The End?

So here's where I left off.  Grandpa Hawkes had just finished the dash.  Below you can see the rough product matched up against the factory dash that was in the car.

 

Below is the steering wheel that Lindsay got me for christmas.  We tried to pick a stain that matched the steering wheel.  I think we got it pretty close.  You'll notice there is an extra dash piece.  That was our test dummy.  It's a piece that Grandpa didn't feel comfortable with so he made another.

With a few coats of Red Oak stain and 4 coats of clear polyurethane here's what you get:

I think it turned out fantastic.  Can't wait to get it in the car.

Here's a close shot.

I started putting gauges and switches in.  So far so good.  Everything is fitting well.

I spent a few hours cleaning the gauges and switches.  Everything is original to the car.  

Then I remembered that I hadn't put the vent and defrost duct work in.  This went in a lot easier with the dash out.  So I cleaned it up well and threw it in.  Well, threw it in is a loose term.  It actually was a pain in the butt.  It's crazy how fast the area behind the dash fills up with ducting and wiring and cables and stuff.  It's not a big area to begin with.

 Then came the fun part.  You can't just screw the dash in place.  Before it gets set, before the gauges can be in place, all the wiring has to be done.  The switches, bulbs, gauges, and knobs all have wires and electricity that power them.  Below is the hazard switch.  I had to take a picture of this so I knew which green wire went where.  

But in the end, all seems to be working.  Below is a shot with the headlights on.  The license plate lamps work, the rear running lights work.

The instrument panel lights even work.

Headlights and running lights.

Reverse lights (they're bright!)

Hazards.  It was hard taking this picture and trying to time the shutter to catch the lights on.  I took about 10 pictures before I got one that worked.

Here's the completed dash.  I'll have to take a good one during the day. 

Close up.

Here's the car as it sits in the garage.  It's interesting to note that it passed safety inspection today and if you look really close in the trunk you can see the new license plates!  Yes, it is licensed and legal to drive!  Here we go!  Surprisingly the registration process was painless and easy.  I simply walked into the DMV with a 24 year old Arizona title that somebody other than me had signed, showed them the bill of sale stating that Dad had gifted me the car and out I walked with plates and a new registration.

Another shot in the garage.

So, after all is said and done, here is a quick timeline and some facts.

Dad had a GT6 when he was in college and when he was dating Mom in the 70's.  There's a picture of it in one of the previous posts.

Dad and I saw this car on the side of the road on our way home from Aunt Beverly's house in a little town called Wikieup, Arizona in 1994.  Dad's quick negotiating skills convinced the guy that he needed to trade this car for the old Plymouth Reliant.

In May of 1994 that trade occurred and the car was brought to Hinckley.

It sat mostly in the shed until 1996 when it was moved to Heber City to again, mostly sit in the shed.

In January of 2010 the car was taken to Lakewood, Washington where Bryan and I promptly stripped it down and began the restoration.

In July of 2012 we brought the car with us on our move back to Utah.

And now, in August 2013 I believe I can deem the project complete.  Of course I'm always going to be doing stuff to this car, but I think I can consider it restored!

Another interesting fact.  The Arizona title that was given to Dad stated the car had 65,114 miles on it when a Ms. Jeanne Bryant purchased the car in 1991.  As you can see in the photos above, the car now has 65,634 miles on it!  Quick math will tell you that the car has gone 520 miles in 23 years!

It's been an amazing project and I can't wait to get out and drive!

Thanks for all your support.

Just a quick update.  Life has been crazy with a new job and a new house.  It's been hard to find time to work on cars.  

The GT6 is running (roughly) and I've had it out around the block a few times.  One of the weak spots on the car are the lug bolts.  They have fine threads which tend to strip easily and they're pretty small compared to today's cars.  I took a trip to my local auto parts store and asked if I could go in the back and browse through their lug bolts to see if I could find a suitable match.  I finally was able to find a bolt that was super close but thicker in the threaded section.  I believe it matches the part number for Ford Focus bolts.  Below you can see the difference.

I then put the rear trim on around the tail lights and license plate area.

This all happened at ALE's shop.  Then in March we bought a house in Bountiful and moved the car up to our garage.  Sure does make it look like a small car.

For father's day I told dad I'd put a new exhaust on his car.  So I went up and brought his car home.  Luckily our new house has access to the back yard with a perfect spot for Triumphs.

Grandpa gave me a call this week and said he was wrapping up the final touches on the dash too.  So I went and picked that up.  Now we need to find a stain that will match the new steering wheel and get this installed!  

The top is the old dash.  You can see it's all cracked and faded.  As soon as the new dash is stained I can install it and get all the electrical hooked up.  Make sure all the lights work, all the gauges work, and finish up the interior and get it running right.  

Almost there!

Getting There

So now that we live here in Utah and I see more of you more often, I forget that you still don't get to see the car and the progress I'm making.  And I need to make sure I keep Bry and his family in the loop.  So I keep putting of updating this thing.  So here it goes.

Last time I posted I had just got the car started.  Below is a video from that night.  Make sure you notice the sweet gas can at the back of the car.  I didn't have any gas in the tank, the fuel pump was sucking it right out of the gas can.  

With the engine running and most of the work on the front of the car complete I felt like I could put the hood on.  Now it really looks like a car.

I was so excited.  Progress was being made and it was time to wrap up the interior.  I had one of Larry's friends come and do the headliner for me.  Man, I was so excited when I saw what he had done.

I never could have ended up with these results doing it myself.

He came to the shop where the car is, he was fast and efficient.  Thanks Larry for suggesting Dave.

The interior at this point was coming together and almost done.

I was able to install the arch panels that go around the wheel wells and cover the wiring and body.

I think it looks pretty good. 

All black interior.  Kinda cool.  The original car had an off-white headliner with everything else black.  I'm glad I put a black headliner in.

With the headliner in, I could install window seals and door seals.  Here's the wing window seal in place.

Now I need some opinions.  There is a strip of trim that goes along the rear fender.  In the picture below I have a chrome piece on.  (It's the skinny long piece, not the triangle vent piece).  I can't decide if I want those chrome or black.  I think I'm leaning towards black, but would welcome comments or suggestions.

A close up of the chrome trim.

And here's the black.

Close up of the black.

So if you have an opinion, please voice it.  Another view of the black.

And chrome.

One problem with these cars is the way the hood opens.  The latches are on the sides of the car and when you open it, you can only lift on one side.  This twists the hood and puts strain on the hinges and hood itself.  So I installed some gas struts to assist in the opening and to give it some even pressure on both sides of the hood.  Plus they keep the hood open by themselves so when I'm working on the engine I don't have to worry about it falling on me (it's already happened once).

It's pretty sweet.  When lifting, I get it to a certain point and the gas struts take over and open it all the way.  One of the best modifications I've done so far.

I had a water leak coming out of my intake manifold and one of the aluminum pieces that directed water flow through the engine broke.  So I had to get creative on how I fixed it.  It's hard to explain via pictures, but it has to do with everything that's connected to the red hoses.

A quick trip to Lowes to get hardware and hoses and it's back to working order.

Then it came time to install the windshield.  Lindsay and I got excited and pumped up ready to give it a go.  I had purchased a new windshield and gasket and we were ready to put it on.  Unfortunately, we tried and tried and tried and couldn't get it to work.  So I started calling around windshield shops to see if anybody would be willing to install it for me.  The only people that would install it wanted our first born as payment so I decided we needed to do it ourselves.  

Then Larry and his co-worker Walt stepped in to take a look.  Lindsay and I were installing the gasket wrong!  We were putting the side that is supposed to go on the glass on the frame.  As soon as I was told we were doing it wrong I went back to the shop and had it in in under an hour.  So now the windshield is in!

Sweet.

And with the windshield in, the rear view mirror went in.

Then the sun visors.

And here's where she sits as of last night.  

So there's your update.  I know it's nothing new to some of you, but worlds of difference to others.