Trium(phant)ly still going...

[red5]

Good morning all. Currently on a train to the heaving metropolis that is Ipswich, leg 3 of my quest to obtain the finest sports car known to man -the mechanical Triumph that is the TR7!

[Father Ted]

Brave brave man.

I look forward to your tale of endurance in pulling the thing home at the end of a length of finest 3/4 inch 8 twist hemp.

[Cavcraft]

TR7 and hemp: Did the latter lead to the former?

 

Good on you Red, the Triumph looks a class buy and is very well priced, look forward to your roadtrip thread and loads of pictures!

[trigger]

Im waving to you at the station! At least you picked a nice day to collect the car...

[Station]

I was hoping this would be for sale next month. If you feel like offloading it again at some point in a few months?

[red5]

Im waving to you at the station! At least you picked a nice day to collect the car...

 

Bloody hell trig, I'd hate to see a 'not nice' day over your end then ! What was that French thing I was picked up in ? All modern and reliable (for a given value)...pfff.

 

 

Ps, back. Triumphantly...

 

Coming soon to a driveway near you -

 

'An Epic Struggle Against Impossible Odds'

'Man and Union Convenors Said It Was Not To Be!'

 

Watch as our intrepid adventurer set off at Stupid 'o' Clock into the unknown!

 

Gasp as he runs the Gauntlet of TfL Incompetence! And runs for his connection!

 

Shiver as he is stranded in Ipswitchâ„¢

 

The watch with bated breath as Our Hero battles the elements in his winter-spec 2dr Rwd Sports Coupe...oh, wait...hang on....Rwd you say..200 miles of snow...bugger.

 

With a 1,000 Elephants !!!! ( courtesy of Mr T Pratchett esq)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pics to follow

 

red5

[Minimad5]

This sounds even better than our* little Herald trip !

Sadly i didn't have a camera to show pictures, so look forward to your write up and pics'

 

*our meaning - WarrenT, Watanabe and myself crammed into a Herald full of spares, four MGF alloys, "Snacks" and a booster pack to power the Sat Nav.

[red5]

So, having soldiered on through the worst that the snow/ice/morons in soft-roaders could throw at it the weekend* (didn't miss a beat. Not once) I decided I was going to drive it to work. Which it did, faultlessly for 3 days. On the 3rd day I decided to change the engine oil only as a precursor to a full engine service/valve clearances check and adjust in a week or so. Foolish man I hear you say, leave well alone?

 

Oil change completed, sump plug not rounded/stripped/off a completely different car/leaking. Checked coolant, tyre pressures (again), refilled carb dashpots. Drove car home. No problem. Lovely this. Pointed out to wife that 'that Brownâ„¢ thing I bought' has behaved faultlessly. Oh dear.

 

The 4th day dawns..TR starts faultlessly as usual. I jump in...well, execute some sort of vaguely acrobatic/undignified manoevre into drivers seat that all TR7 owners become aquainted with. Approximately 2 miles from home into the 18 mile journey to work I stop at a crossroads. I attempt to pull away from said junction when there is an almighty bang from the rear, no warning lamps on - engine still running. Blip the throttle and she does a fair impersonation of a Spitfire (winged type) taxi-ing. The remaining silencer (centre one replaced with striaght pipe long ago judging by the welded-in pipe) has a hole the size of my fist. The repair plate previously welded in is cooling nicely on the highway. I retrieved my exhaust patch, placed in the boot with the interior carpet and did what any Autoshiter would.

 

Turned radio up proper loud and drove to work

 

£180 + vat and fitting kit for a mild steel system

£190 + vat for a SS system

£350 + vat for a SS 4 branch manifold and system

 

£sod all for a bit of sheet laying around and an hour or so to remove, weld sheet round and refit.

 

Choices, choices.

 

 

 

 

* Epic journey write-up/pics to come. Soon. Probably.

[RedSparrow]

Welcome to a world of pain my friend.

[trigger]

Sounds like you got of quite lightly, My back box is shot as well, If i want a S/S system (which i do) i have to fork out £339!

[Skizzer]

Fix it the Autoshite way:

 

 

+

 

 

+

 

 

=

[ashmicro]

/\ My Dad did that repair on our Citroen GS in 1977, the day we were going on holiday. It was still holding in 1979 when the car was sold. (MOT's in NI were 6 years in those days). In true Belfast fashion, Dad used a Harp lager can instead, the old type with the exposed seam and removable arrse.

[michiel]

/\ My Dad did that repair on our Citroen GS in 1977, the day we were going on holiday. It was still holding in 1979 when the car was sold. (MOT's in NI were 6 years in those days). In true Belfast fashion, Dad used a Harp lager can instead, the old type with the exposed seam and removable arrse.

 

Mine did the same which held for a few weeks... sounded awesome when the hole reappeared!

[scooters]

I once blew a chunk the size of an old 50p out the side of my mid pipe on a 940 Sport giving it some turbo boost laldy on the M1 - spitfire sound -

 

one baked bean can - 2 jubilee clips and a tin of gun-gum - repair lasted 60k!

[red5]

So, time to take the Triumph to work and see if I can make it slightly less deafening.

Does my bum look big in brown....

 

 

 

 

Hmmm. 'Silencer' you say. Never mind, we can fix it. Probably. For a given value of fix anyway.

 

 

 

 

Got to love working in a engineering building. See that rolling? I did that.

So, closer inspection of the exhaust revealed no centre box, or join. Removal to repair would be pointless at this juncture, not that there is a lot left to weld to. So.

 

 

 

 

Tube of exhaust sealer and one large Jubilee clip later - we have a winner.

 

 

 

 

10 minutes on a fast idle and she's done.

 

 

 

Total cost of repair £2.30 and my lunchtime.

Nice and quiet on way home....

 

Well, now I can hear 2nd gear and the back axle noise of mystery again.

[steve austin]

Nice repair job! Glad the radio is working for you! I can honestly say I didnt know about the exhaust being on its last legs, I dont do enough rolling around the floor these days.............

[red5]

Nice repair job! Glad the radio is working for you! I can honestly say I didnt know about the exhaust being on its last legs, I dont do enough rolling around the floor these days.............

 

No worries Steve, It was fine for 240 miles in snow etc, only blew out on 18 mile gentle commute !

 

And I don't believe you don't do enough rolling around on floor - house was full of kids

[HillmanImp]

And I don't believe you don't do enough rolling around on floor - house was full of kids

 

Hopefully this comment is taken out of contex and you are not a paedo?

 

Seriously though, are the clips holding it on alright? Would it not be better to weld? A little gutted I was over-ruled on this now as its so hawt.

[red5]

Oooer, not sure how you got to that conclusion...wouldn't have been the first thing that popped in my mind....want a Werthers Original?

 

I drove it home to 'cure' it and see if it held - I might drop a bit on the ends to hold it in place - only concern really was it turning under load, so either some rivets or mig. Either is a bit risky as it's proper thin in places. Intention is to replace it at some point, although that is fairly low down on the list of things to do currently. Was toying with welding in a silencer off something, but the rest of the system from the d/pipe backwards is mostly rust anyways, so this will do! It's also one piece from downpipe due to previous repairs so wasn't entertaining the idea of cutting it.

 

Unless I could fashion a sidepipe...hmm.

 

 

Ps. I waited until wife was out of country before making purchase/trek to North Pole. She came back to see it parked on the drive...

[steve austin]

 

Ps. I waited until wife was out of country before making purchase/trek to North Pole. She came back to see it parked on the drive...

Ha ha ha, will have to wait till the mrs goes to her mums in London before I buy my next shite!! Great idea.

[messerschmitt owner]

 

Ps. I waited until wife was out of country before making purchase/trek to North Pole. She came back to see it parked on the drive...

Ha ha ha, will have to wait till the mrs goes to her mums in London before I buy my next shite!! Great idea.

mine turned up on the drive one morning at 5am - I got hell and had to come home from work!

[richardthestag]

Love the TR7 and I guess this would be one of the last Speke built cars with 4 on the floor.

 

Mommy thestag had an R reg speke tr7 that rusted away as fast as we could weld the bastard up. But I never stopped loving that car, its canary yellow paint, tartan seats and webasto roof

 

Moor pics please

[HMC]

Your 7 has such a brilliant period colour combo- Brown and Gold with tartan interior IIRC. Seem to recall it may have some period alloys too? Any other immediate plans for it? Moar pic please!

[red5]

Yep, one of the last (or 1st...) Speke cars. Still on 4 spot and baby back axle. Sprint alloys ftw !

 

Was tempted to swap to a LT77 and big axle but don't see many still in 4 speed guise it seems. Might throw a couple of layshaft bearings in it and see how it fares.

[red5]

So, time to start on a bit of a tune-up. Yes, it's Skinners Union O'clock. For the 1st time in about 10 years...

 

Start with the float chambers - nice collection of crud in the bottom of both - just about see the dark shadows in the pics - apologies, crappy phone camera.

 

 

 

Float chambers drained, cleaned out and very gently blown out with a low pressure air line. Dashpots off....

 

 

Not too bad really - seen much worse. For some reason lost pics of rear carb. Meh.

 

 

Damper springs are shagged - not surprisingly as they look like the original factory ones. Adjusted them temporarily and refitted. Iirc the Green Springs and E3 needles were the way to go? Anyone?

Anyways, having stre...adjusted them time to refit, fill the dampers up and find a stethoscope. 2minutes later and voila -

 

 

Not too shabby for a partial strip only, no timing adjustments or valve clearance checks. Check out the HC's !

 

Left her running a tad rich for the moment.

 

Questions/comments?

[red5]

Bonus pic of TR at rest. Camouflage....

 

[richardthestag]

I seriously love that paint combo.

 

engine bay pics bring back many happy memories.

 

BTW check to see how close the bottom rad hose is to the alternator pulley. Mommy thestag thought she had blown it when the alternator finally chewed through the hose. she never thought to mention the odd noise when she was ragging it through the gears

 

I also had huge fun adjusting the headlamps so that one would wink, she was annoyed but i never managed to get them right again!! the best combo was when the headlights popped up and down alternately to each other when she used the headlamp flasher

[red5]

Right then. The list.

 

Find out what fell off on way to work and made a comedy clang/rolling noise up road.

Some sort of service type thing - oil, plugs filters,trans, diff, brake/clutch fluid yadda...

Valve clearances - cam out job. I hated doing them...

O/s/f wheel bearing.

N/s/f wheel bearing.

N/s/r wheel bearing *

Diff pinion bearing. *

Clutch judder.

Driver seat back snapped in usual place.

Refit headlamp surrounds.

Refit plenum.

Refusal to rev past 4500rpm.

Headlamps pointing at floor.

Exhaust ...

Stop (ha!) water ingress.

Nosiy (ish) gearbox...well 1st and 2nd and not bad for one of these really...

Wiper one-shot shorting.

O/s/f drop glass does. And tilts.

Choke warning lamp inoperative - amazing how that annoys me more than the iminent diff/bearing collapse.

Resecure n/s/r door skin to door at bottom.

Strip front brakes.

Strip rear brakes.

Find source of random coolant drip.

Replace all the 'suspension' bushes.

Paint floor (interior) and find some carpet.

Repair/refit o/s/f door trim panel.

Find a radio that fits, and picks up things other than Radio 2 a la Christineâ„¢

Fix the clock.

Replace speedo cable.

Find steel wheels/sell Dolly ones.

Find/aquire chin spoiler.

Fix random judder when braking...about as likely as the devil skating to work...

 

* possibly one and the same. Or, more likely, both.

 

That's the start, off the top of my head. Not really too concerned with bodywork as yet.

 

Still starts 1st turn every morning.

Getting between 30-35mpg out of the wedge so far.

Brown/gold = win.

Tyre squeal on islands = win.

Pop-up headlamps = win

Older than most of my automotive students = Flawless Victory!

 

it is, literally, The Shape Of Things To Come.

[ashmicro]

What a fantastic machine, and some great work on your part too. RESTECP.

[vulgalour]

I have to ask, because I'm curious, but is the two tone a factory special thing? I saw mention of Speke, but I have no idea what that is and the internet makes me none the wiser.