I have a '72 built in October 1971 (FK26439L), and as far as I can
tell it never had the black rear panel. But I cannot be 100% certain, since
a PO repainted the car.
You have the black plastic dashboard, right?
The correct vacuum unit for the distributor is very hard to find. I'm
lucky that mine works. It is actually the notorious "vacuum retard".
All it does is retard the timing a bit at idle, strictly for pollution reasons.
If yours is busted, the next best thing to do is to set the timing to +6 or so,
and the off-idle timing will be correct.
BTW, my mail program has informed me that "vacuum retard" is a
potentially offensive phrase that I should avoid using in emails. :-)
Doug Braun
'72 Spit
>At 2:12 PM +0000 12/10/02, Richard Gosling wrote:
>
>>Is that black paint on the number plate panel original? I vaguely remember
>>someone saying that Triumph did this for a year or so, but can't remember
>>the details. Maybe it was a US-market only thing? I know that the Toledo
>>(small early-70s saloon car) had a black panel at the back in a similar way.
>
>Yep, the black rear panel is original. On the two occasions I've
>had the car painted, I've had to point out to the paint guys to leave
>it black. I bought the car with 32,000 miles on it from a guy
>who had bought it for his daughter, who didn't like it because of
>no A/C. He hadn't done a thing to it except normal maintenance,
>so it's as delivered from the dealer in August 1972 (built June).
>
>The '72 MkIV seems to be an odd duck in many ways, and I suppose
>that black panel is just one of the oddities. I've learned over
>the years when buying replacement parts that the best policy is to
>take the old part to the store or swap meet and match them
>up to the new part.
>
>And speaking of which, if anyone has a line on a vacuum module
>for a Delco-Remy distributor, or any idea where to find one,
>please let me know. I know that many people feel it's OK to
>just disconnect the module and run on mechanical advance
>alone, but my mechanic (Dave Crane, whose advice I regard
>as coming from the burning bush) says he prefers to have it
>on and operating when tuning for best power.
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