Speedysix

Thanks all, glad the exhaust saga is over! I'm not too fussed if it gets a litter rusty on the welds, main thing is there's no leaks. I can't tighten the system up yet as the clamps are still yet to arrive, then a few strategic bashes suggested by nice should keep it away from the chassis enough, tighten er up and pray the system doesn't get taken off by every speedbump I go over The new carb springs arrived yesterday, I opted for red over yellow as a few reported it's slightly better, but won't know for sure until its out for testing. As a comparason, you cansee the free length of the original springs differ slightly, no clue what they are. all the carbs need is new idle screws, hope and pray that BAE needles are close enough to give me semi good results until funds arive to take it to get tuned on a rolling road, some pipe for the overflows, and an air filter. I'm just going to slap a pipercross px600 filter on there, it should yield good results with the stub stacks and a 5.5cm one should leave plenty of clearance between its face and the wheel arch for airflow. Still waiting for my radiator to arrive, then it's just tracking and a few odds and ends.

Even when I did a whole restoration on the gt6 and my mini before that, lots and lots of welding with the gas open fully, I'd prohably go through about 4 of the 600g hobby bottles, about 50 quid all in and I don't have to have a massive cylinder. But I agree it is better to have one you only refill every so many years

Thank you. The hobby bottles aren't the exact right ratio, I think you only want a very small percentage of co2, can't remember but searching it reveals all the anoraks on the mig forum going mental about it. In my head it's was picturing it coming out like a perfect tig welded finish i think with the stainless wire and semi decent gas it should hould up to the rust for a while. Fingers crossed!

Thanks Nick, yes I think I'm going to have to, I didn't like the idea of trying to cut those very thick chassis flanges lying under the car with the grinder a few inches from my face I'll see where it's close and do some shaping with the hammer

This evening, I did it! Managed to get some argon co2 mix and with the 0.8 stainless on my mig, gave it a go! I'd been helping a friend today on some welding on their 2cv project, my God what a horrendous pile of scrap, like trying to weld tin foil! Was so nice welding on 1.5mm steel and not burning through Anyway, this piece was 23 quid or so from a company on Ebay I sliced it in half then kept slicing until i ended up with a gap of 1" between the branches, then welded er up! I actually didn't photo this on account of loosing the will, as the exhaust section kept knocking my tool board pots with nuts and bolts off. But after about 20 trips under the car, test fitting and cutting, I welded it to the other stainless section. I haven't got any flap discs to clean up my messy welds, but not fussed really! Test fitted it once more, it's a little tight so I might grind a little off the chassis lip to avoid any clanging. Clamps are on order then I can get the whole system tightened up. I will also clean up those messy welds

I just wanted to avoid this all together so just used stainless wire and argoshield gas. But that's a very neat trick

Haha thanks, it's been a very long battle, I'm tired and all I want to do is drive the thing

I think so, any boc place should exchange them. Mind you I've been using those little 600g bottles

This is useful info Nick thank you I have yet to buy any argon co2 mix gas, I could save myself 15 quid and just use the co2, got plenty of that The thing is, I really, really, really hate rust I'll give it a go when the bits arrive.

I didn't want to take the manifold off againit's a bit tight for clearance! The issue was finding a collector with the right diameter inputs and output, but now I've decided to make one, I should be able to make something up!

I think after looking into it, it's definitely the way. For some reason I thought welding stainless required tig, I have no idea why I didn't think that mig can too! I've bought myself some 0.8 ss wire and just need some co2 argon mix hobby bottle size and I'm good to go! I doubted my ability when I see all these nice custom tig exhaust collectorshow hard can it be!

Sadly not, I had a feeling I was going to have this issue but it was one of those late night cheap purchases! It must be an old moss or tt one, haven't seen any mild steel ones for years. It's the 621 type that doesn't have the branches overlapping i think the new ss ones have them overlapping in the middle and having the downpipes finish side by side? Mine finish on top of one another, I'll try and snap a photo of the underside of the car. It's awkward as one of the downpipes is about 3* shorter than the other.

So a little ish update! I've been hard at trying to find some time in the evenings to get more bits done! We're nearly there! High torque powerlite starter fitted, and moment of truth, turned her over, gently, boom, oil presure rising on the mech gauge and light out in a second! Spot on! I ditched the castrol oil and only really use valvoline vr1 20w 50, good stuff! Repeated it a few times and left it for a while. I also compression tested the engine and all are perfect! I've got a good feeling! Anyway the last few bits need sorting now, which I'm just trying to get right to avoid chucking un-necessary money into this pit And it's not visible, but I did add an extra heat shield between the manifold downpipe and the starter, they're very close! My new radiator is on order and should be here in a week. The carbs are set from a rebuild setting, I need to decide on a needle and spring. Springs lots of threads from research with similar hs6 setups suggest red. Needles is just going to have to be a starting point, Bae might be best, that's what tt manual recommends. Air filter I'm just going to bang a pipercorss or itg filter on it and try and do somthing with a cold air feed from the front to shove it some air. Don't have the patience to make a box, but yet to be decided! Tracking needs setting and bonnet needs some touch up paint, rocker cover needs some thought as it's don't like it just painted the car colour, I'd like to put some details on it. The only thing I am missing which isn't really somthing I can make is the y piece that joins the downpipes from the 6 2 1 to the exhaust. Nothing off the shelf will fit, believe me I've measured and scoured ebay and more. Nothing. So if anyone has one on the odd chance they'd sell, that would be fantastic. Anyway, the end is near, I'll get some jerry cans of v power in the next week or so and hopefully finish up the last few bits. Target is before the end of April, everything done and running perfectly. Jacob

Today's been a productive day! I've always been confused every time I read the haynes and factory manual on setting the dizzy drive gear endfloat but after reading it once or twice, it clicked. The factory manual has a much better way of explaining it than the haynes, I'd forgotten as it had been so long. Anyway valve clearances set to 0.010", everything rotating nicely and all timing marks in the right places etc. I'm happy. I also managed to get a few other bits fitted, new water pump, the ally housing was vapour blasted so its like new. I hope this water pump works, the first time I built the engine on startup I had coolant pissing out of the week hole on the pump, brand new unit, wasn't happy. the pictures are screnshots from my instagram so excuse the captions. I trial fitted the 6 2 1 and wrapped it with heat wrap. YES Yes i know its a waste of time and I'll end up with a cracked manifold it's not the best performance boost so providing it lasts a year or so, enough to save up for a decent stainless 6 3 1, I'm happy. Or so long as it gets me a good picture of the manifold glowing cherry red after an intense drive. Over the next week I'll get the manifolds fitted and the bonnet back on. I was worried about fitment issues with the starter motor, but there's plenty of clearance so shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you! I can nearly see the light at the end off the tunnel!