Nothing been happening for a month or so!

Since the chassis was sent to the blasters not been upto much apart from working on the cage fabrication

Using 48mm o/d seamless tube 3.5mm thick - going to welded it into the shell

Rear hoop and 1/2 the front cage done

Nothing been happening for about 2 months on my car - moving house and all that!!

So thought I'd upload some pictures of my mates V8 GT6 mk 11 - making more progress than me!!!!

Body off and chassis ready for blasting

Got some time over the weekend to finalise the rear coil over mountings and remove the body tub

I was quite surprised how flexible the existing shock mounts were at the rear on the standard chassis - I know I've gone a little OTT on the box section - however the rear end won't move at all now + with close to 350 bhp/t going out through the rear wheels - things need alittle uprating

Also took the opportunity to drill holes in all the new box section so I can spray wax oil everywhere

Diff update - all in at last

Finally got around to finishing the diff install and the cradle around it

Dropped a couple of bushes down from the cradle with M12 bolts so should stop any movement or twist, also some 4mm plate for seat belt mounts




Next need to fab up a turret for the coilovers off the top of the cradle instead of mounting the shock to the inner wheel arch

Front End Mods

Started the front suspension conversion – always wanted to move away from trunnions and the Triumph vertical link – so in for a penny – got lucky on ebay and won a complete Westfield/Locost front and rear suspension setup – although a little rusty had all new bearings and ball joints etc – only problem being is that the bottom front shock mount is smaller on the Locost and I did not appreciate that there was a narrow and wide track setups. As it’s happened the increase in track matches the modifications to the rear

Anyway a small fabrication job on the shock mount soon sorted that one out.

Could have gone down the route of using Cortina uprights as these are very similar to Triumph – but local scrap yards are full of Sierra parts – this gives me access to a whole range of motor sport components

So with the bottom arms the distance between bushes is almost identical to the original pickup points – however I decided to weld the pickup points rather than using the standard brackets.

Due to the top arms being wide than the turrets – but just wide enough to fit outside the upright rather than chopping the arms then bending and putting smaller end bushes decided to fabricate pickups externally – just need to complete now with some minor strengthening webs etc

Sorting out the rear suspension

Decided to change the configuration of the rear suspension and use a top and bottom wishbone set up with coil over shocks, firstly using the Cozzy diff would mean fabrication of a mounting for the transverse spring and secondly some adjustment wouldn’t go amiss as the stock set up is pretty limited in that respect.

So having initially jigged up a complete MGF rear suspension set up - decided to bin that idea as the prospect of transferring 280 lbs ft torque through a Metro drive shaft doesn’t really inspire a great deal of confidence.
Good old e-bay came up with the goods - a complete Westfield/Locost front and rear end also means I can use Cosworth drive shaft hubs discs and calipers - don’t know why I didn’t go this route originally?

So some initial fitting up - fabricated new top wishbone pickps from 50mm box

Finished boxing around diff - also gives me good location for seat belt mounts

Different approach - Differential Next

Due to the fact the Volvo unit will produce some 280 lb ft torque and the standard Triumph differential is made from ice cream - thought it was best to investigate a replacement. Looked into using BMW small casing LSD's also the Datsun and Subaru which seems a very common route to go - however need to customise the casing on those - there is a guy in NZ that produces a nice looking kit though

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Then as if by magic a mate of mine transplanting a Rover V8 into a mk2 GT6 suggested a 4x4 Cosworth diff (nice one Mike) - not really a huge fan of Ford parts but its the right ratio and its an LSD - plus many options for CV joints etc.

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So the easiest way to go about this was to remove the existing diff mounting although this looks a bit radical its far easier to start from scratch

After some initial fitting up the diff unlike the Triumph is offset - so not sure if the Ford runs a long and short shaft - or is central/offset in the body tub. So were talking around 25mm offset from centre in the Triumph chassis - means I will need a long and short shaft - it was my intension to run the metro short shafts but strangely enough there is a difference of 24mm between the length of the Metro and MGF shafts - so problem solved.

So with the existing mounting out the way - time to fabricate some box section to mount the diff via the stock Ford rear mounting.

Simple really and a lot stronger than the standard diff mounting points

4.0mm plate for the rubber mount

Finally just need to chop a standard diff nose plate and a couple of 4mm plates to pick up on side of the Ford diff and the standard front chassis moutings points

5 speed gearbox transplant

Due to the unreliable nature of overdrives and also the additional power they consume - the 4 speed is no good as the stock Volvo T5 is a 150mph car - So fortunately Volvo in the 90's had the foresight to make all their back plates and gearboxes universal - so this means I can bolt the 5 speed 960 24v gearbox on the T5 unit - indestructible!!!!!

However there is a small amount of chassis work to be done before the box will fit - but before that need to get rid of the bulkhead and some parts of the chassis

Removed the top inner part of the chassis on the passenger side and replaced it with 2.5mm x 60mm angle - and a smaller section on the drivers side which is twice as strong as the original box section with some additional strengthing webs

Box in - now need to fab up the gear linkage!!!

The transplate begins

Some initial offering up - as you can see with a bit of tender chopping with an angle grinder the unit will fit nicely - biggest problem is the location of the turbo unit and the bulk head location - at worst I can fabricate a new manifold and move the turbo up the other end - something of a bonus with a turbo car is that its not that critial to have an exhaust extraction system with primary pipes of 17 inches as you would expect on a normally aspirated Triumph - although its a bonus if you can.





Given the constraignts though its going to be a fabriation job on the manifold!!!




The first cut was the worst - once the grinders gone through the bits that are in the way the rest is easy - no turning back now - needed to remove the chassis cross member so that the unit woud to drop the unit in - the plan was to simpley insert a new 3mm thick 75mm box section just infront of the steering rack.




Lump in an looking like its always been there - note the new 3mm box just infront of the steering rack





Just to make sure everything closes under the bonnet - ever seen a convertible Spitfire - yeah not like this one - easy just use a jigsaw to convert your Spitfire bonnet to soft top!!!! As you can see the engine transplant will fit under a standard Spitfire bonnet without the need for a bulge









Next the gearbox...................................

The story of my GT6 mk 111

Bought back in 1985 and was my first car - used on the road daily until 1988.

Living 12 miles from Goodwood motor circuit in West Sussex meant most Saturdays watching test days and sprints – you can see where this is going already!!

So how did it all start, my first modifications were a pair of 1’ ¾ SU’s a Kent TH3 camshaft, set of Triumph Tune 480 springs and some spaxs – well you had to start somewhere – in due course the springs went soft the camshaft disintegrated and I threw the SU’s in the bin!!

Humm back to the drawing board – all the 6 cylinder sprint/race guys pounding the circuits in 1988 were running Lucas fuel injection both on 2.0 & 2.5 cranks and there were a few that certainly caught your attention - a white Vitesse Coupe, brown Vitesse saloon a mid engine’d GT6 and a black mk1 saloon plus a few others - so why not – spares were plentiful and most scrap yards were full of 2000 Saloons and 2.5PI’s so core was no problem – so found myself and ex-police 2.5PI saloon – basically this was TR5 spec engine with a cross drilled crank and a TR gearbox which I dropped straight into my GT6 with a few minor mods and changed the PI system to TR5.

Entered some test days and had some fun – next was a rotoflex backend, new head, 6:3:1 exhaust manifold and a tweaked camshaft with a session on the rolling road - Nice 185 bhp.

My next problem was stopping it - got some bigger brakes and started to put some good times down around Goodwood. In 1988 the price of sprints went up overnight from £18 to the best part of £40 so decided to register with the Triumph Sports Six Club race championship and go racing. The rest is history - ended up with a 210bhp 2.3cc fuel injected lump and some quick times - still couldn’t get it to handle as well as a Vitesse as the GT is a front end heavy boat anchor.

So 13 years down the line having smashed it up at Pembery in 1994 and the remains having sat in my garage ever since I thought it was time to up date the power unit to something a bit more respectable and reliable? A reduction in weight wouldn't go a miss as well - lets face it most three wheeled Tesco's shopping trolleys have a 0-60 of less than 10 seconds and handle better than a GT6. Looked @ Ford & Vauxhall - naah - 6 cylinder BMW too big and heavy - Supra too big and heavy, but didn’t want to put a 4 cylinder in my GT - Another factor which most people overlook is lbs ft torque - most modern diesel's have a torque curve to die for - so even looked at diesel's - have you ever tried to keep up with a new VW Golf TDI going up hill??

Next bought a Volvo T5 as a tow car - what a piece of machinery with 225 ponies that doesn't overheat in traffic and throw its guts up every time you turn the key. So after months of measuring and wondering if the T5 unit would fit under the bonnet of the GT6 - the deed has been done - main problem is that the GT6 engine has a stepped sump which fits up and over the front cross member on the chassis. Ok the Volvo the unit is within 1/2' of the dims of the GT6 apart from the step in the sump - so moving the mountin being the easiest solution was to remove the cross member and relocate about 4 inches further forward - and with a few bulkhead mods a snugg fit was achieved. Fitting the gearbox also required some carefull modification to the chassis ensuring not to weaken it.