Right hand drive conversion

[Guest Rich Lear]

Hello,

 

I am a new member around here. I currently live in the US where I have a 1972 TR6. In October I move back to Scotland and am considering taking the car with me. Has anyone done a LHD=>RHD conversion? At the same time I would do a carb => PI conversion also.

 

Any hints, tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

rich

[Guest ron]

Rich

I converted mine to RHD when I restored it, it is a relatively easy, if somewhat expensive job. If you can get an original SH metal dash backing it is easier than the repro ones, I had to use a repro one, they are not as bad as some articles would have you believe but they still need a bit of work to fit well.

I had to fabricate the bracket that is welded to the bulkhead for the steering column, but other than that everything was available either SH or new.

I used a new RH drive wiring loom, I felt it wasn't very wise to extend the existing 30 year old one, but that is an option to save money.

Don't know anything about converting to PI, I'm running on SUs, but there are plenty of PI experts in this forum so hopefully someone should be able to help you.

Whereabouts in Scotland are you moving to? I'm in Ayrshire, certainly if you bring a TR6 here you wont see many others on the road, outwith shows I think I've only seen a couple in the last 2 or 3 years.

Ron

[jean]

Hello Rich, welcome to the forum. Should you intend to convert your car to PI have a look at the conversion notes of Tony Gordon, he converted his U.S. specification TR6 (in the U.S.)  to PI. You can find his notes on

 

http://www.tr6world.com/petrol_injection.htm

 

Jean

[Guest Rich Lear]

Hi Ron,

 

Thanks for the info. I live in Inverurie, about 15 miles NW of Aberdeen. I am trying to see if there is a garage locally I can rent to store the car as I have no room at home for it. What would you estimate as a ball-park figure for the conversion? I am considering buying the stuff I need from Moss motors here (they are very close to here) because of the cheap dollar! - I might even do the conversion here before I bring it home. I am lucky, the car is original and needs only some TLC.

 

Cheers

 

rich

[Guest ron]

Hi Rich

Assuming you do the work yourself, you are probably talking about the best part of £1000 if you buy all the parts new in this country, if you can acquire them second hand you could probably half that figure.

Parts list;

Steering rack,

Set of pedals,

RH clutch master cylinder, bracket and pipe,

Metal dash backing,

Wooden dashboard,

Lower dash crash pads,

Wiring loom, or mod the existing one,

UK spec headlights and tail light lenses,

Speedo, rev counter and accelerator cables,

Glove box,

Bulkhead steering column bracket,

Various brake pipes,

I left the steering column switches on the USA side because I prefer them that way, but if you convert you might need new switches, not sure?

I changed the wipers to the UK side, mainly because it looks 'correct'

Plus a few bits I've probably forgotten!!

Ron

[wheeler]

Rich

 

There is good information regarding LHD to RHD conversion in Roger Williams book 'How to Restore Triumph TR5/TR250 and TR6.  Also plenty of information regarding PI and everything else to do with restoring TR6s.  I recently restored a basket case TR6 and found this book invaluable.

 

Regards

 

Bill

[Guest Rich Lear]

Hi Bill, Ron,

 

Thanks for the information. Ron - I think I will start acquiring stuff now and build up to it....also easier to sneak past my wife that way!!!

Bill-thanks for the book info - I will take a look

 

cheers

 

rich

[Roger H]

Hi Richard - you may find this specific page useful   http://www.british-cars.co.uk/cgi-bin....2719801   - also the TR6 pages of the site as they are mainly US based folk even though the site is in UK.

[jimmac]

Hi Richard

 

You may want to look on ebay.  There is a s/h metal dash RHD.  The link is http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....88&rd=1

[Peter Douglas Winn]

Rich

Don't throw your old bits away there are a lot of TR drivers in Europe who have RHD cars and would like to convert to LHD.

[Guest ron]

Peter

I posted mine on Ebay, the only thing that sold was the dash veneer to a chap in Portugal [interesting to post] the rest had no interest at all so I binned it.

Rimmer Bros were quite happy to take the LHD rack in exchange for a RHD one at no extra charge.

Ron

[Peter Douglas Winn]

Did you post it on an English E-bay or one of the European E-bays?

Every so often, I see in the club magazines wanted adverts.

[Guest ron]

I posted them on the UK Ebay, but put I was willing to post to Europe and USA, surprised really, I think it was the first time I posted something on Ebay and it didn't sell!

Ron

[Peter Douglas Winn]

Ron,

I don't know many persons with just a basic school English who look at the UK E-bay.

[Guest ron]

Peter

I'm not really that bothered about flogging odds and ends to go listing on several European sites, it tends to be more bother than it's worth posting things abroad unless they are of high value anyway.

I recently sold a rare Leica lenshood to a gentleman in Japan whose English was only slightly better than my Japanese, I think we were communicating using an internet translator, it was a bit hair raising but it eventually went smoothly and he was delighted with his purchase, but I think I'll stick to the Engish speaking nations in future.

Ron