yeovil Motor Factors!) who have good stocks in all shapes and sizes, though old fashioned V belts are not as much used as they ones were. The belt part number is usually made up of its section shape and its length. EG the Camskill listings (up your way I think John?) http://www.camskill.co.uk/m28b0s2585p0/Cambelts_Auxilliary_Belts_Drive_Belts_and_Fan_Belts_Dayco_and_Gates_V_Belts_-_11A_Shape_belts_-_Fan_Belts_-_V_Belts Show 11A section belts from about 500 to 1300mm long and their next shorter listing from 1180 is 1171. Pretty sure I use 1180s. Note that I'm not sure which the correct section is - this could also affect the fitting as it will determine how deep the belt sits in the pulley. Cheers Nick

Looks pretty good...... any more pics? What was mechanical spec in the end? Nick

Hi Dave, How nice to see you Completely agree with your comment (Sorry Doug). Also, the swing axle wheel bearing is completely unsuitable for taking suspension loads. However, I'm liking that CV alot and the 3.08 diff - is that an R180? What does it come from? Cheers Nick

The OPs issue is not being able to get the original bolt out. If the bolt and bracket are in usable condition it is best to leave them alone as they can be very very hard to get out, usually leading to total destruction of the bolt/bracket. Nick

Original roto flex VLs are sand cast I think. Pretty decent, durable part really. Canleys cast alloy vertical links seem to be ok. They are apparently made to a design used by the factory for the Le Mans cars amongst other things. They are beefier than the steel ones in key areas and the casting is not handed. I'm not aware of any other alternatives other than adapting MGF vertical links or links from some other fwd car (R100 ones have been used). Nick

Yes really..... http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42151 Nick

They are cast steel. I have successfully used heat to straighten the spring attachment ears in the past. As regards the radius arm bracket/shock bolts, if the brackets are ok (or even fixable in situ) and the threads on the end of the bolt are ok..... don't, repeat DON'T even attempt to remove! If they don't come out with a few taps of a hammer (a few of them do) it is most unlikely they'll come out at all. I had a link which was itself fatally damaged, but had an excellent bracket which I wanted to recover. I had to cut the link in half to remove it - took me nearly as long to do at it it does to make a new bracket from scratch, which rather defeated the object! Nick

If you mean Volvo 340 shafts then yes, that's about it. Rare in breakers now too. Mk1 Fiesta XR2 inner CVs are very similar but not identical. Also very rare. Nick

http://www.mintylamb.co.uk/gearspeed/ Just been playing on James' site (thanks again James!). Not a huge difference between 4.11 and 3.89 in fact - and revs seem a bit high even for the 4.11..... Does depend (quite alot) on what tyres you are running also. Qick check is whether the diff has a square input flange or a round one. Square will be 4.11, round 3.89. Nick

I'm always a bit wary of absolute power figures, but these seem very plausible plus you picked up 10% on the day and the "after" torque curve looks way better - that's a result! Other thing I notice..... 4600 rpm @ 70 mph...... really?! Are you still on the Vit 6 4.11 diff? Suggest a 3.63 from a 1500 Spit would improve things considerably on the open road. Cheers Nick

I've not done a GT6, but the Herald I did was pretty easy. We even made the headliner ourselves using the old one as a pattern. Presumably the glass is all out? If so it is basically a case of threading the bars through the pockets and getting it clipped up there. Then get it centralised and work around with clothes pegs or bulldog clips until you've got it sat right. Then it's time to break out the glue..... Nick

That is interesting - not least because it also implies that the Subaru CV will fit the Volvo shaft - an also the Rover one.... I don't think this has been previously demonstrated - Good work! Nick

Yes, they are a right b*gger! A vice, a helpful bit of tube and alot of swearing. Last time I warmed them up a bit to make them a bit squashier and greased 'em up too. May the force be with you...... Nick

That looks a lot better, well done! N|ick

This is miles not Kms. It's already on 440k Kms..... Nick

As some of you may know, my daily driver for the last 11 years has been a 1996 Audi A6 Avant 2.5TDI. This has an I5 turbo diesel giving 140bhp and a 6 speed manual box. Cutting edge for 1996. It was the leased company car of my boss when I joined my current employer in 1997, was bought from the leasing company by another colleague and I bought it from him in 2003 with 112k on it. Nearly run in. The boss is on his 5th car since. It has been a GOOD car. Now just a few hundred miles short of 275k, it has had few replacement parts that would not be considered consumable. Exhaust, clutch, alternator and starter are original as are all the brake calipers and the rear wheel bearings. The engine has had no attention bar cam belt changes (2 in my ownership) and still uses virtually no oil. It has lived outside all it's life and yet apart from front wings (the arches are a known rot spot where the liners rub through the galvanising) the body and paint are original and it still looks ok when I wash it, though it does have a pretty extensive stone chip collection. It's my work car and earns 45p a mile (typically 8 - 10k a year) so it's been a good earner. It averages nearly 50 mpg. It gets used for whatever job is going which has included dragging car trailers with large cars on (I'm not saying what!), trailers full of rocks and being stuffed with whatever will (almost) fit in it or can be tied onto it. It has survived 6.5 seasons of the Woolbridge MC 12 car rally series, which although not really a speed event does involve some really bumpy lanes usually in atrocious weather. I have discovered that it can wade through water up to 2' deep (enough to make the back float), but I suspect I was very lucky to get away with that! Is this an obituary? Not yet. It is now showing signs of attrition though. I have become used to thinking it was invincible, but it has a growing list of maintenance tasks. Certain of my long-standing customers greet me with "hasn't that b***** thing died yet?" Apparently the injector nozzles aren't meant to last 275k. It is now smokier than ever (not called the Soot Monster for nothing!) and is a bit of bugger to start when cold. Some of the 140 horses may have escaped. I'm told that with the right nozzles I can have them all back and more. Apparently these engines will go to > 240bhp with no internal mods. Handling has been becoming increasingly "interesting" so I'm mid way through changing the front subframe bushes (shagged), the TCAs (again) and ARB bushes (actually look ok). The rear axle pivot bushes are absolutely bolloxed (I discovered yesterday) and are probably one of the main reasons for the odd handling. Changing those involves dropping the whole axle beam out, so I'm really not looking forward to that. Yesterday one of the fuel tank retaining straps broke on my way to work. It had rusted through, leading to odd scraping sounds. Fortunately the tank stayed in place. Audi wanted £54 for a new one (10 day wait). I bought a strip of galvanised steel from a local fabricator for £1 and borrowed the ramp and welder of the garage behind work (£20 in pasty fund), so that is now fixed. So what next? I've mentioned before that I have an urge for D2 A8. This hasn't gone away and I actually drove one recently, a full fat 4.2 V8 one. Oh yes..... that is one fast magic carpet. With that much grunt, who cares if they are all auto....... The Soot Monster would be kept on though. I intend to see it through 300k! It's spending tonight in the garage as the front subframe is still on the floor........ Nick

That is a proper scary hole. Not seen one go there like that before....... Very best of luck with the repair! Nick