Coupe Roof Packing Pieces

If you thought the only piece of wood on the Herald was the dashboard, think again. Wooden packing pieces were placed on the sides of the coupe roof where it bolts down just past the b-posts. For whatever reason Triumph in their wisdom made them out of chipboard that have over time expanded with damp. I've re-made the packing pieces from a piece of hardwood scavenged from the local tip.

Deal or No Deal

Meant to post this one last week, but I've only just downloaded the pics off my camera.

At Stoneleigh I was reunited with my old Vitesse MGY 989D owned by fellow Herald/Vitesse fan Richard Philpott. Richard had the Vitesse in the "Cars for Sale" section. However just as a deal look imminent, Richard had a change of heart and pulled the car from sale.

I was impressed to hear from Richard that he'd managed to trace and make contact with the original owner's family.

Engine Components

Following an engine stripdown at the end of last year, here's a few photographs of the engine components prior to rebuild. I'm sticking with the original 1147 block bored out to +40. The crankshaft has been nitrided and the entire crankshaft assembly including the lightened flywheel, clutch and 3 groove crankshaft pulley have been balanced. The con rods and have been lightened and matched with the pistons.








Roy is doing a great job on the head - although he admits there is still a little more to do.




With any luck the engine will be assembled very shortly.

TomTom Go 920T Sat Nav

Ever since I did the 10CR in 2005 with James Carruthers using a TomTom Sat Nav, I said to myself I've got to get one of those. Only problem being they were way out of my price range.


A few years on, new models have been released and the prices have come down somewhat. Today I went into my local Currys and discovered they'd slashed the price of the outgoing TomTom Go 920T model to only £179.99. For that you get -

* 4.3" wide screen.
* TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver.
* Bluetooth hands-free calling.
* UK, Republic of Ireland, Europe, USA and Canada maps.

You'll struggle to find this level of spec on the current range of sat navs for under £250, so if you're thinking of getting a sat nav, get down to Currys before they sell out!

Shorrock Supercharger Oil Metering Pins

On eBay this week a supposedly rare set of metering pins. The auction reads...

Here we have a set of 6 very very hard to find metering pins for the oiler on C75B Shorrock Superchargers. They are PIN letters...

C = 0.3100 thou
F = 0.3085 thou
I = 0.3070 thou
L = 0.3055 thou
O = 0.3040 thou
R = 0.3025 thou

These are brand new unused machine ground Shorrock pins not lathe turned. If you have ever set up a Shorrock you will be aware that getting the oil feed right is critical, without a selection of pins you can't do it. The bore of the oiler is 5/16 (0.3125) so the pins drop 2.5 thou to pin C and then 1.5 thou down to pin R.

Please be aware that lathe turned pins are not suitable for this application and if you were able to find a machine shop to work to 1/2 thou increments the charge would be around £35 each (lathe turned), machine grinding is cost prohibitive unless you have hundreds made so a set of 6 ground pins is a holy grail!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140300928673

UPDATE : Sold for £150

Thermostat Cover

Nothing of note to report, but here's a new-old-stock thermostat cover I picked up off eBay this week. This one comes with the take-off for a temperature gauge sender. Bargain at £6!

Green Coupe

Spotted this Coupe a while ago. Here's some pics of the dashboard and additional driving lamps.