25th July 2015, Subframe replacement.

When I was poking about under the car recently I noticed some signs of corrosion coming through on the subframe so I though it was time to have a proper investigation. Look what I found, some very nasty rust that made it urgent to get the subframe changed.

Perforation showing which caused the change.

 

Very nasty rust where the bottom arm mounts.

 

 Luckily I had a spare good one in stock which just needed a clean up and a touch of paint. I will also fit the polybushes I kept from my old car to replace the perished rubber ones I took off.

Nice and shiny with no rust and ready to fit.

Update: 27th July

Fitted the new subframe today and the car is now sitting back on its wheels again. Had the usual battle with pulling the bottom arms in enough to get the bolts lined up but a big ratchet strap soon did the trick.  Just need to pop down to the local tyre fitters to get the tracking checked now.

Polybushes and anti-dive blocks ready.

That's much better, all new and tidy.

Only thing now is I did notice doing this job was the ball joint rubbers on the bottom arms are looking a bit tired so that will be another little job to add to the list.  I took a couple of minutes to soak all the nuts with magic spray in preparation because they looked a bit dry. Time will tell if it works.

22nd July 2015, Naunton Classic Show and Village Fete

Earlier in the year when we went to the Wheelnuts Show at St. Roses School in Stroud a leaflet appeared on the car for a show at Naunton which is between Andoversford and Stow-on-the-Wold. It invited us to their classic car show and village fete.  Naunton is a nice little village and only about 30 miles away so that sounded like a nice day out and it went in the diary.

It was cool and cloudy when we left home for the show but the weather forecast said it would  improve and that is exactly what happened - in fact we got a bit sunburnt - and the soft top of the TR7 stayed down all day.  Over 100 cars turned up and were neatly parked around two sides of the cricket square with the other two sides being a catering area and a sports area/running track. Cars varied from a sublime 1929 Blower Bentley to a ridiculous Sinclair C5 with everything else in between.

Lovely setting on Naunton cricket ground

A genuine 1929 Blower Bentley

Not real - its a modern replica of the Bentley

Which is older, the car or the owners?

Aston Martin Lagonda, a rare sight but they made over 600

Audi Sport Quattro S1

Sinclair C5

My TR7 between an AC and a Healey 3000

It was a really good day out and the village fete part gave a nice touch of something many places have lost. There were all kinds of stuff for the kids, normal running races, sack races, running backwards races, obstacle races etc. and a proper "podium" for the winners. Stalls selling cakes, jam, plants, herbs, in fact a proper old-fashioned village fete.  

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Shopping trolley damage?

Found this scrape on the passenger door the other day, looks like someone was careless with a shopping trolley or similar. Very annoying. 

     

14th July 2015, more days out

Not too much to report since the last post, we have been out a few times in the TR7 and went out on the Black & White Trail with our GLAVON TR Register group. We also joined up the Gloucester branch of the TSSC making up a varied group of about 20 cars.  The route was approx 150 miles in total and it was a nice day but heavy showers were forecast so we set off with the hood down but expected it might have to go up. The trail starts at Dilwyn near Leominster and meanders though mostly country lanes. Its a lovely rural area and the Elizabethan style timbered houses which give the trail its name look fantastic. We stopped in Weobley for coffee - at a pub - but soon afterwards the sky got very dark and the first rain drops appeared on the screen. I chose to stop under a huge oak tree which gave us shelter while I put the roof up just as the heavens opened, but some of the other crews left it too late and got absolutely drenched doing theirs. One of our members has a TR4A with a Surrey top and doesn't use the centre section, he just carries a neat umbrella which covers the gap. All went well until they exceeded 50mph and the umbrella collapsed just as the rain was at its heaviest so they got completed soaked.

The TR7 electrics got a good test with lights, wipers and blower going but coped perfectly.  The rain got so bad that most of us decided to cut the last part of the trail and went direct to the finish and lunch at a golf club just south of Leominster. Naturally the rain then stopped so the cars were left drying out in the car park until mid way though the excellent carvery there was a clap of thunder and large hailstones started - it was that kind of day.

Some GLAVON cars at the start near Newent

Wide selection of cars at coffee break

Coffee stop at Ye Olde Salutation Inn, Weobley

500 years of history, 1460's house and 1960's TR4

GLAVON member drying out at the finish.

    
The car has been generally behaving itself (everything crosssed writing that!) but the jobs to do list has not reduced at all. To give you an idea the list currently looks like this:-

Check rear axle links and fixings,
Tidy wiring under the dash,
Sort out radio console/wiring,
Swap front suspension subframe (I found some rust in places),
Replace steering rack gaiters (they look a bit nasty),
Check/replace fuel pipes under bonnet (some looking suspect),
Check electric fuel pump mountings (anti-vibration bushes to fit),
Adjust wiper parking position,
Sort out right hand headlight motor (its a bit slow),
Fit daytime running lights,
Check front discs for run-out (getting a bit of vibration),
Replace front number plate (its a bit scruffy),
Fit the new sun visors,
Fit wire mesh over fresh air inlet (stops leaves getting into the vents),
Get the windscreen re-fitted (its not very well done),
Change the speedo to press button reset,
Fit CB radio,
Repair/replace some broken hood poppers,

Oh well, it all keeps me out of mischief.

12th May 2015, Steering column lower bush

According to various owners replacing the bulkhead steering column bush is one of those TR7 jobs that can be a bit of a swine. Folks have resorted to all kinds of tricks to get it done or to avoid doing it.  Unfortunately the time had come to do mine so I ordered the kit from Robsport.

Robsport Steering Column Bush Kit.

 The new ones tend to be made from polyurethane these days and are pretty durable but the material is quite hard so not easy to install.  One of the suggested tricks is to boil it in hot water but that seemed to make no difference at all to my new one so a mechanical method seemed to be the next option. Before all this however, it was necessary to remove the column to gain access to the bulkhead.  In the BL Workshop Manual it says to take my note of the positions of the two washers at the lower end of the shaft. The problem was that there were no washers at all on my car ! Luckily I had kept the ones from the old car I scrapped recently so I could use those. The top bushes just below the steering wheel had been replaced before and were in excellent condition so I left those alone.
The lower bush has to be inserted from the engine side of the bulkhead and as my car is complete and running, access space to the area is limited by carbs, brake pipes, etc.  I tried the usual ways to insert a grommet like using a flat blade screwdriver or starting one spot and twisting it in like a screw etc. but all these attempts proved fruitless.  It obviously needed a way to hold the bush in position and push it home at the same time.  Enter Special Tool no.2.

Special tool no.2. Steering column bush inserter.

It only took 5 minutes to make the tool shown in the picture. Its just a piece of wood about 6-7" long with the end shaped to go through the bush and hold it in place. The washer is the actual one that goes next to the bush and provides a smooth flat surface when pushing it in.  I just held it in position and used another piece of wood about 2 feet long as a lever against the engine mounting bracket and the bush popped in quite easily.
Obviously this will not work for you guys with a LHD car or a TR8. Sorry.

Special tool no.2 in use. The larger piece of wood
is used as a lever against the engine mounting bracket.

With the new bush in place it has transformed the driving experience, no vibration or rattles from the steering wheel now. Just wish I had done it sooner!
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17th May 2015. GLAVON  May Blossom Run

I belong to the GLAVON group of the TR Register (as well as the TRDC) and they had organised a nice little run out last Sunday 17th May.  It was a "convoy rules" run so no navigation required which meant my other half could enjoy coming along as she gets ill if proper navigation is required. Twelve assorted TR's set off from Tetbury on a lovely day covering a 70 odd mile route around the Cotswold lanes ending up at a fellow members house near Bisley for an excellent outdoor lunch. We had a mixture of TR4's, TR5's, TR6's and two TR7's.  We certainly got a lot of attention as the convoy passed through some of the Cotswold tourist spots like Buscot, Coleshill and Bibury. I think we must be on a hundred pictures taken by the Chinese tourists in Bibury alone!

The new steering bush means the TR7 is pretty civilised now, and I am very impressed by how it rides on some of the bumpy roads we have in this area. According to the receipts I have from the previous owner the springs are uprated ones from S&S and dampers are KYB. It gives a nice combination of handling and ride comfort, just what I would have chosen myself for everyday motoring. It would be too soft for any serious work but that's not what I want the car for.

Some of the GLAVON cars at the lunch halt.

5th May 2015, Carburettor mounts and exhaust clonk

After the St.Roses car show I thought it was time to have a look at the rubber carburettor mountings. These are common to most TR7's and are a well known problem area. The original production items were good quality rubber and lasted for ages but modern replacement parts seem to use inferior rubber and fail quite quickly.  This can cause air leaks and poor running so needs fixing.

Rubber carb mounting on its way to failure.

(There is a similar problem with engine and gearbox mountings where the modern replacements are much too hard and cause noise transmission into the car.  I was lucky enough to be able to re-use some old stock original ones which are much nicer.)

The Triumph Dolomite Club sells some very nicely made solid aluminium mountings to replace the rubber ones and I bought a set of these together with some more replacement spark plug tubes as mentioned in a previous post.

Replacement carburettor mountings

Fitting them was not difficult but I have upset the carb balance so need to re-tune the engine !

Nice and shiny

New mounts in place

Next job on the list was to sort out an annoying clonk from the exhaust. Its a very nice fully stainless system that I got from S & S Preparations and it was touching somewhere at the rear of the car but not all of the time. All the mountings were OK so I checked all the clamps and went out on a test drive - nothing at first then lots of clonks after a few miles.  Looking again I realised that when the system gets hot it was hitting the towing eye on the rear chassis rail.   This was soon sorted out with the angle grinder and it now has plenty of clearance !

Modified towing eye.

26th April 2015 - St. Roses Classic Car Show

St. Roses Classic Car Show is a nice little local show in Stroud that raises money for the school funds which teaches kids with all kinds of handicap and learning difficulties.  We have taken the TR7 there for the past several years. This year the weather has been perfect for the past couple of weeks but chose to rain on the night before.  The morning of the show was cool with a hint of drizzle in the air so I thought it would be more comfortable to go there with the roof up. Problem was that on a cold morning the vinyl roof didn't want to co-operate and it took 15 minutes to get it stretched enough to latch down.  Should have put it up the night before - lesson learned. 

The show was well supported as usual with about 250 cars of all types there. We were the only TR7 but there was a good selection of other TR's from 2 to 6.

That's us, the only TR7 at the show.

 The star of the show for me was a beautifully restored Aston Martin DB4. It looked absolutely perfect inside and out. I am sure it didn't look that good when it came out of the factory in 1960.

Perfect 1960 Aston Martin DB4

Beautiful engine bay on the DB4

Parked close to us was also this lovely GT6 that someone had spent a lot of time (and money?) on.

Very nice Triumph GT6 engine bay.

19th April 2015 - Corinium Run

The Corinium Run is a fairly gentle tour of the Cotswold lanes around the Cirencester area organised by an old friend and ex-navigator of mine Martin Saunders.  Its part of the HRCR Scenic Tour Series so always has a good selection of interesting cars taking part and all of this within 30 miles of home. Excellent stuff.  They ask you to nominate your estimate mpg on the entry form then see how close you actually get to it.  I had no idea what the TR7 fuel consumption is so made a wild guess at 28mpg.

The day of the run was nice and perfect for open top motoring. We covered 122 miles in lovely scenery and our fuel consumption at the end was 27.6mpg.  An AC Cobra replica also taking part did about half that as I watched the guy put £48 of fuel in after only 122 miles !!
It was a bit scary filling the fuel tank right to the brim for the first time ever but it never showed any signs of fumes or leaks.

The TR7 had behaved itself perfectly all day with no problems whatever so we agreed it was a grand day out.

On an interesting note, we went past Down Ampney and the ditch where my very first proper rally ended in 1970. This was the Mynd Trophy Rally that I did in our family Ford Prefect 107E. The ditch was deep and we had to get the local farmer to tow us out, but not a mark on the car. Very lucky.