I'm so much more laid back nowadays

Yup, another couple of hours on BRP and one of the sprocket bolts won't go in.

It's the one you can see in the pic looking a bit skew wift - oh hum, there's always next weekend

Balance

Balance - something to be aimed for. Like moderation in all things

It has dawned on me that this blog has been all about components and nuts and bolts recently.

That's not very balanced and really not very interesting if technical stuff is all there is so - something else Triumph related but on another theme.












































































Here are members of CT Pendle and Pennine area enjoying (?) a Triumph based quiz put together by Jon Ranwell. All around google earth images of locations important to CT members.

Steph, Dave and Caroline ponder in the top pic, Spitfire racer Mik concentrates (and did vvery well), caroline gets the joke whilst Bob and Jo get stuck in.

Caroline won through in the end - great to see the pics of a great night out.

Time for a cuppa

A couple of hours on BRP this afternoon - following Trackerjack and Tinweevil's advice from the CT forum I have been putting the cylinder back on with a new thicker gasket.

The head looks OK on the bench but it's always so much better where it should be!

Then time for a cup of tea, pack away and then another couple of hours next week.

Header tank

Following advice from members of the Club Triumph forum (Trackerjack & Beanz) as well as from a new book on uprating TR7s I have decided to replace the plastic expansion bottle as standard on the early cars with the metal header tank system fitted from 1979 on.

The above picture are the components I got from S&S and the lower picture is after I have cleaned them up and painted them.

Never fear, CT members - this was no more than a quick clean up and paint to preserve them, certainly not a long time prep and painstaking process to beautify the car!

I also got the head back last night and the verdict is that it may be OK but the safest bet would be to strip it down and skim it.

Well, probably wrongly I have decided against that. Given that it doesn't take long to re-fit I have ordered a thick head gasket and will put it all back together following all the tips I have been given on torqueing the head down etc. Then it will have the new cooling system in place and we'll see what happens.

If it still overheats then I reckon I'll pull the engine out and fit one of the second hand ones.

I am determined to spend money on safety prep needed for rallying - not on engines. All I need is an engine that will work reliably, standard tune power will be fine.

Let's get out there competing whilst building another comp engine ready for when I can use it.

The "spares" car's future

I got hold of this TR7 a couple of years ago now for very little money as the previous owner was never going to get round to putting it back on the road.

It's future could very easily have been one of slowly rotting away before finally being scrapped.

That would have been sad as it had only had 3 owners and this wa a FHC without a sunroof - a fine base for a performance car.



So here it is under my car port having been rescued.

Well, now it is has been passed on again to my daughter's partner, Bryce. Ha has exciting plans for it to become a TR7V8 rally car.











The latest picture from this week. Completely stripped with a "double bulge" bonnet now to clear the carbs on a V8 and on a rotating frame ready for blasting and welding.

I reckon it looks great already!

Well done Bryce, the future is looking much brighter for GBT.

The year after next we hope to see GBT and BRP both out together on a stage rally - that will be a glorious day

Bits and pieces

Here's all the bits and pieces needed to upgrade to the later system on the cooling front which will replace the early simple expansion tank.

I have it on good authority that this is the way to go to improve matters - all part of beating the overheating issue.

Next I have to clean up the second hand bits, refit the cylinder head after it has been checked to make sure it isn't warped (thanks Bryce), fit the new alternator and make sure all is well.

Then I can move on to getting a roll cage and fitting it to BRP along with the rest of the necessary safety competition stuff (extinguisher system and 4 point harnesses as well as the roll cage).

Alternatively

After each event I go through a review systematically about the car and what work needs doing or improvements that could be made. That's just the way I am - continuous improvemnt is the plan whilst keeping the car on the road or stage. I couldn't be one of those people who spend all their time in car preparation to the enth degree and then never actually use it




Anyway, part of that process identified after the 2006 RBRR that one of the issues was a new alternator as the original failed.

Well, other things got priority if I was to keep doing events like sorting out the overheating so quickly throwing on a second hand alternator on a temporary basis won through.

Here we are though, a year later and this A127 alternator has been ordered thanks to a tip from fellow TR7 rally enthusiast Paul Swindells - a big improvement over the standard alternator and brand new too so that should result in more reliability.

And the second hand one? Kept as a spare to be carried on events by "the service crew".

A few spares and the head off

Through various stages I now have two spare Sprint engines, one with Sprint gearbox too.

Enough to keep the TR going I would have thought.

The Toledo could take a Sprint engine and box too maybe one day

Thanks Bryce for bringing the engines over.

Later in the day I pulled the head off the TR as I am working on the principal that the headgasket is blown and hence pressurising the coolant system, eventually blowing it all out the expansion tank.

Well I can't see any obvious signs here or on the block - any ideas?