Monday 25 November 2013

The Rebuild Has Begun...

Apologies for no recent posts but work and Bird Watching have been taking up more time than anticipated, especially the birding as I was going to do less to concentrate on the car!
All the brightwork is now completed and ready to be put back on the car but that is a long way off yet, but as it is my job it got done early.
Some of the Chrome ready for fitting
The old rusted and holed boot floor has been removed and the new floor panel put in, the rear valance panel has been added and the lower rear wing quarters have been put in place and now the back end is beginning to look more like a car.
New boot floor in
Boot floor from inside
Lower rear Valance and boot floor
Boot floor and back of lower rear wings
Boot floor and back of lower rear wings molded in
New lower rear wing in place
Hole in wheel arch plugged

A hole in the wheel arch has been plugged and the floor under the driver’s side has been removed ready for the new panel to be welded in.
Off side (under drivers seat) floor removed
Off side (under drivers seat) floor removed
New floor panel ready to be welded into place

Saturday 20 April 2013

April 2013 update


Just a quick update on the progress of the Triumph. At the moment it is going pretty slowly with most of it in different boxes, parts off being Zinc plated, other parts being Chrome plated and waiting for different parts to arrive. I have just acquired some welding gas and will shortly be putting the spit jig together so I can work on replacing the floors and repairing any other corroded parts around the base of the wings and on the bonnet. Also due to a full time job, a family and the bird watching only small amounts of work are being carried out at the moment but new and replacement parts are arriving and preparing and rubbing down of parts is in hand.

Some of the brightwork ready for stripping, polishing and re-chroming

Some of the brightwork ready for stripping, polishing and re-chroming

Box of parts to be Zinc plated

A few bits waiting for cleaning and zincing

A few bits waiting for cleaning and zincing

A small hole in the corner of the roof section

Some of the stored parts covering my Z400

Parts ready for sand blasting and powder coating

Sunday 10 March 2013


Born in LeMans
 
 
Only a year after the Spitfire went into production in 1962, Triumph built a prototype 'Spitfire GT', with a smart fastback coupe body style.
Within months this one-off car was further modified, with a six cylinder engine- and the GT6 project got under way.
As a prelude, 'works' Spitfires with GT6-style bodies raced at Le Mans in 1964 and 1965, before the original GT6 road car was introduced in October 1966. These first cars used modified versions of the Spitfire chassis and suspensions, but shared almost all of their running gear - 2-litre six cylinder engine, all-synchromesh gearbox with optional overdrive, and a more robust rear axle -with the Vitesse 2-litre model.
Because of the new car's character, which combined the sleek styling, a silky-smooth six-cylinder engine, high gearing, and a characteristic exhaust note, with a well-equipped two-seater cabin and a lift-up rear hatch, the new GT6 was often dubbed a 'mini-E-Type'. Triumph was happy to develop this image for the new car, wanting it to be seen as an altogether more up-market model than the Spitfire. The original cars, built until the autumn of 1968, had 95bhp 2- litre engines, and could reach about 105mph. All had the same type of polished walnut interior, and a large carpeted space behind the seats. Although both were optional extras, many cars were sold with overdrive, and with centre-lock wire spoke wheels.
Although the GT6 was an immediate sales success, there was criticism of the car's swing-axle rear suspension, and of the poor ventilation of the small cabin. Major improvements to the roadholding could only be made by a complete re-design, so for the GT6 Mk2 Triumph abandoned the swing-axle system, substituting a new layout which kept the transverse leaf spring, but also used a reversed lower wishbone: wheel camber changes were much reduced.
The GT6 Mk2 was a much-improved car. Not only did it have much better roadholding than before, but there was a new type of cylinder head and more peak power (104bhp instead of 95bhp), a new facia style, cabin air outlets and a heated rear window glass both helping to improve the ventilation.
Styling retouches for the Mk2 included a raised front bumper and Rostyle wheel covers, while from late 1969 more improvements included reclining seats and a new-style steering wheel.
From late 1970 the GT6 Mk3 took over, this sharing many styling changes with the latest Spitfire, the Mk IV. Although this was basically the same shape as before, almost every external panel was changed and was more smoothly detailed than before. Perhaps this was aerodynamically smoother than before, for the car's top speed rose to 112mph.
Raised panel joints on front and rear wings had been eliminated, the side window profile was altered, and there was now to be a sharply cut-off rear panel. Yet another wheel style was chosen, and the front bumper was closely integrated into the new-shape front pressings. The Mk3 was very popular in the UK, where sales rose sharply, but less so in the USA, where new exhaust emission and other safety regulations degraded the performance and hit all British sports car sales. For 1973 there was one final change to the GT6's chassis specification, where the latest Spitfire type of 'swing spring' type of swing-axle rear suspension took over from the unique 'lower wishbone' type, but relatively few of these cars were ever made. The last GT6 of all was built in November 1973.

This was copied from the Rimmer Brothers website the source of all the Triumph parts that may be needed.
Boot floor

Stipped out

Underseat floor

Shell on chassis with engine

Fully stripped shell

Underside view showing miriad of holes

Engine and chassis

Twat pretending to drive and perhaps where it all should go behind!!!

The bare chassis

Tuesday 5 March 2013


 

In The Begining

 
I have always wanted to take time out and restore an old car. The first attempt was with a huge Jaguar 420G limousine, the slightly blinged version of the MK10 however, I had nowhere to keep it at the time and there was far too much needed to be done and although I had done almost all the bright work I never got round to finishing and sold it on. Next project was a Daimler SP250 Dart which was basically a shot body on a broken chassis with some engine parts missing and no interior all for £2000. I bought a complete windscreen surround and radiator grille for a further £600 and set to work re-chroming but, alas, as with the Jaguar it never went any further even though it was in my garage. I managed to sell the car on for £2050, a slight profit and, sold the now refurbished radiator grille for £700 and the windscreen surround for £650 so came out ahead. Then several years ago while watching re-runs of shows like Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Champions and The Saint a car came on to the screen pulling up outside of a building and a lady got out that caught my eye. That, I told myself, is the car I want. After a while searching internet sources and books for reference I found out the car in question was a Triumph GT6. Now I can’t quite remember what one of the TV shows it was on but I am pretty sure it was The Saint and all I remember was that it was white but not what model it was. Next I started looking in the small ads and on the internet for Gt6’s for sale while researching what models there were, how many were made etc etc etc. I personally like the front end of the MK1’s for the lower bumper with the open fronted grille but prefer the styling of the MK2 and did not like the MK3 at all so, I made my mind up that I would purchase a MK2 and completely restore it from top to bottom and paint in old English white. At the beginning of 2013 a nice looking white 1968 MK2 was up for sale on EBay and after a few bids and a phone call the little beauty was in my possession. 
The GT6 as i first bought it

The GT6 as i first bought it

The GT6 as i first bought it

The smooth 2.0L six cylinder engine

 

GT6 history;