Waynebaby

I had a pair of Mk3 seats refurbished and covered in black cloth by Newton Commercial ~18 months ago. The end result was excellent. Not cheap mind, but you get what you pay for. Wayne

Hi Brian, It might be worth having a look at the engine re-manufacturing service offered through the TSSC club shop. The work is done by Ivor Searle who have an excellent reputation. I have had good experience with them on a head refurbishment. If you are looking at a lightly breathed on engine they also offer a stage 2 upgrade. Wayne

Thanks for the replies gents. I think I'll probably do the job off the car and stick to manual methods only. Wayne

Hi All, One of my winter jobs will be to take off the drive shafts from my non-roto Mk3 GT6 to change the wheel bearings and check out the state of the rear trunnions. My question is what is the best stage in the sequence for removing the hubs? The Haynes and Triumph workshop manuals (and the leaflet which comes with the hub puller from the club shop) all advise that the drive shafts come off the car first, and then having jammed the shaft in a vice you use the hub puller to get the hub off. Looking on the internet however every relevant video I find shows the hub being removed with the shafts still in-situ on the car and I have to say that this latter method look easier. Does anybody in the TSSC hive-mind who has already done this task have a view on the best approach? The other query is whether or not people approve of using an electric impact wrench on the hub puller? Looking on the internet once again it appears that everyone using a Churchill style hub puller uses a power driven impact wrench to great effect. The guidance which comes with the club-source puller however explicitly advises that it should not be used in conjunction with power tools. Opinions? (obviously I accept liability for any injuries incurred by me using the hub-puller with a power tool attached!) Wayne

Hi Karl, You don't need a spring compressor to just remove the spring/damper assembly from the lower wishbone and top mount. Remove the three spring retainer cap nuts at the top, the lower damper mount bolt at the bottom and slacken the trunnion bolt a few turns and the assembly will come out with a bit of leverage with a screwdriver between the trunnion and the damper. The thing to remember is not to loosen the two nuts at the top of the damper rod or else the spring will come off with a bang and a lot of released energy. When you come to put it back you will need to load the car wire 300lbs (two big mates) before tightening the bushes up to get the static height of the suspension correct. Wayne

Hi All, It never fails to amaze me how sometimes the simplest of tasks can throw up all kinds of pitfalls which are patently obvious after the event. I've learned a few wrinkles about changing the front springs and top suspension bushes on my Mk3 GT6 over the last couple of days which I thought I should share to avoid someone else "buying the tee-shirt" This first thing I did right was to buy a spring compressor from the club shop. This made compressing the springs a (safe) doddle, which given I would end up compressing and un-compressing the springs ~ half a dozen times before I'd finished was a good thing. First learning point: The bottom of the damper cannot be rotated relative to the rest of the assembly once the spring is back under tension. Why does this matter? Because if you don't get the alignment of the damper lower fixing eye correct during the re-assembly of the damper/spring, you'll find that you can fix either the top or the bottom of the assembly to the car, but not both. It is important therefore when you're attaching the spring to make sure that the plane of the damper eye that the fixing bolt passes through is in line with one of the sides of the equilateral triangle that the studs on the spring retainer plate make. Second learning point: The top bush on the damper deforms a lot when under relatively small pressure from the retaining nut. Before releasing the tension from the spring compressor you have to attach a nut and a lock nut to the top of the damper rod. This bears onto the top of the bush which in turn bears down on the spring retainer cap thus holding the spring/damper together under tension. Do not be tempted to tighten the nut down too far at this stage because if you do the top bush deforms to the extent that its diameter becomes too great to fit through the hole in the suspension sub-frame. Before you fit the damper to the car make sure that you only tighten the lower nut down enough to allow the lock nut to be fitted above it. I've attached a photo of the correct arrangement. Third learning point: If you make the top bush too big as described, do not assume that tightening the spring retainer cap nuts with brute force will somehow make the bush "pop" through the hole. All that happens is you snap a stud off the spring retainer cap! I don't know if that qualifies me for one Tee-shirt or three but I hope it makes sense and is of help to someone else doing this job for the first time. Wayne

Thanks for the advice gents. Doug, your screw driver levering technique worked a treat! Wayne

Hi All, I wonder if someone would be able to tell me the knack to removing front spring/damper units? I'm replacing the saggy springs on my Mk3 GT6 and have fallen at the first hurdle - I can't get the spring/damper out of the wishbones! I've removed the three nuts from the spring retainer pan, removed the bolt from the damper lower bush and slackened off the trunnion bolt so the unit is now loose. The workshop manual now simply says to remove the unit, but I can't see how. The spring retainer pan bolts are held in the chassis by the spring pressure so I can only manoeuvre the bottom of the damper. if I pull it outwards it hits the vertical link and if I push it inwards it fouls on the gusset which joins outer end of the lower wishbone. I can't see how to get the damper out of the clutches of the lower wishbone. Any suggestions gratefully received. Wayne

Cheers Pete. I had a feeling that might be the case. Wayne

Hi All, I'm gathering together parts for my winter projects, one of which is to change the rear spring on my non-rotoflex Gt6 Mk3. I got the spring through the post today (delivered in one working day by Canleys) and notice that there is a piece of steel banding which I presume is holding the spring leaves together (see photo). This is probably a stupid question and I suspect the answer will be obvious to me when I get around to assembling things, but does this banding need to be removed before the spring is fitted to the car? Wayne

Hi All, The have been a number of forum threads expressing despair at the inability of many younger MOT examiners to recognise that slight play in the front wheel bearings is necessary on our cars. Imagine my surprise today when my examiner (who isn't exactly geriatric) told me that he thought my off-side front could do with a half-flat more play! Wayne

Doug, When I took the head off my GT6 I found that there was a great deal of "crud" in the block coolant waterways which flushing had clearly failed to shift. The deepest deposits were down that kidney shaped hole at the rear of the block and I ended up sluicing and sucking the crap out using a big syringe. It might be worth you having a probe down there with a piece of wire whilst you have the access to see if you have the same issue. Wayne

Just re-opening this thread to say that after a summer of driving I can confirm my "excessive" oil consumption has been halved by following Ben Caswell's advice to use a mid-way point on the dipstick as a topping up target rather than the upper level mark. Thanks Ben. Wayne

Sean, You mean that you've ordered a longer tensioner, surely? Wayne

Sean, I use that size and make of fan belt on my Mk3 GT6 without any problem. I wonder if your tensioner is on the short side? (with my fan belt adjusted correctly there is still plenty of scope on the tensioner to tighten the belt further but I see that yours it at full range) My tensioner bracket is 22.5 cm from end to end if you ignore the kink. How does this compare you yours? The other thing I notice from your photos is that your adjuster is fitted upside down (the kink should be upwards not downwards) If you turn the slotted end so it faces upwards you may have more range? Wayne

I dream of panel gaps that good. What a great looking car. Wayne

Thanks Doug - Plenty of wittering but nothing conclusive! The dwell angle provided by a Lumention system on a six cylinder engine is 45 degrees cf. the standard 41 degrees on a Delco-Remy dizzy (35 degrees on a Lucas) and I can't imagine that making enough difference to the recuperation time of the coil to influence the power of the spark significantly. I think I'll just stick with the standard gap, which seems to work fine with the lumention system. Wayne

Hi all, I've read in various places that running electronic ignition allows the spark plug gaps to be opened up, with a consequent improvement in performance from a larger spark. The thing that is bothering me is that I can't figure out why this should be the case. If most after-market electronic ignition systems such as Lumention are simply an electronic switch to replace the points I can't see why this should change the voltage at the plug (the coil remains the same) Can someone tell me if I am missing something or if the suggestion that the plug gap can be opened up is just an old wives tale? Wayne

Hi All, I thought it might be useful to share an experience I've had with my Mk3 GT6 and an annoying "soft" misfire which only appeared when accelerating hard in 3rd or 4th gear I changed all the usual things: Plugs, HT leads, rotor, distributor cap and checked the inlet side of things for air leaks but to no avail (the car has Lumenition Optronic ignition). When I went back round the various components I noticed that the distributor cap centre electrode was looking very worn out, which given that it had done less than 200 miles looked like a clue to the problem. When I checked the rotor spring contact setting I found that it was~2mm too low and my guess is that the rotor arm spring wasn't making firm enough contact with the centre electrode of the distributor cap, giving rise to arcing and robbing the plugs of some volts. With the correct rotor spring setting the distributor cap now needs a positive push down before the clips can be fastened up and the misfire has gone. In nearly 40 years of motoring I've never checked a new rotor arm spring, assuming that since it was manufactured for a specific distributor that it must come set to the correct dimensions. Is this another example of QC issues with spare parts or have I been missing a trick all these years? The attached file gives the correct dimensions for an AC Delco 204 distributor. Wayne

If I were you I'd just make absolutely sure that the white wire attached to the positive terminal coil is definitely a switched 12v feed to the coil - that way you would be able to discount muddled low tension wiring as the cause of the lack of HT sparks. You could use a voltmeter or if you don't have one, wire a bulb between the white wire's terminal and earth (Halfords do a handy 12V test screwdriver with a bulb in the handle) If it lights up when you turn on the ignition them you've got the right wire. Wayne

Hi Euan, I agree with you that unless the relay has some particular need for polarity the reversal of the connections to the C1 and C2 terminals shouldn't make any odds to how it works, in which case checking for a current to earth from C1 (instead of C2) should still tell you if the relay is energising the feed to the O/D solenoid. Fingers crossed Wayne

Hi Euan, Please accept my apologies but on checking on my car I was mistaken about the terminal which feeds the solenoid (I should put on my reading glasses more often) The correct terminal which energises the solenoid via the Y/P is C2, which is the one in the centre of the relay and C1 should have a brown wire which becomes live when the ignition is switched on. In other words, the Haynes manual is correct (so I'm puzzled by the Y/P wire being attached to C1 on your car) Sorry for the confusion. Wayne

Just to answer Euan's final question, the gearbox oil and the O/D oil are one and the same. Wayne

Damn. Pete beat me to it!

Euan, Before you start taking out the gearbox tunnel (never a nice job) just double check that the relay is definitely energising the solenoid circuit. Disconnect the yellow/purple cable from terminal C1 on the O/D relay and put a voltmeter or a test bulb between the terminal and earth. You will get a voltage at this terminal if the relay is working correctly when the O/D switch is moved to the "in" position. If this shows the relay is working OK the next job is to get the gearbox tunnel cover out of the car and check the continuity of that yellow/purple cable down to the solenoid itself. If that is OK then take the small cover off the O/D unit on the drivers side (the one with the Laycock writing in blue and silver) and see if the little brass lever beneath moves when the solenoid is energised. If there is no movement then you almost certainly need a new solenoid. If you do need a new solenoid then you will also require thin, freakishly long and double jointed fingers, screwdrivers with flexible drives and the patience of Job to change it. There is no easy way that I am aware of to do this task I'm afraid. good luck Wayne