cook1e

Another Engine I've seen in a GT6 without any Bonnet Mods is a Volvo T4 Turbo.

Ford Cosworth Turbo Engine fits nicely under a GT6 bonnet though with no extra bulges!

The bonnet is fibreglass and I do seem to remember it does have some bulges in it, not massive ones though.

Agree Tim £90K ought to be achievable, especially when you consider that each team has at least 2 entrants driving, sometimes 3, so it's actually less than £300 per entrant to make the £90K...

Measuring with a feeler gauge before bolting up allows you to get the shimming right first time in most cases, measuring with a DTI then becomes a sanity check. The thread on the end of the halfshaft is a weakpoint and is easily stripped so minimising the amount of times it's assembled/dissembled with a tightened nut is a good thing. However, with the bigger thread on the end of the Jigsaw conversion stripped threads may be less of an issue.

Cant see the point in these, it's a safety issue dimming the lights anyway, why would you want to reduce visibility of the car! Much better off without it fitted TBH.

Has been done, here is a Turbo charged Dolly Sprint engine in a spitfire...  This car has been around for a few years now, built in the mid 90s, this picture taken at the TSSC SEM Leatherhead meet back in 2010.

An old blog entry of mine may help...   http://cook1e.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/slow-progress-when-you-have-to-wait-for.html It includes setting up the bearing end float amongst some other ramblings

oooh a ferry, that'll make it feel like the 10CR!

Glad they've found out that the Forth Road. Bridge is broken now and not next October!  It would add a lot of miles and driving time to the route....

That's better, couldn't find an up to date entry list anywhere as the one on the website is still from 2014!

Then in 2012 it was also a bit of an experience. That year we used Mark Bland's 2000 saloon. The first bit of challenge was that the dipped beam packed up on the Friday night. Fortunately the car had front fog lamps so we drove using main beam and fogs in place of dipped beam.  It was really hard driving on main beam and fogs along the pitch black A9 from Perth to Inverness but we made it. When we got to Conon Bridge the next day we took some time to investigate and found some dodgy wiring on a relay which was fixed. There was another issue though. Right from the start we had some vibration coming from the front end. In fact we took the car to a tyre place before leaving for the start to try and get the wheels balanced and tracking done but it didn't fix the issue so we just put up with it. However come Saturday night when driving through Wales and down to Lands end the vibration got considerably worse. In the daylight at lands End Mark investigated and found that the tie bar between the Macpherson strut and the sub frame had an issue. The subframe was corroded badly around the mount and the metal had split. This looked like game over as the car needed welding. However one of the Lands End Marshall's, local member Derek Penn came to the rescue and agreed to weld the car up. We limped the car 30 miles up to Derek's place and he fabricated a repair panel and welded in place. We re-joined the run about 3 hours behind schedule. We phoned ahead and got the marshal's to keep Bude checkpoint open. However Badgers Holt was a bit of an Issue as there is no phone reception there. We got there a bit late and everyone had gone but took photos as evidence. The Marshal there was Nick Jones and Mark had his mobile number and luckily we managed to rendezvous with Nick a few miles further on the A30 to get our roadbook signed. With a bit of spirited driving we managed to get back on track for the other check points and finished the run. Great relief to have finished the run and even better we were presented with the Spirit of the run award at the Club Dinner following our exploits

There was the Stag incident in 2010. Mark Bland was driving My GT6 along the A9 about 30 miles south of Inverness in the pouring rain. Suddenly a bloody great Stag with Antlers appeared in the headlamps. Mark did well to avoid a collision with the beast but we ended up in a 360 spin off the road across the opposite carriageway, over a drainage gully filled with big stones acoss some grass backwards into a big grass mound. The rear nearside wheel was at a very funny angle. I managed to limp the car onto the road and a couple of hundred years up to a layby. Doug and Katie Foreman had oulled over to help. I jacked up the rear corner and found the tie bar was bent lining the vertical link to the body. It was bent downwards so I put a trolley jack under it and straightened it out the best we could. I then drove the car onwards all the way to John O'Groats. Handling was a bit iffy to say the least and there was a loud knocking on right hand bends as the rotoflex fouled with the wishbone! Once at John O'Groats and having re-fuelled with breakfast I had another look at the damage and tried to straighten the tie bar further which was still a bit bent, I should have left well alone as the bloody thing snapped. It was then game over and AA relay via  my Peter James Insurance breakdown cover to recover the car all the way back from John O-Groats to Hampshire, about the longest recovery possible on the British mainland. The AA even put us up in a Hotel overnight in Warrington to break the journey so no complaints over the service but disappointment not to finish the run. Ended up getting an endeavor award at the Club Dinner though so not all bad.

We also hit a couple of Bricks or rocks in bags through Wales that night near the Brecon Beacons that night, I suspect there was an element of sabotage going on??. Fortunately our encounters were with the underside of the GT6 and no real damage done.

Good point Stuart, when I looked at my cheque book stubs the last 3 cheques (over 2 years) have all been for Club Triumph, 10 CR and Annual Dinner and the last RBRR (2 years ago). Seems the only reason to have a cheque book is for CT, about time on line payment was made available TBH. I seem to remember that cheques were going to be discontinued a few years back but the banks relented due to complaints from small businesses and clubs etc. However, in this day and age there should be no need to have to write out a cheque....

Entry is in the post box winging it's way to Mr Chinn, Team "Flying Log" rides again. We have had a slight change of line up and as it's essential to have a musical expert on the team we have substituted Classical Singer Bodders with Rock Guitarist Mark Smith.

I got bump strip clips for my Dolly from Bresco via their ebay outlet. http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/brescovehicleserviceslimited?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 Bresco are the original suppliers of the clips to BL.

I got bump strip clips for my Dolly from Bresco via their ebay outlet. http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/brescovehicleserviceslimited?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 Bresco are the original suppliers of the clips to BL.

RBRR 2006, my first one. I was supposed to be co-driving in Jason Chinn's Vitesse, Jason arrived at my house to pick me up on the Friday lunchtime saying "sorry Mate, no way we can do the run, I've broke the Vitesse on the way over". His car sounded like a rattly bag of spanners (he had actually broken the crank although it was still running). Not wanting to be disappointed we decided that we could in theory use my GT6. The car had no prep but I do keep it well maintained, I had some oil and a filter in the garage, so we changed the oil and filter, checked the levels, pumped up the tyres. The hardest thing was getting Jason added to the Insurance, it was Friday lunchtime and they weren't answering their phone, no doubt it was a Friday pub session! Anyway, eventually got through, this meant we were running a bit late, add to that the traffic on the M25 and we arrived at the Plough just as the last car was pulling out! Checked in, stopped at the first petrol station, filled up with Petrol and made do with a couple of Ginsters for our extravagant evening meal ( we had intended to be at the Plough in time to eat!) and then nailed it all the way to Blythe Services overtaking lots of other teams on the way. We were then on track and running with the field! The trusty GT6 never missed a beat all the way round, it was thrashed throughout and still managed to return 33 MPG which is more than Triumph says it should do! Needless to say, after completing the run I was hooked and haven't missed an RBRR since.

Get a proper socket which is the correct tool for the job, my socket set (which is a good quality one)  includes 4 sided sockets in 3/8, 1/2 and 9/16 sizes. This allows proper contact without rounding off and more force to be applied. However I'm not sure whether there is enough clearance on a Spit/GT6 between the sump and the chassis rail to use a socket and ratchet/breaker bar so you may have to raise the engine.

There is a Herald that has been converted to Electric, it was at the TSSC Stafford show back in 2012. I knew the car when it was standard and owned by long standing Triumph nut Leon Guyot who emigrated to the US leaving his Herald behind (but taking his Vitesse!). The owner told me that the motor is a type used for drag racing and can kick out 400 BHP but he has it set at 100 BHP to extend the range, still powerful enough to power a Herald, apparently range is 70 - 80 miles if it's not pushed too hard but can be down to 20 miles at 80mph on the motorway! Pictures I took from Stafford below Anyway the Herald was also featured on BBC country file and was converted by a company in Wales that specialize in electric conversions. Here's a clip on youtube that includes the Herald https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ny6nCZpzZo

Dodgy place that Brentwood in Essex, my home town! I guess if the Insurance are bringing it back there is a good chance of Martin obtaining the salvage even if written off as it should really only be a Cat C write off at most just uneconomic to repair through insurance but able to be put back on the road.

My first 10CR successfully completed, I'm sure I'll be back for more punishment as I had a great time. I echo the thanks to Mike and Andy for all the prep work, Mike Helm for doing the official starting, mid point and finishing stuff, Martin for supplying and helping to fit our first alternator (you weren't to know it was a dud!), Dave for supplying and fitting Colin's alternator for a more permanent fix and all the teams for the camaraderie that makes CT events so great. Last but not least Howard for supplying team 59's trusty steed.

My Photos are available on facebook, the album can be accessed by anyone, you don't need a facebook account, url is https://www.facebook.com/media.....e=1&l=d1d5a7ebae Too much of a faff to load them up to the CT website I'm afraid.

Here's a bit of video footage from the Tmmelsjoch as well https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205777058079256&l=621201523602426975 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205777173242135&l=371160842957746826 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205777420328312&l=1775882662308479693