September 2014 - Engine transplant

My planned new uprated motor project is still delayed, holidays are approaching and the Blue car MOT is due soon - but it has no engine so what to do?
Answer: Swap the Sprint engine out of the old red car that will be scrapped soon.

Here it comes.

Sprint engine in its new (temporary) home.

We actually took the engine and box out in one go and swapped them straight into the blue car with only a pause for a cup of tea in between.  The car passed its MOT next day and went to the Tetbury Classic Car show the day after that.  Couldn't have been too bad because our club got the award for the best club stand at the show!

GLAVON group TR Register stand.

Since the show I have tidied up a couple of more items and swapped it onto the Minilite look-alike wheels that I intend to use.  The old Montego criss-cross ones have been sold.

Sort of finished look.

 Another "little" problem I forgot to mention is that the hood will not fold down because it fouls on the roll hoop. This is very annoying because it means the hoop will have to be repositioned/lowered to suit. Not an easy task as it will mean re-drilling the side mounting plates on the hoop.
I had naively thought that those pre-drilled holes in the hoop and the existing captive nut in the body are supposed to go together - but it seems not.
Luckily with winter approaching the top can stay up most of the time for the moment. I have enlisted a couple of friends and they will help realign the hoop while it is re-drilled to a new and lower position. Needs a nice dry day when we can all get together but no rush for the moment. 

July 2013. Blue car goes to bodyshop/ red car MOT

Looks OK from a distance. The hardtop is on because I took the hood off to aid welding. 

1st July.  After all the dramas getting fuel tank sorted for the MOT I took the car down to the bodyshop today.    It was not without last minute dramas however.  Drove it out of the garage OK and parked it to go indoors and collect phone, money etc.  Got back in to drive off and it would not start, no sparks at all.

Bit of a Victor Meldrew moment -  I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!.

It had cut out randomly on me a few times before.  No other symptoms just a sudden cut like you switched off but it had always re-started immediately. I had previously found a loose earth connection for the Lumenition and thought that was the problem but it obviously was not. At least now with a total failure I was able to do some proper fault finding. Following the Lumenition diagnostics that I was able to print off their website I finally tracked it down using a voltmeter to the optical unit in the distributor.
Good news - I had a spare.
Bad news - the distributor had to come out to fit it.
So instead of a quick drive to the bodyshop I spent the whole day taking out and replacing the distributor.

Finished the job at 4:30pm and it runs fine now, so was able to deliver it after all.  Phew !!
Reasons for the work can be seen in the pictures below.

Nearside wing

Offside wing

Nearside wheelarch trouble

July 11th.   The bodyshop has started work on the blue car now and revealed some of the gory details

Outer wheel arch cut away to reveal rusty inner
We found the previous arch repair panel had barely been welded at all !

Rusted inner arch and sill sections now removed
ready to install new repair panels

Closeup of lower wing area 

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Old Red car update July 12th.  

July 2013 - looks OK from here

Like I said in a previous post, the intention is to get the blue car bodywork up to a decent standard and then swap my good oily bits over from the old red car I have had since 2002. Because of the limited garage space this means I need to keep the red one road legal long enough to swap the bits over. After that the body can be stripped of any useful stuff and scrapped.  There is an MOT coming up later this month so I was having a poke around and guess what I found, see the picture

Nasty surprise in the nearside sill

Its going to need a quick repair job to get an MOT test.  Not what I needed just now.

Latest news: sill has been patched and the car has a new MOT so its road legal for another year - or as long as I need it to be until I nick all the good bits off it!
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One of those good bits will be a neat finisher for the top of the gear lever gaiter. The original rubber ones on most TR7's have given up long ago but a guy called William Parris in the USA was making some replacements and sent me one.

William Parris finisher fitted below the wooden gearknob.

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Blue car update  17th July.

Popped into the body shop for a look at how they are getting on.  The offside wheel arch metalwork is now finished, just waiting for its skim of filler etc.  They showed me the old arch that a previous repairer had fitted and turns out it was only just welded in a couple of spots, the rest was done with seam sealer. Not good.

New inner arch fitted

Right side outer panels now fitted
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Left side outer panels fitted ready for filler and paint

The guys in the body shop did moan to me that the repair panels I supplied didn't fit too well. Apparently they had to make at least four cuts in the inner wing repair panels to get them anywhere near to correct shape so that is not good to hear.  Because of stock problems I had bought one of them from Rimmers and one from Robsport so seems the suppliers to both are equally bad - or is it the same source?

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Update  21st August.  Not too much progress to report, bodyshop boys have been on holidays and working on new car accident stuff so the TR has been mostly gathering dust but it has had a first coat of primer and a contrast mist coat to show any imperfections up before final colour is applied.

Right side before final wet & dry

Left side before final wet & dry
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30th August update:   Called by the bodyshop today to see if there was any progress and found the final primer was on and flatted back ready to paint.  Seems they had the car set up in the spraybooth ready to paint yesterday and when they went to mix the paint they found the paint code is wrong.  Turns out the one on the car says its Persian Aqua but of course it isn't.  
Apparently when it was "restored" by a previous owner years ago they changed the colour at the same time. My boys sent the bootlid to their paint supplier who scanned it to identify the real colour and paint is now ready to go. Should get painted over the weekend.

Here it is, stonechipped and ready for paint.

 

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.

2013 - The New Blue Car Project Begins

I had realised back in 2010 that my original TR7 I bought in 2002 was not going to last too much longer.  The previous owner had done quite a lot of welding but it was not very good quality and I found some important bits he missed, or rather the MOT man did.  Almost at the same time I bought another TR7 which was an abandoned project and was structurally sound.  See my previous post about this with some pictures.

However when I started to get serious about the project I found that the interior had got wet at some time so was actually in a poor condition and would all need replacing.  Also when I got a quote for a decent paint job it came to almost £1500.  This meant there was much more work - and expense - in putting it back on the road to the standard I wanted so I decided to sell it.  Less than two weeks later it had gone to a new home up near Manchester.

Looking round for a replacement I found a good looking  1981 Midnight Blue TR7 on Ebay and bought it for less than the price of painting the old one.  It was pretty tidy and had quite a lot of good stuff already done, like uprated brakes and suspension, 15" wheels, stainless exhaust, electric fan, electronic ignition etc etc.    It had some restoration done previously but there were a couple of spots still  needing attention, mainly the front of the rear wing just above where it joins the sill. This is a regular TR7 problem area and repair panels are easily available.

May 2013.  The car was booked into a good local bodyshop but the MOT test expires on 1st June so I took it for a test not expecting any trouble.

Wrong.

The tester pointed out a badly corroded fuel tank strap that would need  replacement before he could pass it..

Yes, its completely broken!

I ordered some new straps from Robsport and started to get the axle out to give access to the tank. This is when the fun started.

Someone had been at the axle bolts before me and they were mostly rounded off so this was going to be fun.



Out came the grinder to take the heads off and things were going pretty well with showers of sparks until I noticed something was dripping amid all the sparks. It was petrol !!!

Yes, that is petrol leaking!

I only just touched the spot where the petrol was coming from and the sealer came away to reveal petrol dripping in a steady stream from the tank.  Not good.






Hmmmm, I think any more grinding will have to wait till the leak had stopped.   I drained as much as possible (about 6 gallons)  from the tank and left it dripping into an old washing up bowl overnight.




Next morning the drips had stopped and I was able to get the axle out completely, but not before some more grinding.  The upper link bolts at the body end are harder to access so I had to cut though the links.

Bolts cut off with the grinder.

It seems a bit brutal but it was the best way to get at those top link to body bolts. I do have a some old suspension links "in stock" so temporary replacements are no problem.

Top link sawn off
to aid access to bolts

So the axle is now on the floor and the new tank mounting straps are on their way from Robsport.  

Axle finally out

I found a replacement tank in Aberdeen via the TR7/8 Forum  and did a deal at a good price.  By a amazing stroke of good luck a friend in Aberdeen ( John Roberts ) is coming down to Gloucestershire in the next couple of days  to collect a Fiat 124 Coupe he has bought from Stroud and will bring the tank down with him.






Update: 22 May 2013.  My friend John has delivered the tank which looks pretty good but has obviously been sitting for a while and has something making sloshing noises inside.  He also gave me some fuel tank restorer/sealer stuff that he had left over to treat it before I install it.  

23 May 2103.  The tank treatment is in three parts, a cleaner/degreaser,  an etching solution and finally the actual sealer. I have done the first two giving them a good "slosh around" - that is the actual term used on the products labels - and its now waiting to air dry before adding the sealer.  I will also give it a good external paint layer for protection before fitting.

Replacement tank during treatment

2010, Another TR7 arrives

The car had always looked OK from across the road, but a closer inspection would reveal the previous owners welded patches, and the fact that the doors have been repaired and aren't aligned quite right, and the rust bubbles on the rear deck seams, etc etc etc. Under the bonnet the welded patches on the inner wings and turrets were very obvious.  It was all sound but not too pretty.

When I took it to my local garage for its MOT they noticed something else that I hadn't spotted. The flat tops of those rear chassis rails under the boot floor were starting to bubble.  I had never looked at them before but there was no mistaking the first signs trouble when you ran your hand along the top.  I treated them with some rust killer and paint immediately but it meant the bodyshell would need some proper attention if it was going to last for many more years.

A couple of days after the MOT, as I was walking past the local garage they called me in and asked if I knew anyone who wanted a TR7. It was local, been stored for years and the owner wanted rid of it.................
To cut a long story short I suddenly found myself with two TR7's

The "new" car was from 1981, Carmine Red and had done only 23000 miles. It was Zeibarted from new but had still needed door skins, sills and wheelarches done in the mid 1990's. The owner had lost his garage a couple of years previously and I think the car had been moved around lockups. The hood had split and closer examination also revealed it had got wet at sometime as the interior was not too good.  The panel repairs were good quality and the boot lid and bonnet were both good as new but it would need a respray to get it looking just right.

The plan would be to get the body painted and fitted out nicely, then change over all my good mechanical stuff with the new poly bushes, springs, dampers etc.  I also had plans to install a Sprint 16 valve engine.

The Sprint Option

Ever since I first had the TR7, people asked me when I was going to put a V8 in the car, but I always liked the Sprint option better.   A few of my reasons are:-
1..it is a lot less work therefore cheaper.
2..the Sprint engine has over 130bhp, similar to the standard V8 engine.
3..no changes to the bodyshell or gearing required.
4..there are loads of TR7 V8's about but not many Sprints.
5..the factory started making the TR7 Sprint but it never went into full production.

Its worth noting that all the TR7 factory rally cars were Sprint powered up until 1979.

2002, TR7 Story Begins

My TR7 beginings.

OK, I am new to this blog lark so am trying to see how it works by writing a bit about my TR7 tinkerings,so please excuse my incompetence. I hope it will get better as it goes on.

I bought my first TR7  ( HJW 77 W ) in 2002 as a way to get some inexpensive (!) soft top motoring. I didn't set out to buy a TR7, it just happened to come along at a sensible price and was taxed, tested etc so was ready to go.

 TR7 as bought in 2002

I have always played about with cars and after giving up rallying I needed something in the garage to tinker with and the TR7 seemed a good choice. The car got a fair bit of use but by the end of the year it needed work for the MOT and got put in the garage as the winter project.  However, lots of house jobs got in the way and it was about five years before I got serious again and decided to put it back on the road.

TR7 in here somewhere April 2007

You will have noticed from the picture that I had to "excavate" the car first but under all that stuff it was still fine.  It just needed the usual things doing on a car that has been parked up for some time - the clutch was stuck on the flywheel, front brakes were sticky, rear brake cylinders seized etc etc. Oh, and the points needed doing, more of that later.

I had been doing a bit of reading about the cars in the meantime (like you do) and wanted to make some changes/improvements when it went back on the road so the TR7 project really begins here.  There was now also a shopping list of possible changes including making it go faster but first it had to be roadworthy.