Post 4: Cooling Fan

Post 4: Cooling Fan & Ignition


The summer came and went without issue, we had a few trips out the longest being a weekend away to Winchester and a visit to the Watercress Line and their 1940's weekend.  No images of the car though - very disappointing from that perspective!


The old TR7 is now my main form of transport and is pressed into daily use, transporting me to and from work.  So as we head into the winter I started to wonder about the robustness of the TR7, the car is 37 years old so bound to be issues. . . .


The first one: Ignition.


I had a problem with the car during the summer months after about 4-5 weeks from the start of the season service.  The car started to misfire but as I had just serviced the car it took me a while to identify the problem being the points! 


It seems that the plastic heal of the new points had worn resulting in my misfire.  Being fed up of this, the third set in as many years, I decided we needed to go electronic.  Having done this before I selected the electronic ignition kit from Powerspark

Powerspark Ignition Kit

 

The hard bit is that to fit this kit on the AC Delco distributor you need to remove the distributor and dismantle it as the magnetic pickup fits beneath the bob weights requiring the main shaft to be removed.  All good fun and again no image - totally failed!  But here is image of the distributor at least.

AC Delco distributor in place

Exploded view of distributor

The second,  cooling fan;


The other day on the way home there was a nasty vibration and grinding noise from up front.  Having got home it was a fair guess that the viscous fan has decided to pack up and is grinding away at the pulley shaft.  Looking at the replacement parts anew coupling is £72 + VAT and more importantly checking my TR7 manual you need a press to get the old one off and the new one on.


What to do then - convert to an electric fan sounded good to me but the price for that on the same site was £170 + VAT.  This price just looked excessive to me so I decided to look to find a fan and a switch myself - which I did for a mere £40.


So I have removed the viscous coupling and fan pulley from the engine - the engine has a separate water pump so you can do that and got myself a smaller fan belt from local supplier RAE motor factors for a fiver.


New fan strapped to the radiator and temperature sensor install now and tested  - very pleased with the result as the temperature guage sits nicely on the half way mark as previously.

Pulley, Coupling & Fan

Electric Fan

New Belt - No Pulley

Post 3: Fuel Gauge

13 May 2018
Post 3 Fuel Gauge


When I put the wedge to bed everything worked, the car had just passed its MOT!  When I un-wrapped the car in the spring, apart from the previous issues I described in post 1 the temperature gauge had stopped working.


Having checked this out it looked like the sender unit was not working - even though I had replaced it last year!  I bought another one and fitted it and the gauge didn't work, frustrating, as it worked if you short the sender wire out, the normal test!


Resort then to the TR7 manual and in there is a nice explanation of how the gauge works.  Judging from the diagram it looked like one of the fixed resistors may have changed value.  Unlikely to have changed value but clearly one of the resistors must have shorted or similar.


My thought was could I change the variable resistor value by adding resistance in the circuit, so I have made an additional resistor, value 750 Ohms, and connected between the harness and sender.  My first attempt, 1k Ohms put the needle too low and my second attempt, 500 Ohms put it too high!  750 Ohms however is just spot on, the needle sits at the half way point - not how it was originally!


Tested the gauge on a run to Warwick and back and all appears to be well - will monitor it over coming weeks

Extract from the TR7 manual

Post 2: Spring Clean 2018

Spring Clean 24th March 2018.


Time to wake old Reggy up for the 2018 season.  Started work on him over a week ago having just got back from Australia and New Zealand. 


But first lets go back in time, in fact October 2017 which was the last time I let him out!  All was well a very sort trip to Burbage to visit the MOT bay.  An uneventful trip although there was a whisper of "running rich" which I couldn't solve - the level was OK but only just.  This was a concern because the previous MOT's the car had been running weak so why it was now edging on rich was a little confusing.

Over the rollers at Tilleys

In any case the MOT was passed for another year - well done.  After getting home I am afrad it was sharply to bed for him for the winter.


So its March 2018 and I had prepared to open up the season with service items, new oil, filter plugs etc.  Reg had, had a problem with his points a week or so before the MOT and knowing I was putting him in bed for nearly 6 months I hadn't bothered changing them just gave them a quick file.  To be  fair to Reg on the way back from Tilleys he did start to misfire but he did start first time.


It wasn't that good though because there was a heavy misfire, not happy, but figured it was the points and all would be well.


Started the service, drained oil & filter and only then found that I hadn't bought the right filter - crap really.  As it happened I was working out side as my Mega-Project Healey powertrain was in the garage - in bits and then it snowed.

Reg jacked up, no oil and filter, no cover and snow!

In addition, I noticed that the carburettor rubber fixings to the intake manifold were once again cracked and needed replacing, not happy - this is the second time - maybe the rubber quality is poor I don't know, its not like this is a high mileage car!


A week later new parts arrive and we can get on with the service, New oil & the filter, points and plugs and also some new carb rubbers.


The carb rubbers are fiddly to say the least, there just isn't much access to the retaining nuts at all and you end up turning them a flat at a time, the back of your legs screaming!


All done and then the restart, smooth as silk - not!  Still misfiring so had some investigation to do to find the problem.  First thing remove the plug leads one by one, numbers 1 & 2 working - engine stopped.  Numbers 3 and 4 doing nothing - most unusual but then the engine does have 2 carbs so had to be lack of fuel really especially as I could feel the spark when I pulled the leads off - could resist!


So having put it all back together I had to go backwards a little ways to find the fault - fuel we had as it leaked when I took the float chamber pipe off.  No fuel however in the float chamber - lots of sand though!

Sand in the chamber - never good

Had to remove the chamber from the carb in situe to flush it out but after putting it back together the car fired up a bit lumpy which at first made me think there was something else but a quick rest of the mixtures on both carbs resolved that issue.


All done now and hopefully be OK as I need to use the car first had next week as my main form of transport as LandRover goes for his annual.

Post 1: A little History

The objective of this blog is to record some of the journeys and trials that contribute the fun and ownership of a Triumph TR7 but first I think a little history is required, how the car came into our hands, was restored.


Reg the Wedge - yes that's what we call him, was built in 1982 and was one of the last TR7's to come out of BL.  If you want to read about the TR7 then this isn't the place there are loads of websites and books you can call on.  One such website is https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/triumph/tr7-tr8/the-cars-triumph-tr7tr8/ and it provides an insight.


So what am I doing with a TR7 then?  Well it isn't my fault for a start it was all down to Mike, Mike is totally responsible for buying this car not me!  It started when we had the idea to go rallying - only the fun stuff we don't want to get hurt - and we thought a rear wheel drive car preferable than front so we formed a list!  All the usual candidates came up but then this TR7 came up for sale!


So the purchase story was fun, usually you arrange to go see a car, negotiate a price if you like then arrange collection - simple right?  How about you ring up and just buy over the phone!  A car from a recognised dealer maybe but not a 33yr old TR7 - well yes!  That was on a Wednesday in June 2015, then the second part we needed to collect the car on Saturday!  A quick installation of a tow bar and trailer loan later we saw the car for the first time and recovered him back to base.


Reg on the trailer - June 2015

To be fair the car had been stored in a dry garage for 15 years and regularly started and he started first time at the point of collection.  Don't be fooled though the TR7 is a rust haven but this one looked half decent at least!


Once home we undertook a major strip down, clean, repair and rebuild exercise.

In the garage in a state!

Ready for the paint shop

Reg after first MOT in 15years