Welcome to our 1969 Triumph GT6 Resoration Page !
I have many fond memories of wasting our youth driving and wrenching on our neighbor's 1970 GT6+.  I bought a 1965 Spitfire Mark 2 when I was 16, and worked on it for two years, but never looked at it after 1974.  I was getting ready to haul it into the shop and finish it, when I found this 1969 GT6+ on Facebook.  I wanted the six cylinder engine, so I convinced myself to buy it.

The website is still under construction,  Check back later for progress reports.
Click any image for a better view.

We picked up a heavy duty tandem axle tilt deck trailer to haul vehicles and elevate vehicles to a better work height.

Back from picking up the car from Madoc, Ontario.

Car was loaded on our tilt bed car hauler.  It shares the shop with our Glen-L Hot Rod V-drive ski boat.

See the boat and trailer build photos on our website ; Building the Glen- L Hot Rod

Trial fitting the 13" x 7" Appliance Hot Wire alloy wheels we purchased in 1974 for our 1965 Triumph Spitfire MK 2 project.

We built some wheel stands to raise the car to enable us to open the doors and clear the trailer fenders.  This also gives us unobstructed access to the frame and floor without having to work around axle stands.

Enough of looking at it ... Time to strip the finish and do some body work ...

Much body filler was removed from the lower section of the RH front fender and the leading edge of bonnet.  A repair patch panel will be installed to fix the thin rusty section.

Making a template for the RH front fender lip.

Rust spots were cut out and fitted with custom patches.  Metal is very thim.

The lower panel metal was too thin for welding so we cut out the section ...

... and fitted a rust repair panel.

Pasenger side floor pan is in original condition and in very good shape.

Sanblasted and primed with Epoxy Primer.  Required two small 2"x 2" patches to cover small pinholes.

Rear quarter panel was stripped to bare metal.

Primed with epoxy primer.  Panel had been previously replaced and was in excellent condition.

Driver side front floor section had been previously replaced with a custom patch panel.  Rusted section was cut out so a new 14 gauge custom panel could be fitted.

New Dynomax muffler installed. The rear valence panel had been previously replaced and is in excellent condition.

Mockup of steel fender flares to cover wider wheels.
This would be a flat top flare similar to the Volkswagen Rabbit, Golf or Dodge Omni.  Google the search term 'VW Rabbit fender lip rust repair panels' for s list of suppliers.

Mockup of a bubble flare.  This would be easier to do in fiberglass, but steel is forever but a lot of work.

Cylinder head removed. New intake and exhaust valves, valve guides and a valve job will be required.

New snowflake-rated winter radials were mounted on the 13 " wheels. They are required by Quebec law during the winter months.

Here's a look at the right hand fender arch lip repair panel
If you're fabricating fender flares to cover wide tires, starting with this panel will make the job much easier.  The part is listed in the Moss Motors Spitfire/GT6 catalog.

Couldn't wait for a left hand fender lip rust repair panel, so we fabricated one from 18 gauge steel.
By forming the upper radius of the panel on the car, you will notice that the lower outer edge of the panel turns into a "bubble" arch.  Quick way to make a steel bubble flare !

This would make a nice "bubble" fender flare.  It could be bonded/riveted to the fender if you want a semi-permanent installation, or welded after cutting out the stock fender lip for wider tire clearance.

Front fender arch panel will also fit the rear fenders with a bit of tweaking.

Custom LH fender arch repair patch was fabricated for the LH fender.

Final fitment.

Fender arch lip was hammer formed with a dolly, a piece of pipe, and a 1/4 " x 2 " x 6 " piece of flat stock set up vertically in the bench vise.  Cold formed, no heat applied.

The repair panel was lapped to the fender and tacked every 4" A pneumatic die grinder with a 1/8"x2" cutting disc was used to cut through the panels between a set of tacks.  Once the panels have been butted to one another, a tack every 2" keeps panel warpage to a minimum.

The lower front panel area is rusted through in several spots, so we'll order up a rust repair panel.

Fender lip ready for welding,

Time to see what's lurking under all that thick cracked body filler ...

At least 3 quarts of body filler was removed from this panel.   This job is what you call a 'Cave and Pave'.

Fixing this mess is going to be a challenge !

The bottom valance seam is very rusty and riddled with holes.  This joint is a very bad spot prone to water intrusion, rusting, and blistering the paint finish.  We'll be making an 'L' shaped repair panel to remove this joint and prevent any more issues.

Black primer is used as a guide coat before we start the metal finishing process.  Once all the dents have been hammered and dolly'd flat, very little filler will be needed to finish the panel.

Panel was sanded with an air file using 80 grit sandpaper.  Black primer areas indicate low spots.

Low spots were hammered and dollied, and the panel was resanded until all traces of black primer are gone.

Card stock template fitted to make a repair patch.

18 gauge patch panel being fitted.

Patch area cut out leaving a 3/4" margin around the perimeter of the patch.

Temporary tacks.

Forming top and bottom of patch.  The joint was cut, butted and will be full welded.

Metal was too thin to weld, so we cut it out ...

... and cut out a patch panel.

Front fender was hammered and dollyed for the last time.  Black primer guide coat will tell us how we did.

More work to do ...

Now that's better !

More black primer guide coat and final blocking with 40 grit paper.

Fender was masked up, prepped with metal conditioner, cleaned with wax and grease remover and waterborne cleaner before spraying the epoxy primer.

After a one day cure, we applied 2 light skim coats of Evercoat Rage Gold body filler.  Black spray guide coat was lightly sprayed on the panel before sanding the filler to help identify low spots.

Once all the body filler has been blocked with 80 grit paper, we used Evercoat's Optex Super Build 4:1 polyester high build primer.  The primer goes on pink but changes to gray when block sanded.  The low spots will show up pink, so will need more sanding until they turn gray, or you can apply more body filler to the low spots.

When right off the gun, it looks very pink ...

... but thankfully tones down a bit when it starts to flash.  This makes a good base for block sanding.

The right front bonnet inner wheel tub was badly rusted where the bonnet support tube was bolted to the panel.  We cut out the rust and fabricated a repair panel from 18 gauge steel.

Patch panel overlapped and tacked.

Seam is cut between tacks,

Panels are butted flush and welded with a series of small tacks.  The seam is ground flush.

Inner fender weld seams covered with Evercoat Metal 2 Metal aluminium body filler.  This is to ensure that any welding pinholes are filled and prevents any moisture from creeping into the joint under the filler.

Patch panel was butt welded, so very little filler is needed to hide the joints.

Time to rebuild the dual Stromberg 150 CD carburetors.  Carb kits were Moss Motors catalog items.

RH inner fender lower closing panel was riddled with holes, so it was marked off for cutting.

A card stock template was cut out for the patch.

The patch area was cut out.  

The patch was plug-brazed with an oxy-acetelyne torch.  Less grinding than a mig welded plug weld.

More rust under the bonnet support tube.  More plug welds !

Laying up some fiberglass to make a mold of the RH inner fender.  This part will be a bubble fender flare to cover wider tires.

The fiberglass part was pulled out of the inner fender and was trial-fitted to the wheel arch.

the bubble flair can be fitted in one of two ways.  Bolted/bonded to the fender arch lip, or mounted 3" higher if the wheel arch is cut 3" above the fender arch.  The flat part of the flare will be attached to the flat part of the inner wheel well.  This will eliminate the fender lip entirely leaving 3" of extra height for taller, wider wheels.  The flare lip will be at the same height as the the stock wheel lip.

I'm happy with the flare profile.  Still needs a lot of work to finish it ...

We laminated another layer of 7 ounce fiberglass cloth to the outer wheel arch.  West System epoxy resin was used for this job.

If you prefer a steel fender flare, you can purchase an outer wheel arch panel available from Moss Motors Ltd (mossmotors.com).  Reasonably priced at $120.00 USD.  Trim to suit your application.  

Send me an email if you have any questions about the flares,  We might produce molds and provide flares in kit form if enough interest is shown.

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That's it for now. More photos will be posted as progress is made.

Bookmark this site and check out our updates.

If you have any comments or questions about the project, send us an email at paul+kanecustomboats.com (Replace + with '@')