[Fot] GT6 questions

[Tim Hutchisen]

Mike-
    I have a 70 Gt6+ that I drive as a daily driver about 9 months out of 
the year. (Maine winters prevent the other 3 months). After owning and 
driving it for 3 years now here is my .02 cents worth.

    Comp springs in the front will give the car the proper attitude you are 
looking for without sacrificing the ride quality. The lump 6 engine block in 
the front will dampen the higher spring rate and make the ride quite 
comfortable. I am unsure of the spring length and rate but the higher rate 
spring is readily available from most major LBC suppliers. The only 
challenge is when the car is lifted off the ground for service, the spring 
will not stay in the spring perch unless you wire tie them to the perch. If 
you do not wire tie them, you'll have to align the springs prior to putting 
any significant weight back on the suspension-not a big deal just a pain.
    Exhaust, if you a looking for great burble- take Nigel's (Spitbits) 
advice and install the Bell. I had a Monza on mine, it was loud and had a 
resonation that would drive you out of the car at 55 MPH. I had to wear ear 
plugs. The Bell takes the resonation away but still gives it a great snarl. 
It is loud when the throttle plates are wide open however. The fit and 
quality of the Bell exhaust was excellent. I am running the stock exhaust 
manifold.

 Hutch

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Harmuth" <harmug at us.ibm.com>
To: <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:14 AM
Subject: [Fot] GT6 questions


>I have a few questions about my street only GT6. It's a fairly recent
> purchase, I was a Spitfire guy before this and I'm noticing some
> differences in the way it handles. The car seems to get light at speed. 
> The
> front end is higher than my Spits but from the pictures I've seen of other
> street GT6s, this seems to be normal. I thought this was done on purpose,
> possibly  to counteract the higher weight of the engine, moving some of 
> the
> weight to the back. It seems to allow too much air under the car, I like 
> to
> drop the front down an inch or so by a combination of adjustable perch
> (Spax or Koni) shocks and shorter, stiffer springs.
>
> The current compressed spring length is 8.5 or 9", depending on if I
> measure from the base of the spring retainer or the insides of it. I'm
> running 7.5" on my street spits. I have a  number of springs in different
> sizes I've collected over the years for the spits that are possible
> candidates. I'm sure this has been done before, any recommendations for
> spring rates or lengths? Any alternative ideas, caveats?
>
> Second question is on exhaust systems. The car has a custom exhaust, stock
> cast iron manifold but it splits to 1.75" dual pipes at the diff and has a
> pair of 12" straight pipes for the mufflers. The guy I bought it from was
> an old Triumph motorcycle dealer and I suspect the pipes are from a bike. 
> I
> like a loud car, but this is louder than my race car and it getting
> annoying. I'd like to upgrade but I don't see many options. Stock,
> Pacesetter (Monza) or Bell dual setup seem to be the only package options.
> I've found a set of mufflers that have roughly the same size and diameter
> of the current pipes but I need to rig up a mounting system to because 
> they
> weigh more than the current little pipes. I'm leaning towards the Bell
> sport system from SpitBits but I'd like some feedback from the collective
> wisdom here. I'm not trying to keep the car original but I do want to keep
> it period correct if possible. No coffee can mufflers like a kids Honda
> Civic if you know what I mean.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> mike