This car is essentially a Vitesse 6/Mk1 tub on a MKII
Chassis. Mechanical bits are
MKII.
I got it from a scrap yard in 1988 as an abandoned restoration project. It came with a really solid convertible tub and bulkhead on a sound MKII chassis plus an 1147cc engine and spitfire overdrive. Although there were many other loose parts with it, a lot of these turned out to be unrelated to the car, or even any Triumph. My catastrophically rusty saloon came to the rescue supplying many of the missing parts before retiring to the same scrap yard. This is a very tough way to do a restoration – much better to start with a complete car! Restoration
Mechanically it is fairly standard except for;
-Homemade EFI System based on a Megasquirt ECU.
-Nippon Denso lightweight starter motor.
-Bosch 75A alternator
-The gearbox is a late 1850 Dolomite unit with J-type overdrive built into a 3-rail case.
-Differential is a 3.63:1 in a 6-bolt case.
-Telescopic rear dampers.
-AVO adjustable front dampers.
-Wheels are Dunlop Cosmics (13 x 5.5) with 175/70 tyres
Bodily it is very sound (although not very beautiful) with solid, un-welded chassis and floors.
The colour is a Rover one. It was meant to be Moonglow (as used on P6) but we got it wrong! Yes, it looks a lot like primer (especially 15 years on) but it is a forgiving colour for the under-skilled paint sprayer (me) and doesn’t show the dirt!
Interior is Mk1 and somewhat tatty. We did make new carpets for it – but that was 16 years ago and it shows!
Coming projects:
Mapped ignition with Megasquirt or Megajolt ECU and Ford EDIS-6 hardware
Tidy up the bonnet (or find a better one).
Improved door catches.
Ford Type 9 gearbox conversion.
General interior tidy up. (I’m more interested in the oily bits really)