Refit begins at last
The GT6 body is pristine, so Nigel begins to work through attachment issues
After its marathon trip to the bodyshop for much welding and perfect new paint, the GT6 came home last month. I didn’t start on the refit straight away, feeling I would prefer to pick a moment free from time pressure to simply enjoy the pleasure of fitting all the shiny bits back onto the pristine body.
That time eventually arrived a week ago. I’ve chosen to start at the front of the car and began by cleaning the alloy wheels then getting the necessary bits of trim from storage in the spare bedroom. Anything that needed cleaning received a thorough going-over, lamp lenses were washed, and chrome was polished.
The first parts to go back on the car were the three pieces of the front valance. The original centre section had been painted off the car and it bolted back into place easily.
Next came the valance corners. The old ones had rotted to the point it was cheaper to buy new than pay for the time required to repair them, so months ago I bought two new corners that were also painted off the car.
Inevitably the captive mounting nuts were full of paint, so I ran a tap through to clear the threads then fitted the indicator-sidelight units – much easier done off the car. With preparation complete, the corners were simple to fit – four bolts secure each to the front of the chassis.
Now the valance was on the car and lining up reasonably well with the bonnet, I could fit the bumper. It’s held in place by four bolts, one within each of the bonnet hinge boxes at the front of the chassis, and one through each corner of the valance. I covered the bumper ends with masking tape to avoid scraping the fresh paint and rested the blade in place to check everything lined up.
The bolts inside the hinge boxes are a real fiddle but eventually the threads caught and tightened. Moving to the valance corners, the third bumper bolt went in without protest but the final one was a different story…
Knuckling down
The valance is double-skinned and the bumper bolt could not fit through its slot because the two skins of the valance had been misaligned during manufacture. It’s yet another example of
poorly made reproduction body parts and hugely frustrating, as it would have been no more difficult to make the valance correctly. There was no alternative but to sacrifice the grazed knuckles and time spent getting the bumper on, so off it came again, giving access to open up the misshapen slot with a rat tail file.
At least I had avoided putting myself under time pressure and by way of compensation, the bumper fitted perfectly at the second attempt. The spoiler fitted after the now familiar ritual of tightening inaccessible bolts, and was quickly followed by the black plastic radiator grille and over-riders. Progress again.
Lighting up time
Long ago I had converted the GT6 from sealed beam headlight units to brighter halogen bulbs in aftermarket reflectors. The reflectors had suffered badly from water ingress, resulting in their reflective silvering rusting and peeling, sure to reduce light output and possibly an MOT failure point. I’ve found to my cost over the years that cheap headlights are a false economy and now choose to fit genuine Cibié or Lucas.
The necessary Lucas 7in reflectors were on ebay for a slightly better price, so that’s what I’ve got. The Lucas units on my TR6 have been there over 12 years and are still as good as new, so I reckon the GT6’S new eyes will last.
I finished up my blast of progress at the front by fitting a new bonnet badge, as the chrome on the old one was pitted. It’s a five-minute job, including carefully cleaning excess paint from the fixing holes, but the little chrome badge gave an immense feeling of pleasure and progress, well beyond the time spent.
I stood back to admire the now well-dressed front of the GT6 with a feeling that, nearly a year after I started stripping back to bare metal, the end of the project isn’t too far away. I’m looking forward to finishing the refit over the next month or two and am confident I’ll be more than satisfied with the result. Happy days are here again.
nigel.clark@practicalclassics.co.uk