Gathering Pictures

Vern Brannon drove his 2000 saloon daily driver to the Gathering. Vern really does drive this car daily. I believe it came from Oregon as it has a PTOA sticker on the back window.

I hope at some point to get a steering wheel like this one for the Estate.

There's an interesting story behind the tear in the hood sheetmetal (visible just to the side of the "hood scoop"). Apparently Vern was driving the car one day when the original fan blade lost a blade...which left, rather rapidly, while creating the tear along the way. Vern has since replaced the fan...and this led me to buy a TR250 fan for Chrissy.

As far as progress on OUR car, I've done some more blasting and painting, but there's a lot more to do. I'm still struggling with the eventual brake specifications. At this point, I'm leaning towards a Stag M/C, Stag front brakes, and possibly putting a proportioning valve into the system to keep the rears from locking up rather than replacing the rear brakes with Stag brakes. Anyone got any experience with proportioning valves? They seem pretty affordable on eBay. I've also acquired some more parts off the list that never seems to end...but will eventually.

One more thing...it's lonely out here. If you read this, please post a comment so that I know you did...:-) Thanks!

Jamie

Update...but not much to report

It's been pretty busy lately with the TCOC's main event, The Gathering, which was last weekend and was a great deal of fun!

The latest issues are how to rig up the throttle (I'm going to try a late Spit 1500 cable attached to a highly modified RHD pedal assembly) and what to use for a brake master cylinder. At this point I'm going to start off with a NOS 2000 master cylinder...but that may create a "long" pedal with the Stag front calipers. We'll have to see. If I have to go to the Stag brake M/C I'll have to relocate the clutch M/C in one way or another. Two solutions were posted to my question on the forum, one to move the cylinder over, one to create a part that relocates the cylinder forward and to also extend the pushrod. We'll have to see.

Also, my friend Doug from Durham has offered to help me figure out a way to get more gauges into the dash without it looking horrible. I really want a tachometer, and I would prefer a voltmeter over the ammeter.

More to come, I'm sure...

Aussie Parts Arrive!

Yea! The parts from Australia are here! Here's the box from Andy:

Note the "This way up". The box was very solidly constructed, and I can at least say that the local DHL delivery folks did pay attention to the directions...it was in my driveway that side up!








I eagerly unpacked the box (LOTS of screws):















I now have in the garage awaiting cleaning, fettling and installation:
SU carbs, linkage and manifold
Gas, brake and clutch pedals
Remote air cleaner assembly and ducting
Sump for 2.5 engine
Engine mount spacer plates

And the bumper and sidelamp have been repacked and sent on to Stephen...

Now to find some time!

Here's the latest progress

As you can see from the picture below, the front suspension and brakes have been removed from the car:

It's a lot easier to deal with than the TR series, that's for sure.

Here's what the springs and struts look like. I think it's strut replacement time:Most importantly, Chrissy now has a transmission, and the TR6 has regained an engine. Brian (on the left in the picture) was kind enough to sell me the engine and transmission from his 1973 TVR 2500M, which has a small-block Ford in it's future (!)

Thanks to both Brian and David for helping me pull the engine and tranny last Saturday. Now, to mate the TR6 tranny with the overdrive and mainshaft coming from New Zealand... :-)

We're getting closer! Parts continue to arrive (thanks to eBay and TRF) and I'm starting to refurbish parts. The steering rack was pronounced "good to go" by Kevin Andrews of Wayne's Alignment last weekend at the TCOC tech session and new rack boots are waiting to be installed.

As Triumph Stag parts are much easier to come by in the US, I will be using suspension pieces from a Stag to add an anti-roll bar to the front of the wagon as they are apparently interchangeable with the 2000.

Triumph had an interesting way of shoehorning the larger 2500 engine into the 2000 engine compartment. They moved the mounting holes for the engine 1" to the left (since they are on angles, it actually results in a 0.6" movement) and added spacers to the right side of the engine (as seen from the driver's seat) to rotate the engine back to level. Here's a diagram that Andy drew explaining it to me:

Down below this is the move I will have to make with the mounting holes. There's really not enough material to just drill, so I'll be adding some metal as well....break out the welder!


I have to point out that the sedan/estate front suspension is much simpler and easier to work on (as long as you have a suitable spring compressor) than the TR series...at least in my opinion. It was nice being able to drop the whole thing at once...

Until next time!

Jamie