1973 gtm coupe

[nick@dunsdale]

good skills..... look just the ticket as well

[turbocox]

Oh,

Chickening out now that I have some brakes that aren't a joke

[tedmcedd]

get some better pictures of the gutters! Rather than my crappy phone pics!

Also, did you get the screws? They were the last ones I had!!

[rich@minispares.com]

Oh,

Chickening out now that I have some brakes that aren't a joke

ohhh, better brakes and a perversion on your engine...........


that's just cheating

[turbocox]

that was to easy

'perversion' I like that





Oooo rocker box question.... Can I the colour be two different colours

[rich@minispares.com]

a small update on my gtm

it continues to run great, no real problems with it until the other week, when a rumble from one of the rear bearings showed that it needed some work.

of course, one of those 'easy jobs' just turned out to be a utter nightmare.


the first issue was that the shoes had worn right out, the rivets had chewed the (original 1960's) drums to scrap - I guess the extra weight of the engine in the back really works the brakes harder than you would think, the other issue was that one of the handbrake cables (which work back to front to a mini one) had sprung out of its holder (due to the shoes wearing so much), so the brakes had been held on one side, so where destroyed.

no problems I thought, set of new shoes, set of drums, nip the handbrake holders to stop the cables falling out.


first problem was that the flanges wouldn't give up their grip on the bearings - no amount of prising, hammering, large pullers etc would get them to shift - in the end I had to disconnect the brakes and remove the whole hubs and pound the flanges out from the back - which wreaked the flanges..

I then rebuilt a 'new' set of hubs ready to swop them other, only to discover that the gtm hubs are machined for the handbrake holders - so I rebuilt the gtm hubs only to discover that the bearings had spun in the hubs....ffs!!!

so, I modded the 'new' hubs to make them work, fitted them and discovered that one of the new bearings was not nipping up correctly so once the hub nut was nipped it locked solid....

at this point I gave up and shut the garage door........

arrgggggggg

[InimiaD]

Sometimes, shutting the garage door and walking away is the best option.

[mk1]

Sometimes, shutting the garage door and walking away is the best option.

It doesn't get much achieved though.

M

[rich@minispares.com]

Sometimes, shutting the garage door and walking away is the best option.

It doesn't get much achieved though.

M

that's the advantage of having more than one project on the go

as you well know!

[mk1]

Don't I just

[rich@minispares.com]

small update

brakes all working fine, turned out the gtm needs to have some 'built in' slack on the little springs near the handbrake to take into account of the handbrake cables working back to front to a mini - if you set the handbrake helper springs like you would on a mini (as I had done) it will 'walk' the handbrake on by a tiny amount, just enough to start the shoes dragging - which tears the shoes up and cooks the drums - it also makes the handling go strange as the brakes are on by different amounts on each side - since I fixed it the handling has improved no end

the bearings are still a little tight, but im just going to run it until they become a problem

[rich@minispares.com]

whooo-hooooo

passed its mot yesterday - that's the third one on the trot with no advisories


it did disgrace its self at the mot station though, the tester left it running on the ramp and cooked the Brise starter, so of course it wouldn't work, he then pulled the choke out and bump started it on the brake testing rollers, left it running and fouled the plugs.....

once it cooled down it was fine!

[InimiaD]

Happy days.
Glad you sorted the rear hubs out. Should give you a bit more confidence when you "rag" it.

[rich@minispares.com]

Happy days.
Glad you sorted the rear hubs out. Should give you a bit more confidence when you "rag" it.

the rear brakes where not really a problem when I was ragging it at blyton as I 'was on it'

it was terrible on the roads as it would get into white lines and not want to leave them, plus the rear brakes where not very confidence making!

its miles better now

[rich@minispares.com]

an actual update on the GTM that contains improvements.....

1) got sick of the engine moving around in when traffic and changing gear - it was getting really annoying, so I fitted a pair of the backwards facing gearbox steadies from minispares, one needed its bracket moddding as it wanted to share a gearbox stud with the gear linkage bracket.

they have made a great difference, there is no more 'bang bang' from the engine.

2) fitted a brake servo - the brakes where fine, but rock hard and you really had to push on the pedal to get it to stop - part of the problem is that the pedals are only about 2/3s the length of mini ones, to the leverage is all wrong on them, the pedal is also in the wrong place for my feet, so im not pushing it with the bit of my foot that you would use on a mini.

the servo fits beautifully under the dash, all hidden away - sounds an easy job, but in reality it would be like trying to fit a new battery into a mini by getting access through the 'spit hole' in the rear seat back...... an easy job it was not!

had the screen and dash been out it would have taken about 1/2hour!

the brakes are now great, really soft - I need to learn how to use them as they are a bit keen now!

[surfblue63]

- I need to learn how to use them as they are a bit keen now!

I expect the next update to include a picture of you refilling the GTM with a petrol can whilst it points the wrong way on a roundabout!!!

[rich@minispares.com]

I expect the next update to include a picture of you refilling the GTM with a petrol can whilst it points the wrong way on a roundabout!!!

stu


sorry


next update is that all the baffles have blown out the exhaust and the new rear (front) bearing has started howling after 300 miles........

[surfblue63]

Oh well, maybe next time.

[AndyB72]

is that the fancy Maniflow exhaust? That didn't last long.

[rich@minispares.com]

is that the fancy Maniflow exhaust? That didn't last long.

yes it was, but ive spoken to Dave at Maniflow who thinks that because the silencer box is so close to the actual manifold the wadding has got too hot and burnt - certainly the outside of the box has burnt a lot of the paint off!

he thinks that the wadding (which is what they use in normal exhausts with no problems) isn't man enough, so I have returned the silencer to him and he is going to cut it open and repack it with the better stuff that he uses in the stainless exhausts.