tr7triumph.com

Hello,

Recently purchased a 1976 TR7 coupe to restore. I'm sure this place will become my "go to" spot when I have troubles.

That's the short version. Now here's the long one........

I have liked the TR7 since the first one I saw, and I have wanted to do an electric car conversion for many years. The easiest cars to convert are FE/RWD with a manual transmission and lightweight. I've kept my eyes open for donor cars (mainly Miata's) for years as most of the TR7's I see are too fully restored to cut into or so rusted you can't cut into them. It was a fluke that this one showed up so close to home. For the asking price I was SURE it didn't run or the motor was seized, or the trans was destroyed, or something else was terminal. So I get there and he says it runs and tries to start it. Turned over nicely but wouldn't fire. Bad gas and gunky carbs from sitting for years I'm sure. Now, I can't bear tearing out an salvageable original motor and trans (which does seem to shift very nicely), so it's getting restored. The body is in really good shape for being 40 years old. The one oddity (at least to me) is that it is an FCH with a vinyl top. Could it have been applied by a previous owner?

I'm sure you will see me here asking silly questions and reading like mad to learn as much as I can about the mechanicals of my little project. Again, thanks for including me. The pictures were from the previous owner. I'll have to resize the one I took when I got it home. The site says they are too big.

Welcome here!
It looks like you have one of the Victory edition TR7's.
And if I am not mistaken your car even has the original wheels.
These tend to be rather difficult to find these days as they were prone to cracking.
So well worth to restore it

Thanks Beans,

I actually have all 5 of the wheels. The spare in the trunk has the same rim. I see that in one of your pictures the rims have 6 spokes like mine, and the other has 8 spokes. More spokes to help with the cracking problems? Still learning about these but the previous owner said there were two extra Stromberg (?) carbs in the trunk if the two currently installed were not salvageable. Some other odd bits and pieces also. There is one that looks like a cover of some sort with a definite shape. It has two (IIRC) latches that must hook to something possibly fixed to the car. I'll have to get back out to the storage facility to get a picture of it. With Christmas and my Anniversary coming up I haven't done anything except pick it up and get it stowed away.

I'll get some more pictures up as soon as I can.

It also came with this. I'm sure it will come in handy. The P.O. gave me this one and one on CD too.

I gather you are in the US hat man, if your car has a trunk, & Zenith carbs.

I suggest the other thing you have in the boot/trunk is the fresh air plenum. This fits against the firewall in the engine bay, to guide fresh air into the ventilation system, & keep engine fumes out. It is removable to give access to some minor bits, like the distributor.

Good luck with your project, I hope you have fun.

Hasbeen

The 6 spoke are the original. But as stated they had a tendency to crack so have often been replaced with aftermarket wheels.
Looks like you are refering to the fresh air duct that fits to the bulkhead (http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2009/11/dhc-report-nr-57-fresh-air-duct.html)

The cracking spoker rims where only on a certain production run. Those where to be replaced by the dealer. There is no doubt some of them weren't but probably have been replaced by one way or another since. The numbers are available on line so you can double check (I've seen them posted somewhere). My position is if it's a special edition, keep it original, if you want to modify it there are a hundred thousand (less those scrapped) out there that aren't special editions for that.

Most of the wheels are fine - the suspect wheels are stamped 'K' or higher on the insider surface of the spokes adjacent to the rims - even these ones are not definitely cracked, just 'suspect'

They're all special now FI Spyder. There are so few left despite many being dragged out of scrap yards and long term storage in recent years. Becoming very sought after so look after 'em all.

Looks like I found a little diamond (ok maybe a garnet) in the rough. It's hard to believe I only paid $400 for it.

The picture of the green Victory above - that's my car. The wheels are 8 spoke Wellers as the original 6 spoke VE wheels weere missing at the time and these were the nearest I could find. It now has the correct VE wheels on the car.