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July 19, 2021

Engine Install

Before I could do the final door gap fiddling prior to body paint, I wanted to get the rest of the drive train installed.  I reasoned that the extra load might tweak the frame enough to make a difference.

On the other hand, I was pretty sure that it would be much easier to paint the front of the body before the engine was in.  To break the chicken/egg cycle, I decided to paint just the firewall/cowl area. 

Since this is a pretty visible area when the bonnet is open (and the bonnet seems to be open a lot on these cars), I actually did a fair amount of prep before paint. 




Then a polyester primer-filler.




At this point, I realized that the waffling and stalling was over: it was time to settle on a color.

This is technically my wife's car.  That's what the title says, anyway.  Before we were married, her car was in an accident, and would be in the shop for a few weeks.  This GT6, which was mine then, had already been in storage for a couple of years, but I offered to let her drive it.  All I had to do was fix a few things, and get it registered.  I went to the DMV.

"Did you just purchase this car?" the DMV clerk asked.

"No, I've had it for five or six years, but it's been in storage," I replied.

"OK, let me figure the property taxes for the years in storage."

"Whoa," I balked.  "You mean I have to pay property tax on a vehicle for years that I didn't drive it?"

"Why, yes," she said, with a detectable tone of superiority.  "It was still property."

I paused, thinking, for an awkward while.  I tried a desperate ploy.

"Well, what if I sell the car?  Who pays the back taxes then?"

"No one," she said, with a tinge of defeat.

"Thanks," I said.  "I'll come back."

Later that day at my future wife's apartment:

"Sweety, I've decided that not only will I let you drive my GT6, I'll sell it to you!"

I got an icy stare.  "I don't want to buy your car.  I just need to drive it."

I explained the situation.  She finally reluctantly agreed to buy my GT6, but said she would only pay a dollar for it.

And that's how my wife came to be the owner of this GT6.  I've come to learn that laws in my state have changed, and we no longer have to pay property tax on stored vehicles, but we can also no longer claim a sale was for a lot less than the value of the vehicle.

I had always pictured the GT6 in a deep red or maroon color, but since this is actually her car, I thought she should have some input on the color.  Honestly, I thought consulting her would be just a courteous formality, but it wasn't.

"Really? Maroon?  You're kidding, right?  I wouldn't own a maroon car."

"Well, what color would you like, then?"

"Show me the choices."

We went online and googled GT6 images.

"Oooh, I like that one," she cooed, pointing at a nice green car.  The caption on the picture said the color was Conifer, but I found later that it was more commonly referred to as British (or Triumph) Racing Green.

"I've never really been fond of green cars," I said, meekly.  I guess she sensed my disappointment.

"Well, you're doing all the work, Sweety, so get what ever color you want."

So, with that settled, I went to get the paint.




I guess it will grow on me.




Shortly after that, I brought the engine up to the garage from my basement shop.

To keep the weight down, I removed the flywheel and clutch, which were just temporarily mounted on the engine.  It was then time to mount them permanently.  First the pilot bush, after soaking it in engine oil for a while.  The bush is captive behind the flywheel.




Then the lightened, surfaced, and balanced flywheel.




Finally, the new balanced clutch.




Another last minute item:  the clutch release bearing.  Metal contact points were lightly lubed with grease supplied with the bearing.




The marriage ceremony.  Since I work solo, he skyhook really helped.




Parts for the rear gearbox mount, powder coated and plated.




Then there were just the front engine mounts.  They are composed of a bracket on either side of the engine, and a pair of rubber isolators.  Also some shims and a pair of spacers.  The spacers move the engine forward a little.  Apparently, some cars didn't have them.




Stripped  everything, and either powder coated or plated the parts.




The last image above included new rubber mounts.  These were a source of irritation.  First,  I found that instead of the threaded studs being 3/8-24 like the originals, they were metric M10-1.25.  They look the same, don't they?  Second, the studs were slightly too close together, so they wouldn't go into the brackets without filing the holes larger.




Lastly, the so-called "paint" on the mounts could easily be scratched off with a fingernail.




Well, I did reluctantly use the mounts, but stripped and painted them with real paint.  Also bought metric lock nuts.




Then, it was show time.  The engine has to go in at a fairly steep angle, but not nearly as bad as the TR6.  Taking the shifter off helps.




Home at last.




The last link in the drive train, the rebuilt propeller shaft (drive shaft to us yanks).




Looks like it's happy to be back, doesn't it?




So now the engine stand is out of work after valiantly serving in both the TR6 and the GT6 rebuild campaigns.




This is another milestone.  It puts me on the path toward getting the final body work done, and paint.

Comments to Ed at elhollin1@yahoo.com

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