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I took some pictures for the car today.
It will need new paint at some point but for now I think we will clean off the surface rust and hit it with primer to protect it from more rust. The left front fender is mashed in an will need to be fixed or replaced
These pictures are how we got it. I am going to clean it up toss out all the junk and then start getting it road ready. We went into town today after church and got antifreeze, gear lube, grease, brake fluid and fuel filter and of course the always essential pine tree air freshener. I also picked up some fuel system cleaner / treatment and some Motor flush that you put in the old oil and run the car for 5 minutes before changing the oil.
I bought some generic oil and I think I will take out the oil from 1991 put the cheap stuff in and then run it with the motor flush for 5 minutes then change the filter and put in soon 15W40 Rotela t oil I have. Its for diesel engines it still has the zink in it to protect the flat tappet cam with I assume these car are running. I have it all ready so I think this is a good use for it.
I am going to replace the engine oil and filter, transmission and rear end oil, replace the brake fluid, flush the radiator clean repack and the wheel bearings.
I also plan to drain the gas tank clean it as best it can and put a clear in line fuel filer on so I can see wants coming in the filter.
Can you see ant think I am missing as far as the fluids are concerned?
I priced out tires today which it will need and I see it need wiper blades as well.
I think I might replace all the rubber hoses but did not buy any today. I guess I will wait on the radiator flush unto I get new hoses.
Here are the pictures.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures my camera is getting a charge so i used the camcorder= low quality
I will be taking better ones as I clean it up

As afr as it is possible to judge from the pictures it does need some TLC,
but overal looks like a decent, and most important, unmolested car.
Shame about the hole in the roof though.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, currently being restored)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

definately potential there, keep us up to date with the cleanup...[:D]


the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...

We just change the engine oil and put some engine cleaner in it, ran it 5 min and changed the oil again and replaced the filter. I took a spot about 12" by 12" and used some paint cleaner on it to pull off the dead paint and polished it with some carnuba wax. My son was amazed how good it looked . He is now washing it and going to start cleaning the paint and waxing it. Its great to see him so fired up. The car is on the lift and the underside is basicly rust free even better than I expected it to be.

Car looks good, but if it were me, I would have bought it in a
warmer climate. The more I hear about the winter you blokes are
having, the happier I am to live in a hot climate.

Beans, I know what you mean about the roof, but for a daily driver,
it may be a good option.

I have a 2 piece pop up at the back, glass sunroof, [see my photos].
With one up, as long as I can maintain 40 K/H rain does not come
in, & it keeps the windscreen totally mist free.

Hasbeen

As good as the FHC without sunroofs look, it does get uncomfortably hot in a FHC without one, my legs don't half get hot!

Steve,

That sure looks like a Victory Edition TR7!

Does it have a plaque like this on the glove box Cover?



They looked like this new, but there was a recall(?) on the wheels as they would crack at the spokes.



They also came with vinyl tops, but I have seen other VE with out the vinyl.



You might be able to get some after market wheels and restore the look.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz-GqEdxQHQ&feature=related"]Spoker ad link[/url]

Also, your seats started out red, not orange. There is a guy here who is having some material made to fix the seats. Search for tartan maker.

If you do decide to restore the car to a Victory Edition, you can get some butcher paper and trace out the stripes before you strip the car. Then you can get a graphics house to cut new one for you. 3M reflective vinyl would be great, like the logos on the Spider edition, and the material comes in many colors.

[url="http://www.beacongraphics.com/supplies/3M/3m-580.html"]3M Scotchlite Plus Reflective Film[/url]

Clay

[url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Technical/Intro.html"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/53/wo/HJMTK8gsojtwKleP.1/0.2.1.2.26.31.97.0.35.0.1.1.1?user=jclaythompson&fpath=Triumph_Articles&templatefn=FileSharing4.html"]Download Page[/url]

No its not a V.E. I thought it might be when the guy said it had black stripes but no call out on the glove box.
I thought it was orange but the paint code came back as Flamenco but it looks pretty orange to me. The more we work on the paint though the more red it becomes.
I Will try to post some more pictures this week. The paint is cleaning up pretty well. The bad part is small spots of surface rust all over the car. I worked on one spot today and it looks like the rust is not very deep but I am going to have to smooth the pitting out and may try to blend the paint in. I don't hold out much hope in making it match though for now I just want to stop the rust. I may call a guy I know about doing a respay later on.
I think I am going to order the plaid material you are talking about and have the seats and door pannels fixed. The carpet was red I guess at one time but I think black is in order.
I was thinking I could pull out the sunroof and patch the hole then cover the roof in vinly but Clayton likes it so I guess it will stay. I am going to have to see if I can clean it up and find a correct weather seal for it. It has some cauking smeared on it now that look awful.

Good car for the price as far as I can see. However, speaking as someone who bought a car with tired paint, I wouldn't waste much time trying to tart up the exterior. Use it as much as you can to test the soundness of the basic mechanicals & to cement the relationship & plan for a full respray next winter.

In case you can't find the right seal, this was my result.

I could not find a correct seal for my sunroof. I could not even
find out who it was made by.

I found a rectangular rubber seal, of what seemed to be the right
size, 1" X 1.125", in a marine shop, but it did not totally seal. I
think it is a bit hard, & the original had 3 little ridges on the
top face.

I then fitted a 1/4" x 5/8" neoprene foam rubber sealing strip as
well, also marine gear, with single sided self stick TO THE GLASS.
This seals perfectly, provided I leave it shut permanently which I
do with one side.

The other side lasts about a year or more, before requiring
replacement, provided I leave it open, when parked in the shed,
which allows it to regain its full shape, & flex. Normal foam
rubber strips were useless in a couple of months or less.

Happy hunting.

Hasbeen

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ClaytonsTR7

I am going to replace the engine oil and filter, <font color="red"><b>transmission</b></font id="red"><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Steve, Dude!!

It is cold where you are at. But besides that . . . <font color="red"><font size="4"><b>DO NOT USE GEAR LUBE in the transmission!!!!!
</b></font id="size4"></font id="red">

Installed 2 Quarts of Pennzoil Synchromesh Manual Transmission Fluid ($7.99 US/QT)



<i><b>If you put gear oil in your trans, especially where you live, you can kiss that sucker goodby!!!</b></i>


Clay

[url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Technical/Intro.html"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/53/wo/HJMTK8gsojtwKleP.1/0.2.1.2.26.31.97.0.35.0.1.1.1?user=jclaythompson&fpath=Triumph_Articles&templatefn=FileSharing4.html"]Download Page[/url]

Hi, nice looking car with lots of potential. Seems like we are in a parallel universe.. Looks like both our cars have nosecone issues as well, is your name Steve too? Flamenco is a orangy red by the way. Good luck with the car, it looks in better shape than mine!

Regards Steve




<hr noshade size="1">


<b><font color="blue">http://www.croyde-bay.com/triumph.htm</font id="blue"></b>

<b><font color="blue">croydebay@aol.com</b></font id="blue">

yep, nice find Steve, the interior looks very nice, the seats don't look bad at all!


Like what was mentioned above, get the mechanics sorted, then worry about the paint...once the pigment dulled and chalked like that, not much will bring it back permanently. If your somewhat a do it yourself-er, stripping the body down of all trim, and having a place like maaco do a budget respray is a low buck option. Let is cure for a couple of weeks, then polish out the defects and reassembling yourself will keep the costs to a minimum.

Ron.