Nick's US-spec GT6

[GT6 Nick]

The same day Dave finished his project, or at least drove it on the road, my new toy arrived. I'll be very surprised if it's on the road as quickly as Dave's!

 

After seeking advice from the learned heads here (http://www.sideways-technologies.co.uk/forum/Blah.pl?m-1231899117/) I bought it last month off eBay. The delay in transporting it up here was because I got a contractor (and now friend for life) to bring it up with one of his truck loads of earth-moving equipment. He joined the effort to fight the bushfires in Victoria, but I knew it was safely locked up in his yard. The photos are on my blog - http://geologist-abroad.blogspot.com/2009/02/gt6-arrives.html.

 

I didn't have time to go over it in detail today, but will give it a wash tomorrow and start working out what's needed. There really is very little rust, just flat, faded paintwork, crumbling interior and years of filth and neglect. One question - are the seat bases attached to the frames? Mine just lift out.

[Nick B.]

For a second I thought I was fam,ous, and you wanted to hear about my US-spec GT6 :B :B

 

The story is awfull familiar to me, I am sure you will enjoy the car. I am looking forward to some more pics

 

Cheers

Nick

 

(and here is the real Nick's US-spec GT6  ;D ;D)

 

[Gerard]

I'm jealous. I wish I could say "no rust"...

 

I really hope one day I'll get a ride in a GT6 before I'm incapable of getting in one ;D

 

Nick(V8.), do you mean the foam squab thing?

 

I imagine it sits on top of a load of straps (that are attached to the frame) and is held in place by the seat cover, therefore should lift out (if your cover is knackered).

 

Don't take my thoughts as gospel though.

[GT6_sleeper]

looks good nick,

the seat base clip's in at the back and has to latches that just wrap under the front part of the frame, so yes it just lifts out, this is correct, if you need pics let me know and i will take some tonight to show you what it should look like.  ;D

[GT6 Nick]

Sleeping Beauty was wheeled outside this morning for her first wash in years. Finally I can put my hands on her without leaving a clean spot! A couple of hours fiddling proved that the engine is free and turns over easily on the starter, but that the Stromberg carbs need rebuilding and the ignition system has died - possibly the fault that put her off the road. The radiator leaks spectacularly, the electrical system has been bodged, the windscreen is broken and the interior is history. Exactly what you'd expect from a 37-year old car driven until it died.

 

But as I said yesterday, the only rust is in the battery box and tailgate. The battery box will get replaced when the steering wheel is nailed on the other side of the car, and the tailgate can be fixed or a new one found. So, on to the strip down!

 

Nick B -  I love your car's alloys. Are they an American market option?

 

 

 

[Nick B.]

 

Nick B -  I love your car's alloys. Are they an American market option?

 

 

I have identified  the wheels from the triumphspitfire.com wheel infobase as being western alloys. I haven't got a clue on them, but quite like them  ;D

 

It seems that most cars from US comes with shot interior and buggered strombergs :-/  Mine is completely gone!

 

Look forward to see what you will do with your car

 

Cheers

Nick

[GT6Steve]

I love the pics.  Makes me nostalgic thinking how many unloved GT6's I've brought home in just such a condition.

 

On the other hand, contrary to the above, I hate those wheels.  Probably because they're common as muck here in the US and usually seen on MG B's.  They're normally painted blue in between the spokes.

 

But that's why ice cream comes in chocolate AND vanilla ;D

[Nick B.]

I love the pics.  Makes me nostalgic thinking how many unloved GT6's I've brought home in just such a condition.

 

On the other hand, contrary to the above, I hate those wheels.  Probably because they're common as muck here in the US and usually seen on MG B's.  They're normally painted blue in between the spokes.

 

But that's why ice cream comes in chocolate AND vanilla ;D

 

AArrgh, Damn you Steve ;D Did you have to mention the MGB part with those wheels!! The Mad Welder has been mocking me ever since about my GT6 being a MGB wannabe :o. But that is probably bevcause he secretly adores MGBGT (hehehe)

 

Cheers

Nick

 

 

[JMH]

Nop. You ARE a MGBwannabe , wannabeeee, wannnnaaaaabbbbbbeeeeeeeeeeeee  

[Nick B.]

Let me quote the mad welder at Gavnoe Autojumble 2000 "(offtopic)". At this time he got a distant look in the eye and(offtopic). Scary. That was the day I swore never to sniff welding paint again! ;D ;D ;D

 

Cheers

Nick(dots)

[JMH]

Oh, with age you always do remember what you WANTS to remember, right  

 

Scary? No way. DO please remember WHAT i was driving in that day (yes, YOUR rustbucket!)

THAT was scary  

PS! Hey, Nick, you DO have some grey hair now  (wheelchair)

 

Muhahahahaha  (guns) (2guns) (hang)(nuke)(tank)(behead)

[Nick B.]

OI - are you expecting any presents for your B-day sundday 8)   Then better consider your words carefully!!!! And grey hair - just growind into manhood  ;D

[GT6 Nick]

Last night was fun. I decided to spend an hour or two after work pottering in the garage, taking off various bits of trim - rear lights, bumper, glass and so on. Then a couple of mates turned up and offered to help, and before I knew it (well, a couple of hours really) we had the body off. Finding the two bolts under the tar seal on the rear parcel shelf helped, as did removing the radius arms and shockies. They're not connected to the shell on a Herald  :B  Team Triumph's efforts were rewarded with the traditional food of geologists - beer, pizza and beer.

 

The chassis looks to be in as-new condition, so I'll strip it down over the next few nights and get it ready for sandblasting. And then, as it says in the manual, reassembly is the reverse of the above.

 

I'll post more photos on the blog, here's a teaser.

 

(PS: The next few days could be fun, as there's a category 4 cyclone moving down the coast towards us. Oh well, more garage time...)

[GT6 Nick]

A right hand drive dashboard steel frame, right hand wooden dash panel and accelerator pedal arrived today from SteveA. It may have been delayed by a day by Cyclone Hamish as it waltzed down the coast (missing us completely), but made it here in only a week. A public thank-you to Steve!

 

The rear suspension has been stripped from the chassis. Years ago I was planning to put a 6-cylinder engine in my Herald Coupe (before I saw a V8 in one instead) and bought a 3.7:1 Subaru LSD and mounting kit for a Herald chassis. The ratio's right and those diffs were designed for WRX-level abuse. Having seen the pitiful state of the rotoflex couplings, and read the stories about weaknesses of the 3.27 back end, I've decided to fit that diff to the GT6. If I use Datsun sliding spline halfshafts, those two areas of weakness will have been eliminated. The current uprights, lower wishbones and spring will remain. So currently sniffing a set of sliding spline axles on eBay...

[GT6 Nick]

Almost down to the bare chassis now. The rear suspension came off yesterday, officially making it a two-wheeled wheelbarrow. I rolled that outside this afternoon, knocked out the engine's frost plugs and cleaned out the water gallery. It took a long time before the water ran clean, and quite a bit of poking with a screwdriver before anything came out of the drain plug at the back of the block. The lawn's a strange orangey colour too, but that's probably just coincidence.

 

Tonight I rolled the front wheels up on pavers, attached the engine to a pole slung between two 44-gallon drums, unbolted the engine mounts and rolled the chassis away. Much cheaper than hiring a hoist! With the engine sitting like a fat greasy lump on the garage floor, I was able to have a good look at it. The bad news is that the crank has about a half millimetre of endfloat as measured by my steel rule. From what I've googled, if the endfloat can be seen and heard, it's too much. I'd hoped to be able to run the engine as is for a year or two, but a worn bottom end spells 'rebuild'. Damn.  >

 

Bodywork first.

[Nick Jones]

Not alot of effort to whip the sump off and check/inspect the shells and renew as needed.  No need to do more unless you find anything nasty although a little "end float reduction" on the oil pump and new timing chain are also easy and worthwhile.  Have you had it running?

 

Nick

[GT6 Nick]

Not alot of effort to whip the sump off and check/inspect the shells and renew as needed.  No need to do more unless you find anything nasty although a little "end float reduction" on the oil pump and new timing chain are also easy and worthwhile.  Have you had it running?

 

Nick

 

No, the engine didn't run, due to knackered Strombergs. I'll eventually pull off the sump and check the bottom end, but I know that disturbing bearings usually means it's false economy not to replace them, and once I do that I'll want to do it properly. From there it's a slippery slope to a full house rebuild! One option might be to rebuild the bottom end with flat-top pistons, deck the block, fit TR5 camshaft and so on, and leave headwork for later. That should make an interesting comparison.

 

For now, though, I'll drag the engine into a corner and concentrate on the chassis, suspension and bodywork and leave the mechanical bits for the latter half of the year. It'll be much nicer to work on an engine while a painted, trimmed car sits waiting, than to work on the knackered bodywork with only a shiny engine to look at Our mining exploration project has 12 - 18 months to go, and I'd like to be able to drive the car south to Brisbane when we finish here. It's a goal, anyway.

 

V8 Nick

[GT6 Nick]

Today's adventure was dropping the chassis off at a local sand blaster. It was an odd scene even for rural Australia. He's a cross-eyed, one-toothed South African, working a couple of kilometres out of town in a hidden compound up a dirt track disappearing into the heat haze. Perfect snake country, with red rocks and soil, green-gray scrub and the heat blasting back from the white silica grit. It wasn't hard to find though, I just followed his pack of half-wild dogs. Or maybe they were following me...

 

[motov8id]

v8 nick did he send the dingos out to guide you.

[GT6 Nick]

v8 nick did he send the dingos out to guide you.

 

No, just a dozen normal dogs, and they weren't a welcoming committee! Here's a Dingo I saw this morning on site. Very wary and stalking the cattle, so the farmer may decide on lead poisoning.

 

Been having fun this evening. I removed the GT6's battery box and bulkhead shelf from the right hand side of the bulkhead and trial-fitted a new pedal shelf panel. It won't get welded until I've got the dashboard frame and new battery box ready as well - cheaper to hire a welder once.

 

I also stripped down the seats. The foam was completely horrible, the nastiest part of the strip-down by far. Some portions of the frame were rusty, so they'll need to be cleaned and repainted before new foam and covers go on. That bit can wait, replacing metal's more important than making nasty bits nice  

[GT6 Nick]

Can anyone confirm that Herald and GT6 front suspension turrets are the same? If my anorak still fits correctly, only the Spitfire had different turrets. I have a pair of painted Herald turrets in my spares collection - if they're the same as GT6 ones it'll save having to blast and paint the GT6 ones.

 

The chassis is back from the sandblaster and painted in POR-15 (so are my hands). Soon I'll be able to start bolting bits back on it  

[triumphlux]

Herald and Spit should be the same as well as Vitesse and GT6.

 

Check the RHS suspension turret as there should only be a difference on that side, distance from engine mount holes to suspension turret is shorter on 4 cylinder cars.

[GT6 Nick]

After a Parts Department sort out at my father's place in NZ, there's a pallet of parts due to arrive in Brisbane late next month. I uncovered a lot of bits opportunistically grabbed over the years, many cleaned and repainted before being put away for the future, and largely forgotten! The pallet includes a Type 9 gearbox, new 23-spline clutch, Subaru diff, Triumph Tune 330lb/in springs, NOS Monroe Herald rear shocks (which may fit the GT6, I'll wait and see), and shiny front wishbones and turrets.

 

One box contained 6 cylinder engine parts, as early plans for my Herald coupe included a PI engine. They include genuine VP2 010" main and big end bearings, new valve guides, and an 'F16' camshaft from Kelford Camtech in Christchurch. It's the same grind as in my 13/60, and certainly made a difference to a friend's 2000 Mk2:

 

Valve lift: intake 0.426, exhaust 0.422

Duration at 050: intake and exhaust 220

 

The TR5, by comparison, has 0.372 valve lift and 226 duration (http://www.hottr6.com/triumph/tr6cams.html), so less lift but slightly more duration. A longer duration cam may be worth trying at a later date, but for now I'll build it with what I've got.

 

I took the head off today to see what lurked beneath. It's a low compression US-spec engine, and turns out to have flat pistons in a recessed block, and the head casting  - 312388 - and machining numbers - 218255 - are the same as Mk2 PIs, 2500TCs, as well as the GT6 Mk2, which had domed pistons to raise the compression. The head numbers indicate a height of 3.400" compared with 3.300" for the Vitesse Mk2, so it'll need at least 100 thou shaved to get the compression up.

 

The pistons can be moved around in the bores, so a rebore is definitely on the cards. Interestingly, the outer 4 are stamped 'A' and the inner two 'B'. The photo shows the recessed bores - it looks like the head gasket's still in place, but that's the step in the block!

[GT6 Nick]

Time to confess. Up until last night I've been a bit smug, assuming that a GT6 restoration project will be rust free, and that the rebuild is nothing more than clean, replacve, recondition and repaint. Well, while cleaning the dirt and surface rust off the floorpans, I've found a few holes. They'll all be easily patched (once my welder is shipped over), but it's officially no longer a rust-free body.

[GT6 Nick]

More cleaning, more holes in the floorpan. It looks as though most of the rust is on the right hand side. There's a large hole for an aerial in front of the windscreen on the right side, so my guess is that rain leaked in on what was the passenger's side. It doesn't look too bad from the outside, but the inside floorpan is covered with surface rust, and the steel is far thinner than it should be, certainly too thin to weld to. Shining a light from underneath makes it look like steel lacework     And there's more under the seat...

 

Guess it does rain is sunny Southern California.

 

The safest fix will be to replace the whole thing. The inner sills and strengthening member look OK, so I think it'll just need a new floorpan. 100 quid isn't too painful but the freight fright will be  >