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.

Lots of Work

Another GT6 update!  I really got to work on the interior this month.  I had to bring in a professional to help with the door panels and side panels.  Here she is hard at work.

The hope was to copy the old door panels and make duplicates, but we soon found out that the old door panels were copies themselves so we had to start from scratch.  You can see the fiberboard cutout that Lindsay is working on in the picture above.  The picture below shows it covered with cotton batting.

It actually turned out pretty good, I think.

Here it is on the door with the hardware installed.

And with the door closed.

I also had to hire a professional to make the wooden dash for me.  I gave it a go but was nowhere near the quality that I was hoping for.  So I took a trip way up north to Centerville to have a chat with Grandpa Hawkes.  I explained what I needed, showed him the old dash, and asked if he could help.  Of course he said yes and got to work.  I can't wait to see the final result.

Then I got to work on the back parcel shelf.  This covers the gas tank and the spare tire.  Below is an old picture showing the gas tank.  

Below is the boards I cut out placed over the gas tank.

And here covered with carpet.

The carpet will be held in place with snaps.

 In my previous post I noted that the carpet I received to cover the transmission tunnel was too short.  The company I got it from was super helpful and sent me a completely new piece.  As you can see it covers everything it should and looks fantastic.

Just disregard the wire mess.  That won't be there long.

 I started putting more of the interior pieces in.  Here you can see the knee cushions along with the stereo bracket.

Another picture of the interior pieces.

 I re-covered the triangle piece that covers the emergency brake.  It's not the best work.  But hey, it's my first time.

Lindsay also helped me make new side arch panels.  These go on the sides of the car above the parcel shelf I made.  Spiffy!

 

Then I put the rear hatch on.  I had to place the glass in first.  I was lucky enough to have 2 good rear windows that I could choose from.  Both the window from the original car and the old parts car were in good shape.  Something to hang on to.  You never know when you'll need an extra rear window.

This makes it start to look like a real car.

The rear seal isn't in yet, I need to have the headliner in place before any door, window, or windshield seals can go in place.

See, looks like a car!

  

 The seats are now in place along with seat belts.  I rebuilt the seat belt mechanisms and they retract like champs now.  The only problem is they sometimes rub on the new interior and don't retract all the way.  Oh well.  This picture shows the old steering wheel.  Lindsay got me a new wooden one for Christmas.  It looks fantastic!

With the work on the interior winding down I decided to take a stab at getting the engine to turn over.  If you recall, this is the engine out of the parts car.  I had it checked over by Rod our mechanic buddy in Lakewood before I put it on the frame.  Rod said it should work.  It's always been a lingering doubt in my mind.  I bought a new battery for my truck and decided to put the old one in the Triumph to see if the starter and ignition are going to work.  

I filled it with oil and anti-freeze and put some transmission oil in the transmission.  Hooked up the battery and ignition switch, tightened all the bolts on the exhaust and took a deep breath.  I have the original starter, distributor, fuel pump, ignition coil, alternator, wires, and plugs on the car.  There were a LOT of doubts in my mind, but when I turned the key the starter kicked into gear, I had spark at all my plugs, my fuel pump was pumping fuel to the carbs, and the engine was cranking.  But my battery was too weak and it wore out fast.

 A few days later cleaned out the carburetors (I had rebuilt them almost 2 years ago!) and made sure they didn't leak.  I bought a new ignition coil and electronic ignition for the distributor and was ready to give it another go.  I hooked up a fresher battery and tried it again.  No go.  But then I realized I wasn't getting any fuel.  I adjusted a few things and tried it again.  SHE FIRED UP!!!!  I almost couldn't believe it.  I was so excited I didn't get any video or audio of it running.  But a lot of doubts and fears have been put to rest this past week.  I'm so excited.  There's still some fine tuning and timing to do, but we're off and running.  

If you can't tell how excited I am to drive my car, let's let Bryce sum it up for you.