G1K
Well-known member
A few years ago I posted about replacing the cross member on my father’s Triumph TR-6. We discussed the job a little, but he passed before I was able to get to it. As a result of his passing I’ve purchased the car from the estate to help my mom settle some debts. I purchased the car as an investment and I wanted to sell it however my brother wanted to keep it for the sentimental value. He and my brother worked on it quite a bit and have a bit of history with it.
Here’s a link to the cross member build:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58039
After much back and forth I’ve decided to keep it in the family keeping but not in its current form. Sure, the factory inline 6 with ~100 hp is dandy for a Sunday drive, until you need to pass someone – then not so much.
So more back and forth about what to do, add a supercharger or perhaps a turbo to the factory engine, fuel injection, or swap over to a newer GM 6 cylinder, or a turbo 4. I’ll admit I struggled with this for a while. Keep it stock or modify it and potentially ruin the collector value. The car has a factory overdrive, low miles and no rust. It came down to this, I don’t drive it and since I’m not going to sell it, might as well make it into something that I’d use. Sure the purists will be upset … can’t please everyone.
Enter the V8 conversion. There have been several people to complete this conversion so I get the benefit of some guidance in the form of blogs, photos and sites dedicated to their builds. I’ve decided on a ford 302 with a T5 gearbox. The following thread will detail the progress, trials and tribulations of the build which will hopefully conclude with a stock appearing car with a little American muscle under the hood.
So I bit the bullet and picked up a 302 advertised on CL. It came with all the accessories, bell housing, FI set up etc. The block went to the local machine shop for cleaning, boring to 4.030, main hone etc., along with the crank for a -.010 grind. I found a set of GT40 heads in the local junk yard for the whopping price of $60, they went to the shop for a cleaning and valve job. While it was apart, I upgraded the valve springs to handle a little more lift. Very slowly I learned how to check bearing clearances, gap rings and learned assembly techniques to put all the parts back together into something that should work. SBFbuilding.com was a great resource for the assembly portion of the engine build (not affiliated, just a satisfied customer). I learned quite a bit from Woody’s videos.
Like most of my projects I work an hour here or there maybe a few hours on the weekend. The engine build took most of the summer, which was okay because I was still able to drive the TR-6 on nice days. Quite a bit of that time was spent on researching different components and how everything in the system works together. This is my first large engine build, my previous work was all on motorcycle engines with the occasional lawn mower thrown in for good measure. Too much time was spent on cross referencing the crazy ford components, like the timing cover. Which pumps work with which covers, what was a standard rotation vs. regular and which one will work with a serpentine system vs. v-belt. Who knew something as simple as a water pump would take so much time to figure out? I don’t think the Chevy guys have these kinds of problems, but the grass is always greener. The Ford 302 has dimensions more suited to fitting the TR-6 engine bay.
I didn’t capture many photos of the assembly process, but here’s a few. There’re still a few more pieces to go on like the fuel pump, sensors, remote oil filter kit etc.
The build engine build took me into September. Somewhere in there I also rebuild a T5 with some new gears and all new bearings and syncros etc. The original gears had been beat on a little bit.
There’s still a good month of driving the 6 left before it gets too cold and the snow starts to fly, however I wasn’t driving it much during the summer. I decided to start the transformation by pulling stock the engine and transmission out. It went much easier than I anticipate. In an afternoon I went from this:
To this:
After a putting the 302 in and out a few times and some trimming of the sheet metal,
I don’t want to have to put a bulge in the hood to clear the air cleaner nor do I want to relocate the steering rack, so the engine has to be as low and as reward as possible. The front cross member will need to be notched and a reinforcement beam welded to the front. That is today’s project.
Hopefully I’ll have some updates tonight or tomorrow.
Here’s a link to the cross member build:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58039
After much back and forth I’ve decided to keep it in the family keeping but not in its current form. Sure, the factory inline 6 with ~100 hp is dandy for a Sunday drive, until you need to pass someone – then not so much.
So more back and forth about what to do, add a supercharger or perhaps a turbo to the factory engine, fuel injection, or swap over to a newer GM 6 cylinder, or a turbo 4. I’ll admit I struggled with this for a while. Keep it stock or modify it and potentially ruin the collector value. The car has a factory overdrive, low miles and no rust. It came down to this, I don’t drive it and since I’m not going to sell it, might as well make it into something that I’d use. Sure the purists will be upset … can’t please everyone.
Enter the V8 conversion. There have been several people to complete this conversion so I get the benefit of some guidance in the form of blogs, photos and sites dedicated to their builds. I’ve decided on a ford 302 with a T5 gearbox. The following thread will detail the progress, trials and tribulations of the build which will hopefully conclude with a stock appearing car with a little American muscle under the hood.
So I bit the bullet and picked up a 302 advertised on CL. It came with all the accessories, bell housing, FI set up etc. The block went to the local machine shop for cleaning, boring to 4.030, main hone etc., along with the crank for a -.010 grind. I found a set of GT40 heads in the local junk yard for the whopping price of $60, they went to the shop for a cleaning and valve job. While it was apart, I upgraded the valve springs to handle a little more lift. Very slowly I learned how to check bearing clearances, gap rings and learned assembly techniques to put all the parts back together into something that should work. SBFbuilding.com was a great resource for the assembly portion of the engine build (not affiliated, just a satisfied customer). I learned quite a bit from Woody’s videos.
Like most of my projects I work an hour here or there maybe a few hours on the weekend. The engine build took most of the summer, which was okay because I was still able to drive the TR-6 on nice days. Quite a bit of that time was spent on researching different components and how everything in the system works together. This is my first large engine build, my previous work was all on motorcycle engines with the occasional lawn mower thrown in for good measure. Too much time was spent on cross referencing the crazy ford components, like the timing cover. Which pumps work with which covers, what was a standard rotation vs. regular and which one will work with a serpentine system vs. v-belt. Who knew something as simple as a water pump would take so much time to figure out? I don’t think the Chevy guys have these kinds of problems, but the grass is always greener. The Ford 302 has dimensions more suited to fitting the TR-6 engine bay.
I didn’t capture many photos of the assembly process, but here’s a few. There’re still a few more pieces to go on like the fuel pump, sensors, remote oil filter kit etc.
The build engine build took me into September. Somewhere in there I also rebuild a T5 with some new gears and all new bearings and syncros etc. The original gears had been beat on a little bit.
There’s still a good month of driving the 6 left before it gets too cold and the snow starts to fly, however I wasn’t driving it much during the summer. I decided to start the transformation by pulling stock the engine and transmission out. It went much easier than I anticipate. In an afternoon I went from this:
To this:
After a putting the 302 in and out a few times and some trimming of the sheet metal,
I don’t want to have to put a bulge in the hood to clear the air cleaner nor do I want to relocate the steering rack, so the engine has to be as low and as reward as possible. The front cross member will need to be notched and a reinforcement beam welded to the front. That is today’s project.
Hopefully I’ll have some updates tonight or tomorrow.
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I can't imagine 250+hp in that car. Do you plan on stiffening up the chassis?
