Callan Hyde

Hi folks, I shared some pictures many months back of my 2000 estate which was resurrected from the dead after 36 years in a damp garage. 

Over the last few weeks I've got it on the road and driving again and managed to take some pictures as a result.

The front end bodywork is being finished off slowly and will hopefully be painted soon 🤞

Hi folks, sadly due to other commitments Im putting my 1970 Triumph Gt6 Mk2 project up for sale.

This is a car for complete restoration with details as follows:

1970 Gt6 Mk2 shell with old style logbook on a solid mk3 spitfire chassis

Original chassis was rotten, this chassis enables spitfire swing spring running gear to be fitted as opposed to rotoflex which was my plan to save me the hassle with getting quality rotoflex donughts nowadays.

The shell itself needs a full resto. Boot floor could be repaired by a skilled fabricator, inner wings need work. Needs new sills, floor pans, rear wing repairs. Bulkhead is susprisingly good, obviously needs a rear valance as pictured. The shell was stripped for resto many years ago but sat in a barn, the rust on roof is pretty much surface and should clean up fine.

Other parts as follows:

Pair of pretty much rot free spitfire doors that can be adapted to fit gt6 quarter windows and guts very easily.

Mk3 spit windscreen frame in very good condition that needs slight modification to fit.

Wiring loom in vgc

fuel tank in good condition with one previous repair mostly complete dashboard carpet set to fit

pair of original mk2 seats

rear quarter windows

Gt6 mk2 engine- sold to me as running but never had it doing as such, turns well

Non OD gt6 gearbox, missing selector plinth

manifolds and misc carbs as well as some exhaust system

many better condition panels but still in need of small repairs

some large cuts from spitfire rear end which will fit including rear wings and some bulkhead stuff if needed

gt6 front discs

replacement outer sills and sill end caps

Many more small chassis spit/Gt parts which can all go with it.

There are some further gt6 specific bits that I have not yet gathered to complete.

If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask, im located just north of Shrewsbury, Shropshire viewings welcome.

Im looking for offers over £2k, as im sure folks are aware if this was a complete "matching" car( by this i mean its all painted the same colour) then itd be significantly more going off recent ebay prices lol

Thanks

5 hours ago, RobPearce said:

I have never understood this perspective. The column switch is much nicer to use and the gearstick one is a pain.

However, the OP's car is a Mk3 and would originally have had the gearstick one.

I've driven cars both with the gearstick switch and column. I found myself that the overdrive switch on the column was easily switched by accident and inhibited access to the dash. Also felt like it was made of cheese and was going to fall apart 😂

Hi Craig, aside from the gearbox itself you will need the associated wiring and solenoid/relay, a shorter overdrive length propshaft and the engagement switch. These are mounted either on the top of the gearstick or on the column behind the RH stalk. A lot of folks find the latter position to be awkward to use and in the way so a gearstick mounted switch would be the one to look for. 

Youll have to see how it is re. the diff ratios. Ill send you a message now via whatsapp on a chap to try for a gearbox

About 600 ish in my dolomite, maybe a little less. My 2000 Saloon has done about 14,700 on daily transport duties

I put a few photos on here a few months back detailing my extremely rotten triumph 2000 estate which was sat in a damp garage near me for 34 years. Thought i best upload some follow up photos for those who dont have me on FB or apart of the Triumph 2000/2500 Fan Page where ive been posting regular updates. 

I purchased another estate as a donor which has sadly had a rear end smack aside from being relatively rotten. I unstitched the front ends off both cars and repaired all the holeage in the cars bulkhead. This included the entire centre of the bulkhead, two new footwell, replacement ends of the sills inner and outer, cutting out and welding everything along the flitch panel seams and so on. 

The replacement front end was then offered up, trimmed and after many hours with a tape measure and a book it was welded in place, mostly with the us of the Mk1 Eyeball as I found all the factory measurements to be significantly different to both cars before i started. 

Ive also replaced both front outriggers and now completely welded the chassis legs to the new floors as well as done some reinforcement work along the vertical join for the bulkhead strengthener brackets which I had to cut. The windscreen frame and roof needed some substantial work prior to the refitting of the interior. Replacement carpets were sourced and the dashboard cobbled together from both cars as the original was rotten for the most part. The interior is now entirely fitted aside from column and glove trays. 

On the exterior, ive seam sealed all welding and painted the engine bay and bulkhead to allow me to refit some of the gubbins which came off both. Im now working to fit the original wheel bowls off the car to the replacement front end. The donor car had three replacement arches and thus the arches and wings were not saveable without substantial amounts of money. 

Ive sourced a Tr6 engine which i have stripped down and plan to get bored to 0.60" in the new year, ive got a set of match weighted and balanced rods and pistons to go with it. Original engine was full of water and entirely seized, same goes for the auto box. Hoping to get 150bhp out of it on carbs, 170+efi in the finish. Im out my depth with working these 6 cylinder engines so will be speaking to some folks in the know soon before coming up with a solid plan for it. Ive got a J type OD box to go in the car in place of the slush box it had originally. 

Plan is to take it quite low, will be doing something of a custom rear susp. setup with my spare subframe to allow me to obtain the height I want with the correct toe in/out. Fronts will be going a similar way to Jarad Bucketts saloon in australia, modifying some E46 struts to standard mounts for hub and tower with camber/caster adjustment to suit height etc. Ive got a golf mk1 splitter to go underneath at the front to help with wobble at speed and direct more air into the rad. Obtained some compomotive mesh pattern alloys which will be going gold to match the brown of the car. 

Objective is to have the car on the road for March 2022 allowing me some run in time before shows and holiday trips in summer. Wether this goes ahead depends on how much I can plough into the engine or not, I have a spare 2.0 Gt6 mk2 engine I can chuck in temporarily if need be. 

On 04/11/2021 at 16:01, Dion said:

BIG job! It did not look half bad on the "previous" pics.

Very brave to cut off the whole front end - Americans call it the front clip (which always sound weird to me as "clip" should be a small thingy to hold something. Paper clip. A clip to hold trim pieces). 

Didnt have much of a choice with the front end, tops of both chassis legs had gone and all the seams around the turrets and flitch panels were so rotten i wouldve needed to remove them all and replace the joining material on both panels. Far easier to do it this way, well easiest wouldve been to cut it at the front pillars and further back down the sill and join them that way lol Done this way as the alternative is a little frowned upon

On 04/11/2021 at 07:51, Slimboyfat said:

Beware the TR250 head has unique port spacing on the manifold side. You are limited to using the original Stromberg TR250 inlet manifold.

For that reason the TR250 manifold gasket is also unique to that head.

 

Ah, bugger. Thanks for the heads up, part of the reason I made this post so i can catch things like that before I get the head worked. Suppose ill have to use one of my other heads then. 

Some update photos on my triumph 2000 estate. 

Knew it was bad when i bought it but not quite this bad 😂

Ive sourced a donor car which has had a rear end smack as well as being remarkably rotten. This is donating the entire front end, tunnel and various other bits as well as all mechanicals as car was motd not long ago. 

Ive removed the front end off the brown car and currently in the process of repairing everything which the new front end is supposed to attach to. Ive replaced a lot of the tunnel, both footwells, ends of both sills, centre of the bullkhead, drain panel and still got to do the bulkhead where flitch panels join on. All seams where the existing front end attached to the car were so rotten the car wouldve wallowed down the road terribly had i not replaced the entire lot. 

Once repairs to the bulkhead are done, i will be positioning the front end in place before welding to the car. Everything is being done at the panel seams, only exception being the vertical of the flitch panel on the inside of the apron which i could not drill the spot welds out due to the angle. The brackets on the bulkhead behind the inner wings will be sufficiently repaired and reinforced once all attached. 

Certainly quite the undertaking. I didnt look to closely at the car prior to its purchase. Sold new in my town, low mileage and quite well recognised even having been laid up in 84, it had to be bought. Paid through the nose for the thing to have the privelage lol 

I feel pretty confident to say that nearly everybody else wouldve broke it for parts or raced it. 

Plan is to build it into a bit of a weapon when done. Converting to manual OD and 2.7l fast road engine when done. Going to take it really quite low, bring the wheels out a bit, chin splitter and some other tasteful mods. Itll become another one of my daily drivers when done same as the rest of the fleet. 

Hi all, ive got a triumph 2000 estate which is undergoing some very major surgery at the current point in time. Originally a 2.0 auto, im planning on building it into a 2.5 Manual OD.

Ive built several engines before but they are not my area of expertise so thought i would speak to those in the know about what I can expect to make from a 2.5 with the following work done. This is the current plan for the car, may differ in practice.

2.5 block shaved to remove recess and up comp rate

Tr250 head shaved to bring comp rate to normal figures and a bit more to further up comp rate.

0.60" bore, match weighted pistons and rods. 

Newman PH2 cam

Hoping to lighten flywheel a little

6-3-1 extractor manifold

Ported head and long manifold for HS6 carbs provisionally, plans to go to efi in the long run.

Megajolt distributorless ignition.

Im aiming to get a solid 150bhp out the car on carbs when i put it on the road with hs6 carbs and standard exhaust etc. By the time its done im hoping to be up at 170.

If those who have experience with engine builds like this could chip in itd be great. As far as i can tell those numbers should be realistic seeing the work done. Ive no experience building triumph 6 engines so any advice on snags i may encounter would be much appreciated. 

The gearbox ive got to run it through is a J type OD saloon box which as far as I can tell should handle the extra juice okay. Ive got the choice of the 2.0 auto diff  or the manual OD, undecided which one to try first.

Im expecting I may encounter issues with the UJ joints as well as the anti rattle straps flexing excessively under load, these will be nailed out in practice. 

Thanks to all those who may comment. 

Pic attached is the car in its current state, obviously not ready for the road quite yet lol Welding isnt the best in places but it works, car was fit for nothing other than the scrapyard when i started.

Excessive blow by, going off the amount i would suggest that it needs rings on more than 1 cylinder 😟 

Some progess has been made on my estate which i purchased last month. After a bit of cleaning and general assessment work, i pulled the seized engine and auto box out last weekend and dragged it into the "workshop" yesteday. Today has been spent attacking the front end with a grinder to remove the totally unsalvageable lamp panel, flitch panel and rad support panel. Brushed the grinder over a lot of the rest and with the assistance of a screwdriver poked several more holes in areas around the flitch panel and the top of the OS chassis leg. Removed the screen and thankfully the damage to the surround is minimal, it has however leaked in both corners and caused quite a bit of rot on the inside of the bulkhead... 

Ive also aqquired a 2.5 PI engine which i will be building for it also, just need to find a manual gearbox now in good time. Ive sourced the front end off another car which will be replacing what is missing on mine, with the front end and two floorpans secured, that just leaves the bulkhead and ends of the sills to deal with!

I run a cheap chinese radio in my saloon, cost me £13 off ebay under "Classic car radio", styled to look classic it fits the pattern of the ashtray remarkably well so doesnt look untoward. Does BT, AUX, USB, RADIO, comes with remote. Can feel its cheap and chinese but works remarkably well and audio quality is fab for what it is. Not original but doesnt look too far off. You will need a DIN adapter plate or make one yourself. Available on ebay for a stag for £32, bit expensive for a bit of plastic but makes it easier 

16 minutes ago, RobPearce said:

As a friend said of my PI estate when they first saw it, "at least it's the plain chocolate brown"

You've got some work to do there.

Haha, i think i wouldve preffered russet given the choice, or just not brown at all but i cant complain lol

Its going to take some welding but will get there before long!

Hi all, pleased to say ive had the fortune to be able to add a Mk2 2000 Estate to my collection!

This car was listed on facebook last week for those who may recognise it, it was parke dup in a garage in 85 and hasnt moved since. The garage roof unfortunately gave way and the rain has done its worst. Extensive welding required to front end but its doable. Its a shropshire car sold about 20 mins away from me and lived in my town its entire life, hasnt travelled far with just shy of 50k on the clock.

Being a 2000 auto, and brown i think its about as least desireable as they come but doesnt bother me. The engine is seized so im thinking of pulling the entire lot and doing a V8 conversion perhaps. 

I spent most of this afternoong freeing the brakes off and itll be getting towed home early tommorow morning by my saloon 😁

Ive got KYB dampers up front with witor progressive springs. Fast road springs on the rear with spax adjustables. Its not bad now but not quite happy with the twitch and roll im getting up front coming out of corners really. As it is now would be sufficient for most but seeing as ive rebuilt most of the suspension i want to make it as right as i can whilst im at it.

Hi folks, wondering if anybody has devised a rear anti roll bar setup for a big saloon?

Im working on improving the cornering ability of my Mk2 2000, after several upgrades and modifications im now looking at fitting anti roll bars. Front end will be straight forward enoughh with fitting of a standard ARB from a 2500, i hope this should vastly improve things. Also suggested by a friend of mine is the possibility of finding a rear ARB from another vehicle which will fit between the trailing arms with some modification. Wondering if this has been done before by someone on the forum perhaps, if so i would greatly appreciate if you could let me know below how you went about it!

My car started life as a PFL Mk2. Im running spax shocks on the rear(Not the best i know but they were cheap and work okay so far)with CW  475lb fast road springs. Up front ive got KYB shock inserts, polybushed struts, polybushed drag struts and CW 205/400 Progressive springs. Changed the wheels out for some 15" TR wheels as the standard 13" wheels struggled to keep traction(especially in the wet!) and certainly werent a fan of potholes 😂 Tyres are 185 R15 Vredstein classic sprints, bit tall really but they came with the wheels brand new so not going to let them go to waste! Will fit some lower profiles when these are worn out.

Compared to how it was when i got it, the ride and cornering capabilities are significantly better. Trouble im finding is coming out of corners with a bit of haste, she tends to go a little floppy up the front end and twitches a bit. As well as the addition of the ARB, after speaking to some folks its been suggested that a strut brace may also be beneficial in helping eliminate this trouble. 

Curious to hear of other fast road orientated modifications perople have conducted. Currently my engine is a stock 2.0 soft cam, domed piston saloon engine as far as i can tell. Im planning on changing this soon enough by changing to a TR5/6 cam. Whilst losing some low end manners im hoping the gain in mid-high range torque should be worthwhile. Expecting to be limited by the HS4 carbs im running but we'll find out!

Im far from an expect on this subject hence my request for others feedback, not opposed to finding stuff out myself however 😂

Attached picture is my car in all of its scruffy glory at the top of Long Myndd, Shropshire!

Thought this may make some folks chuckle, pictured here is mk 1970 Mk2 Gt6, or as the title says, whats left of it!

Im going to be honest, with my current budget fresh out of college, this was about the only gt6 i could afford, With the going prices of complete cars for restoration, im glad i can weld as this one will be mostly done by the time it reaches them!

Obviously starting with a bare shell, its never going to be perfect and certainly not original. Im building it on a mk3 spitfire chassis and running gt6 front running gear, and 1500 spitfire rear drive shafts, brakes etc for the best of all worlds.

Engine wise, itll get whatever straight 6 comes available for the time being. Im slowly accumulating parts to put it back together. on the back burner currently until the finances become available to make a really nice job of it.

Pictures arent the best but you get the picture. Seen in one are some of my other projects. The Dolly was my 2020 daily, the 2000 has replaced it this year.