John Bonnett Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 To my huge relief, all went well this morning and we now have an MOT certificate and the car is on the road. So, a real milestone. Tours is looking a reality. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeherald Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 I was looking for a suitable image to show my delight that your car has passed its MOT. loud cheering a whooping from all in triumph land Well done Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mishmosh Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Thats incredible. Cant wait to see it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt6chris Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Great news John, Never doubted it would pass. It will good to get some miles on it now. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilF Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 John, Congratulations - a new baby. Just back from our long weekend in Wales and catching up on your progress - the car is stunning. Will be in touch, Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted June 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Thank you all of you. Neil I'm really sorry we could not join your happy band in Wales but there just wasn't enough time to get the car ready. I'm sure it was a cracking trip particularly with you as the consummate tour leader. We took the car to Abbotsbury in Dorset yesterday and Exmouth today. The engine is bedding in and it is going really nicely. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive and exceeds my hopes and expectations in every department.This is particularly pleasing (and surprising) because every single car I have either built or put together has been a disappointment at least in the beginning until the teething troubles had been addressed. There are still a few things to do to get the car ready for France but if we had to, I guess it could go as it is. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted June 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2015 Well. we leave for France this coming Wednesday and I think we are ready. I've made and fitted a towing eye which should save any damage if the car needs recovery and most importantly, a new rear spring has just gone on. I ordered a spring with an increase of 40mm ride height and now the car stands level and looks just right. Low cars are completely out of their depth down here in Devon where many of the lanes have high crowns with grass growing out of them and of course the occasional large stone. All in all, I'm really happy with the car and it is as ready as it can be for our French holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilF Posted June 20, 2015 Report Share Posted June 20, 2015 John, Enjoy your trip to Tours, I bet the French will be totally overwhelmed by the car. Will miss it this year, but I think it could well be back on the list for next year. Bon voyage, Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted June 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 John, Enjoy your trip to Tours, I bet the French will be totally overwhelmed by the car. Will miss it this year, but I think it could well be back on the list for next year. Bon voyage, Neil Neil, thank you for your good wishes. We will miss you and are really sorry you will not be there to lead the happy band. Sylvie Deutchmann is no longer involved with the event but she has invited us to have dinner with her and her husband on Friday evening which should get the weekend off to a good start. We are eating in her daughter's brasserie so I am sure we will have a cracking meal. Whether the French will be overwhelmed remains to be seen. True I have had some good responses but two people, one a Triumph owner looked at the car and said Why? What made you do that? So it is obviously not to everyone's taste and that has to be good that it isn't. We are all different and that's what makes life so interesting. For me, having got over the euphoria of arriving at the end of a very long tunnel, having it tested and on the road, I am very aware of the various body issues that will be sorted when the painter has it but at the moment to me, they stand out like a sore thumb. I suppose the saving grace is that it obviously isn't finished and people hopefully will take that into account when they look at it. I have written a short description on the quarterlight in my best French describing the car and its raison d'être so I hope they will be understanding rather than critical. We will be travelling with another couple who have a very recently recommissioned GT6. So two cars with few miles on the clock and very much unknown quantities. With that in mind, we have decided to take two days to drive from Roscoff to Tours which make about 150 miles each day. This should be comfortable and allow time for plenty of stops. I cannot make up my mind what to take in the way of spares and am vacillating from nothing to everything. I'll probably pack a few basic tools and hope for the best.I'm really pleased with the new rear spring which has not only produced a sensible ride height but has firmed up the suspension and even reduced the understeer. On the road, the car is rattle free and feels taught. The engine is a bit cammy with little torque under 2000rpm so hill starts are interesting. I'm still running the HS4s which have not been optimised on a rolling road so things might improve once the DCOE40s are on and properly set up. All being well, I'll keep everyone up to date with reports and pictures over the two days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Our friends Jerry and Judith joined us for the trip and the first photo shows us at Plymouth waiting for the ferry. We had a leisurely journey down to Tours stopping overnight at Chateaubourg 9second picture). The next day we stopped for a cup of coffee and noticed the MGJ2 in an adjacent driveway. The owner was with the car and he had spotted us arrive. I went over to speak to him and what an interesting chap he was. He has a fascinating collection of classic cars, bikes and scooters and we spent a very happy hour with him talking cars. We arrived in Tours on the Friday afternoon to sign on in really intense heat; so hot that everything you touched burned including the gear lever. But the cars coped rather better than we did. The event itself started on Saturday with breakfast at the Chateau de Luynes. Triumphs were well represented as well as other British marques. A couple of pictures showing the huge variety of vehicles. After the Grand Prix de Tours we drove south and spent a very hot but thoroughly enjoyable week in Aquitaine east of Bordeaux. Despite the heat which was never below 30C and sometimes as high as 40 the car ran impeccably with the running temperature never higher than 80C. The return journey was uneventful and the toolbox remained unopened for the entire time away. The final picture shows the car outside the Chateau de Ternay which was one of our overnight stops on the way home. It was incredible; owned by the same family since the 15th Century and full of artefacts dating back to that time. The Count and Countess de Ternay gave us a terrific welcome, cooked us a fabulous dinner and in the morning, after breakfast a tour of the Chateau. It was unbelievable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 11, 2015 Report Share Posted July 11, 2015 John you need to think about putting this whole amazing story into a hardback pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted July 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2015 John you need to think about putting this whole amazing story into a hardback pete What I need is a ghost writer Pete. Fancy the job? Actually when I saw that you had replied I was expecting a comment on the low running temperature because I would have thought nearer 90C would have been a more appropriate running temperature. However, the engine builder said that they had run dyno tests using and comparing different thermostats and a 72 degree thermostat yielded the most power and helped give them an edge over the competition. For my part it was worth it just for the freedom of worrying whether it would overheat in the blistering temperatures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 John, if you count up my typo's you would wish I was a ghost .... youve (as usual) done your homework, if 72c gives the desired result and tested to record the results thats really brilliant although very surprisingly low I guess its not lean and mean more rich and spritely ha !!! Ppete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex2visuvesi Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 I have just spent the last 90 mins reading through this thread and I have to say the quality of the workmanship is magnificent! Certainly an art that's sadly dwindling. Im really impressed with that front end. Any chance you would let someone take a mould of it so it could be remade in fibreglass? I think it would certainly sell well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted July 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2015 I have just spent the last 90 mins reading through this thread and I have to say the quality of the workmanship is magnificent! Certainly an art that's sadly dwindling. Im really impressed with that front end. Any chance you would let someone take a mould of it so it could be remade in fibreglass? I think it would certainly sell well Very kind of you, thank you. Sorry I don't know your name. I'd be more than happy for the bonnet and the whole car for that matter to be digitally scanned but I'd be reluctant to have anyone taking a mould off the bonnet. Pete, I really don't know about 72 degree thermostat being optimum for power, I just have the builder's word for that. But his engines do very well in their racing Midget so there may be something in it. I've got a rolling road session booked for the end of next week and in preparation I've removed the HS4s and am putting the twin 40s back. I'll report on the result. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex2visuvesi Posted July 13, 2015 Report Share Posted July 13, 2015 That sounds fair enough.... I'm certain if I had put that much work in I'd be reluctant as well! I will however make some enquiries into the digital scanning of the bonnet tho as I would like that style bonnet on Project Rotisserie I had been considering doing one of these:- http://www.tributeautomotive.com/a352.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted July 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2015 That sounds fair enough.... I'm certain if I had put that much work in I'd be reluctant as well! I will however make some enquiries into the digital scanning of the bonnet tho as I would like that style bonnet on Project Rotisserie I had been considering doing one of these:- http://www.tributeautomotive.com/a352.html That looks magnificent. I hope you write up the build; there will be a lot of interest. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex2visuvesi Posted July 13, 2015 Report Share Posted July 13, 2015 I will.... tho its still in the embryonic stage I Have been discussing this with a rotary specialist and we are looking at the possibility of fitting the engine in from an early RX-7FB mated to the 6 speed box from an RX8 A ported 12A rotary on old school webers should sound awesome and very period Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted August 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 A couple of Photoshopped images Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve C Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 Has to be. Signal red for me john, but then my profile pic probably gives the game away! Steve C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinR Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 I think the bare aluminium looks great, but if you must paint it, why not silver ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 I think your original plan of French Blue is the correct one, matches the unseen bits, suits the car and will look stunning. FB is my second favourite GT colour, I was after a FB GT6 until I encountered Mimosa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Colours are very subjective and so many suit the shape of our cars. I think Triumph got that bit right. My friend has a Mimosa MK3 GT6 which looks really lovely. Red certainly suits the car as well and was my first choice until I went to Spa where every other car was Rosso Red. That didn't put me off but I just wanted to be different. My GT6 was French Blue which I also like very much and is I suppose my second choice. Once the car is painted it may lose some of its individuality and some may even think it's fibreglass but I don't think leaving in bare aluminium is practical if the car is to be used in all weathers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeherald Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Hi John, Wouldn't changing the colour now, mean you have to repaint all the underneath etc ? A very shiny silver would look cool, but I have grown to like the idea of the GT4 lightweight in French Blue, maybe with a very thin pin stripe. if you wanted to keep it in Aluminium could you just polish it and then have it clear coated in a lacquer to protect it? Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bonnett Posted August 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 Hi John, Wouldn't changing the colour now, mean you have to repaint all the underneath etc ? A very shiny silver would look cool, but I have grown to like the idea of the GT4 lightweight in French Blue, maybe with a very thin pin stripe. if you wanted to keep it in Aluminium could you just polish it and then have it clear coated in a lacquer to protect it? Aaron It is going to be French Blue Aaron but I was just interested in what it would have looked like red. Polishing is not an option because there are too many flaws in my panels apart from the practicalities of corrosion. But for the moment, it will stay as it is because there's a busy time ahead. We are competing in the Coupe Florio speed hill climb at the end of August, staying in France and taking in the race at Angouleme towards the end of September. So we are looking at the painting over the Winter which will tie in nicely having the use of the car in the decent weather. So that's the plan. I'm taking it up to the Retrorides gathering at Shelsey Walsh and will see how it goes up the hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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