Any Gordon Keeble Owners Out There?

[DonkeyApple]

GK52 said:

Hi Mellow,

Yes the restoration of 52 is now complete. The finishing touch was the front wing chrome strips.

How easy are the irritating parts to source such as window rubbers etc?

[GK52]

The front and rear window rubbers are available from the club. They are quite difficult to fit- the stringing method doesn't give a tremendously satisfactory result. Terry Harris advises putting the rubbers in hot water, then fitting them into the aperture first followed by the window. Best left to someone who does it all the time/ has done it before as the rubber goes over the head lining material! We learned of Terry's tip after installation first time around and it was necessary to mastic around the rubber to ensure a watertight seal. David Y advises that mastic is normally needed, although, it feels wrong when you hsbe restored a car to near concours condition.If you need there is a good guy who does this with a mobile compressor and a very fine nozzle based near Portsmouth.

The side windows, quarter-lites, boot rubbers etc. are available from woolies. David Y has the profile number and total length needed for each of the various applications.

The only thing that caused any real headache was a missing bit of chrome trim which needed to be made (sounds easier than it was).

[Huntsman]

GK52 said:

The front and rear window rubbers are available from the club. They are quite difficult to fit- the stringing method doesn't give a tremendously satisfactory result. Terry Harris advises putting the rubbers in hot water, then fitting them into the aperture first followed by the window. Best left to someone who does it all the time/ has done it before as the rubber goes over the head lining material! We learned of Terry's tip after installation first time around and it was necessary to mastic around the rubber to ensure a watertight seal. David Y advises that mastic is normally needed, although, it feels wrong when you hsbe restored a car to near concours condition.If you need there is a good guy who does this with a mobile compressor and a very fine nozzle based near Portsmouth.

The side windows, quarter-lites, boot rubbers etc. are available from woolies. David Y has the profile number and total length needed for each of the various applications.

The only thing that caused any real headache was a missing bit of chrome trim which needed to be made (sounds easier than it was).

Some very useful info there, thank you.

[Mellow Yellow]

GK52 said:

The front and rear window rubbers are available from the club. They are quite difficult to fit- the stringing method doesn't give a tremendously satisfactory result. Terry Harris advises putting the rubbers in hot water, then fitting them into the aperture first followed by the window. Best left to someone who does it all the time/ has done it before as the rubber goes over the head lining material! We learned of Terry's tip after installation first time around and it was necessary to mastic around the rubber to ensure a watertight seal. David Y advises that mastic is normally needed, although, it feels wrong when you hsbe restored a car to near concours condition.If you need there is a good guy who does this with a mobile compressor and a very fine nozzle based near Portsmouth.

The side windows, quarter-lites, boot rubbers etc. are available from woolies. David Y has the profile number and total length needed for each of the various applications.

The only thing that caused any real headache was a missing bit of chrome trim which needed to be made (sounds easier than it was).

I think Terry H spoke to me about the same car, another thing he mentioned was leaving bolts in the groove, that takes the chrome strip, for several days in order to stretch it enough to get the chrome in. My car came with a new set of front/rear rubbers from the club, the previous owner had a new screen fitted and the guy who did it gave up with them and used something else instead (along with a lot of mastic). It doesn't sound like a fun job.

[darylharris32]

CH57 & Mellow Yellow,

I'm pretty sure I have pictures of the cars that dad has done being re-built including those window rubbers! I remember helping dad fit the windows and all the bolts we used (I'll try and dig out some pictures!). I do recall the bolts being left in for a long while in the region of weeks!

Hope the guys who have the bodies off having them on a body jig to save any damage! Some thing Terry Harris built for the ones he's done! I'm sure he could build more if asked for!!!

Regards Daryl

[DonkeyApple]

GK52 said:

The front and rear window rubbers are available from the club. They are quite difficult to fit- the stringing method doesn't give a tremendously satisfactory result. Terry Harris advises putting the rubbers in hot water, then fitting them into the aperture first followed by the window. Best left to someone who does it all the time/ has done it before as the rubber goes over the head lining material! We learned of Terry's tip after installation first time around and it was necessary to mastic around the rubber to ensure a watertight seal. David Y advises that mastic is normally needed, although, it feels wrong when you hsbe restored a car to near concours condition.If you need there is a good guy who does this with a mobile compressor and a very fine nozzle based near Portsmouth.

The side windows, quarter-lites, boot rubbers etc. are available from woolies. David Y has the profile number and total length needed for each of the various applications.

The only thing that caused any real headache was a missing bit of chrome trim which needed to be made (sounds easier than it was).

Thanks. Are their trim parts or switchgear that you just cannot get today?

[GK52]

Most electrical and mechanical parts can be obtained relatively easily. The club is the best source of advice and parts. Things that are difficult (nigh impossible) to obtain are certain items of chrome trim. The club, again, can help with some, however, others may need to be made. Bob at Surrey Engineering made a rear ogee section that fits under the quarter lite out of stainless steel. His premises are also handily located next door to Douglas Metal Finishing (a chroming outfit). I don't have Bob's number to had, however, Douglas Metal Finishing Limited is:

Unit 3b Juno Way Industrial Estate
Juno Way
Lewisham
London SE14 5RW
United Kingdom

Tel : [phone]

[TX GT]

Mellow Yellow said:

Weather ensured a good turnout at the Breakfast Club, chassis 57 was also there so 2 GKs present. Got a lot of interest and photographed a couple of times too, see thead:

Breakfast Club 2013

The August (4th) event is Pre-'66 thoroughbreds, Ch81 and Ch88 attended last years Tax Free Sunday so maybe we can get a few more there, expect Huntsman will have his back on the road by then, too

Was hoping to be there with 74, but - alas - it wasn't to be.

Will pencil in the August event for another attempt...

[DonkeyApple]

GK52 said:

Most electrical and mechanical parts can be obtained relatively easily. The club is the best source of advice and parts. Things that are difficult (nigh impossible) to obtain are certain items of chrome trim. The club, again, can help with some, however, others may need to be made. Bob at Surrey Engineering made a rear ogee section that fits under the quarter lite out of stainless steel. His premises are also handily located next door to Douglas Metal Finishing (a chroming outfit). I don't have Bob's number to had, however, Douglas Metal Finishing Limited is:

Unit 3b Juno Way Industrial Estate
Juno Way
Lewisham
London SE14 5RW
United Kingdom

Tel : [phone]

Thanks again.

The garage in Kilburn is only a ston's throw away from me. If someone has their car their currently would they have any objections if I went and had a look and chat with the garage to get a better idea as to what I would be letting myself in for?

[GK52]

No modesty left for naked chassis. Off to be sandblasted tomorrow.

[Mellow Yellow]

Just stumbled across this, nice gallery of pics of Chassis 72 restoration

http://freespace.virgin.net/tim.tizard/GK72.com/ga...

[V10Mike]

That's a really great gallery -quite handy as reference material too! Nice job being done there -one day I'd like to take the body off mine and sort the chassis out properly.

[oneof99]

"To whom it may concern (interest)"...
http://freespace.virgin.net/tim.tizard/GK72.com/ga...

This gallery was produced by the owner of Ch72, Tim Tizard, between purchase (Aug 2004) and sale (Sept 2009). The new owner of this project (Rob) has yet to report further progress (!) Hint - Rob, We would love some news, IF / when you read this...

[V10Mike]

oneof99 said:

"To whom it may concern (interest)"...
http://freespace.virgin.net/tim.tizard/GK72.com/ga...

This gallery was produced by the owner of Ch72, Tim Tizard, between purchase (Aug 2004) and sale (Sept 2009). The new owner of this project (Rob) has yet to report further progress (!) Hint - Rob, We would love some news, IF / when you read this...

David, do you have contact details for "Bob"? I was looking again at those photos, and from the angle of the steering arms it looks as if the rack is mounted too high, which will give terrible bump steer (they should be parallel with the lower wishbones). Much easier to check and fix if necessary before it all goes back together.

After my caster correction my rack is too low, which means I have bump (over)steer at the moment -not pleasant!

[phj]

Well Chassis 48's body is off. As expected the front and rear of the chassis are not bad - the benefit of a few little oil splatters - but the outriggers in the centre section are not pretty, not are the rear trailing arm mounts. You can't easily see them with it all panelled up and with the body in place. If there were new chassis available it would probably be cheaper to go that route but its certainly repairable and so thats the next step. It will get fully dipped and hopefully will outlive me. Engine is not far off complete at Huddarts, Gearbox will be finished in the next week and the Diff is ready for collection. Next is sorting the instruments. I am in debate with myself about some JA Pearce wheels - the 15"s are apparently not far off being ready for casting and can be done in various widths and offsets so no need to disturb Mr Guigiaro's nice handywork. They could easily be 1/2" wider on the outset with the same 185 tyres and so no rubbing or mods. A small (lower) corner piece of the rear window trim took flight on the M4 when I was transporting the rolling chassis - its somewhere in a field near Bath....I have so far failed to identify a similar (same?) rear window on another car so it looks like it will have to be fabricated. I got all excited when I saw an Alfa 2600 Sprint (also Guigiaro in the same period), Iso Rivolta, Alfa Guilia Sprint, Rover P5B...it goes on. All part of the fun of course.

[Mellow Yellow]

soaringace said:

I would thoroughly recommend RH (part of the Equity group).

http://www.rhclassicinsurance.co.uk/

The GK premium was about £155 last time for unlimited mileage and any driver over 30. I also used them for my modern BMW and had to claim over £15,000 for a water-damaged engine, which they handled exceptionally well.

Alan

Thanks for this tip Alan I've just switched to these insurers, they quoted the same as you, £155 for 3000 miles for me and Mrs M. Policy has some nice features, e.g If they write off the car they will pay the agreed value but also let you keep the salvage FOC. Impressive that they also provide full UK and European Recovery in that price too.

[B7trr]

GK52 & phj please stop adding to my frustration! bodyshop injured chap has put a delay on another turtle losing its shell...

Mellow, I'm also using RH Classic for insurance and have no issues, very helpful Co

A gift from across the pond..

[Heaveho]

Is there any information regarding the cars that don't feature in the GK owners club hall of fame? How many are known to be lost through accident etc, and are there any that are known to still be alive, but not featured in the photograph archive?

I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with these things, it's the first time I've become interested in anything that could be regarded as a classic, if you'll excuse the terminology! I may even pursue a purchase if I don't get a grip!

[Huntsman]

Heaveho said:

Is there any information regarding the cars that don't feature in the GK owners club hall of fame? How many are known to be lost through accident etc, and are there any that are known to still be alive, but not featured in the photograph archive?

I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with these things, it's the first time I've become interested in anything that could be regarded as a classic, if you'll excuse the terminology! I may even pursue a purchase if I don't get a grip!

Join the club and you'll get a list of the whereabouts of the cars and their current status as best known, 1of99 will be along shortly with better number but of the 99 I think over 80 can be accounted for, not sure how many on the road.

If you keep a look out, and maybe put a wanted in the club mag you'ff find one, I think about 2 or 3 change hands most years. Good things come to those who wait!

[Heaveho]

Huntsman said:

. Good things come to those who wait!

The voice of experience!

It's a priorities thing at the moment, sadly. But you're right, if I want it badly enough it won't be insurmountable.

How you getting on, any progress to report on?