67 Mk1 GT6 restoration

[byakk0]

looking wayyyy back to this comment by Shaun back in April '14.

Quoted from Sheepy

She will be walking round your garage, picking up tools, and scratching pictures into the nice shiny gt6 before you know it!  

Happy she is doing well.

She's picking up the tools and whatnot now! Loves being in the garage with me. Good thing too, sometimes taking her with me is the only way I can go play. 😉

Fixing the manifold-she knows what to do!


Gloves are her favorite


no wait, wrenches are her favorite

[JensH]

Hazen: Take care of the 'plint' behind the number plate lamp; its a very rare unit and only used in a few countries - and US states. They were part of the approval for MOT here in Denmark, but long forgotten by the MOT-man 😎

Most lost due to rotted out number plate lamps, or crashes!

Your picture doesn't show a seal, and its NLA now - but I have used one of the seals for the front bumper/overrider on my spitfire.

Chers, Jens (Copenhagen)

[byakk0]

Here is the finished product:




Jens,
What do mean by the 'plint'?
Also, are you talking about the gasket betweeen this housing and the chromed lamp cover, or body tub to this housing?

I was rear-ended once and it nearly destroyed my original, and the chromed cover is broken. This unit is refurbished from spares and an eBay offerings.

[JensH]

Hi Hazen,
The 'plint' is the extension on the backside of the numberplate lamp (first picture above); sorry, couldn't find a better word...
its not a part of the lamp itself.
Take a look at the spare part catalogue (e.g. at vitessesteves homepage, if you do not already have a copy - you might have to look in the mk 3 spitfire one ). In germany they had to use one for two lamps mounted side by side.
You will need a seal up to the rear valance; I could use one for the front bumper/overrider bought at Bill/Rarebits as he sells them uncut. Will try to take a picture of mine when I get home from work.

[byakk0]

I think you are referring to this setup:


I've never seen these side by side. As far as I know, mine only has one in the center, so no mounting plinth needed.

I'm interested in the moulding your are talking about though to seal it to the rear valance. I never considered one there as my original never had anything.

[JensH]

Yep, that's it!
They were part of the approval for MOT here in Denmark, might have been due to the old - and very thick - numberplates used then. Used in some states in US/Canada too.
Most destroyed in crashes I believe! I have a few NOS ones here bought via ebay and locally.

German ones ugly (IMHO)! See picture...

I have had some success using the front bumper/overrider seal bought at Bill/Rarebits (he sells it in 0,5meter, i.e. uncut) - most of the other traiders cut them down for the overriders.
Not perfect - but close.
http://www.rarebits4classics.net/#!product/prd12/3734668591/overrider-sealing-strip---0.5-metre (don't know why no picture comes up, did a few months ago).

Haven't got a picture of mine to show, sorry. You probably still have these seals on your front bumper, so you can check the profile.

[mikeyb]

Interesting badge mismatch on the yellow car - is that yours?

[JensH]

No, its from an US ebay auction years ago - I kept the pictures as the tub was very original - although the car was fitted with mk 4/1500 doors..

[byakk0]

Thanks Jens! That is very interesting indeed, but I believe mine was stock with just one. US plates are much narrower than European, so only one is needed. I'll keep the seals in mine too. Looks like I will need that!

[byakk0]

Part of getting the floor ready to paint is getting the last few bits of the body welded on.
I popped the A-post finishers off my car probably back in 09 and cleaned it up and got ready for reinstall, and it waited this long to be put in.

I figure, if I am going to prep and paint the floor, I better get this part (and the lower a-pillar inside) all welded up. I left them undone until I got the door fit properly. Wanted a little bit of play room.

Anyway, enjoy the photographic record. Sorry a few turned out a touch blurry.

Didn't quite get around to smoothing the welds. Abby came out to the garage and didn't like me running the grinder. It was time for dinner anyway.

[John Bonnett]

Very nice Hazen. You are cracking on now. Will you be painting the car yourself?

[byakk0]

I am. I have a friend who has extensive experience, so he is going to look over my shoulder and call the shots with me behind the trigger.
Right now I have a rattle can of the same paint I am doing small stuff and the interior with, but the exterior will be base/clear.

[byakk0]

Little more work on the driver's side floor. Stripped and prepped it for paint.



Coat of por-15



Dust coating of primer-this goes on while the por-15 is still tacky.



Need another coat of primer and then topcoat, then comes the passenger side.

[byakk0]

With my kids and my own school schedules getting in the way, I don't get a lot of time to work, but when I do it is late enough I'd rather not bother my sleeping family or neighbors. Such was yesterday. I wasn't able to do any noisy work, so I spent the night doing a little prep on more of the floor, and then turned my attention on the rear loom. I inspected it, repaired it, including about 2 feet of brittle wire, then re- wrapped it. I used a donor loom for the correct color coded wires.
Some of the ends, primarily those for the light connections, had been painted over multiple times I could barely tell the original color of the wire!  
I need to wrap a little bit more as I ran out of tape, and two wires need the spade terminals attached yet. Otherwise, this loom should be good for another 40 or so years.

I really wanted to run the grinder and clean up a few welds and strip paint on the floor with the wire brush.

[byakk0]

I've got brakes!

Well almost. I rebuilt the calipers and have them installed. Just need to attach the rear hoses, fill the system with fluid, bleed it, and test it out...(another drive!

[byakk0]

Wrapped up the brake system this week...or thought I did.

Finished hooking up all the hoses today and checked all the fittings. Bought 2 small bottles of Dot5 and 20' of tubing.
Everything was go for bleeding. Connected the tubing to each of the bleeder valves in turn and ran the return back into the master. Pumped until there was no more air bubbles in the line at the master and moved on to the next.





The only hiccup was the connection going to the driver's (passenger side for those of you with RHD) front at the 3-way. It leaked on the floor and introduced air bubbles. Boy am I glad I went with the hose method. Once I tightened that fitting I just waited for the little bubbles to appear in the return hose. Problem solved.
Repeated the steps for the other 3 wheels and was done fairly quickly.
This makes me wonder why I never learned this trick many years ago. I've done many brake jobs, first with my dad, then with other folks, playing either the peddle pumper or the wrench turner. open. pump. close. pump. open. pump. close pump. repeat. ad-naseum.
Wow. An empty system like mine that would have taken hours.
This was so much easier, and I was able to do it all on my own in a few minutes.. The rear wheels took longer to jack up the car and remove the wheel, including replacing.

But...(there is always a but, isn't there).
The new rear wheel cylinders are both leaking. looks to be internal. So, I'm waiting to hear back from the vendor, but someone mentioned that maybe the seals were installed backwards...I'll give that a check when I have the time, hopefully Saturday.

Sorry bout the odd angles on the photos. Just odd positions when I snapped em, and yes, that is an old bleeder valve. I went back to the originals as the new ones had 10mm fittings and the old were 7/6". Not a problem, but I wanted to keep it SAE, and, for some reason my 10mm wrench is the only one hiding from me.

[RedRooster]

Never heard of doing it like that before but it makes sense.
RR

[byakk0]

worked a treat. Didn't really waste anything either. if you were changing out your fluid you wouldn't want to run the return line back to the master until the old was completely washed through, if you did at all.

[thescrapman]

Something does not look right with the hose going in the back of the slave cylinder, they normally seal with a copper washer. Yours seems to be using a taper to seal.

I have utilised a similar bleeding system, but I run the returned fluid through a fine filter to extract any debris left over from the installation process.

Cheers

Colin

[trsforever]

Hi, the rear pipe /hose fitting looks wrong because it should have a short steel/copper pipe bending around the hub and fixed to the back plate then the flexi pipe to the body, this should work
as long as the hose can't get caught between upright/spring/damper in suspension travel bump to rebound. the hose convex seating face should seal in the wheel cyl the same as a normal
bundy tube fitting, you only need a copper washer if there is no tapered seat ( same way a bleed nipple works).

Regards Scott

[byakk0]

not sure about the copper washer. Didn't have one when I took it apart.

As for the hose, again, as I have it is how I disassembled. as far as I know, I have it like the factory setup. Any one have photos for reference?

That said, I discovered today I didn't have the bleeder valve tight enough. Still need to check the passenger side.

[byakk0]

Interestingly enough, Canley's diagram shows a copper washer, #31


I have a tapered end on my hoses, as well as the seat inside the cylinder. How does the washer fit? is it tapered too?

[byakk0]

sorting through my mess it looks like I do indeed have the wrong hoses for the rears...
my 4 new hoses are 2 different lengths of front hoses. Looks like another order with the correct bits is in my very near future.

Didn't even know. Wish things were sold with better descriptions and kits. like, "hey buddy! you need copper washers and this hose for that cylinder" ...or something to that affect. I guess that's the problem with shopping online. You don't get the guy behind the counter drilling you, making suggestions, and helping you head off potential problems.

Live and learn, I guess.

[drofgum]

Hazen,
The copper crush washers would be available at your FLAPS. The washer is placed around the male thread. There is a flat surface on both the wheel cylinder and the hose. the washer is trapped between those surfaces and, being soft, crushes like a gasket.
                                                                                                                                                              All the best,
                                                                                                                                                              Paul  
Friendly Local Auto Parts Store = FLAPS

[RobPearce]

ISTR there are two different setups - certainly the four-cylinder cars should have copper washers, but some (probably Rotoflex ones, thinking about it) have a small stub of copper pipe from the wheel cylinder to a bracket.