FHC resto nr. 77; Heater rebuild part 8

Again a set back with the heater’s connecting tubes. It has already been several months ago that I visited the shed in search of a good original heater pipe assembly. But before sending it of for coating I thought it a good idea to have the ends shot blasted first to check if there was enough metal left there to get a water tight seal. There was. After which it was well over a month later that I finally found time and motivation to have them galvanised. Sadly something went wrong there and the assembly was badly damaged. Both pipes were torn from the mounting plate leaving me with three loose and parts:

Being rather fed up with the whole thing I decided to go back to one of my initial ideas for the pipes’ fire wall crossing. As the base plate was badly deformed where the tubes had been welded to it I decided to use the plate I prepared for my original set up last year. But with a slight adaptation of the extra mounting point to make sure this wouldn’t foul the larger grommets now being used: 

In my previous post I mentioned an upgrade I am working on for the DHC (actually PAS). As there still are some doubts about the clearance for such a set up I decided on another trip to the shed. This time  for a comparison picture of some inlet manifolds. Clearly visible is that the FI manifold needs some extra space at the front where the PAS pump should sit. And one of the other future plans is to the fit a modern injection set up to the DHC using an original set up as base:

Both to be continued, the heater hopefully soon! Because as long as that isn't fitted I can't and won't start with the wiring and the rest of the remaining jobs on the car …

Computer work

Still rather quiet on the Triumph front, with still no physical work done to one of the cars. I had planned to change the DHC's gearbox, clutch and prop-shaft some two weeks ago. Even went as far as checking that the car was running, tyre pressures etc were OK, and even moved over all the tools and parts to the workshop the day before. But sadly a rather persistent flu has prevented that till date. So I have to find another time slot to carry out the swap ...

On the back-axle-strengthening-front also not much progress, as the guy who is coordinating the job has been out of his work for 2 months due to an injury. At least that gave us some time to make a wooden template using a full scale print out of my design. I have to admit that I was rather pleased by the fact that it was a near perfect fit, no adjustments to the dimensions are needed ...

Some of the holes around the differential didn't line up 100% but that was due to the fact that we used a rather crude drill to do the job. Most importantly the mounting holes for the clamps on the outside of the brace are centred nicely around the axle-tube.

Than a more worrying bit, I can't seem to make up my mind whether to modify the back axle to four parallel links + Watt's linkage or stick to the original layout. At the moment I think the best thing to do is use one of the spare body shells somewhere this spring and use that to make a mock-up for the pickup points for the axle, Watt's linkage and anti roll bar. That at least should give a decent indication of the work involved with the set-up I have in mind.

So to keep my mind occupied for the time being, I decided to see how the new AutoCad version which I installed recently works, and had a go at designing a 36-1 trigger wheel which I'll be needing when I convert the Sprint engine to EFI. Not yet sure if all the dimensions are 100% but I think this should do ..

And with the computer fired up I also had a go to work out the rough outlines for a sump guard, loosely based on the ones used on the works' rallye cars. Another one that will need one of the cars, this time to determine the mounting points ...

And of course, being Dutch and with the Pound loosing rapidly against the Euro, I have been ordering various parts for the engine and back axle

Adding lightness to ‘t Kreng

With the DHC away to get it’s paint sorted at last, I have been able to pick up the thread, for ‘t Kreng, were I left it more than a year ago. As you have probably understood by now ‘t Kreng will be turned into a rally replica. Well sort of! The main jobs that need to be done for that are;

• Adding lightness wherever possible;
• Change rear wheel geometry to get the roll centre down;
• Stiffen the body with a welded in roll cage and ditch the sunroof;
• Try to make the engine a little bit more powerful (max. 200 BHP), tractable and civilized by using a modern injection and ignition system;
• Some more tricks with the engine in order to keep it from self-destructing within 5 miles;
• And a new paint scheme of course.

Over the past year or so I have started collecting some stuff to add lightness, like plastic side and rear windows ...

A larger capacity baffled alloy fuel tank, ready for injection ...

And to add some more bling, a nice shining alloy fuel filler cap that fits neatly in the original fuel filler recess of a later TR7 ...

At the moment I am working on the setup for the rear suspension. Plan is to ditch the current 4 link setup for a parallel four link setup with a Watts linkage. For the parallel links I will be using slightly adapted rear upper links ...

Also still toying with the location of the rear ARB bar. Will remove the current one soon to see how she behaves without and work from there. Probably a standard motorsport item which will be fitted to the rear bulk head and tied to the rear axle with drop links. Clearance between exhaust and upper links might prove an issue here.

But the biggest challenge will be the location of the watts linkage. I am looking at two possibilities;

• Central pivot point on the rear of the axle (using an alloy Rover SD1 cover);
• Or the central pivot point on the car’s body.

Probably enough to keep me of the road for the next year or so. But first I’ll turn my attention to ‘t Kreng as she stands now and prepare her for next week’s start of the driving season, “De Nacht van het Oosten”. After that it’s about time to finish the gearbox for the DHC . . .