Nick Jones Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 I pretty much made a flange yesterday to serve as a spacer. Meanwhile, Triumphs rather odd construction methods have come to my rescue. Not entirely sure why the joint is sleeved like this....... .......but dead easy to cut around the outer pipe freeing the inner one to drop down a little. In fact, the small amount of angle correction it allows does nearly all - very little actual drop needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Nick Jones said: Meanwhile, Triumphs rather odd construction methods have come to my rescue. Not entirely sure why the joint is sleeved like this....... Hello Nick Exhausts on some motorcycles were done like that to keep the heat down and so stop the chromium plating for blueing so much. Triumph may have done it to stop that part getting so hot but maybe for strength Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Nick Jones said: Meanwhile, Triumphs rather odd construction methods have come to my rescue. Not entirely sure why the joint is sleeved like this....... Did you discover this by starting to cut?! If so, that's handy I need to get about 1/2 inch extra on my FWD exhaust so this is an interesting development. I wonder if it's made the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 33 minutes ago, PeteStupps said: Did you discover this by starting to cut?! If so, that's handy No, you can see it's welded in two places on the outside and that there are two different diameters. Inside you can see there are two tubes, one inside the other. The inner one was actually slight proud out the outer before I started and the outer is 11mm proud of the flange I was slow to spot the potential of this arrangement and had been considering trying to bend it - with great reluctance as slightly rusty and already much bent exhaust tube sometimes just breaks - and I've snapped a cast-iron manifold off with similar antics once before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 48 minutes ago, rogerguzzi said: Exhausts on some motorcycles were done like that to keep the heat down and so stop the chromium plating for blueing so much. Interesting. No chrome here though. Just rusty mild steel. Possibly it's done like this just to make it easier to jig and weld to angles and orientation right. It hadn't worked though, orientation was slightly out and I had to file the holes when I fitted it the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 In amongst all this, I unexpectedly had a bit of labour available meaning it was time to drop out the rear spring and diff. The spring because the car has been sitting too low at the back and the exhaust clamps are getting ground down. Ian, (GT64Fun on here), had had a similar problem on his car some years back and had an extra spring leaf made to beef it up a bit. It worked a treat. Far-sighted fellow that he is, he had two made and very generously donated his spare one to me. So the spring was wrestled out and dismantled. Was actually in pretty fair looking shape which is why I left it alone in the original rebuild All given a bit of a scrape and a wire-brushing before reassembly with some nice sticky grease. I had to make a new centre bolt as the original was too short. The strap bolts didn't fit any more either due to the extra leaf and after pondering ways to deal with that it occurred to me that I could see absolutely no purpose for them them. So I left 'em out. If anyone has any good reasons why this is a bad idea... best let me know! The diff was an unknown 3.63 I took out of a scrapped 1500 Spit some years back. I'd fitted new seals and side shaft bearings but otherwise left it alone as it seemed quite good. However, it leaks fairly badly from the pinion seal and is rather noisy so I thought I sling the previous Vitesse 3.63 in there as I'm fairly sure its less noisy. Not my favourite job but got it out and the replacement in without great drama. Has some difficulty getting the spring-eye bolts back in as the spring was noticeably perkier and we were picking the car off the axle stands..... We shall see how it goes when I get to drive the thing finally but I'm fairly hopeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 So, welded up the exhaust after tacking it in situ. Then got a bit carried away and fitted the whole system. Managed to get it fitting much better this time though not quite sure how/why. This meant I had run out of displacement activities to defer revisiting the clutch conundrum. Had one more bleed attempt and did get a few bubbles. Made no difference though. Was puzzled as I could feel the clutch going over centre about 2/3 down the stroke and that is normally where they disengage.... Broke out a big spanner and tried turning the engine over. It did turn and didn't feel noticeably stiffer that usual. So I fitted the 0.7" M/C and bled it. Now the pedal is heavier and I can feel the clutch going over centre about 1/3 down. Still doesn't release fully though. Odd. At this point I decided to refit the starter and fire the engine up. After pausing long enough to put oil in the gearbox came moment of truth #1. Unlike the Vitesse which always starts on the 3rd compression stroke whether she's been off 3 minutes or 3 months, this took some cranking and some popping and farting. Then when she did fire up there was the most appalling screeching from the bell housing. Unmistakeably something rotating running against something stationary, without the benefit of a bearing..... unaltered by clutch pedal position and still no clutch release. Turn off immediately. Crawl underneath expecting to find vitals fluids dribbling out - but there are none. Peer into the bell housing expecting to find shavings and shrapnel.... nothing. Which is good.... but what... the ... flip.... is going on? After some serious thinking I conclude that it has to be the internal guide tube of the CSC making contact with the central splined boss of the friction plate and as well as making the dire noises it is also responsible for keeping the friction plate pressed against the flywheel. This is unexpected as I did consider/measure this and reckoned I had 4mm spare at the most pessimistic measuring. Couldn't be by much as when the gearbox was fitted to the engine it slipped straight on unusually sweetly (clutch alignment tool worked!) and appeared to go all the way. It then occurred to me that I'd taken the measurements using the Triumph clutch plate as at that point I didn't have the Mazda one. I had meant to re-check when I did the final fit check with the Mazda clutch on the spare engine but didn't actually do it..... Oops..... Must be a chunkier boss.... To prove it I found some 2mm alu sheet and made some shim strips to drop in over the top three bell-housing studs and also the bottom 2. Release all BH bolts a bit and use the clutch pedal to ease the box back enough to get the strips in. Nip up top and bottom bolts...... and the clutch now releases perfectly.... So the correct thing to do at this point would be to pull the box back out and machine the friction plate boss (or at least introduce it to Mr Grinder)..... but.... that's a huge effort and there might be other issues. So instead I spent a couple of hours making some really nice 2mm shim plates to go around the engine/BH joint so everything is fully supported and put in all the bolts and did them up. I'm calling it a "field solution" and it's temporary....ish. Moment of truth #2: Fire the engine up again and no nasty noises. The clutch works and I can get all the gears and if I lift the pedal the wheels turn. We have a working driveline again. Time to fit a drivers seat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 All getting quite exciting. Leaf clips obviously keep the leaves aligned but not sure the bolts do much with the spring on the car Providing that is the leaves ate kept loaded. You may find them rattling on bumps without the bolts in. Can't remember if the Vitesse spring has the rubber buttons or not. If so then these could bounce out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 I got the seat bolted in and the car down off the stands, but then ran out of day and energy. It was raining too. So as today dawned brighter and less rainy, it became the day of truth... or moment of truth #3. Engine fires up much more happily, engage reverse and back out of the garage. Oops, forgot mobile phone - that might be over-confident! Phone collected I set out. Impressions are that the driveline feels nice and taut, no clunks or undue backlash. Gearchange is sweet, as is the clutch action. Biting point is on the high side (some idiot changed the M/C for a bigger one!) but acceptable. Gearbox seems rather noisy in 1 - 3, but then it did cost a whole £ 30 from ebay and anyway........ ..........there's no tunnel cover, so I'm practically sat on it! Ratios are ok. 1st is noticeably lower than standard and there's a bit of a step up to second, then second third and fourth are nice and close. The speedo is wildly pessimistic, but does work smoothly. I knew it would need recalibration. 6 miles of windy B road, and a town. I had intended to turn around before the town but it's driving so normally I carry on, then rashly venture out onto the A303 to make a loop. It's fine. Cruises at 3000 rpm (70ish) without vibration. Fairly loud with no tunnel though! Rides nicely at the back end and I can't hear the diff..... which means little given the other racket. Made it home without drama. I'm calling it a win. I will refit the the tunnel once I've made a new bolt -in floor section and have another run out. I'm inclined to run it through the summer now and see what arises. If all goes well I'll revisit in the autumn to properly sort the contact issue and perhaps swap the modded parts onto one of my spare 'boxes.... To be continued but I'm getting there at last Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 7 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said: Providing that is the leaves ate kept loaded There's a fair amount of tension on there even at full droop, I doubt it'll be an issue. There are rubber buttons, though they are a bit worn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 That is excellent bit of work. Gearbox always seems ridiculously liad without the tunnel cover. Once bought a scrapper GT6 Spitfire conversion. Replaced the front upright and drove it the 10 miles home. No tunnel cover and the exhaust stopped under the gearbox. That was LOUD. Probably also fortunate that it had not soft top so I didn't die as a consequence of CO poisoning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 6 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said: Probably also fortunate that it had not soft top so I didn't die as a consequence of CO poisoning True dat..... I once drove the Vitesse with no tunnel cover on having just rebuilt a Triumph box for it. In those days I was unaware that Triumph used different helix angles in different years. It was quite noisy spinning in neutral. Under load it was ear-splitting. Had to do that one again..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 2 minutes ago, Nick Jones said: True dat..... I once drove the Vitesse with no tunnel cover on having just rebuilt a Triumph box for it. In those days I was unaware that Triumph used different helix angles in different years. It was quite noisy spinning in neutral. Under load it was ear-splitting. Had to do that one again..... It is said that if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing twice. Still painful though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Nick Jones said: To be continued but I'm getting there at last Bloody well done! Very pleased to read the last few posts Nick, I doff my metaphorical hat in your direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 Thanks Pete. Don’t know if I can claim a first/only with this, but I doubt there are many out there . It’s too bloody hard and most people have more sense! If Vitesse Transmissions really can come up with a kit that “just bolts in”, they will have done extremely well. But you will have to pull the engine to fit it - or cut the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gt64fun Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 19 hours ago, Nick Jones said: The strap bolts didn't fit any more either due to the extra leaf Hi Nick I must have forgotten to mention that I slotted the straps to get them to fit....sorry! Well done with the gearbox progress. +1 for the 'metaphorical hat doffing'. Sounds as though it will all have been worth it. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprint95m Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 21 hours ago, Nick Jones said: True dat..... I once drove the Vitesse with no tunnel cover on having just rebuilt a Triumph box for it. In those days I was unaware that Triumph used different helix angles in different years. It was quite noisy spinning in neutral. Under load it was ear-splitting. Had to do that one again..... On a Dolomite 1850, having fitted a T9 gearbox I thought a test drive BEFORE refitting the tunnel cover was necessary. All was fine except that I just wrapped the exhaust manifold and front pipe...... ........it was a touch smokie Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 2 hours ago, Gt64fun said: I must have forgotten to mention that I slotted the straps to get them to fit....sorry! I think you did mention it. I wasn’t convinced there was enough strap there to slot without falling out of the end. Doesn’t seem to be causing a problem and the ride height is now much more sensible - so thank you very much for the leaf. I suspect every Roto GT6 needs one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 2 minutes ago, Sprint95m said: ........it was a touch smokie Like wind-the-windows-down-to-see-where-you-are-going smokey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 48 minutes ago, Sprint95m said: On a Dolomite 1850, having fitted a T9 gearbox I thought a test drive BEFORE refitting the tunnel cover was necessary. All was fine except that I just wrapped the exhaust manifold and front pipe...... ........it was a touch smokie Ian Oh er!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 In keeping with the general laws of everything being more awkward than expected, today I went to pop the tunnel on so I could have a proper measure up for the new floor section. But it doesn't fit any more..... Took me a while to realise that the offender is the reversing light switch, which wasn't present when I've previously tried the tunnel on. It's a fairly massive 30mm deep plus wires and in a fairly prominent position at about 10 o clock. It also lines up disappointingly well with the H frame position which means a simple power-bulge won't work. Bah! (Again!) I spent a bit of time on line looking to see if there was a more compact version of the switch. There may well be but not listed under MX5. I could just plug the hole and make other arrangements for the switch. I'd rather not..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 36 minutes ago, Nick Jones said: I could just plug the hole and make other arrangements for the switch. I'd rather not..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 The offending switch..... Still not sure what to do about it. Ironically, the hex head object to the right is my reverse selection discourager plunger (a purpose it doesn’t serve very well), and is perfectly placed to serve as a reverse light switch..... apart from the fact that it isn’t a switch. Obviously the thread and length are entirely different from the actual switch. When I did the W58 conversion on the Vitesse, at this stage of the game, I benefited from a bit of serendipity. Stuff like the speedo gearing matching Triumphs and the reversing light switch plugging straight into existing wiring, and nothing trying to poke through the tunnel cover. Seems it’s payback time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Hello Nick Is it deeper than the Lucas one with the lucars that are flat? Then it would an adaptor or weld hole up and re tap it Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 1 hour ago, rogerguzzi said: Is it deeper than the Lucas one with the lucars that are flat? I would say so, yes. Not wishing to mess with the casing at this point - don't want to pull the box and dismantle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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