67 Mk1 GT6 restoration

[BiTurbo228]

Yeah definitely go with the new boot then should fit in very nicely with the rest of the interior.

Third brake light is a great idea too. What with all the 7' tall tanks people drive nowadays I doubt they'd be able to see the standard brake lights!

[byakk0]

Quoted from BiTurbo228

Yeah definitely go with the new boot then should fit in very nicely with the rest of the interior.

          
OEM or new boot, easy enough to swap out if I don't sew it in for a while.

Quoted Text

Third brake light is a great idea too. What with all the 7' tall tanks people drive nowadays I doubt they'd be able to see the standard brake lights!

Definitely. That is exactly what inspired me to design and build the 3rd brake light (available if anyone wants one). I was rear-ended while at a stop sign. It was a jacked up Chevy Blazer, the guy says "Sorry buddy, didn't see you down there.

[byakk0]

Found a seller on eBay that has some rubber seal that worked great for sealing the rear license plate illumination plinth to the tub. Can't find the stuff from any of the usual triumph vendors, if they even have diagrams show it.





It just slid right into the gap, so I may need to make a little adjustment to tighten it up.




A local upholstery shop had a roll of carpet on hand for a decent price, and the color was close so I bought a yard to play with. It's a cut pile they claim local hot rodders and car builders like.
Checking it against the other interior colors as well as the body color. I'm going for similar color to body color, so this is a charcoal grey.



Going to bind it in black, although part of me wants to bind it in the light grey. I may do a sample just to see how it looks vs the black. ON the other hand, binding in black ties it to the black piping


I'll start of by making some floor mats, one for use in my wife's van. This will be a good way to test the durability of the carpet before I commit.

[RobPearce]

Hazen,

Is that number plate plinth another US market thing? I couldn't find any good photos of Mk1 GT6s to compare, but all the early Spitfire photos I found showed the lamp unit fitted directly with no plinth.

[JensH]

Rob: They were on the Danish market too. Have seen them on some US import cars.

[byakk0]

I've seen both here actually, but I think with is more common

[RobPearce]

Interesting. I can't see any obvious reason for it to be different - I remember some markets had two lamp assemblies on a special plinth but just moving the one lamp out by half a inch doesn't seem to achieve much.

[byakk0]

Hard to say what the US reasoning was.
The dual plinth was fit the Italian market, iirc.
There's a pic floating around somewhere, and they show on the canley diagrams. Interestingly enough, the single plinth setup is not shown

[EddieGT]

My GT was US import, it has the same single plinth.

a friend has a belgium gt6 in resto. perhaps he can remember wether or not he has the plinth... wil ask.

[JensH]

German one:

[byakk0]

That double just looks strange to me. Probably because I'm so used to my single.
A freind in Colorado has a UK spec Mk1 he imported that does not have the plinth.

[byakk0]

Finished the floor mats. Binding is a little tougher than I thought it would be, but I'll get the hang of it.

Here's the results, though I'm not sold on the color. It is a charcoal grey, but against the body color it nearly looks a shade of brown.

Small one for the GT6 and a larger one for my wife's van. It will see a lot more use there and it needed new one, so it's a good way to test out the wear and quality before I commit to one style.
I'll add a heel mat later.





Also stitched together some scrap to see how things would look against a door card.Contrary to the way I have the card painted, this is height at which I'll have the division.


It will closely resemble the OEM door card when completed as seen below.


I also picked up a GM 7127 internally regulated alternator and matching pigtail. Now I can eliminate that frustrating external regulator and keep my battery charged.
It's a direct bolt in for the one I currently have. Current setup is a GM externally regulated alt. My documentation on wiring has gone missing and I can't seem to sort it properly, so out with the old in with the new.

[John Bonnett]

Terrific progress Hazen. You must be really excited about the prospect of getting the car back on the road in the near future. Well done.

John

[byakk0]

My aim is to have it licensed this year. I'd really like to drive it back to Salt Lake City in Utah to attend the annual British Field meet, one I attended way back when I was driving it, but I doubt that is going to happen, even if I do manage to get it legal by June. That would be at least a 700 mile round trip. Long haul for a car car fresh out of resto.
I doubt it will be painted, but for once in it's life as I've know it, it will be one color (primer) & rust free. Hoping for paint before school starts in the fall, guess we'll see.

[byakk0]

Need to pick your collective brains.
I've got one last round of welding to do on the passenger side rocker panel/sill, where it connects to the floor pan flange. Problem is, the two don't mate up well. I've got the door adjusted as well as I can and the gap at the bottom is very good. If I pull the sill up to match the welding flange of the floor it closes door gap.
The rest of the rocker is welded in place. Only the bottom remains.
What's a good way to go about fixing this?
Here's an actual photograph I just drew up, 3/4 view and on end.


One method I am considering is extending the floor flange to meet to bottom of the sill, the area marked in blue. This would be by far the easiest to do, in theory, however I do not have access to lift so getting it high enough to comfortably work may be an issue. (Last time I tried welding on my back I burned my chest. Owe!)

Any other ideas or thoughts?

[RobPearce]

When I did Toby's sills (back in 1992!) I recall the floorpans having really quite a big lip on them. The sills didn't need all of it and I ended up trimming some off.
What sills do you have? There were some after-market ones around back then which really didn't fit well. On my brother's Mk2 Spit ("Felix") we made the mistake of using cheap ones and had to clamp them up to make them fit, rather as you describe.

[byakk0]

I bought my sills from Victoria British here in the states back in 96, I think it was.
The floor pan is factory/unchanged
The overlap is roughly only 1/4"

[daedalusminos]

I would probably plug weld from outside, ensuring the 'plug' hole drilled in the sill picks up the floor flange and your extra bit.

[byakk0]

Quoted from daedalusminos

I would probably plug weld from outside, ensuring the 'plug' hole drilled in the sill picks up the floor flange and your extra bit.

definitely that...just getting the flanges to mate up is the question. Extend the floor flange or...?

[daedalusminos]

I should have added, plug welding that close to the sill curve may result in distortion visible as rippling.

Alternatively, could you bend the outer section of floor down, flange out to increase overlap?

Obviously not possible if the membrane is already welded

[byakk0]

I needed to work somewhere warm today so I pulled my steering column out so I could take inside to the table.


I'm getting a fuse blowing in the green circuit, so I was wondering if I'd find a short. No luck there. I'll chase that short down later.

As for the main reason of pulling the column, my horn sounds intermittently when I drive-that is, it functions correctly if I press the button, but under normal driving conditions it will go off all on its own, more on than later. Quite annoying really. I originally found the horn brush replaced with threaded rod wrapped in tape. Thought that was the culprit so I bought a real horn brush, but that did not solve the problem. So, I tore the column down completely, aside from removing the bushes inside the column itself.
[img]http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb266/byak0/steering%20column/1485219137709.jpg [/img]
[img]http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb266/byak0/steering%20column/20170123_170758.jpg [/img]


The only findings I have to report are merely questions at this point.
1) the brass horn contact ring. The inside of the table the purple/black wire is connected to has some rubbing wear on it. I thought it was a possible culprit, but with everything assembled it does not appear to have anything close to it to rub on.



The purple/black wire connects here, and I’m seeing signs of rubbing on the inner face of the connection. I don’t know if this is old damage repaired or not, as this is the first time I’ve had the column apart. No telling what the PO did to it.


The brass contact ring is removed by un bending these two tabs.


You can see the wear a little better in this shot.


An here you can see the ring installed. Not very clear but in rotating the ring around the inner shaft I don’t see any reason for it to contact anything. There isn’t really much lateral play .


The upper bushing looks decent (to me). Its rubber with a metal spring clip on the inside.



Then I got to looking at the U-bolt setup that keeps the inner rod and the outer sheath from coming apart, and I do have direct metal on metal contact there, and the parts diagrams show a nylon washer.
I'm wondering if this is the cause. I connected my DMM to check for continuity but that test came up empty, so I still don't know. I'll have to rig up something to bench test it with a 12V supply and a test light.


I’ll probably order new bushings, and I remembered an old column I have in the corner. It had the nylon washer, so I cannibalized it.

I need to order new bushes and I see there is supposed to be a nylon washer right there. ...

The horn brush is another possible culprit, but as I mentioned installing a new one did not solve the problem.
I have correctly it installed, from what I understand.


One thing I am wondering, though, is if my brush is yet too long as the button pops off easily.
I have the 2 ½” unit.

It is recessed about 6mm from the top of the boss.

I don’t know if this is normal or not, so if anyone has any idea or photos they can share with me that would be great.

After some digging and question sessions I think I’ve got it narrowed down to wiring, so I plan on running jumpers from the button to the relay and other bits.
More on that once I get around to it.

At this point I have reassembled the column for reinstallation (and so as to not lose parts). Changing the bushings will be simple enough, I think, so if I need to pull the column again once I have them on hand so be it.

[RobPearce]

I'd want a closer look at the witness marks on the connection of the purple/black wire to the ring. If they're caused by the inner column touching then the horn will sound. You say it doesn't have much play but if the top bush is worn it will move more in normal use than you're likely to see in an on-the-table test.

The missing clamp washer isn't your problem here. For the horn to work at all you need good electrical contact between the lower and upper halves of the inner column. The outer is also grounded, so contact between inner and outer is neither here nor there.

The brush itself isn't likely to be the problem unless the insulated bit is too short or too thin to ensure the brass bits can't touch anything they're not supposed to. That can happen in things are loose.

[byakk0]

Thanks. The more I thought about it the more realized as much about needing/not needing the nylon washer for electrical insulation.

With the brass contact ring in place I spun the outer column a full 360 around the inner shaft, deliberately including any play for max movement and it didn't contact anything. Guess I could bend that tab back a little in case I'm missing something.

[lancepar]

If your horn is not working, try this.
Have a look at the joint between the column and the rack.  There should be a braided wire to provide the negative continuity.  
Now slacken the pinch bolt securing the joint to the spline on the rack, spray some contact cleaner/penertrating fluid down the splines, grab the steering wheel and rock it gently in a rotating motion. Re-tighten the pinch bolt and I reckon this will restore your horn to normal.  It did for mine anyway.

[drofgum]

Hazen,
The wear on the brass contact where the wire connects to the slip ring is certainly where the intermittent spurious horn sounding comes from. You may need to look at the steering wheel for the other surface rubbing there.
                                                                                                   Regards,
                                                                                                   Paul