FHC resto nr. 44; Small progress

Managed to do a few small jobs on the FHC. First I finished the sound proofing of the body shell by rectifying a few minor blemishes and faults caused by the lowish temperatures when I applied them. This last issue meant a few pads were coming loose at some of their edges or had some air trapped underneath. But with the paint stripper and some blunt tools that was easy to rectify. I also added the last missing pieces on the inside of the sills ...

And for comparison, the same area in a FHC ...

With the soundproofing finished I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up all threads of welded in nuts and threaded plates. As it seemed rather inappropriate to cover up the car without any visible proof of an afternoon well spend, I decided it would be nice to fit the first few parts, the seat belts ...

Next steps; refurbish the rear lights and the wiring loom.

But there are some other jobs to do on my TR7's this winter ...

Seasonal greetings ...

Calendar Girls 2016

Another year almost over. So time again to start to think ahead to 2016. And time to browse through my pictures for a new calendar to grace the study wall. As last year I decided to use pictures of my TR7's ...

January: To remind me of the work ahead for the coming year.

A picture of the freshly painted 1976 FHC patiently waiting in the shed for assembly to begin.

(14 September 2015)

February: 't Kreng in front of the Ribblehead railway viaduct,

during the first edition of Club Triumph's Border Raiders Tour.

(2 August 2014)

March: The DHC on the Black Mountain in Wales,

during the second edition of Club Triumph's Taith o Amgylch Cymru.

(11 May 2014)

April: 't Kreng in the car park of the Old Stone Trough,

the night before the start of the first edition of Club Triumph's Border Raiders Tour.

(1 August 2014)

May: Refurbished interior for 't Kreng,

McBeans tartan covered Sparco seats and custom made switch panel.

(1 April 2015)

June: The DHC on the Hoverheide viaduct over the RW73 in Belfeld.

(13 November 2013)

July: Current wheels on both 't Kreng and the DHC.

The DHC shot at the Silvretta in Austria and 't Kreng closer to home in Baarlo.

(12 September 2015 / 28 November 2015)

August: The DHC pictured against one of my favourite views in the area,

the Maas panorama in the village of Neer.

(18 June 2014)

September: The first tour of 2015 with the DHC,

a local blast through the country near "Huis Oijen" in Baarlo.

(15 April 2015)

October: 't Kreng in in front of the parish church in the village of Buggenum,

during the last tour of the year before the car had to be laid up for 3 months.

(28 November 2015)

November: Again taken during this year's last tour with 't Kreng,

near the weir in the river Maas in Baarlo.

(28 November 2015)

December: The DHC on the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse in Austria,

during the 2015 edition of Club Triumph's 10 Countries Run.

(11 September 2015)

Last drive of the year

With the month of December almost upon us, my two road going TR7's have to be laid up for a three month period. This is due to some brilliant (NOT) rules thought out by the politicians in The Hague. But as the weather was much better then expected I thought it would be a good opportunity to take 't Kreng out for a final blast through the country ...

And of course used the opportunity to take some pictures of the car ...

Needless to say it was rather enjoyable. And with the car now tucked away under the carport for the coming winter, it is time again for some winter projects.

FHC resto nr. 43; Sound proofing

I made a start on the next stage of the restoration of my early Dutch coupé. For those who have been following my ramblings here over the years, this post will be a bit of a déjà vu ...

Over the previous two weeks I have been busy cutting a few square meters (4,0 m² to be precise) of soundproofing pads in the required pattern. As the 3M sound proofing pads (#08840) used on the DHC are doing a good job and they were easy to apply I again opted for these. But this time there was no need to make up templates, as I had stored the ones used on the DHC some 6 years ago.

And yesterday I went over to the shed to fit the pads. This time it took me only a few hours to fit all the prepared pads. It clearly pays off when you come prepared with the correct tools and knowledge on how best to apply the pads. It was again a rather rewarding few hours work ...

The front of the interior

Rear bulk head panels

The spare wheel well

Inside of the left hand rear wing

Sadly I overlooked the fact that the templates had been cut for the DHC. This meant that a few pads needed some slight alterations to fit them properly. But also the two pads for the rear of the sills were completely incorrect. I forgot that the FHC doesn't have the stiffening brace behind the doors! So I will need another pad plus a different template for this section of the body.

Another small problem only showed when I was uploading the pictures to my computer: one of the edges of the pad in the RH rear wing has come loose. Probably I didn't warm it enough, but that should be easy to rectify with the paint-stripper.

27th LTV Nachtrit

It has been a bit busy over here, as a result of which I haven't had time for a little write up on the 27th edition of our annual Nachtrit, almost two weeks ago. As last year the start and finish was at Rolduc Abbey ...

with the route heading south-east towards Adenau and the Nürburgring. And those who were not there have missed a very nice drive indeed. And this despite some last minute changes due to some major road works in the second stage, which we found out only weeks before the event. Luckily it wasn't to difficult to find some nice roads around the works, but we had to ditch one or two rather nice road sections. At least a good reason to get back to that area next year.

But despite this small set back there were some very nice roads left to enjoy. And as has become customary, we (my navigator Jos and I) again had the task of the last check of the road book. So we had to do the route in broad daylight, looking for last minute road works or village fairs on the day itself. In this case we were lucky in that the weather was glorious, and with the woods in their finest autumn colours meant we could enjoy the views too. But for me enjoying the roads got the overhand, as was the time schedule. We had to complete our check in time to instruct the entrants if necessary before they set of into the darkness, so no stops for taking photographs. At least that gave me an excuse for some spirited driving. It also gave me a good opportunity to check the work I did on the car's carburettors earlier in the year. And it was the first serious drive with the new wheel/tyre combination. I needn't have worried, the car behaved rather well. And very impressed with the grip the new tyres generate ... Only the brakes thought it would be nice to liven things up so now and then, by making some squealing noises. But as the brakes feel was as confidence inspiring as ever I tried to ignore the squealing, and enjoy some fabulous roads ...

In the Hürtgenwald area near Vossennack

The long way 'round Heimbach

Up to the plateau near Fuchshofen

Enjoying the driving meant that we were back at Rolduc in time to tell there were no changes to the road book and to take some pictures at the start ...

It was good to hear that most of the teams enjoyed themselves, so hopefully we'll see them again next year.

And a few of the reasons why this little write up was slightly late. Some work that needed to be done to finish my "new" Land Rover. Spot the difference ...

And of course a thorough check of the front brakes of 't Kreng. But that didn't show much wrong, only the copper grease I used to prevent squealing had worn off. But otherwise there was nothing wrong there.

Hopefully I will be able to use the car for a final blast before the end of November and a mandatory hibernation of three months due to the current Dutch rules for cars between 25 and 40 years old.

FHC resto nr. 42; Back to the paintshop ...

A few weeks ago we planned to finish the paint job, which meant polishing out a few what looked like minor faults (dust/silicon/runner). Sadly it turned out that a few of the problems were worse than expected.

This runner underneath the recess in the right hand rear wing could be scraped off and polished out without much problems. But it turned out that the paint underneath the recess had been applied a bit to thin. Resulting in the primer shining through. On that same wing something had gone wrong with masking of for painting the sills black. This resulted in a very narrow black line on lower edge of the wing, where it joins the sill. While trying to polish that of, we went through the paint again.

The same happened to a minor fault on the edge of the right hand front wing ...

To cut a long story short, the body shell had to be returned to the paint shop to re-spray the right hand front and rear wings. At the time of writing the body is back home. Or actually at a friend's place, where I will re-assemble it over the coming year or so.

Revolutions fitted at last

At last I found a bit of time to fit the Revolutions to the car. They were renovated earlier this summer and shod with new tyres (Yokohama S.Drive AS01 195/55R15). But until last week they had been stored away in the shed, together with 't Kreng. But as it is almost time for our annual "Nachtrit" it was time to change all that. So last Wednesday I went over to the shed to swap wheels ...

And cars! With the summer well and truly over it was time to put the DHC away in the shed and take 't Kreng home with me for some tinkering in preparation for next week's rallye. And of course for a little photo shoot of the car with some very shiny new wheels ...

And as you can see, these wheels also need new wheel centres. Another of the various small winter projects I have in mind for this car. Also used the opportunity to blow some of the engines cobwebs away. Have to admit I was slightly sceptical here but during a short blast through the country the engine behaved very well indeed. Looks promising for next weekend.