Kevin Atkins

Hi all, I've had a bit of a browse / search through the forums but couldn't quite find what I was after, at least with recent experiences. Simple question - where might I be able to buy decent quality wiper blades for my GT6? I have tried replacing what was on the car with items from one of the classic suppliers, stainless steel and look nice, but the performance is awful. On the driver's side (ie, the side that really matters..), the blade leaves a 2" unswept area in the middle of the blade. It seems the blade itself isn't able to follow the contour of the windscreen and the unswept bit is in between the inner mount points of the rubber to the stainless carriers. I can't really drive it in the rain like this, so has anyone had similar experiences, and are there any recommended suppliers? I'm thinking of going for modern blades otherwise - wipe performance trumps aesthetics in this instance.. Thanks in advance!

I've just fitted a part Bell system, purchased through the club shop, to my Mk 3 GT6 - front downpipe and centre pipe / silencer, and I ripped out the mild steel tubular manifold that a previous owner had fitted and went back to original cast iron manifold. The rear silencer is a standard pattern stainless item from Rimmers that I already had. Everything lined up nicely, perfectly in fact, and it was relatively easy to fit. The only real issue was that someone has replaced the boot floor and clearly welded the rear box hangers on in the wrong place, so I did have a bit of fabrication to do to make sure the exhaust hung correctly, but that wasn't a fault with the parts. Delivery for the Bell parts was about three weeks, apparently made to order as I wanted a standard bore system. Very pleased with the results - quiet and refined when pottering along but livens up a little with more revs (although I'm strictly sticking to around 3000 rpm max while I run the newly rebuilt gearbox / diff in)

Thanks guys, the recon rack is from a reputable supplier but the issue with the ball and socket arrangement sounds like it could be the culprit.. I don't really want to be taking the gaiter off to investigate though as that might invalidate any sort of warranty. I'll go back to the supplier tomorrow I think and see what they say. I've double-checked everything else - I did replace the UJ / knuckle at the base of the steering column but that's not fouling anything, so it's looking like a faulty rack I think..

Hello all, As part of ongoing refurbishment of the running gear on my GT6, I decided to replace the steering rack. I haven't actually driven the car yet and the front end is up on axle stands, but with the front wheels fitted. Having fitted a reconditioned steering rack a couple of weeks ago, I have just got around to actually trying the steering from lock to lock - this was with the wheels off the ground, no load on the steering. In one direction it's fine, but going from left to right, there is a really noticeable 'cogging' effect that can be heard, and felt, through the steering wheel. Attempting to turn the steering from the wheels themselves and the same is evident, and from the offside, there appears to be really appreciable play in the inner joint of the rack, inside the gaitor bellow.. This doesn't seem at all right - before I condemn the thing, is there anything I might have done wrong? I'm thinking really significant, obvious play in the rack inner ball joint thingy is probably not right and might be the cause but opinions welcome.. Thanks!

Thanks for the clarification Colin.When I tightened yesterday, I had the flywheel locked so it didn't move, but I didn't feel that the tightness I'd done the bolts up to seemed like enough. I'll reset the bolts and tighten to the higher torque figure you mention above. Thanks!

Hello all, As part of the ongoing work on my GT6, with gearbox / drivetrain replacement, I decided to replace the crankshaft rear oil seal, whilst it's all apart. I'm glad I did - it was all very wet down there once I'd removed the flywheel and engine rear plate.. so that in combination with a leak from the rocker box and the old gearbox front seal must have been the cause of the fairly significant dripping from under the car when parked after a run... Anyway, I've put it all back together and just want to confirm correct torque setting for the flywheel bolts. The Haynes manual mentions lock tabs but there were none fitted to mine, and the torque wrench setting advised was 42 - 46 Ft. Lbs for the bolts.. I've torqued to 44 Ft Lbs, and used thread lock, but it didn't seem particularly tight so just wanted to confirm it's the correct setting if there are no lock tabs fitted? Many thanks!

Years and years ago, I had a Fiat 126 which also had tapered front wheel bearings, and I checked the front wheels.. on finding that they 'wobbled a bit', I duly tightened up the hub nut until the play was gone.. then a few days later, on exiting a motorway slip road (maybe taking a 126 onto a motorway was a particularly stupid thing to have done in the first place, but I was young and daft..) I went to apply the brakes.. what brakes?!? The front hubs had overheated to the extent that I'd lost all braking.. very scary. After that episode, and learning of my mistake, I have always erred on the side of caution when tightening things up.. a little play is better than that scenario! As for the GT6 - I've fitted new stub axles and bearings, and I've had to back the nut off until I can just get the split pin through to allow the hubs to spin freely. I think I'll drive a few miles and let things bed in, and then re-check..

Yes it's a bit odd.. hoping it'll be fine.. Can't say I've been too impressed with the quality of a number of the reproduction parts I've had to fit but it is what it is I guess 😜

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have reassembled without, so as it was before. hopefully it'll be OK. I have rebuilt both sides with new uprights and new trunnions. One thing I did notice on the right-hand side - the new upright / trunnion assembly has a little bit of play in it, whereas the left-hand side was tighter and went together with no detectable play. My understanding is the left-hand trunnion has a left-hand thread and the right-hand has a r-h thread, which is what I found, so I don't think I've mixed up the uprights (I triple-checked and cross-referenced part numbers).. So I'm assuming it's poor tolerancing on the new parts?

Hello all, I am in the process of rebuilding the front suspension on my GT6.. Suspension has gone together fine, now need to reassemble the hub with new wheel bearings. I noticed that on the exploded view of the front hub assembly, Rimmers show a water shield, part number 138559, which is no longer available. I cannot see any water shield on my car - there's the felt washer on the inside, nothing else. Is this going to be a problem? Many thanks.

Thanks for that - I've got the driveshafts / hubs assembled - just want a clarification.. I've installed the diff-side / inner grease seal with the trailing lip towards the diff, so to let excess grease out. For the outer seal, trailing lip is inwards towards the bearing.. is this correct? The Haynes manual is a little unclear to me.. If needs be I can go back and fix. Thanks all!

Yeah it's a GT6. Made good progress on building up the new driveshaft / hub assemblies so they're now ready to fit to the car when I get the new differential etc.

Thanks for the heads-up on that Johny, I've not ventured into that yet but hopefully they're not too much of a pain.. What I can say is there seems to be a fair amount of play in the bushes on the nearside so hopefully they come apart easily enough

Hi Pete, Johny, Yeah I've gone this way so I can swap the assemblies over - the inner hubs / trunnion housings (?) were £15 off ebay, so seemed like a good deal and they do seem to be in good shape. I've also got a pair of brake backplates which have cleaned up well. I didn't want to be tangling with having to press the flanges out and pressing the drive shafts out too.. so I've bought new hub flanges too (£££ but was also mindful of the cost of the correct puller).. that way I know they should be straight and true. I'll stick with the Hoffmann bearings then, and possibly the needle rollers too? They seem in good shape as well. Failing that, maybe I could look at sourcing bearings elsewhere from a bearing specialist? So far, I've found the quality of some of the pattern parts I've bought to be a bit patchy, which is OK if it's easily remedied but for the drivetrain I don't want to be dismantling it again any time soon

Hi all, I'm in the process of building up complete rear half-shaft / hub/ brake assemblies for my GT6. To do this, I have bought a pair of inner hubs from eBay, and am using new driveshafts, UJ's / flanges and bearings. Question - the existing bearings in the hubs seem to be in good condition, they rotate freely, there's no 'grittiness' and they're clean. The outer bearings are British-made Hoffmanns, so I'm assuming the needle-rollers are also likely to be UK made too. The new bearings are Powertune branded, and I'd assume they're pattern parts made in the far East. The Powertune outer bearing race looks to be somewhat less robust than the Hoffmann - the balls are smaller for one thing. So I'm wondering whether my analysis of the condition of the existing bearings is sound - I'm not really sure how one detects excessive play, particularly the needle rollers - but I'm wary of ripping something out just because it's 'old' and replacing with an inferior new item.. I don't really want to be having to take the whole thing apart again in 2000 miles... I will, however, be fitting new grease seals etc. Any thoughts appreciated!

Yes the old bank account has taken a bit of a battering.. still, if it gets the old girl fixed properly and put back to how she was when she left Canley almost 50 years ago to the day (built April 5th 1973..) I'm happy. I'll let you know how it all goes!

Hi Pete, I got long driveshafts from Rimmers - I would have used James Paddock but they were out of stock.. Hopefully they're OK? They seem well made / well finished 🙂

Update.. I decided I didn't really want to risk driving the car in its present state, even if only for a short distance with someone following me.. So I haven't bottomed out the possibility of it being tyres, but the tyres on it are virtually brand new - could still be faulty, but I've decided I need to bite the bullet and sort this thing properly. It's very much an unknown quantity at the moment, 50 years old with secrets / wear etc.. So... Given that the diff must have been running virtually dry of oil for I don't know how long (I had to put nearly half a litre in...), and the whole backend being tired anyway, I've got a diff rebuild in progress with Mike Papworth, got new driveshafts, hub bearings, trunnion bushes (the current ones are completely shot on the N/S - that might have been part of the problem!).. the whole lot - I'm rebuilding the whole thing, then I know what I'm working with. At the same time (this has turned into a bigger rebuild than first anticipated...) - I've also plumped for a rebuilt O/D gearbox from Mike Papworth.. current box is noisy, non O/D, and having just got a Heritage Certificate for the car, it was originally supplied with O/D so I'm kind of returning it to its original spec.. It'll be lovely when it's done, and I'll know that virtually all the running gear is new or near new.. 🙂

Morning Dick,no she's got standard Mk. 3 steels fitted, although the wheels are a bit grotty. I'll post back here with what I find from further checks / inspection, although that's unlikely to be this weekend now.

OK thanks for the heads up on that - I think a short test drive with mate behind, then figure out what to do next.. As will probably be reasonably clear from this and some of my previous threads, I'm er, not exactly a time-served motor mechanic so this little car has been something of a baptism by fire so far! But it's got to be worth it in the end I'm hoping.. still such pretty cars after all these years

Thanks Pete, I'll see if I can get a mate to follow me a short distance at low speed and we'll see what that turns up - like you say it's got to be pretty obvious if another motorist has seen it.. Going to be a bit pushed tomorrow but will see if I can get on it. will post back what we find

Thanks for the replies folks. I've had a look at the nearside driveshaft and on closer inspection, there does seem to be a bit of a witness mark which suggests contact with the chassis rail - one half of the driveshaft has clear evidence of 'polishing' / fresh metal so I think you may be onto something with that. Thing is, earlier we rotated the wheel by hand and couldn't see any real evidence of it being out of true, but that was with the suspension unloaded. I'm wondering whether before, when I had the old spring in and the suspension was sitting far too low and negative camber on the rear wheels, maybe the 'set point' was such that the drive shaft was further away from the chassis rail but now it's much closer. Looks like I'm in for replacing driveshafts at a minimum, and possibly doing the hubs at the same time - I believe the rear hubs are a bit of a pig of a job and require the correct tool? And while I'm at it, maybe the diff output shaft bearings / seals.. oh, joy - this is turning into a much bigger job than first anticipated!

Today's update.. my brother-in-law and I have been through the rear end of the car - we checked inside brake drums / brake components, shoes springs etc, all OK; we greased the rear hubs - thankfully someone had previously fitted grease nipples; checked security of all bolts and fixings - there did appear to be some play in the lower trunnion bush thing on the nearside - the steel tube with rubber bushes forming the lower pivot - but that wouldn't explain the noise. I test drove the car and the noise is the same.. and - a good-spirited motorist behind me tooted and pointed at the nearside of the car and flashed his hazards. So something is clearly very badly amiss, and must be visible as I drive. I limped home, very slowly.. I clearly need to get this fixed as it looks like a serious safety issue now. The only thing I can postulate - might the nearside half shaft be broken, which might cause the hub to whip around / vibrate, visible to others - there is a nasty vibration coming through now at 35+ mph? But if it was completely broken, surely I'd lose all drive as the diff would just spin the broken shaft?

Thanks for the pointers - I'll go through each and see what happens.. Rear hubs / wheel bearings could be a good call - I haven't greased them, and goodness knows when they were last done.. I'm assuming it's just the grease nipple on the bottom of the hub / trunnion? Also, I've added a bit of extra ballast in the rear to get the new spring to sit better / settle - two bags of builders' sand and two big bags of compost, so there's some weight in there, that might be an aggravating factor, or exposed the issue

Hi all, I can appreciate this might be impossible to offer guidance on, but I've started getting a very nasty tinkling / metallic scraping sound from what I think is the nearside rear axle but I can't be certain; it could also be coming from the propshaft. This seems to happen when applying power, it quietens right down on the overrun. Needless to say, I've decided not to risk driving the car further until I sort out what's going on.. I've popped the rear nearside wheel off and haven't been able to detect anything untoward. I did replace the half-shaft UJ on the offside; the nearside one seemed fine with no discernable play in it. One point to note is that very early in my ownership, I suffered a flat tyre on the nearside rear during moving the car and the tinkling noise under that condition was exactly the same with the tyre flat but disappeared once the tyre was inflated to the correct pressure - odd, I know, but maybe it was something to do with the angle of the half-shaft? I'm wondering whether maybe the diff half-shaft output bearing on the nearside has broken up perhaps? If anyone has experienced similar I'd be interested to know what it might be, but understand it's a difficult one to diagnose remotely!