Everyone needs a V8 in their lives,

Hiya Chaps, and now for something completely different.

Apologies in advance, you can get those images of a GTi with an LS1 shoehorned under the bonnet out of your heads for a start ;-)

 On top of a house move and redundancy a few months after (perfect timing) i decided to pick up where i left off with my TR7. Before anyone laughs or posts the one of the many rumours surrounding this motor, hear me out… As a car, ie on paper, it is a fabulous piece of kit, throw in disgruntled BL factory workers, sabotage, mechanics not understanding the car and you end up with a useless vehicle which gained a rep for unreliability. With modern know-how and TLC, there is absolutely no reason why these cars cannot be as reliable as anything manufactured today and in some cases, more reliable.

 This isn't your average 1970s tin, it is a seriously strong car. Built to take the new 'to be implemented' yank crash regs which resulted in it having side impact protection (years before Volvo), fully moulded dash (this is 1974 remember), laminated windscreen, strong enough shell to take a roll over and bumpers built to take a 5mph shunt and not deform (i weighed one, 22.5kgs!) and a host of other things which would take years for other manufacturers to start producing. Eventually, after a short spell running Marina drivetrain, it was fitted with the gearbox and back axle from a 3.5l Rover SD1, more than ample for a TR7.

 Anyway, it's strong. Strong enough for a V8 as standard and without a doubt strong enough for one kicking out a substantial amount more than standard, subject to suspension and brakes but i have that covered. As much as i love my Golf, sometimes you just need a rear drive V8. Or is that just me?

Old engine out (i rebuilt in 2010, hated it)…



Donor engine out, standard 3.5L SD1 lump…



Engine rebuilt, not by me as what i wanted was far in advance of my capabilities and tool collection…



 And the recipient. All this needs to be up and running / sprayed by June. Should be interesting!



 Cheers :-)

Looking good, I owned a Cobra kit car with big Cleveland 5.7l V8 (that I built up) for 12 years, I had some good times in that car but it turned into a white elephant so I let it go to make space for my expanding Golf collection, my mates thought I was mad…

Yes I think it was the right car at the wrong time. Most modern cars are shaped like wedges to make them look fast when parked up. My daily driver fester is difficult to reverse as its ar$e is about 2 ft higher than the front windows. Harris Mann was decades infront of the rest of the world. Unfortunately pioneers often end up with arrows in their back.

Triumph could really have been the British BMW with executive saloons (Sprint with 16v engine and alloys in early 70s), V8 GTs (Stag) and open top car/coupes (TR5/6/7/8) and a host of premium cars (compared to Austin/Morris). I was looking at a TR7 at one of the classic shows and it was light years infront of the MG B in design, as you say the modern dash and even MK1 70stastic check pattern seats. If the BL management had invested in Triumph and not Allegros and Marinas might all have turned out differently.

BMW have made a mint selling a brand with sometimes fugly and unreliable cars and Mazda proved that there is a vast market for open top 2 seaters that don't leak or refuse to start in a morning.

Good luck with your project.

Nice project Robbie - the engine looks fantastic!

I've always liked the TR7, I know they get mocked, but I don't care! lol

Look forward to your updates  

Thanks for the positive and kind comments! Yes, as she progresses i'll post updates and maybe a vid of it blowing up at the dyno ;-) 

I always wanted a kit car, a GT40 being my favourite and the cobra must of been awesome but if the love's not there then it's not there i guess and it's only the owner that can understand that.

On a similar note i sold my motorbike in the summer, to the amazement of my mates but i just hated it. Half an hour to get my gear on, two hours avoiding speed cameras and multiple attempts on my life before getting home absolutely knackered wondering at which point i was supposed to of had fun. I'm glad i got it out of my system and still retain all my limbs, some bikes should not be allowed on the road. 

Sadly BL did invest in the TR7, they made a Capri killer (lynx) and an updated TR7 called the broadside but it was all cut short due to the strength of the pound to the dollar, this meant every car they sold in the last year or so was sold at a loss, crippling BL in the process. Harris Mann did me an awesome hand drawn pic of my motor which proudly sits on the wall in the dining room, much to the missus' disgust! 

Thanks again for the comments, i was braced for a barrage of ridicule! 

Cheers,

 Robbie.

Wow, nice TR7, that takes me back to my childhood,

What year is yours ?

Dec 1979. Funily enough i bought it because i remember seeing these as a kid too, had her since sept 2006. Sept 2006 and it's still not finished :-)

always wanted one of those, very cool in my book  

Such love, i'm shocked! Thankyou. They still go for peanuts if anyone is thinking of buying one. 

 Robbie.

Super cool retro motor, always wanted a Dolomite Sprint.....maybe one day....

Cool motor!
My dad had Sprints back in the day.
My grandad had Toledos and then an Acclaim!

 I kinda grew up with Triumphs

If you look carefully, you'll see the engine i'm junking is indeed from a Dolomite Sprint. Even though it was fully rebuilt and slightly modified by  myself it was still a disappointment and needed its neck wringing to get anywhere. Complete waste of time and money that one.

 If there is one good thing to say about it then it's this, my god did the thing love to rev! Not a lot of torque but loads of revs. 

Robbie.


 

Yomp said

Cool motor!
My dad had Sprints back in the day.
My grandad had Toledos and then an Acclaim!

 I kinda grew up with Triumphs

I actually had an Acclaim but of course it was not a real Triumph but the first Anglo-Japanese offering. However, the Triumph engineers did specify twin carbs which was different from the original Honda design and the little car did go well for a 1300. However, TR7s and Dolomites were very desirable motors back in the day and a cut above the Ford's etc.

^^ The Acclaim was the first car i ever went in that had remote adjustable headlamps. Lamps down, Lamps up, lamps down, lamps up, lamps… STOP PLAYING WITH THAT F',!!£&' SWITCH *slap round the back of the head*

RobbieB said

^^ The Acclaim was the first car i ever went in that had remote adjustable headlamps. Lamps down, Lamps up, lamps down, lamps up, lamps… STOP PLAYING WITH THAT F',!!£&' SWITCH *slap round the back of the head*

Lol   My uncle had a mk1 Cortina with the bench front seat and he and my dad would let me sit in the front in the middle. Pulled one of the knobs one day and he told me I was "choking" the car; as it said choke on it I believed him and did not want to kill the car…

RobbieB said

^^ The Acclaim was the first car i ever went in that had remote adjustable headlamps. Lamps down, Lamps up, lamps down, lamps up, lamps… STOP PLAYING WITH THAT F',!!£&' SWITCH *slap round the back of the head*

Lol   My uncle had a mk1 Cortina with the bench front seat and he and my dad would let me sit in the front in the middle. Pulled one of the knobs one day and he told me I was "choking" the car; as it said choke on it I believed him and did not want to kill the car…

RobbieB said

If you look carefully, you'll see the engine i'm junking is indeed from a Dolomite Sprint. Even though it was fully rebuilt and slightly modified by  myself it was still a disappointment and needed its neck wringing to get anywhere. Complete waste of time and money that one.

 If there is one good thing to say about it then it's this, my god did the thing love to rev! Not a lot of torque but loads of revs.


Robbie.

I just spotted before reading this post that it was a sprint engine.
The TR7 had a 2L 8v which looked like the 1850 if I remember correctly. I wonder why they never put the sprint lump in the sportier looking TR7 but then I guess the TR8 was the quick version?
As you know the Sprint was the first production car ever to sport a 16 valve 4 cylinder engine which was way ahead of its time if you  consider it's pretty much standard issue now.
My dad's sprint used to eat camshafts if I remember and my mum always complained about the heavy steering but it only sat on 175 70 13's the same as my Mk1!

Was the TR8 engine the Stag V8? I just remembered my Uncle had an Inca yellow Stag as well!

The TR7 8v is the exact same engine as the 1850, save a rebore out to 2.0L. In a nutshell, the sprint engine (or 16V head) was deemed too complicated for the Yank market.

When BL were doing their R&D out in the states it was found that a basic front engine, rear drive car was wanted and that the 2.0 8v would be the poverty spec engine with the TR8 topping the range. An overly complex engine (for the time) just didn't fit in really. i seem to remember something about struggling to get a 16V engine to meet the strict emissions requirements in America too, that wouldn't of helped matters but don't quote me on that.

 The sprint engine was not a lot faster than the standard 2.0l 8v. maybe half a second quicker to 60 and a few MPH on the top end and had virtually identical performance specs to the more basic V8. It really isn't that good when you consider the 8v was pushing out about 115bhp and the sprint was only knocking out 125(ish). It's nicer to drive because it doesn't run out of puff and loves to rev right up to (and past) the red line but when you get modern diesel focus's and peugeots literally leaving you for dust you kind of get the idea…

  It wasn't the first production 16v unfortunately, they'd been around for a good 50 years prior to the sprint,  another myth surrounding the engine no doubt helped by BL's marketing dept! It Is also full of some really silly design features, it has a single camshaft hitting on all 16valves and you can't remove the camshaft without disturbing the head bolts which is a bloody headache when setting the valve gaps.

 The TR8 used a detuned Rover V8, some were even worse with all the emissions equipment fitted, the UK spec was about 140bhp (ish) which would explain the poor performance figures. I say poor, poor for 3.5L engine but still had a bit of poke!

 The Stag was the only car to have 'that' V8 in it, sticking the Stag V8 in a TR7 would of been the equivalent to shoving a drunk elephant in the front of a fiesta, it was incredibly heavy and underpowered but suited the Stag down to the ground with it being more of a cruiser.

Re steering, yes you do need to be popeye to drive old classics! i'm not sure about the golf because i find the steering on that to be reasonably light but the TR7 was a bit heavy. I overhauled the entire steering / suspension gubbins when i rebuilt that engine in 2010, machining out the strut top cones to fit ford focus strut top bearings has made a huge difference.  

Cheers,

 Robbie.

Oldschoolcool said

Yomp said

Cool motor!
My dad had Sprints back in the day.
My grandad had Toledos and then an Acclaim!

 I kinda grew up with Triumphs

I actually had an Acclaim but of course it was not a real Triumph but the first Anglo-Japanese offering. However, the Triumph engineers did specify twin carbs which was different from the original Honda design and the little car did go well for a 1300. However, TR7s and Dolomites were very desirable motors back in the day and a cut above the Ford's etc.

I wish today's prices reflected that, classic fords are so expensive aren't they!

Bay City Rollers anyone… Same car, pics taken four years apart.