GT6 Update

I've only gone and bought a galvanised, 2nd hand chassis for the GT6. 

As can be seen from the front end (top right of the photo), it's a Mk I but, seeing as I have a refurbished front section, that's easily rectified by chopping off the old front end and welding on the refurbished, Mk III section. It will also require engine mounts welding on, but that's a minor issue as they're readily available from Rimmer Bros.

Got it for £350 against an asking price of £400, and the fact it's galvanised saves me a lot of effort. Obviously, once it has the replacement front end it will no longer be fully galvanised, but the front is easily accessible due to the nature of the way the bonnet opens and can be treated with a suitable rust preventative and would be painted the same colour as the car. 

All in all, £450 for a full chassis, which is just over half the price of the nearest equivalent I saw on e-Bay, and that one wasn't even galvanised. In any case, I can sell-on the one that's already on the car when I see how preserved it is, recouping some of the cost. The only issue is that the purchase is in Preston, but I'm sure we'll be going near there sometime during the summer.

The interesting thing about the Spitfire and GT6 chassis suspension is that there is only one rear leaf spring and it's positioned in the transverse orientation. If you look at the rear end (bottom left of the photo above), you'll see a bowed, transverse member; that's what the leaf spring attaches to.

This photo shows what I mean.

Early E-Type Jags, the Corvette Stingray, the TR4A and the TR6 used a lateral system too - in fact, most cars did. With the TR4A IRS, two fore-and-aft springs were used - hence the IRS, or Independent Rear Suspension designation, which became the norm. 

The overall chassis with engine, gearbox and suspension is shown below (not a Mk III though - more like a Mk II). The transverse, rear spring is painted yellow.

On another subject, I've been quoted £750 plus VAT by a local company for rechroming my two bumpers. That's £900 in real money. However, I wondered if there are such things as stainless steel bumpers and, miraculously, they exist. Rimmer Brothers do them for just over a grand (just under a grand on e-Bay) and I'm seriously thinking of getting a pair when the time is right.

Stainless steel can be polished until it looks like chrome and there’s no risk of unsightly corrosion. If scratched, it just forms a new oxide layer. If bent, it can just be pushed back into shape and re-polished, whereas chrome cracks. No-brainer! Below is the promotional image from Rimmer's and I can't tell the difference.

If I were to rechrome my bumpers it would be £900 all told (maybe more) and there's a good chance they would deteriorate over time anyway. It might not be in my lifetime, but it would happen. If I were to get the s/s ones, I could recoup part of the cost by selling my own bumpers, and there's a damned good chance I'd get £250 (that's how much they're going for on e-Bay) so it would come out to £800 - less than the cost of re-chroming and with a much longer lifetime.

Talking of selling bits, the I sold the bucket seats I don't want for £100, which will be added to the tool fund, or pay for a replacement transmission tunnel which, unfortunately, are available in plastic or fibreglass now. Fabricating one would be above my pay grade and scrap ones aren't, generally, worth the money.

Had an initial play with my new, gasless MIG welder on some scrap iron.

It's really awful welding, as you can see, but I have to get used to a totally new method - totally new to me, that is. The flux-cored wire is automatically fed out from a spool and you have to use the right wire size for the thickness of metal you're welding. The pieces of steel above are way to thick for the 0.8mm wire I was using (3mm and 5mm), but I was less interested in penetration and a pretty result than in gauging what setting to put on the wire feed speed to get a sufficient pool of weld material. The first few passes produced a lot of spattering, but it got better and certainly held together well.

I need to cut some pieces of 1.2mm plate to work on in order to perfect the spool speed, amperage and travel speed before being let loose anywhere near the car. About half a day of practice should be enough. For the chassis welding I'd rather use my arc welding kit, a process which I'm more intimately familiar with.

Also broke out the plasma cutter and, I have to say, it works rather well. Tried it on the 5mm plate that I tried welding above and on some 1.2mm.

Used 2 Bar and 21 Amps, which worked well on the 1.2mm plate. Again, it's a case of playing with the air pressure and amps to obtain the best results.

Did my first bit of refurbishment too - the bonnet support member.

It was covered in layer after layer of paint and good dose of rust. Gave it a once over back to bare metal with the twisted wire brush, applied some Jenolite and painted it with etching primer to stop it getting any worse. The feet still need doing with a sandblaster.

Next on the list, actually, is a sand blaster and, 2nd hand, they go for around £150 on Facebook Market. While the twisted wire brush on an angle grinder is the fastest mechanical method of paint and rust removal, there are parts of the car where a brush can't reach and a sand blaster is the only alternative. Bloody messy alternative though; however, the blasting sand is reusable a few times, if sifted. Hopefully collecting one today.

I've also ordered a panel beating set of dollies and hammers, which will come in handy for levelling some bumps in the bonnet and elsewhere.

What with all these purchases, Hay thinks I could save myself a packet and a lot of effort by simply buying a fully restored GT6. That may be the case, but it's not the objective nor the challenge and does absolutely bugger all for my fast growing tool collection. Women, eh?

An interesting fact - there are only 197 GT6s registered as being on the road, but that's according to MoT numbers and not all GT6s will have an MoT due to being exempt. However, I would imagine that most GT6 owners would have their vehicles checked for safety by having an MoT. Compare this against 434 MGBs having an MoT, so the GT6 is much rarer.

My main issue at present is space - my mate's humungous dog kennel is taking up half the space in the garage and won't be gone till he finds another van for it to go into. That's preventing me from laying stuff on the floor and appraising it, so I'm just doing bits and bobs.