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?

June 2013. Blue car, Fuel tank problems and MOT

17th June.  Back from holidays in Portugal and time to get on with the project.  The sealer in the new tank has had three weeks to dry and looks OK so I need to finish getting the old one out. The old mounting studs actually came out quite easily - I had given them a good soaking with WD40 before I went away - but then I had to remove the rear exhaust section to allow the tank to drop out.  Bit of extra work but no big problem.

Rusty area of old tank 

Interestingly there is a screw head that looks like a drain plug in the old tank (see picture) or it might be where someone has made some kind of repair before.  I wonder?










With the tank out I was able to have a good look at the condition underneath the rear and found it mostly good but some potential trouble spots.  All the main sufaces have a really good covering of sealer/stonechip except the tops of the two chassis rails.  These have some scabby rust starting.  Its like someone has done a very nice job and then completely missed some important bits.  The area above the tank is all excellent so why miss the chassis rails?  Weird.

Tank out, looks good

Left chassis rail top, rust starting

Right chassis rail top, rust starting

Rust treated with Hydrate 80

Couple more pictures. First shows the remains of the tank fixings that came off, you can see they would never have come undone without breaking the straps anyway. Second shows the dodgy repair of the old tank done by the mystery bodger.  I just hope it was an emergency repair and not typical of any other stuff I might find lurking in wait for me.

Old tank fixing studs

Dodgy repair to the old tank

18th June.  Now the Hydrate 80 rust treatment has cured overnight I have painted the areas with some underseal I had in stock.  I think it came with the previous red car project that I sold last year and has never been opened.  Looking at the label it is priced at £1.09 so must be almost something for Antiques Roadshow but it looks to be in perfect condition.  I know the shop ( A&B Autospares ) got taken over in the 1980's and the 4-digit phone number confirms it.
Just realised after writing the above that the underseal is just about the same age as the car, Now THAT is originality for you !!

Historic underseal

Historic pricetag as well!

23rd June.   Well its all back together and the car is sitting on its wheels and running.  Usual sort of dramas finishing the job, had to make a new brake pipe up on the axle as the old one twisted off when I undid it. The bleed nipple rounded off so I had to fit a new one.  One of the KYB dampers had a thread picked up so I had to carefully run a die down it and the fuel gauge is still not working - more of this later.
On the plus side that old Tetroseal has worked out realy well and gives a good finish.

Tank back in place,
note lots of copper grease everywhere!

24th June.   Three Cheers, after all the fuel tank drama the Blue car passed its MOT today so I can now run it down to the bodyshop to have the rear arches done.  Feels like I can really get started making it into what I want now.
So it will just be the Sprint engine, poly bushed suspension, 4-pot brakes etc etc etc to all come off my original red car!!
Could be a busy summer.