Out in the autumn sun

With the weather well into the autumn vibe now and cold wet mornings seeming the norm, it was too good an opportunity to miss today as the sky was blue and the sun was out, albeit a foot off the ground. The car felt good as I went on a 10 mile trip out, stopping at my parents on route. I took my daughter with me (she can barely see out the window but does love going out in it) and it was nice to just cruise in the sun getting plenty of admiring glances from passers by. After the trip out I added some more padding to the rear luggage boards above the spare wheel as they do bang around a lot and I would like to hear more exhaust note and less ply wood board. Rev counter worked continuously during the trip so the jurys still out on that one. Also, no dieseling on switch off since I lowered the RPM idle slightly on the carbs.

I've been trawling the internet recently for various GT6 info with an eye on the various jobs that need doing on the car. I'm truly amazed how many people comment they dont like the Saffron GT6. Are they mad or have they never seen one in the flesh? Its a great looking car and in my opinion even more so in Saffron Yellow. Its such a pure 70's colour and really works with this car more than any other.

What a great looking car!

Lights, carbs and turning off a tractor

Noticed the rear brake lights weren't working correctly. When sidelights are on if you pressed the brake the off side rear lights went completely off. If full lights were on the off side would be duller than the near side but would at least be on. After a bit of trawling on the internet it seemed earth wiring problems are the source of all things lighting. Had a quick look at the bulb holder and removed the black earth cable gave the connection on the holder a quick clean and put it back on. No more lighting problems.

After changing the carb dashpots I decided to try to increase the richness of the mixture (the only reason for this is when I press the lifting pin the RPM goes down). However after turning about 8 flats down on the jet adjuster nut the RPM still went down but the engine was running worse so I wound it back to where it was and left it. Maybe I need to remove the air filter for this to work but the car runs okay in the main. The reason for messing with it is that my idle is currently about 600 RPM which is quite low but if I increase this even to 700 RPM I get over run (dieseling) when I turn the ignition off and the more RPM the worse it seems to get like I'm in an old tractor rather than a sports car. I have read that lean carbs can be a cause of dieseling but I'm not sure if thats correct so I thought I would give it a go. The carbs I believe aren't quite right at the moment as on start up from cold the choke pulled out about 1.5cm makes it start to judder a bit so I have to push it in slightly but if you go too far it nearly stalls so it just goes put, put, put for a while and when I get the choke in the car idles nicely but it takes about 5 minutes in total. From cold I don't think it would make a very good get away car. I am sure I will come back to this at a later date.

That reminds me the rev counter has started to work again. I don't really get what's going on as its a mechanical gauge so if the cable breaks then surely thats the end of it working and if the gauge seizes and the cable breaks then its the same result. How come it keeps coming back to life?

Sprint Dashpots

Tackled the shorter Dolomite Sprint SU dashpots today. Having taken apart the carbs that arrived this week and checking with what is currently on the car, everything is the same except for the dashpot itself and the damper. This made the swap over very easy (after some WD40 and a bit of a wait as the screws were solid on the just received carbs and wouldn't budge) and to change the dashpots only took a few minutes. I realise that dashpots and pistons were originally match ground but the dashpot fit felt pretty good and after 30+ years I think the whole match ground thing is a bit over the top as long its not sloppy and the piston moves nicely it should all be okay. I will keep the other carbs just in case.

SU HS6 from a Dolomite Sprint. I only used the dashpot in the end.

Tall dashpot off

Two short dashpots on and lots of bonnet clearance

  There is now plenty of clearance to do a proper job of repairing the dent in the bonnet when the weather warms up in the spring.

Look what Santa got for me!

Well okay, I know its only November but you've got to work with me on this one.

Now I know I made a list of jobs for November and you'll notice this wasn't one of them but I didn't expect this to get sorted yet and to be honest I never stick to plans anyway.

As previously mentioned the car came with a pair of SU HS6 carbs which are a bit tall and have put a small dent in the bonnet at some point in the past. Having repaired the dent to some degree last month I am still obviously not happy to have any kind of dent in my lovely bonnet. To be honest I thought it would be really easy to pick up a pair of Dolomite Sprint dashpots, springs and pistons as this seems to be the standard course of action when fitting SU's to a GT6 and then just do a quick swap, but I was clearly a bit naive on that one. Unless I wanted a reconditioned pair for about £325 no where I tried (Quillers, Rimmer Bros, Spitfire Graveyard, Canley Classics and Turner Carbs) had anything they could offer me. I then saw the name Wins International mentioned on a Triumph forum and sent them an email not really expecting much and hey presto they had a pair in stock for £96. Quick phone call for clarification and the guy was very helpful so I ordered them straight away and 24 hours later Christmas had come early.

Ooh I love Christmas... I mean November

So my plan is to take the relevant parts off these Sprint carbs and swap them for the parts on my carbs for an easy install and then I should have a pair of standard HS6 that I can stick on ebay and sell at some point or keep for spares.

Current tall dashpots with a bit shaved off the front damper to aid with clearance

Just got to find the time now to get them on and running and then I can really repair the bonnet properly but that probably wont be until next year now as I'll need to do some more painting and it's too cold and wet now, but then again I'm no good at sticking to plans.