Mk1 2 Litre Overdrive Triumph Vitesse Restoration

[Roverjoe]

Following the Success of my Previous Thread (Linked Here: 

 I thought id Make a new one for my Triumph Vitesse Which is now underway. I Also aim to perhaps film this one. Ive started dismantling the vehicle for preparation of welding and its an absolute breeze compared to the Honda! its all just like big Lego with this car. only a few bolts and it comes undone. The Rear tub of the car is what ill be working on first, There is rot on both Sill Treads that need sorting before i take the Body off the chassis as these need to be aligned properly and will be hard with it off the chassis. Any welding that requires precise measurement will be done on the Chassis then cosmetic stuff can be done off the Chassis as itll save my back. I aim to remove the Rear tub and to then flip it so the underside is exposed then ill strip away all the old paint and crap that was put on it decades ago when it had its last restoration. Its not as bad as i thought However the underside really does need a good clean up. I will get some more photos of the underside when i get chance to show you what i mean. To be honest when taking it apart i did expect this car to be a lot worse however it has held up well over the years being sat outside. Sadly i don't have a proper place for  this car so it is exposed to the elements. The panels that are suspect to rot are the ones behind the Side Valence sections where the chrome over riders are riveted on to. Thankfully these are all solid but do have signs of bubbling so that needs to be sorted. The boot floor near the heel board is probably the worst part of the car to be honest. Other than that its Simple, and will probably take a lot less time than the Civic to complete. 

Welding of the Vitesse will probably commence when it gets warmer, right now i cant do anything too physical as ive just had Maxillofacial Surgery so still recovering from that. I got bored and decided to just strip the vitesse as being at home all day can depress you lmao.

[comfortablynumb]

That looks amazingly solid! Has it been restored before, or did you just get lucky? 😁

[Roverjoe]

7 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

That looks amazingly solid! Has it been restored before, or did you just get lucky? 😁

It was last restored in the 1990s i believe. There are some Questionable Repairs on the Sill Treads but other than that its not horrendous. there's Much worse out there on the Road!

[Six-cylinder]

What a great project.

I got my first Vitesse, a 1968 2.0 MK1 Saloon in 1977 when it was 9 years old. Since then I have had 2x MKII Saloons, 1600 saloon and 3x MKII convertibles including the white one I have now and have owned for over 20 years. 

It will be interesting to see how many other Vitesses surface on Autoshite because of your thread.

[M'coli]

Does this have the ~7" Herald 1200 type speedo, or the later 13/60 ~5" dual setup?

[Roverjoe]

19 minutes ago, M'coli said:

Does this have the ~7" Herald 1200 type speedo, or the later 13/60 ~5" dual setup?

 

Shes Got the Dual Setup

[Six-cylinder]

Only early 1600's had the larger speedo. Late 1600's and 2 Ltr Vitesse's  had the small speedo and a mechanical rev counter.

 

[Roverjoe]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

What a great project.

I got my first Vitesse, a 1968 2.0 MK1 Saloon in 1977 when it was 9 years old. Since then I have had 2x MKII Saloons, 1600 saloon and 3x MKII convertibles including the white one I have now and have owned for over 20 years. 

It will be interesting to see how many other Vitesses surface on Autoshite because of your thread.

That is really nice. Theyre A good looking car the Vitesse. oh and they sound amazing too!

[Six-cylinder]

38 minutes ago, Roverjoe said:

That is really nice. Theyre A good looking car the Vitesse. oh and they sound amazing too!

The standard single box and pea shooter tail pipe set up is very quiet. The last owner of mine had fitted twin boxes and tail pipes, that are not too noisy when cruising. I have taken mine around northern Europe and on the Stelvio Pass into Italy.

[Three Speed]

Looks great. Good luck with that. If you fancy Mk1 2 litre engine of unknown provenance - was running until removed from a rusty car 35+ years ago - with 2 heads (both removed) - let me know. Free to collector. Location: sunny Sussex.

[mercedade]

I've got such high hopes for this thread after your Civic. Best of luck

[2flags]

That looks good. I remember these were a proper wolf in sheep's clothing when new. Big powerful engine in a small lightweight body. Good fun.