Are cars less characterful than they used to be?

[Turbobanana]

Evil.soup said:

Turbobanana said:

Evil.soup said:

Lol, oversight on my part!

Interesting choice and a lovely looking thing too, certainly rather different to anything listed above and for all the right reasons.

I do highly rate the MR2 though, the most fun car I have ever owned, but that's no good if you can't stomach the looks.

Good luck with the classic

Thanks Evil.soup.

Looks are an odd one, aren't they? I don't much care what my moderns look like: they need to be functional, smart etc but could look like anything. For context, I needed a large estate car (ie NOT an SUV) so I looked at Mercedes E-Class, Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Volvo V90. Stuff like Passat, Mondeo, Insignia were half a size too small and I didn't think Skoda Superb until after I'd bought the Benz, which won on the best compromise between affordability, space and the fact that I found one that wasn't silver, black or grey.

But, when it comes to my "toy" car, I'm quite picky on the basis that it's something I want, rather than something I need.

Can totally relate to that. My daily needs to be practical but doesn't need to rock my world, just be comfortable, reliable and economical, so I have a 2010 Ceed estate in black, much like every taxi near where I live. Its a nice place to be to cover long journeys and has plenty of toys, but it's not exactly inspiring to look at, certainly does the job well though.

That said, I wouldn't say my weekend toy is a stunner, 2006 Impreza WRX, its certainly function over form but it ticks the boxes I want ticking i.e. fantastic driving dynamics, grip and power. I do like the way it looks though, I love the utter functionality of it.

[Turbobanana]

To celebrate the fact that it starts, has lights, now locks securely and most of the salt seems to have been washed off the roads, I have been commuting in the 6 for the last couple of days.

This morning I woke the neighbours up at 06:15 to head for my Friday early morning swim, then headed straight to work, arriving by 07:30. I was treated to an empty car park and a beautiful sunrise:


The downside of such an early start, or course, is that I'm writing this at 09:15 and it feels like lunchtime...

[Turbobanana]

Life's never easy, is it?

In my post above the 6 was sitting in an empty car park, admiring the sunrise and ticking quietly in the way old cars do after a decent run. OK, so it was my daily commute but hey, we can dream.

Part of the significance of that photo was hopefully to show the 6 on its slot-mag wheels for the last time.

At 0830 I took it round to Just Tyres, a short walk from my office and where I'd popped into yesterday to enquire if they could do some wheel & tyre swapping for me. They gleefully accepted and the car was duly dropped off for them to do their bit.

I'm guessing the combined age of the two lads on duty was still shy of the Triumph (or even me ), but they seemed genuinely interested in the car, as did workers from the local industrial estate.

I got a phone call about 11am:

"Hello, the car's all done but, umm... there's a problem"
"Oh?"
The wheels look at a bit of an odd angle"
"Ah, don't worry, they all do that"
"Phew, thanks. Oh, by the way, how do you get it into reverse?"

I wandered over at lunchtime to pick it up, now looking like this:

These are period Cosmic alloys, refurbished (sort of) and now wearing the tyres off the slot-mags and, in my opinion at least, the 6 looks a whole lot better - what do you think? (caveat: I haven't put wheel centres in yet)

Only problem now is the NSR wheel just catches on the bottom suspension joint, so it looks like I'll need a set of spacers (5mm should do it - it's only just catching but makes a horrible grating sound, at least it does until it erodes the wheel a bit ). My only concern is whether the wheel studs will be long enough.

Onward...

[Turbobanana]

QBee said:

On my TVR 5mm spacers were safe, over 7 would have been new studs time.
New studs are easily available from any decent autospares indie, who can aslo sell ylou the spacers.
Apart from supporting a local shop, you will also be able to swap them easily if you find you need something different.

Try one spacer first, for the wheel that's catching, and make sure you have a decent number of turns of the nuts/bolts when you put the wheel back on.
If you are in any doubt change the studs.

I also used 5mm spacers on my car trailer, having upgraded the tyres to bigger and wider to be legal, and didn't check that they were safe. Wheel came off at 60 mph on the way to Hethel for a track day. I found the wheel, as I saw it come past me, but never found the bolts.....it was a good job I had tied the TVR down well.

Thanks QBee

[Turbobanana]

bumskins said:

Probably not the best person to answer (as i've never liked Slotmags) but think from that image it looks good on the Cosmics! Just wondering, is that Wedgewood Blue? Looks a lovely colour either way.

Evil.soup said:

I do have to admit, that is a very nice thing indeed and the wheel do work for it. I particularly like the colour, it's a bit different.

Thanks both. According to the tin of paint that came with it, yes, it's Wedgewood Blue. Inside of doors / under bonnet etc reveals that it started out darker blue, but I quite like the lighter shade. If I ever went back to Le Mans I could always put a big orange stripe and some Gulf logos on it...

[Turbobanana]

So to draw an end to this phase of the 6's improvements, I gingerly drove home from the tyre fitters on Friday evening with the car sounding literally like a steam engine: a rhythmic chuffing on the straights, louder and more of a squeal on roundabouts and almost disappearing on left turns (of which there are never enough, if that's the only time your car is quiet).

Playing around on t'internet showed me that 5mm spacers were available, from unknown sources on eBay or from Rimmer Bros Triumph Specialists - expensive but likely to supply something of a decent quality and known to fit. Duly ordered, I sat back and marvelled at my engineering abilities over a glass of wine.

Later that evening I received an email from Rimmers confirming despatch of my order, which seemed impressive. When they arrived next morning I was frankly gobsmacked, but had them fitted by lunchtime and they appear to provide just enough clearance to make for quiet running. I'm a little unsure of one bolt on each hub, which seemed not to nip up as convincingly as the others, and I don't want to strip threads or anything, so I'll take Just Tyres up on their offer to check torques after 30 miles or so.

While I had the extended wheelbrace out I took the opportunity to change the steering wheel boss for one which allowed a centre cap to be fitted, meaning I no longer had to stare at the retaining nut on the end of the column which I had previously soaked in WD40 in an attempt to loosen it. Clearly the centre cap was designed to function as a horn button, but a previous owner / restorer has seen fit to install a big green button below the dash for the horn. No, I don't know why either.

So, other than a set of centre caps (on order) the 6 is looking quite spiffing.

[Turbobanana]

QBee said:

Ask Just Tyres to double check your stud lengths while you are in there - worth changing them if JT feel they are a tad short, rather than risk a wheel coming off at speed.

Yeah, that's my concern.

[Turbobanana]

Oldwolf said:

If that's the end of this phase of improvements..... What is planned for the next phase?

Enjoying the journey on this

Thanks Oldwolf.

Next is to get the overdrive re-wired (no, I still haven't done that) and at the same time fit the shiny new plastic transmission tunnel I bought. I've also just scored a NOS overdrive gearknob in the original black, not milled aluminium like the new ones are. This and the locknut I also sourced should mean the overdrive can be wired correctly and retain the lever-mounted switch rather than resort to another green button on the dash.

Once that's done I suspect the driver's door window will be next: it currently works a bit like one of those old train carriage windows, where you pull it up / push it down manually. But at least it keeps the rain out. There is an issue with the door handle at the moment though, whereby it locks as soon as you close it and only opens when the key is turned - so I have to make sure I bring the key out with me. Ask me how I found that out.

Final thing - and this is weird: there are no ducts connecting the blower motor to the vents, screen or dash. Demisting in cold weather is therefore something of an issue. I assume these got lost in the "restoration". The ducts fetch eye-watering amounts on eBay and it's quite tricky to measure the required diameter due to access, otherwise I'd pop over to B&Q and try to match them up, but I have a set from a TR6 which I hope I may be able to adapt. There are ducts from the matrix to the screen demisters, then a Y-shaped split with ducts to the dash eyeballs and other vents for the footwells. I'm not fussed about the footwells but it would be nice to get the demisters and dash eyeballs working.

I'm away for a couple of weekends so may not post too much for a while. Unless the sun shines and there's no salt on the roads and...

[Turbobanana]

rovermorris999 said:

This place may be able to supply some ducting that may do the job unless it's a weird shape
https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/

Thanks 999,useful site.

[Turbobanana]

//j17 said:

They are a slightly odd (vs after market parts) shape but the main issue is size. The shape is more like a fake twin exhaust pipe tip - one inlet and a pair of outlets basically parallel to one another and on the same line as the inlet. Y piece O/D (so flexible pipe I/D) though is 1 25/32" (1.79"/45.5mm).

When retro-fitting eyeball vents to my Spitfire I ended up using plumbing PVC 45°, 40mm welded branch pieces. The O/D of the steped ends is a little too large for the flexible ducting hoze but there's plenty of material there so some sanding got it down to a sitable diameter - and for about £3 rather than what the GT6 pipes go for (if you can find them).

Cheers 17. Interestingly I had a go at measuring ID with a cheap micrometer thingy I found by accident in Lidl. Obviously stuck underneath a dashboard is not the best place to try measuring something where you need to ensure you've traversed the diameter precisely across the centre of the circle, but even so I got it to 45mm so I wasn't far out!

You're right about the costs / availability of anything with "GT6" in its description, though. Get creative and look for Spitfire, Herald / Vitesse, TRx or Stag though and some usable bits can be found.

[Turbobanana]

//j17 said:

Turbobanana said:

You're right about the costs / availability of anything with "GT6" in its description, though. Get creative and look for Spitfire, Herald / Vitesse, TRx or Stag though and some usable bits can be found.

Sadly think it was only the '6 that had these. One of the TRs might have had them too - but those would have TR-tax on them so cost more than GT6 ones!

I have a set from a TR6 - just waiting for an opportunity to get stuck under the dash for an hour see if they fit.

I may wait until I remove the dash for re-veneering, though.

[Turbobanana]

Yertis said:

Because I'm a bit bored I just searched out the hose part numbers on the Moss website and on a Spitfire up to 1976 the demister hose (from heater unit to screen vent) is the same part number 602638 as a TR6. Back order at Moss but £9.24 each from Revington TR. You'll also need the wire clips £1.74 x 4. I guess you'll need similar for the eyeball vents but I can't find a reference for those.

Suggest you recheck those part numbers but I've paid a lot more than that in the past.

Thank you for being a bit bored Yertis

[Turbobanana]

Bloody hell, how did it become June already?

Stalwart readers of this thread will have noted the radio silence since I had the nasty slot mag wheels replaced by nice period Cosmic alloys. This was caused by a combination of misery inducers, which can be summarised into two categories as follows:

Car stuff

- Horrid scraping sound as the nearside rear alloy caught on the bottom suspension joint
- Non-working overdrive
- Driver's door window come off its regulator and door lock inoperable on driver's door

Other stuff

- A busy period at work
- Family commitments, including time away
- The pressing need to show some progress in my postgraduate research

The "other stuff" category has largely worked its way through the system but I'd been nagging myself to sort the Car stuff. Recognising that I'd run out of talent (not hard), I began searching round for someone local who could take on these seemingly small jobs. Long story short: most businesses specialising in classic cars seem only to be interested in tackling full restorations, not small jobs. Either that, or they don't respond to enquiries at all. I won't name and shame, but 3 days before I was due to go away I got a WhatsApp from Alex and AD Restorations in Stoke Hammond, conveniently close to home. Due (I believe) to a cancellation, he had some workshop space on Tuesday and did I want it?

The 6 was duly driven for the first time in about 3 months, uneventfully as it turns out, to Alex's workshop in some old RAF buildings. The grinding noise was still present and the lack of overdrive meant it was screaming even at modest dual carriageway speeds, but it drove OK. Problem explained, lightning quick tour of the workshop and Mrs Banana drives me to work.

Alex systematically worked his way through the jobs and soon had the rear suspension sorted. The previous owner had seeming packed the suspension with bushes and washers it didn't need, presumably in a vain attempt to fill the rear arches a bit, so once these were removed all was well - it doesn't even need the 5mm spacers I put on. New studs were required, as one had stretched.

The overdrive caused a few headaches. Alex has his own GT6 of a similar vintage to mine, so was able to compare the wiring. Another long story short: he ended up completely rewiring the overdrive from the fuse box back, in line with that on his own car (which worked fine). The NOS gear knob and overdrive switch I supplied were fitted, along with a plastic transmission tunnel to replace the paper one that Triumph saw fit to issue the car with, and all was reassembled and tested.

Finally Alex fettled the window mechanism so I now have a reliably-winding window, which makes accessing the work car park so much easier.

I collected the car on Friday afternoon and enjoyed the drive home at about 500rpm less than was previously the case - bliss! A long weekend away camping meant it sat unused until this morning, but I drove it to work and all seems well.

I still haven't had a chance to sort out dashboard air vents (sorry Yertis!), but that's on the - now significantly shorter - to do list. I've also acquired, through the magic of eBay, a dual action orbital polisher as I fancy a go at machine polishing the paintwork, which is a bit rough in places. Aside from hoovering out the remains of the decomposing seat foam, I've done no cleaning whatsoever since I bought the 6 so a proper cleaning session is on the cards.

The slot mags went on eBay and sold to a lovely chap who intends to fit them onto his Morris Ital pickup - I've asked for pictures once this is done.

With any luck I now have a car I can use a bit over summer.

Onward...

[Turbobanana]

Quick update, (almost*) exclusively good news.

Since the 6 was fixed, I've been pressing it into service more frequently, relatively safe in the knowledge that nothing's about to fall off and luxuriating in the newfound serenity of overdriven third and fourth gears.

A volunteering day through work yesterday saw the 6 and I heading to Stoke Bruerne to help the Canal & River Trust maintain their estate. This involved about a 20 minute drive to site, a task I felt the 6 would relish. I was right: the 6 lapped it up, cruising comfortably on country roads and even a bit of A5 without holding up any traffic. Truth is, I'm not convinced the speedo is reading right. It was showing 55-60mph at 2,500rpm in overdrive top: any advice as to whether that sounds right or wrong would be appreciated.

As fate would have it, I was required to give a lift to a young millennial colleague. I don't think there's many of us whose ego wouldn't be massaged by the presence in the passenger seat of an attractive young lady, but Elspeth is a townie who doesn't even drive and admits to no knowledge of cars whatsoever. She was fascinated by the 6, however, and concluded that it would be "an ideal car to learn to drive in" and that "I'm not into cars, but I can see that this is something special". She admired the simplicity of it, avoided asking any daft questions like "where's the aircon?" and I let her play with my knob. Stop sniggering at the back - the one that operates the overdrive, of course

Gratuitous pic in the morning sunshine:



(*Oh yes, the driver's door window regulator is broken again).

[Turbobanana]

QBee said:

There might be a significance re the speedo, presumably reading low?

Just after I got my TVR I decided to take it to Wavendon for a jazz concert, which was being given by a friend's son, and I took said friend with me.
On the way down the A421 we were chatting away and toddling at what the speedo said was 45 mph but felt a bit quicker, when a Ferrari came past at a fair lick. Naturally I responded and let all 8 cylinders show what tthey could do. Some spirited gear changing later we caught Maranello's finest, and I glanced down to see that we were doing 55 mph now. Were we hell!. I had 4500 rpm in 5th gear on the dash, which I later realised was somewhat quicker than 55 mph.

After the concert I went to start the car and had a pancake flat battery. Bump started it down the hill, but I only managed about 5 miles before the car expired in a layby. Pistonheads diagnosed it for me during the two hours I waited for the RAC - broken 100 amp fuse was the most popular of the 13 different answers I received on my iPhone. The 100amp fuse protects the electrics from being fried by a malfunctioning alternator, but it is fails then you are running on battery until the electrons run out.

Cool story, thanks QBee. The 6 only has 3 fuses though, as far as I can tell.

[Turbobanana]

Yertis said:

Of all the cars I've owned (not that many in truth, compared to some on here) the GT6 attracted the most positive attention from ladies. Wasted on me as I bought it specifically for my wedding.

I'd check the speedo with a satnav, or one of those little 'satnav' type speedos you can get. I've got one in the Quattro, which gives a disappointingly more realistic speed than the digi-dash.

Cheers Yertis. I have an app on my phone that I used last summer to record the TGV to La Rochelle (189mph,if anyone's interested). I'll try it with that.

[Turbobanana]

sideways man said:

55 mph at 2500 rpm is 22mph/1000rpm. I’d say that’s about right for o/d top gear.
Cars weren’t at all highly geared in the good old / bad old days.

Thanks for doing the maths, sideways. Good to know.

[Turbobanana]

Heaveho said:

Turbobanana said:

I'd thought about the MR2 but it would have to be a MkII, as the later ones are about as appealing to me as a No 10 drinks party (even though I know they drive well).

Why would you not have a Mk1? It's the gift that keeps on giving if you buy right.

I had to re-read the early part of this thread, and concluded that I actually meant "nothing newer than a MkII" because I like the MkI a lot.

[Turbobanana]

I've never suffered from this before, but my knob's failed.

The knob on the passenger window-winder, silly. It's dropped off. As my 11-year-old (who was operating it at the time) said, it's the latest thing to deal with. It joins the list that includes (but is not limited to) fixing the driver's window regulator - again, hooking up some ducting to the dash vents and refitting the exhaust which is catching on the chassis somewhere. Not big jobs, but all a bit annoying.

That said, I've commuted in the 6 most days for the last two weeks with no issues and even managed to pack my paddleboard into it on Saturday (inflatable one). I forgot to take my phone so no pics unfortunately: next time I'll get some though.

I got a bit nervous as the temperature gauge needle rose to the highest I've ever seen it (still well within the normal operating range, however). I consoled myself with the fact that it was 30degC outside and it certainly got no worse after a 20 minute drive, so I'm not really worried. Coolant level was good and there's no leaks.

Overdrive is working well but I need to check the diff oil as the car sounds a little "diffy" (this may just be me - it's been a few decades since I owned a RWD car).

[Turbobanana]

Yertis said:

I was once stuck in the jams getting out of the Air Tattoo (1991 I think) – it was a really hot evening. The gauge was headed right over to the right. But I discovered that I could keep the car from completely overheating by turning the cabin heater up to max, the heater fan on full, and sharing the pain. Horrible, but at least the car didn't overheat so an absolute win.

Yes, an old trick I've used many times in other cars (not this one). When we were kids my dad was so penniless he couldn't afford to fix the overheating problem in his old Marina 1.8. We had to keep moving at all costs, including taking the "long way" home if it avoided a jam, thus using more fuel etc and therefore constituting a false economy.

Back to the 6: with the amount of heat soak it's a wonder they ever put a heater in the things. Perhaps it was purely for the reason Yertis describes above.

My 15 year old is on a school trip today and needed dropping off at school by 0715. I took the 6 and we attracted much attention, all positive until he tried to get out and couldn't: the complex arrangement of rods and linkages that combine to form the door opening mechanism has failed on the passenger side this time, so I had to get out and open it from outside - much to his embarrassment