Roger K

I'm now fitting the new rear spring to my late non-roto Mk111 GT6. As ever, the shop manual doesn't include any mention of the swing spring, so I have to go on instinct. What the shop manual does do, is to say the spring will have 'front' marked on it. There are no markings whatsoever on my spring, but I can see no obvious reason why it would matter which way around it goes, unless the spring is set slightly stiffer on the driver's side. Does it matter, and if it does, how can I work out which way round it should go? Bolt heads on the clamps towards the front, or back? Also, does it matter which way the bolt through the centre pivot tube is facing? There are no torque figures for the studs into the diff, or the nuts holding the spring 'house' down. Same as for Mk1, despite there being only 4? Thanks, Roger

It was never used, I think made just for fun. Nice to know there are intelligent people still around, somewhere - it demonstrates VW's 'values' pretty well!

We're really going OT here now, but seeing as I started the thread it's OK.... This was always one of my favourites:

It's Darwinian. Natural selection at work.

I know it's an additional expense, but a simple set of piston ring pliers makes life a lot less stressful. They don't cost much and changing the rings can be a fiddle without. I have a second set of rings the same size to hand because it's a right pain waiting for a replacement if you are unlucky, or cack-handed enough to break one. A good piston ring compressor is essential as cheap, single clamp ones make it a lot easier to break the rings on insertion. I am a big fan of tapered ring compressors, but as with the spare set of rings I assemble a lot of small block Ford V8s so they get enough use to justify the cost. MED make them for Mini engines, but I don't know if they are available for the Triumph 6 size - probably, somewhere. This vid shows the pliers, too. Roger

Worked on them with a file and they slotted right in. Could have saved myself half an hour of pointless shoving and levering, though, if I'd taken my calipers to the bushes first.

Thanks Tony, I've just refitted the diff so have the rear axles and brakes to do this week (nothing else to do....), so I will measure up and drill the drums when I get to that stage. Whilst refitting the diff, I've learnt the hard way that the new rear diff mounting bushes Rimmers sell are 1mm wider than the originals.... metric approximations of 1.5", I guess.

My memory may be playing tricks, but I seem to remember my old Frogeye (or something else I had ages ago) had quite a large hole, maybe 3/4", which allowed two small screwdrivers in - one to lift the ratchet spring lever and the other to turn the adjuster wheel. I also seem to remember that you could actually put the wheel on in a way that left the hole exposed, so you had to watch how you aligned them to avoid this. Probably completely wrong...

Thanks Pete, yes, definitely use a step drill. What I really meant was, does this method work OK with the GT6 adjusters - can you get to them OK, etc. I'm a bit confused over the different Dolomite setups described above in the thread, and just wanted reassuring that holes in the GT6 drums, with the specific GT6 auto adjust mechanism, will work OK.

Thanks Clive - is it yellow metal friendly? It's GL5 spec - with the issues for 'our' thrust washers would a GL4 not be safer?

Has anyone any first-hand experience of drilling GT6 drums to access the adjusters? All the above seems to relate to Dolomites... I'd be grateful to hear from someone who's actually done it on a GT6!

New one on me - I've had 6 GT6s and don't remember any of them doing that...

Oh yes, I remember that now! Bonkers!

It was Porlock Hill that made me change all my silicone brake fluid back to good quality DOT4 20 years ago - we were on a non-competitive tour, and I had climbed it in my Healey 3000, great fun, and was driving gently back down again to the start. Near the bottom my brake pedal went soft and I couldn't hold it on the pedal. The choice was going to be between the dry stone wall on the left, or the boot of the 300SL Gullwing in front... Luckily with a real hefty long pull on the handbrake I managed to get it to stop. 20 mins later it was back to normal. I had suffered a similar experience 6 months earlier on a different hill in a different car, also with silicone brake fluid, so the Porlock experience was enough, no more silicone.

I like that as a fix, Rabbit - I have an aversion to changing components from standard because a) they're not standard, and there can be knock-on effects, and b) I'm fed up with scratching my head 5 years later trying to remember what parts I used! At the moment the issue is 'solved', in that I can't find GT6 backplates of either type for sale anywhere so am stuck with the self-adjust type.

Yes, the Skoda's is hidden in the glovebox too. Never used it as any music I might want to listen to is on my phone.

Thanks Clive - but I still don't understand how you can fit narrower drums to the longer driveshafts. Surely the drum will still bolt to the face of the rear hub, which will sit further away from the backplate because of the longer shaft - or have I missed something? If it didn't, the wider (self-adjusting) drum would be touching the backplate, hard. Unless a different offset is built into the back plate. The springs definitely are different. When I bought my car, it had a Spitfire 1500 swing spring fitted (the invoice for it came with the paperwork), and the car had pronounced positive camber on the rear wheels. I have bought a GT6-specific swing spring and it is noticeably shorter. According to Rimmer's, both the 1500 and the late MkIII have the same 'long' driveshaft, but different springs. I'm really not sure how much you have to change to get manually adjusted rear brakes. So think my question is: does anyone have a GT6 with a swing spring (non-roto), but manually adjusted brakes?

Has anyone actually done this conversion, and knows that it is possible? I've been looking through the parts that I think may be needed, and without a parts book for the earlier cars it's very difficult to work out. Comparing early non-roto GT6 with the late non-roto GT6 (swing spring): Early car has shorter driveshafts, different back plates, different drums, shoes, cylinders and an adjuster. The vertical link, rear hub and trunnion block are the same as far as I can tell. The later car has drums that are l.5" wider. If I fit the earlier drums and earlier backplate, I assume the backplate would sit in the same relationship to the trunnion block as the later backplate would. This means that there would be a 0.5" gap between the inner edge of the early drum and the backplate. Does this mean that you would have to fit the early, shorter driveshaft as well? In which case, the spring would need changing also? If there's someone out there who's actually done the job I'd be really interested for some feedback on this. The more I look at it, the more I think it's not a feasible conversion and we're stuck with the self-adjusters.

Yes, the Skodiak has Apple Play - you just plug your phone in, stick it in a closed drawer in front of the gearstick and the entire phone (google maps, music, phone etc.) works through the column stalk controls and displays on the car's screen. If I get a text or a whatsapp post it tells me over the radio, and asks if I want to reply - all done by voice control. It's clever but scary at the same time. Not really what I want from a car, but these things are just means of transport now, the real cars - for driving enjoyment - are in the garage (and currently in bits).

Dolomite and GT6 part numbers are different on Rimmers' website, so I don't know really. That said, my chances of finding any back plates seem pretty slim anyway, going by ebay and the classifieds!

Looking further, Rimmers have got it wrong. The late MkIII backplate has no mounting for the adjuster, which should bolt through it to support the lower brake shoe mount. That means that to convert to manual adjusters, I need to replace backplates, wheel cylinders, fit new adjusters etc. etc. I'm not bothered too much about the cost, but I don't think those parts are available anywhere to allow me to do the conversion. As far as I can tell they need to be from a MkI or II GT6 - doesn't matter if roto or not, but I don't think these are getting broken up these days. Think I'm stuck with the self-adjusters, and probably with my badly pitted backplates!

I've just cross-checked Rimmers website, and Mk1 GT6 backplates have the same part number as the late self-adjusting MkIII cars. So presumably all non-roto GT6s use the same backplate, whether or not the brakes self adjust. I would expect the shoes to be the same, so I'm guessing it's just the wheel cyiinder and manual adjuster parts (snail cam in the end of cylinder, accessed through hole in brake drum?) that are different.

Does anyone know if the correct (auto-adjust brakes) rear backplates for a late GT6 Mk3 non roto are the same as those fitted to anything else? Mine spent its early years near the sea and the back plates are very badly pitted and rusted, but I'd prefer to keep it standard. Thanks Roger