The TR7/8 rally project.

MOT passed

2009-04-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

For the first time since I said I would do the track day I can exhale. By some miracle the car is ready and has just passed the MOT, that’s 2 weeks early. For the first time in a long time I actually got to drive the car on the road and it was great. The MOT was fine only 2 minor things that he sorted there and then. The lights were out of line and the brake pedal was missing the rubber cover which apparently is a fail. So I can relax a little bit now and concentrate on the little detail.

Mot in a week.

2009-04-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say, I am both happy and unhappy with the car at the moment. I have now had my first drive in the car and it was a brilliant feeling to finally drive it after all this time. I hope to Mot the car next week as there are a few little things to sort out. As happy as I am with it I just cant stop thinking of what it could have been, the car should have been painted when it was a bare shell which would have avoided the problems I have now. I spent hours, weeks and months stripping and painting all the parts and now they are covered in dust and over spray. The dash looked new when I had finished it and now it is covered with dust both on top and underneath. The engine bay was white but now it has a blue dusting all over it.

Apart from my rant I am happy and having driven the car I am confident it will pass the Mot. Sticking the screen in wasn’t the most enjoyable job but its done now and I will just have to monitor it to check it is ok. The door cards worked really well and the side windows are a good fit. I spent nearly an entire day working out how to do the anti roll bar, drawing, making and fitting it but now it is installed and should do the job. The exhaust needs a rethink as it clashes will the anti roll bar on full bump, it is also far to loud for the 105 db requirement for the track day.
The seats seemed to take an eternity to get right, not the mounting of them but just getting the driving seat in a position I was happy with, that gave enough clearance above my head with a helmet on. I have added a few stickers but not too many at this stage.

you can just see the blue over spray

blue over spay

more blue over spay

Fresh Paint

2009-04-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

Just got the car back yersterday and its looking good.

Bumpers

2009-03-30T02:12:00.000-07:00

I have just been doing what I can whilst the car is being prepared and hopefully painted on Saturday the 4th. I have been using the gold TR7 as a template to make the door cards and bumper brackets. The door cards are aluminium and the bracket on the back of the panel will hopefully hold the polycarbonate windows in. The front and rear bumper brackets are complete and the rear brackets carry the fog lights, all small jobs that will save time when it comes to assembling the car. I have bolted the bumpers into one section front and back and I will probably need to strengthen them slightly to stop them twisting.

Bumpers bolted together

Front and rear brackets

a door card cut to shape and marking out for the bracket to support the window.

the bracket fabricated and bolted to the door card

not clear but this shows the bolts that hold the bracket and the slots for adjustment.

the car being prepared. doesnt look like a car that could be ready fot the 1st of may now but it will be.

THE RACE IS ON

2009-03-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

THE RACE IS ON.

I have just spent all weekend on the car in an attempt to get it running before it goes to the body shop. I ran out of time but I did get it very close. The car will now be at the body shop for two weeks, I have to get the car ready for the CT track day on the 1st of may so the race to get it finished has already begun. This means that I have from now until the 1st of may to do the following.

The car should be painted and out of the body shop in two weeks.
Install the brake bias adjuster and bleed the brakes.
Get the engine running.
Fit the seats and belts.
Fit the front and rear screens.
Make new aluminium door cards and integrate the mountings for the polycarb side windows.
Install and wire all the lights.
Design, fabricate and fit a pannard rod.
Fit door, bonnet and boot catches.
Design, fabricate and mount bumper brackets, fit bumpers.
Mount all finishing trims.
Track the suspension.

Oh and get it through the Mot.

Not to mention cycling the coast to coast and going to a wedding in Scotland, so that’s all got to be done in three weekends.

How the car looks today.

Engine in.

2009-03-02T02:13:00.001-08:00

Finally the engine is in the car. It still really bugs me that the car will now have to be painted with the engine and electrics in, I guess not everything goes according to plan. I will have to tape up every hole and wrap all the components to protect them from dust and paint whilst the outside is being sprayed. The engine went in easily enough, I had to drill the holes for the gearbox mount in its new position but thats about it.

Brakes

2009-02-27T02:26:00.000-08:00

The front brakes are now complete, I need to measure and make another braided pipe for the rear. The brakes will then need filling and bleeding.

Demisting dash.

2009-02-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

Recently I have just been concentrating on getting the dashboard in the car and all the electrics working. I can now say that it is all completed and everything works ( what a stroke of luck ). Next week I will hopefully get the engine in, at this point I will be taking the car to work to finish painting the outside. If the engine goes in ok and the car is painted it will be very close to being finished.

I was originally going to flock the dash but the budget didn’t permit so it has been coated in a non reflective matt black.

Extending and replacing the fuse section and box to a blade type fuse holder, fault finding and new loom being installed for all the new lights and fuel pump etc.

The electric heater I made for demisting I hope this idea woks.

The trial setup for the in-line blower.

the dash with the new vent holes.

To match the cars original green lighting I glued some plastic strips to the back of the letters and coloured it green with a permanent marker, it is a bit "blue peter" but it works

Wiring Loom

2009-01-20T01:07:00.000-08:00

It all seems to be moving forward at the moment. I was not looking forward to the wiring loom as it could potentially take twice as long as intended if I encountered any problems. It is now 90% done and I am confident that I will soon be testing it. The fuel out and return pipes are plumbed in and the main battery feed is in position. I have completed the front brake pipes and 80% or the rear, I am only waiting for some braided hose fittings to complete.

Assembly Time

2008-12-22T04:01:00.001-08:00

It has been a really good weekend, I have not had that much time but it feels like I have got a lot done. Now that the paint underneath and in the engine bay has gone off I have been able to start assembling the car. I have decided to use the original petrol tank for now until I have got a few miles on the car then I will go to the fabricated one for competition. The fuel tank got a coat of paint, it is a strange green colour as I mixed what little paint I had left ( yellow, white and black ). I have now bolted the front sub-frame in position using the Polly bushes I already had but when I get chance I will mount it rigidly with some turned aluminium spacers.

Fuel Tank

2008-12-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

The two fuel tanks that I already have have rusted through and although I could patch them up they are too big and without baffle’s the fuel will just slosh from side to side. I only require a small six gallon tank with baffles and a swirl pot so to save money I have designed and made one that will fit in the same position as the original tank. It is only a mild steel one but it is still a small weight gain on the original. Once the tank is back up in position I can fit the axel back on the car and get it to a rolling chassis quickly.

Brakes, Blasting and Painting

2008-12-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

The restricted budget is having a huge impact on the build, I keep telling myself it doesn’t matter about the components at this stage as long as the shell is right, all parts can be upgraded later. The brakes will be 4 pot princess calipers and vented disks which can all fit inside 13" wheels and will just bolt straight on. The calipers only require a spacing kit to fit over the vented disks. The engine will not be tuned or rebuilt but as it was running I will try and make it look as tidy as possible, a further tuned engine will be built out of the car and I am looking for a reliable 250bhp.

Princess spacing kit.

Princess brakes and vented disks trial fit.

D.I.Y Bead blasting.

Looking slightly better but could really do with a strip down.

PAINTING PROGRESS

2008-11-20T08:29:00.001-08:00

Well the first layer of white paint has been applied underneath and inside. I did expect it to look better but then I always do. Ideally I would have liked more time to smooth the engine bay and other bits in the cockpit but I guess it is a rally car and not a polisher. The second and third coats will go on this weekend and then hopefully the hole car will be painted by Christmas. In-between painting I need to design and make a new fuel tank with straps, work out how to lower the shell back down and restore the princess brakes from my donor car. Apart from that I only have to rebuild the engine, make a new wireing loom, win the lottery and buy the seats, harnesses, wheels and tires, tune a second engine, buy a fire extinguisher and so on.

ADJUSTABLE TOP REAR PARALLEL ARMS

Diff-icult Job L.S.D

2008-11-03T02:32:00.000-08:00

Diff-icult job.
It has taken some time and a lot of patience but the Slippy Diff is now shimmed and the Axel is complete. The problems I faced when fitting the slippy diff were as follows.
* the Pinion was too long and clashed with the body of the diff unit.
* the diff carrier bearings need shimming to ensure the crown wheel and pinion mesh correctly, and I only had the two original shims.
The first was simple really I didn’t have any other choice but to machine the pinion down so that it cleared the diff housing. Unfortunately I didn’t take enough off the pinion and I really didn’t want to go through the hole process again so I machined the diff housing down by 1mm which gave me the clearance ( this can be seen in the photograph on the body of the diff) So to solve the shim problem I referred back to the workshop manual and calculating the shims is quite straight forward. Obviously with only the two original shims I dint have enough. I measured and calculated the shims that I needed and laser cut some new ones, I sent them off for surface grinding to achieve the correct sizes as we don’t have a grinding machine. Once the shims came back I found that the back lash was to big so I went O.T.T and made about 20 shims varying in 0.1mm. So as I said a lot of time and patience and the diff is in and the crown wheel and pinion are correctly meshed.

shims

slippy diff with machined body

cleaned and painted 5 speed box a bit of DIY sand blasting

stage 1 of engine cleaning

collecting all the parts as I recondition them.

lightened fly wheel

Busy week.

2008-09-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

Its been a busy week this week with some late nights but I have managed to get everything I

planned to do done.

Its not an amazing repair but both sides are solid now. When the rally car is finished and more funds are available I will do the job properly with repair panels.

Rally Livery

2008-09-17T04:44:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while since the last blog but the work still goes on. In the last couple of days the car has really come on. Although it probably doesn’t look like much has been done. The body is being prepared for spraying at the moment so its mainly being a case of filling, sanding, seam sealing, priming and Shutzing. I am glad that I have finished fireproofing the rear bulk head as that was job I wasn't looking forward to. My main problem at the moment is deciding what Rally livery would suit the car. Should it be the ( red white and blue) the sparkrite or the chequered flag or my own design.

In the mean time I have somehow acquired another Tr7, this one being the third. I needed a donor car for a bonnet and fuel tank along with various other parts so I bought one on ebay with all the necessary parts. On collection of the vehicle it turned out to be a fairly sound car. When I got the car home I inspected it and everything is solid bar the foot wells. As I don’t want to see something scraped that would make a good car with a bit of elbow grease I have started repairing the foot wells. Last night I measured the job up, cut all the rusty parts away and painted what was left with cure rust and a coat of strong paint. Next I will make some new panels and hopefully mot the car.

sealed and coated boot.
new tr7
damaged floor stripped and cure rust applied.

seam sealing over seam welding.

filling and sanding for rally arches.

interior with one coat of primer

seam sealing the engine bay

a hole in the roof to weld the roll cage on top.

fire proofing the rear bulkhead around the rear strut tops.

modified and painted rear axel for new rear suspension setup.

New insert that i fabricated. both sides needen doing.

damaged sub-frame mounts repaired.

Tubular troubles.

2008-05-26T12:10:00.001-07:00

It took a long time to decide between the weld in cage and the bolt in option. After a lot of thought and consideration I decided on the weld in cage. Although the weld in cage would be quite a lot more work the car was at the right stage to install it. I believed that if I bought a professional cage from a reputable company it would fit straight in.

The cage arrived mid week and I was keen to se how it would fit inside the car. The manufacturer supplied eight photographs with eleven points to install the cage. The eleven points were really helpful and included instructions such as ‘fit all the tubes’!!!

When it came to the weekend I started to look at installing the cage. As soon as I unwrapped the tubes it was clear that without even putting the tubes against the car the A-pillar tubes were over bent and too long. It is clear in the picture and it was easy to see as the roof is almost perpendicular to the vertical line drawn thought the base of the A-pillar and the roof . I contacted the supplier and the solution was for me to produce a sketch for them to remake the two tubes. Being a professional company they acknowledged their mistake and had the new parts with me for this weekend.

It took all of Saturday and most of Sunday but the result is a complete cage installed in the shell. I have probably inhaled a full kilo of grinding dust and burnt several spatter marks all down my neck but it feels well worth it. Although I thought that all the hard work had been done due to the high cost of the cage, there was still a lot of cutting and profiling to do.

The tubes in position showing how there are over bent and too long.

The new tubes in position.
The cage installed before it was all removed to paint the shell and the parts of the tubes that would be impossible to reach.

Skidding Along

2008-04-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

A good weekend and finally the new parallel trailing arm boxes are in. The boxes are not exactly as they were in the works car, but close enough. When I drew the boxes I added the lower arm mounting points to enable an accurate installation and I can simply blank them off. Once the boxes were in, fitting the rear jacking points was relatively easy. The hardest part was finding something in the car that was symmetrical to use as a datum, as between the drivers and passenger’s side there were great differences. All that needed doing to tie the job up was filling the holes in the floor, so I decided to cut both sides the same and put some skid plates on.

SEAT POSITION

2008-04-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

Another job done and another job created. It seems that each time I complete one task I create another. When I actually looked at the floor around the seat rails it was wafer thin, out comes the grinder and cutting disk. With the seat position lowered and the new seat boxes in position I only need to replace the large hole in the floor with new metal and the floor is complete. I didn’t get time to install the rear suspension boxes into the bulkhead but the front sill jacking points are in.

Back on Track

2008-03-26T04:34:00.000-07:00

So its been a while since the last blog but in this time I have been away in Canada skiing and walking in Snowdon not that I’m making excuses for my slow progress!! The shell is taking shape now and most holes have been repaired and weak parts strengthened. Recently I have been cutting the seat rails and it seems like most of the floor to allow for head room once the cage is installed. I hope to install the boxes for the new rear suspension parallel link set-up into the bulkhead next weekend and if I get time I will fit the jacking points into the sill front and back. There still seems so much to do before I get onto what I consider the fun bits i.e. rebuilding the engine, modifying the rear axel and trailing arms and just generally cleaning and refurbishing parts.
Apart from the above I have just been trying to stay alive after breathing in the toxic fumes cased by seam sealer, paint, under seal and rust. It seams that whatever mask you wear, even a gas mask ) the fumes manage to get through.

I have a really big decision this week, which roll cage should I fit. I have two choices,
Choice A: I fit the Safety Devises cage.
For

It cost less than £400
There is less work in the installation
I know that the cage is FIA approved and suitable for the HRCR

Against

It restricts the field of vision.
Head clearance could be tight with a helmet on.
It wouldn’t stiffen the chassis to the same degree as the weld in cage.

Choice B: I fit the weld in cage.
For

This cage would protrude only slightly into the field of vision.
It would stiffen the chassis considerably
There wouldn’t be an issue with clearance around the helmet

Against

There is a lot more work to install this cage (although it only has to be done once)
It costs around £ 650
there is a risk of distorting the shell on installation.
It is still not clear if this cage will meet the regs
I would have to get the cage inspected and approved.
Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures taken, I am working on it.

A bit of metal bashing.

2008-01-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

As much as I love the moth bitten holes and lumps of filler they don’t form the best rally car shell. Predominantly using the grinder and welder I have slowly been repairing and modifying the shell. At first I just kept walking around the car and couldn’t decide where to start so I tuck a deep breath and started chopping. Surprisingly!! The holes just got bigger and bigger in the search for sound metal.

O/S foot well.

Just a small hole and various other small holes around it.

Some of the repair pannels tacked in.

Double skinning around the offside foot well and inner arch.

Although it seems like slow progress, I have been wiring lights and generally improving the workshop. A lot of time has been spent moving engines around and trying to find somewhere to store all the parts whilst I restore the shell.

Its all happened so quickly.

2008-01-03T23:40:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday the 11th of September 2007 I decided that I would build a TR7 rally car. This decision was a strange one for me having had no previous experience or (I’m sorry to say) Knowledge of a TR7 or for that matter a Triumph but here I am doing my first Blog as a member of club Triumph. In the past four months I have travelled around Europe in a Toledo, decided to take on a Tr7/8 rally car, owned and stripped two TR7’s, scrapped one and now I am repairing and preparing the good one. I would like to blame Martin Randle for this sudden interest in TR7’s as without his sheer enthusiasm and commitment I wouldn’t have a garage full of Triumph parts and a lot of work ahead of me. Thanks.

So hello to everyone at Club Triumph.

Just a few pictures of the current progress.

The TR7/8 before stripping.

GBT next to Martins BRP

Just a few of the many parts.

How GBT looks on the 1st Jan 2008.