1976 Triumph TR6 slow budget build.

My wife just picked up a 76 TR6 for $1,000 for me. The owner removed the engine to rebuild it as it was "low" on compression and then proceeded to tear out all the carpet and the dash to move the "restoration" along. It was at this point I believe he said screw it and there it has sat in a garage for the last 2 decades. I noticed it was last registered in 1993. I found out that his dad was the orignal owner of the car and it only has 51,000 miles on it. It is in decent shape and has zero rust, minus one little spot on the grill. The owner was nice enough to take the seats out and reinstall the engine in the interior of the car for me. :) So now for the plan: Fun, reliable canyon car. I will be swapping engines as he threw out the carb and I have yet to find a valve cover or many other random parts. Ideally the engine swap would not envolve a ton of cutting or steering modification work as I'm not the best at fabrication.

1. Budget engine swap ideas.

A. 60* GM V6 with T5 (seems easy and makes decent power but I'm not sold on the sound)

B. 5.3 LS swap (I'm only considering this because it is in the corner of my garage floor. It may be a pain to swap)

C. 2.3T Ford swap (Easy enough to find in the junkyards or piece one together)

D. Toyota 3SGE + 6speed ( To my knowledge has never been put in a TR6, 200+hp 7600rpm)

E. Open to suggestions, I'd like to do this fairly cheap and not have to run some crazy standalone ECU or hack the car up to no end

2. Suspension

A. Shock conversion kit

B. 1" lowering HD springs

C. R200 rear axle swap

D. has anyone swapped over an S13 rear subframe. It has 4 simple mounting points...just an idea.

E. Brake upgrade (still researching)

3. Misc.

A. Brace frame/build roll cage

B. Seat upgrade

C .

This build will have an extremely slow start as I'm away on business for another 8 months. Any suggestions or ideas are more than welcome. I'm sorry I don't have any better pictures to post I was at the mercy of my wifes cell phone pictures she sent me. My first purchase for it was an old Triumph shift knob from ebay. 

Aaron

First of all, let me see if I have this right, your wife surprised you with a TR6 project?  Wow, congratulations on your wife and the car! 

Well, the TR6 is a good canvas for a swap, but the frame will need reinforcements if you are going too crazy with the build. Something in the 200 HP range with a R200 rear and reinforcing the diff mounts to take the additional power would be quite fun. 

2.3 Turbo and T5 would be simple and easy to modify at minimal costs. There was one at the drag strip a few years ago at the TRF Summer Party that was faster than many of the TR8's. I have a T5 and Rover V8 in my TR4A, so the T5 will fit just fine in the car. I think the  3SGE is a front sump, so that might not fit without major frame changes. The BMW sixes have been done, but this might not be cheap solution.

Great project, check the frame rails where the trailing arms mount, but it looks really solid. Watching closely!

Congratulations on your relationship, and the car.  My wife bought me a Harley dresser in 1993, and she never once rode on it, doesn't like motorcycles.   A buddy of mine put a turbo 2.3l in a MG Midget.  Boy that thing flies.  Good luck with the build.

What are you going to do with the overdrive trans?  Or it may have the overdrive cause it has the overdrive switch.

You may want to go to British V8 for some inspiration.  http://www.britishv8.org/

Not sure what the S13 is but of late a lot of talk has been going around about swapping the Nissan R200 diff in.  Get to know Richard Good over at Good Parts. 

As far as I know the owner told me it was a 4 speed transmission, I do not know if it has the overdrive in which you are talking about. I probably would sell the engine and trans but like I stated earlier I won't be home for another 8 months. The S13 a model of nissan 240sx. As for the 3SGE you are correct, it is indeed a front sump. I found the demensions on it and it is around 22" long. I don't know if that will clear the front brace or not. If anyone has that measurement that'd be awesome.

Aaron

I'm not saying that I'm an expert or anything, but check out my build thread.  It will show you where to expect some trouble.  As Dave said, take a close look at the frame where everything comes together in the middle, particularly where the trailing arms bolt on, but also where the trailing arm sections meet the main frame rails.  Look for swelling and cracking.  You *must* box in the diff mounts if you expect them to last, even with the stock motor.

My personal engine swap choice would be the BMW M54 3 liter inline 6.  Not terribly expensive and it will fit with some persuasion.  Grab the engine, trans, and all of the components that make it run.  The problem dimension will be length.    The TR6 chassis was originally designed to hold an inline 4 (TR4a), and the factory really wedged the 6 in there.  You'll need a sump that hangs down in the rear, not the front, because of the frame crossmember, and the steering rack is close.

I suspect you and Richard Good will become friends.  IMO, he sells nice upgrades for most TR6 stuff.

Also, you're wife's definitely a keeper.  That was an awesome find for a TR6.

Also, if you need any measurements let me know.  Beware of scope creep.  This thing could lead to a real case of shipwright's disease.

In reply to JoeTR6:

Thanks for the advice! Would you mind linking me to your build, I'm not the best at navigating this site yet and I can't seem to locate it. I'm all about a BMW engine as well, I have owned one in the past and other than the plastic impeller blades it was a great engine.

Aaron

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1972-triumph-tr6-looking-for-a-purpose/90123/page1/

Warning: I'm a little bit methodical, and a master at understatement.

Beware of the kits for converting the rear shocks to tube types.  A lot of people have had the frame crack at the shock mount after doing the conversion. 

Richard Good makes quality stuff for the TR6s.  I have a bunch of his stuff on mine and it all works.

BMW 6 would be an ideal powerplant but likely will require more surgery and fabrication.  I was thinking the 2.3 turbo as it would easily fit, require much less cutting and welding and your only real modifications beyond motor mounts and frame reinforcements for the R200 diff would be basically bolt-ins (transmission mount, etc).  It also is much simpler to wire adn you can keep the stock ECU.  The reason you don't see 3SGE engine swaps is due to the front sump and oil pump/filter at the front. 

But if you really want a amazing project, this does look so good!

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=219098

There are at least two 2.3 TR6's, one of the more radical ones is below. This shows how much smaller the engine is, this one is heavily modified , you could start out with a stock Turbocoupe drivetrain and go from there. Again, it really depends upon your time, fabrication skills and budget......

Looking at the steering column, left side there are two levers there.  One would be your turn signal.  The longer one close to the dash is an overdrive switch .  Just saying.

Looking good. would like to see the final outcome

The BMW would be a great choice.

Don't let the location of the oilpan sump deter you, relocation of cross members is not a big deal.

The frames are dead simple affairs, just mild sheet steel folded up unto a box and welded at the seams.

But wait, just because the carbs and valvecover are missing, does not mean that you don't still have a viable

TR-6 motor. These things are dead simple, about as straightforward as a motor can get, and new parts abound.

The DPO's description of 'low compression' could be a head gasket, rings, a valve,  all things that are pretty easy to

fix pretty quickly without dropping a bundle.

Sure, we all want more power, etc. but you could realistically be driving this thing within a couple of weeks of arriving home.

What do you prefer, driving the car, or working on the car?

I would agree with the BMW straight 6--that is what I did. The attached picture of the engine went in with minor mods to the body and frame. I did cut one corner off the oil pan to make it fit--see picture. There are dozens of other “minor mods” needed to make the engine transmission go in but probably they would not be unique to the BMW. 

The BMW 1989 M3 engine (S52) is great but its getting a bit old=harder to find with low miles.  Alternately you could try the next gen engine from a non M variant with the aluminum block.  That would save you 40? Lbs off the front.   Either way you the power is great and you will have a clean burning & reliable engine. 

My TR was drivable this summer and all worked great but I’m on these tires so its time to upgrade to a performance tire.

My choice for tire size is 215/55 17”  because you can get a summer performance tire in this size and it is the same diameter as the stock tire.

Wheels are a bit harder to source and that brings me to a subject I’m currently working on.  The best option I know of is the Rota RB.  You can get the correct bolt pattern and it’s a classic Minilite look however the available offset’s are not ideal.  You can get +4mm or +45mm.  The first sticks out a bit and the latter needs spacers to fit.  I have found that a special order can be made to get +20mm-offset.  To get that special order I need to find 3 other buyers.   Please send me a note if your interested. 

Thanks, Rob