The new news 24 thread

[HillmanImp]

How much does a GT6 cost these days?

 

A lot (well by my standards). I bought this one as I saw the prices going up and realised it was the last chance to own one before the went out of my league. Sadly circumstances dictate it needs to move on.

 

I want £3k as is. It has rust on the floor, needs one sill, the windscreen lip needs doing and it needs a repair to the A pillar (last two not a failure but will need doing at some point) but it runs nicely but needs a paint job after a few years under a tarp. For an extra £500 I can do the other sill and the floor too and MOT it? 

 

I will probably lob it on car and classic and see how I get on TBH. There is no rush, it will only pay off an interest only credit card the only real reason that I would be happy to see it go is getting my Imp back as when this goes its coming home.

[Inspector Morose]

GT6s are a strange beast. You get the Heath Robinson driving experience of a spitfire but with added smoothness of one of the best sixes of the period. And they shift when treated well.

One of those "you must own one one day just for the experience" kind of cars. I loved mine. A friend said when following on an A road "it's got a revolving number plate on the back of that. When you press the accelerator it revolves to say fuck off and just shifts into the distance"

He was driving a maestro 1.3 at the time though.

[dugong]

I'd drive a GT6.

 

If there was nothing to hit within a 2 mile radius.

[HillmanImp]

I'd drive a GT6.

 

If there was nothing to hit within a 2 mile radius.

 

I have just checked and its 12.1 miles to where I stuck it backwards through a fence.

 

[Inspector Morose]

They do bite, don't they? (Especially when fitted with a 2.5 with fuel injection). I refuse to say how I know either.

[captain_70s]

I have just checked and its 12.1 miles to where I stuck it backwards through a fence.

I think going through a fence backwards is a right of passage for Triumph owners...

 

Was late for work 'cause I guy I was supposed to be giving a lift to never showed up, it was raining. Figured I'd turn left at a mini roundabout from crawling speed without bothering to change down to first gear. Result was a botched take off in 2nd and just as I was about to straighten out I lost the back end, over corrected and started a tank slapper ending in a 180 spin across the oncoming lane and backwards into a fence.

 

Although I'm glad my fence was a bit more sturdy or it could have been considerably worse... I'm also glad it was 7am so there was very little traffic on the road and no pedestrians.

 

That was three weeks into ownership of the 1850. I was so fucked off with myself and given various lectures on my lack of driving ability, not maintaining my car properly (all tyres had good tread but were all completely different brands) and how it was people like me who ended up killing people that I briefly put both of the Dolomites up for sale and figured I'd give up on cars entirely.

 

Bad times.

[skattrd]

Yo Imp, why not lob it in ACA? you might be surprised with what you get for it.

This is my cunning plan for any "classics" next time I need to thin the fleet.

[Six-cylinder]

The lightness of the GT6 makes it a joy to drive.

 

It was only the MK1 GT6 that could bite with surprise, latter Rotorflex cars have progressive breakaway with lots of warning with understeer to oversteer before they let go. The final pivot spring cars I believe again don't bite but I have never driven one fast enough to try for myself. They all have relatively low levels of grip by todays standards and therefore it is easy to be going too fast!

[dollywobbler]

Liftoff oversteer is a bit different to power oversteer. The light back end means you do have to be wary in a GT6, though I discovered liftoff brown trousers in a Subaru Impreza. Non turbo. Wuss.

[quicksilver]

I'd drive a GT6.

 

If there was nothing to hit within a 2 mile radius.

I can't drive a GT6 as I'm just too tall A neighbour had one and it was TINY - I somehow managed to fold myself into the passenger seat but there's no way I could have driven it as the steering wheel was where my knees needed to go. I also had to exit by crawling out on my hands because there wasn't room to get up.

[Six-cylinder]

Liftoff oversteer is a bit different to power oversteer. The light back end means you do have to be wary in a GT6, though I discovered liftoff brown trousers in a Subaru Impreza. Non turbo. Wuss.

 

Any rear will drive car will oversteer if cornering hard and then you suddenly lift off.

[chaseracer]

Cleaned the Polo today,shame I've got to sell it

 

That IS a shame, Dan.  But you saved it...

 

[chaseracer]

300E latest: darkest Staffs to SE1 and back.  More miles in 24 hours than it's done in the past year.

 

Wafty 

[plasticvandan]

That IS a shame, Dan.  But you saved it...

 

That can be my autoshite good deed of the year,ive done a car rescue

[Jerzy Woking]

Love my 300E (for now) and use it whenever I can in preference to the modern I have.

[dugong]

Any rear will drive car will oversteer if cornering hard and then you suddenly lift off.

Only if it's got the grunt to be travelling fast enough. Amazon won't do it unless you're brutal on gravel. 

[Lacquer Peel]

Liftoff oversteer is a bit different to power oversteer. The light back end means you do have to be wary in a GT6, though I discovered liftoff brown trousers in a Subaru Impreza. Non turbo. Wuss.

My first experience of lift-off oversteer was in a Mk1 Clio diesel. Boat anchor engine in a small short wheelbase FWD car for the DRIFT.

[sporty-shite]

 

I've decided to do the clutch on the Celica. Got this far before I realised that Mrs S is on a late shift today, so I have to do the school run. So, I've stopped just before I had to trim the piece of timber to hold the engine up, and haven't undone any subframes yet.

 

I've got a feeling I'm going to regret starting this.

[wuvvum]

My non-turbo 2L Legacy estate used to do an entertaining line in lift-off oversteer.  Interestingly, neither of the turbos did.

[Ghosty]

Just got a set of 16" wheels for the mother's Bini at her request (basic 15"s aren't good enough for her it seems) for £135 delivered:

 

 

Two are slightly kerbed but we'll have them sorted, we aren't going to be getting the tyres for a while anyway.

One NOS wheel is £200+ so it's a good buy, and the 15"s will get sold on eventually.

[dollywobbler]

Penultimate day of 2CV action.

 

Noticed that the clutch had started to drag a bit. I leave the lock-nuts loose so adjusting it again was nice and easy. Not much point given that tomorrow is the final day of Tin Snailing, but thought I'd better make the effort.

 

Also, FINALLY scraped all of the tape adhesive off the XM's roof using Sticky Stuff Remover and an old cassette case. Fact. Sticky Stuff Remover is a halfway decent tar spot remover. Then I got the Autoglym Tar Spot remover out, which is even better. Bottom half of the XM is gleaming now! Here's a shot of it with a steam train.

[Bobthebeard]

After years of cursing the Japanese for using shit phillips crosshead screws on motorcycles/mopeds I have just discovered that they use different screws/screwdrivers. JIS apparently! Japanese Industrial Standard. Phillips screwdrivers are different and chew up the heads. Bought a set of JIS drivers now. End of problem. Sorry Japan. Been swearing at you for thirty years...... Oops.

[HillmanImp]

On the way back from picking up the Volvo I got 27mpg on the motorway. Not bad. 

 

Been using it as a daily hack for a week and I am getting 18.18 mpg. 

 

Ouch.

[chaseracer]

The 300E got 32mpg out of the last tank; bimbling around Staffs, blast to THAT LONDON, trip to Oswestry today.  I had to check my arithmetic twice, but switching to super unleaded and adjusting the timing seems to be paying off.

[JohnK]

Have made arrangements to buy the E23 discussed in the eBay tat thread.

 

Guy sounded genuine on the phone and although he's based in London, he's originally from just up the road from here. We even discussed about him bringing it to me and him visiting family whilst here!

 

Looking at the pics, wheels could do with a refurb and he's told me the seats are tatty, so have shitty seat covers on at the moment. I know somebody who has a spare set of seats I can have though.

 

Got a few more pics from him - this is a late Series 1 car on an X plate ...

 

 

 

 

[Geep]

After years of cursing the Japanese for using shit phillips crosshead screws on motorcycles/mopeds I have just discovered that they use different screws/screwdrivers. JIS apparently! Japanese Industrial Standard. Phillips screwdrivers are different and chew up the heads. Bought a set of JIS drivers now. End of problem. Sorry Japan. Been swearing at you for thirty years...... Oops.

 

I found this out some time ago from research but also found genuine JIS screwdrivers, or bits, hard to come by. Where did you get them?

[vulgalour]

Those fall into the rare category of BMWs I like the look of, the styling on these was really nice.  I bet they're still like sitting on bricks and utterly uninspiring to drive, but they look nice.

 

 

I might have found a solution to two problems with my cars.  The first problem is that now I'm getting through the niggles on the Xantia I'm realising that I'd quite like a replacement bonnet and passenger door rather than getting them de-dented and resprayed.  There's various bits of interior trim I want too, but it's all bits and bobs that's a nuisance to get hold of individually.  With that in mind, i've considered buying a white Xantia whole because they're so cheap, doesn't even need to be an estate or a diesel, and robbing all the bits I need off it.

 

That leaves me with a car that has a complete hydropneumatic system going spare.  Interestingly, from what information I've been able to scrape together it's just as much work to fit the hydro suspension from the Xantia to the Princess as it is to fit any other system.  So, if I had a whole car I'd have every component and would be able to find out what does and doesn't need modifying to fit.  It's certainly more future proof than the Hydragas system and would give a comparable, if not better, ride.  Since the system wouldn't be running the brakes and power steering I don't need to worry as much about LHM fail and I can have an uppy-downy Princess.

 

Does this sound reasonable, or have I completely lost the plot?

[Inspector Morose]

You have completely lost the plot. I see this as no reason to investigate. If you do buy another, say 1.9 TD xantia, I do know of someone who would be willing to take the engine and box off you.

[Pillock]

It doesn't sound easy, but you put forward a convincing argument.

It does sound easier than magicking up new Princess bouncy bits. And you do get to plan it all out, perhaps even blank the brakes off your breaker to make sure the suspension still works etc.

 

WC, as the saying goes, PGW?

[anonymous user]

 have I completely lost the plot?

You have a plot?

 

Seriously it sounds like a world of pain, but it also sounds possible