Club Triumph

Quoted from stevieb

and rear glass was replaced with Perspex.

Quoted from Beans

Can only agree there, indeed one of the best single changes I made to my FHC.

Looks nice with the narrow rear wheelarch extensions. Where did you get these?

The rimmer arches fit much better than the Hamilton ones which I think are sourced from Smith and Deakin.

Quoted from JohnD

Did you really use perspex?
Polycarbonate is more usual these days.
But if you ever intend to enter competion, consult the MSA Year book ("Blue" Book) as you do the great work you are doing on it.  Any plastic window must be at least 4mm thick, and some disciplnes insist on polycarb while others glass.   See the Book at http://www.msauk.org/uploadedfiles/msa_forms/bluebooks/14/2014_MSA_Yearbook.pdf

JOhn

2007 – Oil Surge

A problem which would re-occur constantly as the performance improved was oil surge whilst cornering, now being able to get through corners at much higher speed the oil system could no longer deliver to the pickup pipe quick enough, it was back off or run the mains bearings. A dry sump system was not an option due to the expense so we had to have another idea.

Still a 3.5 V8, LT77 and 3.08 diff and Quaife LSD

Steve, I know you changesd to Coilovers in the end.

Did you keep the axle geometry and front geometry as standard?

Did you fit eccentric tops or adjustable track control arms to adjust front geo?

With the Gaz shockers you had in, could you estimate how much travel there was in the shockers? I've landed myself With some ex race ledas, which when put in place allow for mega low running with minimal travel and very very little droop, I suspect they will be great on snooker table smooth tracks but on a hillclimb they could prove to be a handful.

Also have any idea of what the spring rates where?

2007 – The 3.5 Has to Go

Half way through 2007 and with a track day booked only a couple of weeks away it became very evident that the old 3.5 wasn’t up to the job so a 3.9 Rover V8 engine was sourced from a man on eBay who promised it had only done 88,000 miles. What he failed to add was it had done 88,000 miles more than the Star Ship Enterprise. When the heads were taken off to have a look around, it showed signs of a lot of wear in the bores, every cylinder had a big step at the top and the substance in the sump was nearer tar than oil.

Not to be defeated the bores were give the treatment to get rid of the step and new rings were fitted to the pistons.  The crank got the same treatment, we were carrying over the flywheel and front pulleys, a big wing sump was found (hopefully to combat the oil surge) and then the engine was assembled with all the ancillaries carried over from the 3.5. The rebuilt 3.9 engine gave more torque but didn’t rev as far as the old 3.5.

Now a 3.9 V8, LT77 and 3.08 diff with Quaife LSD

2007 – Winter Upgrades to the 3.9 Engine

At the end of 2007 over winter the 3.9 engine was treated to a pair of Stage 3 big valve heads from RPI, a Piper 285 fast road cam, a lightened flywheel, and MSD ignition system with rev limiter, along with a set of hotter NGK spark plugs to deal with the bigger spark. We took the Mallory distributor to a V8 specialist in Castleford called Engine Data Analysis, these boys know their business and they alter the dizzy to work without the vacuum advance and also by making adjustments to the bob-weights, now it revved better.

Now a 3.9 V8, Big valve heads, Holly 390, LT77 and 3.08 diff with Quaife LSD

2007 – More winter upgrades

Still at the end of 2007, under the bonnet was given a new 3 core alloy radiator, an alloy catch tank to the engine breather and a strut brace was fitted between the front suspension top mounts, a brace was also fitted in the boot area to the top of the suspension turrets helping to stiffen things up a bit, and an anti-dive kit is also fitted. The part cage was replaced with a full cage along with side protection bars.

3.9 V8, Big valve heads, Holly 390, LT77 and 3.08 diff with Quaife LSD

Steve. Your rad? Is it TR7 specific or one you had custom made?

Quoted from Benzo

Steve. Your rad? Is it TR7 specific or one you had custom made?

2007 – Happy Christmas

I remember that my son joked and hinted about something from Quaife for Christmas 2007 (a gear kit, or maybe a full gear box), he wasn’t too disappointed when he opened a small box on the day, after all the LT77 box was standing up just fine.

At least it was a Quaife part, even if it was only a gear knob!!!

Love the rather spartan interior  

Thanks Beans, the influence came from touring cars.

2008 – Winter upgrades

In early part of 2008 and after the engine and under bonnet updates, works moved into the cabin. The seats were lowered, a heated windscreen from Ricky Evans Motorsport was fitted to combat any steaming up, it was switched in two half’s and consumed 18amp per side; however it was only used it if it rained as the rest of the time it was hot enough in the cabin to keep everything quite dry.  A/C would have been nice, but too costly and too heavy!

2008 – Differential Works

Still in the early part of 2008 in an effort to get better acceleration and drive through corners the diff was swapped to a 3.45 unit and at the same time all new bearings were fitted in the axle. We found the original collapsible spacer (UKC979) fitted on the pinion was not up to being re-used so we looked for a replacement. Where ever we went (we even tried Salisbury Transmissions) it was the same answer “No longer available” so it was back to our local engineer.

2008 – The differential collapsible spacer

Having no luck finding a collapsible spacer for the pinion I bought a similar item for a Land Rover which didn’t quite fit over the pinion and was also too long, but could be made to fit. Our trusty local engineer stretched the spacer just enough to slide over the pinion, machined it down to the right size and made some shims into the bargain………... job done.

I have found the spacer since we made ours, as the 4HA axle was fitted to many different vehicles, I searched under Scimitar and found one for £14.95……………………. I’m still learning!

Still a 3.9 V8, Big valve heads, Holly 390, LT77 and 3.45 diff with Quaife LSD

Interesting info on the collapsible spacer. Thanks for sharing.

2008 – Now a Tarmac Car

In March 2008 the suspension was treated to new Gaz adjustable coil-over shock absorbers with height adjustable platforms front and back with a new set of 58mm dia springs all round, 500lbs at the front and 200lbs at the rear along with new alloy roller bearing tops mounts, the car is now lowered from its rally spec into being a tarmac car.

Later in the year we got a chance to borrow some scales to check the weight of the car, the total weight of the car was 895kg with front at 57.7% and rear at 42.3% and side to side weight being 49% left and 51% right hand side. It gave us an idea to the balance of the car with the driver in, and an insight to see if we could possibly re-locate anything to improve the weight distribution. Anything that could not be re-located we tried to mount lower in the car therefore lowering the centre of gravity, every little helps!

this write up is ace keep it going