Looking good!
Looking good!
It's been slow going for the last two weeks. A lot has happened in my life, mostly good. Some great. Major changes are coming and there is a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is clear: I need to get moving on this project.
So today, I cranked out the new water return pipe from the heater core to the water pump housing. The first attempt at bending the tube didn't turn out so well (rolling over some 1 1/4" PVC). Rather than filling it with sand and sealing the ends, I bought a $50 tubing bender off Amazon. Best $50 ever spent. It will also come in handy for making the remaining fuel hard lines out of 3/8" stainless. I didn't have any stainless steel for the locating bracket, so made one out of the extra tubing. It turned out pretty nice and only cost $12. I didn't have a fiber washer to seal the fitting against the water pump housing; otherwise, this is ready to install.
The next thing was cutting a heat shield to mount under the throttles. It's cut and bent, so now I just need to attach it to the intake. As a bonus, it will help stiffen the throttle linkage while adding very little weight.
Nice work, that was pretty creative for the bracket.
The intake heat shield is basically done. This is from underneath.
I hope to get the intake permanently fitted this weekend along with the coolant hoses and some other things. I'm still waiting on a fuel pressure regulator and a fuel pump assembly to show, but may need to cancel that order and look elsewhere.
That looks fantastic, nicely done. That should help keep the heat off the intake, are you planning on riveting on some lava mat or similar insulation to the underside?
dherr said:That looks fantastic, nicely done. That should help keep the heat off the intake, are you planning on riveting on some lava mat or similar insulation to the underside?
I was thinking about ordering some of the stick-on thin reflective insulator mat.
Here's a potential issue. The manifold nuts will need to be torqued before the heat shield goes in. So I need to put the heat shield in with the manifold in place. The throttle linkage can go on last, so I think it will work out. I also have some thermal sleeve to protect the throttle cable that will be sticking out on the side of the heat shield.
I test fit the intake with the new heat shield today. It's a near miss with the header, but should be fine.
The water return pipe was torqued in. Then the coolant hoses under the hood were finished.
A bunch of other stuff was powder coated including the throttle linkage mounting. It looks like there won't be an issue installing the heat shield with the manifold bolted in, so I'm almost ready to put the intake in for good. I may wait until after I tack weld the intake plenum together so that I'm not doing this in the car over fresh paint.
It's difficult to separate this project from my life at the moment, so I'll describe what's been going on over the last month. Think of it as a build thread for me.
This is not a story of Amy proportions, but it has a few ups and downs. If you aren't into emotional stuff, go find another thread and come back tomorrow. For now, I need to get this out of the way. Here goes.
Most of you don't know me, but I have a daughter. She's 32 years old. I was her Dad for only a month, at which point her mother and I split up for the second time in a year. We had been apart for a month when she found out she was pregnant and was dating someone else. We became engaged not long after she told me, and things went well up until our daughter was born. For various reasons, it didn't work out. Let's just say it wasn't my call.
After a few years, she ended up marrying the guy she had been dating before this happened. Then he adopted my daughter (with my permission). I wanted them to be happy, and we agreed that I could keep visiting. Eventually, this became a problem for their marriage and I was cut off entirely. That was 24 years ago. Four years later, I had moved on and was married, and I think being cut off actually helped me to get on with my life. My earlier life got buried pretty deep, as there was nothing I could do to make it better.
Things were good up until about 5 years ago. My marriage has been circling the bowl for at least four of those years. I won't cast blame, but there's plenty to go around. Mostly we just drifted apart. I had decided last December to end things this spring. That brings us up to one month ago. You see, I've been following my daughter as well as I could via the Internet, but didn't feel comfortable contacting her because of her mother's marriage (and mine). Doing so always brought up old feelings in both of us. So when I saw that my daughter needed financial help, I made a donation. Her mother was with her, and she figured out that I was on Facebook. She contacted me, we talked, and fell back into our old relationship. Just like that. After 32 years. She has been separated and trying to find me for over three years now.
Finally, I'm getting to how this affects my build project. It looks like I will be moving to Colorado Springs and picking up where things left off 32 years ago after my divorce is final. That's not really correct. We will be picking up from a better place because we've both learned about life, are not strained financially, and can see things with a mature adult's eyes. We've met face-to-face and are really just as compatible as two people can be. We also talked through many old wounds, and the new ones that the past 32 years have inflicted. The only pain I occasionally feel now is knowing that if I had just done more to take care of them 32 years ago, we may have stayed together. But we also may have torn each other apart. I won't let that cause more hurt now.
Right now, things feel really good. I am beginning to reconnect with my daughter. The car project is on hold while other things get worked out. I just need to do enough so that the whole car can be trailered to Colorado sometime near the end of summer. Hopefully it will be running. Worst case, it stays here while I finish the move and get settled. The new/old girlfriend is totally into me completing this project, so it's just a temporary delay. If there isn't an active autocross scene out there, I'll either tame the car down or start one. One thing I'm certain of at this point: I will never hide the fact that I have a daughter again, no matter what happens. She is a beautiful person and deserves all of the love I can give her.
And for you CDC guys reading this, sorry for not letting you know the latest news in person. Things have been moving pretty fast around here. We'll talk about how this affects the club at and between events.
TMI? At least this should be a more interesting update than usual.
Wishing you all the best.
Cars can wait, go spend time with your daughter.
That was an unexpected post! Best of luck, sounds like your priorities are in order. Best of luck!
Best of luck. I do hope it works out for you. I have to admit there are a couple of women from my past that I wonder, "what if..." I don't know if I'd back down either if presented a chance to try again 25 years later.
There is a good auto-x scene out here, plus three good local tracks...
Since I have my MSM back to more-or-less reliable status, I'm most likely keeping it. The turbo at altitude may be better for an autocross ride. So the purpose of this TR6 might change to fun summer car.
Something I need to seriously consider is selling my other TR6 that was restored 23 years ago. And reduce my load of spares to something more reasonable. And selling my Triumph street bike. And...
I have really enjoyed reading about your progress on the car. Glad that your personal life is taking a turn for the better.
I am picking up all four fenders tomorrow from the paint shop. Except for the scuttle vent lid (which is still missing and also backordered), that's all of the paint. Unless I want to have the hardtop painted. That's probably another $1000 for something that I'm not certain I'd ever use. I'll probably hang on to it until certain, but transporting it with fresh paint would be difficult. So the body starts getting reassembled sometime in May.
Good Luck, Joe, in this next chapter of your life.
At least there's some progress. I lined up the bonnet and temporarily hung the front fenders. The hood latch and bonnet buffers were installed as well. The fit is really good (for a TR6).
The doors are sitting in the car waiting for me to find time to hang them. Maybe this weekend, but I go away for a month starting next week. I've just had too many other things that need attention lately. And that's not a bad thing for the most part.
Getting ready for and going to an autocross yesterday ate up most of my limited free time this week. All I managed today was to finally hang the passenger side door. Handling painted body parts is nerve racking. I'd hate to drop one at this point. So far, so good.
This is it until I return from a month long drive starting next week. It's my first real vacation in 4 years, and many good things should happen. The car will still be here when I get back.
Here's something I've been thinking about. Should I put a spun cat in the exhaust after the header (next to the gearbox)? I'd guess this will require a bit of heat shielding to prevent the plastic tunnel cover from melting. I figure, worst case, I'd lose 5 hp or so.
Do it. Best way to tone down an exhaust, and honestly theres minimal, if any, power or efficiency loss. Really no reason NOT to if you have the ability.
If you can find room for the Cat, I would do it.
I got back from my month-long trip on Sunday. One month and 5178 miles of driving. Totally worth it. Towards the end we stopped by to visit with my daughter. I'm one happy dude right now.
There's lots of stuff to deal with over the next several weeks, including figuring out how to move to Colorado. But I should make it to the shop to continue bolting up panels this coming weekend.
In reply to JoeTR6 :
that is fantastic! best possible reason to interrupt a car build.
JoeTR6 said:I got back from my month-long trip on Sunday. One month and 5178 miles of driving. Totally worth it. Towards the end we stopped by to visit with my daughter. I'm one happy dude right now.
There's lots of stuff to deal with over the next few weeks, including figuring out how to move to Colorado. But I should make it to the shop to continue bolting up panels this coming weekend.
Two people. One smile.
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