2018, October 19-20th Lombard Rally Bath

The entry list for the Lombard Rally Bath 2018 looked a bit like a Who's Who of British rallying with illustrious names like Stig Blomquist, Jimmy McRae, Dai Llewellyn, Louise Aitken-Walker, Graham Elsmore etc etc etc. They were driving such classic cars as Audi Quattro, Opel Manta 400, Lancia 037, Alpine Renault 110, Datsun 240Z, Ford Escort Mk. 1&2 and Mini Cooper S to name but a few.   My navigator was my old school friend Oliver Tomlins who I have competed on rallies with since we both discovered cars in the late 1960s.  We had been allocated start number 118 being a relatively modern and standard TR7.  There were four other TR7s doing it as well, all proper TR7V8 rally cars.

Cars were flagged away from the start in Pultney Street in Bath just like back in the 1970s. Lots of people had gathered to watch us which gave the event a nice friendly send off.

The idea of the event was to revisit some of the classic stages used on the 1976 Lombard RAC Rally so our first location to visit was Longleat Safari Park but it was bit foggy here so we couldn't see much!

Longleat House is there in the mist somewhere behind us.

The day brightened up - literally - as we headed down to our next destination at Cricket St Thomas in lovely sunshine with lots of people watching along the route.  Apart from being used on several events this is also best known for being the house in the TV programme "To The Manor Born" and being the Crinkley Bottom house in Noel Edmonds TV show "Noel's House Party".

We were given coffee and biscuits here before a go along the stage.

Selection of cars at Cricket St Thomas

Cricket St Thomas

From Cricket St Thomas the route took us south to the Wiscombe Park Hillclimb course which is close to the coast near Salcombe.  This location was fully marshalled and officially open to paying spectators. We even had a number of the local Police force directing traffic for us.

We had never been to Wiscombe Park before so it was all new to us. The marshalls at the start warned us that several cars had spun at the first corner in front of hundreds of spectators so best to take care on that one.  It was also nice to meet couple of our friends who popped up here, Tim Best (who took the photo below) and Chris Riley who has so often helped me with building my cars.

Start line Wiscombe Park

The hillclimb turned out to be narrow and quite tricky with a slippery hairpin under trees but we attacked it and enjoyed the run, even managing not to spin.

Wiscombe finish line

After Wiscombe there was a longish run from the south coast all the way up to the north coast at Minehead for lunch in the Beach Hotel. There were hundreds of spectators here taking the chance to look at the parked rally cars whilst the crews had something to eat.

Our next destination was the Porlock Toll Road. This is a privately owned road so is not subject to the normal speed limits and is still used on lots of events. Oliver had watched in car videos and used OS maps to make some basic pacenotes for Porlock so we could attack it with a good deal of confidence and we really enjoyed it.  The lower section is twisty under trees but it opens out across moorland nearer the top so is quite fast.

Nearing the top of the Porlock Toll Road.

I was very pleased with how the TR7 handled here as it was the first chance to drive it that hard. Braking and suspension settings were good and the handling inspired confidence. Just needs some more power now so that new Sprint engine cannot come too soon!
...................................................................................................
One little bit of trivia from Porlock was ex British rally champion who managed to take a front wing off his borrowed Opel Manta 400 on the hairpin.

Ooops! Jimmy McRae loses his wing on Porlock.

..........................................................................................................

From Porlock we had an interesting run across country and via Cheddar Gorge to the finish back in Bath where the organisers gave us a super dinner at the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel.  During the meal the various celebrity drivers were interviewed and entertained up with anecdotes from their rally history. Some very funny and some scandalous stories were told!

Arriving home next day we had covered about 350 miles so that is a pretty good first test run I think.

October 2018, FHC Final preparations for Lombard Rally Bath

The car was more or less ready to go for the Lombard Rally Bath 2018 on 19th-20th October but I did need to get the tyres replaced as the ones on the wheels were the wrong size and too old anyway.  I run 14" wheels and it turns out that the size I need - 195/60x14 - are not as common nowadays as they used to be. This size has the benefit of being exactly the same rolling diameter as the standard TR7 tyres of 185/70x13.  Budget brands were more common but some searching around found some better quality Firestone Firehawk TZ200 at a local supplier.  These seem to be a good result and feel nice on the car with low noise and decent grip levels.

One of the last jobs was to change the standard sealed beam headlights on the car to some more modern Lucas halogen H4 replacements.  Imagine my surprise when I took the rubber surrounds off the headlights and found all new mountings! My previous TR7 experience has been with nasty rusty ones.

Wow, all new. Never seen that on a TR7 before.

The car was now running, but not very well. The carb mounting rubbers did not look very nice with the usual cracks starting to appear so I swapped them for some better ones which improved things but not enough. I booked a quick session on my local rolling road at Maynard Engines where Martin spent a short time setting the carbs up properly and got it ticking over like a sewing machine. 

Car washed and ready for the Lombard.

September 2018, FHC more jobs

The October 19th date for the Lombard Rally Bath 2018 was fast approaching and we were going to be away for four weeks from mid-September to mid-October so the pressure was on to get most of the jobs on the FHC finished before that.

The old rubber flaps on the rear quarter air vents had been in a bad state when I had taken them off so they needed replacement.  It was easy to use the old ones for templates and cut new ones from some thin rubber sheet I bought on Ebay.

These flaps look past their best.

New air flaps cut from thin rubber sheet.

Putting the plastic trims back over the top was a real pain. They are held on by four "T" shaped plastic bolts with a 4mm thread which can strip or twist off very easily, so I used new nuts and plenty of lubricant, tightening them very carefully. They also need some spacers and rubber seals where they go through the body which were all missing from my car. Someone had obviously been there before me and lost those bits!  I made my own seals from rubber sheet and spacers from some rubber fuel pipe but all this excellent work is hidden and all you see is the plastic trim!

All that good work is hidden!

The door seals were not very good and I had read quite a bit on various forums about the problems finding replacements and the poor quality. Generic seals are OK but need the top corner of the door to be shaped correctly to give a good fit.  I discovered a TR7 owner in Australia called Tony Zorzo who had the same troubles had got some remanufactured to a high standard so I went for a set of those. They worked out a bit expensive after paying shipping and customs duty but they are an excellent fit.

Door seals good as new.

The interior came together fairly well but I plan to add some soundproofing later when I have finished all the mechanical jobs.  I even have those little clips to stow your seat belt in on the sills. The vinyl of the rear parcel shelf is a bit bubbly where it has come unstuck but that is pretty much standard on most cars.

I also had to add some power supplies for the satnav and tripmeter. I made a mounting bracket for the trip out of thin aluminium and fixed it with velcro so it can also be removed easily. 

Ready to go in here.

September 2018, FHC build begins

I had already put in an entry for the Lombard Rally Bath 2018 to take place on 19th-20th October. A guy called Tim Nash had called me earlier in the year to ask about classic runs and told me about his new idea. This was to be a classic tour type event but using some of the iconic venues from the old Lombard RAC Rallies of the 1970s and 1980s. It would start from Pultney Street in Bath and visit Longleat House, Cricket St Thomas, Wiscombe Park Hillclimb, Porlock Toll Road and Cheddar Gorge with lots of nice countryside in between.  The FHC would be the perfect car to use so with it just back from the bodyshop it was time to start putting it all together.

Engine Bay:

The bodyshop  jobs had been to repair the bad places on the outside but there was still the engine bay to tidy up. The only way to do this properly was with the engine out so trusty mate Chris Riley was brought in as usual to assist lifting the engine and gearbox out.

The result was plenty of working space now.

So I proceded to remove the rest of the stuff in the engine bay and got to this

Few more hours work and it looked like this

First things to go back were the new uprated brake servo/master cylinder  and new brake pipes.

I always make a point of "priming" a new master cylinder before fitting as they can be difficult to bleed from dry, so I do it like this with a couple of pipes to recirculate the fluid until I am sure its cleared out all of the air:-

 Sometimes it helps to get closer to the job........

Driving the car back from the bodyshop I thought the gear change felt a bit stiff so rather than mess about we swapped the gearbox to a good spare I know is OK. Whilst doing this we noticed the clutch plate seemed wrong so whipped the cover off to find there was a broken section so a new one went in.  

Arrow shows a broken off section

Before putting the engine back I did a couple more little jobs. I replaced the bushes on the gearbox remote extension and fitted a Volvo gearbox mounting.  This is because the modern replacement mountings are of poor quality and much too hard so they transmit a lot noise and vibration. Helpfully there is a Volvo 740 one which is readily available and almost a direct swap!  These are still made with good rubber and work well.

You can read more about it on MyDrive here:-   TR7 Volvo 740 Gearbox Mount

Its only necessary to slightly elongate the two bolt holes but I also had some washers welded on mine to replace the strength, just to be sure.

Another little job was to repair the cap that hold the gearlever in place. These have a small tab that holds them onto the top of the gearbox extension but the tab frequently breaks off. Solution is to weld on a small washer to repair and strengthen it.

They often come with the mounting tab broken off.

Repaired with a washer welded on.

Fuel Tank:

When I put fuel in the car I had noticed a whiff of petrol fumes in the boot area. Investigations soon revealed that the small vent pipe from the top of the tank to the filler neck was perished and needed to be replaced.

That vent pipe certainly needs to be replaced ! 

According to the workshop manual this job can be done through the access panel in the boot but I found this to be pretty much impossible, so I decided it would be best to take the tank out. Then there was also the common problem of the small filler neck screws being seized so they had to be drilled out. I still had a good spare filler neck from breaking my old red DHC so would use that - more about that later.

The tank mountings all came undone quite easily and it was obvious that it had been replaced at some time because it still had the part number stickers on but needed tidying and painting before I put it back.

With the tank out I also found evidence of repairs to the rear wheel arches on both sides where someone had cut out rusty areas and patched over them. Fine but they never finished the job on the other side!

This wheel arch patch needs finishing on the inside as well.

I treated the tank and surrounding areas with Hydrate 80 Rust Converter and painted it with Tetrosyl sealer so that should be good for many more years. 

After putting it all back together I discovered that the DHC filler neck is NOT the same as a FHC one as you can see from this picture. Apparently the different rear deck of the FHC needs a slightly taller

Filler cap sits lower than usual.

filler neck so mine is now about 5mm too low but it works fine so will stay like that until I have a reason to have the tank out again.

Rear Suspension:

The rebuilt axle went in with a couple of replacement lower arms because the old ones were rotten. They seemed OK at first glance with polybushes and having been powder coated, but a closer look showed they were rotten near the bump stop pad at the rear end. I am guessing water got under the powder coating and worked its magic there.  I had a couple of replacements in stock but made a point of drilling a water drain hole before painting and fitting them.

Water drain hole drilled in lower link

 Next little issue was with the new springs. The top end had not been finished very well so the open end of the coil stuck out and made contact with the chassis rail. Not good.

The spring should not touch the chassis rail socket!

A little bit of work with the grinder took the corner off so it now clears OK.

........................................................................................................

I also took the opportunity to move the radiator header tank from the right to the left side of the engine bay. This was because I think it makes for less congestion on the right side which already has the carbs and allows better access to the alternator.  I also want to move the coil to the inner wing (as on the later cars) from its strange location inside the tunnel next to the gearbox but this could wait till later.

Why would they put the coil here?

So the engine went back in and I could get on with all those other little jobs that take a lot of time.

Almost ready to go.

One interesting little thing came up when I took the radiator to a local specialist to be rebuilt. His invoice gives the name of the car as "TR7 Bullet", how neat is that?

2018, Classic Runs in the DHC

Whilst work was getting done on the FHC we had a number of events as usual during 2018 in the DHC.

24th March 2018: Daffodil Run

This took place in the usual area to the west of Gloucester. The route took us around the daffodil lined roads around Newent and up as far as the Malverns.

Coffee stop on the Daffodil Run

 

 2nd April 2018: Wheelnuts Classic Car Show

Our Glavon Group of the TR Register attended the local Wheelnuts Classic Car Show in Stroud as usual. Its a great local show raising money for the St Roses Special School. About 400 cars of all sorts were on show and our Glavon Group won the award for the best club display.

Glavon wins again.

8th April 2018: Glavon club run to Croome Court

This was a nice little club run to Croome Court near Evesham. This is an old house with an interesting history from Capability Brown to being a top secret World War Two radar research base and airfield. Amazingly the world's first ever instrument landing took place here in 1945.

Glavon lineup at Croome Court

15th April 2018: Corinium Run

The Corinium Run 2018 was our fourth consecutive year on this event. Starting and finishing in Cirencester, the route took us on a nice 120 mile tour of the Cotswolds. Water featured as in previous years.

Maximun attack required!

12th June 2018: Bluebell Run

The Bluebell Run is another tour based around the Forest of Dean. Excellent day out as usual and finishing at the Chase Hotel in Ross on Wye.

20th June 2018: Hills and Valley Tour

 This year the Hills and Valley was based in Oswestry and took us up into the North Wales and Bala area. Fabulous scenery on a lovely day. Morning coffe stop at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and lunch at Llyn Brenig. Excellent day out

View from the coffee stop at Lake Vyrnwy Hotel

1st July 2018: Black Mountains Classic Tour.

Based at Talgarth again but the huge difference from last year was the glorious weather. We actually got to see the lovely views all around the Black Mountains.

Coffee stop at Llangoed Hall

 

Typical Black Mountains road

8th July 2018: Dursley Rotary Cotswold Tour

The Dursley Rotary Cotswold Tour is based only 200 metres from our house so is a run we have to do. More glorious weather and a nice local route meant a jolly nice day out.

Leaving the start.

4th August 2018: Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza

Long name for the steam fair based at South Cerney airfield near Cirencester. We went along as usual with our Glavon TR Register group on another glorious day. The three day show was bigger than ever this year but we only go on the Saturday. Too much stuff to see again but a grand day out.

Glavon Group stand. Good selection of TRs

2nd September 2018: Cotswold Classic Run

This was the second running of the Cotswold Classic and this time it was based at Grittleton House near Castle Coombe. Now a nice hotel and wedding venue Grittleton House is a 19th century mansion and was a boys school from the 1950s until recently.
Another lovely day out in the Cotswolds.

Nice house.

A rose between two thorns.

Nice car park.