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Heading back home i was giving it some on a rather bumpy road when the front valance at one point grounded out when the front suspension loaded up. At the time it sounded worse than it actually is, only the very tip of the valance edge has been scuffed so will leave as is for now and see how it goes then may be alter the valance shape in the future.
Maybe that's why the original D24's had the valance cut away, umm food for thought but i did think i had the height correct as it goes over those dreaded man made speed humps no problem at all, at a low speed of course.
First off, you've achieved a genuinely stunning build - bravo. I might have missed this in the thread, but thought I'd bring it up in any event: the D24, in addition to its double wishbones and transverse leaf springs, utilised hydraulic dampers (as you doubtless are already aware). If you're using motion dampers (specifically) for vertical rebound, are yours adjustable or static? If you can adjust the hydraulic accumulator pressure (and don't mind the reduction in softer ride), effectively reducing the time required to damp the car's nosediving (especially on irregularly-surfaced roads whose undulations tend to increase the vertical motion in waves), it might be all that's needed to save the valance being thumped now and again. I expect there's no spare room between the tyres and the inner wheel arches, true?
Swifty - never mind. I've just gone back and looked at the photos in your post #106 to see the front suspension setup, as well as noting your ¾ inch rear levelling blocks a bit earlier.
After the 100 mile run on sunday i had a few things to sort out the first being to tighten the front wheel bearings slightly by one split pin hole through the hub castle nut.
Next was to alter the Spax settings as the original set up gave the car a feeling as if it was running on solid wheel's, the front had 28 clicks while the rear had 15 clicks change the rear to 6 clicks and the front 12 clicks, the change in handling and general comfort was exceptional, it has made the ride feel smooth while giving a more confident overall feel in the corners so pleased so far. My intentions are to run with the new settings for a couple of days then turn each up by 4 clicks and compare.
The final piece of the build was completed on Monday when the car was dropped off for the decals to be fitted.
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Overall i am very pleased with the finish just need to put a badge below Pegasus near to the sill area. The guy who did the decals has used individual vinyl layers to make up the colours as he says this way last's longer than using printed designs which rub off after time with polish. It take's a little longer to make the decals this way and fit them as you have to be spot on with the alignment of the various layers but the end job is excellent.
Things left to do are
A - Sort the hot start problem.
B - Modify the air box to stop it rubbing on the underside of the bonnet.
C - Fit two ram air pipes to the carbs inside the air box.
D - Order and fit Mintex 1144 front pads.
Been talking to a couple of guys who have fitted ram air pipes to GT6 engines and they say a 3/4 inch high is the best it should give about 5-6% better air flow, they also say to leave the air box fitted piped in to take cool air to the carbs, i was thinking of fitting the ram air pipes directly to the carb intake's and removing the air box but doing this will remove the cool air element.
Swifty ..the car looks superb ...great colour choice , good decalage (?) , ride height works well etc etc..car has a great feel to it and its good to hear you are putting some miles on her ...they get very addictive !
Is 36 significant ? I painted 11 on my last one as the numbers were easy to do !!
ThatAmericanChap Ive adjusted the shocks so the ride is smoother but may be susceptible to bottoming out so will wait and see.
Paul L Cheers matey, you will have your car on the road soon which will put a grin from ear to ear as these cars are excellent fun.
molleur Cheers for the compliment, its taken two years to get the result i was after but its been well worth it.
JG Thanks, i will get round to emailing the high res photo's soon.
Phil9 Thanks for the compliment, coming from a guy who has built a few of these cars and knows their traits it greatly appreciated.
Scottie22 Cheers matey, i thought i hadn't seen you on here hope all's well.
lancelot link I agree with the addictive side of things these cars are great fun, the driving experience is raw and puts a smile on peoples faces.
The number 36 was Fangios number in a Lancia D24 in the 1953 2000 miles Carrera Panamericana which he won, cheers matey and i believe we have you to thank for the initial idea for these little cars.
The air box i made has been catching the underside of the bonnet slightly so today Ive modified it.
Cut the corner away that was high and made an infill to cover the hole, sealed the inside with pu40
Job done and painted, one job off the list.
Next job was to re torque the head, had to remove the rocker shaft to get get access to one side of the head bolts, then refit the rocker shaft and adjust the tappets to 10th cold both inlet and exhaust.
A few tappets were 13-15th, the plugs are a light brown colour so mixture ok.
Next job is to make a reducer to fit in the coolant pipe work to replace the temp fix i did many months ago.
The hot start problem is still ongoing and my latest thought is to fit an electric pump with a return pipe to see if keeping the fuel moving solves the problem, plus an electric pump is not attached to the engine so there's no heat transfer to the pump.
The none start only happens after the engine has been running and is hot, the glass fuel bowl on the filter king has no fuel showing, the manual pump lever has no resistance indicating no fuel in pump with an air lock. To start the engine the rubber fuel supply pipe to the carbs copper pipe is moved slightly after loosening the clip which allows vaporized fuel to escape (gas), after doing this the fuel pump lever has resistance when pumped indicating fuel at the pump diaphragm then the glass fuel bowl fills with fuel, the engine starts.
All this points to fuel vapor lock due to heat build up, the fuel pump is brand new but is the metal top type as you can't get the glass bowl top any more, ive been led to believe the glass bowl cooled the fuel more efficiently than the metal top plus you had a visual as to weather there was fuel at the pump.
Picture of the spark plug for those that are not sure what the correct electrode colour is when the fuel mixture is ok, the last thread only let me add five pictures so had to add here.
Mark F It could be me as i have posted on a number of forums.
davecymru Cheers.
Ordered the electric fuel pump, it's the su type with electronics rather than points the idea is to mount it next to the fuel tank where its cooler, should be fitted this weekend hopefully.
The Mintex brake pads arrived so need to fit and test, will report back if there's an improvement with the braking.
Still cant leave the car alone been thinking of what to change so decided on a couple of improvements, the first one is as follows.
At the minute this gear stick is fitted which I've never been totally happy with so Ive decided to try and make a gate type shift, i think that's what it's called anyway, correct me if i am wrong.
First off i worked out the dimensions of a new gear stick, made out of stainless and polished with a mop wheel. Its shorter than the existing ally one i made many months ago about 90mm long plus due to being made from stainless has allowed the shaft diameter to be 7mm where as the ally shaft is 12mm diameter.
Next was to work out the dimensions of a box that will mount the gear selector plate to, made out of plastic for now to gauge the size. My intentions are to make the final box out of a billet of ally and leave the ally finish on display.
Made a cardboard template for the gear selector plate to trial fit with slight adjustments to suit gear stick movement.
Next the outline of the cardboard template was transferred onto a piece of the black plastic which i will machine out on the miller tomorrow to make sure it's correct before setting up to machine the final ally plate gear selector.
Paul There's not much chance of forgetting to drive the car as it' certainly a fun car to go out in so when the sun shines i get itchy feet to take her out for a spin basically any excuse i can i take up.
Two enamel badges arrived today, these will be the final finishing touch to the look of the car.
Very pleased with the quality, metal back with coloured enamel front with a clear glaze surface.
Fitted the Mintex 1144 front pads today, great improvement both with the feel and stopping power so i would definitely recommend them, the other pads were standard cheapo's which had very little feel.
The SU fuel pump arrived end of week so i decided to fit it to the car and see if the hot start problem is fixed.
SU fuel pump, same as the one fitted to a stag.
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Made a bracket to mount the fuel pump to the petrol tank sub frame, ive deliberately mounted the pump next to the tank where it will be cooler than if mounted under the bonnet.
Pump fitted and piped in ready to go.
Well after all the work involved (3 hrs) the engine was ran up to temperature then stopped for 5 mins with the bonnet closed then cranked the engine over only to find the hot start issue was still there, so back to the drawing board.
Next i intend to remove both carbs to check the float height and also the fixed jet height in relation to the carb bridge as i fitted new jets when overhauling the carbs, i believe this measurement to be 100 th or 2.54 mm give or take a little LOL. The fixed jets in the strombergs are a push fit in the carb body which means they can potentially give a rich or lean mixture, the needle can be adjusted slightly to enrich or weaken the mixture but this is a very small adjustment so if the fixed jet is a mile out then problems will occur, may have to see if i can purchase a second hand emissions meter just to see what the CO reading is.
All in all not the result i was wanting.
One thing that was a result was the panel deadening i used to combat the drumming and vibrating of the rear panel fitted behind the seats, i bought a box of smart price vinyl floor tiles with glue already applied from B&Q for £6, they work a treat and are a lot less money than the sound deadening stuff you can buy.
Black vinyl floor tile stuck to the back of an ally panel to stop the rattling.
Sorry to hear about your ongoing vapour lock issues.
I've read that bio-ethanol petrol can be more prone to cause vapour lock in older cars with carbs.
I also believe that super unleaded (98 octane) is less likely to have any ethanol.
It might be worth trying a can of super unleaded? Maybe run a fuel line from a 'temp fuel tank' just to try it, if draining your fuel tank is too daunting.
Swifty, sorry if you've already made this obvious somewhere in your thread, but whereabouts in the country are you?
I have a pair of (worn out) 150 Strombergs sitting in my garage that you're welcome to borrow to see if they work on your GT6 motor. They're jetted for a mk1 Vitesse engine but still ran ok when I put a mk2 cam in.
They won't allow the engine to rev above 4,000 but I never had a hot start problem with them so you may be able to eliminate the carbs as the problem if they'll start your engine from hot.
There's also the possibility that it's nothing to do with the fuel supply or carburation. A friend of mine has a Mk2 Jag that he's owned for thirty years and has recently recommissioned himself (very talented chap, a farmer who restores cars in what little 'spare' time he has, it's his full lift and Willys Jeep in some of the pictures I posted last year). The Jag had a terrible hot-start issue and would cut out while on the move then refuse to start almost every time he took it out. Once it cooled down it'd be alright for a while, then cut out again once hot.
After a year of head scratching he took advice from a Jag expert who recommended he have the distributor reconditioned. Since he had that done his Jag hasn't missed a beat. Just a thought...
Triumph also used two suppliers for their distributors, btw, Lucas and AC Delco. I have Lucas and haven't had a problem, Phil J swears by AC Delco, in fact he couldn't get his bike carb'd motor to run at all with the Lucas version so fitted an AC Delco one in its place and the engine started no problem. I have one of those in my garage too...
Oh, and I love your floor tile anti rattle solution. That's exactly the ethos of the Sammio experience - imaginative solutions to those little (and big) issues. Keep up the good work.
swift you can buy old lead 4 star petrol on the net in 2 or 3 gallon tins they send them to your house mite be worth a look ethanol is getting a big problem with oil motors ....mite be distributors as towed said running hot on mod/fuels... i like to no as a mate has same thing with his gt6
