Dipped in green glass

[booley]

Congratulations Nick! It must have been a hoot to finally drive the car after all your hard work. Well done!

[Nick Moore]

No more progress yet, but a mystery solved.

I'm getting ready to lift the engine and gearbox so that I can fit the cast alloy sump. The bonnet's off and most of the ancillaries have been removed or disconnected. To make life easier I removed the exhaust manifold. Specialist #2's secondaries are a little on the short side, but as it makes removal so much easier and has eliminated the leaky slip joints, I do not care. At some point theory has to give way to practicality. It seals, and after attempts by two specialists to complete the unfinished exhaust manifold, I'm just glad to have something that works at all. Honestly, it would have been far easier and quicker to have made my own.  

When I crawled under the car, I found that specialist #2 had forgotten to fit an oxygen sensor bung in the new pipe. The O₂ sensor was tucked tidily out of the way in the fresh air, so it was no wonder the car thought it was running lean and tried to richen the mixture further! To get the centre section of pipe out, I had to cut off one of Specialists #1's mounts to the chassis main rail.. Hopefully it won't be needed. The offending centre pipe will go back to Specialist #2 tomorrow to get a bung fitted. And then she will be able to self-tune

Greg Tunstall Mechanical couldn't help with the water pump. Greg loved the 6-vaned impeller but couldn't figure out how the internal seal is fitted - either way round, there's a rubber seal acting on a rubber seal. Still scratching the head on that one.

I'll do the sump swap tomorrow. Draining the oil showed minimal metal shavings on the magnetic sump plug though, which is nice.

[Nick Jones]

That'll be why it was showing lean then.......!

I think I already explained your water pump seal (on Sideways possibly) - the two ceramic/graphite faces have stuck together and one has pulled out of it's rubber housing which makes it hard to see how it is supposed to work.

Nick

[Nick Jones]

Was here..... I added to it.

Sorry , link no longer available

Nick

[GT6MK3]

Close the garage door, rev hard, and see if it gets richer.  

With long usb lead from outside the garage of course...

Sometimes the trials and tribs of ever so slowly learning how to build stuff myself seem worth it.  I hope he welds that one in for you for nix.

I've got an uninstalled CC sport alloy pump here on the shelf if you want it for your investigations

Cars looking gorgeous,   Hope I get to see it.

C.

[Nick Jones]

Quoted from GT6MK3

Cars looking gorgeous,   Hope I get to see it.

C.

You've got better odds than most of us........  He could always pop down to Melbourne to run it all in, it's only about 1,650kms the direct way    Or meet half way in Dubbo......  Just imagine, two of the best looking GT6 induction systems on the planet in Dubbo at the same time.......

Nick

[Nick Moore]

Dave Pearson has sent me a picture of a water pump seal, which looks a little different to what came out of my pump. A new seal is on its way, so I'll no doubt have more revelations or questions. Probably questions. Thanks Dave!

Meanwhile the exhaust system is back at Specialist #2 to get the oxygen sensor bung welded in. They were good enough to slap their own heads!

[Greeks]

(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)

[Nick Moore]

Just as Craig did, having proved that my Megasquirt (and engine for that matter) worked, I've spent a lot of hours disassembling it to fix faults, tidy the wiring and plumbing, and reassembling it all more tidily.

The biggest job was exchanging the modified steel sump with an alloy one from Racetorations. I didn't fit the alloy sump first time around because it's heavier. In most places it's about 8mm thick, plus it's longer and deeper. However, the steel one leaked around the front edge, no doubt due to my hammering out recesses for the longer throw crankshaft   So, the engine was yanked halfway out and the new sump bolted on. Before I squeezed the engine back in, I turned it over and found (surprise surprise) that rod # 1 and 2's big end bolts hit the sump. I am so glad I thought to check that before dropping the engine back in the hole. An hour with a Dremel and a few trial fits later, and the engine spins over without any clonks. Phew.

An earlier thread Sorry , link no longer available discussed whether an alloy sump would fit. Well, I can report that it does! I had to bevel the inner edge of the left hand alloy steering rack mount. but otherwise the new sump fits over and around the steering rack, and neatly behind the crossmember. It is deeper so that the cooling fins are in the airflow under the car. That does increase the risk of damage from rocks, but there's still nearly 5 inches ground clearance. If necessary, I could fabricate a sump guard, but that would block the airflow. The capacity is about 5L.

The engine had about a mile on it when I removed the sump. I didn't find any significant metal fragments in the bottom or on the oil pump's catcher gauze. The oil was darker than new, but that's probably due to the graphite assembly paste, and wear as the rings and bores get to know each other.

The MAP sensor, O₂ sensor and fuel pressure regulator have been plumbed in, so once the water pump is rekitted, it should be running better than before.

[Nick Moore]

A little more progress...

The oxygen sensor is fitted to a new bung in the exhaust and working. The leaky water pump has had a new seal fitted (sent free of charge by Dave from Canley Classics - thanks again), along with a little grease, and is once again watertight. Twelve vacuum takeoffs have been added to the inlet manifold - six 4mm tubes for the manifold air pressure sensor and fuel pressure regulator (both important for tuning) and six larger tubes to provide vacuum for the brake booster and to let a little air in from the idle control valve. I would have preferred to hide the vacuum takeoffs underneath the inlet runners, but the exhaust headers were in the way.

Running the engine showed that swapping the banana-shaped steel oil pan for the alloy sump has cured the large leak from the front edge of the sump. However, the front plug in the oil gallery is leaking, something that wasn't apparent compared to the large sump leak. Unfortunately the leaking plug isn't the one you can see in the photo. No, the oil trickle is coming from between the block and the alloy front engine plate. That means that the timing cover and camshaft sprockets have to come off to get to it. Bugger. Well, at least the engine itself can stay in place this time!

Why is it leaking? The engine builder removed all the plugs to clean out swarf. Some plugs were mangled in the process, and because he didn't have replacement plugs with the correct thread, he retapped some of them. I can't remember which ones he worked on though, or what the old and new thread types were. All will be revealed once the front of the engine is stripped down, I guess.

What else. Oh yeah, it's not running very well. I suspect I may have strained some wires during the engine removal and damaged the loom. I thought I'd got them all but missed one section of the loom.

That's how it was as of three weeks ago. I got a bit discouraged when I  just couldn't get it to idle smoothly, especially as it was running quite well before I fitted the new sump. The new oil leak didn't help my mood, so I shut the garage and walked off for a while. But then - good news! - I got a new job out in the mines. Unlike previous jobs where I'd commute home for a week every couple of months, this job is Monday to Friday, so the GT6 will be trucked 400 miles south to my new home town in the next few weeks. Once it's tucked away in its new home, I'll be keen to get stuck into the running issues and oil leaks. It also needs some ram pipes, an air box and filter, and some final debugging.

[byakk0]

Nick, what air pressure manifold sensor did you use? I have a project I need one for and that may be what I am looking for.

Excellent work, btw. Can't wait to hear you fire it up.

[Nick Moore]

Quoted from byakk0

Nick, what air pressure manifold sensor did you use? I have a project I need one for and that may be what I am looking for.

I used a Bosch 2 Bar sensor from trigger wheels.com: http://trigger-wheels.com/store/contents/en-uk/p131.html

[byakk0]

Wow. A little steep on the price...but it gives me something to go on as I need 2. What is it's output range? 0-5V DC?

[booley]

Congratulations on the new job! Monday thru Friday means we can get more regular updates on the car, instead of sometimes waiting for months...
Will you be closer or farther away from Craig? One of you still has to drive to the others house.
That picture of the new sump under the car is a little scary, Please don't bottom out on anything!!

[Nick Moore]

Hazen - yes, I think the sensor is 0-5V. I don't have my notes with me. I'll check the part number, as it may be cheaper locally that from Trigger Wheels. Or you could use a GM one, which is bound to be available in the States.

Dooley - Thanks! I'm still 1100km from Craig's place, so two to three days drive depending on the number of cafes to check out. Possibly more if I end up back at the brewery in Bright. Oh, and the sump still has pretty good clearance. My Herald's chassis is about 4" and that doesn't bottom out unless I'm silly. If the GT6's sump does turn out to be vulnerable I can add a small chassis guard to the crossmember.

[byakk0]

Thanks Nick. Any sensor with 0-5 volts will work. You just helped me find what I need to use.

[Nick Moore]

The green monster hasn't been to the body shop yet, as we're waiting for a new valence and trunnionless uprights from Canleys. In the meantime, I've added Dynamat sound and heat proofing to the fibreglass rear gearbox tunnel - the section I had to make to clear the Supra gearbox. It still needs carpet.

The airbox is coming along too. The plan is to replicate the original PI 'log' but in aluminium. I bought a set of ram pipes designed to fit EFI Hardware's throttle bodies - they slip into clamps so that the plenum can be easily removed. However, they were far too long - nothing fits the GT6 without a hammer or a shoehorn! So, EFI sent a set of short ram pipes, which will work perfectly. I'll drill six holes in the log, poke them through and weld them in place. The only catch so far is that the short ram pipes are slightly too small, and fall out of the clamps even when fully tightened. So, an exhaust pipe expanding tool is on its way from eBay.

Mmmm, new tools. 🙂

[Nick Moore]

Wow, four months since the last update? OK, a quick recap. In May I moved about 700km south for a new job. The GT6, although running, wasn't really roadworthy and certainly not legal, so I had it trucked down with my furniture. No bouncy trailers and gravel rash for my car! Unfortunately the tow truck driver in Brisbane dropped it off his tilt tray, bending the chassis and damaging the front valence and over riders. The bonnet and bulkhead are virtually unmarked, and it's only the chassis from the bulkhead forward, and the bonnet braces that are bent. No major panels were damaged.

A body shop in my new home town quoted to straighten the chassis. in the end I elected not to involve the tow truck's insurer, because there was a risk they could have written it off for a small sum (there aren't enough GT6s in Oz to establish a realistic market value) and because pursuing legal action interstate would have involved two lawyers. The legal cost, plus time off work, would probably have exceeded the repair cost. And I can afford to repair it.

Once we'd worked out what needed to be replaced, I put in an order with Canley Classics for a new front valence, overriders, grille and trunnionless uprights. Unfortunately Canleys were sold out of their trunnionless kits, and I had to wait three months for a new batch to be made. To be honest I didn't mind, as I'd pretty much covered the GT6 with a sheet and left it on trickle charge. Well, all the parts are here now, my enthusiasm has returned, the trunnionless front suspension is fitted, and it'll go to the body shop in January.

Now a request: I've trawled the forum and internet looking for a high resolution diagram of the front of the chassis to give to the chassis repairer. Bill has posted some good diagrams of a GT6 Mk2, but of course that has a different front crossmember and hinge boxes. I've found a Spitfire 1500 diagram (below), which is what I need, but it's not exactly a high definition version. Does anyone have a workshop manual with a GT6 Mk3 or Spit IV/1500 chassis diagram that they can scan in high resolution?

[Mark Hammond]

Hi Nick,  glad to see that the thread is still going (and the GT6)!  I was wondering how things were going after the accident.

Mark

[mikeyb]

I have a GT6 manual, you have a pm

[mpbarrett]

I have a copy if the red workshop manual. If you still need a scan I can do one later this week for you and email it.
mike

[Nick Moore]

Thanks for the chassis diagrams, guys. She went to the body repair shop today with some new parts in the boot, and should be back in a week or two with a bonnet which closes properly. She's in good company there, looking very small next to a Jensen Interceptor.

[byakk0]

ouch. They really did a job on it.
Glad to see it going in for repairs.

[Nick Moore]

I dropped in to Blue Dog Crash Repairs to visit my GT6 today. They've put her on the rack and straightened the chassis - the bonnet once again lines up with the bulkhead, the radiator top hose is straight, and the exhaust header is clear of the suspension turret. Apparently it didn't take a lot of force to un-bend, which says something for Triumph chassis bendiness. Apart from touching up the paint in a few areas, she's almost ready to come home from hospital. Thanks to everyone here who sent detailed chassis diagrams!

But - a question for anyone who has fitted Canley Classics big brake disc kit to a Vitesse or GT6... The panel beater pointed out that the left track rod end (aka ball joint) is almost touching the back of the vented brake disc, while there’s a half inch gap between the right track rod end and the back of that brake disc. Both arms have subtle curves, and it's not immediately obvious which arm is bent. Which steering arm do you think has been bent? I've asked Canleys as well.

[Nick Jones]

Vented discs are usually VERY close to the TRE gaiter so the one with 1/2" clearance sounds suspect to me.

Nick