Chassis and Mechanical

The original chassis was rotten to the bone so many years ago dad got a recon one, modified for rotoflex, unknown to us it was a Spitfire chassis, however investigation said it wasn’t an issue, and given it was probably the best part of 15 or so years ago we were stuck with it. Anyway many years ago I painted it 2k satin black, however after looking at lots of pics it just didn’t look right, so after many hours of stabbed fingers and cut knuckles prepping the chassis it was given a coat of epoxy sealer and then 3 coats of blue.

With the chassis done it was time to get the majority of the old steelwork plated. In the old days it was cadmium, but given this is now banned for obvious reasons we had the items silver and coloured ( gold ) zinc passivation, the alloy parts were stripped and vapour blasted. The chap that does the plating did a great job and given the cost it was fantasitic value for the final finish

Some of the more observant will notice its an SU carb, given the years I have been working on these in the resto business this was a no brainer over the Strombergs
Bit of a write up on the carb conversion later
Sorry about the poor qualtity photos

I had had saved for this a set of Austin Princess callipers, we used to use them years ago for upgrade brake conversions, so rather than waste them it was decided to give them a go, and the fact we already had the mounting plates to suit. The calliper mounting bolts were early TR6, I think the reason being the threads are imperial to fit the Triumph lugs and the locating shank is metric to fir the calipers.

With new seals and pistons, bolts, bridge seals
And mounted
Modified hose bracket, giving a nicer bend on the hose on wheel turning
And the were comments on some sites that the calipers would hit the rims, not so, cleared and fine

Slow process of fitting up the chassis, all new or refurbed, inc some OE rotoflex units bought years ago, just hope they are ok after all these years in the loft.

Fuel tank prepped and 2k satin in readiness for fitting

The engine was already out but never stripped, so this seemed like the next logical thing to do, so on the engine stand for dissassembly

The engine its self wasn’t in bad condition, very little wear in the bores, pistons and rings fine, little end no sign of wear. The crank had a grind on mains and big ends and a set of thrust washers fitted. Rocker shaft was scored so this was renewed along with the mod for oil straight to the head. New timing chain, sprockets, oil pump and a complete set of gaskets, core plugs, water pump and shells all around.

So nothing left to do but to give it a coat of etch primer and satin blank

And for the first time in what is probably 15-20 years the body went on to the chassis, for the last time, hopefully. Don’t have any photos of the process but near enough. 

Already fitted master cylinders and rack buy this point the photo was take.
And defo the first time it had been on wheels in 15 years, tank and bumper fitted.

Engine and gearbox dropped in, took a bit of time working out the spacers as no manual or web info could advise, so it was a case of just working out what went where and what actually fitted best.

Adaptor plates made up to fit 1 3/4″ SU’s

And fitted new uprated alloy rad. Had a few issues with this such as the top hose that goes to the mall hose fitting on the thermostat housing was just completely the wrong angle and alignment, so we cut this off and had it re-welded on at the correct angle and had a small bead welded on to stop the hose pulling off under pressure, also while we were at it we had a boss welded into the bottom of the rad and the old drain tap fitted to help with draining.

Rad fitted prior to welding

As these carbs have the wax jets fitted and I havnt had the time to mod them or fit the earlt jets I made up a heat shield to try and keep some of the exhaust heat away from the carb jets and fuel bowls.

Added stb welded on for drain tap
And the top/bypass hose fitting cut off the radiator and rewelded correctly to take the strain off the hose and to stop it kinking

One item that seemed to give problems was the heater valve casting on the end of the inlet manifold. These were either continuously out of stock or some horrendous price, so we had a go at making one. The main body was turned and machined out of a bit of decent stock, same with the threaded boss, and the tubes were stock bar machined out to suit. Although given time I expect a suitable size tube for the hoses could have been found. The orientation of the pipes was just copied from the original  and then tig welded on. Bolted up with a new banjo bolt and washer and it worked perfectly. A small weld bead was added on to the end of the pipes to help with retention of the rubber connections when the system is hot and under pressure. The cost of the material was almost nothing is it was just left over bits, machining took about 4 hours given it was the first one and there was a bit of trail and fit, and to get it welded shouldn’t be expensive, and we have the added satisfaction we can now make more if required and there was demand.

I went for the std exhaust configuration, the twin rear pipes look nice but I just didn’t like the look of the pipes hanging so low, and the GT6 isn’t renowned for ground clearance. As they all seemed more or less from the same supplier one was ordered and bolted up, fine if it looked rubbish at the rear, wanted the main section to hit on the chassis and the drop under the diff to drag on the ground at every pebble.

Had to cut the pipe in several sections and then tack it to get the fit correct, bit of a trail and error, and a pain because every time I wanted to slip the pipes out the rear box had to be removed completely, a real pain as a one handed job

Prob cant see but the rear exhaust hanger from the diff bracket was about as effective as a bit RSJ. It was all the wrong shape and left no degree of flexibility for engine movement. The center section of the exhaust on the gearboxI made of the fixing as per the manual to support it here. On the diff carrier I mounted a universal mini exhaust bobbin and then strapped from this. The bobbin gives support, allows some degree of movement, is easy to replace, and best of all cheap. The dull patched on the exhaust are where the cuts and mitres were made then the weld coated with a rich zinc spray, at least that will help for a bit.