GTM Coupé Page 68

January 2018

Having run the car for the 2nd half of 2017, I felt that the front alignment was off a little, so in the first days of the month I took the chance to check these, and adjust them where needed.

I transfered the polycarbonate windows across, and these are starting to become a bit opaque with use, so I took the chance to make a couple of templates. I started by getting the help of my son to draw around the outside of the frame, we then drew inside this by a few millimeters to allow for the metal of the frame. This was done on "corri-cor" card. This was trial fitted and found to be a good match. This was then transfered to paper, to make it a bit easier to post if needed. I also took the time to check if 210mm sliders would fit on the window.

For a while, since I fitted the new tank, I was unhappy with it being mounted on small tabs. This was fine for the steel tank, but I felt the Aluminum tank would be better mounted with a bit more flex. So I removed the tank and cut/ground the tabs off. I then took some 30x2mm steel strip and fashioned 2 tank straps that the tank sits on inside the subframe. These were lined with EPDM rubber E strip. Once the tank was refitted it was then held down with some galvanised builders strip, again lined with rubber.

Final job for the month is the gearbox oil, this is the final fluid that requires changed. So once I have loosened the reverse light switch, as there is no point of draining the oil, then finding that you can't replace it! I removed the drain-plug, this has a 3/8" square hole, when a ratchet can fit. And drained the oil. As I can't access the correct filler hole that give the correct amount, I'm going to measure how much I removed, check this against the manual that claims 1.8 litres. I'm using "Land Rover" spec MTF 94 oil as this is meant to be better for the box, time will tell.