Dave the tram

Bought the electronic one as per the link, came next day, working perfectly - thanks. When the buzzer arrives that will perfect the job. Cheers Dave

Great replies - I'll check those hazzard switch contacts, if no joy, buy the better unit recommended above. I'll also get the buzzer. Now my hearing is not so good at the high frequencies (too many rock concerts I guess) I keep leaving indicators on as the self cancelling us still not 100%. I remember as kids my brother, who was already an electronics wizz, making a buzzer for my dad's Standard 10 for the same reason when he reached a certain age. (I also rember it being my job in the back to bang the door pillar to make the trafficator arm drop back on the previous Ford Prefect, but thats giving too much away I suspect!) Dave

My indicators stopped working but hazards still ok. After finding no obvious wiring or connector problems (not got a test meter yet), I ordered a new unit, 2 pin, square body same as the old one. Problem solved but failed again after a day or 2. Questions: - Is there a difference between the different types of unit, should I try a different type? - I'm not 100% certain that I replaced the wires the same way. Does it matter, does it simply not work if the wrong way? I think the connectors are labelled P and F. - Is there any other fault that can make the flasher unit fail? Cheers Dave

Regarding the ingenuity of former owners - I stand guilty as charged. When my late mk 3 needed a new caliper many years ago when still learning my way round the car, the one I ordered turned out to be different and I didn't realise I could have returned it and got correct one. Can't quite remember the detail of how I fitted it except that I got the pipe remade with the appropriate union. The car has had one metric and one imperial for over 10 years and brakes fine. Dave

Well the new pipe made up to go between servo and the existing T worked a treat and problem solved. After a second thorough bleeding, the pedal feels near perfect, just a hint firmer if quickly jabbed twice, so might leave a few days and bleed again. I tried the overnight pressure of a stick between pedal and steering wheel, and you know, despite complete scepticism I think it made an improvement - gets a bit subjective though after endless playing around. I guess the idea is to reshape the rubber piston seals a bit. Car stops nicely and handbrake better after manual adjustment. Cheers Dave

A convoy heading along Rushup Edge (West towards Edale/Castleton) passed me on Monday afternoon, 12 Aug. Lead by a Stag, then several TRs from TR6 through to TR3/4? I was heading the other way - cycling, head down into the wind. Had I been in my GT6 I'd have turned around and tagged onto the rear. Nice sight (and sound) out in the hills. Dave

Haha, Needed some light relief - bleeding brakes......!!! What's the consensus on running the engine when bleeding the front - do we think this will help or hinder getting any air out of the servo. Trying to get my head around the workings of the servo hydraulics. D

All useful stuff this - thanks. I do try to ensure fluid stays in the pipe at the nipple but often thought about air getting through the threads. Keeping the jar higher makes sense, as does the slow up-stroke. Will retrain my helper. No, the pedal was like this before the repair, so might be poorly adjusted rear brakes. I'll adjust methodically as per Doug's guidance, then bleed thoroughly in proper sequence with lots to finish with at the passenger side front. I almost certainly got air in the servo as the slight leak was at the short servo to T pipe, which was removed and replaced. That's this morning taken care of! Dave

Hi Tony, all I think I'm just missing something here. You say I shouldn't adjust the handbrake without adjusting the shoes, but how do I do that if they are supposed to be self adjusting? The servo is high on the N/S bulkhead, near to the battery. Dave

Colin, Doug - thanks. Assume nothing and no harm being cheeky/teaching to suck eggs etc., I'm still learning. I feel sure my late mk 3 has self adjusting rear brakes - but will recheck this tomorrow. Or perhaps the self adjusting doesn't really work - I had to take up slack in the handbrake a while back, which seems to point to this. As for the order of bleeding, I nearly got it right. I started O/S rear and went clockwise -so got the front the wrong way round. Doubt this matters much. The fact that despite solving the slight leak, then bleeding, and the pedal feels the same, this points to too much slack in the resr adjustment I think. Cheers Dave

Got a section of pipe made up at local garage using existing unions, and a new T piece, which I decided not to use as the threads were slack compared to the existing one - surprise, surprise! With carefull tightening until no leaks using the old T peice all went very well. But is there a trick to bleeding that I am missing? Did about 30 pumps at each of the 4 corners, rear first, fluid flowing clear and bubble free. I use silicone fluid. However, the pedal is still soft. First push goes too far down, quick second dab and its higher and firm. Ive read somewhere about bleeding the master cyclinder separately as it can get an airlock that doesnt clear - how? Also, what about the servo - does that need bleeding in any way? Nearly there. Dave

I've discovered a slight brake fluid leak from the upper 3-way T union. Its the union of the pipe to the servo at the T, the other 2 are from the master and to the rear brakes (late Mk 3). Tried tightening the nut on the union to no avail - in my experince this rarely works or makes it worse. The pipe outer seems to be 4mm but I guess it must be 3/16. Before I take it apart to inspect, the questions are: - Where can I get this short pipe already made up, the usual suppliers seems to sell whole kits. - Is fitting a new pipe with associated unions likely to fix it or should I get a new T joint as well? (but that disturbs the other 2 joints that are ok). - could I get some copper pipe, re-use the union nuts and get my local garage to do the flares on the pipe - or buy a tool and do it myself? Just looking for a way to replace this short pipe to get new joints - any experiences? Dave

Thanks all, will try the trick of packing the one slack corner with a bit of tube, then get it warm for a bit to mould to shape, then use gutter sealant with an appropriate nozel. Fingers crossed. Dave

Pete, using sealant as you fit it sounds like it could get messy, especially if I'm learning as a go along. Does it work ok to inject sealant once the screen is in? If so, do I just seal from the outside between screen and rubber, then between body and rubber? I've fitted the rubber onto the new screen already, and yes, one corner has a slight gap where the rubber creases out slightly. No rush to fit it and will wait until I've decided on best method. Cheers Dave

Does anyone know typical cost to get professionals in to fit a screen, and any to recommend? I've just got a new laminated screen and rubber seal from Rimmers waiting to go in and keep dithering about doing it myself with a helper and soapy string. Also, if it goes in ok using string, does it actually need any sealant unless I discover leaks? Cheers Dave

Thanks all for the info. I think I'll get the Mahle flter as recommended Pete, about £10-12. Cheers Dave

Having noticed that the reinforced rubber fuel pipe to the pump was just stating to show cracks, I fiited a new section. However, I broke one of the jubilee type clips, but needed to make a long journey the next day. So I left the filter out temporarily and connected the pipe directly. Urika! For several years my GT6, despite starting and running well, sometimes stutters when pulling hard at higher revs. On a 500 mile round trip it petformed faultlessly when pushed hard. I'd checked or changed out almost everything including fuel lines and checked the flow, but never dreamt that the filter could be restricting it. Interestingly, when I bought the car 13 years ago it had no filter, but I can't remeber exactly when I fitted one and probably did it at the same time as all sorts of other work, so cause and effect would not have been obvious. Just thought this might be helpful to others and now need to research better fuel filters. On another note, the only time my car has let me down on the road was due to fuel vapourisation a couple of years ago when crawling for hours in a jam in hot weather. I don't have an electric fan. So I lagged the steel fuel pipe that runs around the engine with insulation. It passed the test on this journey, 90 minutes of crawling in 31 degree heat immediately after driving hard for an hour. It eventually ran a bit ragged at tick-over, but coped well. Joy! Dave

Hmmm! Just fitted Superflex polybushes to inner wishbones, which came with silicone grease. The technical section of their website says clean all old stuff, grease etc from parts, then coat all contact surfaces of the bush with silicone grease. I took that to mean coat the bush all over, as pretty much all surfaces contact something. I'm halfway through reassembling front suspension, wishbones back on the car but not fully tightened. At the moment the bushes move with the wishbone against the mounting bracket - I'll see what changes when fully tightened. I guess if I'd pushed the bushes into the wishbone without grease, but greased the tubes before pushing them into the bushes, then : a - it would be easier to get the tubes in without the bushes popping out of the wishbone (I sqeezed them with a clamp untill fully in to overcome this) b - the bush is more likely to stay static in the wishbone but turn on the tube. But this would mean the bush end turning against the bracket, so needing grease there. If the thinking is that the bush is static against everything and simply twists and flexes, then you would grease nothing other than the bolt to prevent corrosion and siezing. I'm going to get it all back minus the spring and shocker so that I can move it up and down and observe, fully tightened - then retighten once finished and on the ground. Dave

Thanks all - Superflex it is then, with silicone lube. I remember being carefull to only tighten when off the jacks when I did this previously. As I had the tracking set up recently after fitting new rack and track rod ends, I'd best get it done again in case going from such worn bushes to new ones affects it. Cheers Dave

Rebuilt the suspension with yellow polybushes and gaz shocks about 6 years ago (I think). The nearside has squeaked ever since and tried all sorts to remedy it, inclding oil or spray with PTFE in it - probably not a good idea as I suspect from other threads that oils might harm the bushes. Decided to check everything again and surprised to find the lower inner ones looked very off- centre so took everything apart and found this - bit surprised after about 15k miles. So, will dismantle both sides, clean and paint the wishbones, rebush plus fit new drop links for antiroll bar. Everything else ok I think. 2 problems, can't fully undo the nut from the drop link where it attaches to lower wishbone. The threaded part just turns and can't get at the nut that I think is supposed to be held captive by the wishbone - so will saw it off. Secondly, can't get one of the bolts out of the yellew bush. It just rotates so must be siezed inside the metal sleave. Again, I'll just cut the bush apart and force it all out, then make sure I use silicone grease or equivalent when rebuilding. Question is, what bushes? At one end I could try and get better polybushes, perhaps superflex medium firmness - quite expensive. At the other end, might cheap black ones from rimmers actually be better. I guess the original type were probably best. I was intrigued by the debate in an earlier thread about what actually moves. I was convinced that the sleeve moved on the bolt and that the bush only absorbed radial shocks, rather than twisting. If in fact everything is rigid and the wishbone moves by twisting the bush, that must be millions of twists over a few thousand miles! As ever, any advice welcome Dave

Well looks like I'm on a roll here, having fixed the steering and the gear linkages, I now discover that fuel sender units are maintainable! With nothing to lose if I need to buy a new one anyway, folded back the 3 metal tabs on the unit and lifted off the cover, cleaned the windings with a toothbrush and a dab of cellulose thinners, cleaned the contactor and bent it a bit to increase spring pressure and put it back together. Tested it out of the tank and, hey presto, works perfectly and reads accurately over the full range. 60 quid saved. Cheers Dave

I know there have been many threads on this topic but just wanted other opinions on my specific problem. - The fuel gauge reads just over half when full then seems to drop proportionally. It's been like this for a long time but I THINK it used to read full years ago, just didnt't fill it right up very often back then. - The temperature gauge works correctly and shows halfway or just over when hot, goes higher of stood in traffic fir a long time when hot, so it can go higher. - If I take the lead off the fuel sender unit and short it to earth, the gauge reads full. Am I correct in thinking this means that that the balance resistor is ok (I've already swapped to a new one anyway with no difference) and that the sender is faulty? - I've taken the sender out and everything looks ok and the float works with no leaks. - If I move the arm on the sender across its full range, out of the tank, while earthing it, the gauge ranges from empty to half. I blocked the tank opening very well for safety before reconnecting the battery to try this! I might try this again in steps across the range, leaving time for the gauge to settle for each position But I think this already shows I need a new sender unit. Although the car is a fairly original late Mk 3, the sender looks like an earlier one, no pipes or breathers, just the arm and float etc. and 2 terminals. It has the lock ring fitting and the seal still looks good. Has anyone bought a similar replacement recently that does the job? Rimmers lists one for earlier GT6s that I could try, that looks more or less the same as mine (as well as a different looking one specified for the Mk 3) but can't find any others. Cheers Dave

Steering and column all back together. As ever, the fiddly bits will be a lot simpler second time round if I ever do it again. Much more positive steering with re-bushed flexi joint (on top of new rack and track rod ends), plus re-bushed column. Even the indicators self cancel for the first time in 12 years now I've set the steering wheel height correctly so the the switch lines up with the cancelling cam. Also, the random auto horn seems to have been cured. I'd grown weary of telling passengers that it was a safety feature that it sounded on every tight corner! Cheers Dave

All sorted. Got the wiring all unplugged and also realise that the plug into the steering lock comes out with all the wiring attached and simply has a plastic turny bit that egages the lock - simple. Got new bushes for top and bottom that are tighter and seem to remove all play. A lot of sweary getting the old ones out and nearly caused some damage with metal rod and hammer to drift them out. Then did what I should have done first off - as well as drilling the rubber lugs off, applied some silicon lube spray and used a broom handle and wooden mallet. Popped straight out. Flexi couling all back together (twice as I forgot to put an earth strap on first time) Cheers Dave

Success, all back together and road tested before putting tunnel back. Nice neat H for gearchanges with all sloppyness gone, reverse block perfect and doesn't jump out of reverse - so as suggested, it simply wasn't fully engaged due to wear in extension linkages. The reversing lights not working was a red herring, one bulb gone, other poor earth - need to check them more often! Decided to do thorough check before fitting tunnel and found intermitent loss of connection in the O/D inhibit switch that I can't cure (loose and wiggly connector pin) so ordered one from Canleys - only 6 quid. Even fitted new accelerator cable and made a small side- extension plate for the pedal so that I can heel/toe (well sidefoot) to match revs on down changes when braking into corners. Never understood why a sports car wouldn't have pedals that allowed this. Thanks to all those who gave advice Cheers - Dave