Saturday 29 February 2020

FHC resto nr. 87; Striping, one step backwards

In my previous post I wrote that there was no need to remove the striping from the bonnet. And there lies the problem when you’re a bit of a perfectionist 😏. Because since finding out that the bonnet striping wasn’t fitted perfectly it continued to haunt me. And after consulting a friend (who cut the striping for me) it was decided to remove the striping from the bonnet. And with a borrowed hair dryer (…) that went pretty easy.


Next stage was preparing some of the left overs, or should I say test pieces which I had stored for just this reason.


With a new set of bonnet stripes ready it was time to log in to my work account and open AutoCad to adapt the original cutting file for the front wing stripes. As there were no major errors in the overall dimension and shape, this only took a few minutes.


Sadly though said friend had run out of black foil! To be continued!

Thursday 27 February 2020

FHC resto nr. 86; A few small jobs

With the new brake light switch fitted successfully to 't Kreng's pedal box, I went over to my local car parts supplier for two more switches, earlier this month. One for the DHC and one for this car. And while I was in the area I also paid a visit to Montagetechniek Patrick Saes a few miles down the road for some stainless fasteners to fit the door mirrors base plate to the mirror’s base plinth door mirrors. And with the musical carnival obligations behind me, and with still a few days off from work, I decided to spent some quality time in the shed 😜
First items to be bolted to the car were the mirror’s base plates. Fairly straightforward, though on the driver’s side the two nuts were lying to deep inside the base plinth for the bolts to engage. Only way to get around the problem was removing the plinth, attaching the base plate to it and fit the assembly back on the door. As easy as it sounds, especially with a still almost bare door.


With the base plates in place fitting the mirrors was easy. Of course I had to forgot something, in this case the Loctite. This is needed to prevent the grub screws from coming loose. But on hindsight this might not be too bad, as the plastic base plate will probably have a tendency to deform slightly over time, due to the stress of the grub screw. And without Loctite it will be easier to tighten the grub screw when needed.



For those interested; the mirrors fitted are new items, purchased directly from Tex Automotive. And they are fitted with convex glass to improve the field of view.
Next on the to-do-list was the brake light switch. No real need to fit it already but this way at least I can’t forget where I stored it J. And with no dashboard parts in place yet it was very easy to adjust both the switch and its mounting bracket.



And final job for the day was a thorough check of the striping parts that go over the front wing. A few weeks ago I noticed that the striping on the bonnet was fitted slightly different on the two sides. So to be safe I took the front wing striping and a pencil with me to check how these fitted …


As you can see in the picture above there are a few areas of the striping that need rectifying. So back to the drawing board and computer. But at least there’s no need to remove the striping from the bonnet!


Time to go in search for a late seatbelt to fit to the DHC, as the driver’s seat belt doesn’t roll up properly anymore. Did find a set, but they were rather inaccessible, and still fitted to one of my two DHC bodies. So that will have to wait for another time. But while searching through my spares I stumbled across two “Rover” branded boxes containing a set of column switches for a late classic Mini. Managed to save them a few decades ago when a Rover dealer was having a clear-out and thought they were TR7. Will see if they can be made to fit to a TR7 …


Saturday 15 February 2020

New brake light switch

After two brake light switches failed during Club Triumph’s 10 Countries Run (one in 2005 the other in 2019 😜) I thought it about time to go looking for a decent quality replacement. Most important reason being that I was running out of good condition original ones. And I really didn’t want to fit a scruffy looking old brake light switch to the ’76 FHC. And as I do like standardisation I went in search for a modern replacement. The search didn’t take long, as I have a list of a fair number of alternative modern parts for the TR7. In this case the alternative part number was published on the TR7 Forum a few years ago.

Picture by Russ Cooper

At the time I duly added the alternative part numbers to the list, for future use. It is the brake light switch for various Volvos (FAE #24150 for 940, 850, 760, 740 and 240) or the BMW 3 series (FAE #464110010 for E21 and E30). And with these numbers I set a friend to work, and he came up with this switch (Facet #7.1014 for BMW 3 series).



At first glance I thought the switch wouldn’t fit, as it didn’t have a machined flat to lock it in position. But it turned out the new switch’s thread is M12x1, where the original one is ½” UNF. As a result it fitted without any adaptations to the bracket. Though the bracket needed some fettling to get the alignment of the switch and the pedal correct. After which adjusting the switch point with the two lock nuts and a multi-meter was the proverbial piece of cake! The first switch pictured below was fitted to ‘t Kreng. But both DHC and ’76 FHC will receive the same switch soon! 


Oh … and while trying to remove the old switch, I found out why this switch has lasted as long as it did. I had put a cable tie around it and the bracket to prevent it from falling apart!


Tuesday 11 February 2020

Early Dutch TR7 sales brochures


Final saga on my limited collection of Triumph TR7 memorabilia! Last month I posted two different (1980) Dutch TR7 sales brochures, featuring the DHC only. Time for two earlier TR7 brochures (both with the same publication no.  LI101). To start with an undated brochure featuring a 1977 model year car (the giveaway is the cars registration number, where the letter combination PD makes it a late 1976 or early 1977 car (though that might well be a non-existing number). And that makes the specifications rather interesting, as it lists a 4- speed gearbox, but with 5 forward ratios and also has the matching 5-speed 3.90:1 differential ratio. And the picture of the gear-lever knob says 5-speed!
But as ever all specifications are without obligation and can be changed without further notice …





Than the last Dutch brochure I have. At first glance it is identical to the one above, with the same item number (Publication No.  LI101) and the same car pictured. But the first thing that stands out is a difference with the licence plate, which is blanked of. Also a few of the pictures are different. But the most important difference is the fact that the car now has the badges for the 1980 model year (or according to the parts manual, 1979 onwards. On closer inspection of the pictures it becomes clear that the badges are retouched on the original pictures! Other small changes are a listed 5-speed ‘box and 185/70x13 tyres …





And yes, I haven’t been able to spent some time on my cars, mainly due to work and one of my other hobbies, playing my horns over the carnival season …