Rusty Beauties update - GT6

Hey, guys! It has been a very long time since my last Blog post and website update. The website is so outdated now that it is not funny :) The GT6 is still in the "future projects" section for example. So it is about time to pay some attention to it.

My idea is to put together a blog article for each project, summarizing what has been done recently and then this will be added to the corresponding section along with a gallery of pictures. This way I will be able to update the site in stages. So I will start with the GT6 as its section is in a desperate need of an update.

1972 Triumph GT6 MK3

This car has been donated for the Rusty Beauties cause by Keith Edgington. There is an article in the blog about how we picked her up so if you haven't read this you probably should do that, before you keep reading this. Read article

After it has been picked up and all parts have been sorted out and cataloged she sat for a month or so. The idea was to start working on her after another project in progress, the 73 TR6 was done. However some hold backs on the TR6 didn't allow me to keep working on that car and with a little push from David Tushingham in the right direction (I didn't need too much pushing :) I decided to do just one thing on the GT6 - fix the leading edge of the roof.

And that's how it all started. That was November, 11 2017

Before I knew it I was repairing floors, sills, doors... The car was cooperating and the work was pleasure. In the beginning it looked like there wasn't so much metalwork needed, but the more I worked, the more I realized that I was underestimating it. But that wasn't a problem. I enjoyed the work and with the help of Cheftush on some weekends I was making a good progress fast. Around Christmas I had 2 weeks vacation and I decided to interrupt the metalwork and use the time off to clean up and repair some little areas of the frame, paint it, clean up and paint the suspension parts and assemble all that together. David came and helped for that as well and before the shop reopened in the beginning of January we had a rolling chassis.

Meanwhile the floor was completed too, so before I put the body on the frame I managed to clean it all up underneath and paint it.

Once the body was back on the frame I kept going with the metalwork. There were many surprises like top of A-posts, doors, and even passenger side rear fender. These were not obvious, but popped up one by one.

Eventually it all got done and even though I kept finding more issues even after I considered all the metalwork completed I am happy with how far I went.

Then it was time to strip all the paint and start with the bodywork. I have some experience with bodywork, not too good, but I am a good learner :), but no paint experience at all. So I took some self educating courses in YouTube, asked for some advises and made a plan. I was going to strip the paint, repair whatever metalwork shows up during this process, epoxy prime the whole car and then start doing the bodywork where needed.

The stripping was faster and easier than expected and before I knew it I had a silver body.

What was left to be stripped was the bonnet, which is half a car itself :), and the rear hatch.

At this point the 73 TR6 got back into the game and I had to put the GT6 on hold until the TR6 was finished. However, I couldn't just put it on hold with a bare metal body as it was going to rust pretty soon. I had to act fast. So I decided to leave all the little areas that needed welding for later, I put the bonnet and hatch to the side as they were not stripped yet and I took care of the stripped body. I bought epoxy primer, built a temporarily paint boot and epoxy primed the body.

That was on April, 29, 2018. After that I could put the project on hold without being worried about surface rust.

So in less that 6 months I had about 300 hours of labor and 53 videos about this car. Watch video

Now I can't wait to finish the TR6 and get back to this baby. When I get back to her I will have to strip the bonnet and hatch, do some metal work on them, a little more metalwork on the body, then prime the stripped areas, bodywork and paint. I haven't decided on the color yet. The original color is Pimento Red, but I was thinking about Carmine Red. However I really like Mallard Blue as well... :) I will decide one day!

Next I have to deal with the engine. I will take it apart, measure and decide whether I need to rebuild it or just clean it, change seals and gaskets, rings eventually etc. The diff needs to be checked as well, seals changed at least and then cleaned and painted. The transmission was supposedly rebuilt (I bought it used with D-type overdrive) but I will have to check it too. And then we will be into interior-work. I have no interior except seats, which need some work too. So that will be fun.

Well that is the update till today, hopefully we will be back on this project soon and work on it full steam again.

Cheers!