John Bonnett
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Posts posted by John Bonnett
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The head is on and the engine runs. The carbs need setting up before it will tick over but actually running and keeping the coolant where it should be is a major step forward. I did drive it out of the workshop and it was nice to see it at a distance.
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Absolutely fine with you using the design for the badge John. looking forward to seeing the finished car :-)
I guessed you liked the French blue as this will be your second car this colour won't it :-)
good luck with the Engine, fingers and toes crossed it goes to plan.
Aaron
Thank you Aaron that's really kind of you. The head arrived this afternoon so going to plan so far. I've put the radiator back on the car and connected the oil cooler pipes ready for fitting the head tomorrow.
The interior is now finished and the final pieces to go in were the arm rest and knee pads re-covered with Park Lane kits which are absolutely excellent. The seats let the interior down but they will receive some more Park Lane kits when the car is being painted in July.
I've made a start putting the glass back in the doors which is a really fiddly job. Another triumph for the Triumph designers. They seemed to delight in making even the simple complicated. Where I can I have done a bit of re-engineering to make maintenance easier the latest being fitting the window winder handle with a screw rather than the nasty little pin that either goes in straight away or can take hours. Two second job now to fit the handle.
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We are Brittany Ferries Club Voyage members and if anyone decides to use their service on any crossing I can let you have a number which will allow a 10% discount on the crossing. Not a great deal but enough to buy a decent meal.
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its looking great john, I hope the inners are ok. Love the smooth door look
I think I has asked this before but your going to paint it French blue aren't you?
Good luck the end is in sight
Aaron
Hi Aaron,
If you are okay with it I would like to use your design for the badge. Looking at the standard GT6 MK3 badge, it looks like the graphics are stuck to the chrome backing plate. So I could have your design made and stuck on in the same way and hey presto a really professional looking badge.
Yes the car is going to be French Blue; a colour I really like. As far as the inner wings are concerned I do have a contingency plan if the tyres foul them.
The replacement cylinder head should be delivered tomorrow and the plan is to fit it over the weekend and hopefully get the engine running. I'm quite excited about seeing the car out of the workshop moving under its own power.
I'll keep you posted.
regards
John
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Having been working five hours a day for the last nine months the pace is starting to tell so good that we are nearly finished; that's the car and me!
The inner wings that caused me so much grief may still have a sting in the tail. Looking at them today while I was talking to a visitor it struck me that there may not be sufficient clearance on bump. We'll soon find out.
I've taken a big chance fitting the transmission tunnel, carpet and H brace because pound to a penny something will happen where access is needed and they will all have to come out. The great thing about being a pessimist is that I can never be disappointed. All the carpets save the A post pieces are now fitted, and they are excellent; Newton Commercial moulded set.
The passenger door now has its new skin and is ready for building up. I'm using the Spitfire MK3 door handles which I like very much. I've decided not to struggle trying to fit the pin into the window winder handle which I'm going to modify into a screw on type.
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Paul, I think you will need to uprate your flasher unit to one that will cope with the extra load and designed with this purpose in mind. This one would do the job
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/627/12-volt-4-pin-electronic-flasher-relay
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I had a similar thing wit Peter james. Ok, they asked for about £27 for the remaining 2 moths insurance as the agreed value had gone up 2k. I rand up to pay, but also queried the cost. The VERY helpful lady asked me to wait as the extra premium sounded incorrect. She returned, and said the extra premium was a mistake, and the cars agreed value would attract no extra premium. Letter from them confirmed everything.
Really, Peter James are rather good, they have staff who understand what they are doing, and are capable of thing for themselves. Unusual qualities.....
I second that.
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Today has been spent machining up some thin wheel spacers. This is to avoid having to shorten the wheel studs, necessary when using wire wheels. Keeping the studs standard will then enable the fitting of steel wheels whenever some serious driving is envisaged.
Next job is re-skinning the doors in aluminium and building them up.
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The inner wings are now finished and the best that can be said about them is that they will do the job. There would not have been time to get the car to Tours had I made them double curvature so they had to be done in this way. But as soon as I can I'll build a buck and make some double curvature ones which I hope and believe will match the rest of the car and be pleasing to the eye.
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John
Thanks for the info.
What you've described is actually what I've already done. I used a period Lucas relay situated on the RHS of the battery box. Handily there are two holes drilled in the side of the box which match the relay mounting bracket. It seems Triumph we're expecting to have to mount at least one extra relay at some point. Or it could be to accomodate the horn relay on LHD cars.
The master light switch now only acts as the relay control and direct feed for the sidelights. Strangely both wiring diagrams I have show a purple lead going to the dip switch from the middle fuse. This looks to all intents and purposes like a separate supply for the main beam. There definitely isn't one there in reality. Doubly confusing is the fact that there is a purple wire with a connector under the steering column. After much head scratching I discovered it's for the ignition courtesy light This is where the wiring diagrams show a double connector and a supply to the main beam. It's the right wire gauge for the it but perhaps Triumph decided it was cheaper to omit it and hopefully no one would notice.
It just means that I now have a spare fuse which can be used to sub divide another circuit. The top candidate for this is the radiator fan and water pump manual override plus the anti run on valve. They're piggied onto the heated rear screen at the moment. The logic behind this was if it's hot then you need the cooling system at maximum and obviously no requirement for the heated screen. Not sure how sound that logic is but now we'll never know.
I've also successfully fitted the windscreen recess drain pipes-photos to follow eventually!
Cheers
Alan
Great minds again Alan!
The purple wire going to the dip switch may well be for the headlamp flash which has a separate feed and this has a connector for the interior light which like the headlight flasher needs a constant live.
Well done for putting the drains in. Please do post a picture or two when you can.
John
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The main dashboard lighting switch has an unswitched Brown feed. On the second terminal is a Red/Green which is the feed for the side and tail lights. The third terminal has a Blue cable which goes to the dip switch and is a single feed for the headlights. Consider the dip switch as a splitter that directs volts to either main beam, Blue.White cable or dipped beam, Blue/Red cable.
An improvement in headlamp brightness can be obtained by fitting relays to both dip and main beams.The relays take the load and the losses from the lighting and dip switches and should result in less losses and brighter headlights.
There are no changes to the main lighting switch needed. Disconnect the blue and red and blue and white wires that come from the dip switch and (using two relays) connect them to pin 85 on a standard four pin relay. Connect 86 to earth. This will operate the coil and switch the contacts when the lighting switch is on in the headlamp position and depending on its position either the main beam or dip beam relay will operate. Connect the mating blue and white and blue and red cables which go to the headlights to contact 30. You will need to bring a fused supply and connect it to pin 87.I hope this helps but feel free to drop me a PM if anything needs clarification.
John
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Yes - it is here again. Weekend of 11 and 12 July. We have a massive entry this year. Supported by members from South Wales, Somerset and Cornwall. Look out for our huge Area stand down by the railway. Even if you do not have your precious car entered - come along and have a chat to us over the weekend - we'll look forward to seeing you there.
All being well, we'll be there Sue.
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Hi John,
the car is looking great. I love the strengthening detail on the bonnet around the catches and scuttle edge. Also the wiring. I am just making a new centre section for my GT6 dash and will do as you have and modify the loom with multiplug connections.
Have you managed to sort the engine after its unfortunate head failure? Really looking forward to the big start up.
regards
Chris
Hi Chris, nice to hear from you. I think you will find the plug and socket arrangement will make removing the centre section of the dash very much easier and although it will take a bit of time, in my opinion well worth doing. I've done the same thing on the bonnet but have used a waterproof arrangement.
The replacement cylinder head should go on next weekend so if all goes well and the engine starts and runs properly I'll capture the moment on a bit of video.
I'm still working on the inner wings which should have been finished today but they fought back. Hopefully, will be done tomorrow. Apart from the interior to go in, there's just the door skins and the wheel spacers to make; a couple of weeks work after which we will be looking at getting an MOT and on the road.
Will keep you posted
John
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Its easy with a bit of black tape. Go on a golf gti forum. They must have an answer.
That what I have always done. Use tank tape and trim with a scalpel.
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The inner wings are just about finished and although they will do what they should, they really don't suit the car at all. This is because they are single curvature with straight folds; the only straight lines on the car. There won't be time to change them before Tours but it will be a priority as soon as we get home. I'll make a buck and do the job properly next time
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Not a lot of tangible progress on the inner wings yesterday but quite a lot of experimentation with cardboard templates took place. I spent a bit of time working on my friend's GT6 who will be joining us on the trip to Tours next month. I also spent time cleaning and painting the door shells preparatory to re-skinning them. Hopefully, by the end of today I'll have some progress to show on the inner wings.
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I post quite a lot on this forum and in my opinion it delivers the goods. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin R for his patience and help in providing guidance on how to use it correctly and to get the best out of it.
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Today, I made a start on the inner wings. These will be fixed rather than being part of the bonnet. There are a number of advantages in this arrangement not the least being a reduction in bonnet weight and less chance of distortion and cracking. I managed to get the upstands for both sides done but it was a fiddly job getting the shape right as well as ensuring that there were no clearance issues.
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With the headlamps and indicators mounted it was just a question of making and fitting the bonnet loom to get everything working. The bonnet is mounted using quickly detachable hinge pins and the looms meet via a six way waterproof plug and socket. It was a very nice feeling to connect the battery and to find that everything worked as it should.
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Today, I've mounted the headlights, Wipac Quadoptics, and the indicators which are housed in little pockets sculptured into the sides of the front wings. All being well, by close of plat tomorrow I'll have made the loom and all will be connected to the main loom via a waterproof plug and socket.
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Great work John and a lovely big work area. It the other full working GT6 yours also?
I used to have a late GT6, in white. Would love to own another, to be a brother to my Vitesse.
Thank you Steve. No I sold the French Blue MK3 last Summer. I bought it as a donor for this project but it was far too good and original to butcher so I put this project on hold while I restored it and in return it gave some really memorable and enjoyable long distance trips to France, Spain and the Isle of Skye. The new car will be far more frenetic and I have a feeling that we will be aware of every mile travelled unlike the GT6 which covered great distances with contemptuous ease..
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The last day or two have been quite physical with all the hammering, trimming drilling and rivetting but it is a very good feeling that the bonnet is now finished and fitted to the car.
Following dressing the aluminium around the tubes and clenching on the steel backing near the scuttle, the last thing was to wire the wings. Instead of a return as on the standard car, the aluminium is wrapped around 4.2mm galvanised wire to give it strength and rigidity. This was a pleasurable job and the result very satisfying.
I can now make the inner wings which are going to be fixed to the chassis rather than the bonnet. But before that, I think I'm going to pop the lights in.
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Just my opinion but perhaps all upgrades and modifications should be reversible.
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After a decent day's work, the bonnet skin is now permanently fitted to the frame so there's no going back now. Dressing the aluminium around the steel tubes is a slow business but it is coming on nicely. The bonnet is made from NS3 which is a very tough aluminium alloy and not the easiest material to work. It responds to a bit of heat which does make it more malleable. I'm not talking annealing temperature, more of just a warming up. This certainly helps when working out the crinkles that appear when shrinking is needed.
A few pictures follow.
Aluminium bodied GT4
in My Triumph Restoration Project
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Thanks Chaps; very kind of you. It really does need to be painted Aaron for two reasons really. One, my metal shaping skills leave a lot to be desired and the bodywork is full of small dents and flaws which have to be filled. And the other reason is that I want to be able to use the car in all weathers and to prevent the aluminium from corroding it has to be painted.
As predicted, the inner wings are far too low to I'm now thinking about either modifying what's there or making a MK2 version. I shall also have to think about covering the front of the wheels because even in the short drive down our lane the front valence picked up quite a bit of grit thrown off the wheels.