My GT6, the story so far.. (part 2)

Seeing as I was going to change the gearbox to the overdrive version and that the engine was an unknown quantity to me, I decided to remove the engine and gearbox as one unit, quite an easy job after taking off the bonnet.
Once out and with the head removed from the engine, I could see that the engine was going to need a re-bore, meaning new pistons and rings would also be required. Along with these parts and machining, it was always my intention to have the cylinder head converted for running on unleaded petrol, with this in mind, I chose to put this engine to one side for now and instead use the re-conditioned engine that came as a spare with the car.

Now despite being re-conditioned, the engine still needed going through, having spent a few years under the previous owners bench with the head removed. It was just as well I did this as I found the big-end rods and end-caps had been mixed-up, not good as they are machined pairs and should be kept together.

Around this time I had been following some of the message threads on the Club Triumph Forum, in which other GT6 owners were discussing how they had improved their cars. One of the disadvantages of the GT6 over the Spitfire is its poor cornering ability, due to one third of the engine being mounted in front of front wheels, to overcome this problem, the whole engine and gearbox assembly can be moved back by about 6 inches. To do this you need to fit a Spitfire front engine plate, modify the chassis around the bell housing and rear of the gearbox, modify the bulkhead, used a shortened prop shaft and cut-down the gear change mechanism, none of these jobs were particularly expensive, just time consuming.

Having decided to move the engine back. I chose to lift the body from its chassis, as it would give me the opportunity to thoroughly clean, check, service and paint the chassis. With the chassis out it was easy to see that little or no work had been carried out on it, despite the body having had new panels and a re-spray. One of my major concerns about the chassis came soon after lifting the body, I found that one part had been covered by braised on plates, these were soon removed to reveal a very patchy looking chassis member. I chose to cut out this rotten piece and replace the section; it should be a lot stronger now and less prone to anymore rust coming from beneath it.