Waking up the old lady

[Dukmans]

So now the startermotor is attached and a new battery is in place, it is time to wake up the old lady. I read all kind of tricks about how to start up a barnfind, but I would like to hear how it should be done on a TR7. Does anyone have a successstory I can copy?

[Workshop Help]

Fresh Oil, fresh gas, cleaned the spark plugs, cleaned the points if you have them, confirm the fuel lines and vacuum lines are not rotted, make an appeal to ancient Celtic Deities, and fire it up.

[Hasbeen]

If it has been some time, I'd take the tops off the float bowls. There is probably some corrosion in there, plus some deposits from the evaporated petrol.

I'd also drop the needles out of their seats & clean the area. There is probably some gum & residue likely to give trouble with float levels & flooding.

It was because of excessive fuel pressure, rather than a carb problem, but the first time I started my current 7, it was flooding badly. When it backfired through the carb it set fire to my sons arm, with the burning petrol it blew out. He had been lifting the piston to check the mixture for me at the time.

Would you believe he was more worried about his arm being on fire than the car. [:0] I don't know, modern kids, no sense of priorities. As I told him, he would grow new skin, but the car would not grow new paint. [:D]

Hasbeen

[FI Spyder]

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


Would you believe he was more worried about his arm being on fire than the car. [:0] I don't know, modern kids, no sense of priorities. As I told him, he would grow new skin, but the car would not grow new paint. [:D]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Now that's tough love.[:p]



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[Dukmans]

Celtic prayers check
Fire extinguisher check
[:D]

[john 215]

Hi,

I would turn it over by hand first, plugs out to help. Would not be the first engine I have seen that's been sitting for years that is either seized with corrosion or almost worse a valve stuck open, with disastrous results if tuned on the starter.

Cheers John


LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!

1976 Speke FHC BEAUTY FITTED WITH OVERDRIVE GEARBOX

1979 3.5 FHC CURRENTLY GARDEN ART !

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6, BUILT NOT BROUGHT !!!!

[Sal]

Possibly put a fuel filter in the petrol line as I started an old 7 once which fired up ok then stalled after 10 minutes as rust and crud from the tank blocked everything in the fuel / carbouration system. I spent weeks trying to find what the problem was as I thought initially it was an ignition problem.

[John Clancy]

Good point Sal. It might be worth running from a jerry can of fresh fuel first but as others have recommended, try turning the engine over by hand first. If all is free, fingers crossed it sparks and fires up.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphdvd.co.uk"]Triumph TR7 and other car documentaries on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[Dukmans]

Fresh gas from jerrycan check.
The engine turns, I wouldn't have bothered to buy it if it did not. The fuel filter has done it's job in the past. It returned brown fuel before the filter for a little while and clear fuel behind it on the engine side. Points are next.

[Dukmans]

With the fuel bypass in place the motor starts to make promising noises. When at first there was a hesitant turning of the rotor there is now a steady quick turning but no real firing yet. As you can read in my other topic I'm having trouble with the points. It seems like the starterpoints don't open up on the highest point of the square part on the axes. I will try out some more ideas this week. Creative ideas are welcome.
BTW: what electronic ignition would you guys recommend (price/quality)?

[Workshop Help]

On this side of the Great Puddle, the Pertronix Ignitor has been used here in the machine shed for the past 25 years. On your side of the world the same item may be called a different name, Aldon comes to mind.

Mildred Hargis

[Dukmans]

She's alive! Adjusting the points was a pita but finally worked. New sparkplugs and cables made the finishing touch. Next challenge is the sticking clutch. I got Purdey out of the garage on the startermotor. Even with quite some force I can not get her out of first gear anymore. Maybe it has to do with the steep slope she' s on. I did some bleeding on the clutch, but maybe not sufficient. Any ideas abot getting her out of gear? Maybe even more force? Thnx!

[FI Spyder]

Clutches tend to rust to flywheel if sitting for some time (especially in moist environments and/or sitting out side). Pushing in the clutch pedal does not release it. With the car on a slope there will be pressure on the gears so may be hard to get out of gear. There are several methods of breaking the clutch disc free. Good time to see if the search feature on the new site is operational to view them.