London to Brighton 2023 – Success!

Posted on July 2, 2023 by johnboy9510335

On the 4th June 2023, Bertie made the trip down to Brookland, Surrey for the start of the 2023 London to Brighton Classic Car Run. This was to be the second time the GT6 had taken part in this great event, having first complete the distance in 2018.

Preparations for the event had all been going well until two weeks prior, when upon returning from a local show the car, Bertie had started to run rough and I had to limp back home. The next two weeks were then spent diagnosing a carburettor issue , but finally after replacing jets, needles, pistons and all sorts the carb issue was resolved. Below is a photo of the enormous toolkit I packed!

The sun gods were smiling upon the event, with the weather set to be clear blue skies with highs of 24 degrees. I set off early taking the M25 to Surrey, where I met my Dad (co-pilot for the day) and we took our place in the paddock at Brooklands to await our 9:30 start time. The event itself is an extremely well run affair and covers three categories, Classic Cars, Modern Classics and Kit Cars. Cars depart a few minutes apart and make their way through the British countryside down via Penhurst Palace and then on to Madeira Drive in Brighton. It really is a great day out!

I took the first part of the journey from Brooklands to Penhurst, with my Dad set to take the second leg down to Brighton. The drive down to Penhurst was great following a number of great classic cars through some of the best roads the South East had to offer. Bertie drove beautifully, no issues other than the bonnet catches releasing themselves a couple of times.

After an hours stop off at Penhurst Palace (and a couple of cream teas) we were off again, this time with Dad at the wheel. We followed out Tulip directions as best we could only making two small mistakes, which we picked up straight away both times (always funny when you are travelling in the opposite direction to the other cars in the run!).

After one final brief stop we made our way to our final destination, Brighton. The car had (to this point) performed beautifully but alas panic set in about thirty minutes out of Brighton when we noticed the charge like had come on! Luckily Bertie held out and we successfully arrived on Madeira Drive, Brighton to glorious sunshine and many spectators admiring all these wonderful classic cars.

Barnet Classic Car Show 2023

Posted on May 14, 2023 by johnboy9510335

Bertie made it out to this year’s BCCC show in High Barnet. Last year was a near miss due to the petrol shortage but 2023 was a different story! The car drove well for the parade but alas problems began on the way home, fingers crossed its nothing too serious!

Rear suspension overhaul

Posted on March 16, 2023 by johnboy9510335

After purchasing a new leaf spring for the GT6 at the recent Triumph and MG Day at Stoneleigh, I decided it would be my Winter project to update the rear suspension to include, changing the bushings in the radius arms, renewal of the rear hub bushings and fitting new leaf spring and shock absorbers.

Work began by removing the rear carpets and rear access panel, which revealed a crack in the securing plate! This made the job all the more worthwhile knowing that there was a fault that needed attention.

The next task was to remove six nuts on the studs, unbolt the leaf eyes from the rear link and then carefully pull the leaf out through the wheel arch.

On inspection the leaf was in a fair condition, with no broken leafs but definitely in need of renewing.

Replacement securing plate sourced from eBay

Next attention turned to the radius arms, these proved rather stubborn with the bolts having to be cut-off using a multi-tool and carbide cutting blade, which worked a treat!

The picture below shows the perished large bush in the radius arm.

The old bushes were pushed out and the arms were cleaned up and painted before new polybushes were fitted to match those on the new leaf spring.

Next I removed the rear links, which were cleaned up and painted before new bushings were pushed into the lower trunnion on the rear hubs.

Once the rear links had been returned I removed the old shock absorbers and replaced them with new Koni adjustable shocks.

London to Brighton 2023

Posted on February 24, 2023 by johnboy9510335

It’s official, I’ve entered the GT6 into this year’s classic car run from London to Brighton. Now starts the preparations.

Chocks Away!

Posted on January 29, 2023 by johnboy9510335

After a rather cold January and an even colder December, I finally took the GT6 for a quick blast around the block. Before starting, I turned her over a few times without the distributor connected to ensure the oil was flowing around the engine, then after connecting back the straight six burst into life. My small outing however was rather eventful when my passenger door flew open as I took the first bend! Nevermind, all is well that ends well and the door is now firmly shut!

Laser wheel alignment

Posted on July 9, 2022 by johnboy9510335

During the front suspension rebuild I replaced the track-rod ends on the GT6, of course that meant I would need to have the wheels aligned. Unbelievably most of the mainstream tyre companies were unable to do this due to the age of the car but after a bit of investigation I found a local tyre shop that was able to perform the alignment.

After twenty or so minutes the wheels were nicely aligned. The readings taken before alignment were a long way off, so it just shows it’s always best to get these checked and that “counting the turns” is not good enough! After the alignment was completed, I took Bertie for a 15 minute cruise down some lovely country lanes and the car performed better then ever, I’m well chuffed!

Out for a drive

Posted on June 11, 2022 by johnboy9510335

Today was the first day since last Autumn, that I was able to take Bertie out for a real drive. It was so great to get out in the GT6 and the front suspension rebuild has worked wonders. The car drove beautifully, pulling through all four gears, the handling was sharp and responsive (thanks to the upgraded steering coupling) and the brakes are really starting to bed in nicely! Some photos below.

Toot, toot!

Posted on May 22, 2022 by johnboy9510335

So finally after five years, Bertie has a working horn. When I purchased the car back in 2016, the aftermarket steering wheel had an intermittent fault which meant the horn would only sometimes sound. This alas was fixed for the MOT but was never really correct. Anyway… wind forward five years and now with the correct steering wheel and boss on the car, I was finally able to get the horn working. Turns out the fault was not only relating to the horn push but also the two horns themselves and the contacts, which have now been replaced shinny new lucus two tone horns.

New shoes and wheel cylinders

Posted on April 6, 2022 by johnboy9510335

Latest bit of maintenance for the GT6 was new rear hoses, wheel cylinders and shoes. I would have replaced the drums but unfortunately the parts have not yet arrived. Once they come they too will be getting changed.

Lower spring has since been hooked into the hole.

Engine bay clean up

Posted on March 27, 2022 by johnboy9510335

As with any work on the car, I ended up fighting the “might as well do that” urge but alas I gave in and decided to tidy the engine bay. This mainly involved cleaning up and repainting the firewall shelf and the brackets for the master cylinders, which I had already chosen to rebuild as part of a braking system refurbishment.

I started off by removing the master cylinders and their brackets, wiper motor, solenoid and aftermarket brake servo. Then I disconnected the wiring loom and began the process of removing the paint and grime that had built up over the years.

Then as you do, I remembered that the previous owner has repaired the battery box at some point with a liner and this would need replacing…. and so that was yet another job to add to the list!