Fitting a 4.6 Injected engine to a TR7

[300bhp/ton]

M3333 said:

tr7v8 said:

I'm not, mention of TR7s on PH always rings out the idiots.

Idiot, jesus christ.

There is a good reason the Germans make some bloody amazing cars and we dont anymore. The TR7 is one of many of those reasons. I love the small chassis Triumphs and anything pre TR7.

Sorry that offends but it is the bloody truth!!!

Sorry but with that kind of attitude and reasoning, idiot would seem fitting. The TR7 was the BEST selling TR model ever! It was also the fastest, best handling and had the most competition success, both circuit and rallying. It's styling might have split opinions but the car itself was good.

BTW - I've run and owned TR7's non stop since 1999 and done lots and lots of miles in them, using them as daily's too. They've been supremely reliable and cheap to run. In fact I've had way less issues in 13 years of TR7 ownership than I have had in two and bit years ownership with my current German/Swiss sports car. I've also owned two BMW's in the past and both where hugely more problematic than any of the TR's I've had and one BMW was far far rustier too, despite being only a fraction of the age of my current TR.


A once popular magazine you might have heard of Car & Car Conversions once said:

"To sum it all up, we 'have an excellent basis for an enjoyable fast road car with the TR7, a car which in standard form has excellent road holding but sloppy handling. Stiffen it up with Konis, 50% stiffer front springs and some hard rubbers and it becomes a very pleasant car which Leyland could be proud of, as the standard of road holding and handling that it then possesses can only be compared with the very best that Italy can produce.


Andy Dawson"


High praise IMO.

[Hugh Keir]

Guy's you obviously have strong opinions on TR7's, perhaps a separate thread discussing the good and bad would be more appropriate.

Making the TR7 handle well is a straightforward proposition within the limits of the un-sprung weight of the Salisbury rear axle. The fact that my rally car, which I built from scratch, was quick on Tarmac and Forest stages proves the point.

I have to make a belated thanks to CCC, Car and Car Conversions that published a series of articles around 1980 from Dave Bulman titled "TR Techniques" that got me going, starting with how to seam weld and how to manufacture an integral roll cage into the car, all the way through to suspension and brakes.

British Leyland were also very helpful when it came to supplying the parts required to make the car go well. The change to fully rose jointed suspension transformed the way the car handled and is part of what I have fitted to this current car build.

I had hoped this would be a project build thread where points of technical interest could be discussed populated with pictures of the build progress.

Please can we keep the conversation on technical points.

Thanks

Hugh

[300bhp/ton]

Hugh Keir said:

I had hoped this would be a project build thread where points of technical interest could be discussed populated with pictures of the build progress.

Please can we keep the conversation on technical points.

Thanks

Hugh

Noted. Do you have any progress pics so far?

[Hugh Keir]

Here are a couple of pictures showing some of the progress.

Engine fitted in the hole minus exhaust manifold on the drivers side.



Here is a view of the front of the engine showing the serpentine belt part number 7PK1260 that fit's when there is no power steering and no A/C fitted.



Here is a view of the Tremec gear lever position sitting in the centre of the hole.



Next job is to pull the back axle and fit the petrol tank

Edited by Hugh Keir on Saturday 16th June 12:37

[Flares&Chestwig]

Looking forward to progress and updates...lose the TVR badges from the Rocker Covers.

[300bhp/ton]

@Hugh what sort of rad will you be running? I've only got a tiddler of a 3.5 RV8 but I'm having issues with it wanting to run hot. It didn't use too, but seems to have got worse. It's cammed and bolt on mods (circa 230hp flywheel). Currently running leccy fan and a Land Rover Discovery Tdi rad, this is a new alloy rad that replaced a standard TR8 one. It runs cooler now, but still tried to over heat if given the chance.

Thanks.

[tr7v8]

In mine I ran a custom made supergill 4 core rad which only just fitted the 'ole. That & the biggest electric fan I could find (16" from memory) with a relay so it got full 12V & a 92 Deg C otter switch, coped very well. Used to frighten the life out of old ladies & small children when it fired up as well Another thing that helped was a spacer kit for the subframe which lowered the manifolds a bit & reduced the cockpit temps.
Ours went to France in mid 30 temps & was fine.

[dycecooper]

I had a standard TR8 radiator with an aftermarket fan from ebay and I had issues too, I now have the same radiator and the latest two speed fan from Kenlowe, I can now sit in traffic all day without any overheating.

A friend has got a standard TR7 radiator with two fans from a Peugeot and its fine too.

[Hugh Keir]

Flares&Chestwig

Yup, will get the rocker cover sorted out.

300bhp/ton

I have a new Works radiator that was fitted when BL were rallying, it coped revving the nuts of the engine with up to 8000 RPM in the Forest albeit it was on the limit for keeping the engine cool.

tr7v8

Sounds like you have it licked, not a very easy thing to get right.

dycecooper

Sounds good John, need to get a similar fan set-up to your one, really don’t want to be stuck with overheating issues.

Next job is to send away the back axle to get a 3.45 : 1 crown wheel and pinion plus the LSD I have had sitting around for 30 years fitted.

Going to fit a works disc brake set-up to the axle at the same time, will post some pics up of the bells, need to look out the discs and calipers.

Cheers

Hugh

[Hasbeen]

This sounds ridiculous, but I spent 6 years chasing cooling in a 4.6L TR8. High com, heads, manifolding, cam, exhausts, with a Haltech computer controlling only the injection all gave a slightly disappointing 270 BHP, along with the overheating, despite the big 4 core radiator. This was with a federal plenum, with a little larger throttle body.

Just to confuse matters it has a ZF auto from a 90s BMW, set up with 2500RPM stall.

It only ever got hot in the Oz summer, in town/city traffic. Cruising at 80Km/H & above it was always OK, provided we did not want to use the airconditioning. I made continual modifications to try to overcome this, but only managed to keep it just usable in town.

My son went mad, & fitted a new manifold, bigger injectors, a twin throttle body plenum, & an incredible spark generating black box. I thought it should be a much better water heater, & undrivable.

When the old Haltech would not let us in, to tune the injection, we bit the bullet, & bought the latest Haltech & converted to computer ignition as well as injection. Have not been able to get it to a dyno, so it is just lap top tuned on the road, but 1.5 seconds off the quarter time suggest it must be up 60 or 70 BHP, so 320/330, or there abouts. It's now low 13s.

The point of this is, the thing will now drive around the city, WITH THE AIR CONDITIONING GOING, all day, without overheating. As an educated guess, but we reckon we are running about 30% richer on small/medium throttle openings, at lower 2000 to 3500RPM, & a little richer throughout the range, but more so at lower revs. It is just these rev ranges where it overheated previously.

Not only that, but on a recent 2900Km drive, including 20% heavy city running she returned 10.1L/100Km [over 26 MPG], for the trip. Previous trips have shown 14.5L/100Km.

I could have the wrong handle on why this thing stopped overheating, [I was wrong once before] but I suggest if your V8 is overheating in your 7/8, try richening that mid range fuel mixture, it worked for me.

[Hugh Keir]

Hasbeen,

Thanks for the contribution.

Clearly the standard distributor and fueling is suspect on these cars.

I ordered the exhaust manifolds with Lambda ports, I have the TVR ECU and engine wiring loom which needs narrow band lambda input.

Think I will fit wide band Lambdas to see what the air fuel ratio is before deciding on whether to fit a more sophisticated engine management system.

Got the back axle out of the car but been on holiday and busy for the past few weekends.

Will need to get my finger out to get the axle away for its 3.45:1 diff and disc brake set-up fitted.

Cheers

Hugh

[Steve w]

Hugh Keir said:

Here are a couple of pictures showing some of the progress.

Engine fitted in the hole minus exhaust manifold on the drivers side.



Here is a view of the front of the engine showing the serpentine belt part number 7PK1260 that fit's when there is no power steering and no A/C fitted.



Here is a view of the Tremec gear lever position sitting in the centre of the hole.



Next job is to pull the back axle and fit the petrol tank

Edited by Hugh Keir on Saturday 16th June 12:37

Wow, that looks like one of our 4 pipe twin box exhausts systems.Not seen one of those for years.

[Hugh Keir]

Steve,

I bought a couple of these exhausts for a friend and I sometime in the 80's, been sitting in my shed since.

What is the name of your company?

Here is a picture of the bells that I will be fitting to my axle, going to get it off to get the LSD, 3.45 diff and bells fitted by Salisbury Transmissions.

[Steve w]

Hugh Keir said:

Steve,

I bought a couple of these exhausts for a friend and I sometime in the 80's, been sitting in my shed since.

What is the name of your company?

Here is a picture of the bells that I will be fitting to my axle, going to get it off to get the LSD, 3.45 diff and bells fitted by Salisbury Transmissions.

S&S Preps

[Flares&Chestwig]

Hugh, keep going and post updates. Thanks

[Hugh Keir]

Steve w said:

S&S Preps

Yup, am pretty certain the exhaust is one of yours.

Doesn't look the quietest, but am expecting it will look nice under the rear bumper.

Flares&Chestwig

Will keep posting as I go.

I have been looking for a gear lever for the Tremec T5, so if anyone reading this has one, please get in touch.

I am also looking at making an electronic drive for the standard mechanical speedo since the gearbox has no worm gear in it. This might also help those with different diffs and tyre sizes get their speedo working right.

I am going to buy a small stepper motor and see what I can make of it.

Cheers

Hugh

[Hugh Keir]

Found the brackets for the calipers tonight, the backplate needs to be removed and replaced by the brackets.

The logic was that you could quickly change the half shafts and discs by unscrewing the 4 bolts holding the half hafts in place.

The calipers have handbrake levers, but a hydraulic handbrake might just be a better option.

[Hugh Keir]

Dug some stuff out of my garage today.

Here are some pictures of handbrake calipers that go with the Vented and Non Vented discs.







Here are calipers that don't use handbrake levers, would not be legal though.

Edited by Hugh Keir on Saturday 15th September 20:59

Edited by Hugh Keir on Saturday 15th September 21:07

[Hugh Keir]

Here is a better picture of the calipers with the handbrake levers.

[Hugh Keir]

Got my rear axle back from getting re-built today

Spec is now LSD, 3.45:1 diff ratio and works rally spec vented disc bells with caliper brackets fitted.