[TR] LBC tales and woes

[Jim Muller]

It's been a strange week.  First, I tried re-setting my GT6 valves to 
.012" in response to a suggestion that perhaps a PO had installed a 
non-stock cam.  I can't say that the engine runs much cleaner.  One 
big difference is that now I have a dozen squirrels operating sewing 
machines under the hood.  Perhaps I should set them to .011". :-)

Next item.  I tried to fit a new starter to the Spitfire, the brushes 
I received being not even close to what came out of the car.  The new 
starter wouldn't fit either.  The new one has a thinner mounting 
flange so that the bendix gear and even the screws holding that 
flange stick out further.  Quick call to Spitbits, and Nigel tells me 
it needs the spacer, that maybe I dropped it when I took the old 
starter out.  I say no, the old starter has a thicker flange and 
there ain't no spacer.  He says he's never heard of a Spitfire that 
didn't have one.  Well, a spacer about 1/4" thick would just about 
make the new one match the old one.  Fortunately he had a few used 
ones and so dropped one in the mail, for a suitable though nominal 
fee of course.

Yesterday the GT6 horn stopped working.

On the way home this evening in the GT6 I flipped the turn signal 
switch on then off and I noticed that the indicator light didn't turn 
off.  Then the fine Lucas wiring sacrificed itself to protect the 
fine Lucas fuse, and in so doing release some of the smoke from the 
turn signal circuit, the smoke emerging from the left side of the 
steering column up near the wheel.  Ah, at least all the other 
electrical stuff worked, such as the headlights.  Hmmm, maybe I 
should check the brake lights.  Maybe it is related to the horn 
failure too.

Anyway, the GT6 will now remain parked until the weekend.


Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com