Steve Thompson

GTSixing

About time for an update!!!

The next thing for my GT6

Northern Area Camping Weekend

A couple of more little jobs done

Driveshafts

Got there in the end

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

The RBRR (Team Shorts)

Team Shorts ready to go

Looking Forward To The Round Britain Reliability Run Car No.141 (Team Shorts)

My First Blog Posting (and first attempt at a blog)

About time for an update!!!

It's been quite a while since my last update but for the moment I have put my engine upgrades on hold until I get the chassis/running gear sorted out to my liking.

On that note I have recently fitted vented discs to the front end and as they are only the same diameter as standard they won't improve the braking but they should run cooler and stop any brake fade when they are used in real anger like when we were on the Club Triumph 10 Countries Run, we did get brake fade once or twice coming down the long descents from the mountains.

Also yesterday afternoon before going up to my local CT meeting at the Old Stone Trough in Kelbrook I fitted some uprated front springs. I thought I may have gone too far at a rating of 650lbs but they are a revalation they have transformed the front end of the car and it just seems to go where you put it with very little body roll. It is certainly much better on wet greasy roads. I still need to try it on dry tarmac. I was amazed at the difference because the springs I took off were already stronger than standard at a rating of 480lb. I can only put this down to the fact that the rear of my car is very stiffly sprung (really a bit too hard for my liking) and that fitting even stiffer springs at the front has balanced the car up instead of the front of the car trying to do most of the work.

Also I have ordered a full retrim kit in leather for my seats and headrests from Park Lane Classics as my seats don't hold me in place when pushing on around the twisties anymore.
I could of gone for the cheaper option of MX5 seats or bucket seats but I still think reupholstered originals are best. Rob Southerns newly upholstered Spitfire seats were used in my car on the last RBRR and were superb, allowing the passenger to recline full length and get some sleep. I don't think I will get my seats done in time for the HCR as it is going to take at least 3 weeks for my seat covers to be made and delivered. So Rob and I may be using his seats again in my car.

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 03rd April 2010 12:51am gmt

The next thing for my GT6

I now have almost all the stuff required to change my tired old 2 litre sixpot sometime after the Club Triumph 10 Countries run in September (more on that later)

I have been following Stephen Attenborough's GT6 blog http://triumphulation.blogspot.com/
with much interest as I am going down the PI route. (may or may not convert to efi later)

I know that I'm pushing it with the transmission but I'll cross that bridge when/if I break it but I'm sure Nick Jones CV drive shafts are up to the job at the rear.

What I'm after at the moment is any pics of GT6/Spitfire engine bays fitted with the Lucas setup just for Ideas of what to look for and to be a little more prepared for possible problems like bulkhead and bonnet clearance issues and how best to deal with it.
I'm after fitting the engine and PI setup in a fairly short time and then sorting out any running issues, fuel pressure/surge etc once it is in place.

The manifolds are the later type, maybe not as much outright power but easier to setup?

The metering unit has been reconditioned to run unleaded and the rest of the stuff is a bit secondhand but mostly all there from what I can see.

Here's hoping it's a fairly straightforward learning curve and fitment but something tells me there will be one or two things to work out.

I intend to update this as I go along so as to help out anyone contemplating a similar conversion.

A few pics of the parts




Nice clean manifolds






Ready for unleaded metering unit





The rest of the bits are a bit tatty but I reckon usable, the Lucas fuel pump makes a noise but how well will it work!!!

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 11th August 2009 8:21pm gmt

Northern Area Camping Weekend

I just want to say THANKYOU Rob Southern (bobbyspit) for a wonderful weekend Louise Anna and I enjoyed ourselves immensely, the wigwams and the campsite were fandabbydozy as was the company.

It was nice to meet Ed (notfinishedyet on the Club Triumph forum) and his wife Jill and their son George. They had a beatiful blue herald that has only done 320 miles since being rebuilt.

Ed admitted to a few teething troubles or as I call it "character". I'm sure you'll sort out the little niggles soon Ed.


I'm ashamed to say that we went up in the modern.................not enough room for all the weekends crap in a GT6 and/or three people. We didn't go on the run around the Lake District on the Saturday for a couple of reasons,

2. I was also meeting my mate Gary (Gaz) Seddon who arrived early on Saturday afternoon with his two kids and another in tow. (Brave, brave man!!!)

I'm still aching all over from playing football and volleyball with Rhys my mate Gaz's football daft son who has enough energy to power a large city. Gary will be my co pilot on the 10CR and came along for the fun and to meet some of the people going on that trip.

Mr Acclaim himself was there (Barry McGrath) with his sons James and Alex in one of his many Honda's............................erm TRIUMPH Acclaims, sorry Barry it was "Ginger" I think.

The other Triumph to turn up apart from Rob's was a nice white Spitfire Belonging to Neil who will be Rob's co pilot on the 10CR. It used to belong to Craig Gingell's wife, If your reading this Craig it has gone to a good home.

As for the weather we only had a couple of showers here and there, I even got a little sunburn on the Saturday. Of course once the barbecues came out on Saturday evening we had a rather heavy shower that almost put out the barbecues untill Gaz's daughter Natasha and her friend came to the rescue with their umberellas.

Matt was also there from the P&P keeping us all topped up with lots of goodies and was the only Gentleman there to offer my wife Louise a proper wine glass.Louise says thanks Matt .

Last but most certainly not least it was good to see Marcus again who met up with the cars on the run around the Lake District and came to the campsite for the evening and had us all in stitches with some of his stories, especially the one about the goat and his neighbour.

The campsite comes highly recommended and is in a great place to visit the Lake District, The North Pennines and Hadrians Wall. http://www.woodclosepark.com/index.htm

Again Rob thanks for a great weekend and a fantastic location and I think you should be unopposed for the next Pendle and Pennine bonus point.

Steve Thompson (tiggrr1)

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 20th July 2009 6:15pm gmt

A couple of more little jobs done

I thought it was about time I got round to fixing a small water leak that my GT6 has had since the 2008 Round Britain Reliability Run.
It has needed topping up every 200 miles or so but has been getting steadily worse and almost not getting me home from the last Pendle and Pennine Club Triumph meeting.

I changed the water pump about a month ago thinking that the leak was from the water pump seal, as it happens I was close it was actually coming from the water pump to cylinder head joint. The repair was as simple as popping off the water pump and fitting a new gasket.

While I was at it I also fitted a new powder coated aluminum radiator shroud sourced from ebay and well worth the £28 + postage as it must be forcing more air through the radiator as the water temperature has dropped on the gauge to sit between 1/3 and 1/2 of the needle sweep even during the recent hot weather!

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 13th July 2009 8:35pm gmt

Driveshafts

First off I would like to say a big thank you to Nick Jones for supplying me with this excellent driveshaft conversion for my rotoflex GT6.

The inner joint is brand new and the driveshaft and outer CV joint are refurbished items but as you can see from the picture they look brand new!

Also the hub has been machined to take the more modern MGF wheel bearing which should be stronger. Fitting of the driveshafts was pretty straightforward as it is literally a case of taking the old ones off and bolting in the new ones, also it is much easier to get the upright mounted to the spring as the rotoflex rubber is not holding the driveshaft under tension.

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 11th July 2009 2:23pm gmt

Got there in the end

It may upset the purists (but I like it).

I'm sure some people would probably say the setup was all wrong,
wide tyres 205/50 x 15 and two front antiroll bars & 600lb springs at the front.
It should understeer and clash and bang over the potholes but it doesn't. It is very well sorted.
Omex engine management system combining with a 268 degree cam and electric engine management and EFI combine to give an Impressive rolling road printout!

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 30th May 2009 8:19pm gmt

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Some of you will no doubt know what this is and what happens when it breaks!


This is the result

Just after this........EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK

And this was the only way to get it home as at the time I did not have the bits to repair it at the roadside.

I had just taken my GT6 out for a road test to check/bed in my brakes after polybushing the front end of the car.Whilst giving the brake pedal some welly, thankfully at not to high a speed. (25-30mph left foot braking and throttle applied)Must have stressed the nearside upright too much and it snapped resulting in a crunchy grinding slide towards a the kerb.

The following day (Monday 18th May). I went to see Max at TotallyTriumph in Cheshire to get the parts to repair the car. I got both front uprights and trunnions + bushes.

I got the broken nearside assembly changed straight away and have now also changed the offside upright and trunnion too as a precaution. Both trunnion bush/bolts were very stiff, the bolts were siezed in the bush sleeves which may also have contributed to the failure of the n\s upright.

Looking at the first picture again it does seem as if the upright has had some old damage, it looks to me as if it was already fractured half way through. This was why I decided to also change the other upright. It looked okay but at least I now know it is not (hopefully) about to let go in the same way as the the other.

Our Tip: SCDB.info - the most up-to-date speed camera database in Europe for your GPS!

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 19th May 2009 7:44pm gmt

The RBRR (Team Shorts)

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 12th October 2008 1:01pm gmt

Team Shorts ready to go

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 29th September 2008 10:21am gmt

Looking Forward To The Round Britain Reliability Run Car No.141 (Team Shorts)

Here's a couple of pics of my Spotlights as fitted for the RBRR.They are fitted to the bonnet hinge mounting point behind the chassis end cap.The end cap has a slot cut in it to alow the angle iron to protrude through it, the light bar is then held very firmly on a pivot by two 1/2 inch bolts (you can actually jump up and down on the bar it will not move!!!)To tip the bonnet however I do have to loosen the bolts to tip the lamps down out of the way and then tighten them back up afterwards. I do have plans to fit another small bolt/bracket so they return to the same spot each time
They have had a good test over some very bumpy roads this weekend and light up the way ahead superbly with no trace of any annoying wobble which can be very tireing on your eyes
Also for the purists among you I can remove them in about 10 minutes and now just need to find some new chassis end caps to replace the ones I've butcherd to make the lights fit

The RBRR, personaly I need to thank (blame) Tim Bancroft for my taking part in this event. I mentioned to him that it was a shame that the running list was full (at the CT National) and he said it would be a good idea to get on the reserve list as he expected a few to drop out!!!

To get the car ready for the RBRR the main thing was to change the driveshaft U/J's the nearside was in a very poor condition, I've also fitted an oil cooler and some very powerful driving/spotlamps (150w each) with a high capacity alternator (65amp) to power them.

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 27th September 2008 3:28pm gmt

My First Blog Posting (and first attempt at a blog)

This is a picture of my Triumph GT6 at the Club Triumph National Meet 2008.

I'm new to blogging so I hope this goes well in the future!

(Sorry it's so short, this one was a test to see if it worked)

posted by Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872749002274445655noreply@blogger.com 27th September 2008 10:41am gmt

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