What's Behind Door #1? A New Car!!!

So dad talked me into finishing his TR6.  It's just something that needs to be done.  I remember driving this thing up to Provo from Delta to get it worked on and painted.  That was before we moved to Heber City.  Mom informed us this past month that they have now lived in Heber for as long as we lived in Delta.  So this car has been unfinished for 15 years or so.  Now dad has owned my GT6 for a longer period of time that this TR6, but he hadn't done anything to the GT6, but he had started this project.  So it's up to me to finish.

 There are only minor things to do on the engine before I can get it running.  It needs a fuel line, the clutch slave cylinder installed and plumbed, and the electrical hooked up with a new battery.  As far as I can tell, that's all it needs to get running.  But all the exterior trim and signals need to be installed, the interior is non-existent, and the dash is a mess.  So in my opinion, this shouldn't take long. 

Here's a pic of the interior.  I've removed the soft top and vacuumed out the floor to get all the hay and spiders out.   

 As you can see, the dash is a mess, but I'm going to go ahead and thank whoever took it apart because you can see the masking tape labels they made to mark the bulbs and wires and what they go to.  That's going to make it nice.

 The cockpit is so small the interior is going to go in piece of cake.  Plus it will be nice not having a roof to bump my head on and stuff.

 Here the front bumper is on and the front turn signals and indicators are installed.  I'm going to put off installing the grill for a while because it's nice to have it off to work on the front part of the engine.  I don't have to lift the hood, just reach in.

 It's a little cramped in my 1 car garage, but I've purchased some wheel dollies that go under each wheel.  Now I can push the car forwards or backwards or even sideways to make room around the part of the car I'm working on.  Then during down times I can push it against the wall to make room to walk by.

 I've placed the transmission tunnels in place.  The white and brown pieces cover the transmission and drive line.  I've also started placing sound and heat insulation on the floor.  This will help quite the road noise and make it a sweet ride.  And because the engine and transmission are just under that brown fiberglass cover there is a lot of heat that could transfer into the cockpit and make your feet nice and sweaty.  This insulation will help with that because there is no room for A/C in a car this size.

 Here's the same area.  I've got the floor all insulated with the heat foil and the carpet kit came with a pad/insulation layer that I'm putting down before carpet.  So the transmission covers have a layer of foil insulation as well as the pad that came with the carpet kit.  So there will be another layer of carpet over the top of what you see here.

 The rear bumper installed.  Mom told me it took dad all day to install this himself.  I scoffed a little.  Then when I got it up here to Washington and started doing a piece inventory, I realized he had left off the rubber bumpers and had to take the bumper back off.  Then I realized why it had taken dad all day to install it.  What a pain!  Even after seeing how it was installed and taking it off, it took me another 3 hours to install it again.  

So here's the car as it sits today.  Bumpers are on, I've set the hood so it's aligned and the hood latch and supports are functioning and installed.  And I've started on the interior.  The carpet you see over the transmission covers is the final carpet, but it's just set there for fitting purposes.  

One of my new favorite shows is the British version of Top Gear.  These are the guys that know anything about everything when it comes to cars.  James May had the opportunity of testing out the TR6 and the video below is what he had to say about it.  Now they are British, so if you watch it and don't know what they're saying you may have to ask Kev to be your translator.  So pause the music at the bottom of the page and enjoy.

Transport

It's time to start thinking about painting my car now so I thought I'd go around to some different body shops and see what it would cost to get it painted.  So I enlisted Bry to help me get the body out of his little shed on the side of his garage and load it in the truck.  That's right, load the car into the truck.  I got quite a few good looks when I was driving all around Tacoma and Lakewood with this setup.  

 We were able to put boards up on the sides of the bed for the main part of the body to rest on and the hood, doors and other trim pieces went underneath.  It actually worked out pretty good and with a few straps it hauled well.

 Unfortunately everybody was pretty expensive.  The quotes ranged from over $10,000 on the high end and Maaco said they'd start at $2,000 but it would probably go up from there if there was any bodywork to do; and I believe there is going to be some body work.  I can see some spots on the rear that need help.

So, painting this car is going to be put on hold until I can sell the Audi.  It's now back at my house up on stands.  Lindz helped me unload it from the truck.  It went pretty smooth.  We just backed it up to the fence, put the rear on the stands and pulled forward until the whole thing was off the truck.  

We Drove a GT6!

There was a 1972 GT6+ (Mk II) for sale an hour from our place so I thought it would be fun to go take a look at it and see what it was like.  From the pictures on the internet it looked like the same color as dad's old car so I also wanted to take a look at the color to see if it looks good.  The ad said it had a bad transmission but it was driveable.  So we went up to take a look.  

Honestly, a little disappointing.  Even though it runs and we were able to drive it, it would take almost as much work as the car I have now to get it in good shape.  The interior was bad, the brakes were horrible, there were dents and dings and when I looked in the trunk I saw rust spots through the floor.  He was asking $3500 for it ad that was WAY too much.  So it gives me confidence that what I'm going to have when I'm done is going to be one sweet ride.  Plus it was so much fun to hop in and go for a ride.  It's going to be fun.

Before and After

I'm going to shut up and show you some Before and After pics today, so enjoy!  (Enjoy the pictures, not my silence!)

Radiator and cooling components BEFORE

AFTER

Carburetors BEFORE

AFTER

Engine - Passenger's Side BEFORE

AFTER

The left carb has been cleaned like the right one, but it's not on the car yet.  I ran out of time.  

And more pictures for your enjoyment.

Time to give an update on the GT6.  Here we go.  

So to recap where we are, the frame is powder coated, the suspension is done, the differential is in, driveline is in, and transmission is done.  So, as I mentioned the next step would be either paint the body or get the engine taken care of.  I was going to get the body painted but an opportunity came along that I had to jump on.  After obtaining the parts car I thought it was a good idea to get that engine up and running quick while I took time and saved some money to get it done right.  So Bry and I pulled the engine from the parts car.  Here's what it looked like:

It didn't look too good.  So the thought was to pull it, run some tests on it to see if it was good and see if we could throw it in the car in the meantime.  Oh, and if you want a better look at the pictures just click on them so you can see them in better detail.

 Here's another view. 

Here it is on the engine stand and we're taking all the peripherals off like the distributor, fuel pump, intake manifold, and exhaust manifold.

 Here's a shot of the fuel pump.  It still had suction and looks like it will work.

 It all checked out.  The pistons were a bit crusted with carbon deposits but when we cranked it it turned really smooth.  So I was excited that this idea was going to work.  I bought a gasket kit and started cleaning it up.  

 Then, Bry was having issues with his truck and took it in to the station on the corner that's halfway between our houses.  As the guy was looking at his truck they got talking about the triumph.  Rod told Bry he was familiar with the cars and Rod said we could bring the engine by and he'd take a look at it.  And it's a good thing we did.  He looked at it and said a few things needed to be done before we could throw it in the car and expect it to run.  So we left it with him.  He was as excited about working on it as we were.  We were missing a few parts, a few springs were broken, but he got it all done.  So, I picked it up on Friday morning before playing golf and got it set up to throw in the car.  Painted the motor mounts and got the clutch and transmission ready.  And, are you ready for this?  Here you go!

 Have you ever tried to install an engine by yourself?  Even with no body on the frame or anything else on the car it was so hard!  The motor mounts weren't cooperating, the engine itself is very heavy.  But I can say right now no fingers or toes were smashed.  

 I had a hard time putting the transmission on the motor as well.  I couldn't find the bolts needed, I lost a gasket, and with trips to the local hardwares store to get the bolts needed, it took 4 or 5 hours just to get the two together.

 And here you go!  Rod painted the rocker cover blue as he was working on it.  It actually looks pretty good because the water pump housing is blue and the cooling fan is blue, so it could work.

 It was raining yesterday and with the garage door open it was blowing in the garage.  My floor got wet. Oh, and as you can see we've had a change of venue.  Even though it's a small car it fills up my garage.  

 So, next steps are to get the intake manifolds on and clean up the carburetors.  They look ok, but between the two cars I feel confident we'll have them good to go.  Then the radiator and cooling system goes on.  Alternator and ignition are just about it before we can try to start it and get it running.  

So, there's your update.  And progress is being made.