DHC repairs #24: LH front wing removal

With the repairs to the sills and the rear structural areas finished, the attention could be switched to the front of the body shell. Starting with the removal of the left hand front inner and outer wing and a detailed inspection of the previously hidden area. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that here again were some hidden horrors. As the pictures below clearly illustrate:

We had hoped that the left hand inner wing would be salvageable as I didn’t have a spare one. Sadly it wasn’t! Some bodge repairs early in the car’s life meant the outer edges were very badly damaged and rough. But there was also a lot of rust all over the top of the arch. As a result of which large areas were rather thin!

Long story short; I had to go in search of a replacement arch. Luckily there are enough other jobs left, so at least the work will not come to a standstill!

DHC repairs #23: Left hand rear floor & bulkhead

It’s been some time since my last update on this car. But there has been steady progress on the repairs of body shell. Though, as those who have been following these posts will know, the rusty bits were significantly worse than first thought! And this meant a lot more small repair sections had to be made from sheet steel and with the help of card board aided design. Starting with the lower edge of the rear bulk head:

The left hand rear jacking point:

The adjacent floor section plus bracket. Here again the large round hole close to the rear suspension mounting points was welded shut to give a little bit of extra strength:

And with this area finished work could shift to the front of the car. More on that hopefully soon!

My TR7’s in 2025

One final look back on 2025 from a TR7 point of view, before 2026 is well and truly upon us. Starting with the repairs of the DHC’s body. Below are a few shots of the work done so far. More in the relevant blogposts;

Early in the year the original body shell of that car saw the light of day again,

after many years of storage in the shed.

Ready for the next chapter in this car’s life and a new beginning!

After paint removal and shot blasting.

The repairs of the right hand sill and rear wing edge.

Rear of the right hand cabin floor section.

Left hand sill repairs.

Rear right hand suspension pick up points.

Next car in line for some attention was the 1976 TR7. Actually looking back not much work was done to this car (proof HERE!). But there has been some progress. Starting with a few small interior jobs.

Refurbishing and fitting the early style roof mounted interior light.

Fitting the gear-lever-gaiter-finisher to the gear-lever-gaiter.

It wasn’t as straight forward as it looks because I wanted the top of the

gear-lever-gaiter to be folded inside by a few millimetres to give a nicer finish.

Reassembling and mounting the steering column.

Always nice putting nice shining parts back on a car!

Than there was the business off redoing the gearbox extension because

my first attempt turned out not to be thorough enough. I think it is now.

And swapping the mounting hardware for the brake

balance pressure reducing valve for some nicer items.

Later in the year I had a go at fitting the ill-fitting but very nicely refurbished repro parcel shelf to the car. Needed an extra pair of hands to complete this job. But well worth the effort. And with the parcel shelf in place the boot trim could be finished:

But most of my Triumph time was spent on ‘t Kreng. Starting with another water pump replacement earlier in the year, after which the car was used as much as possible.

So far this pump has been pretty fine, with only a few very tiny leaks from time. But that is nothing to worry too much about with a graphite drag seal. These can always leak a tiny bit. So the most worrying bit is the lack of time to use the car on a regular basis. And thus preventing oxidation starting on the water pumps sealing surface. Which in turn can start another leak. But I did my best, covering exactly 2750 kilometres since fitting the new pump in the second half of April 2025. With the last drive just over a week ago:

End I reached an important milestone with this car. The car's odometer is around the clock for the second time in its life! Sadly at the moment the roads are covered in rock salt to prevent icing. So the next drive will be “somewhere” in 2026!

Seasonal Greetings

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas

and a healthy and happy New Year!