Not much...

Not that much to report on really, went to Standard Triumph at Brooklands (STAB) last Sunday with GT6boy from the Club Triumph forum. Interesting to see other Triumphs and to have a mooch around the Brooklands museum, apparently the event is moving next year.

The alloy steering rack mounts have arrived and have been fitted. I spent a bit of time getting the steering rack to sit central, as the new mounts do not centralise the rack as it pulls down. I then ignored the my attempts to centralise the rack as I found I wanted more space between the steering shaft and the exhaust manifold.
This would not usually be a problem when fitting this manifold, but as I have shifted the engine back it is a bit too close.
With the steering rack pushed over one side slightly the steering rack limits will have to be adjusted to have a equal lock each way, this will be done by adjusting the limit nuts on the rack and by positioning of the track rod ends.

Still have to do more to the fuel system, the current plan is to pull the fuel from the bottom of the standard GT6 fuel tank using a low pressure Facet pump I bought a few months back, then to the high pressure fuel pump via the big fuel filter.
See what time I can put in this weekend eh?

SU rebuild

I received the carburettor rebuild kit from Andrew Turner late last week, so some of the weekend was spent the Spitfire. The first job was to remove the carbs and put them in the ultrasonic cleaner for about 20 minutes, using the hottest temperature possible along with a sprinkling of dishwasher powder. This really cleaned them up well and made the rest of the rebuild much easier.

The rebuild kit included new bushes for the throttle spindles, though when I removed the old spindles I found that there was minimal ware in the carb body, instead all the ware was in the throttle spindles.
A few years ago I changed the jet bearing and jet on one of the carbs as it was leaking petrol, but I never got round to replacing the other, but this has also been done now, just as well as the new jet bearing kit has a finer thread, making equal mixture settings on the two carbs much easier.
Also in the kit was new fuel needle valves, which had started to fail, well they are probably 30 odd years old.


That exhaust manifold I fitted a few weeks back has been blowing ever since I fitted it, no surprise really considering the crappy exhaust clamps supplied. So last week I ordered and received some Mikalor exhaust clamps, at less than £2 each they are not much more expensive than those tube crusher "U" clamps and can give a much more universal pressure on the exhaust joint. I got mine from Power Engineering

On a go slow

With this long Easter weekend I had planned to get a few more jobs on the GT6 finished. The first thing was to finish off the chassis welding, unfortunatelly I have discovered that the steering rack is mooving from side to side, which means the steering shaft can touch the exhaust manifold, so I need to get the rack fixed before I can decide if anything else needs to be modified before welding the chassis. To make sure the rack will not move I shall get myself a set of alloy mounts.
Seeing as the rack is half way to being removed, I will change it for a Spitfire one. The GT6 rack is 3 1/2 turns whereas the Spitfire rack is 2 1/2 turns.

A few weeks ago I fitted a fuel pressure regulator on the Spitfire, only over the weekend was I able to look at it again with a view to dropping the pressure to the carburettors, the problem only being visable with the engine at speed, when the fuel pressure overcomes the valves in the float chambers.
Whilst adjusting the regulator I noticed fuel pouring out of the rear float chamber, before this time it had only leaked slightly from the front float chamber. I have decided enough is enough and it is time to fully refurbish the SU carburettors, seeing as the throttle spindles and bushes are worn also. With this in mind I will make a few phone calls in the week to see what I can get.

And its in...

After spending quite a bit of time pondering it, I have managed to fit in the proposed new exhast manifold for the GT6. It has required a slight bit of modification to the chassis rail as the exhaust passes by, but it will be no worse than what was done as standard on the 1500 Spitfires.
Once I get another grinding disc I will be able to make a start on cleaning up and re-welding the chassis, should be able to make it look as if it was meant to be like that.

Had a visit from Bruce Sellers (GT6boy) on Saturday to have a look at the exhaust manifolds and in return I had a drive out in his MkII GT6 convertible. A lot of fun that was, lovely exhaust note, can't wait to get mine done now. It was a great drive out on some local roads, until we hit the shopping traffic, makes me wish I was on a bike again, the the heavens opened up, bringing a mixture of hail and rain, not a good combination with a convertible when the hood is in the boot.

Have also managed to finish welding and painting the seat and seatbelt mounting plates, so I should be able to concentrate more on tidying up the chassis before moving back onto the fuel system again, unless I find another half finished job.