Dipped in green glass

[Pom Down Under]

Ta, both.  Same as neilnaz and cruza Paul. 😉

[Nick Moore]

I'm puzzled by the seal arrangement where the steering column goes through the bulkhead. The hole is sealed with a rubber sheet and steel plate. I thought that they went on the engine side of the bulkhead, but parts diagrams and a photo I found on the net (below) show the plate on the cabin side instead. Does anyone have a photo of the engine bay side of the bulkhead showing where the steering column goes through, and how the hole is covered? It's a detail I missed in my strip-down photos. Is there a second plate? I can only find one in the parts pile...

[rotoflex]

I'm going under the dash in about 12 hours to investigate an electrical issue & will get a photo for you then, if none shows up before.

[JensH]

Spring/Spire Nut - U Type (just like the ones holding the gearbox cower down) and two self tapping screws going from inside.
Didn't have any better pictures than this, sorry:

One piece of rubber and one plate, two self tapping screws and two spring/spire nut - u-type

[Nick Moore]

Thanks Jens, I had wondered if there were just screws sticking through into the engine bay. The hole I made in the firewall for the column as part of the RHD conversion isn't perfectly round - I misjudged exactly where the column would go - so I may put a second plate on the engine bay side to make it look pretty.

If no one hears from Bill for a while, he's stuck under his dashboard.

[Nick Moore]

Been playing with a few odds and ends. The Microsquirt 'brain' has been mounted to in the glovebox with rivnuts. I'll arrange the trim boards so that it's hidden - it would be embarrassing for a passenger to stuff something in the glovebox and knock out the connector! As for the EDIS - should that go in the engine bay or will it be OK beside the Microsquirt module? I don't want to risk interference from one upsetting the other.

Secondly, I purchased a recovered dash top, but it had a second layer of vinyl glued over the first. That meant that it was slightly too big to fit. I stripped off both layers to find that the foam is OK. Now I'm trying to decide between getting it professionally recovered or buy a new one. Rimmers are advertising brand new dash tops for about 45GBP - has anyone tried them?

Third - despite decrying the use of 'race' components in another thread, I am guilty of buying a few bits of bling! The blingiest is a steel flywheel from Wishbone Classics. The GT6 one wouldn't have been deep enough to match up with my Supra gearbox conversion, and would have meant making a new, extended thrust bearing carrier. It weighs 5.8kg including ring gear - hopefully not too light for street use - and is drilled for two crank dowels and six crank bolts. The crank will be drilled to suit.

The gearbox conversion kit included a custom spigot bearing. On 6 cylinder engines these fit in the flywheel, and mine fits inside the steel flywheel perfectly. However, its internal diameter is 15mm, while the W58's input shaft nose is 12mm wide. Methinks they've sent me the wrong one, so I've emailed Conversion Components to ask.

Lastly, I bought a 'new old stock' front side lamp on eBay a few weeks ago. Except I'm sure it's been remanufactured and isn't NOS at all. The rubber base isn't black rubber, it's some sort of brittle grey plastic that appears to have been crudely moulded from an original. The socket, trim and lenses are fine, so I just need an original rubber gasket. They're available in sets of four for US $120, but not individually. No doubt US Triumph owners have been aware of these problems for years 🙁

[rotoflex]

Quoted from Nick Moore

I purchased a recovered dash top, but it had a second layer of vinyl glued over the first. That meant that it was slightly too big to fit. I stripped off both layers to find that the foam is OK. Now I'm trying to decide between getting it professionally recovered or buy a new one. Rimmers are advertising brand new dash tops for about 45GBP - has anyone tried them?

I discovered the same thing when I had a cracked dash top professionally repaired - i.e., it turns out that they just filled the cracks & glued new vinyl on top.  they used a vinyl with very thin backing, but it was still too fat to let the dash fit back in the car.  I'd suggest going with a new one.

Quoted Text

Lastly, I bought a 'new old stock' front side lamp on eBay a few weeks ago. Except I'm sure it's been remanufactured and isn't NOS at all. The rubber base isn't black rubber, it's some sort of brittle grey plastic that appears to have been crudely moulded from an original.

  
Wow, I've never heard of such a thing!

[James]

For ease of wiring mount the EDIS is the engine bay — but I doubt it matters too much — if you do it sans-EDIS with a Megasquirt then it's all mounted in one box anyway.

[Nick Moore]

The Conversion Components gearbox kit includes a solid brass spigot bush to fit in the flywheel (already pressed into the flywheel), with an inside diameter of 15mm. The W58 box's input shaft's nose diameter is 12mm, so the kit includes a steel sleeve with an outside diameter of 15mm. The sleeve will be fitted over the nose, which then fits into the brass spigot bush once the gearbox is mated to the engine. Beats me why, if CC were going to the trouble of making a custom spigot bush, they wouldn't just make one with a ID of 12mm. Anyhow...

The sleeve is a very tight fit inside the spigot bush, so much so that it would be a struggle to bolt the engine and gearbox together. You'd risk bending the engine backplate. Also, the input shaft won't be free to turn in the bush - I wouldn't be surprised if the stress ripped the nose off the shaft. The brass bush isn't sintered like the originals so it can't be oil-impregnated.

So a little machining is going to be required. The easiest solution seems to be to get an original sintered bush and drill it out to an ID of 15mm plus a gnat's whisker. How much clearance will be enough to provide support but let the shaft spin freely? I read somewhere that a Triumph spigot bush has a 1/2" ID - is this right? An alternative might be to fit a needle roller bearing into the brass bush - has anyone tried that?

[junkuser]

Interesting problem with the spigot bush Nick.
I would suspect that they may have supplied a stock bush to save costs.
The Spitfire bushes were 1/2" ID but the 12mm spigot is the problem.
The steel sleeve for the spigot does not seem a good idea, unless it is a considerable interference fit, requiring pressing on.
A while back I was asked to repair an MGB input shaft that had had a sleeve professionally fitted because of wear on the spigot and the sleeve had slipped forward so far that it had mainly disengaged from the spigot, destroying the bush.
I turned up a steel sleeve out of an old axle to an interference ID, heated to red heat and drove it on.  Later finished to correct OD.
Had used this technique mating VW box to a Bluebird engine in my Transporter with success some years previously.
Finding a bush with the correct OD and an ID that could be turned out to fit the 1/2" spigot I don't think is likely, as would be finding 1/2" ID with a suitable OD to machine to size, so, I feel, the best and most foolproof route is to have a bush turned up from bronze stock to suit.  Fitting a steel sleeve in the crank to take a Spitfire bush would be a safe possibility, but difficult.
Spun cast bush stock is available but not sure if in suitable sizes.  Quite expensive.
The bush only really takes loads when the clutch is being engaged, so plain bronze should last pretty well.
Putting some felt deep to the bush, when fitting, will act as an oil reservoir.

Hope these comments are of help.

Oops, re-read your post and your bush is fitted in the flywheel.
This actually makes things easier.  Did one like this before  for an engine swap.
Mounted a double sealed race in the flywheel which was turned out to take it and retained it with the flywheel bolts, with an "O" ring behind, to hold it firmly.
You may be able to modify this method to yours.

[Nick Jones]

I just bought a standard off-the-shelf sintered bush (from local bearing supplier) which had the correct ID for the shaft and modified the OD so it was a light interferance fit in the flywheel.  I just told them what the shaft size was, they chose one and it was a nice snug, free-turning fit. Seems to have worked..... haven't inspected it but its done around 25k and although the clutch is a bit poorly now I don't think this is the reason.......

I think the Supra has a little sealed ball-race - might be worth investigating that?

Nick

[Nick Moore]

Hmmm. The Supra bearing race's outside diameter is 30mm, so I'd have to open out the hole in the middle of the flywheel. An easier solution, and one which avoids machining my nice shiny flywheel, would be to fit a sintered Triumph bush, drilled out to take the 15mm steel sleeve on the W58’s input shaft. That sleeve is a very tight fit by the way, so it shouldn't start spinning on the input shaft. I'll order a Triumph bush and see if it's possible.

In the meantime my rechromed bumpers came home yesterday. Tomake sure they don't rust, I'm painting the insides with several coats of Hammerite before they go on. The chrome guy is now working to straighten the stainless steel strips that run under the sills. They're not available new, and had been damaged by jacking in the wrong place.

[Nick Moore]

When I took my GT to the paint shop, Joe the painter took the body off the chassis again and mounted it on a jig. He wheeled the chassis outside and tossed a tarp over it. Well, over most of it, the front was left exposed and the POR-15 I'd used went chalky. I knew POR-15 wasn't UV proof but figured that it wouldn't matter, as a chassis wouldn't see the sun. Oooops.

I've decided that now is the perfect opportunity to fix the mistake, before the engine goes in, and paint the front chassis section body colour. The bonnet was removed in the weekend, and I've got a paint shop mixing a litre of green enamel to Joe's recipe. The easiest way to paint the chassis, I think, will be to scuff up the POR-15 (no easy task), add a 'tie coat' and then brush on the enamel. The paint shop guy looked aghast when brushing was mentioned, but it should be smooth enough for a chassis.

[Nick Moore]

Most of a nice Spring Sunday was spent stripping the front of the chassis for repainting. Below is the first of two coats of POR-15 'tie coat', which allows the basic black POR-15 to be painted over. Two thin coats kept the number of runs down. Tomorrow I'll brush on the first coat of green enamel. One thing I found from the paint shop - the Spies Hecker code corresponds not to Triumph 'Mallard', but Aston Martin 'Green Park'. It's almost identical to Mallard, but a tad greener. Ah well, the odds of it parking next to a real Mallard Triumph are rather low...

One of the first parts of the GT I sent away to a specialist were the seats. Ron the upholsterer only works part time though, and has had major health problems in the past year, so progress has been slow. However as the rest of the interior is almost finished, he's decided to get a move on. I visited him yesterday, and fell in love with New Tan all over again! The seats should be finished next week. I didn't take any photos yesterday, sorry. But it did motivate me to bolt the runners in place - the car's ready for 'em!

Ron also gave me some foam and vinyl so that I can recover the dash and the brace bar that runs between the rear wheel arches and supports the boot boards. The bar should be finished after another evening or two in the garage. The dash will take a bit longer, as it requires a warm day to stretch, form and glue the vinyl to the foam.

[TimW]

I would love New tan in mine but i know i'd ruin it in no time!!   Black defiantly hides the muck better

[Nick Jones]

Yeah...... I also like tan interiors - but it would have no chance of looking good for more than a few hours in this household......

Nick

[redhouse53]

Looking forward to seeing the interior, mines BRG with a new tan interior but the drivers seat is shot.

Are you recovering everything or re-using some parts?

[Nick Moore]

Everything last piece of the interior has been recovered or replaced. The original interior was black, but after years in the sun everything was baked or missing. The seat covers were only good for making patterns for the new covers, only scraps of carpet were left, and the door cards and other trim panels were missing. The only remaining good trim was the headlining, and that was black. It made the interior dark, like a cave, so went straight in the bin. The poor state of the interior gave me the opportunity to choose a new interior colour - my Herald has a black interior and I wanted something a bit more interesting for the next car. New Tan is an orangey tan, very warm and inviting. All GT6s have a black dash top, glove tray support bars, radio surround and rear parcel tray support bar. I expect a coloured dash top would reflect badly in the windscreen.

Actually, black carpet would have worked with the tan upholstery as well, and wouldn't show the dirt. I went for biscuit carpet on a whim, and may live to regret it!

[redhouse53]

I really like the tan interior in mine, but the seat base on the drivers side has been rovered with black vinyl I can't find anyone who can sell me just one seat cover which will match my passenger seat and rear seat, so may have to retrim the whole intwerior, but this means recovering a near mint passenger seat and rear, so not sure what direction to go

[Nick Moore]

As mentioned in the blog, my reclining highback seats are finished and in the car. They've been recovered in leather, and are essentially new. The only original components are the frames, handles and runners. I suspect they're better than new, because a lot of highback seat covers seem to hang off the foams slightly. Not these, Ron has shaped the foam backing to make them slightly plusher and more shaped. It's possible that this means I sit slightly higher, but not by enough to matter. The camera flash exaggerates the difference between the colours of the leather and the vinyl sourced from Newton Commercial - they're almost identical in sunlight.

It's looking more and more like a real car!

[Bradley1500]

They look FANTASTIC Nick, very nice indeed!

[Nick Moore]

Well, another splendid weekend's been spent in the garage. It beats mowing lawns... The front section of the chassis has been brush-painted Mallard, so I fitted the front quarter-valences and bumper. The front bumper was straightened before chroming as it had been badly dented and distorted over the years. It still had a slight twist, so I bolted it hard to the chassis and then to the quarter valences before tightening the valence mounting bolts. That was the only way to get everything lined up, and one chassis mount still needed elongating to make it fit. I'll leave the front spoiler for later.

I also made a mounting plate under the passenger's side dash for six relays and a fuse box. Each relay also has a fuse, and they'll be easily accessible from inside the cabin.

That doesn't sound like much, but it made for two days of painting, trial-fitting, drilling, filing, bolting and soldering.

I also took the Herald for a quick spin. The poor thing's brake binding is as bad as ever despite my having replaced half the system, so it's booked into the Triumph specialist on the 25th to get fixed properly. It'll get a tune-up at the same time - after twenty years of swearing at SUs I'm still no good at making it run properly. Every few years a man who knows how lays his hands upon it and returns it to it's usual sweet self. Right now it's a backfiring, stalling little bastard >

[Nick Moore]

A quick question about the earthing circuit... unlike my Herald, the GT6 has a network of earth return leads feeding back to a central junction under the left hand side of the dash. (The Herald just relies on the body as an earth). My question is, where does this earth junction connect to the body? The junction has one wire leading away, presumably originally to an earth somewhere on the body, but in my car's case it just ends. Where did Triumph connect it to the car body?

[TimW]

sitting in the car the earths are mounted to the outside of the left hand battery gusset plates on the bulkhead.  I will see if i can find a pic for you

[TimW]

you can just see a collection of wires mounted to the battery box gusset.