1972 Triumph TR6 looking for a purpose

It's been two years since I "finished" this project.  So what's up, you might ask.  First, it has a new home.

This was before all of the stuff was moved from the old house.  We now have a storage issue that might be solved by thinning out the used parts supply.  I might get around to setting up this garage properly by the end of summer.  Or the end of the year.

The car is still running great.  Also, it's still marking territory.

Sigh.  That's mostly from the overdrive unit.  At least it doesn't stink like diff oil.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

In reply to Indy - Guy :

LOL, yes.  When I order the 4-post lift which this will be stored on, I suppose drip trays should be included.  Otherwise, my Miata will get pretty messy.

JoeTR6 said:

you probably have a list of people who want this car when you decide to move on. Please add my name to the top of that list.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Sorry, I'm taking it with me in a Viking funeral.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Well, I hope that's a loooooong ways out.

Interesting story on drip trays ( or at least it was to me)

Started work on my wife's MGA Coupe. Moved it from storage under my brother's extended lean-to into my shinny new shed. It's an OLD English car, so I stop into  the local NAPA to pick up a coupla drip trays. Kid at the counter DOES NOT KNOW what a drip tray was. He pulled out a couple variations of plastic oil drain pans, and I'm like "No it's like a big cookie sheet for baking." Finally another (older) counterman goes back and pulls out the two trays they have in stock.

Thirty, thirty five years ago manufacturer's started investing in good quality gasketing materials, and cars stopped making their territory. Youngster was too young, or had never been exposed to, older cars that weren't completely sealed. On our old English stuff, if It ain't leakin', it ain't got oil

I still like the phrase "That's not an oil leak. It's sweating horsepower."

I don't think I know of a running British car that doesn't have a drip tray under it....

I don't read books, but over the last few days I sat down and read this through in it's entirety. I was looking for max tire widths and alignment settings for my TR6 and ran across this.  I'd read parts of it years ago, but decided I needed to go back to the beginning and read the whole thing. 

You've done so much, and it's hard not to fixate on what's not right... but jeez you've done a lot!  Thank you for sharing this journey!

In reply to JLee :

You're welcome.

As for tire sizes, that really depends on what their purpose is.  Mine are 205s, and that's about as wide as I'd go on the street.  If you flare the fenders or go with smaller diameter tires, you can fit a 225 on wider rims, but they will stick out.  We ran 225s on 17" Panasport Racing rims,  and they worked great for autocross.  Any wider might just be a waste of rubber and added weight.

I took the car out for lunch today and noticed a detail I had forgotten about.  The seatbelt warning light.

Too bad the seat belt light doesn't work.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Three gauges top-pivot, one bottom. That would drive me crazy. Please take my name off the list of potential buyers. 🤘🏻🤣

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

That bugs me as well, and I have a plan to fix it.  When I rebuilt the oil pressure gauge, the back plate was pretty cruddy and you couldn't read the numbers very well.  So I took a picture, loaded it into a photo editor, and cleaned it up.  Then I printed it out on some expensive printer we had at work that printed by melting wax or plastic onto the media.  I could do something similar to flip the voltmeter over.  My unsolved problem would be reproducing the Smiths logo upside down.  I have/had decals that fairly closely match the VOLTS font.

But there are bigger fish to fry right now, and I'd rather just drive the car.

This past weekend, I finally got around to removing the leaky oil cooler and swapping the filter adapter to one without hoses.  No leaks so far.  The oil pressure when hot seems slightly better.  If I have another port available on the Megasquirt, I might add an oil temp sensor.  There's already a sensor location tapped on the side of the pan.

Nice!

I was looking for an oil temperature sender for the Bastuck oil pan and stumbled upon this.

According to the Bastuck catalog, that cost 40 Euros, so about $43.  The shipping might double the cost, but still not too bad.  And the needle would swing the right way.

Here's a small project that ended up being a real pain in the butt.  In the previous post, I talked about updating the voltmeter.  I found that a Mini or MGB Smiths gauge has the needle pointing down, so ordered one.  It's accurate, fits in the hole, and looks fairly close to the original Triumph gauges.

So what was the issue?  Getting the old gauge out.  I started by turning the nut one turn tighter before realizing my error.  By that point, the split washer had really dug in and the small thumb nut was no longer thumb tight.  Small pliers got it loosened up, but I knicked the end of the threaded rod and it came to a stop at the very end.  Vice grips locked onto the nut and turning the gauge finished it off.

Looks good Joe!