Andyf's Weblog

I have not added anything to my blog for a while now as I have not worked on the TR since last Winter. Now the car is off the road for this Winter, work will recommence.

I have polished the new paintwork and added original decals. I bought some new old stock decals from E-Bay and used these. The main problem is that I assumed they were all black, but the "triumph" on the boot lid is silver, which I never noticed until I removed the protective paper. I quite like it in silver, so I will see if I can get a matching one for the TR7 logo.

I am also replacing faulty gauges and bulbs in the instrument pod.

The wheel arches are also being sprayed with underbody schulz(sp?)and the rest of the underbody will also be done.

When these jobs are finished, I will be replacing the carpet as this is very faded in places. I was going to retrim the seats in some sort of vinyl, but I have changed my mind, and will keep it original (for now!)

Hooray, at last, she is back on the road! After assuming that I would have her back in time for the May Day bank holiday, she eventually arrived back in the middle of June!

We had all sorts of problems. Firstly, the new wings were a terrible fit and needed lots of fettling to get decent panel gaps, then she was prepared and resprayed, and there was a paint reaction, and it all had to be stripped off and redone. However, it is looking good now, though the paint still needs polishing and finishing, but this can wait until the winter.

My next plan is to paint the underside with smooth Hammerite or similar (I will do a search and find out what everybody recommends, I know it has been covered in previous forum threads), and to polish up the period Compomotive Alloys, replacing the nuts and centre caps. I flirted with MG alloys for a while, but was let down by an E-Bay seller. I`m half glad now, I think the Compomotives will be great when cleaned. All this will also probably wait until winter, because when I get a spare hour, I drive!

Works started at last! I dropped OYD off about 4 months ago and told Karl the garage owner to fit it in when he could as it was not due back on the road until May 1st. When I called round Monday he had started. As you can see, one wing is on and the other is removed and ready to go back on (after a bit of work on the inner).

Repairs to the rear quarters, a bit of surface rust on the nose and headlamp pod to remove, then a respray, replacement front bumper, stainless exhaust, service & MOT and back on the road for the May Day bank holiday (I hope)!

Incidentally, Karls workshop is great. It is only small but he has some interesting cars in there. You can just make out an orange Vitesse in front of mine, there is also an MGB, Austin Healey 3000, E-Type and a couple of older cars I cannot identify (I don`t recognise much from before the 60`s).

As previously mentioned, I intend to put some work in on the car this Winter. The priority is to get the bodywork fully sorted as the front wings are crusty at the bottom edges, as is the rear side valances (?), the bits behind the rear wheels anyway. There are a few other areas needing attention. As I am no bodywork guy, OYD has just gone in for the work.
However, a few months ago, somebody rearranged the front nearside corner by pulling out of a parking space in front of me. He didn`t see me!

Mind you, it has helped, it needed new wings and a respray anyway. I just had to put up with driving it for a couple of months in this condition.
It brought to mind a previous forum thread about the weight of the TR7 front bumper. I was glad of it, you should see the state of the Renault. To this end I will be putting an original back on.
Finally, big thanks to Malcolmp for his interior images. It was similar to what I had in mind myself (no, it was, honest). Whether I get time over this winter is debatable. May have to wait until next year.
Thats all for now. I will try to post more as the work progresses.

I purchased OYD 50V when my wife fell in love with it at our local garage. The garage owner was the previous owner, and had restored it over a six year period when he had time. It had then sat at the back of his workshop for a couple of years before he decided to sell it.

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