Hi everyone,
I have been inspired big time by this sight sinse I found BritishV8.org. A little about me.... I have restored a TR-250 in my high school days back in the 70's....since then Brit cars run through my blood. I might be able to find some old pics and post them here.
The mods that I did in the 70's ...triple Webers with the balanced motor, shaving 87 thousand's off the head and making shims under the rocker stand with oil hole,to keep the geometry correct in the valve train assembly made one potent 250. Also had the old overdrive tran with 2nd 3rd 4th over. Had a friend that had a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 auto dual four barrel setup.... The 250 left him sitting at the stop light smoking his tires. So we tried a little race starting at 40 mph...the little Brit 250 at the beginning lagged back 1/2 a car length at stayed there until 90 mph before the next stop light. Needless to say my friend was a little upset...but said wow.
As of now working with my 74 tr6 installing an 5.7 all aluminum fi ls1 out of a 2002 Camaro Z28 with t56 tranny. Like I said inspired,... hoping to finish before the next get together in WI.
Thanks to everyone's post here with their conversions.
Best Regards to all here at v8.org,
Calvin
(Moderator decided to re-title this thread and make it "sticky" on 11-26-2008)
(Being sticky made sense when this thread was getting frequent updates. Not so much now... 11-12-2013)
A LS! in a TR6 should be quite a car. Welcome aboard.
Here is where I'm at with the fun of building a car and even idea's.
Some Pics
Talked with a Joe at ststurbo.com about using a remotely mounted in the rear turbo system that is universal and can be used by any of us...will make scary but excitingly fast 6.
Thankyou Ed for the welcome.
Also talked with Ken H for quit awhile this morning shooting idea's back and forth. His setup for engine is real close to mine:-)
Stll inspired with a grin from ear to ear
I noticed when taking pictures...engine pic shows... I need to switch the top suspension folcrum pin 180 deg oops...common mistake.
car1.jpg
watercover4.jpg
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enginepic.jpg
Thanks to Curtis J for all the time put in this site, need to pull credit card out soon.
"74 tr6 installing an 5.7 all aluminum fi ls1 out of a 2002 Camaro Z28 with t56 tranny."
Awesome!
This is the combo I would love to see in an MGB that has been widened 6".
More pics and setups used for others to see, Hope I can inspire more here as I have been inspired.
CVAxleFromRichardGood300+hprated.jpg
I will probably use these for the power issue, not wanting to go with the straight axles 8", 9" etc.I like the independant suspension. The binding that is caused by the stock splins in the half shaft under power load.
DiffPic.jpg
I'm using a R200 out of a Q45 Nissan with 3.54.1 ratio, in this pic you can see the adapters from Richard Good. I went to the local recycle yard and purchaced the R200, rebuilt, new correct gear oil for lsd ,and new seals. I purchased Richard Goods adapter kit (Very well Made by the way) for 6 bolt flange (other R200's are 5 bolt flange with different gear ratio's)
Goodpartsadapters.jpg
Here is a close up with Richard Goods adapters.
goodpartsbracketforR200.jpg
Front shot of some very well made brakets from Good Parts. I use the original flange that came with the R200 instead of stock flange.
By the way Carl F, Thanks for looking and you have a very sweet looking MGB there (Nice Color). LS1 in an MGB.. very cool luv to see someday soon. The saying "Just do it" hehe.
Welcome to our world of fast,safe, fun British motoring!
I also install the RGood differential upgrade after I busted my stock unit.( but it lasted 2 seasons)
I installed the rear disc brake conversion and then proceeded to blow out a HUB, which messed up my brake bracket, so I'm making more.
Your ride should be OUTSTANDING! Keep us up to date!
reardiscbrakes-24.jpg
Here is another view on the swing arm. I used an old swing arm, off the car to mock up everything.
reardiscbrakes-19.jpg
Thanks Don,
It never crossed my mind to have the calipers mounted on the bottom side of the trailing arm. Nice picture of the bracket setup.
I will email you soon Don to reply.
I have found a silk sceen picture that was made in black & white of the TR-250 that was completed back in 1982 or 3. I had painted the car with 6 coats of laquer Forest Green. Between coats of paint... hand sanded with 800 grit wet sand paper. The last 4 coats were clear... hand rubbed out in straight lines of the body... so no circle marks would show with direct sun light. I was able to see the pours of my skin on my face...It was like a mirror.
I took a picture with my digital camera of the silk screen picture and then reduced the size so I could put it here on the net. This car was totaled in the back end by a drunk man in a truck about two years later. (Bummer) The rims I still have and will be using them for now with the new build. I did purchased 4 out of 12 that were made at that time in 1979. They are 15X7 and very light.
The soft top had a clear plastic sun roof sewn in. The lever shocks had the competiton valve springs in, which made it tight in the rear...front and back sway bars. If you powered hard into the corner it would push...then let off the throtle it would dive back into the corner fast. A very fun car to drive on the mountain roads. This car ate up BMW's, v8 Monza, 455 trans am...it was a blast.
Guess I need another one can you tell.....feverishly working on the 74 :-)
68TR-250in1983.jpg
OH, Yes, You have it real bad! Got get another!
We go to all lengths to feed our passions.
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Calvin. I have a question about your half-shafts. It looks like you are using the stock shafts with an adapter ring to match the 5 or 6 bolt flange on the diff, is this correct? So then the R200 used a CV shaft? I'm just wondering how hard it would be to mate the inner half of the CV to an outer CV from a T-bird. What is the diameter of the axle shaft?
Jim
I have a question about your half-shafts. It looks like you are using the stock shafts with an adapter ring to match the 5 or 6 bolt flange on the diff, is this correct?
Yes that is correct.
So then the R200 used a CV shaft?
That is a good question. I'm not sure if the Q45 did or not.
I'm just wondering how hard it would be to mate the inner half of the CV to an outer CV from a T-bird. What is the diameter of the axle shaft?
The TR6 shaft is 1" 155 thousands dia at the spline male side.
Here is pic of R200 flange and adapter taken apart.
Q45flange.jpg
Goodflange.jpg
TR6sideofflange.jpg
Hope this answers the question for you.
dwtr6v8 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Welcome to our world of fast,safe, fun British
> motoring!
>
> I also install the RGood differential upgrade
> after I busted my stock unit.( but it lasted 2
> seasons)
>
> I installed the rear disc brake conversion and
> then proceeded to blow out a HUB, which messed up
> my brake bracket, so I'm making more.
>
> Your ride should be OUTSTANDING! Keep us up to
> date!
>
Interesting setup you have for your rear disc brakes... You might want to check mine out: http://www.bowtie6.com/brakes.htm
Make sure you click on the Gallery!
regards,
joe
72 TR6 - CC77169
www.bowtie6.com
Nice to see you here Joe.
Calvin
Bowtie6,
I know you from 6-Pack and have had a few discussions with you. I went another direction with the rear disc brakes as I did not want to fab the coil overs.
Here's another shot showing how placement under the swing arm allows me to use the e-brake.
Calvin,
I'll check your email out. With Christmas around the corner, I have been distracted from the garage.
reardiscbrakes1.jpg
Have been working on the rear suspension and trailing arm modifications.
Trailingarmhelicoiled38ths.jpg
Drilled out stud holes, installed 3/8" heli-coils 3/8"x 24 thead. Did this with hand drill being careful to drill straight in.
Trailingarmbottomsidecoilovermount.jpg
This was fairly easy to install the shock bracket.
Traingarmtopsidecoilovermount.jpg
Top side of bracket in spring hole. Notice the filing that needed to be done for shock movement.
coiloverkit.jpg
Revington TR rear coil over shock conversion. The shocks are adjustable for how stiff you want your ride.
I welded in the triangle pieces of metal for the spring towers for better support and round pieces for top of shock mount.
Soon will have pictures of strengtening welds for diff mounts. I finished them today just need to take the picture.
The first part of Jan I will receive the CV axle/shaft from Richard Good. Moving right along.
Progress with coil over shock and re-inforcement welds.
coilovershockandreinforcementfordiffmounts.jpg
This picture shows coil over shock installed with re-inforcement welds on both diff towers. The front diff mounts underneath have been boxed in all 4 sides. From my passed I found....the front passenger side diff mount will be the first one that breaks from downward torque. Also in the front suspension the back lower wishbone mounts will rip outward from over size tires or hard cornering. I re-inforced all up in front as well.
holeforshockadjustment.jpg
Drilled out trailing arm and longated for Allen wrench to fit through ....to adjust shock stiffness. I think there is 15 settings. The instructions call for uprated springs to be at least 450lbs or higher.
boltinmotormountcrossmember.jpg
This is the bolt in cross member to re-inforce the motor mounts. The oil pan will clear this ...can probably leave this in when installing the motor.
rear240sxdiskwithstuds.jpg
The 240sx disk brake mounted with the 3/8"x 24 thread instead of 5/16" X 24 studs. Next is the make the brackets for the calipers. I will be cutting off the old rubber stop bracket that was used with the original lever shock. I need the clearance for the rear sway bar. The kit from Richard Good calls for installing the adjustable sway bar bracket on the bottom spring hole of trailing arm. The coil over shock now in its place. I will move the mount back on the trailing arm so that the sway bar still will have the four settings.
Have a great safe Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone.
Front Brake conversion and link on how to do it.
http://www.vtr.org/maintain/brake-conversion.shtml This is the copyright article on how the conversion can be done.
Did this and it was very easy to do the conversion.
Here are some pictures when completed.
FrontshotofToyotacaliperconversion.jpg
This is the front shot showing the braided line being used. Can also see the brake dust sheild fitment. Just had to trim corners off no big deal.
Toyota834x4caiperconversion.jpg
Shows the original correct year bolts to hold caliper in. The wheel used here is 15"x7"
Toyota834x4caiperconversiondustplatecut.jpg
Shows the dust plate cut.
Picture of body on with sawsall cuts. Body slice and dicing time.
Bodycuts.jpg
I will probably do the same kind of shape as the passenger side fender so it will look like it was meant be that way (for a V8)
headerdriverside.jpg
Header driver side.
transandbodymeet.jpg
Need to raise drive shaft tunnel about 1 to 1 1/2" to clear for big aluminum drive line.
The headers with these cuts can be taken in and out. Headers are from Hooker and they are block hugger for the LS1. This is the passenger side.
Rear Sway bar mounts fabed out of angle iron. Still can adjust sway bar and disk brake adapters from Don Watson can fit underneath or on top I think either way using e-brake setup.
rearswaybar.jpg
rearswaybar1.jpg
rearswaybar2.jpg
The sway bar is higher up mounted here than if mounted in the spring hole...about 2 to 21/2" below frame. There isn't any obstuctions in the way for the U-bolts to attach for frame mount.
Updates on rear disk brakes and caliper painting.
1. Used 1987 (after March 87) Nissan Maxima brake bracket and caliper(eailer than march has less parts inside caliper).
2.Used 1992 240sx rotor. On the inner hole that goes over the hub...had to take off about 68 thousands...I just took old drum and the rotor to someone that had a lathe...match for hub size.Took a small wheel grinder to the inside of the rotor to clean it up so it would clear the outside diameter of the hub.
3. The bracket that came with the Maxima caliper...for the e-cable...was pointing upward towards the body. I took a bracket that came off a 240sx caliper and installed it on the maxima caliper. This changed the direction how the e-cable went from the caliper.
It ended up going towards the differential.
4. Used the 240sx e-brake cable.
5. Rebuilt both Maxima calipers.
Note: Maxima calipers have a bigger piston than the 240sx calipers.
Pictures show parts that were changed off the caliper.
New lowering springs all the way around . The other ones would have made it look like a 4 wheel drive. I don't suggest purchasing HD springs at stock height. It will elevate your car about an inch.
All calipers painted by hand with caliper paint. This with make it easier to keep them clean looking.
Rear sway bar mount on frame.
Still waiting for CV/axles from Good Parts.
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More pictures.
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Did a litle bending on the bracket for the cable alignment.Plenty of clerance all around.
Picture251.jpg
Don Watson's brackets saved me tons of time not having to mic it out and take to a machine shop. I could have made these myself...have about 8 years of machining under my belt...but don't have access to any cnc milling machines.
More pictures.
Picture261.jpg
Picture248.jpg
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Looking Good! Congrats my friend!
"Thanks again Don"
OK ....Picture shows rear stock height HD spring on left from TRF...RGoods HD lowering spring on right.
A NO brainer for me which one will give you better handling car....Go 4 wheeling look or nice sports car look.
These are the back springs in these pictures below...In the morning the front will go in...with the LS1 and transmission in the frame and mounted...the suspension was all the way up...I was standing on the front of the frame bar before the steering rack was on and moving it up and down with my weight.... barley could get the suspension to go down. I weight 212. Thats just not right or this LS1 engine is way lite.
I believe the front will go down where it needs to be with RGoods front springs.
Picture267.jpg
Picture266.jpg
Try this, lay a garbage bag under each tire before you put the weight on them and then bounce it. The tires have to move sideways a little to let the suspension work and the lower profile tires resist this more than the original ones.
Your LS1 may be as light as the original six. If that turns out to be the case, perhaps the Roadmaster project could make use of your spare springs. We have a set of TR6 springs which are taller than MGB and they may be just right, or they may need to be stiffer. We won't know know until Dale finishes with the engine.
Jim
Jim...Great idea ..I will try that once I get the Ls1 back into frame along with tranny.
I have had these (rear) TR6 comp springs since late 70s and never installed them..the kind that are not finished at one end (cut to length type).... In the picture below next to standard TRF HD (rear springs). Standard TR6 spring (rear) and the TRF HD (rear) spring will give about an 1" higher ride because of being HD in the TR6.
Picture270.jpg
This picture shows that the comp springs are larger diameter. Comp spring is 4" 290 diameter. The spring thickness is 600 thousands. The TRF is 560 thousands (spring thickness)and diameter of almost 4" or 3" 967 tho. Rgoods front spring is 536 thousands thick and diameter of 4" 70 thousands.
I also have a full set of stock front and back springs for the TR6. I did at one time stand the TRF and stock spring together and they are the same height.
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It sounds like you have a good selection to play around with. First chance I get I'll measure wire diameter, coil diameter and height of the ones I have on hand.
Jim
Installing RGoods Axles with CV joints.
I had to take out the differential to intstall the new CV axles. Took a drill at fast rpm with a 4" dia 80 grit sandpaper wheel,cleaned out the trail arm axle hole, so CV axle wouldn't touch...a very close tolerance. Also had to use a dremel tool with mini grinding wheel, shave off washer and allen bolt, that held on CV boot cover. Drilled out new hub to 3/8ths for trailing arm hub studs. They came with 5/16ths holes.
AxlesTR66.jpg
After cleaning out. Did not touch where the hub seats into trailing arm.
AxlesTR67.jpg
Before cleaning out.
AxlesTR65.jpg
AxlesTR64.jpg
AxlesTR62.jpg
AxlesTR61.jpg
Can see the difference in stock hub to the CV hub. The allen bolts that secured the CV boot were ground down to match the diameter of the CV housing. This eliminated the majority of the rubing inside the trailing arm.
Don W ,...the hub will go all the way into the trailing arm passed the brake brackets. Good to have the hub inside the trailing arm instead of the brake bracket only.
AxlesTR63.jpg
By the looks of this hub, it was a 5 bolt pattern made into a 4 bolt pattern. One on the stud holes were drilled out for tighening hub nut with socket.
AxlesTR613.jpg
Don't need to use the adapter with the CV axles. Made for the 5 bolt and 6 bolt pattern of the R200 differential.
AxlesTR616.jpg
The 2 stainless steel 3/8ths fuel line and return sticking out. Need to finish installing high pressure inline fuel pump with before and after fuel filters that are inline also. Need to feed the Ls1 with high pressure lines, no barbed fitting or hoses. Will be using all AN fittings.
AxlesTR619.jpg
As seen here a very tight fit, maybe about 100 thousands clearance.
AxlesTR617.jpg
AxlesTR614.jpg
I like this better than the stock axles. I feel more confident now with the all that has been done in this area ( coil overs, disk brakes, CV axles, lowering springs, Goodrich braded brake lines, and rear adjustable sway bar). The over all difference in weight was about 3 pounds heavier. I can live with that.The rotor on the floor needs the 2 hold down screw holes drilled and the other side rotor also.
*Note: Don't have the Goodrich braded brake lines installed when you do any welding on your frame. They will ground out. Yes I did fry one of them, got smoking red hot. I did replace the smoker. Was welding and smelled something burning, not a normal welding smell, took face sheald off and saw the line glowing pretty good, my remark "new one coming up".
Hi Calvin,
Absolutely beautiful work so far! You're inspiring me to really get on with the research for my own V8 swap!
I sent you an email a little while ago regarding a different question, but just looking over all your pics again, something occured to me.
Probably a silly question, but have you trial fitted where the seats are going to be with the body on the chassis? Looking at the very first pic, it looks like the shift lever is going to be really far down, near your waist almost? I measured the t56 at the salvage yard and thought it might be too long, is why I ask.
Keep rockin and good luck!
Hi Martin, and welcome to BritishV8.org.
I recieved your PM with questions? Maybe I can answer some of those questions here for you.
"Yes" the T56 transmission in a loooong one. I figured the shifter would be set back about 10 (corection 8 1/4" ) inches from stock (shifter handle). I found a part that I just recieved in the mail yesterday that will help that measurement a little. Taking where I positioned the Ls1 in the engine bay. I used Corvette dampaner instead of the Camaro dampaner pullies. I was able to move the engine forward another 1"1/2 closer to the steering rack mount bar. The front Corvette dampaner pully is 1/2" away from the steering rack frame bar. I wanted belt clearance, for changing belt for later use.
The Transmission mounting bracket from the 74 TR6 is stock, mounted to the T56 using the original rubber mount(One bolt) from the Camaro fit perfectly. It used the back 2 holes in the stock frame mount of the TR6. No modifications at all.
The stock oil pan 2002 Camaro I used, was 1/2 inch below frame crossmember. My hood will clear the engine with no cutting of the hood. Ken H didn't need to cut his hood either I believe. He just did it for more air flow.
I have some pictures that Ken H sent me that I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I posted here of the same thoughts I had (shifter handle).
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http://www.hotrodlane.cc/
I found this shifter relocater on the site above about half way down the page in the middle. It moves the shifter location 4'' and 1/8th forward which would make that about 6' (corection 4") back from stock. This would be liveable for me.
IMG_5708.JPG
This is Kens car with seats in. He is running the T56 also. I have the 2002 T56 and he has the 1994 T56 using a slave cylinder for clutch. The 2002 just has a braded line attached at the side of case.
Ken had to move the E-brake back a little as I will also, not a problem.
I think with the shifter relocater, mine will be a little closer to the dash than Kens.
I will post some more when I get back. Need to pick up Brenda from the office today. "soon"
Calvin
Picture042.jpg
This picture was taken in the dark as you can see, but the oil pan was only a 1/2' below the cross member. My exhaust will be lower than this going under the transmission area at 2 1/2' dia all the way back into the T shirt area of the frame where I will stuff a 2 1/2" X pipe inbetween the frame rails for duals going out the the back of car around the differential area.
IMG_3443.JPG
AS for Ken, I believe everything fits under the hood with this picture. With stock FI you don't need to mess with intake /carburation clearance for the hood bonet.
Picture026.jpg
This picture shows the 1/2 " away from the frame (under idler pully). If I was to go futher forward, there would be a problem with the water pump area, clearance with the frame cross member in front of the engine, that ties the suspension towers together.
Also in this picture you can see where the original wear was with the belt on the water pump pully. With the Corvette dampaner pully you can see where it did move it back closer to the block some.
IMG_5051.JPG
Here is a picture of Kens car and his dampaner pully area and frame clearance from under the car looking up.
Hope this has answered some questions Martin.
Calvin
"OK", my brain has been thinking lately, have another 150HP than I was running before with this frame? Hmmm! I need to strengthen the frame more for the Ls1's torque or later when we all want more power.
So have been adding some well needed bracing to the frame. Also ran into some issues with new bushings cracking before even on the road. I bought all Nylatron bushings for front a back suspension. (crappy bushings#!~*%).
128.jpg
The top bushing was cracked to the center (No good).
126.jpg
Here this shows the Nylatron bushings in for the swing arm mount. These bushings will not deflect (a must for Ls1 torque). This is the same material that is used in both front and back sway bar bushings.
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This shows almost 1/4" thick walled stainless(corection steel tube) steel tube 1 1/2" dia with 3" square plates at the ends, all welded together at the transmission mount area.
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Another picture of the plate and bar welded in.
124.jpg
OK here, made plates for both sides of the frame. I drilled 1" holes in the plate where the spot welds are(bottom pic). Then welded in the holes and along the outside of the plate all the way around. Cleaned up with grinder then painted. I only did the top side of the frame. I don't want a heavy metal monster in the end. This plate is thicker than the frame material.
On the other side of the trailing arm bolts, I installed a 1/4" steel plate in the section all the way accross so that the four bolts have more to bite up to. *Note: Got this idea From Joe on bowtie6.com...(credit due to Joe's rebuild site and my reaserch for wanting a stronger TR6 Frame)...(Ratco is another strong frame). Also Don W sent me a pic from a rolling BMW engine conversion in a tr6 frame.
123.jpg
Did the same for this are on both sides of the frame (Only on top). If for some reason I need to do the bottom, I can do anytime later.
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Boxed in the front differential vertical support section all the way up inside to the top with a flat plate. Also ran weld on the top of the frame box. The factory only ran a weld on the outside front and back on the vertical section,and then down the outsides. Not much weld to hold the whole section at all. The vertical section is thin metal. Sorry my cats whiskers got in that pic (he was bugging me while I was taking pics).
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Here is the other side (driver side).
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The rear differential tower is weak in my mind. I have plumbers hands and have a 150psi grip. I put both of my hands in this area of the arch (front to back) and squeezed hard, was able to see the metal move easily. Not good.
So I made a plate here for both sides on the back side. Welded to the other plate I put in before across the back, and welded to the outside frame rail. The other side has the original lever shock mount which helps strengthen that side.
118.jpg
I boxed in between rear diff mounts in the rear (bottom, front, and back).
119.jpg
Before putting the diff back in and CV axles, I took a hammer and taped areas to hear by sound a before and after, when done, sounded alot more solid.
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Nylatron bushings for the front are next with a grade 8 bolts.
Calvin,
I'll say it just once -- you are a freak, but a freak that does some seriously awesome work. Just great ideas for the chassis reinforcement. I've been all over this site and never seen anything like that yet. Thanks also for the shifter tip, that will definitely work.
I'll write again later, but just wanted to say that I'm impressed!
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This is the X pipe I'm using. A 2 1/2" dia X. I cut off the welds on the width of the furthest width of weld. Then re-welded with helium/arigon mixed gas and switch the polarity of my welder for SS pipe, and ss wire (dual welder). In the end result, it was flush with the exit pipes on the outside. I was able to stuff this X-pipe in the T-shirt area of the frame where the original exhaust ran through before the diff area.
106.jpg
I have both sides done with the co2 sensor bungs welded in (I may redo these because I used flux wire first time around). Have the gas now and welding ss pipe with gas mix, leaves a clean weld.
Just to clarify, I meant freak in all the best ways. As in you're going ballistic on this project and its awesome.
Thanks again for the info.
--Martin
I wish I could think of some way to "flag" this message thread or to provide some sort of special award/recognition... because there are so many exceptional photos over here. AWESOME!!!
On most message boards, I wouldn't bother to look at a thread titled "Another New Member saying Hi".
Have you guys seen the TV show "Flight of the Conchords"? There was a particularly hilarious episode where David Bowie appeared in a "freaky freaky dream" sequence... well, this thread is a freaky freaky dream! (Yes, in "all the best ways"...) At their best, hot-rods transcend "craft" and become "art". That's what we're witnessing here.
You might want to take a look at this: www.bowtie6.com - a lot of what I see here has already been done...
The rear disc brake setup has been on my TR6 for over two years now. No problems at all and it works flawlessly... I did not want the extra weight of the V8, so my bowtie6 uses a 60* V6. I've made a number of improvements to the engine such as a COMP hot cam, roller rockers, modified intake (using an LT1 throttle body), new lifters, pushrods, springs, etc.
I noticed a similarity on the gussets added to the frame to the ones on my TR6... You can see all about them on my website. The shocks/springs conversion here is very interesting, but if you want to see something unique, check out the adjustable coilovers on bowtie6...
Check it out...
joe
PS Calvin, your ride is looking good...
Calvin,
I was staring to think you had dropped off the list based on your last posting, but now I know why.
You have beeeeeeeeeeeen very busy!
Outstanding!
Curits, Is there a way we can archive this thread from time to time and when Calvin has her done, repost the content to "How it was Done"???????
Joe,
Terrific work! Great ideas all around. Thanks for the pics and descriptions of the work.
You definitely get the welding award of the year! That TIG work is some gooood stuff.
--Martin
:-)... I do appeciate the words (freak,awesome,looking good,outstanding, impressed, and "flag" this message) because it shows me I'm accomplishing what I set out to do in posting for others to see. I want the web lookers to know "you" can do this too with your own cars.
I'm a crappy speller, that has a 1 car garage and some hand tools from "Harbor Freight". I don't even have a drill press, made all my metal cuts with a sawsall or a jig saw or hand drill, have several different grinders, and a dual welder.
I have a 12 megapixel camera and photoshop CS2 software that does take time to reconfigure all pics, but it is worth it to me to share and get others involved in their own british cars and the comerodery that this site has to offer. It is nice when you are all alone working in the garage with the project, and you can post here or other sites and get other peoples feedback in several ways.
Joe , It would be way Cool if you would do a "How it was done" for the bowtie6 here in British any engineV8.org
As for Martin "Do it" we are all here for Ya.
I will post later some other mods I'm doing later today.
Calvin
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Finished nylatron bushing installments yesterday. I could'nt believe after un-bolting the ball joint, the movement from side to side that the red bushings allowed (soft and gushy and would bind). After the nylatron bushing were installed, checked movement again, an only up and down movement and smooth (big difference).
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I installed a quick ratio steering rack, which makes a 3.5 turn (from left to right) to a 2.5 turn. My old rack, I rebuilt but was still pretty worn out (was'nt smooth turning). I did some research through my contacts and was not able to find the UK made. This rack and all made now are from South America in Argentina. The cheapest price on the martket is through victoriabritish.com.
Just above the rack you can see the front swaybar mounted above the front skid plate. I did'nt like the fact of bumping the front swaybar on parking curbs anymore (happened to many times with the TR250). "Yes" this idea was from Ken H and remembered this one and applied to mine.
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Slotted skip plate and made a small plate to reinforce what was cut out, used 4 bolts to hold it in. The other side tow circle had been ripped out, so took and made a little piece to match and welded in and ground down.
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Richard Goods front swaybar mounted in the same holes (just on top of the skid plate). The only problem with this, it throws the measurement of the swaybar back a little, so link is not straight down from wishbone bracket.
Note* These pics are 34 megs in size (4000 pixel) reduced down to 349 kilobytes (500 pixel) in size to fit here in this forum. The 12 megapixel camera does take good pics. The first postings, was using a 5 megapixel camera which is OK.
Note 2* My frame, I sand blasted for about 35 to 40 hours total with a little box of sand that has a hose out of it with nozzle, hooked up to 15 gallon air compressor. Had plastic stapled to the sheetrock on the ceiling hanging down around the frame. Nastyest job to do so far but the results was worth it getting all the grim off the frame (sand was cheap). Have a very small blasting cabinet for all small parts. The end results from old to the new look was worth the effort.
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AN couplers for 3/8" gas line and return vent line. I know a little over kill on return line, but won't need to replace rubber hose later.
SS line is very hard to bend , bent these by hand, had to buy a special aircraft 37 degree flaring tool. Dealing with high pressure fuel line, was well worth the effort down the road for maintaining service.
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X-pipe rewelded with gas mix to fit between frame rails.
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Yes, tight fit.
X-pipe in frame. Not the best placement for an X-pipe (best place would be closest to header collectors as possible, not having sharp turns in exhaust) but looking for the ground clearance for end results. I'm going to use 2 1/2" ss wrap around clamps that are 4" long, 2" of exhaust pipe inside clamp both sides. This way exhaust can be taken out instead of cutting out for later service.
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The bottom 2 holes in this pic, I will make a 1/4" thick piece of metal to bolt in across also to re-inforce this area where the transmission mounts. The original TR6 mount will use the back 2 holes.
What brand is the X pipe being used and where did you get the rear sway bar?
tr6lt1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What brand is the X pipe being used and where did
> you get the rear sway bar?
I picked up the X-pipe at a local muffler shop. I will call them Thursday and ask for you what brand. (OK the X-pipe is made by magnaflow)
The rear sway bar is a matching pair with the front swaybar. I picked them up at the roadster factory when they had a good sale,otherwise they were made by Richard Good at goodparts.com
http://www.goodparts.com/shop/index.php?categoryID=11 Here is the link to the sway bar pair.
Please read the last paragraph on the site page about swaybars. Read The (CAUTION) (qoute, do not use this rear swaybar with the stock front swaybar. May have dangerous oversteer).
Calvin
Busting my arse! Fabricated the SS exhaust from headers to X-pipe last 2 evenings, will post pics soon. I was able to keep the exhaust tucked in under frame with only 1" below frame rails all the way back passed transmission mount, then up into X-pipe. The end results was better than I thought. Not bad with 2 1/2" SS exhaust pipe.
I wouldn't want to be a welder by trade, It burns you out.
ZZZzzz
Welding SS exhaust pipe was not an easy task since it is so thin walled. I found it to be very easy to blow a hole in it while welding. Had to fine tune the welder with the feed wire and the gas, so it wouldn't pop and splater. If there was to much gap where the exhaust would meet, had to be carefull not to blow a hole and if it did, had to fill in.
I went through 2 4" griding wheels to clean up the welds for the whole exhaust system. I would have to call this exhausting work and laborous.
I will post some pics later today of how the mufflers were mounted and how clearance was achieved.
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This pic is where a plate was made for the trailing arm mount bolts on the inside of frame box.
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This is another pic of the plate welded in for the vertical section that was boxed in to strenthen the front diff tower area.
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The bottom of the flowmaster 40's are about the same distance from the ground as the attachment link for the rear swaybar.
"Yuck" the mimosa yellow that my TR6 body has (I dislike)..... needs to go bye bye!!
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As far as clearance concerns with oil pan and exhaust pipe....oil pan is 1/2" below frame...exhaust pipe is maybe at lowest piont 2" below frame...I'm sure it will be fine on normal road conditions. I can take this whole exhaust system apart without cutting any pipe. Also when the car is on a lift, no one will know there is an X-pipe installed, unless you look real closely into frame area.
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Another pic that was closer to skid plate to show clearance.
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I used exhaust hangers that you would find on most later model cars. The only difference here is that I put the mounting pin facing forward instead of backward. The reason for doing this....is that an exhaust will expand and contract about an 1/2'' or so from heat. My thoughts with them facing bacwards....it would cause the mounting bracket to bind and possilbly break due to the pipe expanding lenghtwise.
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Had to shave down a couple of cooling fins on the diff cover to alow clearance for the driver side muffler. I may need to do one more for movment of the muffler. The exit side of the muffler is real close to the swaybar to keep ground clearance. There wasn't any room to spare but the 1/2' expansion for heat.
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The mounting pin facing forward. Installed the rubber mounting bracket right up to the rear diff bolt pin.
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The same ss wrap clamp before muffler for easy service.
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I will be using these USA made 2 1/2" tail pipes. Probably will mold into rear of TR6 body so they don't hang out like some TR6's I've seen before...... and keep them up close to body. Will need to wait until body is mounted to finish exhaust.
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Kind of looks like Corvette style exhaust setup.
Nice job on the pipes!
I'm bringing my TR6 V8 out to your place for a little "exhausting work"!
So when you see that Blue TR6 in your drive way, don't wake the driver until your ready to weld.
Keep Rock-n! Keep posting!
Don,
:-) ....If you are willing to drive from east coast to west coast with the gas prices the way they are,...I will do the "exhausting work" for free and just come on in, have an extra room for ya! :-)
Hi Calvin,
Still watching! Lookin' good! I'm at work planning mine. Plenty of work to do just getting the garage in order for such a thing.
Exhaust certianly looks super.
On those backing plates (in the chassis legs) for the trailing arm mounts, are you leaving them free as sort of a giant washer or are you going to weld them? Any thoughts on the advantages of either? I know on the front suspension lower A-arm brackets, the aftermarket backing plates are left free and not welded.
Good luck!
Martin,
Very good question? I did what others have done here at the trailing arm area ( Joe's bowtie6 did this ). Now that you have asked the question about it made me think more about it. I may make another 3" square plate (4 of them) to install where the bolts come through... since I have extra thread there. Thinking again here... I will weld in the long plate and used the 3" plates as a large washer. In the frame box, the factory put bracing inside so that the frame won't crush when tighening the bolts. I have used all grade 8 bolts (fine thread) for the whole car so far.
I thought I was done on the frame! OK Martin you have great thoughts and questions, keep them coming, and incorporate your thoughts into your TR6 and start posting your progress. I can't wait to see :-)
AS for the front A-arm lower mount box, I did make plates for the mount area and made vertical plate that ran inside the box and all the way down to the bottom of the frame box. I welded this all in, so end results was double thickness for the whole box. Plus ran more weld on the outside of the box. "Made this strong" because I have broken this area with a previous car.
Calvin
Martin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Calvin,
>
> Still watching! Lookin' good! I'm at work
> planning mine. Plenty of work to do just getting
> the garage in order for such a thing.
>
> Exhaust certianly looks super.
>
> On those backing plates (in the chassis legs) for
> the trailing arm mounts, are you leaving them free
> as sort of a giant washer or are you going to weld
> them? Any thoughts on the advantages of either?
> I know on the front suspension lower A-arm
> brackets, the aftermarket backing plates are left
> free and not welded.
>
> Good luck!
Rats!
My electric fuel pump went out yesterday on a great spring day drive. ( near the end of the run, so not so bad, I did get home)
Just another little project.
Thanks for the offer of the room and drive way parking! I might take you up on the offer when I retire, cause I would take the long way there!
You do great work! (I AGREE WITH YOU ON THE YELLOW COLOR)
Don,
I hope you have had time to get your fuel pump replaced and you can get some driving time in for me.
I guess the weather is getting better there for you!
Heck I'll take that yellow on your avatar...I just can't seem to get a grasp on the Mimosa yellow.....maybe its just the word "Mimosa"that I can't handle.
I've been working on the driver side inner fender well. Cut out the fender to match the other fender (for the carb clearance).
The driver side needs the clerance for the alternator. I welding in the hand bent piece of sheet metal (weld & grind weld & grind).
In the end results It will look like the factory did it I hope.
I will post some pics soon!
Already fixed and , just for you, I did a little spirited driving taking on a Camero Z28!
I had a Holley fuel pump with a pressure regulator, but she was dropping pressure at odd times. (anytime would be odd, DAH)
Not up for another $164 hit, I found a better option.(wisdom from "been there, done that")
Our local Club here, on the MG side,(MGA 302 T5) guided me towards a very quiet, low cost, low profile electric fuel pump that most Auto Parts House carry. No special order, No Summitt Racing, No Jeggs, just over the counter.
It's a Universal electric fuel pump, but I did have to give the local store a make and model as they can't locate the bathroom without a computer, make and model info. So, 1984 Ford Mustang, V8, with Carbs. ("WOW, I did not know that Mustangs came with carbs?") I'm showing my age a little.
This little baby is sweet, easy to mount, quiet (I here it when she is switched on, but after pressure is up, you never hear her) and easy on the back pocket.
If I ever switch back to EFI, I'll need to change her out, but for now the wind is in may face and the traffic is looking at my back side!
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Do you have any specs on that Mustang fuel pump? My Carter pump is driving me nuts with the noise.
I love this baby! Very quiet!
The Holley would sometimes rattle the mounting plate. I had it located in the same position as the stock electric pumps for the fuel injected TR's.
I'm running a pres. regulator and the guage is reading 5.0 psi
It's rated at 12v, 3.8 to 5.7 psi, 16.8 gal/hr
Here is a link to different resources; my MGA buddy sent me this link to another passionate British car owner.
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/fuel/fp201.htm
Thanks, Don!
I met Barney Gaylord (The MGA Guru) at our MG V8 meet in Champagne, IL in 1999. He has a ton of great info on his website.
Don, Well I guess with the wind in your face and the Z28 looking at your back side is a good thing :-) (The adrenalin rush is on again).
Nice little fuel pump and small enough to put in the glove box "Nice".
I'm going to say it ,,,,,Don does have a vast amount of info and has the passion to share to a fellow car buff what he has learned in his own research ( trial and error, been there done that) along with many others on this forum. I can say this because of many e-mail exchanges with Don and Ken both.
A funny thing was, as soon as I posted for the first time in this forum.... within several days..>Ken found me through a search on the net ....he was able the get my phone number (from my business)....he called me to see if he could help in some way. Now that being said this whole forum is that way. A great place to be for the purist with the power in mind group, make it better, and have fun doing it.
OK! driver side fender mod so the GM alternator will fit. It needs more work but it is coming along better that I thought. I have only done bondo work, this is a little different for me...an english wheel would have helped some ...so bent this by hand and welded in.
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Pic taken from the front of body. I'm welding in fill from the other side then grinding down( in the engine compartment side) to get the round edges to look like the other original side.
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Pic taken standing on floor boards looking into engine compartment.
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The first cut to get alternator in and get an idea what to do?
The body will go on the frame soon, so that when the other areas need to be fabed in...the body stucture won't get tweaked or twisted so body panels, doors, windshield will still fit ok.
It's been in the 80's here lately, working every spare moment left in a day on this project.
A tandem Wilwood master cylinder came in the other day to help with the more brake fluid needed...need to push 10 brake pistons... instead of 2 piston and 2 wheel cylinders. Talked with the Wilwood rep, told him what I was dealing with, end results was a 1 1/8" bore master cylinder. May upgrade later on brakes(room to move a little)
For someone that has done only bondo work, metal must be your friend. WOW!
When I do my body work, can you move in please.
After your yellow comment, I changed my avitar to reflect my true color!
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The alternator fits, but close on the bottom side.
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The brake booster is right up against the coil pack on the valve cover. I will move the booster over about 1/4" or so for clearance(for plug wire). I believe the master cylinder will clear under the hood.
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I will use the original clutch (GM from Z28) cylinder as Ken used.
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Probably use the Z28 radiator, has 2 puller fans and maybe later install the AC that I was able to get with this package on the other side of radiator.
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Need a little work here for drive shaft tunnel cover.
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I picked up this LS2 400HP that was in a boat. I just needed to take a break from the project. I like to work hard but also like to play hard too.
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Nissan yellow so people can see me on the water at night. 22' Jet boat on plain need only 4" of water.Can do some fishing on the feather river for salmon , stripped bass and shad.
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Took the family out on the Sacramento river for a ride. This is I street bridge down town Sacramento where the capitol is close by. Just a great way to relax a little.
Wow! If my TR6 sounds like this LS2 ...I'm already a happy camper
Dude! I have so much "Toy Envy" right now! As Napolian Dynomite would say "Luuuuucky!" Seriously the TR6 is looking good. I will see if I can keep up with you "Project Wise", because I know that LS1 is gonna Fly. I hope your paint can keep up with the body when you step on the go now peddle.....
Double Dude! I coming to your toy store. Something tells me that you enjoy the wind in your face!
Is that the placement of the Z28 radiator? It looks to me to be too tall and will conflict with the hood.
But who cares, I drove our TR6 to it's first show and cruise with out the hood on!
AH! YesToy's Frank. ...Don you have me pegged about liking the wind in my face. If I can't get in the TR6 and feel the wind Brenda and myself have worked hard in our lifes to be blessed with the toy's that every man & wife + kids enjoys together.
So right now TR6 has been a planter box for a while...that being said No wind there, so the wind factor works well with this Honda Valkyrie with a 1535 cc engine "OH! hang on". If we can't get on the Valkyrie we will jump on the river with the jet sled or we also have a pair of 1500cc jet skis that will do 65 MPH on the water (which is scary fast on water). So yes feeling alive and living life to it's fullest(safely) with the wind in our face is one of those things we do. I figure someone has to do it.
The Toaster Honda in the back ground is what I use for the service end in my business. One day about a month ago I chased down a red TR6 (in this Toaster) that had a 350 chevy engine. It took me about a mile and a half to get up along side of him and pull him over and talk. I broke just about every law of the road to do this and the family was saying faster he's getting away. I'm working on him to post a "how it was done" soon. He let me drive it and was pretty fast I must say.
Yes, the radiator is just setting in there and I think I can modify to drop it down for hood clearance. I knew somone would see that :-) ...darn can't pass that one off.
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Bolted the hood bonet on the TR6 today to check for clearances.
The Wilwood master cylinder has enough clearance(1/2"), radiator is to tall (Don you were right, your eye is good, looking at a picture). I might have had enough room for the engine to be raised the 1/2" for the oil pan to be flush with the frame. I don't think that would have messed with the engine line to the differential to much.
So the end results...will not need to cut hood for any clearance issues.....some room to spare.
I will need to get another radiator, may be a Griffin aluminum crossflow 19"x 27" or? I do know I will need the hose hook up for the Ls6 intake (from intake to radiator). It would be nice if I could use the Z28 fan setup on the Griffin radiator (2 puller fans).
I will need to give the driveshaft tunnel a little more width and clearance on the front driver side and the back passenger side for the drive shaft yokes and U-joints.
Since the body is on, will tack sheet metal in for the firewall needed above throtle pedal and around transmission in the foot boxes. I may try making a transmission cover out of aluminum and try welding aluminum. I have the aluminum wire. I will ask the welding shop what kind of gas to use or if any at all.
The rest of the day I was on the river with the jet sled getting in the first 10 hours. One of the exhaust jacket 5" hose has a 1/2" slice in it where she was blowing exhaust and water out of. So will take her in for the 10 hour check up and let them repalce it. Nice to have 2 1250 gal per hour bilge pumps, one automatic and one by switch :-)...just kept driving, have 9.5 hours good enough.
Hey,
Before you run out for a new radiator, did you check out the space in front of the radiator mounts?
I removed my mounts dropped the radiator down in front. This places it with a slight forward slant.
The unit measure 21.5 x 22.25, but by dropping it down front it cleared the hood.
But not knowing how the Z28 radiator is set up (looks like return is top left side) your inlet on the right lower might conflict with the skin plate mount?
Sorry about the quality of the pics, old digital camera.
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The whole radiator here shows the outlet on the right and the inlet on the left. In the engine compartment the outlet is real close to the passenger wheel well. The inlet is OK for clearance. You will notice the overflow conection just below rad cap and just below is the connection that goes to the LS6 intake. Surprising this is a 1 core radiator and aluminum with plastic tanks on the sides. I'm sure these 2 fans can move alot of air.
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Width of radiator on the top side. The width is OK if I was to lean top of rad forward (towards grill) for the outlet going to inlet of water pump (for wheel well clearance).
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Height of the radiator to cap. I measured from skid plate to hood and came up with( through the grill area with the hood closed) 19" and no more. 21" is to tall...if the cap was not there the core part of the rad is 19"
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Shows the radiator cap to high. The rad is sitting forward on the skid plate. Maybe I can take this rad to a local rad shop...ask if there is something they can do with to make this fit.
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It doesn't look like there is any negative camber yet. I sure hope this car will settle down some after all the weight is back on the car. Dings and dents all over this body from moving it around.
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I figured to have some fun with the shadow on this pic.
I wonder if anyone can figure out what that black stuff is on this side of the firewall at the top of this photo?? "I know Dan Masters will figure it out". I will tell you what is is in a few days hoping someone figures it out and please post on this if you know?
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Need to widen the tunnel cover here by the diff area.
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The front by the tran needs the same.
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This ia a photo taken from the passenger side of car in the rear, looking through the "RIM", passed the disk rotor looking at the top of differential. Above the diff there is a dish bubble that protrudes under the gas tank. Lot's of room there. Now if I took that and made flat (the bubble) I could...........
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Here is the bubble for diff clearance from the top view....this could all be flat here and diff still has plenty of clearance. So I have the tape measure in hand??
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So 12" from curve apex centered for seating compartment back panel to trunk panel will fit. There is over 30" across this area and well over 12" from floor to gas cap lid area. I can get 19 gallons of gas in here. Hmmmm that could get me very close to 500 miles on one tank of gas. I have a RCI 19 gallon 30" across 12" high 12" back aluminum fuel cell on order with 8an fuel line and 8an fuel return that I will need for the ls1
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The tank will hang over the spare tire some, just need to make a bracket to hold in cell and rubber insulate in the bracket.
Well, the radiator position was worth mentioning. Being that the end sections are plastic, I don't think a shop can do much. If she was metal, you could have them modify it for a remote filler system, like the original AC Cobras. She would clear the hood then.
Nice detail pictures.
About the hump, just keep in mind that the differential does move a little. Mainly under high torque, and since we are putting more high torque opportunity engines in these rockets, make sure you keep some space on top, hence the hump. But I agree with you that some extra room can be had here by mods to the tank area.
How attached are you to the area behind the seats? If you designed a tapered style tank ( larger at the bottom, tapered at the top) that extended just a little into the deck area behind the seats, use the same interior panels but just titled more, pull the lower carpet in the rear up towards the bottom of the panel to cover the gap. Design the same taper towards the trunk and the same mods with the trunk panel but instead of carpet, use black material on all the panels. I hate the board look.
I'll send pics tonight.
Don, I Agree with the board look, kind of cheap looking.
pics088.jpg This photo shows the black stuff I was talking about to see if anyone could guess. "Yes" back in the mid 80's this car caught on fire while I was driving on the freeway. One of the wires grounded out going through the firewall, well I had smoke coming up through the defroster vent. I pulled over really fast off the freeway and opened up the glove box door, seeing that my TR6 was about to to be a pile of ash, I punched out the glove box and found the flame, the heater duct was flaming yellow, so I grabed it with my bare hands and started yanking it out, burning my hands with the wire coil that was in the duct. I did save this car twice with wire fire issues.
I'm definately going with Dan Masters kit for this one dangerous reason, I don't want to loose my TR6 from a fire because of wire.The main hot wire fried completely through the lenght of the wiring harness. In this fire I only had to replace 1 wire. All know here had to take the dash out to do that.
More photos coming soon of gas tank mods, radiator mods, firewall mods, and drive shaft cover raised.
OK, cut out this section out where the original gas tank was bolted in. The hump over the differential wasn't altered.
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OK, in welding the sheet metal back in (not finished yet) so that the fuel cell can be installed and removed. May not be able to have spare tire, but a donut spare will fit.
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This photo shows the 19 gal fuel cell in the newly moded area.
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The filler neck at the 12 bolt up will be changed to a 45 degree fill neck pointing towards the body gas hatch.
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This photo shows the placement of the fuel cell behind the back seat area, plenty of room for some base speakers now.
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Welded up this angle aluminum frame to set the fuel cell in to. This will make it easier to strap cell into place and secure it better.
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First time welding aluminum. I had to be careful of the feed speed with this dual welder I have. It would get spun up inside the welder power feed since the wire is so soft. But It worked. Used gas with the aluminum.
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This photo shows where the shifter ends up with the original transmission/dash brace. I might be able to mod the brace and still use it, but the shifter would have to have a U shape welded in to lenghten, to set the shifter inside the original shifter location. Or may fab out some kind of brace between frame and dash for rigidity.
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Raised the tunnel cover up to the E-brake holes or where the original cardboard sucure tab was on top. Took the tunnel cover and bent wider before welding back in for drive shaft clearance.
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Rasied the tunnel cover 2" total. I noticed that the factory brazed this tunnel section in (3 places you can see in this photo) and then smeared some kind of tar to seal the area. They used this tar on the whole body. The tar on this body still is soft at all the joints even with the age of this body. I will need to move the E-brake handle mount back some.
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Moved the original firewall back to clear the transmission.
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Photo from the engine compartment side. I will need to put all the sheet metal back in that I cut out. I will make as much room for my feet as possible, but also be able to change the spark plug from the engine compartment side. The spark plug does angle towards the front of the car which helps with the stock heads. The battery will be moved to the trunk. With the firewall this far back, I'm able to intall the engine and transmission bolted together and install at the same time.
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I have a 24"x19" X3" Griffin crossflow radiator with 1.25 dual row cooling tubes that I will be using. I will need to modify the original radiator/body mounts to fit it in. The rad cap is still to close to hood no mater how I set it in the space. I don't want to modify the hood if I can help it.
I noticed Ken Schmidt used an inline fill cap (in top rad hose) for his radiator. That would have been nice.
Calvin, check your height of radiator fluid level in reference to the coolant passages in your heads. If it's close you'll want a surge tank to make sure the fluid level is always above the heads. It can be on the firewall.
Jim
Jim, did some photo taking and some measurments on your knowledge that the coolant needs to be above the head passages. I think the coolant level is above the heads by about at least 2 3/4 " + or - 1/4".
This photo shows where 19" goes up to from the frame box top.
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This photo shows from the frame box up 191/4" to 191/2 where coolant level should be around.
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This photo shows that the rad is 1" above frame box ( rad is sitting on front skid plate in front of the original rad/body mount box).
I could probably redo the skid plate and get 1" inch lower and just leave the rad here, use the original rad mount with a L bracket to hold rad secure.
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I could just cut a nice square hole out of the hood bracing for the rad cap clearance which I have seen before on another TR6.
From top of skid plate to the hood is 19" with the hood closed, the rad is 20" from bottom rad to top of rad cap.
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There is about 1 1/4" to be had here for rad cap clearance. I didn't want to do this but it looks about the best way for not fabing to much.
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Thank you Jim B for keeping me in check with this project. I wouldn't want a aluminum head and block engine cooling system not work correctly.
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The rotating water pump cover I had before that was 45 degrees was so close to the cross brace + it was pointing up over the cross brace. I'm going the use the original water pump thermostat housing, just turned CCW 90 degrees down. I will make little clamps out of aluminum to hold the cover on. It seals with an O-ring to the pump surface. The rad hose will now go from water pump between the cross brace and the steering rack to the rad. A much better fit this way. It will be easy to find a rad hose at just about any auto parts store.
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I will need to find a good puller fan for this rad 17" or 18".
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Calvin, I'm not familiar with that engine so take what I say with a grain of salt, but it's possible for a return hose routed that way to create a vapor trap and create air pockets in the engine. To avoid this you could run an air bleed line. It is best to run it from the highest point of the engine water passages directly to the highest point in the coolant system, either the suction side of a cross flow radiator or a surge tank and avoid any dips in the line if possible. 1/4 to 3/8" line should be fine. From what I can see of the engine it looks like the thermostat housing may be below the head's water jackets so the engine may have been designed to use bleeds anyway. You want to avoid steam pockets at all costs.
I think you are building an excellent conversion and I'd like to congratulate you on your willingness to go outside the norms and build a truly unique car. You can expect to find me in the crowd of expectant onlookers once you get it finished.
Jim
Thanks Jim for your support ;-) It's well noted.
This photo shows the thermostat housing inlet to pump and outlet from rad. It should be an easy line for the rad hose to travel, shouldn't have any dip in hose here with the right lenght of hose installed.
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Photo shows the outlet hose from pump and inlet connection on rad. The original Ls1 Camaro rad has 1 1/4" hose connection both inlet and outlet. The Griffin rad has inlet 1 1/2' and outlet 1 3/4' connections. I will need to have some kind of adapter for that solution. Ls1 tech site talk's about this in the hybrid forum for swaping engines with this same issue.
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This is the hose that comes from the throtle body so the the water heats up the air when cold start up (I may bypass this and go straight to tee and get a little better performance). This is the bleed line that Jim B is talking about. My question would be, I need to take this rad to a rad shop and have a barbed fitting installed at what level on the rad? I was thinking just below the overflow fitting on the side tank just like the Camaro rad is setup (the hose is just on the overflow to show the hose). Where the hose is connected to the throtle body, the hose then come's out and goes to a tee, splits and goes to each top of head jacket.
So Jim B is right about the bleed setup.
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The hose on the pump outlet, just above is the bleed line at the throtle body connection. You can also see the steel tube going to the head connection. This would be the passanger side of the engine.
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Here is the driver side photo that show's the tee and head connection. I will take the hose going into throtle body off and install onto the tee for the bypass. I can always put it back, if driving in cold weather.
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Photo show's both rads together to show inlets and outlets. The inlet on the Griffin rad is higher than the Camaro rad. The outlet on the Griffin rad is lower than the Camaro rad. It does cross flow from left to right through the core tube's on both rad's
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The lower fitting tube on the Camaro rad is what I need to have the Griffin rad to have installed. I don't want to attempt this myself and mess up the griffin tank. I think I will ask if they can install a drain bung in also.
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I don't think I will have problems with overheating with this Griffin rad. It was rated at 600hp. There is room for engine mods later.
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Finished welding for the fuel cell. Need to do the final clean up later. In the bag I have 4 of these foam for fuel cell's to help with the sloshing issue with hard cornering (Don would say spirited driving :-)...). I will need to cut them and install so that the bottom of the fuel cell will have foam at 6" high, making room for the fuel pick up tube. This means I can do some spirited driving and still have gas being pumped to the engine.
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So I guess the thermostat must be on the pump inlet. Sort of an odd arrangement, but I'm guessing, with the smaller diameter lines it's a higher velocity/pressure system with some alternate means of heating the thermostat. I wouldn't care to even speculate on what that does to temps at various points in the system, but it might be a good idea to get one of those $40 HF infrared temp sensors and check everything out when you fire it up. There's got to be some mechanism for opening the thermostat when you demand maximum power, other than waiting for the cool radiator water to do it.
It looks like your radiator is plumbed for an overflow bottle but not for a vent line. You could have one added at the top of the suction (pump supply) side like the Camaro tank but as long as your coolant return line runs uphill all the way from the top of the engine to the radiator tank *AND* the existing vent lines are not located above the coolant return on the engine it should be fine. If the vent locations are higher then you really should plumb them in somehow with an uphill run. It would be possible to locate that return on the return tank, but keep in mind that there is a significant pressure differential across the radiator and plan accordingly. Size and routing becomes more critical.
Jim
Hmm! I wonder if I'm wrong about the direction of flow through the cooling system? I will ask someone in the morning to find out for sure.
Remember 1992, when Chevy raved about the Gen II's reverse-flow cooling? Well, reverse is, apparently, out. The new engine uses conventional pushrod V8 cooling. Coolant is pumped into the block, around the cylinders, up into the heads, then out to the radiator. The reason Gen II went reverse was that, to make the power Corvette Development wanted; it had to have a higher compression ratio (LT1, 10.2:1; LT4, 10.8:1). Higher compression made for detonation. The cooling system was revised to run the cylinder heads cooler as an antidetonant strategy, and to run the cylinder bores hotter for higher oil temperature and less friction. Clearly, reverse-flow cooling, the publicity darling of the Gen II engine, was really nothing more than a fix that allowed the limited cooling of the old Small-Block head to work with the higher compression necessary to reach the 300 horsepower level.
Air in the cooling system becomes problematic if it gets into the water passages surrounding the combustion chambers. This often causes localized boiling and that, in turn, allows hot spots to develop on chamber walls and they cause detonation. The problem with reverse flow is that with coolant flowing downward and air bubbles flowing upward; keeping air out of the Gen II cooling system was difficult.
Though the LS1 has a lower static compression ratio; its cylinder heads have improved combustion chamber design and intake ports that breathe better. Those features allow them to make more power. The clean-sheet-of-paper approach also allowed design of the cooling passages around the chambers to be more efficient such that the engine can put out more power than the Gen II but yet have coolant flow in the conventional direction to eliminate problems with aeration. With a better combustion chamber and water jacket design and improved antifriction technology in the block, pistons and rings; it made sense to go back to the normal-flow cooling system.
Like most engines of the last 20 years or so, the LS1 uses a 195 degree thermostat. Nominal coolant temperatures are similar to what we see in LT1/4 engines. The new engine will use "Dex-Cool" coolant introduced last year in many GM vehicles. Dex-Cool has entirely new anticorrosive chemistry that is longer lasting and more friendly to cooling system parts, especially seals
My question is answered here?
I would tend to agree with.....$40 HF infrared temp sensors and check everything out when you fire it up.
Calvin
So this is a conventional flow system then? I still wonder what's going on with that thermostat but I'm sure it's explained in detail somewhere. Be a good idea to find that explanation I suppose. Kinda hard to design a proper cooling system with unanswered questions. My biggest question would be, how does it get warmed up?
Jim
Ah Yes, Spirited Driving, responsibly!
Calvin, you really are going to be the talk of the town when she is built. ( If you are not already from all the mess, noise, and driveway clutter)
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Based on the pic, I assume that you are not going to be able to keep the stock filler neck?
What are your plans for your few gas stops? Are you keeping the stock cap for looks or are you thinking something else?
I wonder if you could relocate it to the right, above the new tank inlet?
Jim or ls1 onlooker knowledge.
Found this in LS1tech forum achive,
Question from a member:
i noticed an ls1 camaro in a salvage yard that had the radiator hose from the water pump outlet (thermostat end) routed to the lower passenger side of the radiator and the other to the top drivers side. I routed mine just the opposite, like any tbi truck would be. Is this going to give me problems, i cant see how the other would work properly if coolant was not completely full all of the time. i am using my stock radiator in an 89 s-10. any help is appreciated.
Response from member:
You have it wrong and need to change it. People make the mistake assuming the thermostat housing is the outlet. It is NOT! The thermostat housing on all LS1 type engines (and all LT1's for that matter) is the INLET from the radiator. The hose nipple sticking straight out the front of the water pump is the outlet (return). This is where the upper radiator hose belongs.
Question member:
wouldn't the thermostat see cool water from the radiator all the time then, Im not saying you are wrong, Im just curious how it works. It seems like the thermostat would never close. I just figured that the outlet was the thermosat and gm just returned it to the bottom of the radiator, which seems fine if it never gets low on pressure. Please fill me in on this.
Response member:
I don't know why you think the thermostat would never close. It's normally closed and the engine internally circulates the water that's in the block until it gets hot. That's the water that is exposed to the themostat element. It gets hot, the thermostat opens a little and lets some cool water in. That cycle repeats until everything warms up and the thermostat stays open far enough to keep engine temperature regulated to around 195.
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I went to the auto store today and was asking to see all the veiws of the LS1 water pump on their computer screen.
I noticed the back of the pump there is 4 holes that face the block. The 2 on the bottom of the pump go to each left/right sides into the block the 2 on the top are returns from the (both sides) block. So it does circulate from the pump then will introduce cool water as the thermostat opens.
So the coolant tubes on each head on top that goes into the tee...then into throtle body...then into suction side of rad is for romoving any air or purge air.
Don, "Yes" I have been asking that same question to myself and have been dreaming of ways of what to do with the gas fill.
I would like to keep the original gas fill cap ( I like the looks and how it works), but don't want to relocate it either. I do have a 45 degree off the tank that is facing the fuel cap. I would need to take the original fuel cap and make a 45 degree angle towards the fuel tank fill. The cap is pot aluminum, I will go to the local metal shop where I have been picking up the metal's at low cost and see if I can match up something and weld it on.
I know it will make for slow filling but this is good. The slower you pump gas into your fuel cell here in CA, the pumps at the gas stations have a suction( vapor return suction) return. So the faster you fill your tank the less fuel you will get. Also put gas in your car in the morning when the fuel is cool, when warm it expands you will get less fuel.
I could relocate it over the fuel cell fill, but I don't think that would look right, maybe last resort option. There are some 90 * and 45* gas hose's out on the market that I might try. It is tight there tho, but I'm finding that everything is tight on this project hehe.
Driving to work today I filled up with gas at 4.01 a gallon. When I dove home today it was 4.10 a gallon. I'm hoping to drive by some of those gas stations and go east to fill with cheaper gas. No I just don't want to fill up as often.
A trailer is looking like a REALITY for all of us to haul our stuff to the meets.
Found some solutions to the build. Fuel cell area, radiator installment and sway bar vertical link offset in front.
I found these gas filler hoses. The top hose is 2" ID that will fit on the TR6 filler cap and the bottom hose is 1 3/4 " ID to fit the fuel cell filler neck. They both had 7" from 90* on both sides. These were cut down and install with a 1 3/4 ID pipe nipple to connect them together. If there is a problem with connection because of the 1/4" difference, I will weld on a bead to one side of the nipple, will make a better fit for clamping. In the end results there is a small S in the filler hose which I believe won't cause any problems with gas fill. I just need to install 4 suretite hose clams on.
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I turned the fuel cell around 180* from the first photo's so that the AN fittings would fit.The fuel cell has 8AN male, needed to reduce down to AN 6 for 3/8" braded fuel hose for both pump and return sides. The 85 micron fuel filter will go in before the fuel line goes through the body under the car to protect the fuel pump. The inline fuel pump will go on the frame below the fuel cell connecting to the 3/8' SS fuel line. In the engine compartment is where the inline 10 micron fuel filter will be installed to protect the fuel injectors. The return line will just return fuel not used.
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It will work. I'm glad because I like the original TR6 fuel fill cap and didn't want to change this.
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This photo was taken from the passanger compartment looking back into fuel cell area.
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This connect with the Earl's hose is the rollover vent. The hose will go out under the car and clamped.
I put this photo in just to show that the fuel cell is level set in the body. I will run a 2 aluminum straps front and back width wise to hold fuel cell in. I don't think a donut spare tire will fit under the fuel cell. I traded a spare for more fuel.
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The bolt that is protruding through the skid plate (front swaybar area), has been moved forward from the original bolt hole on the left.. On the TR6 frame there is four holes upper and lower on the front of the frame. I will weld on the difference of metal that is not there to have all four holes using bolts instead of 2 only (original setup stock was only 2 bolts on each side). I will pivot skid plate down in front about 1/4" , to allow for brackets to hold rad in place.
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By moving the skid plate forward about 1 1/4" solved 2 issues for me. (1) The vertical swaybar link is straight down now instead of up against the bottom suspension plate. When the suspension depressed it would bind (caused from moving swaybar on the top side of skid plate, moved swaybar back some). (2) With the skid plate moved forward, it freed up just enough room for the radiator cap to clear the hood.
"Very happy" about not cutting a hole in the hood for rad cap.
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With the rad leaning forward a little, the rad cap has plenty of room now. Photo was taken in front of car looking into rad with the hood closed..
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This photo shows the skid plate now in front of the body about 1 1/4". I'm not concerned about how this looks because with the front spoiler attached, this will not be seen.
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Found a 16" pusher/puller universal fan that has the shroud molded in. Will move about 2250 CF of air. Should be OK for not over heating with "spirited driving".
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Clearance photo with hood closed.
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It just proves, almost all the time there is a solution to the problems in making anything fit.
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Found this "Aluminum Bling" to put on the firewall pass through for the heater core ( May just install mini Gen II air/heat/defrost unit). Using 8 AN hose fittings to and from.
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There is threads all the way through this aluminum block.
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"Cheers"
Congrats on working out the gas filler and radiator position.
She is coming along quite nice!
Speaking of Spirited Driving, our local club ,www.wptriumph.org , had a run this past saturday. About 350 miles, back roads, hills, and then wine and diner.
I had a Corona!
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I was the last to leave the lot after diner as we had to buy some WINE!
Looks really good Calvin. I'm glad you found a solution for your filler neck. You can probably find a space saver that will work too, not all of them stick out on one side. The fuel neck manufacturers (one TRW company in particular) did a study on fuel flow in the filler tube. It turns out that the fuel flows in a spiral down the inner surface of the tube and the optimum size for this spiral is around 1-3/16" or 1-1/4" or thereabouts. Vapors are vented up the center of the spiral, meaning no separate vent is needed provided the bends don't get tight enough to collapse the spiral. The result of this study is that you'll find almost all cars built in the last decade use this same size filler tube. What this means for you is, should you find that the fuel puddles in your hose and causes trouble filling, you should be able to visit the junkyard and pick up some filler tube bends which you can substitute in and get good flow. At least it's an option to keep in your hip pocket if you need it. Interestingly enough, the spiral runs the opposite direction down under. Just a bit of trivia I thought you might enjoy.
Jim
Jim, "Very interesting trivia" inputing all that you said does make sense with the fuel fill.
I do have another filler neck that goes on the fuel cell, it has a very short 45*, if needed I could weld on another short 45* pipe so that the filler is about 3/4"above the cell and level to the cell. Doing this would take out the S in the filler tube.
The problem with the space saver is....think it won't make it in because of how high the back of the trunk is. There is 4 1/2" under the fuel cell. Think it won't make this angle in and under the cell.
I will take some 2x4 and make the 4 1/2" width/ 22" long and round the ends and check as a gauge for a space saver spare.
Don, "That must have been a blast" seeing those brit cars on that kind of road "Beeeutifull country roads"
Do you have any problems with any purists in your club running your V8??
DSCN0149.jpg This is a gettyup photo for me "Saaaweeet"
Did you go here on the Ohio Adventure and end up at Ravens Glenn winnery? "WOW" a Carona and fill up Yogi's (Yogi Bear the cartoon) picnic basket with a few cases...ah bottles of wine,reds and whites.....a great way to forget responsibilities. What a life indeed. Looks like a great place to eat and test the wine.
Here in Cali I'm sure you know, Napa is chuck full of winneries. About a hour and 40 min drive from my house.
That's it I'm done working....I'm hiring some people to do my job and office work ....work on my build 24/7 and go on some road trips....I'm ready for it, Brenda is too. OK back to reality.
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"Here"Gas prices now at the lowest costing gas stations is 4.45 a gallon. My thoughts on this #$%^&SUC.....
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Worked on the driver side foot well today installing the sheet metal. The foot well came out pretty well not loosing to much room for gas pedal.
Calvin
Calvin,
Take your time, your doing a great job!
The local club is very accepting. The Western PA Triumph's Assoc. takes in all types and makes of cars.
http://wptriumph.org/index2.html
We run a lot of events in conjunctions with the Healey and MG Club and we co sponsor the Pgh Vintage Grand Prix / British Car Day in Pittsburgh, PA.
Hosting about 600 to 700 British Cars, and that does not include the different makes,Domestic and Foreign! We take over an entire Golf Course with over 3000 cars. ( not allowed on the greens )
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So if you or anyone on the forum are in the Pittsburgh, PA area around July 19,20, come on down and check it out!
Yes, the pic-nic basket is not just for show, but function. Corona for me, wine for Debi! That's how I get her into the runs and car shows!
I say that when you get your TR6/GM done you set up a run thru Napa Valley, just about the time I come visit!
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Nice Photo's Don. Huge turn out of Brit cars all lined up.
What kind of rollbar is that? It looks like it goes wider going into the car? It looks better than the norm.
Calvin
It's a lot of work, by a lot of club volunteers, and all the proceeds go to charity.(some $89,000 since we started)
The roll bar is from Rimmer Brothers, in England.
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk:80/rimmer/triumph/tr6/accessory#Miscellaneous
It called an Alie Roll bar, dual bars, but only floor mount, not to the frame. Although with you skills you could make it to the frame.
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Fitting is really tight and you must position the front bar mounting plate as far forward on the differential kick up in order for the soft top to still go up and down without conflict.
But I like the look, some what like the Triumph Stage and Benz 450SL!
I really like the looks of this roll bar, "Yes the 450SL Look".
It sure caught my eye on that photo of your's.
Is the top part of the bar have 2 pipes running along there?? Is that padding on the sides or sheet metal on the sides??
What is the overall height measurment? What size is the dia of the tubes? I know so may questions?????
Sharp looking!
I may try to make this rollbar.
Thanks Don,
Calvin
Yes the roll bar is 2 pipes.
Padding
I'm not sure on the size of the bars, maybe 1 1/2, 1 3/4?
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Outside width is 33"
Height to top leading edge is 27 1/4"
Depth on the mounting plates is 11" ( leading edge of the front plate to the trailing edge of the back plate)
Unless you extend this to the frame, it's more for visual, some protection, maybe.
If you notice in the picture of my car, I had to make a custom boot cover as the stock unit will work with a single bar but not with a double bar unit.
I'd go with 1 3/4 diameter, at least that's what NHRA recomends for roll bars, 1 5/8 will suffice if you go full cage but roll bar only is supposed to be 1 3/4 in chromoly that is, not sure what regs are for mild steel, it is a nice looking design though
For a different look, how about the following:
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These are different ideas from 6-Pack. I like the first style (BMW) with the slant forward stance.
Don,
Thanks for the other rollbar pic's, some good idea's.
Jon, Nice to know the size 1 3/4" is standard for rollbar for NHRA. Thanks.
It has been hard to weld on the body sheel metal. So I'm taking Bill Youngs great plans for the Rotisserie and making one. The materials total will cost around the 400 range. Much less than buying one.
http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Auto-Body-Rotisserie.htm
Will be using the worm gear for rotation "pretty cool Bill"
Will take some photo's and post soon.
I sure didn't like welding on my back.
Calvin
Calvin, in my opinion the best feature you can add to a rotisserie is a device that lets you change the rotation center relative to the car body. This is because as you add and remove parts the center of gravity changes. The HF worm drive is very limited in how much variation it will handle. For instance, bolting in the IRS means it now takes 2 people to rotate the body, and the crossover point gets a little scary. Doors and such would have the same effect. You can use a stronger worm drive, or you can make the CG adjustable. I think that would be the better choice. Knowing your abilities, I'd expect you could come up with a good design.
Jim
FWIW, I wouldn't even think about making a roll hoop in chrome-moly steel. IMHO, that's a material that's better left to professional, big-budget race teams. There are several reasons why mild steel is more appropriate, besides cost and easier availability. Among the reasons: you have to heat treat the welded areas of chrome-moly fabrications after creating them or you end up with a part with only similar strength as its mild steel equivalent, except with brittle welds. Brittle welds obviously aren't appropriate for roll hoops (or suspension parts.) When smart professional race teams do use chrome-moly, they farm out the heat treating to companies with elaborate equipment. Heat treating is not a job for do-it-yourselfers.
The usual reason for preferring chrome-moly on a race car is that it can be spec'd with thinner wall thickness to save weight.
Adding a pretty layer of chrome over a chrome-moly fabrication is a sin... because it invites a condition called "hydrogen embrittlement"... making a broken weld even more likely.
As for roll hoop tube diameters... that's just one criteria of selection. Obviously wall thickness is another, as is the construction of the tube itself (e.g. "seamless", "drawn-over-mandrel", etc.)
SCCA requirements are apparently quite different than NHRA...
I spec'd 1.75" seamless (DOM) mild steel tubing, w/ 0.090" wall thickness for the 6-point cage in my GT. A cage could have been constructed from 1.5" seamless tubing to meet SCCA requirements, and if I were a real racer I probably would have gone that way to save some weight. On the other hand, if I were a real racer there would have been a couple more (triangulating) tubes in my roll cage.
Jim,
I pictured you and Steve turning the roadmaster on your rotisserie and dealing with this weight issue :-) it must have been a little scary with weight offset. Very good point.
I won't be installing any heavy items on the body at all. All fenders, doors, hood, and trunk lid will not be going on the car body when on rotisserie. Only using rotisserie for installing very small amount of sheet metal. Will be cleaning the body tub and using for painting and prep work. So all in all it will stay fairly light in weight.
AS for CG some adjustment pins and telescope square tubing(2 different sizes) should work on attachment arms.
I'm using 4 1/2" OD and 4" OD sch 40 metal pipe for the rotating heads(one inside the other). At .250 thickness (each pipe) if the worm drive has a problem as a back up the 4"OD (inside pipe) pipe will have holes drilled every 1/2 " or so for adjustment position lock and the 4 1/2" OD pipe will have one hole going straight through the head with 1/2" dia 6" long pin.
Curtis,
Some good knowledge about chrome-moly, good info to know. If I was to build a roll bar, it would be out of DOM and probably 1.75.
I have a TR6 stock roll bar to start with and can modify later to the frame if needed.
Calvin
The SCCA also says that the main hoop is to be from one continuous piece, so no double hoop bars like above.
I think you can get by with a double hoop if the driver's hoop is the main one, but I expect the bracing would have to convey that image.
Jim
I believe you are correct on that assumption, Jim.
Jim wrote: "I think you can get by with a double hoop if the driver's hoop is the main one,"
I suspect SCCA's intent must have been to minimize the potential of failed welds or of buckling at tube intersections... As I understood the rules (and it's been a LONG time since I looked at them) the main tube that goes up and over the driver's head should be welded directly to mounting plates, not to other tubes. In other words, "continuous from mounting point to mounting point". Of course bracing tubes get welded TO the main hoop... but that shouldn't compromise its integrity. I think that in the last illustration (i.e. the one with the blue background) the hoop for the drivers side breaks the rules because it doesn't extend down to a mounting plate.
Finished the rotisserie, may need to weld in one more brace at a 45* angle on the upright. When mounting the body tub on the rotisserie, will have the 2000lbs worm drive on the front end of tub which is lighter. Did some adjustment for CG and width for mounting (used 1/2" pinch bolts with welded nuts). Found some wide wheel casters which will roll easy on cement. The mounting pads, used 3/8" bolt welded on plate, welded plate to the attachment arm. The rotating heads, used synthetic wheel bearing grease and packed well. Used 7/16" bolts and threaded into 1/2' thick metal rotating head. Mig welded everything with flux core .030 wire. Made sure there was alot of penetration on all welds.
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A few more pictures. Soon the body tub will go onto the rotisserie. Will be able to work on the tub and can work on the front frame skid plate frame area. The rotisserie took some time away from car progress but well worth making this roll around tool for holding the tub.
Moving ahead and looking forward to it.
Calvin
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I have the body tub on the rotissarie now and was enjoying taking the sawsal to the body some and flipping it over with very little effort. I'm seeing areas of the body I couldn't see before, like stress cracks where the seat rail was installed. May weld on tabs of metal to mount rails to the frame for better support.
I will take some photo's and post them soon for others to see. I even still have a grin on my face when working on this project.
Making the rotissarie was well worth it.
Calvin
Hey Calvin,
Thanks for the hard work on my new rotisserie. You did a great custom job. When you have her broken in and ready for me to pick up, I'll send the shipper!
Keep the grin going, it's like mental therapy, and I need it about every other day.
I took the grand kids for a little spin in our private development this past weekend and it was great sharing the excitement.
Maybe we should start a movement, "Take a Child for a Ride" and build interest in our sport, hobby, illness for the future.
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Just being a kid at heart!
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Don,
These photos need to be entered in the having fun with our British car contest. The smiles you all have show how much fun ah I mean illness your having. Also notice the 6-pack emblem on the windshield! (Are you a member?)
Looks like a very nice private development you live in. (Sweet!)
Maybe we should start a movement, "Take a Child for a Ride" and build interest in our sport, hobby, illness for the future.
I'm in agreement with this illness, it's way better than myspace.com or video games that most kids are involved in these days. Get them out and show them a more productive illness addiction and adrenalin rush with eye hand coordination. :-)
Your very welcome on your new rotisserie :-)
I have found that with this project, I don't have the time for the hunting in the recycle yards for parts that I would like. So the shopping spree has been on the net probably 80% of the time.
OK posting of photo's for others to see.
These are the tools needed for car restoration at home that I use. I'm able to do everything myself without help moving stuff around engine, body, frame and lifting.
1. 2 ton break down engine lift.
2. H frame body lift with straps at 4 ends with eye bolt in the center. Has lift bar that is used with engine lift (in black on the cement by the red one for the engine lift).
3. Newly made body rotisserie,(Don W has his name one this one hehe).
4. Several furniture dollies 1000lbs (roll around LS1 w/transmission attached with little effort) to move body when not on the rotisserie or frame.
5. Engine stand not shown.
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The rotisserie and body does fit in the one car garage at 17' long and can close the garage door.
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Different views. Rotisserie looks like big engine stand on the ends of body.
It was 101 degrees when I took these photos. Was sweating a little.
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My home is setup with a breeze way 1 car drive through that we installed a garage door opener on. In this court yard there is a one car garage facing a 2 car garage in the back. It's about 30' between the two garages. Its a sweet setup for me because I can keep all this closed off to my neighbors except one next door that we are good friends with.
Gota love this winch to rotate the body 360* with very little effort at all.
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Rear bolted up using the original body to frame pads and washers.
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Front bolted up same way.
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Photo showing mods to trunk area for the 19 gal gas tank. I couldn't see this before sitting on the frame or the dollies.
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Need to clean up all the tub to bare metal and will probably use Lizard skin ceramic coating or undercoating in the right areas.
Some body cuts for more header clearance in the engine compartment on both sides. Will weld in 45* sheet metal back in these areas.
Driver side.
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Passenger side. Still need to reconstruct passenger side foot well area.
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Driver side foot well. Did this welding while body was on the frame. Very hard on me and my Knees,ribs trying to do this(Note all the clean up on the frame from welding, did not want extra work repainting). This pain I went through drove me to build the rotisserie. Tons easier to see and access all areas of the body tub.
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What was found because of body tub on rotisserie.
This photo shows the welded bolt and tab that is for the driver side (door side in the back under body side view) seat rail slider. Shows the stress that the body has with how it bolts up for the seat slider. Had 3 bolts on the passenger side break from rust at the time of taking everything apart. I was able to remove two of the three. One left gave me the idea to do something better.
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This photo shows where thsese bolts line up to the frame. The extra gusset plate that was welded shows where the bolt was. Will drill through the gusset plate for frame mounting seat rail. Will weld on center section of frame another mounting plate for other back side of slider mount.
The two holes in the frame where the bolts would protrude into frame on the front side of the slider, will weld fill in or weld in washer and re-drill for bolt size so in the end results all four will be frame mounted for rigidity. Body in this area will not stress fracture again. Will take off all bolt and tabs that the factory installed. Will be able to use air craft nuts + antiseize paste under the frame. Also just another place for the body to mount to the frame using a rubber mount between body and frame.
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I guess this car has been hit in the front end. This photo show someone tried to fix the latch for the hood rod that holds the hood up for the engine compartment. Need to re-do this.
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Underside photo of hood latch in fender well passenger side. Can see the undercoating that has come off.
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Shows the drive shaft area of the 2" of sheet metal added for drive shaft clearance.
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Drive shaft tunnel is kind of oval shaped for the clearance.
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Calvin,
Don't forget to re-spray MY rotisserie after you're done with it!
Thanks for the reminder on the photo contest, I forgot!
S-Pack was from days gone by, before the conversion, although I still post from time to time.
(that's how all this illness started, at a 6-Pack National Meet, sucked a valve, smashed a piston, bent a rod, so I dropped in a V8)
Keep those pictures and progress posted, you do great work and provide motivation for us all!
Anyone heard or seen this mag???????
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Don,
On re-spray should it be blue?? :-) rotisserie in midnight blue should match OK.
Kind of the same thing happened to me, when doing this resto and ran into a frozen 6 engine. I still have it setup on the engine stand wondering if I can get the head off. The crank won't turn, probably rings are rusted to the cylinder walls. Was very bummed out until re-programing the brain for a V8 :-) . This was when the big illness started.
Since you posted the Triumph World Magazine, went into the website and checked it out. Have you subscribed to the mag yourself?. It looks to be related to the UK area but I'm sure it has a wealth of info.
Noticed the license plate wraped under the bumper on the photo above and the 5.0 emblem instead of TR6. Hmmm that plate is from BC not the UK interesting.
Calvin
Your ride is going to be so solid! You'll be able to pass it down to your boys with pride.
Midnight Blue is a great color, just don't nick it up!
The Triumph World Mag was different and I had never seen it before. I did not subscribe as I was looking for possible readers on the forum to see if it's worth it?
Speaking of BC, our friend and road warrior, Ken Heibert and Katie from Canada are out on the Highways again this week, Toronto to Townsend, TN for 6-pack
National, then maybe back to spend time in my garage and a brew before heading back home.
Hey, I got another TR6!
Keep up the solid work!
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Triumph World magazine. Great publication; I have every issue starting from the first.
Matter of fact, my ride - bowtie6 - was featured in the Jan/Feb 2008 and March 2008 issues. Two articles were ran including quite a few pictures. They were kind enough to send me a very nice set of spanners...
joe
www.bowtie6.com
Congrats, Joe
I'll have to see if I can get a few back issues( Jan/Feb, March 08) before I sub.
How's the TR running? I have not seen recent updates from you on the 6-Pack forums.
(hot cam on the 3.4, etc.)
bowtie6 is running better than ever.
The whole cam upgrade was certainly worth the trouble. In addition to the cam, the intake was altered substantially and it has a much better breathing capability. Power is very, very nice as well as torque. Bottom line, the whole setup is working very nicely.
joe
I second the congrats, Joe
Your resto should be in the magazines. I would also like to see the back issues on your ride. I did get the sub (Triumph World) just the other day myself to check it out.
And always thank you, Don for your ongoing support.
Posted in the body section on removal of undercoating a while back. So below are some photos of removal of undercoating.
These 2 ice cream buckets full of undercoating (1/2 half of the body tub) came off using a 1" wide putty knife using the portable torch. Waving the torch about 4" away from fender well (Right on the coating) surface to warm the coating, not to hot to melt, pealed off 6" sections with very little effort. Took about 1 1/2 hours to do half the body tub.
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For half the body tub, it took almost a full bottle of gas. Had to keep the torch lit while pealing off the coating which had the torch on for 1 1/2 hours.
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Used this stripping wheel on an angle grinder which removed the paint, primer down to metal fairly easy, but very dusty work.
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Cleaned the front fender well the same day of removal of coating. Spent about 3 hours taking of the coating and cleaning down to metal front and back fender wells.
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Photo of rear fender well.
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Photo of rocker panel after heating coating and using putty knife to remove.
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Ok didn't go refill the torch bottle up, so pulled out the 2500 psi pressure washer and did the other half of the body tub. Took me 5 hours to do and the clean up was also fun. A better and higher than 2500 psi probably would have been much faster. Once started went to the end + did the whole body tub to relieve some of the oil and tar.
Pics316.jpg
The foot wells are close to being done. Weld and grind, weld some more and grind some more to get the finish desired. Also welded in the 45 degree sections for header clearance.
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Photo of the foot wells from inside the passanger compartment. Left myself good room for the throtle pedal.
Pics317.jpg
Used a drop cloth so this could be seen better.
Pics319.jpg
Will need to do the fine prep and get all the little tiny holes filled, surface smoothed out but coming along OK.
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Next will be soda blasting and maybe some abrasive blasting soon. I will need to make some kind of booth out of a pop up 10X10 shade tent. The fun begins always with a smile.
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Signing out for now,
Calvin
Boy that engine bay shot brings back memories!
By the way, after the 6-Pack Nationals in TN, we had some visitors from Toronto and it provide a great feeling having TWO TR6 V8 in the garage at the same time.
I told Debi to grab the keys and hide them, but Ken and Katie could only stay the night.
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Maybe someday soon we can try stuffing 3 V8 TR's in that garage of yours.
Ken & Katie look like they always have a great time on the road "Great folks".
OK Don, gotta tell me whats on that set of 1000lbs dollies on the garage floor. Could that be new differential setup you are going to put in your six, Vet or...??
Looks like Vet IRS, nice setup. I remember you posting somewhere on this site about it.
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Put the body tub back on the frame and engine in to check for clearance, header, trans area. One header needs a little more room, passanger side head needs more room from the firewall. I'm glad I checked before spaying primer. Re-do work in always fun. Used a body panel dent stud welder to slide hammer some dents out. Very easy tool to use. Took some dents out of the rear lower coul section with little effort + right in front of the windshield where something dropped on it.
Just keep posting those pics of having fun, a great motivator for me and others.
Hey, with a small garage, everything is on wheeles, tools, spare parts, event the ice chest is on piano dollies. Move it out to clear space to work, then move it back when your done.
I had the stock differential go south on me, but it was my own fault.
The stock differential can't take burn outs....for very long!
That's a 1984 C4 rear IRS that I pick up and was going to modify for the TR6. But the C4 would need to be cut about 12" and she cleaned up so nice!
(rebuilt, new brakes, new calipers,new ring gear, seal, new fiber spring)
I could not bring myself to use the torch! So I went for the Nissan 300z R200 differential and decided to reduce my showing off with smoke!
It's for sale if you know of anyone that wants an IRS setup for their hot rod.
Slide250.JPG
Here is a shot of the first outing of the TR6V8. I did not even wait to install the hood or exhaust. Just Headers, Down Pipes and and 3' section of exhaust pipe. I could not even hear myself thing. It was GREAT!
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With over 3000 hits on your thread, people are watching and waiting,..........so get back to work!
dwtr6v8 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's a 1984 C4 rear IRS that I pick up and was
> going to modify for the TR6. But the C4 would need
> to be cut about 12" and she cleaned up so nice!
> (rebuilt, new brakes, new calipers,new ring gear,
> seal, new fiber spring)
>
> I could not bring myself to use the torch! So I
> went for the Nissan 300z R200 differential and
> decided to reduce my showing off with smoke!
>
> It's for sale if you know of anyone that wants an
> IRS setup for their hot rod.
Is the C4 rear a Dana 36 or 44?
The C4 is a Dana 36, not a 44
I had to move the front skid plate forward about an inch, so that the sway bar would be correct on the suspension (vertical link).
This also gave me the room I needed for the radiator to fit down in the skid plate and clear the hood(with radiator straight up vertical). In doing so I hacked up the front body mount on the frame. So I reinforced both mounts and still have clearance for the front body attachment bars to go through.It started raining here in California and the winter time is here, so Mondays I have off so made some headway.
Front view.
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Top veiw.
TR6photos026.jpg
Extended the frame about 1 1/4" out.
TR6photos029.jpg
Then reinforced body mount. Need to clean up and paint.
TR6photos032.jpg
The fan shroud is right up close to the steering rack. Will need to cut the body mount on the tub at a 45 degree to miss the radiator.
TR6photos037.jpg
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The 2002 Camaro condenser I will also use which is very wide, but will fit notching the front mounting bars with reinforments on the other side of the bar. Will be installing a Vintage Air II mini.
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I will use a brackets under the radiator with rubber in the bracket.
I will list some other stuff I have been doing soon.
Calvin
Received some Ls1 goodies. Have a Spec clutch stage 2 + ,good for 625 lbs orf torque. A aluminum Fidanza 12.5 lbs fly wheel with changable clutch surface. A nice front runner with 140 amp alternator, 508 ac compressor, all in polish finish. Also received all the parts with the Vintage Air II mini to install the AC. A crimping tool for AC lines too, and a trinary safety switch.
Ls1goodies.jpg
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The front runner will have all the covers on all accessaries and dampaner. Just mounted some to see what it would look like.
Ls1goodies006.jpg
I won't need a heavy fly wheel, will not be running the dragstrip or 5000rpm dumps. At 12.5 pounds should work well with a 2500lbs car.
Ls1goodies008.jpg
This bugger here(the ac compressor) made me move the other fender well out about an inch. This will be about even with the other side for the alternator, and I thought I would be done with the engine compartment. Made the firewall adjustment for the passanger side engine head clearance. Made the adjustment for the steering shaft on the body right in front of the spark plug on the driver side(under the alternator). Made the last adjustment in the body for the passanger side header.
Ls1goodies002.jpg
Ls1goodies003.jpg
In the photo below, took the stock clutch, and flywheel off. The pilot shaft needle bearing was toast. It looked like a thin ring that was left.
Ls1goodies005.jpg
I found the pilot bearing photo. The old one is toast.
Pilotbearing.jpg
The steering is going to be tight, but it will fit and work. I made wooden dowels(3/4" od) and drilled the ends out to put in the weld on spline in the ends, to mock up the steering route.
Wow! between the body and under the coil pack
TR6photos018.jpg
Will be making a plate on the back side (in the wheel well), and a plate on this side to mount the heim shaft support.
TR6photos019.jpg
The body needed to be relieved where the shaft was touching, oh it will be close. The second heim shaft support is in the suspension tower box. Everthing is so close, that I'm thinking of installing a torque rod from the block to the frame will be needed.
TR6photos020.jpg
Calvin,
"Get out the micrometer and measure that hair"
Will the steering shaft clear the headers?
Keep posting!
The coil pack on the valve cover is the problem that I'm faced with. Since the steering shaft has to go under the coil pack, it makes routing a little lower. Yes the header does fit. By relieving the body in front of the spark plug, this will give the clearacnce for both the spark plug removal, and more header clearance. The spark plug should have about 2" clearance and the header will have about 1" clearance.
I'm waiting for a internal slave cylinder to arrive, so I can put the flywheel, clutch, and pilot bearing back together. Then the transmission will go back on the engine. At that point I can put the body back on the frame plus engine & transmission back in and check all clearances once again.
Was abrasive blasting today on the floor boards. It did help taking some of the rust pitting going on. The bottom side of the floor boards are fine. It must have got water in there in one of the rains when it was a planter box.
I have fixed some bad dents in the engine hood + been doing some body work. This is where some major labor comes in sanding. Have both doors striped and trunk hood striped. Passenger door has a bad tin can in it, may need to re-skin it. I do have the skin already.Right door in good shape. Right front fender is OK. Left front fender is toast, so have a replacement for it. Left rear fender had a ton of bondo on it, don't know if I want to try and fix it. Right rear fendr is OK. So may be looking for left rear fender.
Need to mock up ac evap in the dash when the body is on the frame.
Calvin
Don is your plan coming together yet?.... or is it still in the thinking stage?
Past the thinking stage as the frame arrives Nov 22!
I need to decide if I'm going to fab up your design of the body lifting frame and engine hoist or the rafter option.
Kenny in Canada left the door open so our weather is down from 70 to around 30 with first snow yesterday.
Time to fire up the garage heater and crank up the tunes! (my neighbors love me)
Don,
I didn't fab up the body lift but purchased it on the net. I will look at my paper work and see if I can find where I got it.
It was about between 3 to 4 hundred bucks.
I found it here it is>>>http://www.accessiblesystems.com/bl.php
Start a thread on your process.
Kenny needs to close the door and turn up the heat. I wonder what he's up to now? How many good parts on his new treasure?
Calvin
Calvin,
I assume you're referring to my latest aquisition as the "treasure" (pictured here). I slapped the hardtop on my TR6 today. Should be good for the "shoulder" seasons up here in the Great White North. There's not too many parts I can use off this car though. I'll post a photo of the installation soon.
IMG_0283.JPG
Ken
Are you saying you have a green TR6 with a red hardtop? Ewwww. Good for Christmas though I guess.
Jim
Excuse us Calvin but I need to show Jim I don't see any two tone here, do you?
IMG_0297.JPG
Ken
Wow! another transformation by Ken . Alright who's car is that anyway?? Very nice!
I'm a color blind man here, so does that mean you have a red one for me or for sale??
It does look all green to me. Nice snap of the finger and walla its done.
Those factory hard tops sure look nice. Damn the price was right Ken, what a find.
Calvin
And Jim, that was a pretty funny remark, had me laughing.
It does suit the car well. Don't suppose it's any harder to paint a red one green than it is to go from white to black as I did. Only thing, mine wouldn't have shown as well in a B/W photo. Good find Ken.
Jim
Ok,
Kenny, no fare getting started on Christmas this early!
Here's to self gifting!
kenxmas.jpg
Debi and I had an unusual Christmas tradition. Each year we pick a letter of the alphabet and our gifts need to start with that letter. (we really don't need anything)
So this adds a little thinking to the Holidays.
This year it's "I", what the heck starts with I, a little help PLEASE!!!!!!!
(she never looks at this forum, so come up with some ideas)
Congrats on the hardtop!
Ice cream. Icicles. Itching powder...goin' downhill fast.
"Anything from Apple"
e.g. I-Pod, I-Phone, I-Book... (my wife Lisa just suggested this)
Or, you could buy a pair of plane tickets to Spain.
(The Iberian peninsula includes Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, and a little sliver of France.)
I suppose tickets to the Italian Peninsula would work too.
Or India, or Iceland too, if you want to get adventurous.
One final choice would be "ice" (diamonds).
You'll never go far wrong with that as a gift...
Now what I'm more interested in is how you get "yet another performance upgrade" to start with an "i"
OK, I'll give it a shot.
For her. Iris flowers if you can find them. An apple I-mac.
For you. Ignition switch for the TR6. 20 meg Internet.
I'll take this off to another thread as to not mess up you progress Calvin.
Ken asked for a color version of his early Christmas gift.( green car, red top)
kenny.jpg
(a few more things added)
I like the "I" ideas, I'll add them to my new forum. Do you think I'll get much help?
Sounds good Don. Calvin needs lots of space.
That doesn't look bad at all, surprisingly. But then, it is getting closer to christmas....
Jim
Wow! , This post has turned into a "Sticky" Thanks Curtis!
Was wondering how to use the original dash brace and use the stick shift hole at the same time.Took off all the black covering plus the old foam backing which was falling apart. With the dash brace mounted in the body , the dash put in to mock up where the now T56 stick shift resides, is about 4 1/2 " back from original hole. So cut the dash brace at the radio face and took off the shifter hole piece. Proceeded with welding it back on with aluminum strips which added 4 ½" back so that the T56 shifter is center in the hole. The dash brace will be covered back up to look some-what close to original.
Before taking black covering off + old foam.
pics089.jpg
Extending hole 4 1/2" back to line up with T56 stick shift.
TR6Nov2008005.jpg
TR6Nov2008006.jpg
TR6Nov2008007.jpg
Used the new Miller 165 diverter tig AC/DC welder with staight argon gas. This welder works great for aluminum up to 3/16ths thick. It has the power control on the tig handle.
Next, need to work on making a transmission cover out of aluminum + move back the E-brake mount to clear stick shift area.
Is that a kit, or something you made up?
Hi Alan,
I made the original dash brace longer by 41/2". Used 2" wide, 4 1/2" long, .125 thick aluminum pieces. Tig welded all the pieces in to extend it out so T56 stick shift would come up through the hole. After welding all up, used a angle grinder to clean up.
The extention bracket thats on the transmission (4" forward) is from hotrodlane.cc for the T56.
Looking good Calvin. And yes, with over 7000 views,your thread should be a sticky. Alot of people on this planet look forward to news from you. It is, of course, a good exchange of ideas and sugestions.
May I add, to you Calvin, and anyone else considering the T56 transmission, don't forget to allow for the extra width of the "reverse lockout solenoid" on this unit. I had to go back into my custom transmission tunnel and refabricate it to give me more clearance for the seat. The seat would have fit without but it wouldn't have been able to slide forward.
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I'm glad you chimed in about that reverse lockout solenoid Ken.
My Ls1 neighbor across the street here was telling me just to take it out for more room. Well that being said by him, I said "no it would be just my luck I would stuff it in reverse and blow the whole drive train out". I have read several places that people will do this in their swaps. Well what happens when you let someone else drive your car, not knowing about it being removed, and disaster ends your nice day. So I vote to leave it in, even if it is in the way some.
This photo shows the Aluminum 12.5 lbs Fidanza flywheel installed after cleaning all the clutch dust off the block.(Notice the removable steel surface on the flywheel that can be changed out). The pilot shaft bearing outer race that is pressed in the end of the crankshaft, is on the wood (Left side low in photo).I had to use a air body saw to cut a slot in, then was easier to pull out.
TR6Nov2008001.jpg
Cleaned up the bell housing from clutch dust and installed a new slave cylinder/ throwout bearing. GM T56 transmissions started having slave cylinders inside the bell housing I believe in 1998, in F-bodied cars. A quick diconnect for hydraulic fluid on the red cap and the bleeder bolt is above on top. I will make an access hole in my transmisson cover to bleed the clutch. That way 1 person can bleed the clutch.
TR6Nov2008002.jpg
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Spec stage 2 + all installed ready to mate up the T56.
TR6Nov2008003.jpg
Engine installed again to check for clearances with accessories steering shaft and passenger side header.
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Alternator is good to go.
TR6Nov2008018.jpg
Ac compressor needs more clearance for the cover and ears on the side. I was not happy anyway with this inner fender work so it was OK with me to re-do.
TR6Nov2008020.jpg
First 2 photos show how close the steering shaft is to the coil pack and footwell box.
This photo is looking up shaft towards the firewall.
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This photo is taken looking down on shaft
TR6Nov2008016.jpg
Stll need to relieve a little more of the body here for the double u-joint.
TR6Nov2008013.jpg
This part of the shaft and heim support is good to go. The heim support and the tower crossmember all fits fine.
TR6Nov2008014.jpg
Compressor needs more room.
TR6Nov2008021.jpg
Passenger header needs more room.
TR6Nov2008022.jpg
So trying to get all clearance issues handled one last time. Then body goes back on rotisserie for adjustments again.
Radiator bottom brackets finished along with frame extention. I have a smaller condensor than the Camaro one that will fit better. Just need to make brackets for it. The 45 degree angle black line on the body mount I already cut off for radiator clearance.
TR6Nov2008010.jpg
74ls1tr6 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...
> The extention bracket thats on the transmission
> (4" forward) is from hotrodlane.cc for the T56.
Hi Calvin.
It was the extension bracket I was interested in. I'm likely to be needing something similar is why...
Thanks, Alan
btw: Those inner wings look GREAT. Really nice work on them.
Actually I'm curious about spacing on the solenoid as well. You reckon you could send me a couple of hi-res pics of the cutout you made.
TIA, Alan
Alan,
OK, any particular angle you want? Do you want a photo of the dash support along with showing the solenoid? I can take a photo from directly above that area to show how far it does stick out.
Just let me know and I'll shoot and send.
I will probably add some more aluminum to the end of the support, to cover all the shifting mechanics of the shifting yoke.
I still have your email address.
Straight above would be great.
Thx, Alan
This is Kens photo of his T56 transmission placement. Going by the 2 stress bends on the floor boards in reference to the reverse lockout solenoid position, Kens and my T56 placement is very close to the same placement.
IMG_8306.JPG
This photo shows the same placement for reference for this swap. Sent this photo to Alan, and the ones below also.
TR6dec1408003.jpg
Another veiw.
TR6dec1408005.jpg
This photo shows just how far the solenoid does stick out.
TR6dec1408002.jpg
Note* The T56 placement where Ken and I have, put's the T56 shifter 8 1/2 " back from the stock position, and give +/- 1/4" or so.
This photo shows the firewall bracket that was made out of aluminum for the air conditioning evaporator mount. Used 2 original firewall mounting bolt holes on the outside bolts(bent aluminum plate), and the one in the center was drilled and taped for mounting evaporator. The five holes under the plate will be filled in. They will not be used.
You can also see the red factory primer used here along the body seams. Used a putty knife to remove the old tar substance from the factory that sealed up the body seams. Used sprits solvent cleaner with rag and wipe down all the seams to get the rest of the tar sealer off. Will use modern seam sealer and re- seal all body seams.
TR6dec1408006.jpg
This aluminum bracket will be the front mount for the evaporator. Used anlge aluminum, drilled hole and bolted to the under dash(original heater mounting hole on driver side), drilled and taped for evaporator mount. The large hole will be blocked off for the original vent hole with a plate and self tapping screws(will seal off well, no leaking allowed here).
TR6dec1408007.jpg
This photo shows passenger side inner fender where the hood rod bracket was (bracket holds up engine compartment hood). Used sawsall to cut off old bracket and smoothed out for new one to be welded on. Somewhere in an ealier posting a photo shows this bracket was ripped upward, was rusting from a front end hit from someone that had this car before me.
TR6dec1408009.jpg
New hood bracket sitting on inner fender. The factory brazed this bracket on. Also it looks like the force of the impact ran something into the brace with the hole in it (where the yellow paint is missing and showing rust, about 4" to the right of the black bracket in photo), on the inner vertical panel.
TR6dec1408008.jpg
Another veiw of hood latch placement before welding.
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Next 3 photos, it's welded on and cleaned up with small cutting wheel using a Dremel tool.
Need to drill small hole for screw that holds the rubber back block for the long rod stay to ride accross when closing the hood.
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Can bend this thin metal by hand to look more square, in the end results I did.
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A 1/4" NPT threaded aluminum bung that I'm dreading to install in the radiator. This bung is for the LS1 steam vent relief hose. It needs to be tig welded in the side tank under the overflow barbed fitting. I'm a little nervous but jumped right into tha task that needed to be done.
TR6dec1408012.jpg
Positioned where it should go and traced a line around the bung. used my wet/dry vac extention and clamped it close to the bung. When the hole is being drilled out, the vac will be on to suck most of the shavings to prevent going into the radiator.
TR6dec1408013.jpg
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Drilled the hole with my Dremel tool and different bits to achieve a 750 thousands diameter hole. Used a wire brush in the dremel tool to clean aluminum area and bung to tig weld. Stuffed some fuel line into the wet/dry vac extention, then proceeded to vac out inside all the shavings that did end up in the radiator(not much went in).
TR6dec1408014.jpg
OK the bung in with a swig to help the nerves, proceeded to tig weld the bung in.
TR6dec1408017.jpg
Tig welding in a circle was kind of fun. I'm not a professional tig welder for sure, but I think it will hold pressure and not leak.
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Both fittings in. Radiator good to go. I had dreamed and slept on this task several nights before doing it, and I'm happy with the end results. I believe this will work like the original Camaro radiator.
TR6dec1408020.jpg
Note* Griffin radiator by the looks, tank thickness was about 80 or so thousands thick.
Will explain photos soon! Work still has my time.
OK,....was able to mount the condensor on the bottom using the same 2 bolt holes that hold the radiator bracket. I used angle aluminum, drilled the 2 holes in the correct spot on one side, then tig welded a 2" strip of aluminum to raise the condensor up, so aluminum brackets could be made for the top, to hold both radiator, and condensor with the same brackets. Will show brackets for the top and bottom in the next post.
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This photo shows the Air Cleaner with the mass air flow sensor all in one. Took the MAF apart that came with the Z28 air box, theres 2 flat aluminum plates on either side of the MAF. Sent the MAF and the front plate ( the plate closest to the air cleaner) to Street & Performance. S&P polished the front plate and assembled the air cleaner together with the MAF. S&P also put a threaded hole in the back for a screw in air temp sensor, which the Z28 has it located in the plastic air tube housing. A "Bling" kind of looking air cleaner. I'm hoping the air is not to hot with this setup from the radiator.
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The air cleaner goes over the throtle body and seals up inside to a large O-ring. The cleaner is held on with 2 allen set screws. I like the LS1 engraving on the front cover.
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The air cleaner sticks out only 4" total. You can order the air filter in 4 different widths.
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Some very simple C channel aluminum brackets with slots cut to hold condensor, and allen screw/aircraft nut on either ends.
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The original Z28 steam vent hose aligns up very nice to the bung that was tig welded in with it's formed curves.
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As Jim Blackwood has explained in an earlier post, steam hoses need to be higher than the heads where it connects to the radiator. It ends up that in this photo to have a 2 1/2 rise for the connection. Also small "NOTE" here. I have been told that S&P pully bearings are cheap (from LS1 knowledged neighbor), so the finishing cap are not pushed in all the way for that one reason. I'm going to replace with better one's instead of dealing with it later when on the road.
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This photo shows the air temp sensor that is screwed into the back of the air cleaner right above the steam vent hose. Also you can see to the left the small diameter steam vent tube that is running between the heads. It will tee on the other side, then travel into the throtle body (to warm it up), then travels to the radiator. I will probably bypass the throtle body which will let the computer know that there is colder air coming through, a small performance mod, or what is called a free mod.
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This photo shows the thermostat housing turned CCW 90 degrees down to achieve the clearance needed from the front suspension tower, to hook up the lower radiator hose. Just made small aluminum clamps as the housing to pump seals with an O-ring.
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Photo shows angle aluminum bracket made to hold condensor (photo from above area).
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Photo from the front of car looking in. The angle bracket will direct the air flow into the condensor then to the radiator.
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A little more aluminum tig welding on the dash support to cover the shifter yoke.Hand bent the 80 thousands aluminum to shape, used an air nibbler to do the cuts. More photos in the next post.
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Moved the E-brake bracket back 3 1/2" from it's original position. Also cut the floor pan and welded in a straight angle piece of steel, so that the transmission cover will be easier to make, and bolt up to the floor pan. The top section of the transmission cover is some what started, with the strap of aluminum around the drive shaft tunnel, to the firewall with a piece of aluminum bent in the right areas. Had the pound with a body hammer a cup indentation under the stick shift handle area, so that it wouldn't hit the aluminum top piece when in 1st, 3rd, and 5th gear positions.
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The floor pan had all kinds of bends where the transmission cover bolted to.
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Here is the other side where the floor pan has been cut out, ready for the angle straight to be welded in. To many bends and curves.
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The Vintage Air MIni II mounted in place. Also you can see the the original air vent hole covered with a round aluminum plate up high on the firewall. The radio hole will be moved down because of the clearance issue with Mini Air Evap. The Evap-heater-air controls will be in the position of the original radio position. I want to install one of those indash pop out sceen type stereo/GPS systems. I'm so use to a GPS now that I would be lost with out it, how funny times have changed from the old map books.
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OK, I took the right side leg of the dash brace and re-worked the aluminum to match the left side. Had to make clearance for the transmission cover to be under the brace on the right side.
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Had to make 3 cuts, then tig welded back together, also in the end keep the demensions correct to bolt back in.
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Ended up fitting back in place quit well.
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Then tig welded up a transmission cover out of aluminum to go underneath the dash brace. When done, I think my carpet kit will fit since its still pretty close to original setup.. Should look pretty good when all done.
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Here is a few more photos! Still in progress around reverse lockout solenoid.
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Sweet!
Look-n-Good my friend.
When I did my fiberglass extension on the tunnel I was unsure that the carpet kit would be too small but it all fit.
I went 3" wider and 1" taller and still had extra material to make the carpet kit fit.
Keep up the outstanding progress!
Others are watching! (no pressure here)
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Thanks Don,
That makes me feel better since I have wool carpet going in there.
I want to share with all that are interested in a LSX with a T56 swap. Everyone questions the thought of where the shifter ends up being 8 1/2" back from the original shifter location of a TR6 or any swap car with this setup.Plus the problem with the protruding reverse lockout solenoid.
I have found in my research that it has been done to move the shifter 4 1/8 " in any direction with the street & performance custom shifter yoke and handle, which I have on my setup (4 1/8" forward which means I'm 4 3/8" back from original TR6 location).
Now I found and has been done, is move the T56 shifter to the front inspection plate, kind of like the T5.So the shifter and reverse lockout can be relocated the the front position. I believe without measuring the shifter would be in the original position for a TR6.
I wish this was found sooner as all the work invested with my setup (re-fab dash support).
Here is some photos I found.
The original shifter plate removed and you can see the reverse lockout on the left.
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This is under the forward inspection plate.
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Low quality photo since it was enlarged, but shown is the modified shifter rail under the inspection plate to accept the shifter yoke.
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All installed with the reverse lockout installed in place of the CAGS sensor. 2 plates were made to cover the original shifter yoke and where reverse lockout was. I'm going to look into this a little further, but probably will keep the setup I have at this time.
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"Very Interesting"
Here is another photo for the T56 shifter in both locations. Looks as though where I purchased my shifter may be the same company who makes the forward shifter also. I need to contact them and find out now! So they must have a kit that modifies the shifter rail for the forward position. I guess you can have the shifter any where needed. Hmmm! Nice!
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Here is the website who makes all the different locations shifter yoke setups. I also believe that this company does different shifter locations for T5 transmissions. Red Roberts use to work with Mcleod Industries, well the company sold to a new owner and Red Roberts bought the rights to the shifters line of products and now has the site below. The site is not completed yet but there is a phone number at the top right of the page.
http://www.redrobertsinc.com/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=3
http://www.hotrodlane.cc/Shifter/shifter.htm This will give you the idea of all the different locations for shifters and different transmissions. "Great Information for T5 here also"
Update below! 2/6/2010
http://www.keislerauto.com/gm/gm-bare-transmissions/6-speed-manual/t56-front-shift-conversion-kit/shop.flypage_acc.html Found this kit that moves the shifter to the front inspection plate, Need to take the trasmission half way apart, and a professional should do it, or if you have the tools to diy.
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Great lessons learned, thanks for sharing so that others can have options.
FYI: We hosted another BV8 member at our home. Dan Blackwood called that he was in the area and wanted to meet. (not me, but the TR6V8) Food, automotive fellowship,and fun with the Triumph. Only in the garage as we had too much snow for driving.(only 2 degrees outside)
WOW, 2 BV8 visitors in one year, GREAT!
Maybe California is not that far away?
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Well, spring started monday and it's supposed to be a warm week coming up. Better get those cars ready!
Jim
Yes, I really appreciated the hospitality, Don. Thanks Deb again as well! And at least we did get to fire up that beast in your garage and listen to her purr!
I am all in favor of positive thinking, Jim, but it is FREAKIN COLD!!!!! BRRRR!!!
So why weren't we notified of this meet in advance? ;-) Or is this some secretive arrangement among you TR guys? I'm sure we could have found a few more enthusiasts to descend on you Don, if we'd only known.
Seriously though, I think it's great. Creating a local group is always a wonderful thing, something I've not been able to accomplish here in N.Ky. Could be I'm the wrong person to do it. But we're at risk of hijacking Calvin's thread, and I don't want to do that. Where in WV are you located btw? Around Parkersburg?
Jim
I wouldn't think that anyone has hijacked this thread,(On my end) for as only shown good taste,fun,and helping thoughts.I personally don't mind the posting because it breaks up the building process for me, plus I like the fact that it is bringing great friendships together with a great hobby.
I'll keep posting and others are welcome to post anytime. I have been open to new knowledge and thoughts through out this whole build process, so in just saying that, my build has tons of knowledge that has not been mine alone, and read all postings to keep learning. I wouldn't have started this build without BV8 support :-)
Will fill in info soon!
OK ....After rolling the thought of using fuel foam and needing to replace after a few years, decided not the route I wanted to go with. Fuel slosh and fuel starvation can be a problem with fuel injected engines. So since aluminum Tig welding is so fun and I'm jumping for joy to hack up my fuel cell, went ahead with adding a simple fuel sump to the bottom side. Drilled 9 holes 1 1/8th diameter in size so my fuel cell can leak, well leak into the sump anyway. In the center and to the right hole, you can see the original draw tube for fuel going to the top of tank. The draw tube is about 3/4 of an inch off the bottom. I think with taking fuel from the bottom of sump will help with starvation that could occur. I don't have room for separate tank or so called swirl tank.
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Made an 8"x10" reserve tank (Um sump), at almost 2" deep.
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Needed to position correctly so that it will still fit in the area that was redone on the body.
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Made the hole for a weld in bung 8AN fitting (trying to keep the 3/8ths" ID for fuel flow). This fitting will end up on the driver side on the bottom.
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Will post info soon!
All welded up, tank tried to warp a little but came out pretty well.
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The tube here I can still use if wanted later to dual feed to the fuel pump, but being at the bottom of the tank now will be easy on the fuel pump. For now will put on a cap for the top feed. I will still use the original return on the top of tank.
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I decided to go with a white face gauge. Autometer make several different kinds of white faced gauges but wanted the gauge to look somewhat British looking. These are Phantom II gauges with led lights. Almost went with Phantom gauges. They will all be electric gauges, Tach and Speedo are 5" to fit the dash in original TR6 dash size, all the smaller gauges are 2 1/16".
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Don asked why two dashes? Well this is a photo from Randy Keller in San Jose that has been doing custom dashes for British cars for some 30 years. I'm going for the dash on the right which has an extra gauge hole getting rid of the rheostate switch plus the seat belt light. The gauge setup I like, still need to pick the wood I want but the wood in the photo here is Kewazinga African Rosewood. It does look nice. The lower center hole I will be using an oil temp gauge.
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Nice dash! Why 2 different?
"Is that your fuel tank or are you just happy to see me?"
WOW, you do great work! I'm still planning on moving in.
Smiley faces to Don :-)
Other photos of dashes and different kind of woods. How do you like the Plinth insert? Also Randy can inlay wood into custom door panels. That is a photo of him holding wood dashes on the bottom. Very custom looking dashes and expert workmanship. If interested for a custom dash call Randy Keller at 408-288-8737
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Made a stainless steel pipe to go over the steering rack that was in a tight area. Cut off the Thermostat housing hose end and the lower radiator hose end. Re-Tig welded them back on with more of the right angle to take out the sharp turns to go over the steering rack.This Miller Tig welder 165 Diverter is an awesome machine. Did the aluminum tig welding first, then switched tungstin tip for stainless, flipped the switch to DC mode, welded the stainless right after. I wish I would have purchased this welder along time ago when I was doing the exhaust. I wouldn't have had to do all the grinding to finish it off.
The cross member suspension tower support will go over this stainless steel pipe.
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Next on the list of many things to do will be weld on some hold down brackets on the sides of the radiator to go over to the front body mount stud.
Cut up some C channel aluminum and made some hold down brackets for the radiator.
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Ground down after tig welding to get a nice finish.
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Just need to drill the hole for the body mount.
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This is one awesome Tig welding machine. A Miller 165 Diversion...a very user friendly welder, just turn the dial to the thickness you want to weld, flip the switch to AC or DC mode, and turn on your gas between 15 and 20 psi....then weld ..it's that easy. There is a small wheel control to fine tune as you weld on the torch handle. You can order a foot pedal control that will plug in the front panel. This machine will not arc weld with stick.
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Welded another C channel to the back side so that the bracket could be welded on the radiator. You can also see how much more of an angle for the hose connection, for the bottom of radiator.
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Tack welded in 3 places.....2 on one side and 1 on the other side.
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This is the driver side of the radiator.
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Radiator mounted on the body mount studs and will use a body mount rubber washer under the radiator bracket.
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Passanger side mounted the same way. Probably be able the use this bracket to hold down some of the AC equipment running passed this area.
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Looking down on the passanger side mounting bracket. Can see the 1 tack weld on this side to the radiator.
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After doing all the aluminum tig welding on the radiator brackets, changed the pure green label tunsten tip out to orange label tungsten tip 2% ceriated (in the torch handle)....flipped the switched to DC mode ,welded a bead around the ends of this stainless steel lower radiator tube...so that the hose won't slip off like all the other hose ends.
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Calvin, how much did that Miller set you back? Just the machine, not the bottle.
Jim
Paid $1280.00 on sale at my local welding supply house. I rent the bottle. I have a business account with them. E-bay will have them for $1314. and up some have the pedal. The pedal will set you back around $140. The wheel thumb control works fine for me to fine tune when your welding.
Here it is on E-bay
http://cgi.ebay.com/MILLER-DIVERSION-165-AC-DC-TIG-WELDER-COMPLETE-907005_W0QQitemZ110358504266QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Welders?hash=item110358504266&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A15%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
Well you have been doing some very nice work with it. At the rate you are going it may not be long before you are getting the kind of welds we see on production jobs. It seems you have a talent for it.
Perhaps if my old blower set-up sells I'll get one.
Jim
I thought you were talking about a bottle of Miller....
Dan, A bottle of Miller does sound good right about now!
Jim, with your talent stick welding and I'm sure you have the talent with an oxygen/acetylene welder. Tig welding is like oxygen/acetylene. Just watch the puddle pool and move along and feed the rod in.
The Miller 165 Diversion is perfect for the garage hobbyist that doesn't need to tig weld anything over 1/4", can use the stick welder for those applications.
I hope you get your price for your blower and you can pick up one of these gems, you will wish you had it a long time ago like myself. The price is reasonable. If I wanted a tig machine that can do thicker materials, I would have went with a Lincoln Precision TIG 225, but the cost is much higher, plus with the Lincoln you need to know how to set it up (More critical settings to fine tune), where the Miller is way more user friendly.
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every time you post something, i feel so inadequate...
how long do you reckon before the first test-fire?
Calvin,
Are you planning some top side support for the radiator? The hardware looks fantastic, but the front of the car takes a lot of vibration and a little support on the top of the radiator will extend the life span on the fantastic handy work.
Have a Miller on me! I'm good for it and will pay up when I move in.
Just so you know, you are making us all look bad.( Ok, I won't type for others, making me look bad)
Keep it up!
There is some C channel aluminum bracktes holding down the radiator on top a few posts back.
As for first test fire, maybe within a month or so.
This is the passenger side header that has a contact problem with the motor mount. Also the starter is on the same side. There is just enough room for the 2 1/2" down pipe to pass through.I was going to just let this fly at first until purchasing the Miller Tig welder. Have built up some confidence with the Miller (Mig would have made a big mess for this job), to hack up the header and lower the collector fange down about an 1 1/2". I did grind down the flange on the header and the flange on the down pipe to get first mock up fittment.
So here is the process I went through to get clearance.
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The Hooker Header set came with these flange reducers, cut off the reducers, cleaned up both inside hole diameters to 2 1/2" tight fit on the 2 1/2" pipe. I was able to go by an exhaust shop close to my shop and pick up this scrap pipe to do the job for no cost. Used a air cut-off tool to do the cleaning, and a cutting torch to cut reducers off.
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This photo shows the header and down pipe together. If I ran it this way it would have melted the bushing in the motor mount. Wasn't so happy about this.
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Cut off the flange with an air cut-off tool without the safety gaurd on.(will show tool next post)
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Here is the cut-off tool without the safety gaurd on, for cutting the flanges off plus cleaning the inside hole of the flange. A 3" cutting wheel used some that fit inside a 2 1/2" hole.
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Pipe and Header in vise to tack weld on one side then the other making sure it came off the Header straight.
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The ends results photo. Tig welded with mild steel rod an 1 1/2" at a time, then turn in vise for the next 1 1/2" until done.
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Photo at a distance. I guess I will take some more photos with the flage welded on plus the down pipe ( I thought I did). Take the photos Sunday and post them.
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This the plate that goes between the firewall and the brake booster. The pot aluminum finish can be cleaned up some to make look better. Since the build has some polished aluminum front runner parts, thought this part could match. So sanded down then took a buffing wheel with some Flitz polish, and went to town on it.
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This is what it looked like when done.
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Made this little nipple for the different size gas tank fill tubes. The larger one went to the gas fill cap, and the smaller one went to the gas tank fill hole. Tig welded a lip on the small side then welded a bead all the way around to make the nipple larger, and welded a lip on that side. Ground down a little to smooth out for a good seal with some clamps. Just need to pick up 4 clamps at the hardware store to finish this up.
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Photo of the nipple in between the 2 fill hoses. 1 3/4" for small hose, 1 7/8" on large hose I believe. These hose's will be butt up against each other when clamped together. Photo just showed fittment.
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Here are the photo's of the passenger side header with the flange welded on. Different view and photo angles below.
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Here is photo's of the down pipe re-welded with the flange lower. The weld that is in the opening at flange, was done with Tig, the weld inside was done with Mig, a big difference with heat control between the two.
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Tig welded in 3 places around flange to tack on, then did the inside last.
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Didn't use any fill for the flange to pipe, just melted the metal together. Also you can see the blow through with Mig welding inside.
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Photo shows both flanges lowered down for end results to clear the motor mount. The pipe below the flange all the way back to mufflers is stainless steel pipe at 2 1/2". Today after taking this photo, I cut the pipe straight off just to the right of the O2 sensor, it was hitting the frame, so turned a 1/2" toward the background and Tig welded back up. Installed the header and down pipe on the engine to test fit, all is good now. Check one more off the list.
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Photo shows where the header and down pipe had to go down through from the engine (passenger side). Both starter and motor mount are right there close. Both flanges were right on the bolt and motor mount by the red bushing.
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Photo shows the cross member in to check for clearance with lower radiator hose. I did Tig weld the hole that was ground into the crossmember for a different thermostat housing, then re-painted the crossmember.
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Other side of engine.
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This is the fuel line and fitting connection at the fuel rail. The blue fuel line also has braided stainless steel under the blue cord braid. The cord is more forgiving if there is any rubbing going on than stainless steel.
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This photo shows the fuel connections from the bottom of fuel tank to the pre-filter before fuel pump. Using 8 AN fiitings with larger size fuel line so that pump gets the fuel it needs and not starve it.
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Using an Aremotive fuel pump that cools itself with the fuel.
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After the fuel pump, comes out with 3/8" stainless steel hard line to a Corvette fuel regulator/filter/return all in one. Used 6 AN for return line back to the top of fuel tank, into the original fuel draw, so that I won't hear fuel splater.
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Cut a hole int the body to use a 6 AN 90 degree fitting. The fuel line will run along frame rail to a 6 AN union for connection to 3/8" stainless steel line running up to engine compartment.
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I went down to the Bay Area last Saturday in San Jose to pick up my "Surf Board" (Dash) from Randy Keller.(Prestige Autowood)408-288-8737
After looking at this sealed master piece, it does look like a surf board. The whole dash is sealed front and back.. The glove box door has the same wood on the back side so when you open the door, same wood grain.
The white lettering for the "LIGHTS" is under all the finish so it will never peal off like the original.
The only raw wood exposed is inside the screw holes.
The extra gauge is an Oil Temp gauge. Gauges are Autometer Phantom II all electric.
Got rid of all the warning lights.
I also have the matching Plinth(wood) backing that will be in the recess of the plinth.The two screws that hold the plinth center section in will hold the wood in place. In the plinth area I will be installing the Vintage Air controls and maybe some switches and maybe warning lights.
The wood is called Kawsinga (SP) African Rosewood, was able to pick the grain I wanted. I'm more than pleased with Randy's work.
He hand block sanded all the way up to 1500 sandpaper, every 5" of work, another piece of sandpaper goes on the block sander.
"Amazing Work Randy" I would recommend anyone who wants a professional looking wood dash, use Randy. You know the solid dashes that Moss motor's has well Randy makes them for Moss.
I just can't say enough!
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Had to cut out the inner fender for the AC compressor on the passenger side and re-do. I did tack weld with the Mig welder, then Tig welded the whole piece in without any blow through at all. Didn't have to stich weld like MIg, just started and keep going all the way around. There wasn't any warping of the metal at all. It was a slow process but way less work for clean up. One pass instead of many on the other side.
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Here is the back side photo. There is not way I could have done this with my Mig welder and look this clean with no clean up. The Tig welder can control heat very well, did grind the Tungsten tip to a sharp point which will focus the heat better.
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The steering bracket is installed now!
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The plate on the back side for the bracket!.. Look at the Mig mess on this side. Big difference.
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Picked up my re-done Miata seat's yesterday. I purchased the seats from Robert Milner awhile back. Each seat cost $175.00 + a little for the material. I used a gortex type material that is washable and will repel water. The material came from Honda and is used in the Element. Didn't want to use leather for the wear you would get over time, so went with vinyl on the sides and back. The head rest is a breathable material for speaker sound. I almost had some embroidery done here but didn't.
I uprated the speakers from Gomiata.com, had universal seat warmers for the buns and lower back while I was at it. I found a guy locally that did this all for me in his garage. He does good work.
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These seats are so comfortable!
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Next will figure out how I want to mount them. Rob F posted some info and have found some other info too.
Calvin, did you make the covers? I priced having mine recovered & quote was more like $850 for the pair. Plan was to use gator or ostrich patterned vynal in the center & a complimentry unpatterned color for the rest. I'm sure the patterned material is a bit more expensive, but can't account for double. If you had them done, let me know where & maybe I'll see if they'll do mine for me.
Rob,
These are what the seats looked like or this is the photo that Robert Milner put on this site in the parts for sale section. Also Robert gave me another back section and seat section that had better foam in it.
So I know this guy that does upholstery in his garage not more than 2 miles away from my house. He has fixed several canvas boat tops that were ripped for me in the passed. I have told some of my other car buddy friends about him. My friend has a couple of Porsche Turbo's that he took over to the upholstery guy and he fixed some odds and ends for him also. So the upholstery guy does great work at a reasonable price.
I took the pair of Miata seats that you see in the photo with, seat heaters, uprated speakers, and the extra back + seat bottom to the upholstery guy. He did everything for me for $175 per seat and $90 for the vinyl and gortex material. Buy the way the Gortex material was pricey he said. He also painted the seat pans black for me because they were rusted a little. He used the pattern that was on the original seats as an outline for the new work.
He will also cover my dash brace after I fab it a little more for my radio. I'm also going to put some of the gortex material in the door panels as well.
Rob if you like. You could ship up your seats to my house, I could be your go between to make sure you get what you want done, when there done I will ship them back to you in the same boxes you sent them in. I'm sure he wouldn't mind the work either. You could probably get yours done for the same price for the labor, then it's just the cost of materials for you.
Have you priced out for the materials yet?
Also I do know one of my clients, that does embroidery out of his house too, that I was going to use for my seats. This person has done several run of shirts for my business.
Let me know if you want to get going on this and I will help.
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Calvin, thanks! I'll probably take you up on that. I'll have to find the material but that probably won't be too tough. Will PM you to coordinate.
OK, call them already done. I will call Steve( the upolstery guy) and let him know whats going on and he may even have the material or can find it here in the area. He does have a good eye on what looks good also. I will ask him about Ostrich pattern vinyl or if he knows what it looks like. He has tons of vinyl sample's in his sample books.
Do you want heaters? This is kind of what I used!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Carbon-Fiber-1-Seat-Heated-Pads-Heater-Kit-LED-Switch_W0QQitemZ250409115727QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item3a4d8be04f&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318
Do you want upgraded speakers from gomiata.com? They have an ebay store also!
http://www.gomiata.com/clhesp.html
Rob,
I called Steve today and he looked in his sample books today and found 2 samples of ostrich vinyl, one brown and one black. He is going to email me a link or photo to see if that is what you were looking for.
I have all the stuff that came off my seats which he gave back to me, original foam and fabric and some parts that went inbetween the bottom cushion and back seat rest. So I don't know how or what shape your seats are in?
PM or you may still have my cell number?
Rob,
Ostrich sample that Steve sent me!
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will add captions soon!
Installed a steel tube throught the frame, to run 3/8ths stainless steel fuel line, and the brake line. Where it was ran before, the cross pipe in the exhaust was right up against it. Didn't want to get fuel or brake fluid too hot.
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It was quit a task drilling it out and then final fit was hand filing with a rat tail file. The brake line fitting just barely slid throught the pipe.
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The original way that Triumph at the factory ran the gas line and brake line was along this frame rail. The hole that the fuel line and brake line is running through now was from the factory. By using the hole that is already there and installing the pipe throught the frame, now it's running on the other side of the frame rail. Now both lines are away from the exhaust.
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Will add captions soon!
OK, this photo show's both fuel line and brake line on the other side of the frame rail using the factory holes in the frame.
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Used a couple of rubber coated clamps and self tapping screws, with a few strong type tie wraps. too mount along the frame rail.
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Photo showing both brake line and fuel line going through the pipe.
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Coming out of the frame by the differential totaly away from exhaust.
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Will add info soon!
Fuel line runnig along the frame rail to the rear differential cross brace.
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Ground out a little of the cross brace to tuck the fuel line in with rubber gas line split and wraped around it. Used another clamp and self tapping screw. There is a 6AN fiitting to transfer to high pressure hose going towards fuel pump.
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Now that the fuel line and brake line are on the other side of the frame rail, welded 1/4 inch thick plates on all four sides to stiffen up the original transmission mount. Welded the horizontal piece together which the factory doesn't, you can see this in the bolt holes, two pieces of metal sandwiched together.
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Was looking at this and thought it would be way to weak for the LS1, now it has a little more strength for the T56.
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Added 2 more braces to tie in the differential cross brace towers. Was talking with Jim Prettyleaf when I was at Triumphest 2008 and thought I should do this also. Why not do it befroe the body tub goes back on for final fitment to check all clearances one last time. I'm going to strengthen Richard Goods front differential mount a little where Alan had broke his on the steel that goes over the front part of the differentail. Also will weld small pieces of flat bar on all four sides of Richard Goods adjustable trailing arm brackets. Jim Prettyleaf said they are prone to crack in half at the center mounting bolts. Details! and more detail.
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Worked out both Nissan 240sx e-brake cables and figured out the routing and had to rework the e-brake handle some, where the ends of the cable insert. Just needed to open them up some. The original Triumph cabe is alot smaller cable. The Nissan ones I think are better made with thick rubber coating over the cable and the cable is larger in size.
I like the diff. mounting cross brace idea. When the new frame goes under our TR6, I will follow.
Keep up the good work with pics and process.
Send a few my way on the e-brake cable set up you used so I can add to our Rear Disc Brake folder so we can keep future users updated.
OK Don I will soon send some photos to you of the e-brake cables. Working on sending another set of brackets too Florida today!
3 sets left as of today!
Finished routing steering shaft assembly. Mock up was using 3/4" wooden dowels to get the lenght of the both shaft that were needed. Used Woodward steering products, on the ends the spline matched up to the TR6 spline for steering rack and column shaft. All the others matched their own spline. Used 2 Heim joint stand supports, one on the inner fender, and one on the suspension tower box. The bracket on the fender was made with bolt up exstrusion for plumbing to mount to walls. It was ground down to match the right angle, then tig welded to a flat plate, and mounted with 4 bolts and a flat plate on the other side of fender.The lower steering shaft on the top side was very close to the body. So the body was dished in this area for clearance. When the engine is in, this area is close to the header and number 1 spark plug, So by dishing the body gave more clearance everywhere all sides.
The steel shaft used was 3/4" OD with .490 ID. I drilled out the ID to .514 an 1 1/4" deep on all 4 ends. The slpine insert shaft OD was .512. Inserted the insert spline ends into the steel shaft then Tig welded on. Assembled all parts and tighen up all allen set screws and it's DONE.
Didn't have to change the TR6 steering column, just ran the shaft into the hollow shaft almost all the way in before installing the clamp, left enough spline out for the steering joint.
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Some different photo angles.
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Photo of the dished body area!
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Next , the engine will be going back in for final fittment of all clearances. After that everything comes back apart for the body tub prep and paint.
Looks great Calvin. I think I can use a very similar setup on my TR4. I had spec'd out Borgeson ujoints, vib damper and shafts, but the Woodward hardware looks like better stuff. Did you use their .563-36 spline to .750-20 spline joint for the TR6 rack and column?
Hi Cliff,
Yes! The .563-36 to .750-20 spline is what was used coming off the steering rack and steering column. The rest used .750-20 spline for the rest of parts.
I did research and found that Ken Morrison's setup was easy for he did all the homework already. So I adapted for my application.
The Woodward products are well machined and look great! They may cost a little but worth it.
http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/KenMorris.htm Ken Morrison photo's of steering setup and information.
Good luck on your setup!
Calvin
Have the engine back in the engine bay to check all clearance points. Everything fits well.
The brake booster is in with the Wilwood tandem master cylinder attached, which I was able to finish the SS brake line down to the front brake line. Then ran SS brake line over to a Wilwood proportionate valve, then down to the back brake line.
The clutch master cylinder in with SS braided line down to the slave connection on the T56.
The front runner is all installed to check for clearance with AC compressor, about the same as the Alternator.
The radiator is installed with the lower and upper radiator hose's connected, and the steam vent hose.
The Header's are in with all exhaust installed.
The steering assembly all in from column to steering rack.
The water pump fittings going to the heater core looped. All the fluids, water, engine oil, ATF for the transmission are in.
Installed the modified wiring harness (un-pined all wire from blue block and red block at computer, took out all wire's that were not going to be used, and re-pined the blue and red blocks. These blocks had been numbered to 80 pins on each block, so all wire's had to be labeled).
The fuel pump and fuel lines were all installed from the fuel tank to the fuel rail at the engine.
I have the Advanced Auto wire block from Steve Carrick, took my ignition switch, and wired for fuel pump, starter, and hot wires from Ls1 wiring harness.
Turned on switch for fuel pump, let pressurize, and checked for leaks. I turned the switch to start position, one revolution from the engine, and "SHE STARTED RIGHT UP".I checked the radiator and thermostat housing, and all hoses for leaks. No leaks from looking under the car!
So first start up was 6-17-2009. For those considering that fuel injection is hard to deal with, well for the LS1 wiring is way too easy. The wires that will end up going to the fuse block, there is 2 12 wire blocks and 1 10 wire block. Al l I did was took 3 pink wires to hot with a fuse link to hot when ignition switch is on. I ran the orange wire with a fuse link to battery. When the ignition is on, you can hear the throttle sensor moving to find the home position, at the same time you will hear the fuel pump prime. With the engine running I can't hear the fuel pump.
Ok now all needs to come back out to start on tub seal and prime to paint!
While the engine is back out, may install LS6 cam since it is so easy to do without doing a tune.
Congratulations Calvin! Great feeling isn't it?
Now where's the YouTube video of the start up?
Hi Ken.
Yes the first start up is always fun to hear it run for the first time.
Ken you asked for a start up video, so here is a 27 second video with my son Nick holding the camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfMvtqNvEcc
What are you doing for an air intake? I'm guessing (although I might be wrong) that you aren't leaving it like that.
Going round to a headlight bucket or over the top of the rad?
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know you'll hate to pull her out after just getting her running, but be strong. The fruits of your labor are just around the corner after the spray job.
Very nice!!!!!!!!!!
Alan,
That air cleaner is my intake for now! After the car is on the road for a while I will see if it needs colder air or not. At that time I will make something different, or bring cold air to it.
The air cleaner has the MAF (Mass Air Flow) plate in there all in one from Speed and Performance.
Don,
Thank you for the pat on the back (congrats). It has been a long haul and waiting to hear was very fun. Today I started it up and let it run to operating temp. It sure sounds healthy running and smooth. I cracked the throttle open for a quick blast, lots of torque and quick on the rpm's with the aluminum fly wheel. I believe there will be some light throttle in 1st and 2nd gears for sure or it will be all over the place.
I installed another bung on the bottom of the radiator for a pet cock for drain down valve. I installed an overflow bottle that has a drain down valve.
Hey, I wasn't picking spots. That's a nice job you've done there.
Can't wait to see it in the flesh...
Alan,
An update on the TR250?
Calvin,
Alan will give you his own update, but in the meantime, here's a couple of threads from 6-Pack:
(start half way through page 3) http://www.6-pack.org/sixpack/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=10061&start=100&sid=f759bb5c79120e08093c85aa3b814cea
(thoughts on color choice)
http://www.6-pack.org/sixpack/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=10256&sid=f759bb5c79120e08093c85aa3b814cea
Ken
Thanks Ken for the update with Alans build.
Alan, here is some comparison photo's for engine placement. Your builder must be trying to line up the gear shift knob with the original shift hole dimension, and maybe use the 4.100 shifter handle to achieve your stock location. Piston # 1 will be close tolerance for header / steering shaft, but your builder may be changing all that anyway.
Just something I noticed between the two setups.
Your number #8 coil is where my #6 coil is. Interesting! I'm sure this is trial fit?
Side11.jpg
Number 8# coil wire close to foot well box!. Also there is the aluminum pass through blocks for ac lines and heater lines. Tig welded an aluminum bracket to hold the PCM on the underside of this footwell box. So that was one of the main reasons to un-pin the computer blocks. This way I don't need a large hole to push the wires through the firewall.
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Found these Corvette covers that were moded for the Camaro setup LS1.
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You can't see in these photo's, but I will use the original battery location using an Odyssey racing battery. It is 3 1/2" width out from the firewall, and 9" wide.
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Well actually my frame and suspension's going to be all custom, so the issues are slightly different. My engine's about 3" further forward than yours - #1 cylinder is about an inch back from the centerline of the front suspension. The vette hubs allow my rack to be forward of the TR rack so clearance isn't such a problem, and the front runner setup pulls everything in at the front. The tightest part is around the headers - there may be a little trimming required there. Those things are huge!
Anyway, sorry for the hijack.
No highjacking considered on my end here Alan, enjoy tallking about the hobby.
The Hooker block hugger headers is what I used. They use 1 5/8" mandrel bent and of equal lenght primaries. Will give you lots of torque at low end. They fit very well, just needed to extend the passanger side flange down to pass my motor mount. It will pass good clearance by the starter and motor mount.
Anyway keep us updated over here on your build.
I have Kooks - from a C5. X-pipe and cats from the same. I figured I'd do my bit for the environment. They look like this
headers.jpg
The picture's cropped heavily because the frame's not finished, but it'll suffice to get the idea at least.
I decided to make it a rally clone in tribute to the TR4s that did the Shell 4000. There's one here that's visually similar - http://7vc.co.uk/photos_ext.html - but I'm having two fogs as well as two driving lamps on the front bar (and deleting the third headlight). Mine's going to be wedgewood instead of powder blue (period correct, a bit darker with a touch more grey).
There's a really cool feature on here that you might like to consider. If you look at the engine bay, you can see the mount for the DZU fasteners that it uses to hold the hood down. That I'm stealing for sure...
Alan,
Those headers look like long tube headers. Long tube make some good power from what everyone has told me and what I've read.
That hood setup with DZU fasteners "Very Nice". Great ideas!
Happy 4th of July everyone for 2009 and stay safe!
I have a second start-up video from behind the car with my terrible sounding shoes!
http://www.youtube.com/user/74Triumphls1 Enjoy! I did.
I'm starting to get twitchy.
Haven't had a fix - I mean update - for a few weeks.
Surely you've done something other than drive it ;)
Have been very busy lately. Moving business from a 2300sq ft building to a 3800sq ft building. Went on Shasta lake with the jet skies, boat and fishing last week. So after hearing the engine run OK, checking for clearance in the engine bay, took everything out that weekend , and started body tub prep.
OK to undo the twitchies, here is some food for thought. My old 1980 some rims looked pretty*&^%$^%# up. So unbolted the front set and started to see if i could clean them up some.
When they made these rims they sprayed some kind of protection coating on them. Well over the years the coating yellowed and turned dark, which you would think they are throw away rims at this point.
I used Chem tool and Laquer (SP) thinner to wipe off the coating. Then proceeded to use a combination of buffing wheels, buffing paste, wire wheel (on the cast section), and Flitz buffing compound. Used my drill at 2400 RPM and went to town on the aluminum rims.
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The before and after photos.
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These are 15X7 rims with 245-60-15 tires. These rim's were made for a TR6 with the right offset so that the upper control arms have a clearance of 1/2" from the rim. I don't know who made them. I bought these rims when I restored my TR250 and they worked well. I will burn these tires off first before replacing them with BFGs later or go to a larger rim for brake upgrade.
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The spokes were a gold color. I will paint them maybe the same color as the car. I will need to find some center caps for them. I do have some adapters too metric 4-100mm that can open up to a lot of different rims. Could run later Mini Cooper rims that run up to 18" maybe.
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Back side of rim.
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Worked on the engine bay smoothing some areas. Need to weld up original brake booster holes. Did weld up the hole for the original heater core piping that goes through the firewall. The AC pump is a little lower than the alternator, so the passenger side inner fender is a little lower. The driver side needed more smoothing because of warping from Mig welding. The passenger side didn't warp at all with Tig welding.
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Photo is a little dark, but stripped paint down to the metal. Some smoothing needs to be done in this area. I might suck the muffler tips into the lower area a little instead of having them stick out.
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Both side of door sills were stripped to metal, only one ding to smooth in the rocker panel. The whole body tub has been seam sealed. Both front and back outer fender wells have been seam sealed and primed. Used POR 15 primer and POR 15 black paint inside the passenger compartment + trunk modded area.
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Inside firewall seam sealed. Original heater hole covered with aluminum plate. Heater pass through welded up and seam sealed.
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Ooops, shouldn't have painting the booster area, will grind off paint and weld up original booster holes which are the slotted holes to the right.
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Next two photo's of passenger(correction Driver side) side outer fender well's primed for Lizard skin sound control and ceramic coating after that.
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The Lizard skin will be sprayed on both sides of the pan, firewall inside and out, inside doors, Trans cover inside and out, inside fenders, outer fender wells, and trunk area inside and out. This will help the AC + heat from headers and sound control. I will be able to hear my stereo maybe.
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These are some of the products I have been using.
I have used 3 of these tubes of seam sealer. Pricey, but good stuff.
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Por !5 stuff for rust prevention.
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Ceramic insulation!
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Sound Control. Note Sound control needs to be sprayed first before Ceramic coating. If anyone is going to spray this stuff, get the sprayer kit for it.
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Now just need some more time to get going on this.
Calvin,
If you get a chance, please weigh those containers of Lizard Skin before you apply it. I searched the web for weight info with no luck. My car was sprayed with both products, but I didn't get a chance to weigh the stuff to see how much it added to the overall weight.
As for sound proofing and heat proofing, it works. I'm glad I have it.
Hi Dan,
I did read that you used the Lizardskin products on you GT. When I was at the speed shop where I purchased it, the guy at the counter brought out a deep electric frying pan. He had painted the ceramic coating on one half side of the frying pan that was not that thick. He then proceeded to plug in the frying pan with an ice cube on the un-coated side and the coated side. So of course the ice melted fast on the un-coated side. The side that was coated didn't even melt. I was able to put my finger down inside on the bottom of pan and could barely feel any heat, the heat was coming from the other side. So I was sold on the product as a NO brainer.
I did figure that it would add some weight to our cars, but all that tar that came off had some weight to it also. In case of a fire all that tar would make the car go up in flames where as the Lizardskin would help out with a blaze.
So I will weight both 2 gallon buckets and post back the results of each one.
Dan, how much sound control and ceramic did you have to use on your GT?
As for the weight of the pale, don't know until it is sprayed and cleaned out for weight. I will do that in the end.
OK , the sound control weighted in at 26.6 lbs per 2 gallon pale. Spraying on at least .020" thick or 20 mills
One gallon covers 50 sq ft @ .020"
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The ceramic insulation weighted in at 11.8 lbs per 2 gallon pale. Spraying on at .040" thick or 40 mills
One gallon covers 20 to 35 sq ft @ .40"
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A little math could get the weight pretty close for the whole car!
Calvin,
Thanks for the info! I'll have to check with Ted and see how many containers he used. I'll let you know when I find out.
Calvin,
I talked with Ted today. He doesn't remember for sure, but he thinks he only used one container of each. Assuming 2.4 pounds for the pails, the residue/waste left over, and any over-spray, that's about 36 pounds total. Well worth it!
Dan,
Thanks for the info!
For an added 36 lbs, for good fire safety, sound control, and heat control..... I would agree....Well worth it!
My 74 TR6 caught on fire twice because of wiring problems, so Advanced Auto Wiring and Lizard Skin products is what I was looking for in my build.
In the end, I will weight the lizard skin pales, and post the results later.
Painted high build primer 3 in1 on the whole tub. Then applied Lizard Skin sound Control, and then Lizard Skin Ceramic heat control. I like the smell of this Lizard Skin, Maybe because I'm getting closer to having this ride on the road in the near future.
The skin was easy to spray, and left a nice texture finish. The inside of all the fenders + the tub took about 3/4 of both pales.
I still need to spray inside the doors. Tapping my fingers around the body tub where the Lizard skin is applied and where it is not applied, you can tell the difference in sound. This stuff is going to quiet down the passenger compartment pretty good.
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I did spray underside panel where the gas fill is.
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I will be able to take the transmission cover out just like the original setup. I won't need to take my dash and gauges out to remove it. Just need to take off shifter assembly, carpet, and dash brace out.
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Just sprayed the firewall area with Lizard Skin, and the inner wings where the headers will be close too. The original holes that were welded up for the booster came out pretty well when the skin is sprayed over. It can hide those areas well.
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Looking at different paints to use? I wonder what others are using for paint and what kind? There is alot to choose from? I did some pricing here and they want 3 to 4K with the paint supplies being 1k. I will save and spray myself. So 1k for supplies, thats just paint, hardners, thinners, and clear coat. Sand paper, taping supplies will cost too, and protect my lugs & eyes.
Here are the fenders. I had the get 3 new fenders because the original ones had seemed like 20lbs of bondo on them. Used my hand grinder with flapper disk, and found areas of over 1/2" deep of that lovely "BONDO".
So I'm sure I will need to message these new one's to fit correctly. Both Lizard skin products are sprayed on these fenders.
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Sure going to be a nice one when you finish it up Calvin.
Calvin, curious why you sprayed the lizard skin before getting the fenders to fit right? seems like any work you do to make them right will cause rework.
Thanks Jim, I believe it will be an OK ride when I'm done. Trying to use what I have and keep costs down, but make it better.
Rob, That's a good question?
With a TR6 it's kind of like installing plumbing, you have to cut each piece and assemble it together before sweating it all together. With that being said when I restored My TR250 I had a shop strip all my fenders, spray on the undercoating, and prime the fenders. Installed all the fenders then did all the adjustments, then sprayed on the paint. It would make a better restore by painting the color on the fenders off the car, but very hard to not mess up the fender while installing back on. That my cause some rework that I don't want to deal with.
Since there is a body that is mounted on a frame, there are all kinds of adjustments to do with shimming just for the tub. So tub gets mounted loosely then the doors are next. The whole body is adjusted by how the doors align on the tub. At this point then the fenders get adjusted to the doors.
When I sprayed the Lizard skin, I did'nt spay the mating surfaces, so movement for adjustment won't cause rework for me.
I did mount the fenders before spraying Lizard skin to see where they fit, to get an idea of the fit, but it is on the rotisserie and not the frame.
I guess my word "message" meant to move fenders into place and bolt down semi tight then re-adjusted to get the gaps right. With a TR6 you have alot of adjustment space to work with. The new fenders don't fit as well as the one's that come off the car, but they do fit with more time consuming adjustment time.
Today, will be spraying primer on all the fenders. Will start to look at re-skinning one of my doors, for I have a nice tin can action going on in that door.
Calvin
Got it Calvin... when you said message I thought you were expecting to have to cut/weld tweak to get the gaps & ends to line up right.
Calvin, is Lizard skin anything like Rhino liner?
Is it just a rock guard or is it also a rust proofing?
Trip
Hi Trip,
The Rhino liner when sprayed on,is some pretty thick stuff and tuff.
Check out the website for Lizard skin if you already have or have not, but read about the technology that is in it. It is a real good product. As for rust proofing, I would use POR 15 primer then the POR 15 paint. After those have been applied, I went for the Lizard skin, because it isn't that thick on the car body panels, and the benefits are huge. The ceramic coating on lets say the inside of a metal roof panel,on a hot day, would drop 30 degrees lower than a roof panel that didn't have the coating. I don't think the Rhino liner would be capable of doing that. The sound control Lizard skin and ceramic Lizard skin coating act like a sealer also to protect from rust + you can paint it any color after.
Here is the link:http://www.lizardskin.com/
Thanks for the explanation and for the link, Calvin.
"As for rust proofing, I would use POR 15 primer then the POR 15 paint. "
Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely be needing good rust proofing for when I eventually get the TR7 V8 project done. Considering what I've seen with my current TR7 and it's rust issues, super rust proofing is going to be at the top of the finishing list.
I had checked out the lizardskin site but it's way nicer to have your first-hand experience/opinion rather than any CO marketing claim... Especially since they all say their's is the best on the market.
Cheers, Calvin.
Trip
Started working on the passenger door. This door had a fairly good size dent under the lock down low. I tried to work it out with some body tools without good results. It had a tin can action going on from the metal being to streched. It was to hard to get tools in behind the door cross brace. So this door needed to be re-skined. This is the first time doing this for me, but doesn't look to hard to do.
Took a small angle grinder to the outside edge, all the way around just enough to see both sides of the fold in the medal. Took the small strip that was folded over and just pealed off. Where the window comes up through the door, use a dremel tool with small grinding wheel, cut the panel at the right distance, for the new panel to be installed. Took off the whole outer skin panel. This process took me about 20 minutes to do.
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There is a few places around the door that have been brazed by the factory to hold the door from twisting.
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Section that was streching beyond fixing for me anyway.
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After grinding the edge and not going to far, keeping the shell of the door metal not ground down any. You can see the folded section came off just by grabing one end, and pulling it up.
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Showing what a TR6 door looks like when the skin is off. After the skin was off took the shell and cleaned up in certain sections to prep for the new skin. Had to clip some corners on the new skin off, so that it would fit correctly, and have the right gap at the window opening.
Painted some POR 15 primer then black POR 15 paint on both sides of the lip that the door skin will be folded over. Left some sections not painted for tack welding the skin back on.
Tig welded the skin on both sides of the window opening to hold at the right place and right gap for the seals and window to work right. Started from the top of door with hammer and dolly. Tapped with hammer to start folding door skin over with the dolly on the other side. Made sure the door would fit in the skin at the bottom as work progressed. Tapped both sides then did the bottom last. Sanded the whole door down with 180 grit sand paper. Primed the whole door with high build primer.
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First coat of primer sanded with 400 grit sand paper (wet sanded with Reverse Osmosis water which helps the sand paper from loading up, and the paper glides across the surface better). Door looks nice a straight now.
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One of the bottom corners of the the door showing the corner fold.
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Some more photo's showing the skin on and the door primed. Next this door will be sprayed with Lizard skin sound control + ceramic control after, on the inside of the door skin area. The factory used a square section of thick sound deading material, glued on the skin behind the cross brace. The sprayer for the Lizard skin has a 90 degree tip, so should be able to get in behind the cross brace ok.
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Next 2 photos show the window opening.
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I will install the snaps on the door after finish clear is done.
Calvin, I'm really impressed! Especially about the fact it only took you 20 minutes to get the whole outer skin panel off.
Nice work on the rest of the door too!
Trip
Thanks Trip for the kind words!
I'm pretty lucky the door wasn't rusted or it would have taken a lot longer to peal back the fold. For the first time re-skin it came out real good, it came out so good that I may attempt to do the other door, but the skins aren't cheap.
Now just need to make more time to keep moving ahead.
Calvin
You're welcome, Calvin.
Hey, if the fact that you were able to get the last bit done so efficiently is any indication, you're not going to need to make a lot of time to get the rest done. You will however, be needing to make time to be out cruisin' instead! LOL
Trip
I haven't posted in awhile , so here it goes.
Trip, I wish I was cruisin around right about now!
Re-worked the gas tank some more. Didn't want to use gas tank foam because of over time the foam breaking down and clog up the fuel system. So layed my gas tank on the side and drilled 1/2" holes in all four corners, took a jig saw, started at one corner and cut out the side of the tank. This aluminum gas tank is 80 thousands thick. Went down to my local metal vender and picked up a sheet of 80 thousands aluminum. I have a fuel sending unit float in the gas tank, that will swing up to be in the full position. The swing is towards the outside of the tank on left side. So on left side, installed a baffle close to the side wall about 3" in, 3/4's the height of the tank, and straight up. There is 3 of these baffles in the tank with holes drilled close to the bottom for fuel passage + pass on the sides, one on the left, one in the middle, one on the right. Installed one more baffle at a 45 degrees on the left side and under the swing arch of the fuel sending float.
Checked all clearances , then tig welded the baffles in. Tig welded the side back on, welded all four holes up, pressure tested the tank for leaks.
Now when going into a hard corner with some spirited driving, won't have all that weight of the gas hitting the side of the tank, possibly pushing the car into a spin. Also will help with fuel starvation with fuel injection. The 3 + one baffle at 45 degrees intalled in the tank will help with gas sloush too.
Have been spending alot of time on all the panels, doors, hoods, and body tub, spraying high build primer. I'm on the 3rd coat and block sanding by hand to get all surfaces flat. Using knock down paint to check for low and high points in the finish. Just about done with all the panels. Finish sanding with 600 grit sand paper. NOW! I know "WHY" car painters cost so much, very labor intensive work. A Paint job is as good as the primer prep, hours and hous of work.
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Took a small hand held mini heater, applied hot air to both front inner fender shields, and removed all old undercoating (black tar on one side).
Used a 4" angle grinder with a paint stripper wheel, cleaned to bare metal both sides before panting black.
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Cleaned up the e-brake handle with mini paint stripper wheel with air die grinder. Then painted black. Used the air die grinder, cleaned up both pins, ratchet gear plate, and bolts, to look new again. End results having a rebuilt e-brake assembly that looks good, even tho it will be covered up.
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Replaced hand grip with a new one. Used the mini hand held heater blower to soften up the rubber grip which expanded the rubber a little, grip slid right on, when it cooled down it tighened up on the handle.
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The holes here have been enlarged for the 240sx cable ends. On the 240sx cable has the same ends as a TR6, but the TR6 cables are a little smaller.
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Yes have been working on all the small stuff, cleaning stripping and painting. This would be the steering column bracket at the firewall under the dash.
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All these parts were stripped from yellow paint down to metal using 4" angle grinder with stripper wheel, what couldn't get with grinder, used sand blaster in a small box.
Door hinges (Need to find the other pair), Hood hinges, Rear deck lid hinges all primed with high build primer(2 coats). I used a detail gun with 1.0 tip to spray primer at 43 psi.
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"Next" is the first time anyone and myself has seen the color I'm painting my ride with. It is called Atlantic Blue Pearl Coat (2004 Dodge Color). 2 coats of base on all the parts with a 15 minute flash using my detail gun again 1.0 tip, then 2 wet coats of clear with 15 minute flash inbetween. I like the looks of this blue, reminds me of a Cobra color.
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I didn't even sand the primer to 600 grit finish like all my panels have, this finish looks OK. I'm "EXCITED" to move onto the rest of the car for this was testing the waters with base/clear setup.
I-Can-Do-This.
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Door hinge up close.
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Looking good Calvin. It's a lot of work but once you're finished you'll have something you will really be able to enjoy.
Jim
I like your Non- Ford BLUE! Keep up the great job.
Been working on the metal dash backing piece that hold all the gauges. In the cluster gauge area, center of the dash, I did add an extra gauge. So needed to grind a little for them to all fit through the metal dash.Dash was primed in this photo.
Just underneath the cluster area in the rectangular hole , you will see 2 protruding tabs that use 2 screws to hold the center plinth. The center plinth is where the choke & heater controls would be located. The 2 circles that are on either side would have a control in each hole.
In my swap process decided to install a Vintage Air system. Well wanted to keep everything looking stock in the dash area as much as possible. With A Vintage Air system going in, needed to install the controls for it and couldn't use any of the original control knobs.So had to modify the center area some to get the new controls to go in.
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The photo below shows the metal dash flipped over. The 2 tabs that were protruding out in the photo above, there is 3 yellow lines(In photo below) of where I used a dremel tool with a mini cut off wheel, cut the protruding tabs off completely (Both sides).
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In the photo above The tack gauge hole needed some of the metal to be moved out so that the gauge retainer would have clearance to fit.
The photo below shows with the black line where the original metal was. Took the mini cut off wheel, cut out the metal and made a piece to go back in for the clearance, Tig welded all the little pieces of metal.
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This photo (below) shows the little tabs welded back in, but they are coming out the round holes instead of the rectangular hole. The tabs are in the same place for the screw to hold the plinth, and giving more room in the center for the Vintage Air controls that will be going in. So the right tab is the left one (in the top photo) and the left is the right now.
The primer is BOR 15 and the black paint is BOR chassis black.
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This is the back side again, used the Dremel wheel a little more for the Vintage Air controls for clearance, rounded one more corner off. Used my air body saw to cut in straight lines, then a file to de-bur the metal.
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Vintage Air controls in polished aluminum, knobs will light up.
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Used the air body saw again, cut out for controls in the center plinth.
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Did the same here for the wood insert that Randy Keller made for me.
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Controls mounted in the plinth and in the metal dash. Have area on both sides to add a switch for something else. It looks simple , not clutered.
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A look at the back side.
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A photo to give the idea of what it will look like.
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Was thinking on how I was going to paint the front and back of the body tub. The tub mounted on the rotisserie, doesn't give very good access to the front or back to paint. So made a body dolly out of the left over steel from the rotisserie.
Materials used:
2" square tube .120 wall
1 1/2" square tube .120 wall
1 1/4" square tube .120 wall
4 casters (same as on the rotisserie)
16 bolts,nuts,and lock washers
2" flat steel .120
1 3/4 angle .120
2" with 1/4" lip on both sides .120
(photo below)
4) 20" uprights and 2 runners in 2" square tube. Tig welded together
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Closer view of the 2".
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Tig welded off the 2" square tube on all 4 sides, 6" long 1 1/4" square tube for the 1 1/2" square tube to slide over.The 1 1/2" square tube was used for the other 2 runners to make a square. I didn't need to use pinch bolts here because it was a tight press fit. I used a heavy mallot to pound them together. I will be able to pound them apart for storage.
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Flat steel plate tig welded on the end of 2" square tube for the casters to be mounted. Sprayed the whole dolly for rust with cheap black paint.
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Made some set in brackets, that the body will sit on, that go into the top of the 2" square tube. I will be able to make other brackets for maybe the TR6 frame.
Tig welded the 90 degree angle steel to 2" wide 3" long 1/4" lip steel. These will slid into the 2" tube uprights.
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Found some heavy duty fiber felt with sticky glue on one side from Home Depot. Cut to fit the floor fiber felt to fit the bracket.
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The body tub will sit on this fiber felt and not be metal to metal. The rocker panel (from the body tub) straight edge will sit on this felt. Will use straps to tie body tub to body dolly.
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This body dolly will work good for rolling around to paint.
Calvin, your updates have slowed quite a bit... how's the progress coming? If you're into block sanding, that's why I took mine to a body shop. Could take months of 1-2hrs here, 1-2 there. Hope you haven't stalled out.
Hey Rob,
"Yes" it has been about 40 days since last post! I haven't posted lately but will soon. Have made good progress, body tub is on body dolly and real close to painting base/clear (can't paint because of all the rain here). Painted the whole under side with POR 15 chassis black over the lizard skin sound control/ceramic coating (inside doors are done too), also the inside of all fenders. Installed speaker cans in outside footwells. The body tub has been sanded down to 600 grit sandpaper and ready for 2 good days for painting. Re-did my air compressor setup with an air dryer and good filters, now don't have water in the air. All the fenders, hood, rear deck lid are all sanded to 600 grit sandpaper ready for base/clear.... Haven't stalled out here!
Also have been working on other projects with my kids cars at the same time, kind of like an auto shop around here. My son's VW, we took out his tired 1600cc dual port engine and installed a 2276cc stroker engine with dual Delorto 45mm carbs, oil sump w/oil filter. That VW hauls, could probably be a mid 12 sec 1/4. May need to install a throtle stop for him.
My other son, we are re-building a hard top for his 73 Spitfire, took the old headliner out, spayed left over Lizard skin sound /ceramic coating before the new headliner goes back in. He is installing a new rear window and seal.
Both my twin boy's have their drivers liciense now! Scary thought.
I have some LS1 engine power goodies coming soon with some tuning software, in the end should be putting down over 400 ponies to the ground. There will be a learning curve with tuning, looking forward to it.
I see your MGB is coming along well and you will pick up your ride soon "Awesome" That red looks great Rob! I'm with you wanting to get our rides done.
Will post soon!
Calvin
Glad to hear Calvin -- I'd say it's a race to see who's on the road first, but I'd lose! I did pick my car up on Wed. A few bits & pieces to go back for on Monday. Glove box door had a minor flaw & a couple of other small parts hadn't been buffed out. Also have some chrome to pick up at the plater -- man, i should have gotten the chrome work done back when I started; prices were up there then but they've gone way up since. I'm going to have to come up with a substitute for chrome plating my roll bar -- windshield frame was $400 & there's way less labor in that than a dual hoop roll bar. If you know of any good chrome substitutes, let me know.
Also, I should have gotten back with you a long time ago on the seat covers. Decided to have MrMikes do them to save shipping the seats back & forth -- he has patterns for the Miata seats I have. He's doing them now; should be done sometime next week.
Looking forward to seeing the updates on your progress.
I'm glad you found an alternative with your Miata seats. Mr. Mike's seats look great from what I have seen. I bet it feels good to have her home with a new look as in "AWESOME" color red. Hope you have the time, or take time off to make progress so you can make the meet this year. It probably would be nice to have a week with no distractions or phone's to answer, but that is king of hard with family so close by.
Rob, check this website out for re-chrome + this site has all kinds of cool stuff to use...
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/reprochrome.html
Have you figured out how you are going to mount your Miata seats?
When we were at Truimphest/VTR 2009 found a TR6 that had his Miata seats mounted like this. It was a simple brackets that he had made. A sqaure frame with flat bar going accross and using the original bolt holes in the body tub. The original Miata rails cut down and bolted up to the frame. I liked this idea because he didn't need to hammer in the seat pan for clearance. For a TR6 , this gives the the strength that is needed. My TR6 body pan was cracking the floor of the tub metal on the outside rear seat rail bolt hole on both sides. Hopefully the seats won't sit to high. I'm not sure how they would mount in your MGB
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Recieved HP tuners software in the mail today. This is a must have when doing anything to an LSX series engine. The only other software for tuning is LS1edit that I know of. I'm getting these ls6 cnc ported heads at 62cc chamber size for about 10.6 to 11.0 compression http://texas-speed.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=134&catid=20 with this cam http://texas-speed.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=167&catid=44 228/228 duration 588/588 lift with a 112 LSA. Replacing the stock timing chain with an LS2 timing chain,and ls2 sprockets (upper/ lower, LS2 lifters, replacing rocker arm needle bearings with comp cams rocker trunnion needle bearing upgrade kit(stock needle bearings are not encased and could fall out with higher lift cams)(the stock rockers are still lighter than any other after market rocker). Using 7.350 Chromemoly pushrods. Also a ported LS6 oil pump for better oiling. Have some ported maf plates for both side of the maf too from Fast toys.http://fasttoys.net/shop/product_info.php?cPath=84_24_27_45&products_id=33 May later go to the ported fast intake.
Every car that has been driven by me , I'm unable to leave it alone and keep it stock. Kind of reminds me of Tim Allen (just gotta make it better). Every car in this family has exhaust or air intake , or chipped , and maybe a throtle body spacer. Even my service car (Honda Element) has a tunned air intake and bypassed the throtle body with the coolant.
This engine should put down around 420 to the ground when tunned right. With the heads and cam setup with the aluminum fly wheel should be very responsive low to mid rpm with a nice lopy idle. I didn't want to go any higher duration cam because probably won't be running this engine at high rpms .Looking for torque. Won't be driving around at 6500 + rpm where higher duration cams are better and give you peak power.
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What is in the box for HP tunners.
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Tools needed to check cam degree and push rods for length. Also there is a degree wheel for a ratchet to tighten bolts. I guess a bolt streach cinch. GM tolerances.
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Just need to wash the whole body tub, wipe down with cleaner, and ready to spray color. Decided to do it the hard way and paint all the hood, deck lid, fenders, and doors separately. Then will assemble with care.
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Got those 2 real bad dents out and cleaned up in the lower section. Wow thinking about it, went through almost 2 gallons of high build primer from Sem products 3 in one to do everything so far. Paint primer sand, check with guide coat for flatness, prime again sand, guide coat again, some places took 3 or 4 times with this process. I'm done with the primer, it's good enough. I'm sure there will be flaws but I want to drive it not trailer it.
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In this photo, you can see the speaker can that was added. Door sills are ready. Even smoothed over some spot welds from the factory. Right in front of the defroster slot on the drivers side, close to the front hood area, a big 4x4 piece of wood fell in that area, and left a huge dent almost an inch deep. Used a spot weld dent puller to get it out, then smoothed over.
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Other side, can see the fenders in the garage, They are all done ready for paint.
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The BOR chassis black paint is some hard stuff when it dries.
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I ran into an issue with this piece. This part goes under the grill in the front of the body. It had a couple of dents that had some surface rust. OK, just paint some aircraft paint remover on it, no problem right. Came back to clean off the black paint, the paint stripper didn't touch this stuff. OK get out the flapper wheel on the angle grinder and go to town on it. Well that did'nt work, the flapper wheel didn't do anything until it got real hot, started to melt it. Hmmmm! OK This piece was dipped in some kind of plastic coating. Finally took my heat gun and removed it all. Took out 3 hours to do. If I knew this I would have just bought a new one. Cleaned it all up smoothed the dents out, sanded , primed with BOR primer, painted with BOR chassis black. What a pain this was.
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Took advantage of the first nice day around here without rain and got busy. Wiped down the areas that were going to be sprayed with base/clear.
The photo below, the tape line on the bottom under the brown paper, will be painting with high temp black paint around the header area.
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Sprayed 2 good coats of base. Started to get just a little wind coming through my breeze way, hoping it wouldn't ripe off my tape job.
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Sprayed 2 to 3 good coats of clear. I did stand in the engine compartment and sprayed without backing up into my work. Was able to spray without any runs. I couldn't use my normal size spray gun , so used my detail gun, was smaller to get into these small areas.
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Right side, can see some ripples in the sheet metal, but this will be cover up with all the componants in this area.
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Left side engine compartment. The hood latch bracket came out pretty good, was in bad shape before replacing it, and fixing the sheet metal around it. It looked like someone cut the latch bracket out from another car and tried to weld it in.
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Base on the right door sill & rocker.
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Base on the left door sill & rocker.
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Base on the back. Was trying to make good head way today!
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Sprayed clear on both door sills. The sill & rockers came out better than the engine compartment, was able to keep the spay gun going at the right distance and coverage. Didn't have any orange peal look at all, where the engine compartment did a little, because of the space issue
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Both rockers, front fenders, and back fenders have a chrome strip that runs along the top outer edge the full lenght. When car is more assembled, will spray undercoating under the chrome strip to the bottom , full lenght
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So ended up spraying clear into the evening time, one more clear shot in the engine bay. Probably with sand with 2500 grit sand paper and buff out the orange peal look, still doesn't look bad the way it sits.
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Did not spray clear on the back yet.
Brenda and I went around and around if we wanted the original flat black paint (factory used flat black), from the middle line of the body up to the top. So when we went to Triumphest/VTR Nationals 2009, looked around at all the TR6's back ends, found that we both agreed on using gloss black, in our opinion gave it a cleaner updated look. So in the morning will be taping off, spraying the gloss black, then clear over both. Have 24 hours before clear needs to be on or will need to sand again before clear.
Close up the one bay and go in for the evening. Will be out first thing on V-day to get black spray then clear. After that family time . "Happy V- day to all.
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I might have missed something, so if so forgive me.
What happened to the reinforcing triangles between the main tub and the trunk?
They add quite a lot of stiffness and help control scuttle shake.
Hi Alan,
Good eye, and you know your TR6 bodies well. "Yes" I did cut them out. There will be something going back in there for strenght. My gas tank is moved back a little, so there is extra room for speakers going in there. I have to smile because, was wondering how long it was before someone would call attention to it. The factory used the gas tank to reinforce that area also. I will be making something with light material (aluminum) to brace the whole area there and around aluminum gas tank.
Love the Blue, even though it's not Ford Blue!
Did you give Brenda a Blue Valentine as well?
Keep up the great work!
Thank You Don for your continual support. "Yes" gave Brenda a gift of blue all over my hands for V-day!
Taped off the back end the next day and sprayed the black paint. Check out the sun! Wish people had the sun in the east, maybe it's coming your way soon.
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Pealed the tape job off, sprayed the clear on. When taping, ran a piece of tape for the edge then ran a piece of tape on the brown paper, now the tape on the paper had the other tape to stick to. Trying to tape with one piece of tape to hold the paper it would come off very easy.
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No flaws on the line. Came out real good. Will need to sand clear then buff the whole car out for a better depth finish.
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Made a line right at where the body panel has it's spot weld crease
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The only bummer part about doing this paint job is, the little bugs that were getting in the clear, oh guess take off the legs and blend them in.
Sprayed base on all the fenders and one door. Base color is easy to spray and it does dry fairly quick. If there is a mistake, can sand , but need to respray before clear. 2 coats were applied to get enough coverage.
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Took some photos of the engine bay with the sun shine showing the very fine pearl in the paint.
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It was fairly hard to get into the small areas in the corners to spray evenly, but ended up without any runs in the clear, happy about that.
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Even sprayed the front, and sprayed the clear.
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Was able to get all the fenders and one door sprayed with clear. Had to go do a service for the business, stupid me, the still small voice within told me, to pick up that white tarp on the ground in the lower right hand of this photo. Well I didn't fold it up, and a nice little wind came through the breeze way, lifted that freeking tarp right up on top both right side fenders. Guess with the bugs in the clear, lets add some tarp texture. #@*&^^^>><< moving on!
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Been fairly busy, but had time to post today. These heads (243 or 799 castings) from Texas Speed were delivered a couple of weeks ago. Thery are D shape exhaust port heads, CNC ported (LS6 stage 2.5) with 2.02 intake 1.575 exhaust, dual 650 lift valve springs http://texas-speed.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=134&catid=20
The machining on these heads look great!
These heads have been milled to 62cc chamber size. I think stock 241 ls1 heads are 66cc. Alot of others go to 59cc and sometimes 57cc. Went conservative, can stay with normal pump gas.
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The CNC work is awesome looking.
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The Cathedral intake port is huge, was able to stuff my hand into the port minus my thumb.
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Can't wait to have these on and tuned!
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Went ahead and upgraded to ARP head bolts, for alot more strength, and more peace of mind. These bolts can be re-used unlike stock GM bolts can only be used once.
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Went with ARP crankshaft bolt, so it can be re-used for cam change if needed.
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Box of all the other goodies that will be going in the engine. When the engine was tested at the recycle yard for compression, all 8 were good.
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Was able a few years back to get this kit from Brooks Motor Products. All the bolts are stainless steel with clips, washers,rubber faced washers, for mounting all 4 fenders. I don't know if this guy still in in business.
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I have another kit for the engine, but changed to the ls1 since then. So will probaby sell that kit.
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Everything was labeled and packaged for easy assembly.
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Installed a 4 fenders on the tub a few days ago. I lighted up this photo since it was so dark.
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Ran a drain tube from the vent for both sides so that water would drain outside. The 74 has an open vent in the cowel where TR250 and early TR6 had a flip up door. The factory let it drain inside this area. The water would drian onto the top of rocker panel, then drain down inbetween the fender and rocker panel (prone to rust in this area).
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The factory had 2 holes on the drivers side door sill, one on the passenger side for a sensor when the door was open. Opened both these up for Painless contact strip, instead of wire passthrough, not wanting to deal with frayed wires. May use for electric windows or...
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It was cold and windy when spraying the clear, has alot of orange peal look. sanded a section and buffed, will look good in the end.
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Have been working on windsheild and frame resto. As you can see in the photo, the flat black paint was weathered down to the undercoating just from driving on roads for some 11 years, then sat around for the rest of the time. Was taken off the road in 1985. It was my personal plater box until it was time for resto job. Some 25 years later 2010 it's time for resto.
Started by cutting the glass out. The glass was pitted somewhat, so have a new one ready to install.
The plastic covering that was lining the interior was cracking, pulled all of it off, so have new covering ready to install. The new covering is formed fit which looks easy to glug back on.
Drilled out the two pop rivits that secure the CF number plate on the driver side frame. Drilled out all the aluminum pop rivits that hold on the aluminum cover cap, on the top of the frame.
Took out all the scew insert clips. Sanded the whole frame down, wiped down with Acetone to cut all the glue that the factory used, to hold the plastic covering on.
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This photo shows the CF number plate (behind the glass). The flat black paint is weathered and coming off. The the chrome center bead was weathered in the glass rubber seal. The window seal wasn't in that bad of shape, but didn't want to break the glass out. Someone out there may need it.
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Primed with 3 in one primer on both sides. Sanded down with 600 grit sandpaper.
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Painted with detail gun 2 coats of base, then two coats of clear. Only painted top, sides, and front with base color and clear. Left the back side primer, plastic covering will stick better to a primer surface.
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Put tape on all clear coat surfaces to protect paint, when working on glueing the plastic liner on the other side.
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Took these photos to show where all the screw holes were located. Later, makered on the top and bottom sides with a magic marker, so I knew where the holes were. After glueing the liner on, found the holes, cut them out with small sharp razor blade. The two holes on the bottom are for the rear view mirror. The two small holes on top (both sides) are for the sun visor clip holders. I don't know what the rectangular hole and the one next to it, is for?
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This is the CF number tag that came off after removing the aluminum pop rivits.I may just paint with base color and clear since the frame is now blue instead of flat black. Will need to strip the paint off. Took my body hammer a tapped flat on the edges on a vise flat surface. It wasn't very straight on the edges.
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Glued one pre-formed liner on with spray 3M glue. The ends, used a hot glue gun so it wouldn't make a mess and get all over my hands. The bottom hole is for mounting a factory hard top, through the frame bolt.
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Glued the other side on then did the hole cutting.
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Installed the top and bottom liner, found all the holes and cut out for the screw holes. Inserted the scew clips.
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Both sides are done with holes cut out a screw clips in.
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Can see the little magic marker lines used for locating the holes.
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Holes cut for the mirror
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Installed right visor with mirror for wife.
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Left visor for me with NO mirror.
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Center photo of retainer visor clips.
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Parts were purchased from the-roadster-factory. Glass was from Victoria British, and aluminum top cap from Moss.
Couple of photo's of finished window frame without glass & seal. The aluminum top cap has been pop rivited back on with aluminum rivits. Also left the rear veiw mirror off for now. The liner came out real well. Will need the window seals installed later and fuzzy door seal once the window frame is back on the car. Need to do a little buffing on the clear coat for the window frame.
Getting closer to assembly time and still have a grin on my face!
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Ok Calvin,
We all know that you really wanted the visor with the mirror for yourself!
Keep up the great work.
Calvin,
Funny enough, I was replacing my front glass and restoring the windscreen frame on my TR6 just about the same time as you were.
I was doing it about two years too late. The leak on the glass to frame seal got so bad last year that during a heavy thunder storm, I could get a 1/2" of water on the uncarpeted floor of my car. We were bailing!
Many websites recommend using 1/4 or 3/8" rope to "pull the glass" in. I bought and used 1/8" and it worked fine. They also recommend an assistant to push down and in on the glass but I initially tried it alone and finished it alone since I found because the glass is so small, it requires more manouvering than force.
Question: What product did you use to seal the aluminum top cap to the windscreen frame?
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the note using 1/4" rope!
To seal the aluminum top cap, (factory used that clay stuff you see all over the body to plug up holes) used my 3M seam sealer that I used for the body seams. I put a big bead under there, then pop rivited back on, wiped excess off. The seam sealer will stay somewhat soft.
Bailing water is not fun!
Don,
I would be scared to see what I look like in the mirror, either a grin (which is OK) or a worried look, and a scared look of the new found power.
Calvin
Ken,
Here is a photo of the seam sealer. This stuff is pricey but very good sealer. I used this seam sealer on everything for the body.
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Trying to keep busy on the build here, rain storm today, but kept going with getting something done.
Installed front fender running lights.
The process used to get a nice finish on the clear coat: 1st sanded with 1200 grit, to take the tops off the orange peal look. 2nd sanded with 1500 grit, then 2000 grit. Then started to use a hand buffing machine (at low rpm), with medium cut Mequires polish ( the curved areas did by hand). Then in the end used Meguires swirl remover the same way. I would like to spray a few more clear coats to get all the fish eyes out of the clear. I will probably later heat up the clear to about 95 degrees, then spray (On a hot day), and it will lay like glass.
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Installed some heat shrink wrap on the wire + put in rubber gromets both sides.
Sanded, cut , swirl polished the inner fender wells (have not done the inner side panels yet), the same way all the outside body panels were done.
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Here is a shot of the drain tube with the fender on. I will spray some Lizard skin to undercoat the area + paint with POR chassis black.
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Installed the pedal assembly. Can see how the pedals are moved some. Notice the holes for the brake booster are re-drilled over about 3/4", the metal taken out for the booster boot clearance.There will be an aluminum gas pedal that goes onto that bracket, to the right hanging down.
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Took some 1" square aluminum, tig welded up a rectangular frame to bolt down fuel cell. Used these shovel handle coverings, cut them up in 1" strips, glued them on the frame.
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Used some 3/8" threaded rod with SS nuts, washers, and lock washers. Drilled 4 holes through the trunk floor. On the under side, used an aluminum plate for strength.
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Used 6 SS nuts, washers, and lock washers for each side. There is nuts on both sides on the trunk floor that are tighten between the sheet metal .
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When making room for the fuel cell, the area that the rod goes through is double walled sheet metal. Tried to make this lite as possible but strong.
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The neopream (SP) rubber worked well with the clamping the fuel cell in place. Tried to move the cell around, good and solid in there. If it isn't strong enough, can lengthen the rods, to extend down through the frame.
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Here is the aluminum plate under the trunk area.
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Hopefully can get a few more things done the next couple of days.
"OK" time to take the body off the dolly and mate it to the frame. Feel like I'm making progress now! The frame is up front ready to roll under the body. Installed all hardware rubber, spacers, and sealer to hold them in place. Rolled the engine hoist to the left some after this photo was taken.
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Rolled the frame back some, pushed the engine hoist over the frame, and lowered the body down on the two stud mounts in front. Put a washer and nut to hold in place. Then lowered the back end into place. "Who said you can't do this by yourself"
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Hoisted from the inner wing mounting hole in front, and used the inner tail light opening hole. With the fuel cell in I thought it would be tail heavy. Got it first try with setting up the straps.
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With all the hard work and time put in, " Have a very big grin when taking this photo" it looks good!
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Hope my tires won't rub, they are wide at 245/60/15. It has been a long time and didn't remember they were outside the flare almost a full tread line. Now just need to get the weight back in and see where everything sets.
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For the rest of the day, installed all the mounting hardware except the trunk center bolt. Installed front hood brackets, back deck lid brackets, other set of door hinges. Found all my stainless steel hardware and scewed them in the holes where they belong loosely.
Hmmmm! Mig side...........
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Tig side.............. Wish I had the tig machine in the begining. The tig side is almost flawless without any waripng at all. The mig side warped for sure. I can live with this, it will be hard to see with everything that will be going in there.
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There is several rub though to base areas that will need to be blended back in the paint job. I couldn't wait it out for warmer weather, but will all look good in the end.
"It's time for assembly"
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Nice. Looks good on there.
Looking good Calvin. It's fun to see the progress at this stage. I have my suspension back on, brake & clutch lines finished, fuel tank in & lines partially run, widow mechanisms in, most of the gauges & some of the switches in & have started recovering the seats (Mr Mikes covers).
That big grin will never leave you NOW! Every time you fire her up, every time you drive her, every time you share with others, EVERY Time!
It's a joy to watch and share your progress and pride. That the great thing about this "illness", sharing with others, experiences, knowledge, how to's,and roads traveled.
Congrats!
So, when do I get to pick up my new TR6 LS1?
Thank You,
Alan, Rob, and Don for your responses.
Alan, can't wait someday seeing your TR250 build done and in the flesh. I like all your decisions on what you used for suspension components, and how light your ride will be with an ls2. Keep posting progress!
Rob, there is good possibility that your ride might make it to Indy. I hope you have the time to get it on the road soon. Keep posting your progress so we all can see.
Don, the illness runs strong with swapping engines and this niche that has grown bigger everyday! I'm wondering how your bone transplant is coming along? It must be a little warmer around your part of the woods. You could possibly have electricity on again, where progress moves to the garage, turning on the sound box, going back in time, and turning a few wrenches. If you have the time post some progress!
I'm very" Surprised" still, on how many people check out this thread. It gives me the drive to keep feeding the thread and show everyone something, even the little stuff, because I do know it helps me, and others to keep moving ahead with their projects. With 22,447 views, it's a journey for anyone who reads this thread.
2010 is the year for Alan's ride, Rob's ride and my ride to be on the road again I'm sure many others too.
Don, keep the surgery moving.
Oh! Don the keys to TR6 LS1 will be in your hands ASAP! :-)
Calvin, your project is indeed very intriguing, and personally I have enjoyed following it. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is fully completed!
I think we have all learned a lot at your expense.
Dan B
Thanks, Dan.
That's right, how is your rear shock conversion holding out?
Nice conversion.
I have good bit of experience modding TR6's and dropping LS's in to Brit Sportscars.
If you ever need any help, I might be able to, you never know.
Jelly
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0&memberId=7660&mid=7660
The shock conversion has worked out well. I still need to get some shocks with less travel. We used some off-the-shelf gabriels from Advance auto parts. And even though the reinforcement plate we put under the spring is only 1/4", it looks like the rear end sits higher.
Dan B
Jon,
Wecome to BritishV8.org.
You are right, you never know!
This has to be the best sounding TR6 I've heard. "Great Video" Jon
Posting here for some to see!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6734978036873641557&hl=en#
Cheers Calvin.
I have some funny ones with the ChimaeraLS6 and TR4. I'll see if I can dig them out.
Yep that vid shows how fast TR6's can go (stupid money to build an all Steel TR lump).
LS is a much better route than using the older style SBC.
You say in another post that you expect 420 rwhp from your engine.
I don't see any reference to you doing anything to the std LS1 lump from the Camaro. Std flywheel rating for an LS1 is about 345bhp, maybe 275rwhp. An LS6 make 405 Z06 C5 vette and ended up making about 400 when all mapped with very good exhaust in my Chim, so they do what they say on the tin. i.e. and LS6 which is 60-70bhp more at the fly than a stoke LS1 will be making about 335rwhp (I have the rolling road sheet), made 390bhp on 95 octane and then about 400 remapped for 99 octane. An LS7 rated at 505 I gues would make about 430ish rwhp.
Hi Jon,
I'm using PRC ls6 2.5 ported heads(243 or 799 castings) @ 62cc with a 228-228 duration 581-581 lift- 112 lsa cam from Texas Speed. With the ls6 intake, 2.5 exhaust w/X pipe, headers,T56,aluminum flywheel 12lbs, Texas Speed said around 420 rwh.
It will depend on the tune I'm sure.
Cool stuff gald we cleared that up Calvin :)
That will be mental with the size of the TR6 (and the Track!). How near are you to having it a runner?
Hwo is the rear end setup, exist trailing arms (should be fine if say using roller bearings), but diff must be a bigger unit?
A runner shouldn't be far off here. Installed the heads & cam a few days ago, along with ported ls6 oil pump, ls2 timeing chain & gears, uprated push rods, uprated lifters, and arp bolts where needed. I'm in the assembly stage right now for the whole car.
Using a Q45 R200 Nissan diff lsd 3:54:1 ratio with CV axles from a Porsche I believe, and 3" aluminum drive line at 25" long. Uprated hub assembly to go with, and ajustable trailing arm brackets. Strenght welds all over the frame, and gussets.
It should be a hoot to drive!
My Chim had a BTR 3.45:1 (so close).
I popped a Melling Oil pump in my ls6 for security (gave another 1 bar) oil pressue. ARP bolts. Mine was std crate bar this and the tune with my all tubi headers and exhaust.
It will be NUT. Should have a better powe to weight that the Chim with that narrow track you will have fun - are those wheel the Shelby TR6 7" jobs?
j
Those wheels I picked up back in 1975 I think. A company out around San Francisco had these wheels made up. They might be the wheel you are talking about(but no name on them). They were makeing 12 wheels, was able to get 4 of them at the time. "Yes" they are 15"x7" with the right kind of offset to clear the upper control arms by 1/2". A fairly light wheel. Will need to get uprated tires later.
So running 245-60-15 tires. Should be a little meat on the ground for a little while.
yep they look like shelby's made for TR back about then. They did not make made set. Fantastic rims. But if you only have 4 could be a pain if one is ever damaged.
I know 3 cars in the Uk that race or have raced with full sets. Think they only made about 40 or 50 set and that was it. Right offset without big flare which is.
245's on a 7" with 60 profile will be REALLY bulging of the rim.
I am using 7" in Comp ML (like yours) with 205/60's and taht is the perfect size. Going to run my Griff with the same rims (though 8J would be better - but my race series limits to 7J) and can go to 225/60 Yoko 032. That is the biggest currently avaible by Yoko - they used to do a 245 but that would really have to go on and 8. The sidewalls would be bulging over like a dragsters at 245/60 on a 7!
(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/jontr4/Picture064.jpg)
Jon nice photo of your TR6 racer!
Decided to try painting some simple ghost stripes. So I painted the blue base yesterday, then taped off the stripes, used base clear and mixed in some white pearl. Painted the white pearl for the strips, then painted several coats of clear. Will sand the clear and buff out with buffer. They look pretty good!
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Here is a couple of photo's of the engine compartment coming along.
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Me like.
That's going to be a whole heap of fun when it's finished.
We need to start working on a mid-point (East-West Coast) event, meeting, gathering, shoot out between Alan, Kenny, and Calvin's LS-TR6(250).
St. Louis?
3500 miles would be a good break in period.
I'll even throw in my Ford 5.0 just to keep you three honest.(maybe I'll have my frame transplant done)
That's really looking GOOD!
Topeka, KS?
Nice Stripes (Ghost - I like that term - might have to have some like that on my Griff).
Hot Rod Lane. I had alot of dealings with Mark.
This thread continues to provide exciting / intriguing photos. Great job, Calvin!
It is starting to look more like a whole car again. I was getting tired of putting together, take apart, put together, take apart tasks.
It is fun assembling and to see results finally.
Today! installed the front windshield in the frame, proceeded installing the assembly on the car.
All the plumbing is done on the gas tank, gas fill tube, and gas filler cap is done. Front and back bumper are done, all outside light fixtures are done.
All that is left to do in the engine compartment is the brake booster, steering shaft/column, and master cylinder.
The next major task will be the wiring from Advamce Auto Wire. Once that is done, it will be startup time with some tuning sessions.
I having a brand new panel kit getting worked over by the the guy who did my Miata seats. He will re-do the panels to match the seat color. He will also cover the center support for the dash.
Believe it or not, the Durago next to the TR6 has the same paint code, they don't look like the same color in this photo(below), maybe because the TR6 is under the awning,
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The front fenders, I need to close the gap closer to the hood, by loosening the bolts, moving inward, then tighen up for final fitment.
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"I had fun changing my avatar again"
WOW
Congrats, the long journey is almost finished and the joy of the experience will build with each drive!
Just leave the keys in the kitchen.
I have a 70 triumph gt6 my dad and I restored with some modifications. I would like to take the body and set it on another car, resto mod it, does anyone know if a gt6 body will fit on any of the TRs, or any other car. the wheel base is so short, 83 inches, hard to find a match.
Have been getting alot of little stuff done. Need to make a list to be more organized.
Installed the exhaust tips that are 2.5" dual exit.
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Didn't extend to far out but in the end results looks good.
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Working on the Advanced Auto wire kit, mounted on the firewall where the battery went from the factory.Re-located battery to the trunk. Will have some photo's of that soon posted.
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Ran a 2 gauge wire from the battery (in the trunck), connected to a disribution block in the engine compartment. The block setup is 2 gauge in 4 8 gauge out. One 8 gauge wire to the Advanced Auto Wire fuse block, one connector 8 gage reducer up to 4 gauge wire going to the alternator running through a anl sealed fuse & holder (used 250 amp anl fuse), one 4 gauge blue wire going to the starter. There will be one extra for whatever is needed later.
Welded up to brackets to hold distribution block & anl fuse holder. Used the original bolts that holds in the brake peddal box assembly. Then drilled and tapped for screws into aluminum to hold in place.
The 4 gauge blue wire is not connected yet to the power block, waiting for some reducers.
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Here is some other photo's of that area and how it is looking.
A different view of the distribution block and anl fuse holder.
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Here is the connection to the alternator. Also showing some of the dual steering joints.
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Photo showing the stainless steel brake lines and using a Wilwood proporsionate(sp?) valve for the back brakes.
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Photo of wire bundles going through the firewall to the passenger compartment.
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Ran the bundle of wires a different way than stock to the front. These wires would be for the radiator fan, turn signals, head lights, running lights, and horns. I did repalce the horns for my original ones were toast.
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Should be able to cover some of these wires with some split loom, even have blue to match :-)
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Some high and low hertz horns.One high and one low. I did take and totally rebuild the front grill, painted with por 15 chassis black for uv protection.
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I installed a GM connector for the radiator connection.
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Here is a racing battery that doesn't weight much compaired to a standard battery. It's all mounted and surounded by aluminum. The ground is connected to the old lever shock mount bolt on the frame. I will need to make several grounding straps from the frame to the body, then to the engine block.
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Here is the routing of the 2 gauge positive wire that ran up to the distribution block in the engine compartment.
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Made a aluminum piece to fit in the body which will add a little strenght to this area + hold some speakers. There will be an interior panel covering this up. Also a little something inbetween the fuel cell & passenger compartment. I did cut out the triangular pieces by the wheel wells and the floor here from the factory.
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Will wire in this inersha (sp?) switch to cut off power to the fuel pump in case of an accident.
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Trying to keep busy on this build, but the heat lately has been kicking my arse. We are running triple digit weather here.
Made a bracket to hold the Wilwood proporsionate valve in place using original threaded holes in the body. Then welded another piece on the sheet, taped and threded to mount.
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Vintage air mounted in.
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Welded up a aluminum bracket to hold computer in place under passenger side foot well.On the left side of the computer (below photo) you can see where the heater lines & ac lines come through firewall. I need to install a pass through for the computer hook-up blocks.
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Just an update for who is watching this build :-) I'm sweating now. Going camping and fishing this week for R&R :-)
Looking good Calvin. I think I may be a little ahead of you -- if you don't count the fact that the brake lines I made are leaking in 2 of every 3 connection points. I'm going to have to redo all the lines.
Wow - that passenger compartment looks tight.
I guess I'll have to drive instead...
Seriously, it's getting there. Looks good.
I love it! Just supports what BLM could have done.
You Rock!
My TR6 is body off, new comp going on, may have ready by Oct.
It really looks good Calvin. Only one suggestion, on those brake lines to the master cylinder. There is no provision for line expansion and proper hydraulic routing would include that. Typically that means some sort of overbend and return rather than a straight bend. With that small of a line it may not matter, but on a critical item like that you might want to take another look.
JB
Update!
The engine has been updated with PRC ls6 243 stage 2.5 fully cnc ported heads, comps cam 228/228 duration 588/588 lift 112 lsa, 7.35 chromolly push rods, arp rod bolts, ls6 ported oil pump, ls7 lifters, comp rocker updated bearings, and etc
Did a cold start after most of my wiring is done with the Advance Auto wire kit. This engine sounds pretty heathy now! I know it will be a hand full, and a learning curve to drive this beast. Oil pressure at start up ran 50psi. All gauges work except speedo, need to calibrate on the road. The Advanced Auto kit wire was fun to learn for the first time wiring a whole car. The wire used is very high grade, when using heat shrink on the wire with mini torch did even faze the outer covering at all.
Still moving along, and I'm not sitting still for sure.
Enjoy!!
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Calvin,
I'm at the stage where I'm ordering my Woodward steering parts. Why did use a double universal joint instead of a single u-joint at this location?
Thanks,
George
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Hi George,
I needed every bit of room for header clearance around the double steering joint. Talking about the lower one of the 2. The spark plug is right there also. Needed room just enough for changing them out. You may not need this joint because you are using a 302. The ls1 is wider. I found out one of our TR6 owners on this site (Ken Morris) used this same setup with his 350 chevy engine , so I figured it would work for me, which it did. I did need to relieve some inner fender for a little more clearance. I mocked up the steering shaft with wooden dowels before ordering parts with the engine mounted in.
http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/KenMorris.htm Here is the information of Ken Morris's setup that was used on my steering setup. Mine is positioned with a little different angles, but works great for my setup.
I also looked at Dan Masters car for ideas....http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/DanMasters.htm, which had a 302, and Ken Hiebert'shttp://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/KenHiebert.htm 350 setup.
Thanks Calvin. I knew there had to be a good reason.
George
It's been quiet here for a while. You out driving it? Is that why?
How did you know I've been driving around? :-)
"Yes" it has been around the block a few times. I couldn't resist anymore just driving in and out of the garage to work on it. It has very "SCARY HORSE POWER" in such a light car.
I have been playing around with Hp tuner software. Installed a wide band O2 sensor just passed the front narrow band O2 sensor on #2 bank side of engine. Need the wide band for wide open throttle tuning (WOT), for air fuel mixture. So have been tweaking the engine with a laptop instead of a screw driver.
The brake bleeding has been a chore! There is still some air in the lines somewhere, so need to pay close attention and get it all out for a firm pedal.
The reverse lockout solenoid has been bothering me because it sticks out so far. So I just did what Jon did to his setup(Jon www.ls1gt6.com). Cut it up and make just a plug out of it, so it works well without the casting and solenoid protruding way out from the transmission. I was just in the way of moving the seat forward for my wife to drive, it had to go.
Took off the little air cleaner, bought a large K&N cone air filter, (2) 4" rubber 90*, and some 4" aluminum tube, and extended to make a cold air intake. Needed to Weld in a bung into the 4" aluminum tube, for the Air intake temp sensor. The whole setup just fits in there with hood clearance.
Some photos.
The first 2 photo's are Jon's photo's http://www.ls1gt6.com/enginetrans.html 5th and 6th photo on his website.
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These photo's below I took (they are a little fuzzy). This is the completed reverse lockout cap after being modified.
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The piston work's the same way except the solenoid will lock the piston out so it can't be pushed in. It still has a very strong spring in there, that it would be very hard to get into reverse while driving. It's almost as hard as crashing thought the gate when the reverse lockout solenoid is ingauged.
Now I have alot more room for the drivers seat to move forward better.
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I made 2 cuts with a mini body saw. That took off the piston housing. I left a little meat thickness on there so that I could tig welded a thick cover over the piston bore without distortion. It all took about an 2 hours to do this setup.
Ken H you may want to do this sometime!
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This solenoid is huge!
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This photo (below) is the other end of the piston that was cut off and the sleeve retainer for the spring. I did cut off a little over a coil on the large spring. The small spring was still used to center the piston in the bore. So I drilled into the piston a small hole on the cut side that I made, then drilled a small hole into the cover cap. This way the small spring would be centered in the piston shaft and the cover cap. Took a C-clam and assembled together, then intalled the snap ring back in.
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All 3 photo's above is what I didn't use.
The photo below is with the revese lockout cap installed. So I made a plate to cover this without any protrusion sticking out. I flatened the aluminum first. Now my seat moves back and forth real good.
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Got my 240sx e-brake cables installed, and they work good. I'm going to install tubes so that the cables won't ware out at the bracket slots.
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Was able to get this shifter knob on with a little reaming inside the knob to thread it on.
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This is the new cold air intake setup with the Mass Air flow sensor intalled ,and Idle air temp sensor.
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A different photo angle.
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It's tight but it fit's snug in there
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Photo of the bung that needed to be tig welded in for the Idle Air Temp sensor.
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This cold air intake will not get heat from the radiator now, like the little air cleaner right in front of radiator. The only thing I might be worried about is water getting in the air filter. It will also get a ton more air through the cone filter.
Calvin,
Things are looking really good.
Questions please:
Where is the shifter knob from?
Also, who's the supplier for the air intake parts, namely, the 90* bends, flex coupling and the 4" aluminum tube.
How does Brenda like driving it?
Looking really good Calvin. You won't need to worry about water getting in the air cleaner. I ran a fully exposed intake for years and rain was never a problem.
JB
Hi Ken,
The shifter knob is for a Ford Mustang T56. Had to ream out alot of material inside the knob to make it fit on my short shifter. I found the knob on some website in Florida. It's Mustang site. http://www.wheelsmustang.com/mustang-accessories-mustang-shift-knobs-c-5_30/mustang-cobra-t56-leather-shift-knob-p-96
The intake fittings, found this site...http://www.intakehoses.com/ I found everything here except the K&N filter. The filter was from Sumit Racing. The flex hose I think you are refering to is a reducing Hump hose from 3 1/2 " to 4" dia. So parts used ....
1) 3 1/2 X 4" reducer 90* (for connection to the throtle body/ Maf).
1) 3 1/2 X 4" hump hose reducer ( for connection incoming Maf sensor).
1) 7 1/2" 4" aluminum tube
1) 4" 90* Rubber
1) 2 1/2" X 4" aluminum tube(for filter connection).
5) 4" T-bolt clamps.
2) 3 1/2" t-bolt clamps.
Brenda has only rode around the block sitting on the passenger floor boards without a seat and so was I (LOL) holding on for dear life. It was a hoot. You know you are car nuts if both your wife and you do this. We are never to old!
Thank you JB,
That would be my only concern, and you just eased that out the window!
Nice!
Took off the original ls6 intake, and 78mm throtle body off the engine. When my wife and I went to Sema show, talked with Tony Mamo (AFR booth), and purchased one of his used ported Fast 90mm intake/90mm Nick Williams throtle body. So it all came in the mail, and I got it all installed the other day.
A photo of the new setup,and gained some hp with this setup. This engine is getting alot of air through it now.The intake will out flow a Fast 102mm intake. Tony really opened up this intake. The engine picks up faster and has better throtle response.
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Today, have been working on the electric windows hardware. This was fairly easy to install. I hooked up a small battery to the wiring harness, and checked for clearance operation. The window goes up fast + down fast.
The window is down in this photo. Closely checked for anything that might bind.
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Closer photo of how the system workes on the window crank shaft. I had to drill a small hole in the end of the shaft, + tap for a small screw to hold on the parts. The mounting brackets, drilled holes for screws with screw clips on the back side of the door.
The opening off to the right in the door, should have enough room to install the window switch in the door panel, and have clearance for the switch on the back side going into the door hole.
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Did the same on the electric motor side for mounting.
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Used a template( that came with the kit ) to draw the square hole on the panel, for the window switch, after measuring where is should go to fit the door. Used my small cut off wheel to cut the board, then used a sharp blade to cut for the corners. Pulled out the board, then used the sharp blade to cut the material on the back side. Drilled the small holes in the board for the scews. Pulled the wiring though the hole and screwed all four screws in to secure the switch panel in (There is 2 switches on the driver side , and one switch on the passenger side).
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This is what the other side looks like with the switch panel installed.
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A photo to give you the idea of the location on the panel.
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Photo of the panel on the door. I will need to cut about a 1" hole where the window crank handle use to be ( You can see the window crank pushing on the material ), and there will be a black cap that will go over it.
You can see the contact strip with four buttons on it in the door jam, those will be used for the four wires for a passthrough for the door. So the electric window will work when the door is closed. I won't have to deal with wires breaking using the contact strip.
Still need to install the door pulls in the panel.
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Had the center dash brace covered to match the lighter color. Will have two toggle switches, one on the left, one on the right. Then inbetween there will be four different indicator led lights that are very small. Rectangle hole is for the pop out screen, gps, sat, radio sound system. There will be 6 speakers in all.
You can't see but on the center section on the sides, close to the face, there is 3/4" holes on both sides for the seat heater switches. Also will have phone charger resepticles on both sides.
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Some photo's of how the interior is coming along with speakers in the back panel.
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The carpet is installed (Wool carpet) with the original underlay underneath.
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You can see the aluminum sheel that was used behind the panel.
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Calvin, on that window mechanism, would it be possible to install a window crank on it and still have manual operation?
JB
Jim,
The gearing in the motor wouldn't let it turn for manual opperation, unless you take off the connection on the window crank shaft, then put back on the window crank.
Now if the motor had a slip clutch when not in use, then it would be possible.
I see, thanks. I have long felt a dual mode mechanism shouldn't be hard to do but so far no manufacturer seems to have felt it desirable.
JB
beautiful job calvin.very impressive.
Thank You Gary!
Would like to see some build photo's of your Spitfire....a 347 stroker! "Nice"
there are some pics on mike reynolds spitfire thread."you guys are gonna love this spitfire" is the title.i have lots of new and have to start a thread of my own.lol i'll get to it soon i hope.nothing on the car is triumph except the shell.just the shell.not the steering column,or the frame or suspension,nor the wiring etc.it's a complete new build.want to be able to fix it anywhere anytime for a reasonable price without waiting at all for parts.EVERYTHING of importance is either ford or chevy or i fabricated it with easily attainable parts and materials.plus when i fab something i make it to last.lol here is a few pics for now to wet your whistle.
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Calvin,
I'm about to order mufflers for my 302 TR6. You used Flowmaster 40's right? From the picture it looks like center in and center out? Did you go stainless? How do you like them?
Thanks,
George
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Hi George,
Offset in/ Center out on the Flowmasters. They are louder than I would like, but sound good. I have ordered some Borla pro XS mufflers that is coming in Monday. The Borla is SS and a little queiter. The Borla is 1" longer that I'm sure I can work with. Also the Borla muffler might even give better performance over the Flowmaster. I don't think the Flowmaster is SS. I have a droan inside the car that I not liking to much with the Flowmasters. One thing I did notice yesterday while I was changing out CV axles, the flowmaster muffler is light in weight.
I blew out the driverside CV axle on the inner CV(To much power BOOM). I called up Richard Good and told him what happened. He sent me his new CV axles without hubs for no charge, so I said I'll pay the shipping cost for them. The old axles were like a floating axles like VW's. The new axles weights 3 lbs heavier and have a staionary CV on the outer and a floating one on the inner. The axle is way bigger than the old ones. So needless to say Richard Good stands behind his products. I'm going to send the old ones back to him so he can see the carnage.
I will post on my progress soon since I haven't posted in a long time.
Thanks for the quick response Calvin. Sorry to hear about the axles. I have the same ones but I have less power than you (350hp at the crank). I also used skinnier tires. I remember the axles were very heavy so maybe I have the updated ones. Richard is a good guy. I don't have your rear sway bar so I'll order the Borla too.
I couldn't have done any of this build without the help of people like you here and at 6pack.
George
(Quote from George) I couldn't have done any of this build without the help of people like you here and at 6pack.
I'm with you on this 100%. The day I had an Ls1 in the bed of my 1 ton toyota truck in my breeze way, I asked myself the big question "What the hell am I doing". With all the support that britishv8 and 6pack had to offer, I would have never done this at all.
The greatest of all was watching my wife look at me and shaking her head, the feeling of I better follow through this to the end, or I will never hear the end of this one. Today the TR6 is on the road and legal in Califormia.
Below is some photo's of the old and new Richard Goods CV axles.
The cleaner looking axles are the old ones. There is a difference in size of axle for sure,probably .200 thousands bigger. The old axle had a welded on axle spline with a floating axle between the CV joints. The new ones are machined. The spline end is a staionary CV joint (it will not float back and forth). The inner CV is the one that will float for suspension movement. There is a big difference in length of the inner CV joint housing on the new one. The new axle inner side I have the adapters mountes on the ends, so it looks thicker there. Those are there because the new axle is made for a 5 bolt Diff, I have the 6 bolt diff which requires the adapter from 5 to 6 bolt.
I weighted the old and new axle (short one, they are different lenghts), there was a 2.6 lb difference between the two. The new ones are heavier.
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A good photo of both axle size difference.
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The one axle that couldn't handle a little power in first gear with no tire spin and no clutch dump. The inner CV expanded, once this blew, I had no power to the wheels, or very little. The car would move very slowly.
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New axle is 1" 145 thousands. The old one is under 1" for sure.
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Some more photo's of the adapters. Also needed to tell Richard Good for the 1/2" disk brake brackets that I'm using. Since I'm not using the drum backing plate that is 3/8" thick, Richard added 3/8" longer axle to both sides to compensate for the 1/2" bracket.
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By the time I bolted this adapter in, there was 4 bolts + one straight through bolt on the axle side, and 5 bolts on the diff side + the one that was straight through. When done looks like alot of bolts.
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Adapter on.
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Adapter off.
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Took a ride around the neighborhood, and all is good as in Good parts. The old axles are on there way back to Richard today.
Some of the bugs that I'm fixing after this build:
1) Had to raise the front end 3/4" because of tire rub.Used aluminum spacers from Richard Good.
2) Switching back to a standard steering rack instead of the quick rack. To hard to turn car when going slow.
3) Need better braking. Going to 12" vented rotors and Wilwood 4 pot calipers in the front. Will follow Dale and Ken's conversion.
4) Since bigger brakes, will go to 17"X7" wheels( Enkei racing wheels)
5) Miata seats need to wear in some, sitting a little high.
6) Replaced CV axles to better ones.
7) When accelerating the car will sqat down in the rear and the tires rub some, can smell them.
8) Needed to install a 1" block to lower the sway bar on the trailing arms. During acceleration the swaybar was hitting the frame on the sides.
9) One of my steering shafts broke a weld, so re- welded all four ends, then dipped in Sharks hide for surface rust prevention. This happened in the breeze way and not on the road.
So far this car is a real hoot to drive! Has acceration of a racecar + extra power to spare. People are looking and stopping me asking questions.
Everything on the car seems to work well. Need to do some drive time on the road for computer tuning, and clutch brake in time. Clutch has a little chatter and grabs hard. I'm using the stock clutch master cylinder with the T56. It is working real good. I thought there would be a problem with it.
I don't have photo's of the rebuilt soft top frame and a new black canvas covering. The canvas top was fun to install on the frame, but looks good in the end results.
I have been looking at Miata's for awhile on Craigs list lately. Well found this 2004 Miataspeed which has a factory turbo in it @ 170 hp or so. This seller was asking 9000 for it. These go for about 14000 in this shape. Called him up and took a look at it. It had 25000 miles on it, but had a salvage title on it. I looked at the car, good and straight body, he had paperwork showing the damage. The paperwork was for only 1700 worth in damage on the driver side. I pulled the Vin number and did a car fax on it. Found the history on the car and went and bought the car for 7300.
So this car is for my wife since I think the Tr6 is a little radical for her. My other thoughts would be latter to take this drive trane setup and install in my sons Spitfire. Then do another ls1 swap into this Miata. I said this to my wife, and she just gave me some stink eye back:-)... This miata is a gokart. It has w rated tires on it now!
Anyway those wheels are 4/100 mm with 215- 40-17" . So today I will take off a wheel on the Miata and install with an adapter on the TR6 and see how it looks. May put all four on. Will need to check for offset.
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The Miata wheels are 23 1/2" tall, and the Tr6 wheel is 26.6" tall. So the 45's tire will be a little over 1" smaller than the 60's. This will give me the clerance needed for no tire rub. I will be going down to America's tire and see what I can match up, probably try 245, 235, 225-45-17 range of tire. I might be able to use a smaller spacer in the front spring to drop it down some for the right stance.
A 3 inch difference between the two wheels.
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There is a 1" aluminum spacer in there. So the offset should be around 38mm to 43mm for what I need.
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The offset did suck in the rim some with plenty of clearance. The 215 tire is almost as wide as the 245.
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These tires are to small looking for me.
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>The greatest of all was watching my wife look at me and shaking her head...
Must be my wife's sister!
George
Ok! Got some new rims and tires.
These rims are Rota SB Hyper black polished lip. 4-100mm +45 17" x 7.5". Tires are 245-45-17 w speed rated Yokohamas S drive.Using 1" spacers bolted on the hub. 4- 41/2" bolt pattern to 4-100mm bolt pattern.
To get them to fit, had to remove metal from the top control arms by the ball joint.I think Ken Hiebert had to do the same with his 17" rims. The rims brought the tire under the car and flush with the fender now. Looks a ton better. Also went from 26.2 tall tire to 25.6 tire This resolved my issue of the tire rub on the rear tire under acceleration.For the speedo difference, went into HP tuners software, in the editor put in 25.6 tall tire in and wrote it to the PCM. Now the speedo reads the right speed
I believe just the right height look now! All tires now are sporting a 10" wide.
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Probably can take out the 3/4" aluminum spacer I put in for tire rub, and put in a 1/2" spacer in instead.
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The other set of tires and rims would rub at the 9 o'clock position on the rear fender under acceleration.
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Side veiw with some shadows in the photo.
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Back photo of new tires, pretty dark shot.
Installed Borla pro XS mufflers and took out the Flow Master 40's. The 40's were to loud for me. I ordered some exhaust tips that are glass packed from monza exhaust. That should quiet it down enough for no droan.
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Front photo shows that the tire is flush with the fender now
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Interior photo of the center support installed and where the e-brake ended up.
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The seat warmer switch intalled in the center support both sides.
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Driving this car around town, I'm getting a ton of looks and double takes. It is funny to watch people and their reactions.
Soon will get a Youtube video on here from inside the car for people to see.
Wednesday I'm going to DMV to show them the car to see the vin number match, get my tags, so I don't have to drive around with a big 4 on the windsheild anymore.
Working on my "How it was done article" for Curtis to post up.
Also funny thing happened. I was at America's Tire and ran into Steve Taylor. His car is here...http://www.britishv8.org/MG/StevenTaylor.htm He was checking out my car and waiting to hear it start up. He just lives real close to me by the Sacramento river.
I will be taking my car to the All British car show in Woodland Califorina May 22nd with Ken Percival and maybe Ken Schmidt.
It will be fun to see the purist's faces with the 3 of us there.
Great to see an update from you Calvin! My axles are supposed to arrive tomorrow -- signature requried & I'm not sure my wife will be home so likely won't actually get them till Thurs. Also have the oval exhaust about 1/2 installed; shoudl be able to finish it this weekend too so the car will be back on the road. The oval exhaust will only hang about 1/2" to 3/4" below the frame rails -- a few inches more clearance :). Hoping the Spintech mufflers are quiet enough but if not, they're under the car (only 2 1/4" thick overall) so I still have room in the back for some sort of secondary resonators or mufflers.
Anyway, will miss you in Townsend, but have fun @ the All British show later in May!
Calvin,
I ended up buying short Flowmaster Hushpower II's. I had them installed with 2" tubing (no room for 2 1/4") and a crossover. They are NOT quite. They are almost in earplug territory. How much do you think your Monza glasspack resonator tips helped?
George
Rob,
I'm glad to see you will trailer your MGB to the meet. I would be a little shy driving my Tr6 there without driving it around to feel safe with a long hall. I wouldn't want to be stuck along the road somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Your wife pulled a good call!
I hope you recieved your axles by now or already have them installed. Enjoy your hard labor of a very cool looking ride!
In my slow age process I like quietier exhaust, so my brain isn't vibrating down the road :-).
Hi George,
There should be enough room there? I was able to run a 2 1/2" magnaflow x pipe in the frame where the original exhaust runs through the frame. Was able to run 2 1/2" exhaust from the header collector all the way back to the exhaust tip. It might be tight but it can be done with 2 1/4". I think Ken Schmidt has the same Hush power exhaust with his 350 chevy. His was a little loud.
I haven't received my glass packed Monza exhaust tips yet. I should be getting them on back order towards the end of the month. I think it will do the trick to muffle some more of that great sound. I will post up the results soon after they are installed.
monza-big-bore.jpg The 95-9226 is the one I will use. 2 1/2" inlet 3 1/2" outlet.
MONZA BIG BORE Resonated Exhaust Tips are designed for today's competitive sport compact market. BIG BORE lives up to its name by offering diameters of 3 1/2" and 4". NOTE: All BIG BORE tips are 10" in overall length and feature a long-lasting, triple process chrome finish.
Calvin, Car looks great! New tires and wheels too. I have used those resonator tips before and they will quiet it some and deepen the tone. X or H balance pipe helps also. Again, Great job!
Thank You Jim, for the compliment on the rims.
So last weekend my wife was running our booth at the Western Festival to show our business with other venders. So I decided to drive her there in my TR6 last Sunday. There is a small venue of 1982 and older hot rods that show up in the park this same day. So I was going to ask them if it would be ok to park in the show area with them, but not have my car judged. Well they said that would be OK.
So I drove the TR6 on the lawn kind of on the side of the show under the trees. Lifted up the hood to the engine, and walked over to one of my customers that have our products in his house ( he was showing his pair of Camaro1969 Z28's).
Fifteen minutes went by, there was a swarm of people around our TR6. I walked back over there, people started to ask questions. It was like this for the next 2 or so hours. The looks I would get when people would walk by, "Oh a Tr6" then they would get a small peek of what was under the hood, and that would stop them in their tracks to walk on over for a closer look.
About 3 hours of this, one of the judges walked over to me and said " You are not going to enter your car into the show" I said "I wasn't planning on it" He said, " I'm not telling you what to do", "but have a class I can't fill to easy here in the show". "Your car can fit that class, and that is all I'm going to say". OK , so I walked over to the tent and paid my $15.00 to enter in the show. Put the tag on the car. The judge walked over to the car and wrote stuff down on his clip board. So 10 minutes later we were called up to the tent when they were handing out the winner's placques.
"Nice" our TR6 won the Most Unique award in the show. I hope I get this kind of nice peolpe at the All British Car Show in Woodland the 22nd of May.
Benda sitting at our booth!
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Was able to snap off a few photos before people started coming over to take a look.
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Was trying to keep my original Lic plates, but CA DMV wouldn't alow me to.
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The blue tent in the back ground is where I registered for the show.
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There were some nice cars here for sure!
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Always try and promote Britishv8.org at every show Brenda and I go to. This is a given for sure!
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Here is the award our TR6 won "MOST UNIQUE" I was probably the last to enter so I figure there was 136 cars showing this day.
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Here is a closer photo of the plaque!
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The story of gettting our TR6 registered in CALIFORNIA!
1st time going to Ca DMV.
Went into DMV with an old 1985 regitration card I had for my TR6, Didn' have my pink for the TR6 anymoe.I must have lost it in several moves I have done over those passed years. I paid $103.00 to register the TR6. I didn't non op my car for those years either. So did a big NO NO and told them it was stored in Oregon since 1985. I brought it back to California to restore it. So they gave me a big number paper 4 to place on my windsheild. This meant I needed to bring the TR6 into DMV to have the Vin numbers checked out. So at this point I could drive my car on the road until end of April 2011. Also asked if I could keep my original blue Lic plates.
2nd time going to DMV.
Drove my TR6 in the back of DMV. A lady came out with a clip board, and she was checking for a vin number. OK , one on the windsheild and one on the door sill. Well, I messed up the original plate with paint remover. I just bought a new one from Moss and stamped it myself. I kind of messed that up with one of the numbers. The lady couldn't read it so well. So she asked me to pop the hood up. So I did another NO NO and said my hood release cable was broke. So she wrote that down on the form. Then she told me to go over to window 23. They gave me a paper with a 6 on it. So now I can drive around until June. They Said, I had to go to CHP and have my TR6 checked over for vin numbers and a form from them. "@#$$%$%^^&" was my thought.
Same day on the other side of the freeway went to the CHP office. Made an appointment with them a week or so down the road.
OK went home and re-stamped another vin plate I had to replace the one I messed up. Pop rivited the new one on.
Drove my TR6 shaking in my shoes all the way to the inspection at CHP office. When the CHP officer came out he asked OK why are you here? I told him the chain of events what happened, and I stamped a new vin plate + fix the hood release with a safty release. I also brought with me the paperwork of the LS1 purchase showing the vin numbers of the engine and transmission. I had run a car fax on the vin number to show the history too. I told him the engine was not original or transmission in the car. The officer took me over to the car and looked under the hood. He asked some questions like did you replace anything on the car. I said 3 of the 4 fender due to alot of bondo on them. I just told him I restored the car and put the LS1 in with the transmission. He told me do you have receipts for everything you did, I sais "yes" I have a 4" file. OK drive your car back here in our garage. He took me back up the the waiting room to wait while they checked the car out..... At this point I'm sweeting it out some......45 minutes later he come out and said you don't have to show us any receipts, we just need to install this vin plate somewhere of your liking to link the engine to your car. I'm un-sweeting after that and totaly relieved.
So the TR6 is now registered with an LS1 engine in California, AND DIDN"T HAVE TO MESS WITH SMOG..."SAAWEEEEET"
3rd time going to DMV.
They wouldn't let me keep the original blue plates. They said original black plates is OK but there not doing the blue plates yet. So keep the blue plates, that may change later. Ok put that in the 4" file for later use.
TR6 LS1 legal in California now.
Photos of the new CHP plate installed to link LS1 engine to body.
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Notice how they stamp it into the paint in 2 places.
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Calvin,
Congrats on the DMV. Up here in Washington State there are basically no rules and no inspections for old cars. Unless you are smoking badly then they don't bother you.
How do you like the new tips on the Borlas? I just put on a pair of 18" Dynomax Turbos and things are MUCH quieter. Now I can pass people and not worry that every cop in town has just heard me.
I passed someone yesterday going up a very steep rural hill. I don't imagine that that happens very often with the stock 104hp engine!
George
Goerge,
Passing people is fun!
The Borla tips are still on back order :(.
I installed the flowmasters back on and entered the car at The All British car show in Woodland the 22nd of May, and took 3rd place out of all the TR6s. This was with the purists cars. Guy next to me was a little bummed out because everyone was looking at my car and not his. On the other side was Ken Percivals 289 v8 TR6, so at least I wasn't alone. There was a few remarks not being pure. But in the end it was all in fun.
Calvin
Calvin,
Good for you on the award and good attitude on the purists. I would see their point if we were modding a quality 911, Gullwing, or an E-type but we are not. Triumph chose to put in a 1930s lump of an engine and then they decided to go cheap on the welding and rust proofing. Other than the body lines, any mods we do are an improvement.
George
I'm not sure I agree George. It's your car, who's to say that it's "wrong". It's personal taste.
E-Types and 911s aren't especially rare. A Gullwing - now that would be harder for me to see.
Perhaps that's where I draw the line.
Well that and the 8 coupe. I just can't bring myself to mod it...
Hi..
wow great post...
Absolutely beautiful work so far...
You're inspiring me to really get on with the research for my own V8 swap!
thanks...
Where in California are you located Mike?
Maybe I can inspire you more, and bring my TR6 by to see up close and in person!!
Oh! extremely excellent,Looking Good! Congrats my friend!
OK,
Sent in my "How it was done article" to Curtis today!
Update!
I'm getting my TR6 on a dyno tune + getting idle tune and drivability fine tune. So I will post up some results soon.
I have all the parts for a front brake up-grade also. A dual 7" booster, 12.19 vented rotors with 4 pot Wilwoods, Custom hats, Custom secondary caliper brackets, residual valve in front and back. This will be my winter project along with a list of small stuff.
Dyno run results!
408.4 Rear Wheel Horse Power @ 5800 to 6135 rpm. My injectors were at 100% duty cycle around 6100 rpm. Need to probably go to some Ford Motor Sport red top 30 lbs injectors(Ford Chevy mix :-)). I'm still running stock 28 lbs injectors. Nice power, and all at 26 mph on highway.
Rear Wheel Torque @ 393.3 .... at 4677 rpm.
Rev limiter set at 6800 rpm
First run after reving to 6764 rpm, then letting off, it was running a little fat, let out a Huge 2 1/2 foot flame out the exhaust. I was standing in the back off to the side doing a video, kind of scared me a little + black smoke. So my video did get some of the flame but I was not focusted on the camera anymore. This shop Dyno, can dyno dragsters up to 2500rwhp.
I will scan the number sheet also later and maybe some Video posting.
Calvins1974TR6ls1DynoonaAutodyn30.jpg
Caldynosheet1.jpg
Caldynosheet2.jpg
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These dyno runs were in 3rd gear! After checking there were in 4th gear.
That is pretty awesome Calvin. I am amazed that you get 26 mpg with an engine that has this output. It goes to show you that the high performance engines of today are superior to the engines of the 60's and 70's.
Calvin I think it would be wise to regularily get under that car and check the frame for cracks and distortion given that you have so much power at the rear wheels. The Bowtie car now has a new frame because his frame could not handle the power and it was no where near the 400 rearwheel hp.
When will we get to see some more pictures of this work of art?
Cheers
Byron
Calvin I think it would be wise to regularily get under that car and check the frame for cracks and distortion given that you have so much power at the rear wheels. The Bowtie car now has a new frame because his frame could not handle the power and it was no where near the 400 rearwheel hp.
I have looked several times, and keep looking all the time. I'm ready to buy a lift so many times knowing what Joe has gone through(Bowtie6). It is nice to have a California frame to start off with. I didn't have any rust that I could find when sand blasting. I may even add some more bracing in other areas for my peace of mind.
Oh! For photos Curtis is working on my "How it was done article" I sent him a DVD full of photos. So It will be posted up on Curtis's time, and there is no rush on my part.
Nice! I got my Wilwood front brake setup done yesterday. 12" + rotor on custom machined aluminum Hats and secondary brackets made out of steel. Thanks to Ken H for his blue print skecthings and my trusty machinist. The machining looked so good I didn't paint them and used Sharks Hide on both Hats and Brackets.
More on this soon next week.
I will post some photos next week after I get back from Lackland AFB to see my son grad from BMT.
Too bad we couldn't have hooked up Calvin. You're in Tx & I'm in CA this week!
Wow, that is pretty funny.Are you Palo Alto for business
Calvin:
Great lookin car! Very professional restore. I have a question. I like what you did with the fuel tank. Where did you get the new fuel tank? With my previous TR6, I always hated the constant fuel smell. This is exactlly what I want to do with this new TR6
Thanks
Med72
Yes, was there on business. My boss is from there so i"m out that way at least a few times every year.
Hi Art,
I used an RCI aluminum 19 gallon tank. I just reworked it for the fuel injection return, baffels, and sump on the bottom.
Bought the tank online like all the other 85% of parts to rebuild this car.
Rob,
San Antonio was freeking cold. I don't know how my twins did bmt in it. I have a new found respect for the military being an AF brat. Palo Alto probably was a little warmer than Cypress?
Yeah, Palo Alto's weather was way nicer that week. But, we're back to low to mid 70's during the days so it's been nice except we've had rain every day or two for a couple of weeks. Can't complain though, the lake we frequent has been down almost 10' (and while it's 21,000 surface acres, it's only 50' deep in the deepest part) & most launch points have dry land well beyond the end of the ramps. With the recent rain it's headed back up. We're only 6.5' low now. Another 3 feet & I can get my boat out of the garage & back on the lift.
Rob,
I'm sure your lake in the area has filled up some more. My son Trevor is at Sheppard AFB (TX) for tech school, and said they had lighting bolts with lots of rain just lately.... which is some 4 hours away from you I believe....
Update!
Talked with Richard Good about the rear springs in the back to find out what lbs rating they were. He said they were 450lbs springs. I asked if he had any higher rated springs.....So I orderd some 600lbs springs for the rear of the TR6. I installed them in the rear last weekend. Also installed some Spax adjustable shocks up front after taking a 3/4" spacers out from under the springs (had KYB gas shocks in there). Set the Spax shocks up to a fairly firm setting. Since taking out the spacers up front....the car rides 1" lower up front now. The 600lbs springs in the rear droped the back down about 1/2'.
Now during acceleration...the car doesn't squat down like it use to. The car has a raked look to it now + the front has more negative camber to now....may need to go get an alignment again $83.00 at Les Swab tires.
I have a few more things on the to do list before heading out to British V8 meet in Palestine in May. If everything works out... SCCA solo ll is having thier first event of the year...on the 21st of this month at Mather AFB (which has been shut down for years). Would love to be involved this year...just need to figure out what class I would be in. Also need a good roll bar...may need to fab one up of have a special one made up.
Calvin, great timing on your post... Lake is definitely up... Not quite full pool, but a good 8' higher than it was. 2' below full and just need another few inches to get the boat back on the lift. Was up there this weekend doing some work on the place (redoing out kitchen so had to strip off the '70's wallpaper). Took the boat out for about a 45 minute run. Had been about a year since we'd been on the water - felt great! And pleasantly surprised the boat ran great after sitting so long.
Looking forward to seeing you @ Palestine. Don't break anything in the SCCA solo II event!
Calvin
I don't generally visit the Triumph part of the forum but this was linked to the MG side so I took a look. You did a really nice job with all the fabrication and finishing it off as well. Have you weighed the car and do you know the front/rear weight distribution? How much of an issue is it getting the tires to hook up with all that torque? I'd love to see the car if you ever drive it to San Diego, I will be at the 2014 get together in Colorado Springs for sure.
Once again, great job!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the compliments!
The tires hook pretty good when I have a full fuel tank(19 gallons of fuel over the rear tire area). I haven't been able to get a front to rear weight ratio yet or weight of the car yet. I'm hoping one of these car venues will have the scales to have this done. I'm sure in the near future I will get these numbers and share. The next venue I will attend will be Triumphest 2012 in Flagstaff AZ. http://www.triumphest.com/ Next bug to fix is better braking before I go !!
May show up for 2013 BV8!
In 2014 I hope to be at BV8 get together, would love to see your widened MGB in the flesh.
We might need to start a BV8 in the West?
Calvin
Calvin - look for a truckstop with scales. You can get front/back that way for about $10-12.
Thanks Rob. I'll have to check that out! I was thinking of a garbage recycle center also, where they weight the big trucks before and after they dump.
Calvin
I'd love to see a BV8 get together here in California, all we have to do is convince all those people on the wrong coast to come out here. For weighing your car you might try a moving/storage company. The one close to me has a set of scales in the ground for weighing their trucks, don't know if they all do though.
I can't believe with 400 ft lbs at the wheel you don't turn your tires into black striping paint every time you hit the gas.
Love the Rota SB Hyper black polished rims. Where did you find these? Been searching on the internet with no luck.
Hi Jonathan,
This is just one website I found what I used. Check out what will work for you in size and width + offset? Also check out the bolt pattern for you application?
Here is the website:
http://www.wheeldude.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=6809
This is the Rota Web site, with all the rim sizes,offset, and width.
http://www.rotawheels.com/wheel.php?id=34
Good luck!
Calvin,
Thanks for the info. I'm working on a 1976 TR6 and am planning to upgrade the hubs,braking system, suspension with many of the conversions you performed. Looking through the info across the history of your project, I didn't come across any significant modifications to fit the 17" wheels under your car. Did I miss significant modifications that needed to be done to accomodate the wheels?
One additional question, the "how it was done" article identifies the quick steering rack but a few pages back in this forum you had mentioned removing and going back to the original. Did you end up going back to the quick rack and did you modify to make it easier to steer at slower speeds?
Hi Jonathan,
I used 1" thick wheel adapters that would bolt up to the 4 1/2" Triumph bolt pattern. Then the adapters had 4X100 bolt pattern studs in them sticking out. I bought the adapters from Ebayer that sells high torque starters,and wheel adapters. As for modification in front was to relieve some of the upper control arm lip on front and back wishbone arms. The back has avo shocks in the coil springs. This left lots of room in the back.
This is where I bought the adapters but for a TR6 not a Spitfire!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Triumph-Spitfire-GT6-TR7-TR8-Lotus-Alloy-Wheel-Adapters-/230620025009?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item35b20650b1
I still have the quick rack steering and like it for autocrossing. I'm use to it driving around town and freeway driving, so left it in the car. I still have a brand new original rack if I want to change. As for slower speeds, once the car is rolling it works fine.
Here is the latest autocross video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMYtlJk7ak8&feature=player_embedded
Calvin
You ever get #s for the weight F/R or better still the corners?
Hi Alan,
No I haven't had the 4 corners weighed out yet. It has been a good Salmon fishing season this year so far on the Sacramento river system, so haven't been around the car to much at this time. I fabricated a trolling motor bracket extention out of aluminum so that my remote steering would have more turning room on my jet sled. So now I can be anywhere in my boat and control steering, speed,and idle by a remote control box. I can multi task when we have a Salmon on a rod, instead of just driving the boat.
I will get the 4 corners done and post the results with a full tank of fuel and me in it and out.
Calvin,
I really have enjoyed looking at your post and it has really helped me along the way. I was wondering what you did about your center discharge of the vintage aire? I am considering putting it in the center of the dash below the gauges. Appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
Phil Crawford
Thanks Phil Crawford, I'm glad people can use what has been posted on this site to help them along the way with their journey, to make the car they want. It sure did help me! I PMed you what I did with the vent at this time!
Below is an email I recieved from Andrew Willsheer! He has read both articles on our TR6. 1 from Curtis Jacobson on this site- britishV8.org. The 2nd article from Dom Staci in theTriumph Tribune Nov 2011 issue. Andrew wants to take a photo shoot and do a write up in the Triumph World Magazine on our TR6! I don't know what to say. but a BIG Thanks to Curtis and Dom. I kept getting these phone calls from an extra digit phone number! He stated Dom Staci , so I called Dom to find out what it was all about. I'm just a weekend garage gearhead! Wasn't expecting this.
Andrew said he was going to be at the Pomona drag strip again for photos!
Email:
Hi Calvin,
I'm glad I had the opportunity to speak with you earlier today on the 'phone and look forward to coming up to Elk Grove in order to photograph the car for the intended feature in Triumph World magazine. At time of writing, I guess I'll have to visit one day between Monday February 18 and Wednesday the 20th. I'll contact you when I get to L.A. during the week before and try to firm up a date.
Kind regards
Andy Willsheer
Calvin,
Congratulations on the photo shoot and write-up. You have earned it. I too am one of those that has spent many hours going over your excellent pictures and detailed descriptions of what you did. Dan Masters' picture of his TR6 with the 302 in it started me down this road many years ago to modify my TR6. Your work gave me the specific details I needed along with help from Don Watson and his rear brake caliper brackets.
I am finally starting to reassemble. Modified the frame adding some square tubing supports and gussets, replaced rusted out sections where the rear trailing arms mounted, new T-shirt, etc. Had the frame powder coated and just got it back last week. Used many of Richard Good parts... suspension bushings, steering rack mounts, front/rear springs, trailing arm adjustable brackets, R200 diff and diff mounting brackets. I tried to duplicate your high dollar Revington kit putting the shock through the rear spring. Fabricated the brackets for the trailing arm and welded a plate in the hole at the top of the spring housing. Don't have the adjustable shocks but hoping it will work fairly well. You provided me the AVO shock info (open/closed dimensions) back in Aug of 2008 so I've been at this a while.
Congratulations again and thanks for the inspiration.
Chassis.JPG
Chassis1.JPG
Chassis2.JPG
Congrats Curtis!! And, the more people who see it the more new conversions there'll be.
Ed, while you have easy access would you mind sending me a close up of what the front mounting bushings look like? Mine have barely anything left so I ordered some for a 240 SX R200S diff, but what came in is easily twice the diameter of the holes. Looking to understand if they are just sleeved bushings or if they have some sort of lip on them. Mine look like they probably did.
Rob, sent you a PM.
Hi Ed,
I'm glad we have been a help to you and your project. Thanks for the compliment! I like some of the other support bars you installed from the trailing arm area to the t-shirt area.
FYI:
In one of you photos, where the plates have been welded to the top of the frame. When you install your seats (if you are using the original bolts holes for your TR6 seat rack) bolts, the rear outside bolt will probably hit that welded plate. Easy fix, I drilled a 1" diameter hole through the plate. This way it wouldn't lift the body floor boards up from the frame when tightening that bolt on either side. So that bolt will probably hit that plate.
I went to a 600# 1" lower spring from Richard Good in the back which helped stable out the car upon accelerating. The ride to me was better than the softer ride which I believe was 450#. Once you get your car on the road you will get the feel of what you want with the added power you have. So I hope your rear shock will do Okay for you. My AVO's are all the way stiff. I'm going to back them off some and see how it feels. My front shocks are so stiff right now but was set up for autocross. I have the some 26 adjustment or so Spax shocks up front. I had the silver gas shocks to start with and they were way too soft. I" Richard Good lowering spring up front too.
Can't wait to see your ride done in the "How it was done article section" on this site. I think the 302 + the 289 is a tamer setup than mine for daily or a weekend driver.
Hey Rob!
You may want to talk with Richard Good about those front bushings on your R200 differential. He may just have an easy fix for you or an alternative?
http://www.goodparts.com/contact.html
I have his cell if you need it?
Calvin, thanks for seat rail bolt info. I modified some seats that came from a Kia I think. They were pretty comfortable but were just a little too wide.
I may have to go back to the original seats and mounts unless I can find some Miata seats. They seem to be the seat of choice. I've got the 1" lowering springs from Richard on the front and rear. They are the 450#. Like you said, I'll have to see how it feels once I get it running. Might have to go to better adjustable shocks.
Ed,
There is someone who makes a kit that uses the stock TR6 seat bolt holes that I used to bolt the early Miata seats in, if you end up going that route. I can look up in my paperwork and get the details. It is fairly easy to do with the kit. I think Danielson's website for his TR6 has a full detailed write up.
http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/PattonMiataBrackets.htm
The kit I have is very close , but you get the idea! I did switch the seats so the recline would work. They are on the inside instead of the outside. The lever in my TR6 wouldn't clear the triangular brace at the back of the door jam on the body tub.
You can get the AVO shocks from a UK site.
Calvin, I was wondering how the shifter feels with the mod that you did?
Hi Ed O,
The 4" forward shifter top mount feels good. You don't even know its there. I have 6" shifter shaft on, may even shorten it tp 4" shaft. The T56 transmission is taller than the TR6 transmission, so doing a 4" would work for a more natural feel in my application.
Isn't there an option to move the T5 shifter to the front inspection plate for your application? Between the shifter relocator, the options of T5 transmissions + shifter mod top mount relocator, you should find the right feel ,and location.
Good Luck with your new project!
Thanks, thats good to know on the shifter, the Z32 trans on the RB25 engine has the shifter at 29" from the front of the trans and a quick measurement of the TR6 trans while still in the car was about 25". Plus I may need to move the RB25 engine back a little from the postion of the TR6 engine. Excited about the 200 HP, should make for one crazy corner carving machine.
Hi Calvin...... I just wanted to say that your conversion is spectacular.....just beautiful! A comment and a question:
The Miata seat brackets I'm now using are made by Rick Patton (http://pattonmachine.com/Miata-Brackets.htm) and work beautifully. They reuse the stock mounting holes and once installed remain bolted to the floor while each seat is then bolted to the brackets with four bolts per seat. I can remove a seat in 5 minutes or less..... same to put back in.
My big question concerns your Wilwood M/C..... it looks like it bolts to the stock servo and I'm wondering what modifications you had to make? Is there a spacer required or was the rod altered? Does the M/C require any "pre-load". I think it would make a great upgrade to any TR6 so any info would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thank you for the compliment. I have used your website several times for information in research for my build. I thank you for having it up on the web for others.
The new Miata seat conversion parts for the seats look great. I think I'm using the first setup you had, which is working fine. I just had to switch the seats because of the recliner lever would hit my rocker panel. This probably was from my T56 transmission being so wide.
The installation for the Wilwood master cylinder was a direct fit on the stock booster. The connections are reversed from a stock master cylinder. On a stock master cylinder the back port is for the front brakes. The Wilwood the front port is for the front brakes. The Wilwood master cylinder comes with a spacer that takes up all the space in the bore for a longer push rod type installation. In other words the spacer fills the bore to almost flush to the piston bore. So when mated to the stock booster the only modification I did, was to take out the adjusting screw out of the booster plunger end. Then I installed a smaller headed srew to get the right adjustment and play between the booster plunger and the Wilwood master cylinder piston spacer. I used a 1.25 MC which is to large thinking that I had 4 pot calipers up front and single pot disk brake calipers in back. Also Wilwood told me that would be the right size for my application. I'm going back to a 7/8" MC soon for better braking with less effort. I also bent my brake pedal over, so lost about an inch in foot pedal ratio.
For someone to use the Wilwood MC on a stock TR6.
1) It will bolt right up to stock booster. (Tandem Wilwood MC)
2) Use a 7/8" MC
3) Fix the booster screw to get the right tolerances between the booster plunger and the Wilwood spacer inside the piston (spacer is supplied from Wiwood in the box)
4) Switch the brake lines. The front of Wilwood MC towards front of car will supply the front brakes. The stock brake MC, the back towards the driver would supply the front brakes.
5) Need to take out brass fitting that has the safety light in it for the dash, which ties both front and back brakes together. This part is under the booster on the wing inside fender. Name?
6) Direct connect front brakes and back brakes as their own circuit.
7) Install a Wilwood proportionate valve into the back brake circuit to adjust back brakes in. This will insure your brakes will not lock up. So there would be an adjustment.
8) Be very careful adjusting brakes in and testing for the first time.
9) Anyone please chime in if you have something to add??
I saw the PM Bob,
Calvin
Calvin:
I love that 74 of yours. Can you please tell me what size the hiem joints you used are for the steering column? I like your setup and I wanted to begin setting mine in place. I also need the dia and length of the steering rods if possible.
Hi Art,
Below is a list I made up for some one else that wanted the part numbers, to make the Woodward steering shaft assembly. The steering rods you ask? I would suggest getting the parts like I did, make wooden dowels to measure up everything together, then you will know the length of the shafts needed. Your car may have a different route to run the shafts than mine. You will assemble all the parts together using the 3/4" wooden dowels as steering shafts.
Hope that was understandable?
I have all the part numbers for you that
I used. Some parts are on this site
page.....[woodwardsteering.com]
ng%20universal%20joints.pdf
1) UAD3-20201( Double Universal
Joint).......(.750-20) Is used between the 2
steering shafts that you will be making. Buy 5' of
3/4" .120 wall steel tubing. You will be making or
have someone weld in the splined ends inside the
tubing ends.I used 3/4" wooden dowels to mock up
my two steering shafts. I drilled out the ends of
the wooden dowels so that the weld in stubs would
fit in the ends.
4) ST201A (Weld in stubs) .750-20.....For 3/4" OD
.120 wall tube These will be welded into each end
of both steering shafts that need to be made.
2) UA20110 ( Universal joints) .563-36 spline X
.750-20 spline universals. These universals will
go onto the steering shaft at the bulkhead of your
TR6, and down on the steering rack.
2) You will need 2 stand points (Heim joint ends
with a ball in them) that the 2 steering shafts go
through. The two 3/4" OD shafts will go through
one each. I installed one in the suspension tower
of the TR6 on the drivers side. The second one was
on the inner fender. These will keep the steering
shafts ridgid as it is turning. I don't know what
the part number is for these. Look down on page 4
at the bottom. (Clevis Assembly) The silver part
only. You will need two jam nuts per = 4
total........here is the site page...
[woodwardsteering.com]
nion%20mechanical%20parts.pdf
Check out the parts pages that are linked above.
The 563-36 splines will be on the ends and all the
20 splines will be in the middle.
I hope this helps you understand the parts that
were used in my build and Ken Morrisons.
Check to make sure the part numbers work right
with Woodward before ordering.
Calvin
Calvin,
Thanks for the information on the steering parts (I didn't ask the question). I have been looking at the catalogs, and am curious why you did not choose the 3/4" double-D shaft? As I type this I am wondering if the answer is the 20 splines make it easier to align the u-joints?
Thanks,
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
I just figured I could make my own out of 3/4" steel tube that was .120 wall thick. It was fun tig welding up the shafts. Also it was done by someone else, and it worked.
Thanks Calvin, your choice sounds reasonable to me.
Dennis
Dennis,
If my memory serves me right, the double D shafts were only certain lengths. I didn't see any double D weld in ends, in the Woodward book. Therefore, to get any length of shaft, the spline way is the only way to do it with Woodward products. To answer your question you had (about the double D shaft) was probably that. Cut your own shaft and weld those up is the course used because of the length increments of the double D shafts.
Calvin
The nice thing about double D is that you can cut it to length. That's probably why fewer length choices were offered.
Maybe I was thinking double ended double D? What would be done with the other end of the shaft if cut, spline, slip, weld if it is a solid shaft or..?
I think you use a double D joint, and cut the shaft to length, just like you did with the tubing. The difference is you wouldn't need to weld in spline stubs. I think the phasing of the joints wouldn't be an issue-but I haven't done it.
Dennis
Calvin,
Now that I look, I can see where if you used Woodward, the .750-20 spline stub would be necessary as Woodward doesn't seem to offer a 9/16-36 spline to 3/4DD shaft! DUH on me!
Dennis
I knew there was a method to my madness, and Dennis you figured it out! Thank You :-)
For future reference, I'm pretty sure Sweet Manufacturing told me they'd make whatever configuration steering u-joint I wanted. I'd already bought my u joints with the 34 or 32 or whatever spline my MG had and called them to order the steering shaft when I learned that. Would be easier though to get one side of the u-joint with the spline you need for your column and the other side double d. Same at the other end. Then you can cut the shaft to fit.
Calvin:
Thanks, thats a great ideas. This beats using a tape measure. One additional question. I noticed you put a indention on te left fender ( I figure 30 to 45 degrees) to allow for the shaft to pitch downward. Did you cut out a portoion of the fender or did you just take a hammer to it?
Hi Art,
I cut out the inner fender a little then welded that little section in with the shape of the shaft for the clearance needed.
Calvin
I used the double D and cut to length and they seem to work OK but the Over size Heim joints on both sides of the double universal have a fair amount of slop around the shaft and you can see and feel it when moving the steering wheel. Did you have that problem with the tubes and if so have you done anything about it. I haven't driven the car yet but getting close and would like to fix this problem now rather than later. I have enjoyed your build and have used it as a reference many times.
Thanks
Phil
Hi Philip,
Nice build by the way Philip. I like the wood work that you have done among many other artful tidbits.
Hmmm, My steering shaft has very little movement inside the Heim joints, there is some but not enough to cause to much movement. What is the finish of your shaft? Can you weld some metal on the shaft and lathe it off for a closer tolerance in the area of the Heim joint? Maybe have some plating added on to take up the slack......I wonder if the tube I used had a little larger OD diameter that the double D shaft? I will mic out the OD of my steering shaft if I can get in there, for a measurement, and post up soon.
Rob,
That is a great reference for everyone that (Sweet Manufacturing) needs custom steering shaft or shafts made up.
Just a thought, and I haven't taken the time to research it, but could a speei-sleeve over the shaft take up the clearance to make it a snug fit? I presume there is no movement along the length of the shaft. I don't know how you would retain the sleeve-perhaps a thread locking material, or one of the bearing setting compounds?
Dennis
Hi Philip,
My OD on my steering shaft is .751....... the 1 thousand could be the sharks hide I put on there so it wouldn't rust....which is worn off in the Heim area. So probably an even .750 for OD. Do you have a measurement of the inside diameter of the Heim joint? I have a 1/4" play in my steering wheel from left to right sitting still. I need that play because of the Quick Rack that I'm using. A little touchy at high speed, so the little play that I have helps. I think that play is on the rack and pinion though. If I grab ahold of the double universal joint, move it in all directions, it has some play in there, but very little. Question? Are you using the original steering column? If so, did you replace the bushings inside (two)? Can you make a video of what it is doing, and post it up on youtube?
Dennis,
That Speedi-sleeve might work, but may need to press in a small pin, into the main shaft on both sides to hold into place.
I found a speed-sleeve listed to fit a shaft .748 to .752 that is part # 99076. The sleeves add .011 to the shaft diameter, which would have made Calvin's O.D. .763 I think. ( fits .752 and adds .011 = .763??) You could slip a feeler gauge between the shaft and the inside of the heim joint to see what play there is. Also, the speed-sleeve site listed Loctite RC-620 retaining compound to hold the sleeve on a shaft. This would prevent having to drill into or through the shaft.
Am I nuts or what?
Dennis
Dennis,
You're not nuts, you follow through with your research and think out of the box.
How is your project coming along?
Calvin,
The project is coming along, slowly. I must think a lot before doing some of the changes as I don't know what i am doing. I had a hotrodder say to cut out the entire firewall, set the engine in place, and construct around that. Probably good advice, but I was hesitant, and have done picemeal mods. The tub was worse than I thought, so patch repair on sills was ultimately scrapped, and all new installed. Geez Louise!
Current research on paint removal (media, stripper, recycled glass etc.) The tub is ready to stand aside while I check the frame for usefulness.
Thanks for asking! Oh, are you going to Omaha?
Dennis
Ed Peppard: I am interested in your chassis modifications that adapt the Ford 5.0. I am involved in a similar project, and see that you have done exactly what I am planning. Apparently you are not moving the engine back too far, but are lowering it in the frame. Do you care to elaborate? You may PM me if you wish.
Thanks,
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
I will not be attend the Omaha meet this year! I would love to, but have other plans.
Here is a video of the fastest time at Triumpest 2012 autocross at Flagstaff AZ. We had to sweep a ton of gravel off the turns when setting up the autocross track. Happened to do some drifting on my third run which killed my time on the long right hand turn. Tons of fun!!
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n0noi6_RlVM?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Here is the same run from inside the car! The red TR250 of Andy Packards in the still frame (on the track), who is very fast with autocross tires, I was able to beat his time with my street tires. What a rush it is on the track! I don't have much time on an autocross track, 3rd time track running for me, but someone with more time in the seat would do better than me I'm sure.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hF5cJeHk2PE?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
NICE POV, shot with a GoPro?
Hi Don,
"Yes" used my Go Pro Hero II Camera for the video in the car. Brenda was using our Sony projection on the wall type/flip out screen video camera. They both take great video!
Calvin and Dennis
Sorry about being slow getting back to you guys have been doing other things around the house. Just to eliminate where the slack in the steering was coming from I made some bamboo wedges and drove them between the flat spots on the DD shafts and the heim joint. This caused the outer race of the joint to turn but it took all of the slack out of the steering.
I don't have a I.D. heim measurement. I wonder if a 3/4" heim joint would work? I could sand the shafts if they were too tight. I don't think the out side race is supposed to turn.
I have never heard of a speed-sleeve. Where do you get them?
Thanks for the information and your thoughts. In the real world of hot rods this is the way problems are solved.
By the way Street Rodder magazine calls out cars (Sport Rods). Imagination that..
Thanks again
Phil
Phil,
Here is one link I found to the manufacturer and catalog. I believe that SKS, a bearing manufacturer, and Chicago Rawhide, a company I thought made seals, are one company. Anyway, their catalog is where I found the information about speed-sleeves. They are used in many cases of shaft wear at the seal contact point, and renew the sealing surface to allow continued use of the mechanism without replacing the more expensive shaft. (No sales pitch intended!) I just though that using one of them might take up the clearance that was problematic for you.
Dennis
http://www2.chicago-rawhide.com/faq/1.html
That's SKF. Biggest bearing company in the world. Roughly twice as big a company as Timken. S for "Svenske", I believe. Volvo was started by SKF and then spun off onto its own. Evidently SKF bought (comparatively tiny) Chicago Rawhide in the nineties...
Thanks Curtis! The PC I had couldn't spell worth a hoot, and my daughter promised this Mac would be better-NOT!
Dennis
Dennis
Thanks for the info. I will take a look and make a decision. I wonder how a 3/4" heim would work? You could always sand the shaft a little.
Thanks Phil
Philip,
I used a 3/4" heim in both spots on my setup.
Calvin
Thanks for the info. I order 2 3/4" hiems yesterday plus the column bushings. I hope this is the last time I have to pull it out. I have been riding around some with loose seats and no belts. The DBW throttle does not fly open from a dead stop like a manual one but it comes on pretty quick. Really makes for a nice start but when it hits 2 ed it gives you gives you about 3 seconds of wheel spin. Impressive for a truck engine. I know you have had fun with your ride and have enjoyed the videos.
Thanks
Philip
I know bringing up and old thread for you to read!
Lately our MGB GT has been at the blasters getting all cleaned up. It had some more perforated holes show up on the floor boards looking like Swiss cheese. There were some other areas too. So I had the shop spray some miracle metalized material over all those areas.
That being said, I had some time to work on the TR6. I took the R200 408 geared diff apart (I purchased at U-pull-it for a whopping $75, normally they run $275 on up), cleaned out, checked bearings and the such. All looked good to go. Put some paint on the case, and cleaned up the diff cover some. I may polish it out some, wipe some Sharks hide on there. While I have the 354 diff out, I'm going to beef up Richard Goods diff bracket on the front mount. May even do the back mount some. I'm also going to try and lengthen the rear sway bar + move up the center part of the bar. This will take care of 2 issues I have. It will give adjustment for the sway bar and give me more clearance for the mufflers. I will be able to hide the mufflers more closer to the trunk area. This will make it look better from behind.
These are some TO Do's I want to get done before this years BV8 meet. I need to install a catch can so it won't smoke anymore. I experienced that on Mid America Motorplex Speedway last year.
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I'm going to cut those ears off on both sides of the diff cover. Those are for the ABS sensors that the Nissan 300zx used. This is a 96 diff with a smooth cover. The 354 diff has a fined cover. Both are VLSD R200 diffs. 7 7/8" ring gear I believe.
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Brenda's GT teaser.....I know I need to update the build thread so it can feed the illness! I had them blast all the undercoating off the wheel wells and underside. There are a lot of mods you can't see here but some are visible. They will be shown in the build thread. This blasting will cut down my build time, money well spent.
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Gt was getting some primer sprayed on at the time I stopped by. I will pick it back up this Saturday. Then stuff is going to be mocked up. Suspension is going in, engine mock up etc. I'm looking forward to it. I have a ton of parts ready so it should move right along.
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So this was a Calvinator labs update haha!
Calvin, I have a '94 Q45 R200 diff., and would like to know if you are sourcing a flange yoke in 1310 series u-joint to adapt your driveshaft to the diff.? I have found a PTI 3102-69 to be the one listed for Nissan, but cannot find a listing for Dana/Spicer. Of course, I haven't been to the driveshaft shop yet!
Thanks,
Dennis
You probably know, but if you bought Richard's mounts for a while you may have had them before he amended his instructions.... there's a specified tightening torque now for those countersunk setscrews that hold the rear mount to the diff cover.
Having said that I forget what it is, you might check with him.
Didn't torque mine enough to begin with and one came loose.
Ivor
Calvin,
Sorry for the delay in my reply. I did install the 3/4" heim joints in place of the over size ones and replaced the steering column bushing and this took about 99% of the slack in the steering. Have you thought about installing power steering? I have been looking and thinking about the electric type which I have no room under the dash and the traditional style of belt driven pump. I really dont have room for the pump unless I run it off of the crank like a boat water pump. Like to hear any ideas you have.
Phil
Dennis, I just let the driveline shop install the best and strongest u-joints + flanges on the driveline.
Ivor, Yes those counter sunk screw bolts need to be torqued big time. Mine were starting to loosen up when I took out the 3.54 diff out. A little lock tight went in this last time for sure installing the 4.08 diff back in.
Philip, I really haven't thought to much about power steering on the TR6. My car turns pretty well without it. Just the first few feet of rolling maybe.
I like the 4.08 diff better with this cam I'm running. The cam would surge in higher gears if I didn't down shift into a lower gear in time. the 4.08 seams to be a smoother ride.
So to do the swap I needed Richard Good to make 1" adapters(in between the stub axle and the CV axle), and make another driveline that was 1/2" longer because of the pinion area being shorter (different placed sensor, Q45 has one sensor in the pinion area where the Z300ZX has two on the half shaft stub axles. The flange on the Z300ZX R200 has a smaller diameter flange than the Q45 R200).
Has anyone had their car called a Restomod?
Went to the Western Festival since Brenda was entering our business booth at the show. So this has been the third time I have enter our TR6 at the Classic car show that same weekend.
Our car won the best Restomod award of about 175 hotrods or so.
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I'm new to the forum, and found your Tr6 in the photo gallery and then followed the link on one of the captions in the gallery to this thread. I see no one answer your question about a "resto-mod." Basically a resto-mod is a car that looks stock on the outside, but has been hot rodded under the skin.
I was curious about how your weight distribution is. I read through this thread, but did not find any mention of having the car weighed. Since the engine is aluminum, and the t-56 is close to the center of the car with the battery moved to the trunk, I would expect a big improvement compared with the original Tr6 specs. Have you weighed it yet?
I believe with a full tank of fuel at 19 gallons it was 2656 lbs with a 49/51 weight front to back.
That 49/51 sounds perfect to me, Calvin!