TR7 Build String

[6PAK72]

Two years ago we picked up a '79 TR7 DHC 5-speed knowing it was going to be a bit of a project car. What we didn't know was that the "restoration" it had undergone a few years back was a total hack job.

Short story long, this "Florida" car actually spent its life in Vermont, and had accumulated Vermont-style rust. So since we rebuilt the TR6 the wrong, expensive way, we decided to do this right - strip it, upgrade it, and end up with a well-performing "driver".

The chassis will be uprated to "race" condition with coil-overs, springs, sway bars, poly bushings, LS diff, 4-pot discs, rebuilt rack and appropriate bracing.

THe power plant is a 252/4.1L Buick 90-degree even-fire V6 with TA Performance aluminum heads, Edelbrock carb, intake, cam, TA roller rockers, headers and sump. Drivetrain is a 1988 T50 5-speed driven by a 10.5" 230psi clutch assembly on a lightened steel flywheel.

We're still working out what rear end to use, whether we stick with the Rover rear end which is pretty proven but rare, or go to a narrowed Ford 9".

We've been gathering parts for about a year, and connecting with suppliers and vendors to develop a build plan. Lots of parts coming from Rimmer in the UK, as well as a large cottage industry in the UK that races the FHC version. The car is very popular in the UK, especially on the rally circuit.

This weekend the work began in earnest.

The "hood" came off and was set aside for re-use. The interior was gutted, nearly all the material was scrap, and we saw exactly how bad the floor pans are - totally trash.

Fortunately the firewall, trunkboard, and side rails are solid, the shock towers front and rear are solid, and the B-post reinforcement joists are solid.

A family of mice had made it in to the dash, so we spent a lot of time cleaning out a variety of disgusting things.

We'll update periodically as things move along. Goal is to have it ready and running by September so we can do an initial sorting on it this year, and really polish it over next winter.

[962porsche]

that sounds like the 1970 MGB i have been doing a resto on for the last 5 years . the customer thought is was a good car because he bought it from a seller in TX. off ebay .TX CAR NO RUST RIGHT ? when i got the car torn down to it's bare shell the floors , QTR'S , frame , fenders , outter center and inner rockers along with the trunk floors were shot ! and it was hit down the left side hard with a crap repair . what was left of left side the A-piller it was just pop riveted on .
i put the car in the celette bench and started cutting . the car is just about finished now and back to it's OE color british racing red .
the sad thing is now i have a midget , tc and another B in the shop now i have to restore . he had to tell people about me in the MG club work is good but what kind of work ? some times you don't know what you have until the car is torn down to see just what is there and by that time it's just to late to turn back .

[breakaway500]

..."it's just too late to turn back"... The one thing I have learned in 40 yrs of being a mechanic; it is never too late to declare a car..or pile of rust that once was a car... a lost cause. Just say no. At least once a month I have to declare a car "lost" to the rust Gods.

Rust never sleeps. Well..maybe in space..

"Running by September"....I see you didn't mention a year....

Boy, I hate rust..those photos alone are giving me nightmares...

[962porsche]

i'm looking at that as well thats not all that bad ! so you have to drop in some new floor pans there ez to do .
so i was just looking thru my TR7-8 victoria british catalog they don't offer much in the way of chassis panels for that car . i hope moss offers you more !
yes there are times a owner will back out of a project because of cost .
i got my mazda AZ-1 that way and a 57 del-air .
i don't know the appeal of the bel-airs i don't think they are all that good looking and what a tank to drive . that thing needs floors and a frame .
the AZ-1 was a basket case the owner took it all apart in japan and shipped it to the states in crates and had no idea how to put the car back together .

[breakaway500]

Floor pans are one thing..structural support sections are another! Way too much work unless the car is of great value when done...or it is a labor of love.
But, to each his (or her) own,and like they say..it is the journey,not the destination.
I've had my belly full of rot box projects and now I just say..nfw..unless there is a LOT of money to ease the pain...

[962porsche]

talk about spending more than a cars worth . this MGB i'm doing now is 38K in labor parts another 8K plus the total rebuild of the motor 8K more . you can go buy one all done for 20 to 25 K .

[brucesallen]

and how much was it brand new? $2,500?

[962porsche]

were they even that much ??
i will have to say the car is coming out great every there is nothing on the car that has not been tought in some way and repaired and refinished but in no way would i pay some one to do this to a car like that . at the end of the day it's still just a 1970 MGB with a total worth of 20 to 25 K .
the thing about doing a total resto on a car like that it's not what the cars worth is other wise most of them would never get restored . the big cost is the labor hours and even at that many shops will not do a resto because there is really not much money to be made .
the going labor rate from body work in my area of CT is 50 to 55 an hour . when i add up my labor hour on this job i'm only getting 45 an hour .
that is why there are so many people that do jobs like this in there home shop on there own cars . if you want a shop to restore a car that is not worth 70K plus you will lose your ass on the resto .
i do a crap load of porsches many of them are even done were you could spend that type of money and just buy one restored .
the funny thing is i like doing restos . it give you a good feeling to take a total piece of crap and make some thing out of it . i like to build and fabricate things just working on crash damaged cars gets old quick .

[Stynger]

Like Jay Leno says, "if you made money on a restored car, you did something wrong."

[6PAK72]

Yea, this one does not have the love that the TR6 had, or the commensurate dollars.

Floor pans came from Rimmer in the UK. Complete set for $400. A really nice COM member is going to give me a hand welding the new ones in place.

Could be worse, it could be a Bertone X1/9...

[962porsche]

i have ordered things from rimmer brothers in the past the down side is the time it takes for the shipping . i ordered rover parts from them and they took over 4 weeks to get here . the pans on the TR7 are a ez pan to make the ones for the x19's are a little harder but they too arn't to bad . the down side is if you don't have the roller to build them you kind of assed out on making them .
the x19 i don't think changed there floor pans when bertone took over building the car they did keep up dating the body panels and they did finily changed the seat hight to finily fit taller drivers . my friend is into the x19's big time he has 3 of the things .
one of the worst cars i had to get body part for was a morgan roadster . the other was the euro bumper for my old countach . they had some copies in the states but after i ordered two that the quality was so bad on i ordered it from lamborghini 11 months to get it . but the morgan parts only took 5 months i could have bult a buck and hammered out a fender faster than that .

[6PAK72]

Well, the beginning of taking out the floor pans began today. It's not as bad as I thought, according to Tom Cannon, who visited to give me some much needed direction.

Then we stripped the rest of the dashboard and found one of the mouse homes. Lots of ammonia later, the dash is clean. We also found the nibbled wiring harness which I'll repair tomorrow. New switches and mounts are here, along with ballast resistor, cables for the a.c., and hardware.

The hood (roof to you American car owners) came off in one piece with little argument. It needs a wire brush and reprinted frame, also on tomorrow's let. The bonnet (hood to Americans) came off no problem. We then began disconnecting the engine from the frame and found the next mouse home. Mice are disgusting. More ammonia.

The Wilwood brake kit shipped today, we are still working out spring rates for the GAZ adjustables.

[962porsche]

any country that drives on the wrong side of the road and eat's spotted dick and calls a flash light a torch really has no business in naming parts to cars . hell they call fenders wings what is that all about ?

[962porsche]

any country that drives on the wrong side of the road and eat's spotted dick and calls a flash light a torch really has no business in naming parts to cars . hell they call fenders wings what is that all about ?

[breakaway500]

^hehehe..that was worth a double post,,,