The Creation Of A Spit6
Home Page: Wayne Tate
Spencer, NC, USA
| Total Posts: 50 | Latest Post: 2023-10-05 |
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Finished up both doors today.
What a task it turns out to be. If you are going to use parts from other cars, sometimes what seems OK are not.The passenger door lock had internal problems and would not latch solid, the catch had play in it. So if you are putting together doors, take the locking mechanism and push it on the latch on the body to see if any play is there.
I had all kind of wasted effort getting the window in the channels, that turned out to be another part I should have checked. The grove on the window was bent slightly, just enough the roller part would not go in the grove, but not enough so you could see it. Took it all out. Just glad I had not put the inside seal on.
The vents need to be left a little loose until the rear channel is installed as the GT6 window has a bit of curve in it.
There are two different window frames on the bottom of the GT6, one has an extension that goes into the bottom restrict-or and the other doesn't, so you have to play with the old bracket to keep the window from going down past the seals. I like to have them just below the surface of the door edge, stops most of the rattles you hear on most British sports cars.
The door locks have a few tricks of the trade. If you are going to adjust the screw on the plastic striker be very careful. When the latch is in closed door position, (you do need to close the latch, it stops in two different spots, the final is difficult to get to) that flat parts of the latch that is pushed by the screw on the door opener needs to have some play in it on the lock position. I gave it a good 1/8 inch clearance in there.
The two rods that run form the outer door latch could use a bit of grease where the plastic keepers hold them in place, just put some on your fingers and rub it on there while working back and forth. while you have some grease on your fingers, rub the locking slide and other bracket with a smear and also the female part of the lock. Not too much or the madam will let you know she got grease on her coat just getting in and out of that damn car. Clear silicone might be better on that part. LOL
Close the door to make sure all the extra weight has not dropped the door or it's not out of the alignment. I guessing you have done that door dance, if not that is another whole kettle of worms.
On the receiver latch on the "B" post, tighten just enough to hold in place and you can move with a little effort and slowly close the door, moving it around until there is very little metal to metal.
By now you have checked to make sure the latch opens and closes by the handles in and out.
I now installed the inner seal on the door. I waited until now because if you have to take any parts out, like I did, you will tear heck out of everything. I placed the clips on the door, marked the seal and pushed down into the clip while holding with the tool. A bit of a pain to move it back and forth, but I used a plastic body tool to hold the window out of the way. Time to install the window channel at the rear, take the window up most of the way, holding and pushing it forward, push on and adjust for smooth operation. Hope you sprayed it with some silicone on the front and back before install.
If you are lucky the gap going down the windshield will be the same all the way down, with luck you paid attention to that and it stayed in place.
Hope this helps and should be about the same with a Spitfire single window.
What a task it turns out to be. If you are going to use parts from other cars, sometimes what seems OK are not.The passenger door lock had internal problems and would not latch solid, the catch had play in it. So if you are putting together doors, take the locking mechanism and push it on the latch on the body to see if any play is there.
I had all kind of wasted effort getting the window in the channels, that turned out to be another part I should have checked. The grove on the window was bent slightly, just enough the roller part would not go in the grove, but not enough so you could see it. Took it all out. Just glad I had not put the inside seal on.
The vents need to be left a little loose until the rear channel is installed as the GT6 window has a bit of curve in it.
There are two different window frames on the bottom of the GT6, one has an extension that goes into the bottom restrict-or and the other doesn't, so you have to play with the old bracket to keep the window from going down past the seals. I like to have them just below the surface of the door edge, stops most of the rattles you hear on most British sports cars.
The door locks have a few tricks of the trade. If you are going to adjust the screw on the plastic striker be very careful. When the latch is in closed door position, (you do need to close the latch, it stops in two different spots, the final is difficult to get to) that flat parts of the latch that is pushed by the screw on the door opener needs to have some play in it on the lock position. I gave it a good 1/8 inch clearance in there.
The two rods that run form the outer door latch could use a bit of grease where the plastic keepers hold them in place, just put some on your fingers and rub it on there while working back and forth. while you have some grease on your fingers, rub the locking slide and other bracket with a smear and also the female part of the lock. Not too much or the madam will let you know she got grease on her coat just getting in and out of that damn car. Clear silicone might be better on that part. LOL
Close the door to make sure all the extra weight has not dropped the door or it's not out of the alignment. I guessing you have done that door dance, if not that is another whole kettle of worms.
On the receiver latch on the "B" post, tighten just enough to hold in place and you can move with a little effort and slowly close the door, moving it around until there is very little metal to metal.
By now you have checked to make sure the latch opens and closes by the handles in and out.
I now installed the inner seal on the door. I waited until now because if you have to take any parts out, like I did, you will tear heck out of everything. I placed the clips on the door, marked the seal and pushed down into the clip while holding with the tool. A bit of a pain to move it back and forth, but I used a plastic body tool to hold the window out of the way. Time to install the window channel at the rear, take the window up most of the way, holding and pushing it forward, push on and adjust for smooth operation. Hope you sprayed it with some silicone on the front and back before install.
If you are lucky the gap going down the windshield will be the same all the way down, with luck you paid attention to that and it stayed in place.
Hope this helps and should be about the same with a Spitfire single window.






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