Ok, time for a bit of an update on the GT6. Over the last couple of months it has mostly been upgrades done rather than fixing stuff which has been a welcome change
. At the beginning of February I sent the speedo off to be fixed as the odometer had stopped turning 12 months ago. I had been keeping track of all the miles I had done in the car while it was broken and requested that the mileage be adjusted accordingly. Getting the speedo out wasn't the easiest job but after a bit of prying and loosening the steering column it came free. One of the things that has bugged me about the indicator lights were that they were not really bright enough, so I decided to make my own. The lights that were being used were small filament light bulbs. I wanted to convert them to LED as they give a much brighter light. As the speedo has a coloured lens these LEDs would still look original but just brighter which was ideal. The only issue was how to fit them. As luck would have it the old filament light bulbs had the same thread on them as some touch bulbs I found in my local hardware store. I modded these bulbs by smashing the glass and pulling out the filament. The top was then modded so I could solder on a resistor and and LED in place of the glass.
A test run was then done and they worked first time
. Its quite hard to tell from the picture but the LEDs do put out much more light.
On the 4th March it was the Triumph Show at Stoneleigh Park. This event is brilliant for getting some bargain parts and there is a good selection of cars on show as well. As luck would have it I managed to find an original GT6 steering wheel up for sale. These normally sell for silly money (£200+). After a bit of haggling I got it for £65
. Quite a good deal however it came with one downside – the steering wheel came with no boss to fit it (hence the low price).
No problem I though, I'll just make one. This turned out to be quite a bit work as I'll now explain. As you can see from the picture above of the speedo lights, the steering wheel is locked into place on the steering column by some splines. Are very hard to make on the equipment I have available to me. The other issue was with the increased diameter of the new wheel (15” vs 13”) clearance would be issue with the gear stick. To get round this the new boss would have to be made in 3 parts and then another part to go on the front to hold the horn push. As I was unable to make the splines I purchased a moto-lita boss
This would not fit onto the new wheel so it had to be machined down to a flat base
The next job was to make an extension so clearance of the gear stick could be achieved. This extension block as made out of aluminium (its lighter than steal and this is a sports car after all).
Here is the block on the lathe before any “sculpting”
Slowly getting there...
A plate was also made to fit onto the top of this extension so the wheel could lock into it. Cutting this plate was hard work.
This plate was then put onto the milling machine to have the square cut into it so the wheel could lock into it. Holes were also drilled and tapped into both sides of the extension so bolts could hold it all together
After some light final cuts on the lathe to get a nice finish this is the end result
The top mount for the horn push was then also turned out of aluminium with a hole through the middle so it could then attach to the extension via the tapped hole in the centre of the locking square
This is the back of the top mount. Note the holes had to be made so bolts could be used to secure the wheel.
Next job was to clean up the wheel itself. To be honest this didn't need to be done but I like shiny new stuff so I masked up the wheel and got polishing.
Before
Non polished Vs Polished
After
And here it is all fitted with the reconditioned speedo
Here is the old wheel for comparison
A vast improvement in looks in my opinion and it has made the car much easier to steer as well. This coupled with a new set of tyres in the correct size (155/80/13) have totally transformed the handling of the car. The car rides much smoother now due to the tyres and the steering is much lighter now due to the small width tyres and larger steering wheel.
Next job was to fit an electronic ignition unit that I purchased from ebay. Here is a link to the unit itself which I have been very impressed with.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Electronic-Ignition-System-kit-12v-neg-earth-/200540069425?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2eb11e9e31#ht_2897wt_952 The unit came with some very comprehensive instructions on how it fit it. Here is the diagram the best explains how it works
As you can see the unit is essentially patching into the existing ignition system. This has some very distinct advantages.
1)It is very very easy to fit
2)If you wish to go back to the original system all you have to do is connect the condenser back up and disconnect the unit.
Fitting of the system took all of 15 minutes.
On starting up the car after fitting of the unit it fired up immediately, something which it rarely does when it has been standing for 2 months. On the test drive as the car warmed up properly I started getting a misfire. Odd I thought so I checked the carb tuning which was fine. After a bit of digging it turned out the be the coil degrading due to the increased voltage going though it. A Lucas DLB105 sport was purchased and the misfire was cured.
The engine now starts much easier and it is much smoother when accelerating. Not bad at all for such little outlay. I really would recommend this electronic ignition – just make sure the rest of your ignition system can take the voltage it puts out and that you get the right variant of the ignition system for your car.
So, what's next for the car. Well the alternator has started playing up and it is only putting out 12.5 volts instead of 14v at idle. When then engine gets up to 4000 RPM it start putting out the correct voltage. So the next things to check are:
1)The pulley ratio between the crank and alternator are correct (I don't think the ignition light was on before so this situation is unlikely)
2)See if the belt needs replacing. Again unlikely as it was changed a couple if thousand miles ago and it seems tight.
If none of these prove to be true it looks like its new alternator time.
Another thing I have got to do is fit in some footwell lights. I picked up these units at the triumph show
The bulbs in them need upgrading as they are only 1watt and I'll need figure out how to fit/wire them in. Other than that the car is ready for a summer of driving. It has already been out once this year, a Pistonheads meet Silverstone the other month
More fixing, upgrading and adventures to come soon
That being said, the shell was completely past it and the chassis wasn't far behind but it was still a shame.
. Its quite hard to tell from the picture but the LEDs do put out much more light.
more in the jag camp.