Waynebaby

Hi, I changed from a wheel-barrow set up to a TSSC shop standard system and was very happy with the peaceful result! One thing to be aware of is that the centre pipe on some of the sports set ups is longer than on the standard and consequently you may find as I did that you're left with a 6 inch gap between the front of the centre section on the new system and the down pipe which has been shortened to suit! You may need to invest in a new down pipe too. Wayne

Hi Nick, It sounds very much like a bush has failed in the gear selector remote. The kits can be obtained from the usual suppliers but in my experience none of them are particularly good quality (although my latest from Canleys seems to have lasted the longest) Once you've wrestled the gearbox tunnel out, the job of removing the gear selector remote extension and changing the various bushes is simple enough. I find it is easier to relocate the gear selector back onto the box if you put the gearbox into 3rd gear before removing the selector extension. From your symptoms I expect that you'll find the hemispherical nylon "cap" at the bottom of the gear lever has worn out. The spring beneath can sometimes push it's way up through the plastic and this is often due to the cir-clip which holds it in place on the gear lever not being correctly seated in it's groove. A ring spanner just big enough to push down the lever will help to locate the clip correctly. Put plenty of grease on the nylon cap when you re-assemble things and check the underside of the metal cap holding it in place for sharp edges which can wear away at the nylon component. Whilst you're at it, check the tightness off the bolts holding on the top of the gearbox. These seem to work loose and can be the cause of oil leakage. Wayne

Hi All, Here are my unscientific observations on the effects of the changes I've made to the cooling air supply on my GT6 Mk3: Although it looks a lot better, the aluminium radiator cowl is no more effective at cooling the radiator than the droopy old mill-board, however running with no cowl did make the engine run noticeably hotter. The biggest improvement came when I took on board Doug's suggestion and copied Gully's method of attaching the number-plate lower down in front of the chin-spoiler (i.e. not hanging off the bottom of the bumper directly in front of the radiator grill) Moving the number-plate here has dropped the motorway temperature by a full interval on the standard temperature gauge so it now runs smack in the middle of the range. Result! Thanks guys. Wayne

Doug, I keep looking at the ally side plates and must confess that after seeing the quality of the radiator cowl I'm tempted (although the cardboard originals are still in a pretty good shape so I should probably spend my money on something more urgently needed for the car - like an O/D and gearbox re-furb!) The number plate is indeed hanging off the bottom of the front bumper which is where it was when I bought the car. I know I should move it to improve air-flow to the radiator but don't know the best place to move it to. I've seen some plates hung off the bottom of the front spoiler but I worry about ground clearance. Where is your plate attached? Wayne

Euan and Doug, The cowl fits with three bolts on either side. The bottom two go through the holes in the bottom radiator mount that the engine bay valance fastens to and the top bolt attaches the cowl to the hole at the top/front of the engine bay valance. I've attached a photo which might help. I had to cut holes with a 2" hole cutter and used two 1.25" hose-tail adaptors from the local fish-pond shop to attached the hoses (cost about £10). I've also attached a couple of photos to help show what I've done. Wayne

Just to finish off this thread I've attached a picture of the aluminium radiator cowl (ordered from and dispatched promptly by the club shop) now fitted on the car. It definitely looks a lot better but it remains to be seen if it'll help cool the engine better than the old droopy item. Wayne

Thanks John, Just goes to show that there are two ways to skin a cat. The PC article method needs a timing disk on the crank and knowledge of the actual cam timing periods but your technique (which I'd have known about if I read my WSM more thoroughly) is much less of a faff. Wayne

Doug, I never knew that! Wayne

Glad you got it sorted Paul. I got very adept at dropping the float bowls off at the side of the road whilst chasing the remaining slivers around the system. I always found the proximity of the hot exhaust manifold to a float bowl brimming with petrol in my hand particularly nerve wracking! Wayne

Paul, I don't want to be pessimistic, but the slivers come from pushing the brass bundy tube into the flexible fuel hose. Is there any chance you've exchanged black slivers for the see-through variety? Wayne

I'd suspect it's more slivers of rubber. I have no idea where they hide but I've had to drop the float bowls off two or three times after "fixing" the source before now. I've reached the stage where I'm paranoid about touching any of the pipework around the carbs! Where did you source the clear fuel hose BTW? I've yet to find any that is ethanol proof. Wayne

Adrian, If you are thinking of delving into the valve timing side of things, there is a useful article in the May 2016 issue of Practical Classics which describes the methodology and maths needed to get the cam timing precisely right on a Triumph GT6. Wayne

Thanks everyone, Looks as if I'm going to have to do something for my droop then (oo-er missus!) I'll probably go down the aluminium route since the whole thing seems too flimsy to do the job it was intended to do and I'm concerned that if I start modifying it with any heavier material then it might just finish it off completely. I got it from a good supplier but it was a toss-up whether the cowl or the packaging it came in was made of the stronger material. Wayne

Hi Folks, I wonder if any GT6 owners who have a mill-board radiator cowl would mind taking a look at the attached photo and letting me know if their cowl looks like mine? I fitted it about 2 years ago using the Canleys drawings as a guide. Ever since fitment the leading edge of the cowl has got progressively lower and more concave to the point where I'm now starting to think that it may well be obscuring the radiator rather than directing cool air into it. I can imagine that when the car gets moving the air coming in through the gap between the bonnet and the bumper probably hits the top of the cowl and flattens it in front of the radiator. The car is running slightly hotter than usual and I'm trying to eliminate easy-to-fix causes first. What do people think? Is the cowl meant to do this and am I worrying for no reason? Do the aftermarket aluminium cowls have this issue? (I'm guessing not) Thanks Wayne

Andrew, I'd suggest that you hold off tightening down on the nuts until you have refitted the shock absorbers. If you tighten down before refitting you'll find that the squashing of the rubber increases the diameter of the bushes to the extent that they won't fit through the hole in the suspension tower. Wayne

Colin, Well, you were definitely on the right track. The two rear rails were actually the same length, but your suggestion made me realise that if I took out some of the curvature with a judicious use of the knee I could make the rails a tight spring fit between the cantrails (new word of the day - cheers Pete) again. No idea why they had become sloppy but they now won't fall on my head again! Many thanks Wayne

Hi Colin, Thanks for that suggestion. I'll go and swap a couple of the rails around and see if that helps. Wayne

Hi All, The headlining on my GT6 has had quite a resemblance to the inside of a Bedouin tent since I bought the car and so I thought I'd have a go at de-flaccidifying it. Firstly I found that the sound deadening pads had all become unstuck from the roof and were lying on top of the headlining in between the stays (rails) and so I've just removed them with no discernible change in noise level in the car. The second issue I have is that one of the rails won't stay in place in it's locating holes so that if I go over a particularly rough bit of road it jiggles out at one end or another and drops the lining onto the top of my head. Can anybody tell me if the rails are supposed to press against the underside of the roof when in place (mine don't) and also whether the sound proofing pads are supposed to be interposed between the rails and the roof of fit in between? Many thanks Wayne

Aidan, I found that Ben's advice not to fill up to the upper limit on my dipstick drastically reduced the oil consumption on my GT6. Wayne

Dean, Just to add my experience of wrestling off a "stuck" cylinder head; I ended up investing in a mains powered impact wrench attached to a stud extractor to shift the studs as nothing else would touch them. I would also suggest that you order a couple of extra hardened washers because one of mine turned to plasticine and was squeezed out from under a nut when I was torquing up. Good luck Wayne

Inspirational stuff Roger! Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

OK, I'm convinced. I'll refill with demin' and blue anti-freeze. As per usual, thanks for all the invaluable advice. Wayne

Pete, The Unipart blue anti-freeze was probably about 14 months/1400 miles old and was roughly 30% concentration. I decided to change the coolant when I noticed that the overflow bottle kept developing a layer of sediment at the bottom. When I took the bottom hose off the radiator what came out was pretty clear but the block drain plug initially ran like ink! Reverse flushing seems to have got rid of the worst of it. I might run without anti-freeze for a couple of months just to see what happens. Wayne

Hi All, This may be a silly question, but apart from the obvious, does anybody know of any other reason to use anti-freeze in the cooling system? I had it in the back of my mind that it has some anti-corrosion properties but judging by the rusty black mank I've just flushed out of the system on my GT6 I'm beginning to doubt that. I've just refilled the system with soft water and was planning to leave it like that since there is no possibility of the car ever seeing sub-zero temperatures. Can anyone think of a good reason to do otherwise? Wayne

Thanks Pete, i remembered I had a spare gear-lever loom in a drawer and figured that since I had it I may as well use it, so I've spent the morning fitting that. The usual after market faffing was required: the loom was about 6" too short (unlike the previous one from the same supplier), the bullet connectors were the wrong gender and the shrink wrapping at the gear lever end needed to be trimmed back to make the wires protruding from the stick short enough to fit the switch without them being bent back and broken. Other than that the spare part was perfect!! I may still go down the route of removing the continuity problem and moving to a dash or column mounted switch. I used to have a Scimitar with a simple toggle switch on the RHS of the dash which was OK until you wore gloves in winter and then my knuckles would catch it. Canleys do an Mk1/2 escutcheon but it looks as if only Rimmers have all the bits to do the full job of swapping to a column mounted switch. Either way I think I'll get the bits in and add it to the list of things to do the next time the tunnel is off. At the present rate I need to make sure I have all the bits by next week! Wayne