1970 Triumph TR6 Restoration

There’s one spot on the frame that has always bothered me, and it’s this slight bulge next to the outer passenger side trailing arm mounting bracket:

There’s a piece of reinforcing metal inside the frame where that trailing arm mount attaches.  It’s not uncommon for this to rust out on TR6 frames.  I decided it was time to see what was going on here before I put the floors back in and lost easy access to the area.

Directly under this spot on the frame was a noticeably thin section that crackled when I pressed on it hard.  I easily hammered a screw driver through it and pried it open to get a look inside.  There was plenty of loose rust and dirt, and the reinforcement metal was covered in surface rust, but it appeared to be solid:

I haven’t made up my mind yet on what I want to do with this bit, but it isn’t delaying anything.  I have plenty of jobs to keep me busy before the floors have to go back in.

I mentioned a few things about oil in my Spin-on adapter post.  Here’s the rest of that little job.

After I drained the old oil from the car I also removed the sump so that I could install a new gasket.  Here’s the bottom end of the engine with the sump removed (sorry for the blurriness, this wasn’t an easy angle):

Upon examining the inside of the sump, I was pleased to find nothing but dirty oil and sludge.  There were no noticable metal shavings, and even better, no thrust washers or set screws (problems I have heard are not uncommon).

Here’s the sump removed and laregly wiped down:

After cleaning as much tar out of the bottom of the sump as possible, i left the inside of it alone.  It was just going to be filled with oil again, so there was no point in degreasing it entirely.  I decided that I might as well paint the outside while it was off the car though.  I took a cup brush to it to remove as much grease, dirt, rust, and old paint as possible, then washed it down with degreaser and let it dry.

I plugged up the drain hole and masked off the bottom to keep paint from getting inside the sump or in the area where the new gasket would sit.

Finally, I hit it with a couple coats of black engine paint rated for 500°F.  I wanted to use a primer, but the store didn’t sell high temp primer.  It still looks like I got good adhesion though.

I wiped down the underside of the engine, put on a new gasket, and bolted the sump back on to a torque of about 18 ft-lbs.

Those are fingerprints from installing it in that last shot, not smudged paint.  It looks great now and will make it much easier to tell if I’m leaking oil (none yet!).

I also cleaned up the valve cover and replaced its seal, cap, and mounting hardware (except the threaded rods).  I had an extra bit of fuel line that was painted red, so I stuck that on too.  Here’s the cleaner and more colorful engine:

I put 5 quarts of Valvoline VR1 20W50 racing oil in it, but after a short period of running the engine it looks like I’m still a bit low on the dipstick.  It’s not leaking, so I guess the aftermarket filter adds a bit of capacity.

I’d like to say that this is the best low-cost upgrade money can buy, but I’m withholding judgment until I get the car on the road and put some miles on it.  That said, so long as this thing doesn’t leak or give me problems, it will be worth every penny.

For those of you who have never experienced the joy of a TR6 oil change, let me show you what you are missing.

This is the original canister style filter housing and element:

I actually think they look pretty cool.  The problem lies in how this sucker is mounted.

This is where it attaches, to the SIDE of the block:

I’m guessing the engineer who came up with this design also owned a shop towel or kitty litter company, because there is no way to remove the filter without dumping oil over everything below it.  In addition to this, if you actually want to remove the housing from the engine compartment you need to unbolt the clutch thingy (the one with the red hose coming out of it in the picture) and swing it out of the way first.  I couldn’t find an easier way to get the damn thing out.

Here’s the new spin-on adapter (Moss Motor’s version anyway):

The spin-on adapter basically adds a 90° bend so that a more common oil filter can be installed vertically from below, the way all cars should have their filters installed in my opinion.  95% of the oil stays in the filter as you take it off (unless you tip it), and all you need to deal with are a few drips from where it was screwed on.

Here’s the adapter and filter installed:

Remember the clutch thingy I mentioned earlier?  If your car has one of those you won’t have to remove it to screw on and off the new filter, but it interferes enough so that you won’t be able to mount the adapter perfectly vertically.  It has to be angled slightly towards the front of the car.  Here’s a shot from below showing how close it is:

As with many things TR6, there is controversy as to what the best filters and oil to use are.  There is also some variation between spin-on adaptors made by different manufacturers.  I’ll probably change this Fram to something else the next time I do a change, but I doubt it will have any negative effect for now.

The general consensus seems to be that the following filters are good (again, see what fits your spin-on, they differ):
NAPA Gold 1516
WIX 51516
K&N HP2009

I haven’t refilled my engine yet as I still need to put the sump back on, but for oil, I’m using Valvoline VR-1 20W-50 (most recommended)

These are also suggested:
Redline 20W-50
Rotella-T 20W-50
Brad Penn 20W-50
Castrol GTX 20W-50 + Blue STP (for ZDDP aka zinc)

I think 10W-50 is recommended for winter driving.

As for quantity, I’ve been told 9.64 Pints for 1968 through 1972, and 10.8 pints for later years.