I’ve managed to be able to sink some more money into the Triumph over the past month or so which, as always, makes fantastic things happen. Waiting both patiently and anxiously I received a phone call from Harman Heavy Vehicle Specialists, the company whom I gave the GT6 and Miata driveshafts to. Just as a refresher, my goal was to have them make a hybrid driveshaft out of the two, retaining the shaft and front slip yoke from the Miata and welding a new GT6 differential flange on the rear. Unfortunately, the shop wasn’t comfortable doing this as it wasn’t going to work out perfectly.
End Float – Wheel Bearing Spacers
However, Dave, the technician that was working on my driveshaft, suggested that he make a brand new one from scratch. This means brand new metal, brand new universal joints, brand new slip yoke and a brand new differential flange. Quite obviously, the only downside was the near triple price tag that I was expecting to pay to make a hybrid. One added benefit to the new universal joint on the slip yoke side of the driveshaft is that the joints are not serviceable on a Miata driveshaft as they’re staked in. With the creation of the new shaft, Dave would also be able to change the universal joints to a serviceable type which allows for periodic greasing and easy replacement if/when necessary. Bonus!
Stainless – CV Shaft Hardware
I thought about the driveshaft for a while and I figured if I’m already putting this much time and money into the car, why not make the driveshaft another bulletproof piece that I won’t ever have to worry about. Needless to say I have a brand new, beefy shaft (heyyy ladies 😉 ) for the GT6 that will be able to withstand way more power and abuse than I can ever throw at it. The support I received from Harman HVS and especially their technician Dave was fantastic. The quality of their work is outstanding too, I would highly recommend using them for all of your driveshaft needs.
Rear End – GT6 Rear Differential with Canley’s Classics CV Shaft Kit
Almost immediately after picking the shaft up I headed over to Home Depot to get some new stainless steel hardware to bolt the driveshaft to the differential. Fit and finish is fantastic, I’m really happy with the way it turned out. From the photos you can see that there is a fair amount of slip yoke outside of the output shaft seal. I spoke to both Dave at Harman HVS and Dave at Dave’s garage which is an awesome Miata specific shop – both parties said that the amount that is sticking out is normal to allow for travel when the suspension moves up and down. I worried about this for a while, as the end of the slip yoke is exactly 1.25″ from the output shaft seal.
Passenger Side – CV Joint
With the reinforced slip yoke that has been installed on the new driveshaft and the pre-existing spline contact, there will be no concerns about anything breaking while beating on the car. To me, the most exciting part about all of this driveshaft stuff is that this is the final piece of the puzzle to connect the entire driveline together. Now I say this loosely, but the car now has the potential to move itself. With that being said, I need to obviously revisit the motor and unfortunately the spacers that I had made for the wheel bearing end float.
Drivers Side – CV Joint
I made my measurements off of what I thought to be safe assumptions based on the geometry of the rotoflex axles. I am still a firm believer that making one spacer per half shaft is a better idea than having three stacked, however the required thickness of the spacer remains to be a mystery. What I plan on doing this week is a trick that I learned at work, originally called cast and projector. This involves taking plasticine and pressing it into the surface of a part, making a cast of whatever surface it is pressed on.
CV Shafts – Assembled
How I plan on applying this is taking a ring of plasticine and assembling the wheel bearing assembly with the plasticine sandwiched in between the two bearings, effectively making the spacer size that I will need. Once assembled and torqued, I will take it all apart, take the plasticine and use either a micrometer or a vernier caliper to measure the final size. Hopefully this will suffice as I don’t want to make a third set of spacers. If I am successful, I will have an entire completed driveline. Even with the marble filled Miata motor, the rear wheels will be able to turn themselves. This is a huge step in the right direction.
Slipped In – New Serviceable U-Joint, Upgraded Slip Yoke
I got a text from Joe earlier this week which contained an exciting picture. While it wasn’t the usual picture of bikini-clad women, it was probably the next best thing – the seat brackets that I designed for the OMP Brands Hatch seats came back from laser cutting and they look fantastic. As of today, I haven’t had a chance to test fit anything yet, but they look just like the model which should adapt the original GT6 seat bolt pattern to the new seats perfectly. I’m sure there will be some sort of modification or messing around that I will need to do in order to get them perfect, but regardless its another huge step towards completion.
Driveshaft – New Shaft Flange to Factory Driveshaft Flange
I expect that the main hoop that I am having Mitch bend for me will be done soon which is the first step to installing the roll bar into the GT6. This is so exciting because the interior of the car is starting to come together as well. When I look at the big picture, the Triumph is such an attainable goal, provided I stick to it and keep plugging away.
Design – Seat Bracket in SolidWorks
Mike and I also hung out last night and I had a chance to see the progress on his Miata build. Not only is the car looking fantastic and well on track, but more parts were also removed from it. These parts include the entire electrical system, ECU and engine harness for the Miata motor. I’ll likely be stealing that from him soon so I can start adapting it to the Triumph. There’s a possibility that I can fire the car up in a couple of months if I do my research and bust out the soldering iron.
Laser Cut – OMP Brands Hatch to Triumph GT6 Seat Bracket
Exciting stuff!
– Sean
GT6me 
Hey Sean, great work.I just recently started on some electrical diagrams; beginning with Schematics and then moving onto the more user-friendly Wiring Diagrams.Let me know if you want me to move on those or any other topic I haven't yet covered on my site.Keep it up.Steve
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