Waynebaby

Good news and bad news. The good news is that with the clean O/D filter in-situ the O/D actuation is now much quicker than the previous "count to four - thud" operation. The bad news is that when the transmission gets warm the O/D clutch still slips under load. Other bad news is that the wretched wiring in the gear lever is giving me electric shocks again, so the wiring insulation has got chafed somewhere (again) This has got me thinking about fitting a Mk1/2 switch on the steering column to get rid of the problem once and for all. Has anybody on the forum done this? It looks like relatively a simple thing to do with all the necessary bits being available from the usual suppliers. Wayne

Hi Pete, I did as you advised before putting the cover back on and checked the alignment of the operating lever (it was OK) but lost my nerve when it came to extracting the operating valve itself. I traced the cause of the inoperative OD switch to a continuity fault with one of the wires that had got trapped between the gear lever and the rubber gaiter. When the monsoon abates I'll take the car for a run and see if the OD clutch is still slipping under load now that the filter is cleaner. PS: I found out the hard way that you need to drain the gearbox before removing the OD filter cover!! Wayne

I bit the bullet and took off the tunnel to get at the OD filter and found a pile of what looks like Old Holborn ready-rub in the filter basket. I've cleaned everything and put it back together but I suspect that the cone clutch is on the way out. Needless to say the OD switch didn't work after I'd put everything back in the car, rendering the whole thing a useless academic exercise. I think I've got a broken wire somewhere (knew I shouldn't have taken the tunnel off!) Wayne

Aidan, I bought some dizzy cap retaining clips from Canleys which helped with a sloppy Delco. I also seem to recall TD Fitchetts listing an OE Delco cap if you want to add to your collection of spare parts. Wayne

B**gger, Taking out the tunnel has to one of my least favourite jobs! I noticed that the OD was slipping out of engagement under load when driving during the recent hot weather. The oil level is OK (checked via an access hatch specifically installed to avoid taking out the wretched tunnel) and so my next thought was to see if the OD filter was sufficiently blocked to be reducing the oil pressure as well as looking for signs of cone clutch lining material in the filter. Your advice has convinced me to try to live with it until the end of the season and add it to the growing list of things to keep me busy in a freezing cold garage this coming winter. Cheers Pete Wayne

Hi All, Perhaps someone can save me needlessly jacking up my Mk3 GT6 and grovelling on the garage floor? Is it possible to access and remove the OD oil filter with the overdrive fitted to the car and if so is this best done from below or from above? Cheers Wayne

I see that Newton do carpets for the GT6 in something called "biscuit" but I'm guessing that isn't what you're after.

I'm quite jealous of your coloured carpets Doug. My black seats, black carpet and black trim combo makes working inside the car whilst in the garage akin to trying to find a black cat in a coal cellar! Wayne

Thanks Doug, That's just like mine. Nice carpet by the way. Wayne

Adrian, I've just checked the inertia belts on my GT6 mk3 and it only has one loop eye like your kit. The reel and the loop eye fit as shown in your first picture, but there is no other loop eye fitted for shoulder positioning. I don't know if there should be one but my belts seem to work OK as they are - the belt just comes from the loop eye fitted on the wheel arch and up over your shoulder. Wayne

Hi, This is a common bugbear caused (usually) by slivers of rubber from the fuel pipe getting trapped in the float needle valve. Take a look at the fuel thread from 28th February 2016 and you'll find that Euan Douglas had similar problems. There's plenty of advice there. From bitter experience I know it can take a number of goes before you get rid of all the little b*ggers because every time you disturb the carbs you make more slivers. Try dropping the float bowls in situ to get at the float needle valve to avoid this problem. Regarding your fuel line route it shouldn't be going over the top of the rocker cover. The correct route is around the front of the thermostat housing in brass "bundy" tube but I don't think that this will be causing your problem. Good luck Wayne

Paul, If you check back on the electrical forum to a thread started by Haggis on 18th July 2015 you should find a link to a a useful article on wiring relays into a twin headlamp system. Wayne

Hi Richard, I've had my float bowls off half a dozen times without fitting new gaskets and there has been no leakage. I think that providing there is no obvious damage you should be OK to reuse the old float bowl gasket. I can't properly answer your question about the solenoid/starter switch question I'm afraid. I know my GT6 Mk3 doesn't have the button which allows you to turn over the engine on the starter from under the bonnet but I remember that my dad's old Triumph 2000 did. I think that if you do have that facility then it would be on the body of the starter solenoid. Good luck Wayne

Richard, I forgot you were working on a Vitesse and got fixated on GT6 figures. I confess to being unsure whether or not you double the weight for a four-seater (i.e. 600lb), though to my mind it seems logical that you would do this. Hopefully someone with a broader range of knowledge than me (and there will be plenty of those!) can confirm for you one way or the other. As far as the dripping fuel is concerned I would start with the assumption that the float needle has stuck/got blocked on the front carb. I think you should be able to get at this easily enough by dropping the float bowl, letting the float dangle and unscrewing the float needle. Work the pin up and down a few times to un-stick it and screw it back in, making sure you don't lose the aluminium washer. Make sure the float bowl is free of debris before you refit it. When I first got my GT6 I went through a period when the carbs seemed to be taking it in turns to play this trick and I got quite adept at clearing the needles at the road-side. I'd try to avoid disturbing the fuel hoses connecting the carbs to the brass fuel pipes if I were you because this can produce yet more slivers of rubber to block the needle valve. Good luck Wayne

Richard, Glad it's all back together. Before you load up the car it would be an idea to bounce the suspension up and down to generally get things settled in roughly the right position (I imagine the front is sitting quite high just now) If possible try driving the car gently around in circles a couple of times get the front camber back to where it should be. Wayne

The static weight to load the car with before tightening the suspension bolts is 300lbs (136kg) spread evenly across the car in front of the rear axle. I use 5x25 litre plastic jerry cans (3 behind the seats and one on each of the seats) - figuring the missing 11kgs is neither here nor there. The most important thing is not to put your back out lifting the jerry cans into the car! A simpler option of course is to get two people to sit in the car whilst you do the torquing up. You just need to make sure that they're both about 10.5 stones Wayne

Aidan, I don't know why the picture is so small! The measurement is taken from the top of the lower electrode (with the rivet) to the top of the spring.and is 0.30 - 0.35 in (7.6 to 8.9 mm) If you go back a couple of pages in the electrical forum you'll see my post with a picture which is big enough to read. When the spring is high enough you'll find that there is a definite resistance when you fit the distributor cap. I found that this tweak stopped my centre electrode from eroding. Wayne

Aidan, it would be worth checking the height of the spring on the rotor arm. Then tend to come from the supplier too low. Here is the correct dimension:

Richard, I had similar problems when I changed the springs on my GT6. I used a slightly different approach to the one so far suggested in that I fitted the top of the unit first, using a trolley jack under the shock to slowly jack the unit up into place whilst tightening up the three nuts holding the top of the shock to the suspension sub-frame. Once the three nuts were reasonably tight I found that this brought the bottom into the correct position to be slipped into the lower wishbone with a bit of screw-drivery assistance. Make sure that the trunnion bolt is loose at this stage as it makes getting the lower end of the shock into the wishbone easier. Once the job is done remember that you shouldn't tighten up the suspension nuts and bolts until the car is loaded up or you'll end up spoiling any new bushes you've fitted. I use plastic jerry-cans full of water to get the correct static loading. Good luck Wayne

Paul, If it is any comfort I had a similar issue with the front carb on my CDSE 150s too. It dripped on choke and then dried up when the choke was pushed in. It was doing this when I put the car away for the winter but oddly enough the problem has gone away during the lay-up. No amount of cleaning seemed to do anything so I've no idea why it's decided to heal up of it's own accord! Wayne

Dave, Your post prompted me to take a look at the engine mounts on my late GT6 Mk3 and I see that I have two camber shims on the engine mounts too. Judging by the look of them they've been there since the car left the Canley factory and so as Dave Vitesse says, it looks like they're meant to be there. Wayne

Hi Mike, Different car I know, but with similar front suspension (I think) When I got my GT6 it needed two hands yanking on one side of the steering wheel to get the thing to turn at low speeds. The problem turned out to be a nearly seized trunnion. A new trunnion and vertical link restored normal service. I'd try jacking the front wheels off the ground and seeing how easily the steering turns from the wheel end of things. Wayne

I made the same swap last year and noticed no change in performance. The car is quieter as well as being happier in stationary traffic for the reasons described by Doug. The air filter hoses I got from Rimmers were fractionally too short to allow me to put them through the radiator cowl and so I ended up attaching them to the outside of the cowl with self-adhesive cable tie fasteners from Maplins. They're not in front of the radiator but they get the benefit of drawing air from a cooler location than before. Wayne

That seems like a good plan. I found when refitting the unit that it was easiest to install the top end of the unit first and fully tighten the three retainer cap nuts, using a jack under the bottom of the shock to "help" it into position. This brings the bottom of the unit into the right orientation to lever into place in the lower wishbone. Regards Wayne

Paul, That sounds decidedly dangerous! I managed to fit the bush through the turret hole by making sure that the upper bush wasn't overly compressed under the top cup. Good luck! Wayne