Dipped in green glass

[Alex]

I'm sorry Nick but there's something about your car I really don't like!

I really don't like the fact it's so far away, most of us are unlikely to ever actually see it!
Unless you fancy bringing it over for a Round Britain ?

It's looking great!!

[Nick Moore]

Thanks Alex, it looks pretty but unlike yours, doesn't work yet!

And a RBRR might be tricky, but it's built to cover long distances. I've a few road trips in mind.

[Nick Jones]

Result 🙂  

Nick

[Nick Moore]

Quick story you'll probably laugh at...

When I dropped my bare metal GT6 off at the panel shop, the body was only loosely attached to the chassis as Joe wanted to mount it on a rotisserie. I supplied a full pack of new chassis mounting bolts. About a year later he asked me for some bolts to reattach it - he'd misplaced my set. I didn't have any, so he said he'd pick some up in town. I told him to make sure they were UNF bolts. Eventually he finished and the car came home. He mentioned in passing that he couldn't find a company called 'UNF' and so had picked up some bolts locally. He mused that they'd been hard to fit. I wouldn't say that an alarm bell started ringing, but the mental equivalent of a 'check engine' light started blinking...

I checked the chassis mounts yesterday, and found good and bad news. The good news is that he only fitted a couple of bolts. The bad news is that the two bolts he did fit were nice and new and BSW! I tried to repair the threads in the captive nuts by re-tapping, but BSW is a helluva coarse thread, so they'd been slogged out slightly and couldn't tighten up. In both cases I've simply added a nut underneath the captive nut, so they're as strong as before.

I'll laugh later. Maybe.

[DGGT6]

G'day Nick,
I have finally done the unthinkable and thought you would be interested in seeing the photographic proof.......

[DGGT6]

I think a "normal" fuel rail would be where the green circle is. The yellow arrow is pointing to where the end of my barbed fuel injector adapter is. Perhaps the normal rail would have been a smidge lower than my rubber hoses, but either way, I would have ended up cutting the bonnet.  (Oh Dear, did I say that out loud?

[DGGT6]

Better cover the hole up before anyone else sees it!!!!!



Keep up your great work.

Cheers,
Doug

[Nick Moore]

I probably shouldn't have looked at those photos with a mouthful of tea. Oh well, you definitely won't need a 'check engine' light, you'll be able to see it!

But still, good on you for having the courage to start a'choppin'. There some very tidy bonnet bulges out there - the TR4’s springs to mind - so it's not such a bad idea.

[DGGT6]

Thanks Nick,
I searched for an "off the shelf" bulge but they were all too long and would probably interfere with the  bonnet louvers. Having made this one and knowing how much I had to shape the underside to match the GT6 bonnet curves, I think I would have had large gaps between it and the bonnet.
I used a Fein Multimaster (oscillating tool) to cut the bonnet and this gave a lovely thin cut so that any decent mig welderer can replace the off-cut.

Cheers,
Doug

[Nick Moore]

An espresso machine in the garage means that the tinkering has picked up pace...

Firstly, I fitted a wideband O2 sensor. The unit I chose is the simplest I could find - an Innovate MTX-L. It consists of a standard Bosch sensor and a combined gauge and controller, which talks to the Megabrain via a single wire. It all seems to be working - as the sensor isn't yet installed in an exhaust, it reads 22.4, ie maximum lean. I know the gauge isn't in keeping with the 'period' look, but is well worth having anyway - if there's an air leak in the inlet manifold, it should alert me before we burn out a piston.

Next job was fabricating grilles for the bonnet vents. The slats are basically to stop rain getting in and small birds from nesting. I considered including a 'tripper' in front of the vents to create turbulence and help extraction, but couldn't think of a way to make them look nice. Once the car is finished I'll be able to test these vents and see if they do in fact funnel warm air out at speed.

The vents do make it easy to see how much room there is under the bonnet! A length of copper pipe bent to follow the bonnet contours has also been useful. Easy to see why PI manifolds are tricky... so I'm now thinking about a 6-throttle manifold with 40mm butterflies.

[junkuser]

Coming along nicely Nick.

Pity you have to work and lose time on the car.

Mal.

[byakk0]

lovely work. It's coming along.

[Mark Hammond]

This car is a work of art.  As good as any Rembrandt that I've seen!

Mark

[Nick Moore]

Quoted from Mark Hammond

This car is a work of art.  As good as any Rembrandt that I've seen!

Mark

Thanks Mark. Not sure about Rembrandt. I thought maybe Michelangelo, as it's taken as long as the Sistine Chapel. Then I checked. The GT6 has taken longer Anyway, Michelotti did the hard work. At best I'm just an art restorer.

Just talked to 'EFI Hardware' in Melbourne, and ordered three 40mm double throttle bodies: https://www.efihardware.com/products/35/throttle-blocks-twin-40mm80centre

[Nick Moore]

A few presents for the GT arrived over the Christmas break. The first was an Optima Red Top battery. The original battery tray was replaced during the conversion to RHD, of course, but its floor had been so badly eaten by acid that a battery would just about have fallen through! Optima batteries are sealed, so hopefully my bulkhead will remain undissolved. I'll leave the new battery on the CTEK charger for the next few days to give it an easy start to life.

The other present was three sets of 40mm dual throttle bodies and their mounting plates. The throttle bodies were custom made by a company in Melbourne. I chose to use these instead of Weber-spaced throttle bodies to avoid the S-shaped inlet tracts. The throttle plates are spaced only 74mm apart, meaning each pair of inlets will only have to splay out by about 20mm from the head to the throttles - almost a straight line for the inlet charge.

I'll make up some CAD (cardboard aided design) manifolds over the next few days to see whether the inlets need to curve down for the fuel rail to avoid the bonnet. I'm hoping they won't need to drop down, as straight pipes will be easier to fabricate.

[Sheepy]

Will agree with the others, it's coming along really nicely.

There is something about nice fresh, machined parts! They look great. 🙂

[GTRoger]

Nice throttle bodies, they do look very well machined! Looking forward seeing your progress, it's a huge inspiration for the rebuild of my GT6, which (in my mind) will look very similar. If only I could find time to get started...

[Nick Moore]

I bought one of Hazen's remanufactured rear door hinge covers. My original was still OK, but it was brittle and had a small split, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to buy a new one. It's very well made, and fitted perfectly. The slight moulding line in the photo only shows up in the camera flash - it isn't visible now the cover's attached to the roof.

Thanks Hazen!

[byakk0]

You're welcome Nick. It should be a good addition to the restoration.

[GT6 M]

Ye seem to be mek,n a real bigg stick to beat yer self with Nick.

with a little care full thnking an tinkerating,  {which ive offered / given}
the OE TBS and rail should no touch the bonnet.

all yer probs will be on NO1 injector, rest are totally fine.

could shave a 1/16th of,t bottom of inlet mani going to nowt at the top.
, will angle manis doon, an still leaves ye plenty of room / thickness on stud area

BUTTTTTT, going less angle,  {and maybe also less length to throttle linkage on new mani }
will deffo run into clearance probs with the ex mani, when on full throttle openings

EVEN if ye have reduced the length of the under slung throttle arms by an inch or so.

Note, ya mod on some thing has an effect on another,
IE, lower engine, it fouls the rack, twists the top rubbers on rad to engine, or with a phoenix, the steering shaft fouls ex mani
tek engine back, agen it fouls the steering,  then plenum hits the bulkheed too.

But carry on tinkerating, nice to see yer trials and tribulations appearing

M

[Nick Moore]

Hi Marcus,
Believe me, I've taken on board everything you've said. In the end, I chose to abandon the PI manifolds for several reasons.  Firstly, I wanted smaller butterflies, to improve off-idle drivability. From what I've read, the large PI butterflies are tricky to set up for EFI. The throttle bodies I chose are 40mm diameter, and will hopefully make the car easy to drive in traffic. I know that the PI manifolds can be made to work 'OK' with careful setup of the throttle position sensor, manifold air pressure and ignition timing, but figured that using the best available hardware was a good start.

Secondly, I wasn't sure that the injector locations on the PI manifolds were the best place for electronic injectors. The PI injectors spray a cone under high pressure right at the valve, relying on the fine droplet size to ensure good atomisation. My EFI injectors spray a narrower cone from four nozzles. It seemed that to ensure good atomisation, I should move the injector back, keep the angle as low as possible and avoid any sharp bends that could cause droplets to fall out of suspension. This is only what I've concluded from a lot of reading. It could turn out to be a dog's breakfast!

Lastly, the exhaust manifolds will accommodate normal PI manifolds, but not once they've been angled down, as Craig found out. I still don't have my primaries, so can't finalise the design, but those primaries do come out a long way. I'm not sure if stepped GT6 weber manifolds would fit either - one reason I didn't go for weber-style throttle bodies.

Oh, and I'm coming around to your idea for a fuel rail. The extruded alloy ones look very boy-racer-ish. Not that I know anything about how to weld copper pipe together...

Hazen - this is the hinge cover in place. The camera struggled a bit with the black cover and white headlining but trust me, it looks brilliant.

Photo credits - the top two photos were taken by Craig Trimble.

[byakk0]

Looks great, Nick. I'm just happy to see them installed.  Haven't ever had one in my car. (Since I have owned it,  that is)

[BiTurbo228]

I'll be coming upon this particular problem at some point in my little project.

Would it be possible to pop a spacer between the inlet manifolds and shift them forwards a couple of mm to clear the exhaust? Or would that just put them back in the path of bonnet again?

[Nick Moore]

Quoted from BiTurbo228

Would it be possible to pop a spacer between the inlet manifolds and shift them forwards a couple of mm to clear the exhaust? Or would that just put them back in the path of bonnet again?

It's hard to say. The bonnet does continue to drop down to each side, but not that much. Likewise, it drops towards the nose, which is why number 1 injector is the problem. Mock it up in cardboard first - that's what I'll be doing. The runners, the injectors, the fuel rail, everything in cardboard!

If you use a different exhaust manifold, horizontal PI inlets might fit perfectly well. Also, these inlets were angled down quite a bit, not merely made to sit horizontal, so they're a worst case scenario.

N

[GT6 M]

Nick, looking at that mani, it looks like it,ll be tight,!!
no to sure aboot the brazed ends, any braze ive seen on a mani cracks efta a while, just saying.

And looking at the closeness to the inlet mani, there gonna be some serious heat exchange gaa,n on there, could play havoc wid yer air temp settings!!
moer so than the phoenix type, as it slopes doon a bit after it comes oot.

{ just a note, the  actuall ex port slopes doon, so why has gas got to change angle when it hits the mani, my minds saying!!! }

On  the questionne of the injectoers spraying in wrong way,  even if ye got some that have 3 wols or moer,  they will still spray onto the bottom side of the mani.

the OE lucas ,ns did too, but theiir cone spray was only aboot 3 incl long,
with no too much force of jet to mek spray go onto mani walls, as air stream too it away into inlet passage.

I put the modern,ns on, an although it ran ok, it was no as good as the lucas at v v low revs / throttls, UN less there were moer fuel dialled in.

so modded the injectors to match the lucas,ns  and it worked a treat, ended up with a cone pattern not farr of the lucas., see pic at bottom of post.

As for,t throttls being too big, maybe, maybe not, Im working ok with em,
only prob I have noo { which will be sorted wid new engine and throttle bodies } is the spindals have worn, so at low revs, openings, then some of the throttles are letting moer air thru than others, noticlable on TPS 1 and up to 1200 rpms in gears.
can lift the spinnals about 30 thou at rest, so air is getting past there too, as weel as diff opening throttle plates.
other was heat soak into TPS, noo sorted, so if going TPS, remember its heat afflicted!!
although its still on TPS 1, there a top and bottom setting to TPS, that cannot be seen on screen, but can be shown by looking at the TPS clicks to when it moves.

a single throttle will not suffer this, an mebe it wont be an issue on MAP setting type


BT,  the prob is with not just the Phoenix, but even the standard  GT mani with the underslung
throttls is they touch the mani, but just where the legs of the underslung linkage is.

can get aroond it by putting some spacers between the linkages fix,n to the mainis
but this is limited to 1/2 to 3/4 an inch, as move it oot too far, then they start to foul the log intake.

can also, {wid great care on measurment } tek 1n inch or so of the legs, and re drill.
BUTT, this meks throttles open faster / further, wid less movement on throttle pedal.
cos the leverage ratio is increased,  its ok when yer used to it, but folk no, will soon see alot of revs for little movement.
on the road,its no  as noticable, honest.

apart frae the mani an links clearances, theres the injectors, as sed beofer, its number 1 thats the prob.
so ye can get the manis ground out alittle where the injectors sit, but an 1/8th max is all there is., and tek of 20 thou oft bottom of injector too, where it seats int mani.

NOTE, with first 2 injectors set deeper, then a flexi way of joining em to the others will be needed, or a  double kink int fuel rail, so as its level, but lower.
still think my type is best for misalighnment, as its got hose between manis.
like the jenvey type of olde,or still used noo an then

there is the overhead linkage, but no too sure it,ll fit on a GT, maybe it can be doone, as some have webers on em,
BUTT, the manis are stepped doon towards no1 end

Can move engine sideways, so its moer on pass side, and sit engine alittle lower too, and also tilt it as weel.
as weel as raise bonnet, but this alters gaps at dors an sill lines.
but be care full about the Gear box/OD mounts if tilting  mani side doon,  or mov,n engine sideways, as it will put strain on mountings at OD end, needs to alterd to match, easy done.
and 90 dge boots help too, even if its just for nos 1-2

all the wee laal bits eer an the,a all add up to alott, an a wee bit is alott when ye got no much to start of with.

TipTopTip, try an get  all year clearances done, wid bonnet on its lowest settings on,t front adjusters.
this way, when ye got it ok, it will be bigger when ye set bonnet to ok height for line to match up.

Note too, if on Lucas PI, then its alott easier for no1 injector,
1 shave top of injector of, {round off }, this will give a 1/16th
2 set injector deeper into its wol, but cutting nylon insert doon,  1/18th - 3/16ths can be got here alone
then put a packer in to keep injector sit,n tight., hose air bleed and pipe in log will still need modded though
as pipe ont log will foul bonnet alone. not to mentionee the pipe.

It can be done, an done so as nee bonnet bulges / mods are done, just gottaa use yer MK 1 logik box alott,
or ask for help.

pics of modded ijector ends, t mek it spray like a OE Lucas type








M