Triumph Sports Cars

Yesterday, a boyhood dream of mine was realized. I picked up a 1972 Triumph TR6 in a trade, with a good friend. I have been wanting one of these for many, many years. Just never got around to buying one. I have decided to give this car to myself, in August, as a 50th birthday present. I actually traded a small enclosed trailer and a non-running 125cc dirt bike for the car, so I don't have much in it. Overall, I think the car is in fair condition. The body is pretty rough but my understanding is that most of the body parts are available. This will not be a quick build, as I have a Jeep Wrangler that is in need of some attention before Winter. I hope to have the Triumph in my garage before the end of Summer. For now, it is sitting in my storage unit for safe keeping. The original color is yellow or mustard. The brown will not do. It will probably end up red.

Does anyone make a T5 transmission conversion for the original 6-cylinder engine? I'd like to keep the original engine but I will need a 5-speed to back it up. The HDVA conversion is fairly pricey and good W56 transmissions are getting hard to find. A Rover V8 and the T5 is my second choice for a drivetrain. My World Class T5 is from a 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that I am parting out. I still have the original 2.3L Turbo 4-cylinder as well. I have already been in contact with Richard Good about some of his products. The chassis will need to be beefed up and fixed as there are some rust issues with it as well.

Thanks for any help!

SamM








Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2013 06:52AM by SamM.

Awesome! Just found the Dupont Machining Services website thanks to a short search on this Forum. I had only dreamed of adding a T5 to my 6-cylinder. Didn't actually know that is was possible. An email has been dispatched to DMS and I will be purchasing a kit within a month or so for my TR6. My Ford T-Bird Turbo Coupe transmission will find a new home in my new to me TR6.

Of course, the engine will not stay stock. It will get a rebuild and probably EFI.

I'm very excited!

SamM

If you have not already done this go to photo gallery on this site and look for Dale Knapke's TR6. Let me know if you have any questions.

That's a great car that you've created there! I don't have any aspirations to race my TT6. I've thought long and hard about just going with the 2.3L Turbo 4. It sure would be easier on my wallet. A simple car with a little increased performance, is all that I'm looking for out of this one. My original plan was to build a Lotus Seven replica using the Turbo Coupe as the donor. I have a good start with a Callahan frame and Mustang II suspension components. That build has languished too long. Building a car from scratch is a tough challenge. The TR6 gets me a basic platform that is already a functional car. The TR6 just sort of happened and I have no desire to have two sports cars. The Turbo Coupe donor reportedly makes around 300hp due to it's Holset HX35 turbocharger. I've driven the car a few times and it is quite fast but the Fox body is a heavy beast compared to a TR6. My Lotus frame and components will be sold to finance more of the TR6 build. Same with the Ford 2.3 engine and the T-Bird. Suddenly, I just have one project! That feels good and I can honestly see light now. The Triumph needs a lot of work but it's fixable.

You have an awesome car Mr. Knapke but it's more than I'm looking to get into. I plan to modify mine for reliability and drivability. Something that the wife and I can get in and go to Lancaster, PA for a week and visit the in-law's. My mods will include: a rebuilt stock engine, Wilwood 4 wheel discs, a Good R200 diff kit, tube shocks, DMS T5 conversion kit, Patton EFI, a Griffin radiator, modified frame, re-drilled hubs and aluminum wheels.

Yesterday, I traded the 3.55 geared 8.8 rear axle from my Thunderbird, for a rebuilt kit and the labor for a Dana 44 rear axle for my Jeep Wrangler. We should have that installed in two weeks.

Cheers!

SamM





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2013 07:41PM by SamM.

Welcome to the forum, Sam! Sounds like you're well on your way already.

About Dale's car... that photo gallery page shows how awesome Dale's TR6 was in 2007, but we need to add a second gallery page for Dale's car because it's been rebuilt (longer and stronger) and it's much more awesome now. If you're curious, read about the transformation here: [forum.britishv8.org]

Thanks Curtis! I love these cars!

Didn't realize that was the same car that I had seen crash pictures of. Looks like he has it back on the road now.

SamM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2013 07:23PM by SamM.

Hello Sam my name's Tom Ahlstrom I run a TR six for a lot of years restored dozens of them I ran a world-class T5 up against my six-cylinder for about nine years I don't think there's any place to buy a kit to convert it the parts that I built to convert mine I sold to my business partner in British car restoration they are still sitting out to our shop under a bench I don't think that he would sell them I also don't think he will ever use them I have got to do some work out there on a TR 250 this week I will talk to him about it I can at least take some pictures of the parts I made and post them on here the parts are easy to make the conversion is trickier than you would think to keep from a lot of cutting on the firewall you have to move the motor forward you also move the steering rack forward one and a half inches. I run a 347 motor in my car now. With the six cylinder I like the Toyota truck or supra five speed I have restored seven TR sixes that I used that transmission they are very smooth I like the Toyota truck transmission better than the supra transmission the truck one has lower first and second gear and tends to get the car off the line quicker even running a 355 or 370 where end the supra trans you will want 390s or 410 in the rear and that will hurt you on highway cruising.

I put the T5 in my car because I sprayed the six-cylinder with the 300 hp nitrous shot the Toyota trans would not take that I tried the Toyota trans first. It exploded with anything over 100 or shot. But they are a great transmission if you're not building a racecar although my T5 still lives today but it's not exactly stock

I'll see what I can find out there at the shop this week and get back with you PS welcome to British V8

I appreciate that Tom but DuPont Machining Services makes a kit that will do exactly what I want to do. I may need to go with a different T5 from the one I have but this looks very doable.

Thanks for the help!

SamM

Does your car have a non-overdrive box? With the overdrive, you could have six or seven gears.
Add a Nissan rear end with a Richard Good kit, and you would have a decent trans to sit behind the 6-pot.

As regards body restoration, you might like to join 6 Pack, where you can get all the info you need about body and trim, and they are quite into modifications so long as you don't start changing the look of the bodyshell. That tends to cause upset.
[www.6-pack.org]

Needless to say, if you start thinking about a V8, then you're already on the right forum, right here.

Ivor

Tomsbad6, you put a 300 hp shot of nitrous to a Triumph 2.5 L ?

Yes I sprayed it 300 the motor was not exactly stock crank and rods were stock the block was stock crank and rods and crank cost me $4000 to have reworked the Pistons were custom-built by JE ahead work I did myself it had some Richard good parts it had 3 Webber downdraft carburetors three nitrous express nozzles each nozzle could spray 125 horse when it was all said and done I had $11,000 into building the motor I drove it for a lot of years ran over 250 bottles nitrous through it it made 222 hp on the Dino on gas plus the 300 at a dragstrip car ran clean 1050s all day long I street race the car all over Chicago Toledo Detroit Indianapolis Cleveland anywhere that was a day's drive it was the ultimate moneymaker it was not unusual" in one night to make 2000 Dollars St. racing everybody thought they could beat that little six-cylinder 347 took most of the fun out of my car nowadays if I can find someone to run me $10 I'm doing good nobody wants a piece of that thing and driving now I think it's mostly just sound if the economy didn't suck I would probably have just built another six cylinder knowing what I know now I could get a triumph 6 to 300 hp on gas I must say my 347 is a lot less hassle day in day out and it's very cheap the nitrous express people custom-built the kit for me it was basically a modified 240 Z set up they said at 4000 RPMs spraying 300 I was at 22 to 1 compression I have all the respect in the world for people keeping the old six-cylinder stock they might run like a brick but as for durability there like a brick @#$%& house thing that bothers me the most is NHRA was perfectly fine with seeing me die behind the six-cylinder but they want nothing to do with my car with 347 my 347 is far safer than my six-cylinder ever was I was at US 131 dragway ignited to plugs had a nitrous backfire just as I hit the traps blue the hood open brought back around fixed it and made five more passes my little six was dangerous to say the least I launched that motor at 5500 and spray and sprayed it all play out the back of the track I had to the motor was so small it just had no torque the good news is we have a brand-new dragstrip opening this summer 15 minutes from my house1/ 8 mile no rules the owner says he can't wait to see my car run yes I will launch the car somewhere around 3800 and spray I'm just counting the days the chassis set up on my car had all the bugs worked out of it long before the V8 I don't have too many photos of the old motor but I did find one here you can check it out