Just joined. Just got a TR8

[InfilTR8]

HI! [:)]

I just joined. Thanks for having this forum for Triumphs. This is my first one, although I have driven a TR6 and been around others. I have been interested in cars for a long time. I restored an American car way back in time. It was a 1968 Cougar (the cousin of the Mustang) sold under Mercury brand. I did the mechanical and the bodywork and paint.

Now about the TR8. Sadly, it is whole but inoperable. Firstly, the brakes do not work. Since I will have to work on the entire brake system, I plan to upgrade and improve on the braking. I have been looking on the internet. The information is not completely divulged. Some of the parts are hard to get in the U.S. What is common around me are Honda (Acura) and Toyota (Lexus). I'll ask these technical questions in the TR8 section.

The Stromberg carburetors will be going too. I plan to use an Edelbrock 4 barrel.

As I bring her back to life, do you have any advice? PLEASE! I welcome any comments too. [^]

Ima TRyFixTR8

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Check my links at the bottom of this post.

jclay

[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]

[Underdog]

The stock brakes are fine for normal street use. I would fix what you have first and go from there. Most likely the master and rear wheel cylinders.

If you really want to upgrade, I'd go with the Wilwood setup the Wedgeshop sells. At least on this side of the pond.
Edelbrock & 4bbl is a good choice. I assume you don't have to deal with emmisions so ditch the cats and put a set of headers on also.

Really is best to assess what you have before throwing money at it. Does the engine run at all? Do you know any history?

BTW, congratulations and glad to see another one being rescued.


Jim Underwood
72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

[PeterTR7V8]

Welcome aboard. It's a brave man or a bargain hunter that buys a car that doesn't run. [:)]

I'd encourage you to start a blog (in the Member's Blog section) so you can document the whole process for your grandchildren. It's also very inspiring for other forum members to see the progress you make.

Also, almost every conceivable topic has been covered here before so make good use of the Search function. It is flakey & will almost always time-out on a search but just hit the Back button on your browser & redo the search. 2nd time is almost always successful. Not that we don't like to answer questions but the forum helps those that helps themselves faster than the those that don't.

Now get that car running!


Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.

[InfilTR8]

Thank you, Clay, Jim and Peter. [:)]

I took a look at your Big Brakes write up and find it answers a lot of my questions. I had no experience with the Triumph hub set up before. The hub has to come out before the rotor (disc) is removed. I cleaned up one of the rotors and calipers externally. It had light rust, no deep pits. I treated it with a rust converter. I need to preserve what I can since I can't get to everything at once. The rotor is solid (non-vented) and the brake pad is on the small side. If I can get a bigger diameter rotor and calipers to fit, I will probably get Honda or Toyota alloy wheels 14" or 15" and have the Triumph lug bolt pattern drilled. Will I have offset problems?

About the engine. I know the previous owner. He said the engine was running before he let it slip into "storage". I'm okay on that end of business, especially with carburetion (non ECU). I cleaned it externally, but I have yet to check it out. I wanted to pull the spark plugs, but time and wifey[;)] got crossed.

BTW, I used to run the Carter AVS (equiv to Edelbrock Thunder) 4 barrel carb on a Mopar car. I had rebuilt and tweaked it and it ran without problems for 8 years.

With absolutely no brakes, not even e-brake, I have to do that first. How are the rear drum brakes? Is there something special/different about the Triumph drum brake?

Ima TRyFixTR8

[RJS]

Welcome.

I have a TR8 too. First thing I did was convert to edelbrock carb (500), and then upgraded to a mallory distributor.

Stock brakes are okay, but someday I want to go to the wilwood setup.

There have been a few people go to discs on the back, but most braking is done at the front wheels, so I think it is not really needed.

Woody's http://www.thewedgeshop.com/NewCatalogBrakes.htm
and TSI http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com/
are the best places to get parts that I know about.

Trust the people on this site. There is a lot of knowledge and experience out there.

Rob

[Spectatohead]

Welcome to the forum! My TR8 didn't run when I purchased it a little over a year ago. It does run now and quite well. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it in the last two months. It already had a Holley in place of the Strombergs but the Holley was shot and I can highly recommend the Edelbrock. The car is still a bit ugly but I'm working on that. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here and no matter what problem you have someone has probably already had it and dealt with it.

Jim Clark
'80 TR8
'97 Maxima 5spd

[Hasbeen]

Welcome. I wouldn't say there is anything special about 7 rear
brakes, but they can be a bit annoying.

I have a 7, & an 8, & I have fitted discs to the rear end of the 8,
[See my photos]. I can detect very little difference in effect
between the 2.

The rear drums do take a bit of mucking, to get them working well.

The wheel cylinders face upward, to some extent, so get water in
them, & rust, if they sit for too long. You may have to soak them
with WD40 to get the pistons out, but I have found they clean up
OK, & are usable after a rebuild, even after rusting.

The self adjusting gear is less than perfect, in design. You will
have to get everything shiny by polishing it with a rotary wire
brush, or some such, to have a chance of them working.

I lubricated mine with just a smear of high heat Graphite grease, &
they are still working 60,000Km later, but I may be lucky.

If you are overhauling the front calipers, get the pistons almost
out of them, on the car, before you disconnect anything. You will
probably need the hydraulic system to push the pistons out, & the
disc, with perhaps some padding, to stop one coming right out,
before you move the others.

Hasbeen

[Workshop Help]

I would humbly suggest you confirm the car is a real TR8 and not a halfway converted TR7. This can have an effect on obtaining the correct parts.

Mildred Hargis

[InfilTR8]

Thank you guys and gals, [:)]

I got the TR8 from a person I have known for a long time. He let it slip into "storage" as (too many) things failed on the car.

It has all the TR8 things as stock, but how would I verify that? Do the VIN definitively identify a true TR8?

I took the spark plugs out and they look like the cylinders had been firing okay (light gray ash, not oily). I sprayed some high quality oil in the cylinders. I am getting ready to spin it, not start it. I want to be sure nothing is rusted or frozen.

I want to check out the brake swap modifications. The Wilwood set up is more than I care to spend ($1,000). I am fairly handy so I am cleaning up the stock brakes, but a conversion is possibly the way I will go. BTW the car will be street driven, no track racing.

The car is green much like spectatohead's picture. It is not original. It had also been orange in the past (edit: where I see some orange overspray; maybe just some area touch ups to a previous color? I do see orange where the green is chipped. Otherwise, the green was pretty much a complete paint job, inside all the interior areas.). Where is the color code? I saw a tag in the engine bay with, "PA PAINT" or "RA PAINT". I forgot to look in the door jamb.

Ima TRyFixTR8

[FI Spyder]

"PA Paint" tag is actually "TPA Paint". The "T" part of the tag is broken off. It stands for Thermo Plastic Acrylic. The paint when applied is dull then it is heated (Infra red lamps likely) and it turns into a high gloss. Used on Jaguar and Rolls Royce as well.

The paint code (three letters) is on a label on the drivers door (usually).

If the fifth letter of the VIN is a V it is a TR8.

I would spray some storage oil in the spark plug holes or squirt some motor oil in there then turn it over with spark plugs out. As the oil ring scrapes most of the oil off the cylinders they would have a very thin film on them when stored which I think would be the first place to go bare (hence the invention of storage oil spray).


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

[InfilTR8]

<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 FI Spyder</i>

"PA Paint" tag is actually "TPA Paint". The "T" part of the tag is broken off. It stands for Thermo Plastic Acrylic. The paint when applied is dull then it is heated (Infra red lamps likely) and it turns into a high gloss. Used on Jaguar and Rolls Royce as well.

The paint code (three letters) is on a label on the drivers door (usually).

If the fifth letter of the VIN is a V it is a TR8.

I would spray some storage oil in the spark plug holes or squirt some motor oil in there then turn it over with spark plugs out. As the oil ring scrapes most of the oil off the cylinders they would have a very thin film on them when stored which I think would be the first place to go bare (hence the invention of storage oil spray).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
My paint code is HAF
Trim code is RAG

The fifth letter of the VIN is V

The original TR8 owner's manual is passed along to me.

Ima TRyFixTR8

[Spectatohead]

HAF is Poseidon Green and the RAG is Tan Checks. These are the same codes as my TR8. Mine was painted a lighter color by a previous owner. The actual Poseidon Green is considerably darker than mine in my signature photo.

Jim Clark
'80 TR8
'97 Maxima 5spd

[InfilTR8]

<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 Spectatohead</i>

Welcome to the forum! My TR8 didn't run when I purchased it a little over a year ago. It does run now and quite well. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it in the last two months. It already had a Holley in place of the Strombergs but the Holley was shot and I can highly recommend the Edelbrock. The car is still a bit ugly but I'm working on that. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here and no matter what problem you have someone has probably already had it and dealt with it.

Jim Clark
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Jim,

What manifold do you have? Did you switch to the Edelbrock? If so, which model? Did you keep the original fuel pump and lines? Sorry for all the questions. [?][?]

Does the Poseidon Green have little metalflakes in it? The paint code might explain why the car is green in all the "inside" body areas. I think it was painted orange on the exterior, with overspray in some "hidden" corners. Then it was painted green again, so we thought it was a totally complete paint job. But now it makes more sense that the last green paint was the same as the original factory color. It matches the "insides" like the underside of the hood (bonnet) and trunk lid (boot). [:D]

Ima TRyFixTR8

[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 InfilTR8</i>


Does the Poseidon Green have little metalflakes in it?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Poseidon Green does have fine metal flake in it. It was one of two colours (the other a silver) that were available in 1979 as metallic. (More metal flake colours available as the years counted down.) It is also a Jaguar colour (or at least listed under Jaguar in local paint dealers computer.)

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