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Nick & Chris's Gt6 Mk 3


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  • 2 months later...

So..... She's a runner again.  Gory details on the above referenced gearbox conversion thread.  Can safely say that it was a fair bit harder than I thought it was going to be and I found myself wishing I was sensible enough to just mend the overdrive and throw the Triumph box back in....

Been using it the last couple of days and have covered about 100 miles of mixed driving.  She drives well.  My biggest complaint so far is that the MX box is a bit past it's best (did cost a whole £30 from ebay) and sounds a bit too "authentic".  I'll address that next autumn.  I have a couple of spares and will give one of them a good going over before swapping the modded bits on.  May also have to address the engine as although it runs very nicely, pulls well and seems to have mostly stopped burning oil, it still makes nasty, threatening noises under some conditions.  Probably a couple of little ends though I have no idea why.  It didn't do it in its last life and there was no obvious slackness.

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  • 5 weeks later...

She got a wash. Pretty :smile:  Not used to having cars that look better after a wash!

IMG_5762s.jpg

Much needed after several months collecting general fallout in the garage.  Probably ought to get a cover.

I've been using it wherever possible  - it's been my daily driver this week - maybe 150 miles.  Nothing to report.  The gearbox whines and the engine clatters but it goes well and drives nicely.

Parked next to fatty A8 (may be slightly further forward at the nose but only by inches.....  Quite a different driving experience......

IMG_5789s.jpg

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Your setting a high standard to emulate, now its spring no excuse, will start my own tread as you suggested. Not as fortunate as you with garage space or even a proper garage. Seeing others progress does help with motivation :thumbsup:

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  • 5 months later...

Been using this on an off all summer.  It works.  It even passed an MoT.  I enjoy driving it.  It may lack the considerable mid- range of the Vitesse, but still goes well enough and is much more civilized.  Amazing how different the driving experience is considering the commonality of parts.

Not sure how many actual miles I've added since the MX5 box went in as I've not yet got the odo recalibrated, but around 1,100 I think.

Issues, well yeah.

The engine is not right.  Still uses oil (though not crazy amounts) and makes some very odd noises.  Hasn't got any worse though and I've not been babying it.  Seems fairly good on fuel, - maybe low to mid 30s, though its a complicated calculation just now due to the odo.

The starter (original inertia type) works very enthusiastically - when it can be bothered to engage, which it randomly doesn't.  Well, I say randomly, but usually it waits until I have an interested audience, or its really inconvenient.  I have a perfectly sized chunk of wood to wallop it with as a reminder, but it's an annoyance.  Yes, I have had it out and cleaned and inspected it... nothing found and no improvement.  I'm not spending £200 on one of those nasty Chinese Denso rip-offs that let the smoke out a week after warranty expires......

Gearbox and clutch work fine.  5th is a bit obstructive but it's only the gaiter.  The gearbox is noisy.  Though some claim they mostly are.... hope not!

Need to revisit the suspension set-up as it's a little bit wayward at speed or on undulating surfaces, whereas the Vitesse is planted.  Blower doesn't blow air at the windscreen for some reason.  IN fact it doesn't blow much at all, though by the noise there should be a gale!  To be investigated.

Windscreen trim still needs fitting.  A proper number plate bracket (front) wouldn't go amiss either.

There's still alot of odd noise from the rear end, I think from various sources, but amplified by some part of the tub - boot floor or rear valance.  Needs sorting as it slightly spoils it.  Some rattles under the dash too.  Speedo/Odo needs calibration.

So, for the engine, I could:

Just get the existing engine out, apart, re-bored and reassembled with new pistons/little ends.  The rest should be ok having done less than 2K

or

As above but 2.5 crank and pistons, plus head swap.  Have all parts apart from the pistons and some gaskets.

or swap the Vitesse 2L+ into the GT6 and build a slightly snortier 2.5 for the Vitesse with the aim being similar grunt to now but with a more relaxed delivery.  This option has the added complexity of needing to add engine management/injection to the GT as the Vitesse lump won't play nicely with CD carbs..... and would require opening the engine up to sort the sump baffling and investigate just why the oil pressure is so low at hot idle.....

I also have a Subaru R160 in 3.54:1 / viscous lsd flavour plus one of Steve's excellent fitting kits.  I'm mostly inclined to put that in the Vitesse as in the GT, in combination with the MX5 box, the prop will be ridiculously short and angles horrible....

Or go EV...... :wacko:

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Not sure on the options! Of the above, the 2.5l internals in the existing GT6 engine sounds like a way of getting something a bit different with minimal effort (although an EV conversion would also be interesting!).

I've heard the same of MX5 gearboxes. Apparently they're not noisy until you bolt them back up with a misaligned PPF (power plant frame = the alloy bit that bolts between the gearbox and the diff on an MX5). At which point they develop a bearingy noise from the output shaft, but no apparent other damage.

Do you know if the wiring is solid for the starter solenoid? On my X1/9 it had issues engaging the starter because the feed wire to the solenoid was a weedy little thing. It'd work sometimes, but if the battery wasn't very well charged it would click but not fully engage. Changing over to a beefier wire fixed it completely.

I've noticed that the SD1 has a double-UJ propshaft which I plan to chop up at some point when fitting an LT77 into the Spit6 (provided the saloon box actually needs replacing). Either that, or the single CV prop from the Spit 1500. Both of those can be used to negate the effects of the pretty much unavoidable driveshaft angle differences on small chassis Triumphs. With a double CV shaft the angles don't really matter at all, but with a single CV you want the UJ pointing very nearly straight and the CV taking up the angle difference.

Edited by BiTurbo228
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For a road car the 2.5 is hard to beat as it very relaxed with all that torque. Changing gear is almost unnecessary. Not the 2L that will just keep revving until something explodes but with a TR5 cam profile and a bit of head work made a very nice engine up to 5500 - 5600 rpm even with the lightweight flywheel I have in mine.

Getting mine set up with the SU HS6s and the modified distributor advance was a bit of an iterative process but got something pretty good in the end. Sure I have the info if you need it.

I did find that the inertia starter motors struggled with the 2.5 when cold. When I changed to the Dolly Sprint box it meant I could fit a bog standard Lucas pre-engaged starter which did the trick.

EV, hmmmm. Nice idea but just too compromised/expensive for a retrofit I think. Or at least to make a good useable retrofit anyway that is anything comparable to a purpose build vehicle and not just a battery on wheels. I really would like it to work and maybe someday but not yet.

Your starter story reminded me of a Loganair flight in a Shorts 360 many years ago.

Its a fairly small aeroplane, I'm in the front row left seat and I can pretty much reach forward and tap the Captain on the shoulder. Anyway flight safety briefing done and starboard engine starts up. Long pause and starboard engine shuts down. Without any announcement the Captain gets out of his seat and goes to the back of the cabin, opens the door, gets off the aircraft and walks down the port side past my window.

I see him open the front luggage compartment door in the nose of the aircraft and take out a wooden stool and a large hammer. Puts stool on the ground under the port engine, climbs up and opens a flap on the nacelle. Thumps something with the hammer, shuts nacelle, gets down and puts step and hammer away, gets back on the aircraft and buckles up.

Starboard engine starts, short pause and port engine starts and we roll out and take off with no mention whatsoever of the somewhat unorthodox starting procedure. :blink:

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My mk1 Eunos (mx5) box is pretty quiet, little notchy changing up to second, but it's 100,000+ Ex track day car which Iam sure has had some abuse. No carpets or sound deadening, driven daily like that for the last seven years.

Like the idea of 2.5 in the Gt6, its on my long list of things to do. I've started, yet to complete.

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Bit of insulation on the rear boot boards help, a bit...

I've wired my stereo so that it goes off when the fuel pump is on as there's no way you could listen to it when the car was running.

I would stick to a 2 litre, TR5 cam, some other bits n bobs and put some triples on it, then again i am biased.

RR

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3 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Your starter story reminded me of a Loganair flight in a Shorts 360 many years ago.

That made me chuckle…. And reminded me of a trip to the airport in Gaborone to see someone off. This was the old airport, three tin sheds and a windsock, plus a small boy to chase the cows off the runway. The Jo’burg flight was a DC3 (this in maybe ‘83, so yes, it was pretty old) and it was the morning flight, so the plane had sat overnight.

We watch the passengers walk across the tarmac and climb the three steps up to the rear door. We watch a guy in uniform wander round it and under it, kicking the tyres. He too gets on board and the door closes. A pause. Then an attempt to start an engine. It’s sounds unenthusiastic, turning slow and just a few pops and spits. Silence. Another pause. Then a harassed looking fellow in overalls comes out to the genny truck parked just across the fence from us. The solenoid clacks…. But that’s all. Mr Overalls departs muttering oaths under his breath. Another pause. Overalls returns, piloting a tiny Datsun bakkie. Jump leads are applied and the genny truck starts allowing it to to driven out to the aircraft and plugged in.

The plane is is still unenthusiastic, but now they can just keep on it until eventually it pops, bangs and smokes into life….. followed by the same on engine number 2. Not very confidence inspiring….. 

I did fly on it (or it’s sister) a couple of times. Slow, noisy, cramped, bumpy…..  and steeply up hill to you seat. More usually a Hawker Sideley 148 on that route.

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1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

Bit of insulation on the rear boot boards help, a bit...

Got some of that. And some stick-on bitumenous matting on the floor itself. Apparently not enough though.

No stereo at this point. Might add one as I think the car is more or less quiet enough to use one, no rush though.

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"steeply up hill to you seat"

I flew on one of those, no idea what it was, and nothing so exotic as Gabarone!   It was from Blackpool to Belfast.     The same steep uphill to the front, where I sat with my nose level with the crew's bums, and looking straight at the weather radar screen.    All I could see out was sky.    We dropped into the Isle of Man on the way, and I got a taxi into Belfast for a medical conference on trauma (!)    On the way, the radio crackled, "They've found Seamus, he's ok and his car!".    I had to ask.  "Oh, the boys took him for a ride.     Nothing personal, thanks be to God!"

So unlike the home life of our own dear North West!

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:ohmy: I take it that was back during the Troubles? I worked with a ex Military Police S/Sgt who had been undercover in NI. Harum scarum stuff.

3 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

And reminded me of a trip to the airport in Gaborone to see someone off. This was the old airport, three tin sheds and a windsock, plus a small boy to chase the cows off the runway. The Jo’burg flight was a DC3 (this in maybe ‘83, so yes, it was pretty old) and it was the morning flight, so the plane had sat overnight.

I have another friend who is currently doing contract construction work for the UN at Bangui airport in the Central African Republic and other sites around the country. His transport seems similarly exotic and fragile. Air-UN with Ukrainian piloted MIL Mi-8 helicopters. When they are working :blink:

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