MOT in 10 days

[prlee]

Just getting exciting now, I have booked the TR in for an MOT on the 19th. Its been just over 21 months since she was last my daily car, what I had intended as a 6 month job has gone on for much longer. I bought the car in April 2008 and ran her till November and 6000 miles.

Lots of work done though, restriction was budget by the financial controller[:(!] i.e. do it yourself!

So from the body point of view it has been new rear arches, new front wings and sills plus some additional metal work. New suspension and bushes, driver seat rebuilt, electric windows and a whole list of other things.

Now all I need to do is polish up the paint, refit the bumpers and lights and MOT.

Still struggling the remove the rear drums to cure a sticking handbrake.

Had to work on a budget repaint, which has proved very interesting as to what can be done on a small budget.

The main limitation has been time, the car has been in a barn at the parents place which has meant I could only work on it about 4-5 days a month, and not much done over the winter.

Lookng forward to having her back now as the Spitfire use has been stopped due to rust on the floor around the seat belt mount, although still legal til the end of September.

Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[PeterTR7V8]

Fingers crossed for the 19th.



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[busheytrader]

Sounds more like major than minor bodywork to me............

Are the drums totally seized or do they rotate but can't be pulled off the axle? A pal of mine had that happen but relieving the adjusters through the backplate sorted it. The shoes had worn a giant groove in the drum.

5 speed shoes were as easy to find as unobtanium last autumn when I thought I might have needed to renew mine. You may have to keep yours in good shape for the MOT if they're not back in stock yet

Adam





TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 5 Spokes and Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991

[prlee]

Hi Adam,
Yes a little more than I thought but the main body is fine, floor etc no problem, just wheels arches and parts of the sill. Probably thanks to copious amounts of waxoyl and an average of 4-600 miles a year for 20 years.

The problem at the rear is that on one side the handbrake sticks on and on both sides I cannot get the drums off, the usual cause is a lip on the drum, but I am having a problem releasing the self adjusters. I have 2 days off this week so including saturday I have 3 days to get the car ready.

Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[prlee]

Failed mot today, not totally unexpected although some reasons for failure were. The good thing is that the garage have not charged me yet or given me a timescale to go back to them.

Failed on 6 points

1 point - emissions, a surprise because things are basically the same as the last MOT. I had enriched the mixture slightly but not enough to give 10% CO2, easy to fix though.

2 points - both side repeaters stopped working, I had thought that as they were not standard they did not matter, I was wrong, simple solution is to remove them for now.

1 point headlamp aim and 1 point off side rear brake rubbing, both were known issues and I had asked the garage to investigate, but they ran out of time and I have not been charged or given a timescale to correct the problems.

1 point - rear fog indicator lamp not working I didn't even check this and the the hazard warning lamp sdoesn't light up either so will need to fault find.

The good thing is that I have not had to pay the garage anything yet and they were very helpful and did not give me any timescales. They are a busy small town garage and do depend on returning custom.

The big point is that this is the first time in nearly 2 years that I have driven the car more than a few feet. The suspension is now very firm as against very soft. The engine did not seem as good as last time I drove her, a bit sluggish, I suspect the advance weights so I will investigate these over the weekend.



Pete
81 DHC (nearing completion)
79 Spitfire (big hole found in floor)

[nervousnewowner]

its so irritating with the fail sheets, had my fair share of them.... the side repeaters become mot able as soon as they are fitted, and yes to remove seems the easiest, good luck with the car, got mine mot'd in july and still not had the time to use it or get more work done on it, its so infuriating.......[:(]


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

[saabfast]

Bear in mind that the CO emission limit is 4.5% for these cars (not 10%). I normally aim for 3-3.5% at idle, any lower and it gets too lean at higher revs.
I have found that the hazard warning and rear fog lamp warning lights not working is generally due to them being loose or not making contact in the switch. They can be fiddly to get working.

Alan
Saab 9000 Stg 1
Saab 9000 2.3 FPT Auto
'81 TR7 DHC

[andyf]

As far as the fog and hazard problems go, it may well just be down to switches gumming up due to lack of use. This happened with mine, and switching them on and off rapidly half a dozen times cured it.

I cannot remember who said it to me on here when I posted the same, but it was use them or lose them. Good advice, and I always switch them on and off a few times every couple of weeks.


1980 Persian Aqua DHC

[prlee]

Got to work on the TR7 today.

Fixed the fog and hazard warning lamps, turned out to be straight forward, I removed the lamps, tested them, put them back and they work fine.

Cleaned and replace some connectors on the side repeaters and they now work reliably.

Eventually got the offside brake drum off. The handbrake lever and the self adjuster were very stiff so I freed these off. Had a game reassembling the brakes, everytime I put the drum on and tested it the lever came out of the self adjuster. Had some lunch and lokked at Clays photos, decided I had put the lower spring on under the lever spring so tried it on top and it seems to be ok now.

Lowered the nearside headlamp aim by eye to roughly match the offside so hopefully this will be close enough to pass, easy adjustment for the garage though.

Got my CO meter out and it showed a CO reading of over 9%, reduced it to just over 2% to allow for errors in measurement.

With all the failure points tackled I will phone the garage on Monday to arrange a retest, hopefully they will do this while I wait.

Only problem is logistics, the car and garage is 50 miles away so looks like another days holiday will be needed. Hope she drives ok with the carb adjusmment, any way when shes back she will need a full service and engine tune.




Pete
81 DHC (nearing completion)
79 Spitfire (big hole found in floor)

[bmcecosse]

5 speed rear shoes - I bought two sets recently from different suppliers on ebay - for very little money. With very slight modification - they also fit my Morris Traveller which has Wolseley 1500 9" front drums fitted. My hazards often give trouble at MOT time - simply because of lack of use. I spray some WD40 into the switch and work them on/off a few times. That fixes the problem! I also make a point of trying them now every time I start the car - no more problems there. Good luck with that MOT!

[prlee]

Thanks for the advice. The last MOT was just before I got the car, I dont know how the car could have passed that MOT on the info I now have.

Pete
81 DHC (nearing completion)
79 Spitfire (big hole found in floor)