FI Spyder's weblog

It was the year of the inconvenient rains. The saftey check necessary for US imported vehicles was passed with no problems. The first car meet and first outing for Spidey was Father’s Day Picnic at Beacon Hill Park. The day started with heavy dark clouds but forecast was for a lessening threat and sure enough by late morning the sun broke through and it was quite sunny and warm. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera were dead so no pictures.

A drive around Maple Bay to flush the cooling system and do maintenance like oil and filter change, then on to diassembling LH door to clean and lube door latches and window lift and paint quarter window frame.

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Heater/AC unit is installed. I had to lever up the left hand side so the lower air flap would clear the air deflector. It wanted to sit cockeyed. I sprayed the faded pewter carpet with liquid carpet dye that you mix with water and squirt on. It's not as faded or the dye as dark as it looks in the picture. (lighting).

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Well winter has come and gone and no time for Spidey. Pulled the alternator from Integra (after pulling axle to get it out) painted calipers for new (old) OEM mags and tires. Replaced shocks in Tercel 4x4 wagon along with brake pads, discs, brake lines and POR-15'd it all. Spent two weeks on customers 86 Celica now it's time for the TR7. Pulled the heater to change foam.

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Failure of turn signals after new column switch and solenoid installed made no difference and that meant under dash wire problem. The end of summer driving is quickly drawing near so I shift from rushing to get car passed safety check to more in depth winter detailing so off comes the dash.

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Having successfully driven my TR7 home I discovered a few issues to be taken care of. No signal lights, no dimmer, no rubber on tie rod ends or ball joints, no sifter bushings, no steering column firewall bushing, weak front springs and all rubber to be replaced with poly. And that's just the start.

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Not finding the time to start the restoration on my 76 and 78 Spitfires I decided I needed a British ride NOW. It had to be ready to drive and meet requirements for Collector Plates (cheap insurance). I always liked the TR7 back in the day although my keen eye for design had trouble with the roof line. The DHC took care of that. A few false starts and there it was on eBay, owned by a "little old lady from Pasadena"....well Stockton anyway.

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