Triumph Sports Cars

Hello all, new to the forum here, also new to British sports cars. I have a 280z I fully restored, and I hate driving it because it's too nice - hence, I'm onto my next project, something fun to drive, moderately reliable, and not too nice to drive. I love the look of the GT6, and if the shoe fits, wear it. I'm looking for holes in my build sheet, as this is my first major swap. I've been following the LS4 swap on YouTube for a while now, and just picked up 2 GT6's, both 1971, and a LS1 from a WS6 with an 4L80E.

Here's my buildsheet for the project:
Body: Full stock body to the extent I can keep it. I will more than likely need to flair the fenders for wider tires, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I know the firewall has to be cut to push the engine back.
Motor: Stock LS1, again, I'm shooting for reliability. My LS didn't come with an intake, so I will be upgrading from the stock LS1 to something with a little more oomph. The thin rail hooker headers are required to fit between the engine and the shocks and clear below the firewall. Everything else should fit stock. At this point, no PS or AC. Battery relocation to trunk to help with weight distribution, hoping to get to 45/55 front/rear. I plan to get there by adding more weight in the back, and keeping the middle/front nearly stock weight. LS1+trans is nearly the same weight as the stock motor and trans. Moving the battery to the back, adding box for the rear diff, fuel cell, etc, I should be able to push a little more weight rearward.
Suspension/Steering: Here is where I am a little foggy. The LS4 build went wild, and cut out the entire front frame rail and built a custom rail with Ford Crown Vic parts. Can I get away with just buying upgraded suspension parts for a stock GT6 in the front? Will the stock steering rack work, or is there an easy swap? The rear I understand will need to be entirely custom, I'd like to go the same route they did in the LS4 build and get a corvette rear end and suspension, make a custom mount, and just be done with it. I know the diff mounts area weak, so I plan on boxing it in with tube steel and adding strut tower brace in the rear.
Frame: I am going to surround the existing frame with tube sheet metal, and strengthen it with an extra crossmember, plus a new crossmember up next to the oil pan and the trans crossmember.
Interior: I am going to strip the interior and sell it all off, 2 racing seats, and a full roll cage, custom dash, etc.

Is there anything I'm missing that would be obvious? I know I'm missing a ton of little things that will take up a ton of time, but my goal at this point is to get frame strengthened, engine mounted, rear end in, then tackle the other items.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2020 05:26PM by evanhuttonfc.

Welcome to the forum!!!
In my opinion the GT6 is one of the harder cars to shoehorn a big v8.
Not impossible but the hourglass shaped frame makes things difficult.
I presume you have already looked at this build:
[www.britishv8.org]
Please post lots of photos and take your time so you don't run out of steam as there are lots of endeavors like this that end up as unfinished dreams.

Cheers
Byron

I have! Jon's car and the YouTube series (and price) lead me to chose LS1 over a Coyote motor. The Coyote is a smidge bigger also. I'm hoping that I can just use some custom motor mount plates and fab it all to fit in the original cradle, but we will see as time progresses. I'm not totally against cutting it out and making a custom front end, that just makes a lot more work in the long run to find parts that'll fit properly.

I am going to keep making measurements and try to get it for sure into my head that I can make it all work properly before I dive in, but assuming I do, I will make sure to fully document everything I do for ease if someone else wants to take this route.

I've been slowly putting a twin turbo LS3 into my 71 GT6. Same trans plans, 4l80e. Already have the LS3 and twin turbo stuff in as well as the Ford 9 inch, just got to finish welding. It'll fit, dont plan on many accessories on the engine. Also, I'm planning on side pipes. Not sure why you would plan on stripped interior and a big 4l80e trans... and a stocking LS engine. I'll update my build thread with pics at some point... been lazy on the GT6 since moving across country earlier this year.

Another pic...

Anarchy, thanks for the pics! Really helpful actually. I don't plan on stripped interior per say, more or less I plan on stripping the original interior, and replacing it with more modern things, like a custom dash with accurate gauges, racing seats + harnesses, new carpet, etc. I don't want to go full stripped, but I want to "upgrade" some of the essential instruments.

Did you manage to fit your LS3 on the stock frame with custom mounts and still have room for the stock steering rack and front suspension? It's a bit hard to tell with those turbos and intercoolers! That thing is going to be wicked when finished!

Whole car has been modified. I've got a small thread in the triumph forum that has better pics of what a SBC and the frame mods look like as well as the underside and Ford 9 inch. You'll have a ton of fab work for sure.