ibrooks

Thanks again for all that. Will post again if I make the jump.

Iain

But of course the rest of us are now wondering what you were actually searching for to find it

Thanks for that.

Five speed boxes are available from Minisport at £1500 a pop - an expensive box but that's a brand new box and I'd be willing to spend the cash if it made the car useable (my insurance would save me a chunk of that - versus my Rover for the same usage is about £200 cheaper and what price a convertible versus a tin top). The motor I'm looking at is a Rossa which has an MG lump and box. Why are they nervous at speed? I would have thought they would be as good as a Mini from a handling point of view. It's also got both soft and hard tops - how quick/easy is it to remove/fit the hard-top? I'm just thinking that the soft-top would be quicker to use when out and about.

As for a K3 - not interested Rover K-Series nuff-said and yes that is from personal experience (also see Jim's post about them from a few weeks ago).

What's support like? either through the owners club or from GTM themselves?

Iain

A quick blast down the motorway in a Hood on a sunny day!

I've been stuffed up with a cold for the whole week :boohoo: and since the sun is shining I thought I'd come to work in the S7 today to cheer me up . I've been here over an hour and I'm only just beginning to sniffle up again . Doesn't half clear the tubes at 70 .

Iain

Hi Guys,

Anyone know anything about the older GTM's?. I'm interested in either a Coupe or Rossa (1 or 2) to replace my daily driver (and one of the Hoods). Has anyone on here had any experience of them or have one or know someone who has etc etc etc. Mechanically I know they're Mini's which suits me fine as I have two of those too so I know my way around the venerable A-series. What I'm interested in is would they make a good motorway tramper? (with a 5-speed box maybe - but if they're OK without that'd suit me just fine). Also how secure/weatherproof are the removeable tops on the Rossa's? as it would probably have to live outside.

Any info much appreciated. Looks, rides and drives would be even nicer.

Iain

So long as it don't hide behind the wheel when viewed from an angle there should be no probs. The specific angle it has to be visible at is part of the construction and use regs - someone must know it but I don't off the top of my head. I have seen sevens with the plate on the rear arch below the light cluster. This would increase the angle it can be seen at as it moves it away from the wheel. I'm also almost certain that it would have to go on the correct side but don't quote me on that bit.

Iain

Turbo - let me see - Maybe a crash helmet?

They can look really cool with those stick-on ears and stuff.

Can you feel the downwards movement in the stick? This is the rubber spring. If it's gone weak it will give the symptoms you describe. To test this pull the stick upwards and see if it will still move all the way to the left past first or do you have to let it down a little to get it that far. If this works then the spring is at fault. Either get a new (newer) stick or assist the spring. You can get away with a couple of washers under the plate that holds it into the gearbox (make sure they don't fall in and be aware that the selector will no longer be sealed against road grime). This will lift the selector by the amount that it is currently sagging.

If it is the metalwork then you will either need to add metal to replace what has worn off or find replacements that are less worn. The parts in the box are going to be hard to get at but the stick should be relatively easy to remove. It may be possible to find a less worn stick that will cure the problem.

In all probability it is a combination of both but the washers or a replacement stick will put you close enough to the original that wear in the box will be taken up.

There are instructions on creating a quickshift that have quite good diagrams on how it all works. Possibly these were from Dave Andrews - Anyone?

Iain

Tony built his own stuff - I intend to mug him for templates and such when my 2B finally hits the road.

The kit that STS used to do was sold to some other place that I can't remember the name of - Rizla any help here Apparently they're quite good.

Iain

I suspect there are several manufacturers as the ones I've looked at are all made to fit the M type wheels. Could you get some pics of yours Rizla. Just think of it as an excuse to visit your car.

Iain

So will a decent car paint place. If you don't know what it is then paint matching is going to be the only way (barring trial and error with some of the hundreds of shades).

Just imagine what trouble Ron Champion would have with his first Locost. According to the book he got two pots of dark green that had been mixed to the wrong (but different) shades by the paintshop and stirred them together to get a uniform colour. Try matching that in a year or two's time.

Iain

And there was me just going to say that I have such a device you can borrow or come over and use. Oh-well if you've got it sorted all well and good if not give me a shout.

Iain

Slightly off topic but kind of topical.

At a Scout camp some years ago the leaders were using walky talkies to stay in contact. There was a particularly annoying kid hanging around and to get rid of him one of the leaders asked him to go to the main building and collect a charged battery for his radio. The kid was away for ages but finally returned with wet trousers and the battery. The story was that he'd put the new battery in his pocket along with his loose change. The inevitable happened and he gained an embarrasing burn and a new hole in his pocket. Why don't these things happen to the right people more often??

Oh yes - he now works in a fireworks factory Scary

Iain

The Mini should have stopped fine the first time but had trouble afterwards as drums can't get rid of the heat. Twin leading shoe Drums are actually more effective than discs but they will suffer from heat terribly and fade in no time.

I'm surprised at a Sapphire with solid discs (I thought all Sierras had the vented setup by the time the Sapph came along) but there's always one that slips through.

The vented discs are designed to get rid of heat better than the solid discs. The solid discs are lighter - a good thing. Any Sierra brake setup should be adequate to stop a Hood as the weight is dramatically less (should be even more so with a bolteon). However you will probably drive a Hood more enthusiastically than the average Sierra would be driven so you may generate more heat.

Pro's and con's so the choice is yours.

If you're going for light weight I think I personally would use the 1.6 donor but look for a 2.0 lump and upgrade later if necessary. Once you're driving it you can decide if the brakes are up to the job and change them if necessary.

Just a final note - I have had various old bangers to which I've fitted the cheapest pads in the shop and I've had them fade when I've been "pressing on". I now always get Ferodo pads as they are a good road pad and don't noticeably drop-off when cold but I've yet to have a set fade - even when I've done some really silly things (the front wheels were too hot to touch).

Iain

How else do you think he's paying for all the work they're doing to his monster?

The compression ratio is the bit that seems dodgy to me. Not sure how well a spacer plate would work - hopefully very well. Anyone know what sort of compression ratio would result if you stick a 2.0 head on a 1.6 engine? You should still be able to get in excess of 200bhp (brown trousers time) from a blown 1.6.

Iain

You could always investigate a Mini estate/van item. I saw them at the Mini show at Stafford and reckoned they would fit but I already have the RH stainless tank so I didn't investigate exact dimensions/capacities. Mini-sport in Padiham sell them and will post one to you. Mini-machine also do heritage parts and mail order. I think Mini-machine are now called M-machine as BMW have been getting possesive over the Mini name - and in the process they have caused a fair amount animosity between owners of the New and old Mini's. They are manufactured new to the original patterns by British Motor Heritage so you may be able to get one direct from them but I don't know how they would compare on price. Mini-sport are a generally helpful crew and if you give them a shout they will no doubt give you dimensions so you can check if it will fit.

Iain

Knowing the temperature of the air drawn into the engine is a good diagnostic point if you're trying to solve a problem but otherwise you just want it as cold as possible. Outside temp like you say should be obvious enough to you - fancy cars sometimes have a sensor to warn these people in their nice warm tin-tops that just coz they're cozy it doesn't mean there ain't ice on the road. Personally I'd go for the intake temp as the more useful of the two but I'd never expect to actually need it for anything other than your initial setup or if you change any of the intake system.

Iain

1600 heads are quite often used as the basis for higher compression 2l engines as it's better to open the chambers quite a lot than to have to skim loads off a head with bigger chamber to start with. The 1600 head can conceivably be used on a 2l block straight away but I beleive the compression ratio will be way too high. In theory your swap should be fine as 10-1ish is a good compression ratio without putting too much stress on other things. I wasn't aware that Ford had injected anything other than the 2.0 Pintos though.

Iain

MDF can be had that is waterproof. Basically what they do is use waterproof glue (just like with Marine ply). In theory if you soak a waterproof finish well into normal MDF it should have the same effect but the wood will swell in the process. Try thinning some paint down quite a lot and give several coats to the wood before you make your shape and then paint it your final colour. Since the coating will only soak so far get the raw wood to something like the shape first and then you don't chop/sand all your waterproofing off. Make it easily removeable so that you can re-coat every so often (nice winter job).

Iain

Just make sure you have something to duck behind when she "gives" the spanner back.

I seem to remember some pulic spirited chap had set up a freepost address for you to send all those unwanted AOL CD's to and he was returning them in batches at their cost. Not sure how it worked financially for him but they must have been receiving a fairly large amount of their junk mail back.

Does anyone know any other adresses of people who send spam?

Iain

Or breakers yards - you just need to know which sorts of cars used the same system. For 90 degrees try one of the Series Land-Rovers. Moggy Minors used them too and also Jags plus all sorts of others.

Iain

Europa also used to do a kit which fitted the body of that lock and made it double or triple acting (quite often used on Cobra boots). A bigger disc replaced the cam on the back of the barrel and when it's turned it shoots several bolts outwards into whatever receptacle you make for them.

Iain

They generally have a different style of sender. They kind of resemble the low brake fluid sender in your master cylinder so they just need a vertical hole cut in the foam. You can get the senders from CAi for their range (They now manufacture Smiths guages so probably available for those as well). You can get the foam as a liquid (well two actually) and pour it into a tank andd cut the holes afterwards. No experience of the process but there must be a way to ensure that the foam isn't closed cell afterwards.

Iain