Anything and everything GT6.

I have a 1972 Mk3 which I bought last September. It subsequently failed its MOT last November and has been sat in the garage ever since. Over the winter I've fixed the brake problems, suspension problems and seat problems that caused the failure, as well as rebuilding the carburettors and releasing a seized valve.

Over the past month or so, I have been trying on various occassions to start the car and tune the rebuilt carburettors. Due to my inexperience with carbs, I ended up making many mistakes that have caused me to keep having to start from scratch again. This weekend I managed to start the car on Saturday and it sounded almost right. However, the weather turned and I had to give up before balancing the carbs. Today the weather had calmed down again and I went to have another try. This time the car wouldn't start at all. To begin with it was turning over but failing to fire, then just catching a couple of times before cutting out. I then found that the ignition light would not come on sometimes, but after a few attempts would turn over again. Sometimes, when the ignition light was on, I would hear a distinct click as I turned the key.

I had a look at the starter solenoid. I found 4.5 v across the WY and WR connections, but this faded off as the ignition light faded away. There was 12.5 v between battery and starter motor connections.

I stripped the starter motor. One spring seems to have stuck in behind one of the brushes. However, how would this cause the ignition light fading?

Having put all the bits back on the car, I had another go and got the car running for a short period, before it just suddenly stopped just as I was putting it in to gear to back it out of the garage.

I have been keeping the battery charged using a trickle charger.

Would replacing the brushes and springs on the starter motor be whats required, or could it be a faulty solenoid or ballast resistor?

Thanks,
Graham