NeilF

My 14 year old brother got a paint brush and touched up the rust spots on our old Vauxhall 12. How he ever got away with that I will never know. The car was always called 'Spotty' after that. NeilF

Pete/Colin Following JPEG of Canley drawings. NeilF

Pete/Colin, Thanks for the replies. The wipers park as shown on my picture. It is possible that the metalwork around the windscreen was replaced some time ago. The wiper motor fitted is the same as shown on the Canley diagrams for a Mk1. It appears that the Mk2 has the same placing of the wipers, so either the Mk2 motor or the gearing must be different. It would be handy to know which it is. NeilF Canley Wiper motors.pdf

I am not sure if it has been the same in the 12 years I have owned my Mk1 GT6, but I have a problem in as much as the passenger side wiper blade when it sweep across the windscreen hits the screen surround and goes over it. When stopped it that position the blade is some 3 inches off the windscreen. The wipers do their job, however it is the noise of them hitting the surround that annoys me. At a recent meeting I was able to compare how my blades swept against another Mk1, and then I noticed a difference. The passenger drive spindle on the car I looked at was inline with the edge of the bonnet hump and the washer was to the right of the wiper arm, looked from the front. On my car, the windscreen drive spindle is some 7 inches to the right of the hump edge. I then looked at a Mk2, and the spindle is in the same position as mine. Canleys show a different wiper motor for the MK1 and Mk2. My motor is of the Mk1 type. The Mk2 type is no longer available. Does anyone know what the difference is between the 2 motors., or has come across this problem before. My Mk1 is a 1968 build, so it is possible that it has a Mk2 windscreen surround. I do not know if in the past it had a rebuild with a MK2 surround, and the MK1 motor was kept. A possibility. My solution at the moment would be to have a much shorter wiper blade on the passenger side, although that would effect visibility. I would appreciate any comments. NeilF

Dave, I was always interested in how many Mk 1 on the road. Just to be difficult my 1968 Mk1 has a 1972 registration. DVLA were useless in sorting that out. Reference the restricted mileage, I had that but found as I was using the car more and more, heading to 5k and above each year, I changed the insurance to unrestricted, and was told there was no increase in premium. I was happy. NeilF

Pirate, I did that 4 years ago to my GT6 manifold and it still looks OK. NeilF

Can someone explain, if I opt to 'Gift Aid' on an entrance fee, why I have to pay more for the pleasure of doing so? Crazy, NeilF

Coming away from Goodwood last year I was beside a GT40 in a traffic jam, and in my GT6 I had to look up to the GT40 driver. What is the height of a GT6? NeilF

Hugh, Ring Angie at Headquarters and she will sort you out. NeilF

The number of times I have taken my Mk1 into a garage and watched the mechanic trying to release the fly off handbrake with his thumb on the button often made me wonder what school they went to! NeilF

I found that cranking the engine was getting slower. Checked the timing and adjusted it to what it should have been, and now starting is so much better. It is ever so cold out there, so every little bit helps! NeilF

I was out there and didn't see you. Perhaps the sun was in my eyes? NeilF

We left early Wednesday morning from Southampton and headed for Dover to catch the 10.00am ferry for Dunkirk. Amazingly no holdup on route and arrived on schedule at Dover, the 2 Triumphs, my GT6 and Paul's TR5 complete with our respective wives. The weather was perfect with clear blue sky's and little wind. An on-board breakfast was welcomed by all, and shortly after 1.30pm French time we left the ferry heading for a 2 night stay in Amsterdam. We took the autoroute E40 towards Belgium and shortly after Bruges left the motorway and headed north to Knesselare, and then the E34 for Zelzate. We then followed the canal towards Terneuzen where we took the N62 through the new tunnel, 6.6km long and a 5 euro toll onto South Beveland. We continued then past Middelburg joining the N57 which would route us all along the Dutch coastline for nearly 50 miles. A really great route, relatively traffic free, and at the end of which we headed for the Maassluis ferry. This is a car ferry that takes about 25 cars and is of the roll on roll off type. The service is brilliant running about every 20 minutes. As soon as the ferry touches the shore, the front drops down and immediately the cars leave, and 2 minutes later it filling up for the return trip. Having left the ferry we headed for the A20 and then the A4 which would take us all the way to Amsterdam, under Schipol airport and after a short run on the A9 to our hotel, arriving shortly after 7.00pm. Not bad for 350 trouble free miles. Another full sunshine day today meeting up with some old friends and preparing ourselves for tomorrow's jaunt of 180 miles to Northern Germany. I think a 10.30 start should be good enough. NeilF

Nick, Look forward to seeing you at the 7 Stars. You might like to make a note that 2nd Thursday of month Locks Heath Classic Cars meet at Locks Heath Centre at 19.00. We have had 100 cars turn up recently of all denominations, but some from TSSC. NeilF

I finally decided time was ripe to sort the wheels out, but first decided to get the new front valance sprayed the correct colour by my local sprayer. He did the bonnet recently. At the garage I noticed that in the next door bay were many new tyres, and I was introduced to the guy who was running it. I explained about the vibration, and a couple of days later he called to say he was ready to give the balance a try. Set the machine up with fine adjustment and 2 wheels and £12 later all was well. Managed 90 down the motorway, and that surprised a few. Thank you Segensworth Motors. The nearest garage to where I live. NeilF

Does the 15% rule relate to that particular car model. I have 1000cc Mini which I have put a 1275cc Alegro block engine in. So where do I stand with that? Thank goodness my GT6 is standard. Neil F

Pete, A long time ago I was fortunate to drive a DB5 on a very regular basis, and I am sure that up to 120mph there was no vibration. But then I was not paying for wheels and tyres. Anyway, read the Moss report, and now going to check the wheels with a pencil!!!! I'll get there one day. NeilF

Thanks all for your replies. Haggis, I will call Micheldever Tyres, although they are Protyre, and that was the local garage that the problem arose. Adrian, Eastbourne is probably a little too far. Pete, Baldock again too far. I know you do not like wires, but they are good enough for Aston Martin Jaguar, Morgan and Ferrari. John, nearest Morgan dealer is Reading, that may be a way out. I will keep you posted, NeilF

I made the decision to go to the International GT6 meeting in Frankfurt some time ago, and thought that a visit to the Nurburgring on the way would be a pleasant diversion. Because of this I decided to have a couple of new tyres on the front. Having got the new tyres, I learned that the Ring on my chosen date was closed, so the route was changed. However, the new tyres were giving me vibration problems once over 60 mph. So I returned the wheels, 145/80 R13, for re-balancing. Still a problem, so for the 3rd time I stayed with the tyres and watched the process. It became apparent that the wheel was not being centred correctly as the garage did not have the correct cones. This a day before the German trip, so the trip was made, all 1,200 miles at a steady 63 mph keeping vibration to the minimum. So requests at local garages to me, between Southampton and Portsmouth proved the same problem, no suitable cones. So the WWW process began. Wheels can be balanced on the car at Bicester at a cost of £60 per wheel, too expensive. I then came across the Goplus Portable Wheel Balancer with a accurate bulls eye level. Expenditure of £46 and the unit duly arrived, and looked the part. A centre unit on balance springs on which you place the wheel which settles on a cone. Weights are then placed on the wheel until the bulls eye level is centred. Move the wheel around so that you can check the balance. Great - No. The GT6 wheel is not heavy enough to allow the springs to allow the wheel to settle on the cone. I am now trying to return the Goplus unit. The next alternative on the web appears to be the purchase of cones for wire wheels so that you can get a garage to use the correct cones on their balancing machines. Before I make the purchase has anyone tried these cones at a price of about £85? Do they work? I guess they must. The car would not be the same without the wires, so no way am I going over to steels. Surely this must be a problem for many people, so how have they got on. Appreciate any comments, NeilF

Henry, I spend a week most years in January arround Interlarken, and the Jungfrau region. My dream has been to drive that area in the GT6 in the summer. You have beaten me to it, but still the dream is there. NeilF

Henry, Your total blog will be available for all at the Seven Stars tomorrow - well done, I look forward to hearing about it personally. NeilF

John, I quite agree that road trips suit me better than sitting in a field for the day. But it is not just the road trips, it is for me the preparation, organising and producing a road book for the trip that I also enjoy. A prepared route for 10 cars to Wales followed by 2 routes organised by the hotel where we stay (Llanerchindda Farm) and then the route home was absolute bliss. 600 miles over 4 days and apart from a dodgy fuel pump our cars all behaved impecabily. So where to next year, the planning starts here. NeilF

Adrian, Re your exhaust manifold, I painted mine with a high temperature - 700c - black spray can used mostly by motor bike owners. After 2 years it still looks better than a rusted unit. I took the manifold off, put it in the oven to warm it through, then painted it. It dried quite quickly! NeilF

Henry and Ella, John Bonnett told me about the blog, so just sitting down with Maxeen to have a good read. I thought Wales was a long way. Getting the car ready for the GT6 meet in Frankfurt in October, but hope to see you before then. Have you seen the photo from our last meet? Look forward to chat later. Neil

That post should be directed to Richard. Regards NeilF