Roll with it!

The first trial fit of the rear cage and it looks really good - well made and sits really well in place.


















The bracket on the sill - the sill itself has to be cut out under the bolt holes to allow the captive nuts to sit "inside it".














Then the front leg has to go down the side of the A pillar which means removal of some of the dashboard - here's Bryce at work on this.










Next is a case of getting the position of the front cage "leg" in the right position - here it is held by cable ties well up on the roof rail. It's important to get it as high as possible so as not to intrude on the cockpit area and be too close to the occupants heads!











But then there's an "issue" at the base of the leg where it fits onto a bracket - as can be seen here the bracket itself is sat on a block of wood to enable it to meet up with the leg.

Advice is currently being sought from the roll cage manufacturer!

No pictures at the moment but we also moved on to re-fit the seats and look at fixing the harnesses.

I had intended using a harness bar welded to the roll cage but the seats are too close to the rear hoop and there's no space so that idea has had to be abandoned (but at least there's a weight saving without that bar!).

A few more brackets will need to be made up and welded in - thank goodness Bryce is an excellent automotive engineer.

Back where I started

The Toledo will be a back up car for BRP if it's not ready for the Little Devils.

So, a good idea to check the Toledo over and try and fix the blowing exhaust again!!

Under the car and it's blowing from the same place; in fact, it wouldn't have been long before the centre section pulled off the front pipe. Fixed that but it was still blowing so it seems the real problem is that the front pipe bore isn't quite right and or the section isn't long enough.

Ho-hum, I decide to think about this for another day.

But then what about the bottom hose which has always looked a bit suspect? Well I had a new one when I bought the car so I decided to fit it - guess what, not the right one!!!

So the old hose went back on with a new jubilee clip but I had to top up the radiator again. The radiator top up "plug" then cross threaded going back in - grrrr!

2 1/2 hours messing about and no further forward.

On checking the Rimmer Bros website tho, a new downpipe is only £35 and a bottom hose about £7, they even have a radiator top up plug. So, order placed and I await the new bits.

I will have replaced the entire exhaust by the time I am finished which is a pain but if I can stop it blowing I'll be well pleased as the engine itself is such a sweet little runner (bet I'll regret saying that!).

Go for the gap!

Had a great time on "La Carrera" but only just got round to the photos.

Here's a pic of my driver for the weekend - Theo "Go for the gap" Boonen.

Great car and great driver - Theo knows how to drive quickly and positively

Rally team workshop

BRP is now over with Bryce's car awaiting us fitting the roll cage etc.

This is the first time it has been on the road in nearly a year and the first time Bryce has driven a TR7 - thankfully all was well apart from a slight probelm which cleared itself.

It was great to be in BRP again and Bryce certainly enjoyed the feeling of the car - taut on the road with a fair bit of power and a very nice exhaust note.

But here are 3 pics of BRP in company with Bryce's GBT - loks like a rally team's workshop eh?

Pendle & Pennine Gymkhana 2008

I'll let the video do the talking!

Wakening BRP

Well, it's getting close now when I can return to driving and when the roll cage arrives next week.

So, time to take the cover off BRP and get it ready.

Doesn't it look great!









Under the bonnet shot - all seems to be OK with no overheating and no loss of coolant. Time will see if it stays that way.













I took out all of the spare bits of trim today so it's ready for the fit,ment of the roll cage etc.














I also took everything non essential out of the boot so it is now looking close to how it will when it's ready for the first rally.























I didn't think there was much left in the car but here's everything that came out - amazing!

So, next is to get it over to Bryce's place and start fitting the cage, harnesses and extinguisher system. then it needs an MOT and RFL by August 9th.

A pleasant change

When we did the Historic Counties the indicator stalk started mis-behaving. It would have to be held in position for the stalk to locate correctly, but only sometimes.

This was a replacement second hand one so I thought I would probably need a new one but they cost £63 so I hoped I might be able to fix it.

So, this afternoon I removed the cover and found one of the screws holding the stalk on was loose - aha. Tighten it up, re-fit the cover and the job is sorted. That was certainly a pleasant change to normal.

Unfortunately, the exhaust is blowing again!

Then I moved onto the TR7 to start it up, warm it through and move it a little to make sure everything was freed off. Well, it started pretty quickly, got up to just under half on the temp gauge when the elctric fan cut in and brought it back down to just over a quarter. There was still the right level of coolant in the expansion tank too - this is looking promising.

All the lights worked, even the offside indicator which seemed reluctant to start with but then played ball. The only thing not happy are the emergency flashers but that's a minor worry.

So, looking good but I need to wait for the roll cage yet which should be here in a couple of weeks.