haggis

Hi everyone, not sure this is the right place to do this, but wanted to let everyone know about the first class service at Micheldever tyres in Hampshire. I have just completed a full suspension rebuild on my Gt6 and took it into these guys for alignment. They have two dedicated bays with two specialists just doing alignment, and if you give them a ring in advance they will book you in for a slot. I left there this afternoon with a car that feels so good on the road, that I thought I ought to tell everyone on the forum about it. If you live anywhere near Hampshire and want a really good service, then These are the guys. They charge £32 for basic toe adjustments, but charged me £96 for camber, caster & toe, although this does depend on how much they have to do. Hope this helps some other fellow owners. hag

Hi, does anyone know if it's bad to mix polybush colours i.e. Red on lower front wishbone, blue on top. Wishbone? The reason I ask is that I've recently stripped down my front suspension to find the lower 'blue' poly bushes were distorted quite badly but uppers fine (on both sides) I was considering now using red ones as a replacement for the lower wishbones as they are stiffer and hopefully won't distort. And as I'm doing all this was planning to get the car suspension set up again, should I stick by standard 'book' camber & toe angles ? Its a mk1 gt6, on adjustable Evo shocks and better springs, guess you might call it 'fast road'. Thanks hag

Thanks everyone, I'll think I'll stick to the nylon originals, if I was rich I might even consider the trunnionless option, they look so well engineered. Hag

Sorry, that post went wrong, just wondering if anyone has any experience in polybush trunnion bushes, I seem to remember trying them out years ago and they were rubbish, but I've got some more to replace and I just can't remember 100% what I did in the end( getting old now). Any help appreciated. Hag

Polybush trunnion bushes?

HI All, had a strange noise coming from my front suspension, so did a little strip down to take a look. The only thing I did notice was how loose the pads and retaining pins were, they are wobbling around in there. Does this mean the callipers have worn and need replacing ? the pins and pads both look good, 1/4" pins, Green stuff pads 3/4 of the meat left. Thanks Hag

Thanks everyone, doesn't sound to bad from the replies, Although the glass sounds like a right pain, hopefully I can find the scuttle bolts! Thanks for you help. Hag

Hi, just considering some work I want to do on my mk1 gt6 this winter season. I need to take the windscreen and surround out to tackle some rust and seals, just was looking to find out how difficult this was with the other body components in place, and if anyone had any tips. Thanks Hag.

Hello, I have inherited a set of Triple Strombergs on an American 'Goodparts' manifold, but suffering from a basic cable throttle set up, does anyone have any experience with the 'Goodparts' linkage or the 'Ratco' set up that I have seen mentioned elsewhere? it's on a GT6 Mk 1 with a spitfire 1500 cable pedal. Any help appreciated. Thanks Hag.

Hi All, I was in the queue for Mike, but mine got pretty bad so had to cancel, just got an exchange one from TD Fitchett, really good price and so far so good (only fitted two weeks ago), no noise or leaks pretty sweet really. HAg

Hi M, I haven't checked the sliding joint yet, but planned to do so today, I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks hag.

Hello again, finally managed to take a look today, jacked the car up, checked rear hubs & back plates which all seemed fine, but what I did notice was on the passenger side once every full rotation of the wheel it did a tiny little jump, checking the drivers side it did a much bigger jump on rotation, which led me to believe, this could be my problem. The passenger side is fitted with the new driveshaft, just wondering if anyone might know if this is bent driveshaft or something in the diff. To be honest the shaft looks pretty straight to me. Thanks Hag

Hi All, thanks for all your ideas, gonna try and get it on a ramp at the weekend and do some wiggling of bits, its definitely a muffled clonk, what I would call a thud or a thump. Not a loud clonk. I even sound insulated the boot area and it has made no difference, I'm thinking prop, but will check tyres, drums and rear hub stud assembly as they can sometimes get bent during removal. Thanks Hag

Hi and thanks for all your responses, lots to consider. I originally suspected the UJ's which is why I decide to strip the rear suspension and rebuild with new, but the noise was exactly the same after the rebuild so by means of elimination I don't think its coming from them. They were stiff on the bench and they did stand up on the flange. Front wheel bearings were checked and one replaced last year, the noise i'm pretty sure is from the rear. Tyres are new with only a few hundred miles on them, balanced & fitted in November. Rear body to Chassis bolts tightened, well the ones around the diff anyhow. This only leaves the prop shaft or shock absorbers, the prop had new UJ's last year when I did the overdrive conversion but I would say I don't think i checked the sliding spine joint, might be worth a look at. Shock absorbers came with the car and are Spax adjustables, anyone got any ideas how you check them? Thanks Hag

Hello everyone, just wondering if any one can give me some advice on a rear end noise on my Gt6 Mk1. The car originally came with a very whiney 3:27 diff which I replaced with a spare 3.89 diff that I had lying around in the back of the garage. No longer did I have a whine, but a rhythmic thudding noise coming from the rear end, as I had some issues with brake pipes fowling a swing spring conversion and the spring was found to be no longer springy (i.e flat) I decided to do a 'quick' rear end suspension rebuild, new brakes, UJ's, new driveshaft, new rear trunnions, bearings, spring etc, etc. taking about two months of Sundays in the end. The first drive back on the road this week and the Thudding noise was still there , i'm assuming as no part was left unchecked or renewed that its the diff! Its a thudding noise, like a muffled knock, that gets faster and louder with acceleration, and when I turn left goes quiet for a bit and then resumes, but not always. I'm thinking the half shaft bearings, but maybe its something else, any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks Hag

Hi dave, I'm sure this will be controversial, but I used to attend a classic car maintenance club at my local technical college ( know idea why I stopped going as they had all the equipment you could possibly dream of for £5 a week) the guy who ran it was a technician there and on a couple of occasions I tried to resolve my noisy tappets on my Vitesse, struggling with this I asked his advice and he suggested tightening them up until the feeler was very stiff to pull out and put in. I've got to say the results have stood the test of time and even with partially worn parts never had any valve noise and the car has performed fantastically. i guess that every rocker has its own wear so using a flat feeler just doesn't take up the best shape of the recess. Pete's wire feelers sound the best option, any idea where can I get some? I have got through about five sets of feeler gauges in ten years. Hag

Hi Pete, glad you didn't lose your sherry that would have been a disaster and cheers for the info, sounds like there's norhimg to worry about, I'll give it a scrub and a lick of paint and stick it back on, have a good Christmas Hag

Hi, and Merry Christmas to you all. Just managed to wangle some pre-christmas time in the garage and following a rear end noise decided to strip down rear axle and check everything, as I was doing so the vertical link didn't quite look right, looked bent or mis-shapen . Can anyone tell me if there are any visual checks or dimensions that might help?in the case of the photo, the shock mount doesn't look at 90' (assumed?) to the two vertical elements and one of them appears bent in the middle (not great on photo) Any help as always greatly appreciated. I think I might need a new one. Thanks Hag

That's great, thanks guys, I thought maybe I'd disappeared. just what I thought, I'll put the order in today for one. I was doubting rubber hoses and push fit pipes on the thermo valve thing anyhow glad to be getting rid of it. Thanks Hag

Did I do something wrong with my posting? it didn't seem to highlight as 'new' and normally someone very helpful has given some worldly advice by now. Hag

Hi everyone, just a quick one, Im looking to remove my oil cooler from my GT6. I currently have installed a oil filter 'spin off' housing with outlets and instead of completely replacing this was considering just blanking the holes off on the housing. Firstly does anyone know what size they are? I think they are 1/2" BSP?? but I could be wrong, and could anyone tell me whether I can just blank them off or do I need to connect them together via a short pipe? Thanks Hag

Hi again and thanks for all your comments. I did decide to go down the golf radiator and so far the conversion is going well, there was just one question I had about whether the new fan should be on a permanent live or an ignition live? My original was on the ignition and after the engine had stopped the temperature would rise to 120' immediately before slowly cooling, which I found slightly distressing, i'm guessing this is normal, And doesn't do any damage to the engine? I was considering a permanent feed so the fan would 'run on' after the engine stopped as all modern cars now do, but the fan instructions doesn't recommend this because of the potential battery drain. Thanks Hag

Hi Paul, I converted my GT6 studs to 12mm last weekend, I have fitted some Dunlop D1's from JBW and they come with a tapered nut sleeve with an open thread and an internal hex head fitting. http://www.johnbrownwheels.com/Shop/P-1363-12x1.5mm---Star-Head-Chrome-Wheel-Nut.html Now the internal thread was a little short for the original steel wheels (by about 3 -5mm), obviously perfect on the Alloys, but Im pretty sure they can get them in various lengths. If anyone knows the torque wrench settings for alloys on 12mm studs would be greatly appreciated. Hag