GT6 Do i need to fabricate extra supports for the GT6?

[Eric_B]

In a previous topic about my '70 GT6+ i talked about having a toyota 20R engine in the car opposed to the Triumph engine it came with. ( I didn't do the swap, it was like this when i bought it) I'm not sure if i'm going to put a GT6 engine in it immediately. I might in the future, but since it didn't come with the original engine i would have to track one down and then come up with the money to buy it, etc. Anyways, it looks like when the engine was swapped in, they cut some supports on the shock towers that i assume would've been welded to the frame. I've included two pictures of the passengerside shock tower and one that i crudely illustrated where i think a mount should be. Let me know what you guys think. I really need some input because i dont really want to know what would happen if that shocktower isn't strong enough to handle a corner. Thanks a lot!

-Eric

 

[SpitBang]

Hi Eric,

the parts which have been cut away from the shock tower were for mounting the original engine, so they are not strictly necessary.
If you want to be good, you could add a strut brace between the two shock towers, though that would of course depend on how much room you have in front of your engine.

You may be able to see in this picture how the engine was originally fitted.

 

[SpitBang]

Ah, found a picture of a strut brace as used on a re-engined Triumph Spitfire

https://crazyspitfire.blogspot.com/

 

[rotoflex]

I'd think the previous owner had a fairly wobbly car!

Is the replacement motor mount attached to the suspension upright or the frame?
If it's attached to the frame & not the upright, even with a cross-brace I don't see much to inhibit fore-&-aft movement of the suspension towers.

If you've got a hot rod or "speed shop" in town, fabrication of a cross-brace between the suspension towers would likely be a job best turned over to them for speed, materials, expertise, & probably cost.

If you can't engineer a strut brace, GT6 engines come up now & again on eBay, often for $100 or less (it's the shipping that can be costly), but you may have to poke around to get the suspension uprights.

From the position of the front pulley, it looks like the engine weight has been moved back, probably moving the very front-heavy GT6's weight distribution closer to neutral. I can't tell frome the photos, but I'd suppose it has a different transmission as well.

 

[TR4nut]

Not sure if this is even a budget or location possibility, but this looks like a nice source of parts to get that 70 going again:
GT6+

Randy

 

[SpitBang]

{snip]
Is the replacement motor mount attached to the suspension upright or the frame?
If it's attached to the frame & not the upright, even with a cross-brace I don't see much to inhibit fore-&-aft movement of the suspension towers.
{snip}

Not entirely convinced that the engine mounts really do that much to prevent fore and aft movement. I would have thought that if you wanted to eliminate that flexibility you would need to brace the suspension tower down to the frame or onto a roll frame as per Steve Smith

I can though see how having the engine sat on and between the towers can help keep the top of the towers apart, as the weight of the engine is pushing them apart.

 

[Eric_B]

Uhm... WOW. That last picture of the GT6 engine bay makes me literally drool. That is such a beautiful engine bay. I plan to do some work with Braided hoseline myself. Though costly, i think it looks amazing and it will pretty much last forever.
As far as a brace going from shock tower to shock tower, i'm not sure thats possible in my situation. My engine doesn't sit THAT far back, but i do like how much it sits back in the sense of weight distribution. So would a mount from the shock tower to the frame not work? Or what? Would it kill the cars handling?

-Eric

 

[SpitBang]

Yes, Steve's engine bay does look good, a lot of the braided hoses are down to it being dry sumped.

I am still not convinced that you need to add that extra brace as shown in your first post, that angle from the shocker tower to the frame looks too small to be effective to me.
If you really want to stiffen up your frame, you would probably be better off starting by fitting a full roll cage, which is securely attached to both the body and frame.

Another thought, you could re-make the engine mount plates, so that the engine is mounted onto the shocker tower again, this time with shorter rubbers. That way you give the extra bracing to the shocker towers and reduce engine movement, as your existing engine rubbers look very long.

 

[svtmikey]

I think I have attached a picture of the bracing from my 69 GT6+ project. I think it is pretty obvious that the bracing IS required. I would bet without the bracing it would be downright dangerous!
You be the judge...

 

[Eric_B]

Hey, your picture didn't work on the forum. If you could email it to me Slick2570@yahoo.com that would be great! Thanks a lot.

-Eric