BiTurbo228

Old(ish) thread, but man that roof works well with the rest of the TR4 shape.

With a name like 'GTR5' are you tempted to go for 5-cylinder as well? 😉

Nice work :) what a neat little final product, but I can see from the pictures just how much fiddling it must have taken.

Hi Glyn,

As for roto vertical links, if you do end up needing a set I've had good luck with David Saunders: triumphspares@btconnect.com

Was a little while ago I bought them though.

Hell yeah! Great to see this up and running.

I'm surprised at roto geometry giving less rear wheel steer. In my headphysics model it seems like it would give more as the angle of what's effectively a semi-trailing arm (made of the two wishbone joints) is more acute in the rotoflex, but I'm more than open to my headphysics model being thoroughly flawed.

For your fan interference, could you try and find a push-fan and fit it to the front of the radiator? Not as good for flow in motion, but if your radiator has enough spare capacity that might still be fine :)

See this is the issue. Pretty sure this nut behind the wheel is from a similarly defective batch ;)

Which diffs have you wrecked, doing what (hard launches?) and what power? I'm guessing a fair bit if it's a 2.6 efi...

Well, I haven't had a great deal of progress to report. Turns out filling and sanding takes a loooong time.

In order to break the tedium, I've been thinking about diffs. Specifically how it would probably have been a good idea to go for a Subaru diff...

I then got to thinking, how fragile is the stock Spitfire diff?

So, how many people have lunched differentials and what were you doing when you did? If anything, it should make for some good stories ;)

For reference, mine's one of the earlier big bearing 3.89s with a quaife centre so should be about as strong as a Spit diff gets, although it will be behind a hopefully fairly beefy injected 2.5l and a bit of a lead foot...

What a wonderful little thing I wholeheartedly approve.

It's great fun to look at actually. Like one big 'guess the part' game. I spy Triumph front suspension and a Jaguar(?) IRS (early inboard brakes). Can't wait to see it come together.

Also, I get what you mean John. The first picture looks for all the world to be a corgi toy. Something to do with the smooth bodywork, the wheel proportions and the clouded windscreen...

Quoted from John Bonnett

ps

I've just bought a new car. A close friend assured me that all the blemishes will polish out so I had no hesitation with getting it I've no idea why its upside down

Shipping from Oz is going to be expensive isn't it?

Cracking progress on the Ginetta it's going to be a brilliant little thing when it's (very shortly!) finished. Must remember all of these little tips like hybrid columns to keep switchgear and things. Must have two or three spare Spitfire columns lying around...

Seem to remember fitting my saloon 'box the first time round was pretty simple. Needed to make up a new mount for it, but went pretty smoothly.

Try shifting the engine back 3" though and you need to hack out quite a sizeable bit of your chassis. Does let you (sort of) fit a TR6 exhaust manifold though. Mine still fouls on the suspension bolt so need to sort something out for that...

Glad to hear it should be fairly solid though

My dad's got a 914/6, if you don't mind hanging on for a day or so I can measure up the seats

Gotcha, thanks if my maths are right I think you've got it right!

Something that's interesting if you're doing it by feeling for play rather than a dial gauge is that the fore-aft play seems to disappear before the side-to-side play.

Edit: re-reading the Canley's instructions they do mention that you should feel VERY slight play, but no end-float so that makes sense that it disappears first.

Now I'm just left with general unease as to what constitutes 'VERY slight play' but we'll see how it goes!

Yeah looked through the archive and found that they're not preloaded (just easier to say 'setting rotoflex wheel bearing preload' than 'setting rotoflex wheel bearing lack of any preload at all'

I suppose the exam question is what contitutes minimal play? Am I lookong for the faintest of clunks over the whole travel, or no clunks but no binding either?

I know what I really should do is get a proper dial gauge...

Hi guys,

First off a happy belated new year! I have been chugging away but managed to melt my camera (I'll explain later, good lesson from that) so tricky getting photos for updates.

Down to brass tacks, I'm sorting out the rotoflex bearings so I can fit all the rear suspension and get it down on its wheels for the first time in nearly 4 years! I know shimming's pretty critical on these to preserve bearing life, so I thought I'd see if anyone has any pointers (already tried searching but couldn't find anything).

I think I've managed to get the first side to where it needs to be, but I'm not sure. It's all fitted up dry, shim in place (with a shoulder filed into it so it'll sit flush on the Canleys CV axles), torqued to 90lb-ft. There's no discernible movement in the hub, yet it rotates freely. However, at some points during the rotation when I try shifting the hub about there's the occasional faint knock (despite there still being no movement).

So, question is. Is that where it needs to be? Not sure if that constitutes 'no play' or whether I'm looking for something where there's not anything discernible at all.

I haven't yet pulled it back apart again to try and see if I can get a measurement of spacer-to-bearing with a straightedge and feeler gauges (couldn't get a measurement before building it up as the spacer/shim seems to be a press fit into the inner bearing race).

Also, surely if you set up the preload perfectly with new bearings it'll loosen up slightly as they bed in. Is that takne into account or will I need to look at it again in a couple of hundred miles?

Nice! Good progress

I'll try that 3M 76 spray glue. I've got some other stuff myself but have found it's a little lacklustre.

Nice work on the tunnel too. That's really shaping up nicely

Thanks you flatter me hopefully it'll come along a little quicker once the body's sandblasted on Monday (or, rather, the stuff I'm doing will actually look like something's changed).

Wahey! Looking good John glad to see it marching forwards (although that does increase the likelihood of you finishing two restorations including an alloy-bodied special in the time it's taken me to do just the one...)

Well isn't that annoying?

Do you have pictures of the offending item? I'm sure we can work something out, but having difficulty picturing what it is and what needs to happen...

Great work Hazen. The tunnel's shaping up nicely.

I'm paying close attention to the dash pad as well. This is all stuff that's looming in my immediate future...

Again I've missed quite a bit! Nice work on the chassis John, and you're right that fuel tank is a beauty. Are the little tacks for internal gussets or baffles?

Can't wait to see it back from the painters. These things look stunning in vibrant colours. I've been nudging at my mate that one of these might be a decent little project car as he was hinting he'd like a classic project...

Great work Hazen I really must have a go at metal forming. Seems like a rather useful skill...

Nice work! I've got all of this to come so it's all useful stuff

I was thinking of trying to make mine from fibreglass. What was the thinking for going with steel? A more familiar material to work with?

Nice work on straightening the door to. It's that sort of attention to detail that'll mean this should be a rather lovely car when you're done with it

Oh of course it is. My mind was filling in an MGB-shaped fastback c-pillar and throwing me off!

That's brilliant news good to see her back and in one piece.

What's the little red companion? I recognise the silhouette but it's baffling me!

Looking really nice Hazen!

Apart from that balljoint wear on the brake disc :s I've always thought they were a little close for comfort. Props on the home-made thread chaser though. Must remember that trick.

Now that's a thing of beauty! I'm thoroughly jealous