New guy on the block

[tr6lt1]

I am building a 1974 TR6 and am happy to find fellow "Butchers" as I have been called by a few snooty purists.These are some pics of what the tr6 looked like when I first got it home summer of 2007. It was a perfect donor car that was missing a lot of 'Non essentials" like bumpers, seats, dash etc. The Motor and trans were trash. To those TR6 Purists I say "Long live Frankenstien Hot rods!" They look better, drive better and put your mind to the logical test! IT not just removing parts, cleaning and replacing them. It's making the parts that weren't designed for the car fit with function and safety, that's the challenge. I already have the following parts to install. 85 XJ IRS (Narrowed of course, '95 Corvette LT1 350 Ported Polished (the works 460HP), beefed up BW T-5 five speed, Mustang GT Bullet wheels and tires, Front tires will be 205 45 on17x8 rims, the rears are 17x11 rims with 315/35/17 tires, full set of Auto Meter Pro Lite series gauges including a monster tach, aluminum radiator, Camaro hydraulic clutch, billet flywheel and new clutch and pressure plate and a ton of small stuff. also i have included some picks of the completed narrowed rear end. i have written a complete journal with pics of the ion going process but the file is to large to down load here.

[dwtr6v8]

Welcome,

You sound as if you have been hurt deeply before. Dr. Watson has an opening next Thursday at 10. ( just kidding)

No pictures attached, they must have been to large. each attachment is limited in size. Re-size and send because we love to see pics!

Share those ideas, skills, and build process.

If you can, burn your journal and pics to a CD and send them by mail to BritishV8 for editing and possible web and newsletter material.

[74ls1tr6]

Thanks for posting Frank!!

You are with the best purist "Butchers" around, you will fit in perfectly. Your dash plans will be there by this weekend :-)

HeHe, I think that 460Hp may not be enough power for that heavy TR6 body a frame "LMAO" you might have to lighten it up some, and those tires may be little on the small side. Bunava sich thats going look like one bad arse TR6 when your done.

Can I help with those pics somehow, We want to see.

Calvin

PS: Don the avitar does look more like your car color, hmmm I think your paint job looks better than the pic shows, I'll get right on it and polish it up a little. Your hub cap pic looks better. Na it's all good.

[Bill Young]

F.G. check out the "how it was done" articles in the newsletter portion of the site. You could contact Curtis our editor and mail him a CD containing all the information so he could download it to the newsletter or as I did cover it in a series of smaller e-mail messages. I think it took me 5 or 6 messages to get all the photo files to Curtis.
Interesting choice of names, my wife christened my V6 Midget "Frank" years ago for the same reason. I always called it Half Asp since it's just a little baby Cobra/Viper type.

[v869tr6]

Sounds like a very nice build, can't wait to see some pictures.

[TR3 plus Four]

Hi there

I'm a recent "butcher" too. I agree with you on the reasons for doing this kind of thing. The challenge of making 'this' work with 'that' leads to some very interesting learning. I've been part of restoration work with very old vehicles where parts had to be made from only vague faded photos, and that work is very cool but a "common" restoration these days seems to be based on assembling reproduction parts. For me the creativity and design is the major deal. Throughout the process, your knowledge base broadens into realms that otherwise would never have come up.

Welcome

[74ls1tr6]

Randall,

I must say your TR3 is a work of art and would like somday to see it up close, just to see how it was done."Very Nice"

[tr6lt1]

Maybe this one pic will work? I will send in a CD though, with build journal.

[74ls1tr6]

"Very Nice Frank"

I like the looks of your ("RIMS") and tires. The body looks good a straight too. "looking Great"

[tr6lt1]

I wish I could download the picks of the narrowed IRS. A lot of helpfull ideas could be gained from the pics. Beleive it or not the rear wheel tubs will only have to be widened by 1.5 inches. I want to keep the looks in that area as close as possible so the "Snooty" ones will keep wondering how those giant tires fit with the original style fuel tank in place and all of the original trunk space still available. I used a lot of ideas from  Cobra kit car web sites to narrow the rear end. I think I'll rename the car to "Poor Mans Cobra."  HAAAA!

[TR3 plus Four]

Hey Calvin

Looks like you're in California... great drive up to British Columbia!.. Just two hours North of Seattle. Open invitation. When I finally get this project completed, I may make the trip down your way.

Thanks for your support. Art is a very big part of this for me.

[dwtr6v8]

Frank,

Thanks for the pics and keep them coming so we can be there with you.

That is a great side profile shot. Love the wheels, ah I mean rims! ( my young son just walked in and reminded me that I'm out of it. 'There called rims, Dad")

Time to go out to the garage, turn up the stereo, turn back time, and turn a wrench or two!


Calvin, this is my TR6, if you look across the street, you'll see the blue TR6 with the trailer.

[74ls1tr6]

Thanks for the open invite Randall. I have been up to see BC several times for fishing trips. Did some fishing in the Pender harbor area some years ago. The one thing I noticed with people in BC and Canada, people are so nice and friendly there as Ken H is far eastern part of Canada. Making some great friends here in this forum.

Nice blue TR6 Don! Is there some Corona lites with some limes in Yogi's picknic basket? Looks like the same blue to me, but I'm some what color blind. Looks like you have some - camber in the rear or OH! it could be the Corona. I kind of like the looks of a little negative camber.

Your TR6 looks so good that I want mine running NOW!

[tr6lt1]

Here is a pic of the now narrowed, by 14 inches, Jag IRS.....I narrowed the lower control arms and axle shafts my self using DOM tubing. My only concern is the vertical mounting of the coil over shocks.......I have also made the upper mounting pins and tubes for the shocks. The pic of the short tube with a rubber bushing is going to be the cross member isolating bushing. Picture to fallow as i make the cross member.

[TR6-6SPD]

Frank,

Wow!

Looks aggressive and impressive! That's one thing about this web site, you won't find two cars the same.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Frank, where are you getting your isolator bushings? Also, what size DOM did you use for each part? (Were you able to use the same material for axle and half-shaft?) I'd also be interested in hearing what material you used for your shock mount studs.

If you look at the Roadmaster and the 340 threads in the MGB section, I've got some good crossmember info you may be able to use as well as some suggestions about what to do differently. But I still need to do the LCA's and half-shafts. I had to turn the half-shafts to 1.9XX" to clean up, saw where one of the hot rod shops was using 1-1/4 ID tube but I won't be able to go that big.

It really looks good. We're real close on tire and wheel size. The Roadmaster will run 275's  but the ones for my roadster are 315's on Corvette wheels.

Jim

[dwtr6v8]

For a T&A guy, that a nice rear end!

Frank, What size rims are you running??? They look really fat.

The C4 rear was getting cut down by 10" with slight fender flare, but really close with 14"!

Calvin, I did have a little - camber when I was running the stock TR6 differential, but when I installed the Nissan differential and the Good poly's in the swing arms I took it out to see if I noticed a big difference. So far, no notice. Are you going to be off set a little with your TR?

Yes the basket is fully functional, plus it adds the sleeper look that much more. The 911, Boxer, BMW and pocket-rockets get a big surprise!

I agree with Ken, Frank your going to have one impressive and aggressive TR6-V8. What neck of the woods are you from, so I don't have to compete with your smoke.

[74ls1tr6]

Don,    Frank is in the Texas area :-)  ....just several states away so no worries on the smoke :-)

I would have to agree with Don & Ken ......Those are some very BIG tires ...no sleeper there just in tire size alone.....But it will look awesome.

As for camber on my car Don....at this point I have them full negative camber but without all the weight of the car.... "Rims" at 0 camber by the eye.

[tr6lt1]

Thanks guys for noticing my "Big" tires! Hahaahaahah.....Jim I turned my half shafts down to 1.245 at the outer shaft ends. This gave me about two inch long stubs on each end to work with. I then purchased Some DOM machine quality seamless steel tubing with the following dimensions...1.243" id and 1.755 od. this gives me a wall thickness of about 1/4" and is the same stuff used on the Jag IRS'ed cobra kit cars with reliable results. The lower control arms were two big and cumbersome to place on my lathe to cut, so I used a large pipe cutter to cut them with near perfectly square edges. The LCA's are 3/16" thick so I will cut larger diameter pipe halved length wise, to cover the lower portion of the welded area for extra strength. Both the axle shafts and the LCA's were wedged on the ends for better weld penatration. The pressed fit of the axle shafts into the DOM tubing gave me perfectly straight axles. I indexed both the axle shafts and the LCA's with two straight lines before cutting them to help get them indexed back to the original locations. I machined the upper shock studs out of 3/4" tool steel to a diameter of 5/8 to a length of 9" and the outer ends to 2"x1/2" with threads to match the diameter of the original shock bolts. I then purchased 7/8"odx5/8"id DOM tubing that these studs slide into. The tubes will be welded to the cross member and be the upper shock mounts. The shaft of the studs that slide into the sleeves are 5" long. the isolater bushings will go on each end of the custom made crossmember (basically a straight piece of 1 1/2"x3"x1/8" rectangular tubing). I am going to make brackets that the bushing pins (bolts) go through that will have several hight adjustment holes in them. I will send pictures as soon as I start building it, hopfully next week. The rear wheels are 17x10.5" whith an off set for a modern Mustang GT. In fact the rims were designed for a Mustang GT up grade. They were only $98 each and the quality is very good. I have tons of pics of all the above mods. Hope this info helps. Almost forgot to mention the "isolater" bushings are for a 70's model chevy pickup rear leaf spring ie; cheap and plentiful as well as strong.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Thanks Frank. I guess just about any old tool steel would be a pretty good alloy. (Annealed no doubt) I'm thinking about using drill rod since it's already at size. Had planned to use 4140 heat treated but apparently it goes oval in the kiln and TGP (Turned Ground and Polished) is hard to find and very expensive. I can't use the 1.245 so I've got to find a source for some 1-1/8 to 1-3/16 ID 1/4 wall. My shafts wouldn't clean up at 1-1/4. I was thinking an internal tube would be best for the LCA's. Probably have to turn it to fit and remove the pipe cutter burr. An anvil might be handy for that.

On the crossmember, if you're using the stock Jag brakes you'll need about an inch of clearance. By the time you cut that 1-1/2 x 3 x 1/8 wall down to 1-1/2 x 2 it's strength in that area is getting a little questionable. Plus it's easier to build up than to cut down. I used 3 x 2 x 1/4 wall and it'll be strong enough, weight is about 15 lbs, but I think a better idea is to use 2 x 2 x 3/16 or 1/4 wall and a 1 x 2 spacer under the mount plate. (Assuming there's room) I'd recommend using transfer screws to mark the hole locations in the plate, and 3/8" would be a good thickness to use there if you are going to use countersunk screws (SHCS) with locktite.  The spacer could be 5/8 and still give you an inch of clearance, but don't make it too tight here as you need some space to get the calipers out. I had significant warpage from welding in the caliper cutouts. Luckily I also had a press to take the warpage back out with. The built up approach eliminates most of that.

Jim

[74ls1tr6]

Frank,

What size aluminum radiator are you using?? Griffin or? I'm right there with the rad....I want to here the ls1 run soon :-) and so does my wife.

[tr6lt1]

Calvin I am going to use an aluminum radiator i bought off Ebay...it mesures 19"tallat the cap x 29 wide at the tanks. The radiator has two one inch rows for a core. The whole radiator is tig welded and appears to be of good quality and the best part is it was only $180 shipped to my front door.

Jim the way I am doing the crossmember is how I have done them in the past on much heavier street rods ie:1946 Packard Clipper, with great success. I dont like to notch the tubing for obious reasons, like the strength of the tubing is comprimised,and it worps during welding process if not clamped to a very secure table. I build gussets with the proper 4* angle cut into them. the gussets go between the square mounting plate bolted to the third member and the crossmember.. This method does several
 things, it keeps the crossmember uncomprimised and straight, it raises the crosmember above the brakes and puts the proper geometrical angle in the third member. The gussets are all made of 3/8 inch plate as is the mounting plate. The crossmember will be reinforced with two strut rods going from the front bottom LCA inner stud mounts to a location on the frame abaove the level of the pinion nut. It s a two fold system. In other words both supports and braces have to fail to be a serious problem. It is a very simpole approach that has been proven on my previous experience and is actually a very common method for mounting these rear ends.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Sounds good Frank, can't wait to see the finished car. Where are you located btw?

Jim

[tr6lt1]

Down near San Antonio, Texas in the hill country.....Thanks for the tips.

[dwtr6v8]

FG,

I may just have to come visit you as I have big time family around your back door. Family in New Braunfels, went to college at SWT and UT, worked at TV-4 KMOL in SA, son has a practice in Austin, and cousin works in a Jag resto shop in Austin.

Don't worry, I'm in WV, so It won't be soon. I get down there once a year. (you just dodged a bullet on that one)

PS Calvin, I have family in CA also. (another bullet dodged)

FG, I can't wait to see your ride develop, and maybe some day ride shot gun with you.