don cook1

There are photos that go with this (can't remember where the article came from, someone in the USA) so PM me with an email address and I'll forward them on...or to anyone else that wants it. MAZDA MIATA SEATS When I got my Spitfire, like many Spitfire seats, mine were in serious need of rebuilding. I checked prices for new foam and, after EMS left, I decided that there might be a less expensive option. Doing a search on the web, I discovered the most likely replacement candidate was from a Mazda Miata. Fortunately for me, my cousin Bob Smith from Okemos, Michigan has a Miata. This gave me an opportunity to try them out. The decision was made. These seat would go well in Li'l Brit. I checked some of the sites and discovered that there are many ways of installing them in the Spit. My main concerns were:     1) Would I sit too high and end up looking over the windscreen,     2) Would I be able to adjust them fore and aft so as to be comfortable,     3) Would I eventually be able to install a roll bar,     4) Would there be room for the top to still operate,     5) Would there be clearance for the hardtop to still fit,     6) Would it be possible for the tonneau cover to still fit     7) Etc., etc., etc. The answers turned out to be:     1) No     2) Sort of     3) Probably not     4) Yes     5) Yes     6) Not without some modifications. I will try to document the steps I took to install them in the Spit. READ THEM CLOSELY A COUPLE OF TIMES AND UNDERSTAND THEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE PROCEEDING. Here are the old seats out on the lawn. They were in pretty rough shape. Torn, worn, broken down foam. My search for the Miata seats took me to numerous salvage yards and took many weeks. I finally found seats from an unfortunate 1995 Mazda Miata. They were fabric, and though I had hoped to find black leather, they were in perfect shape and had the headrest speakers!                                                      I installed the passenger seat first which gave me more room to work and experiment. The first thing to be done is to remove the seat belt receptacle and the side slide rail. Throw them away, sell them on eBay, or donate them to a Miata owner for spare parts. Next, remove the seat back. Save all the hardware for later. It is much easier to work with just the seat bottom. CAUTION must be exercised when fitting the seat bottom so as to leave clearance for the recline mechanism at the side of the seat back. More on that later.                                                    Remove the linkage that connects the slide mechanisms between the seat rails. This will give you 2 separate rails to work with. The good news is that the front mount holes align with the floor mount on the passenger side. The bad news is that the right mount needs to be modified to align properly on the driver's side. More on that as we progress. Remove the seat rails from the seat bottom (2 bolts each rail). The aft end of the rails have a mount that is riveted to the rail. Drill out the rivets and remove the aft mount.                                                  The front mounts are angled. Some, like Dave West (see Miata seat link on "Tech Tips From Others" page), have fabricated a bracket to match this angle. The problem I saw with this is that it would set me up too high in the seat. I still wanted to see through the windshield, not over it. My solution was to place the front mount in a vice and straighten it out. When this was done, it was still strong and did not require any reinforcement.                                                                   Original angle                                                                 Straightened rail mount The front of each rail has a pin that I removed. I suppose it could be left on and a hole drilled in the floor pan, but I didn't like the idea of drilling holes in the pan. It appears to be a hardened steel pin, but a hack saw worked well. I also tried a Dremel Tool with a cut-off wheel. Either one will work well.                              As mentioned earlier, the right front mount hole of the driver's side needs to be modifed. The mount hole needs to be elongated to allow proper alignment. By placing the seat in the well and fastening the left front mount, I scribed an arc with a marker from the under the car through the mount bolt hole. I then drilled 2 holes next to the original hole to allow for the elongation.                                                            Reattach the frame rails to the seat bottoms and make sure that both rails are at the same slide position (count the slots on the side to the "lock teeth"). Reattach the slide mechanism linkage wire. Fasten the seat bottoms to the car using the original front mount holes and bolts. IMPORTANT!!! Be sure to mount the seat as close to the center of the car as possible. Also, as far back as you can. The next thing I did was to fabricate new plates for the aft mounting. I used 2" X 1/4" steel bar stock and cut pieces 3" long. Then, with the seat bottom installed, place the plate under the aft end of the rail so that it covers the mount hole. Mark position of the rail and holes on plate.                                                                    Remove the seats, drill holes in the plates and attach them to the seat rails. Be sure to remember that you are looking at the seat upside down, so be sure to attach them to the proper side. I used 1/4" X 3/4" hex head bolts and nuts. Anything longer than that would restrict the rail slide movement entirely.                                                      Refit the seats using the front mounts, making sure they are as close to the tunnel as possible. Get under the car, and with a long lead pencil or marker, mark through the aft mount holes onto the aft mount plates.                                                                                  That done, drill the aft plates slightly larger than the mount bolt. You're in the home stretch!!                                                                                  Reattach the seat back to the bottom with the original screws. This next step will require a certain amount of gymnastic/contortionist prowess. It will become apparent why very soon! Place the seat into the well and attach the front mounts loosely. Since the seat rail mount holes are larger than the mount bolts, I used lock washers and fender washers. As the bolt snugs down, it "indents" the fender washer and makes a secure fit. Wiggle the seat to align the aft holes. Use the original seat mount bolts and lock washers. You will notice that a certain amount of "seat sliding on the rails" is necessary during the final assembly stage to allow access to the mounting bolts and holes. After making them as close to the center tunnel as possible, as far aft as you can, and checking the recline lever clearance when you close the door, torque them down to original specs (9 ft/lbs). Clean up the mess, slide in, and enjoy. You will still have to connect the speakers to your radio, but that can come another day.                              I connected the radio so that the "Front Fade" function goes to the driver's speakers and the "Rear Fade" function goes to the passenger's speakers. Right and Left remain Right and Left of each seat. I will GUARANTEE that you will get admiring glances from all Spitfire owners you encounter. I have also seen them installed in an MGB. I assume the process would be similar.

Slacken the throttle spindle (on the non cable operated carb) enough so that the cable will only open one throttle, set the tickover a bit faster on this one. Listen to the hiss through a tube or use a guage, now adjust, by the throttle-stop, the tickover of the other carb until the hiss is the same or the gauge reads the same as the first one. The carbs are now balanced. Tighten up the throttle spindle and check hiss/gauge reading is the same. Now slow down the tickover to what revs you want.

Overdrive plate that would need fiddling with.

I know its a GT6 but the Sierra mount fits on the plate provided by Frontline (see photo) but a little bit of fiddling and the mount should fit an overdrive mounting plate (see second photo).

You may get a few pointers from this link. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/l.benfield/norfolk-tssc/gasstruts.htm

Ah Venlo...the start of my alternative route to Osnabruck.

Seems a good and sensible place for it to go but not sure about vibration. Here's mine but I now how different fuel lines.

You might regret a 'hard' touch steering wheel if you drive long distances.

I have a Huco fitted by the bulkhead, no need for a regulator. I have HS6s. Just completed 10CR with no issues with the Huco, not cheap but easy to fit.

We arrived home this morning at 7:30am after a good night's kip on the Hoek - Harwich ferry. Despite having minuscule clutch pedal travel from Aachen we got round but had to cut the wiggly bits. Probably need a new clutch and whatever caused the original problem. Everything else about the GT6 was great, performance, handling, gearbox  and wipers. Motor run-in (after rebuild) around the Czech Republic and we started to give it some real welly in Germany. Horrendous jams near Rotterdam but managed to divert north and then down the coast road...5 hours early! I took quite a few photos at Rolduc and will post these when I can. John and I had a great time and met a whole bunch of new friends.

Wahoo - we depart about 9pm tonight. Car all loaded and maps marked up (not Germany...too complicated). See some of you somewhere in Aachen tomorrow, we'll be somewhere near the Cathedral (...but I thought zee Cathedral was on zee uzzer side of zee square).

Ugh...being in the club with Mike Charlton (no offence Phil).

Phillip...upsetting people????

Drama...just love it!

We used the 'route' two or three 10CRs ago and found whenever we left the route the satnav would send us back to the bit we missed - not good. Last time we just put a town in 50 or so miles up the road on the route. Served us well apart from Italy where a whole lot of new roads drove us to...distraction!

Head re-torqued and tappets done, brakes bled, clutch master cylinder replaced, wipers broke on Weds 100 miles from home...in the rain (cable snapped) and replacement arrived from Canley's so that's fixed (now with full sweep), electric rad fan broke so reverted to original, oil and filter changed and all engine bolts/studs checked, front wheel bearings adjusted. Just a parcel shelf left to fit and spare wheel to be pumped up.

Geofences or polygons Whaaaa?

I'm on a different crossing but will be retracing my steps into Germany for a couple of days.

Well Marcus, it looks better from above...if you can see it! Have to say its a lovely snicky-snack gear change - no effort at all.

If you are going down that route then I would heartily recommend a Ford Type 9. Easy to fit, good ratios and super snicky gear-lever. This is mine that has had the original lever cut off at the rubber damper and a thread put on. Sierra gearknob. Interior not all replaced or tidied - sorry about that.

Is this one? Separate bellhousing - good, complicated gearchange - bad. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAIH.....?hash=item3aaf454aea

I just went onto UKSnatcher's link and found that you can put in desired dates but where you do this is at the 'checkout'. You can enter date in the drop down box but then tells you that this is a posting date - clear as mud?

"1. Today I got rid of all the old fuel (red/brown colour!). 2. Will start her up on Weds after more than four years laying idle . 3. Refit gearbox tunnel etc and a fair bit of the dash. 4. Rebuild passenger door innards. 5. Get the indicators to work. 6. Check brakes. 7. Run in the rebuilt engine then change the oil/filter, tighten head bolts and set valve clearances. 8. Get insurance. 9. Get an MOT. 10. Get Tax. 11. Get on the overnight ferry on the 8 Sep and get pissed." Ahem, as I got home from the MOT, it boiled over, it boiled over again on the way to pick up my co-driver for last night's meeting. John checked it all over and declared water was doing its job but the fan wasn't. It was wired so the fan went the wrong way...lovely, so, with a swop of the wires, continued on to the meeting. Have fun tonight .

After more than three years in my garage my GT6 passed the MOT today and no advisories. Looks like I'll be driving it to the Meeting tonight!

The 10CR should be up your street Marcus. Not really heavy going...after Rolduc I'm staying abroad for another couple of days...Northern Germany and the top of the Netherlands. You'll enjoy it most of Europe speaks similar to you.