Monday, September 20, 2021

Triumph GT6+: Chassis and drivetrain

Build a crappy kit, they said. It will be fun, they said. It will build character. Righto then. This Lindberg kit certainly qualifies as a lousy kit by modern standards, with its multi-piece body and opening doors. 

A lot of questionable bits had to be replaced, along with the usual plug wiring (which actually matches both firing order and distributor rotation). Modifications included replacing an unidentifiable lump with three Webers taken from the AMT Cobra kit, mounted on scratchbuilt manifolding. 

 

The chassis was lowered by modifying the axle mounting points. This in turn required carving a deep slot through the oil pan. Disc brakes and Minilites from Scale Productions round out the chassis. And yes, the calipers ought to be behind the axle line, not ahead. Sue me. 


Paint is a classic scheme of BRG with a yellow stripe. 


The GT6 was a lovely little coupe. Essentially a coupe version of the 4 cylinder Spitfire, it came with a smooth inline 6 of 2 litres. This was used in the Triumph 2000 sedan, but not the TR6 which had a different 2.5. I enjoyed driving them when in the garage, even if Giles is finding the cockpit as cramped as I did. 


 One odd feature, shared with the big Healeys, was the removable transmission tunnel that allowed the gearbox to be pulled out through the passenger's door when changing the clutch.

The interior is pretty basic but some careful brushwork highlights what there is. The chassis is on its wheels, and paint is drying on a couple of minor fixes on the body. Next is all the trim around the body and dealing with hinges.


At least the test fit looks sort of decent... It sits a bit higher than I would like in the front but is as good as it is going to get.


Wish me luck, the hood hinge in particular looks to be a major fiddle. Stay tuned!


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