The great starting debacle pt 3

This weekends Beast news ... the new [black] cap and rotor were put into place and it still didn't start. I have taken all of the plugs out, which were very sooty and petroly [quite ridiculous after about 50 miles] and gave them all a good clean with a rag. And it still didn't start. Cock! Now where did I put that battery charger?

This weekend ...

I have a new blue distributor cap and rotor arm on standby at Rimmers. The rep at work is calling by on Friday to pick it up. Guru Ed is on standby. The beast will live, I have the faith ...

The beginning has ended

MNX500V has gone. Can you believe that Ed has had it back?! 20 years after he sold it to me for a grand, he has re-purchased it for twenty quid. Rather like the new one, it made me happy and it made me rant. So, cheers to my teabag. It was fun whilst it lasted!

The great starting debacle pt 2

The battery is charged; I add another tenners worth of fuel just in case; so here goes ...

B U G G E R ! WTF is wrong with it now?

Paul reckons that the plugs are now coated with fuel and the only way to sort them out is to remove them and bake them in an oven or nuke them with a blow touch. He said it with a straight face too so I presume it could be true. Lionel though suggests he is talking dung, that it may be a distributor thing. Guru Ed is yet to suggest anything. However, he is coming to take the teabag away next week, so I may just grab him then.

The battery is flat again. The initial recharge was #23 on the to do list. Does this count as #23 again or #24?

The phrase bad to worse springs to mind. I leave you with this picture ...

Up Yours fatty, I don't want to start

I had a spare couple of hours this weekend and thus decided to get the beast onto blocks and axle stands to start the undersealing. I thought I would get it warm a bit first ... it started first time as usual so I reversed it out of the garage. All was well for a few minutes, it was burbling (and spluttering but never mind) nicely and then decided to stop. Similar to the breakdown fiasco of in October, the beast decided it was not going to restart. Lacking a hill and car tax, a bump start was out of the question. Not for the first time, I had to knock on neighbour's doors to help me to push the dungy old nail back into the garage. Needless to say, the underseal didn't get started. Recharging the battery is number 23 on the To Do list!

How to beg a carpet

It's quite easy really. You ask the director if the dark green rug that is in the company van is really needed. You already know the answer as the van has not had a ruggy carpet thing in it for the last 2 years. Sorted! One carpet set for the beast! If it dont fit in the cabin, the boot will look lovely!

Thanks to "The Wig"

Today, The Wig kindly "donated" four trailing arm bushes to the beast's restoration fund. Now where did I put the Haynes manual? ...

Winter To Do List

I got it back home - smoking and spluttering and smelling of fuel - and then started a to do list. And there would appear to be a lot to do! Some things are more nice than vital ie interior trimmings. Some are desperate ie another tune up and probably the clunking. Anyway, here be the list:

BODY
01 trailing arm bushes
02 differential gearing problem?
03 half shaft problem?
04 underseal

ENGINE
05 balance carbs again
06 change / move fuel pump DONE!
07 change distributor cap? DONE!
22 after #21 competed, rehose the heater

ELECTRICS
08 fix LH indicator DONE!
09 refit front fogs
10 fix hazard lights DONE!11 fan on a switch?
12 fix LH pop up light DONE!
13 fix flash / main beam DONE!
23 refit cruise lights
24 grease RH headlight
25 change the +ve & -ve leads and battery terminals DONE!
26 Fix the wires that Freddy ate
BRAKES
14 change front pads NO NEED, PLENTY OF LIFE LEFT!
15 change rear shoes NO NEED!, PLENTY OF LIFE LEFT!

INTERIOR
16 fit carpets
17 fit rear padding
18 fit x4 floor blanking plates DONE!
19 change the old headrest DONE!
20 clean the seats DONE!
21 remove dash and fix heater matrix

F F S

It's not raining so it's a TR day. I have a week left of tax afore it's SORNd so it is most definately a TR day. It started - as always. It wasn't particularly happy - as always. It popped and spluttered a bit - it does do that until it gets warm and then it is heel, toe and choke juggling time. I need cash and a sarnie so I stop at Tesco Express on the way. Very bad idea. "Nah, I aint starting, you can feck off". So there I sat, watching people go past in their nice warm and reliable cars. Backup called for.

We tried bump starting it in the car park. Nope. We tried on the way out of the car park.Nope. We towed it up the hill and round the corner. It would appear that the feckin hazards don't work either. The tow rope broke. We tried pushing it up the hill. Me arse. Arnie in his prime wouldn't shift that. A bloke pushing a pram had to help. What a fecking sight! What a fecking nail! Eventually, I sailed around the corner desperately trying to bump the bastard. Huzzah!

And it was still not happy. And it was backfiring alot. And quite frankly I am sick to fecking death of it. This isn't enjoyable. To own one of these very crap cars, one needs a shite load of dollars or alot of mechanical skills. I have neither. The to do list gets longer - I may just work on that and post again later today afore I start the mammoth quest to return home to my loveones - and thus the potential bill gets bigger. Neil spent £5000 on it and it is still crap! My patience is getting smaller. So far it owes me about £1700. If you know any one with a mental disorder and £1700, please tell me.

Clunking, Banging and Popping

Banging and Popping

This week has been a good week as I have managed to take the beast to work 4 days out of 5. Wow! The journeys have not been completely plain sailing though - as you could imagine if you are somewhat au fait with the content of this blog.

Typically, the beast starts with a bit of choke first time with no worries at all. It is obvious from the engine tone that it doesn't really want any choke and the smell of the engine is very petroly - too rich I am led to believe. But, and here is the dilemma, I can get over 3k revs if the choke is out but I can't idle without the choke in. If I rev it with the choke in, the v8 burble turns into an SAS firing range with bangs and pops all over the place.

So what's that all about ... the SU's still or the fuel pump or not a blue distributor cap? Meanwhile, I am getting damned good at heal and toeing!

Clunking

This week has seen the almost end of MNX500V as Geoff Something has agreed to take it away for me in exchange for a few bits from one of the other 7's that he has in a dismantled state in his warehouse. Geoff has been driving these ploppy cars around for many many years and thus, just might take Guru status off Ed. He suggested that the clunking is infact the trailing arm bushes as the bush hole has a tendency to oval itself after time.

Mr Haynes found the clunk (me arse)

With the beast on axle stands, a trolley jack and concrete blocks, propshaft removal began. Simon, (bloke next door, Who's Who has been updated!) and I wedged ourselves under and started to scrape knuckles. After about an hour and a couple of cuppas, off came the propshaft.

And there is nothing wrong with it. Cock! A quick trip round to Guru Ed confirmed this. So what else could it be? Bugger! Look at the drawings ... there are gears in the diff, there are teethy things on half shafts, and oodles of different bearings. It must be one of them then?

And as a new axle costs over 1000 big ones [almost as much as i paid for the damned thing!], the clunk is now referred to as a "feature"!

Bits of the beginning

Remember MNX500v? On Sunday Lionel helped me to strip it. Actually, when I say Lionel helped me to strip it, I mean whilst I battled in vain for what seemed like hours trying to wedge NRDFCRT into impossible angles in order to remove the dashboard, he proceeded to completely remove the front of the car. It was a bizarre sight - imagine Inspector Gadget working at the speed of the Tasmanian Devil on speed. He even had time to take the widdle out of my car(s), NRDFCR and my tool kit.

Nevertheless, thanks Line! And here's some dead bits ...

Mr Haynes found the clunk

On Friday, due to the dungy road works that are killing Kidderminster, I had to go on a very large and quite wonderful drive around various villages and lanes with the top down and the v8 burbling. Well, when I say burbling, I mean coughing and spluttering. For most of the way back, all was well if I drove with the choke out. That was until I was about to stop at a junction when the choke had to be shoved back in very quickly! the tune lasted a long time eh?!

So. An enjoyable little trip was had apart from the damned clunking. It must be something to do with the transmission? Over the weekend, I decided to get underneath the beast and have a nose around. There appears to be some play inn the propshaft. After consulting the great (?) Haynes, it suggested that a clunk on gear change is indeed the bearings in the propshaft. Huzzah!

Or not so huzzah as I now have to get my "not really designed for car repairs torso" (herein known as NRDFCRT) underneath a rusty 30 year old car body in order to remove 8 rusty 30 year old bolts from a rusty 30 year old propshaft. Oh joy.

The custard monster strikes again

Remember the custard monster? He has struck again.
All has been well thus far since the tune. It ticks over properly and sounds fantastic. However. On the way back from Stourport [the longest journey it has had since DDay!] earlier today, the 3000 revs thing started again.
What is so magical about 3000 revs? Do I need to get Paul Daniels in? Or maybe that tool who is hanging from his nackers somewhere in New York?
So. Back to Basics as some pea eating bloke used to say.
The clunk can wait.

Happy Birthday to me

I got the call from Phil today at the beast was ready to collect. It was from Leah actually. I could hear her smiling on the other end of the 'phone as she had taken it for a little spin.

Phil suggested I took it for a little test drive. Bejaysus! How fast?! So this is what its like to drive a proper TR8 then? Why the feck did I wait so long to get it tuned?! Turns out that the spark plugs needed changing; that the carb linkages were loose and thus didn't work together; that 2 of the HT leads were the wrong way round; that the carbs needed balancing.

A [good] night out on the pop is all it cost to restore the silly cheesey smile upon my boat.

Now for the clunk ...

My poor poor wallet

It's gone in. It just about made the 1 mile journey although I had to use the handbrake to stop as removing my foot from the right hand pedal would have resulted in stalling and non starting for an hour!

I have a horrible incling that a set of spark plugs and a twiddle with the carbs just isn't going to be enough.

I have suddenly remembered why MNX500V was taken off the road.

I await a call ...

Addendum

Bugger! Phil has had a run on and so the very very very much needed tune etc is delayed until Monday. Will the damned thing get home?

Where did I put my RAC card? ...

At least it starts first time

Ever heard the phrase "you get what you pay for"? I often think that had I spent 5-6k [in my dreams!] on a TR8 that I would have a very pretty one with no dead engine or rattle problems and a very tidy interior. Well I didn't. And it shows! This morning it is booked in at Phil's and if he can't tune it no bugger can. It's a good job too as the 2½ mile journey to work was rather painful. The engine felt like it had been sabotaged with a pot of custard.

Unfortunately it decided to stop once I had entered the gates at work - right in the middle of the car park. A rather large Pole came to my rescue and there was much merriment at my expense. Crappy old nail. It is perhaps not a shocker that the day I bought it, TR7s were placed in the top 10 of the nation's most dungy cars! It's lucky there is not a hammer in the boot.

At least it starts first time ...

Twat Alfa Driver

And I forgot to mention. Last week I took the beast to work as the Met told me it was going to be sunny. Liars! I checked the interwebnet and some bugger had changed the suns to nasty black clouds. So, not wanting the beast to get wet nor not wanting to drive round in circles, I nipped home to get the Volvo. Afore nipping, a colleague decided to assist in collapsing the hood. Now as he is an Alpha 2000 driver (similar to the one Dustin drives in the Graduate), he thought he could simply throw the hood down in an arsey Italian stylee. Wrong! I am now a press stud down on either side. There goes the brand new hood. Twat!

Water water everywhere

It's nothing to do with global warning. Don't blame the Yanks. Nor the Chinese. Not even the Indians. It's my fault. I can not even hear the great Lord Suggs due to the rain hammering down on the conservatory roof. The wettest August on record is due solely to the fact that I purchased my dream car in July. Since I managed to get up the hill of doom oh so long ago, it has rained. And rained. And rained. I wonder if I will be able to have another trip out before the tax runs out in October?

Who's Who?

There would appear to be a list of familiar names on this site. Perhaps it is time for a Who's Who?

Ed – From whom I purchased the original 7 in 1989 that started this silly appreciation of these cars. Not as pretty as he used to be but still likes getting his hands dirty. He has had quite a few of them now and therefore is my TR guru. You can usually find him beneath his Grinnall – not always because it has broken – more because he just can’t help himself. He stupidly purchased a house very near mine not so long ago. And to make matters worse [for him anyway], our daughters are starting school together in September. This means he now has to help me fix my car!

Paul/Pete – Paul lives a couple of doors away. He races Land Rovers. Luckily for me, these Land Rovers have got Rover V8 engines. I am hoping his mate Pete can help sort my 3000 revs thing out.

Neil – Neil was the previous owner and kindly spent thousands of notes making the car pretty. He is still in touch. I don’t think he really wanted to sell it. Make me an offer Neil!!!

Plain – Great bloke [despite the half a ton of metal in his lugs and his plum sack]. I went to school with him. He promised to help me should the TR ever spring an electric leak. Watch this space Line!

Simon – Another great bloke. He lives next door. We have a lot in common actually ... he likes history, he is an asthmatic tabber, and he is currently trying to repair a rusty crappy old Triumph of his own. He is so glad that I bought this car that he has just told me that he will be moving in with his bird at his earliest convenience!

Ian – met him for the first time only recently when he lent Ed and I a pole thing to take the teabag to it's new old home. First impressions were of an approachable and friendly bloke ... which is damned bloody useful as he is a Land Rover v8 owning RAC man!

Stuart/Stewart– has to take Guru status from Ed as he spent 6 years fannying with these ploppy machines, working for some bloke called Grinnall

Ben– Brother of a crazed inventor who's life "work" is to harness the power of kinetic energy, but we won't hold that against him. Unfortunately for Ben, a chance meeting at a surprise 40th birthday bash reminded me that he has been a mechanic since we left school a "few" years ago. Ben has joined the pit crew as an engine genius and at the time of writing, would appear to have solved "The great starting debacle".

The end of the beginning

In the beginning there was MNX500V. I bought this from Ed (as mentioned previously) and have never let him live it down! At the time I worked for the hateful Lloyds Bank on an outrageously small amount of cash. This was the first mistake as it soon became clear that one can not own a TR7 whilst earning bugger all.

Despite the filled arches and filled sills and filled rear petrol panel and filled inner arches and badly welded inner fitches and very average paint job, I wanted it. It had 2 seats. It was a sports car. I was only 19 after all!

Rather like the nobbers who “speed” around the neighbourhood in crappy plastic Corsas and Puntos, I was more interested in silly bits as opposed to bodywork and thus spent money on suspension bits and exhaust pipes as opposed to wings and arches. Bad idea. The Janspeed exhaust system sounded good though, and the lowered springs and Spax adjustables gave a very hard but improved ride.

It would take oh so many pages to explain what went wrong over the years so a brief list will have to do: gearbox exploded at 100mph on the M5, petrol tank sprung leak, pop up lights that didn’t, lots and lots of welding, replacement propshaft, replacement rear panels, a little more welding, some inner arch filling, suspension bushes, the odd wheel bearing, lots of window winders, a steering rack, a distributor, dead brakes, another few more buckets of P45, an assortment of starter motors and a radiator.

Poor old MNX500V became known as the “teabag” as it had so many holes in it. I eventually gave up not long after buying the house. It wouldn’t rev beyond 3000rpm (oh the irony) and I hadn’t the readies to find out why (double irony). It eventually ended up in Betty’s garage next door where it would stay until it was time to “do it up”.

Eight years later (!), it has been replaced and will shortly be stripped for spares. With metal at silly prices these days, it is now worth more than it has in a decade. The interior is the first to be attacked as that in the V8 could do with replacing. It will be sad to see it go but it really is beyond economic repair. It will always be remembered as the reason why I like these ridiculous cars so much!

Quick, some sun!

It's Friday and there is some sun so I just had to remove the cover and get it out. Will I get up that damned hill on the way home?

nb 15/08/08 @ 1700. Hill? What hill! Straight up it with no problems albeit at less than 3k rpm!

The garage door

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I smiled every time I opened the garage door?

This is why ...

Want to go above 3000 rpm?

Well I can’t. Bugger! Ed (TR8 guru) reckons it’s the size of the fuel pump and the position in which it located. This makes sense as I can’t get up very small inclines – suggests fuel starvation? Even Neil (previous owner) believed the fuel pump was a little bit dodgy. So there it is then. Or is it?

Paul/Pete (race Land Rover V8s) have had a quick butchers. They have taken plugs out and undone leads and caps and all manner of things. They suggested new plugs, a new blue distributor cap as that’s the one needed for electronic ignition. They will do something with a strobe and then be able to eliminate various problem areas.

All I know is that summer is rapidly disappearing and I don’t know how to fix it – there isn’t a “won’t go above 3000 revs” section in the Haynes manual! I knew there would be a learning curve – just didn’t expect it so soon nor to be so steep!

Oh dear!

I have now owned this beast for nearly a month and to be honest, although it makes me smile each time I open the garage door, I quickly lose the smile when I get it on the road. The first few weeks have been a bit of a disaster and things have not improved much since then.

Day one was interesting as I ran out of petrol round the corner from home – it would appear that when the petrol gauge suggests a quarter of a tank, it really means empty! Ed (who started my ridiculous love of these unreliable machines-more of that later) saved the day in his Grinnall and a can of fuel. (I won’t tell you that I ran out of juice an hour or so later too as that would make me look silly and also highlight the fact that a v8 engine is rather thirsty!)

A few days later, it was noticed that there was some “green” emanating from the bottom of the engine. On further inspection, it was seen to be coolant. Thankfully, it was not oily coolant. A top hose was duly sourced and replaced.

I could at this point mention how crap the brakes are. I am still trying to decide if the brakes are crap or that the braking system of 1980s cars is crap

And as Neil (previous owner) suggested, the fuel pump would appear to be more at home on a Mini 850. This may be why I can’t get up Husum Way (a hill, but not a steep one as my V70 with caravan attached whizzes up it without any problem) without breaking down? And also why I can’t get over 3000 rpm? And perhaps why it backfires?

Unveilled ... HDW300W

So here it is. Bought off eBay from a bloke in Halesowen. And this is what he said…

INTRO:
This was my project, she was bought off e-bay in November 2003 for £1000. She had been barn stored previously for a couple of years in Cambridge and was then trailered back to The Midlands for her transformation back from the dead. Her only saving grace from the scrapyard was the V8 and a decent body. In 2007 all of the major work was completed and she was MOT'd in her (bare metal) primer filler yellow. With the MOT passed she was then stripped back down and re-sprayed in Mica Green (Previously Persian Aqua Metallic) and then MOT'd again in May 2008. The cost of my project to date stands at £5000. (Wife....not happy!). The car is useable, Taxed, MOT'd and ready to go, she's good but with a little bit more TLC and a few tickle of the spanners she could be an absolute prize winner! I'm a mid 30's driver with a clean licence and pay £120.00 a year fully comp Insurance with Flux and Co. I will let winning bidder have my Policy Number so that getting a quote on her will be easy as they have the mods listed and pictures.

If you are still reading to here you are obviously an enthusiast and will know a little bit about these fine machines. I've listed below as much as I can, development points and all. I would love to see her go to a good home after so much money and hours have been spent on her. This is my 5th (yes 5th) mode of transport and having achieved what I set out to do it's time for her to move on.

As you will see a couple of the pictures are taken during my re-build. The V8 Conversion was done by the previous owner and although this is not documented he told me that it was a British Leyland specialist who did the conversion. (Has passed all inspections since).

She was stripped down to just engine, gearbox, running gear and non bolt removeable body panels. She was stripped to bare metal on all outer surface panels. Car has just passed 2nd MOT since re-build (Only 1 small wire on indicator needed attention).
All parts on this car were supplied by Robsport International, all welding and spraying was carried out by a professional mechanic.

BODYWORK:
The Bodywork is sound, it had some minor NS and OS arch repair work, bottom of passenger door, bulkhead behind fuse box, and a patch to driver's floor. The passenger floors front and rear were replaced as was the inner flitch on the OS rear sill tail rise (near to the bumper). The turrets were both patched to a high standard and have flown all inspections. The car now has a brand new black vinyl hood fitted and also had a really good padded roll-over bar fitted at some point in its life. The car is fitted with front and rear cruise lights (wired to side lights NOT indicators) and a chin spoiler (which is peeling a little). Car was fitted with a brand new petrol tank, straps, senders and copper pipe to pump. The 'Pop Up' lights do work but they went out of sync recently and I haven't had chance to have a proper look why. The power to the motors has been disconnected via the connector in the engine bay in the meantime. She has all round mud flaps with 'TR8' in white decal on the rear ones. There is a 'Triumph' and 'TR8' decal in silver on the boot. You pay £2000 for a paint job, you get a £2000 paint job, I paid £650 and although it's good, a decent mopping and a few hours polishing wouldn't go a miss. (The Mica effect does look lovely in the sun). Chassis number prefix is TPADJ7A

INTERIOR:
I have not replaced the carpet yet but this does give an ideal opportunity to inspect all the floor and sill panels. The seats and door cards are blue and grey tartan with round speaker holes. The seats are OK, the driver's is a little worn but easily re-furbed or replaced. (MGF seats fit well apparently). All of the gauges work and all of the dash back lights were replaced. The Speedo and Rev counter work but I am not sure if these were ever calibrated to the V8, the mileage is stuck sometime in the distant past at 99999 but in 7 years I doubt this car has done above 50 miles. The little courtesy lights in the doors work, the seatbelts are in good order, there's a decent steering wheel fitted properly and a 'car boot special' retro radio/tape player is present but not wired in or tested. The heater motor works at all 3 speeds but the matrix had started to drip ever so slightly so to prevent any further damage the hot water is 'looped' straight back into the block at source. The Doors shut well and the locks work. The window winders work but the driver's needs a little helping hand for the last 2 clicks of the cog.

ENGINE AND GEARBOX:
I don't know a great deal about the engine? It's a V8 and has 9.35:1 stamped on it, the engine number prefix is 10A147. It always starts 1st time with a bit of choke (got a big strong battery) and doesn't smoke. It had new head gaskets put in at 2007 by an 'old timer' pipe and slipper mechanic and has K&N filters as obvious on the photos. The SU's have never given me any grief and the bottom plates and gaskets on both were replaced as these do warp in the heat over the years. As you can see this is a 100% honest posting and I really think the engine/carbs would benefit from a good tune. I've looked on the internet and tried to figure out the 'plastic pipe in the ear' method of balancing the carbs but have kept well away! There is one electric fan bolted onto a big radiator and at the moment the fan is 'on or off' switch controlled as I never got round to tapping a thread and sender into the metal bridge pipe. The gearbox is 5 speed and very tight, I have no idea what the back diff ratio is or too much else about it. It has twin exhausts (nice sound) and I'm pretty sure the back boxes and tail pipes are stainless steel. Car runs on 4 star fuel.

WHEELS, TYRES, BRAKES, AND SUSPENSION:
I am told that the wheels are Revolutions, I have refurbished the back 2 which have come up lovely but not had chance to do the front 2. A set of Minilites on her would look fantastic!. The tyres are old but well within legal limits. There are discs on front and drums on back. Brakes are ok but if you've just jumped into her from driving a modern car you may want to familiarise yourself with just how 'different' the stopping technology of the 70's and 80's was. If you were looking to further improve the girl the brakes are certainly something to bear in mind. Suspension is in good order with Yellow adjustable spax on the rear.

A date that will live in infamy

The Americans had their infamy day on 7th December, 1941. I had mine on 18th July, 2008.

I finally own one - a real TR8 (or a TR7V8 for the purists). My 20 year wait is over. This is the continuing story of HDW300W.