All is well for me!
'79 TR7 drophead progress:
I finally got around to crawling under my car to install the remaining
bolts holding the engine to the trany (after my engine install months
ago). After spending most of the day looking for one bolt or another
that had been misplaced over the 4 years and 1 garage change that the
car had been sitting dead. I mounted the starter and the alternator (no
easy feat with all the different engine parts I am dealing with - why
couldn't B(P)L have used the same part and mounts for 2 years in a
row?). I then attached my exaust manifold and the front portion of the
new exhaust system I purchased - BIG MISTAKE. The sstarter can not be
removed with the exhaust manifold in place - so Murphy's law prevailed
and the starter failed to turn over (despite making a healthy clicking
sound). I feared that the sstarter was dead and would have to come back
out - so on a last ditch effort to avoid too much work, I decided to try
to replace just the solenoid - leaving the rest of the starter in the
car. I was about to remove the motor field contact from the solenoid
when I noticed that the nut was already almost completely off! (now how
did this happen?) I tightened it, and then the starter worked! (phew!-
thought I was in for a big hassle). After turning the car over long
enough to get oil pressure, I decided it was time to try to start it.
I attached the high tension lead from the coil to the distributor, and
turned to car over a few dozen times - nothing, not even a kick. I
checked the plugs, seemed to be delivering a good spark - plug itsself
is dry though, must be fuel problem. The new engine has a rather unusual
fuel pump on it - made by AC (another Ford part?). The lines coming into
and going out of it are at the wrong angles for a stock TR7 pump - no
markings to indicate the 'in' nor the 'out' line. Turns out my gues was
wrong, I had the pump hooked up backwards (standard hoses weren't long
enough to reach the other way around). After scavenging through my shop
for a while, I finally located a clear rubber hose off of a long expired
water softener that was the right diameter - this allowed me to suction
prime the pump (using my mouth!) without getting another drink of that
vile petrol (I had a drink earlier, using opaque tubes). I then hooked
the line up, turned the car over - withing a few truns, the gas had
reached the carbs and it fired up! Took a few minutes to settle to a
good strong idle and was fine!
After a couple minutes, my new exhaust pipe started to smoke like crazy!
Turns out the silver paint it wa shipped with was mearly meant to
prevent rust and doesn't stand the heat of a running engine. My eyes
burning from the fumes, I turned the car off and retired for the night
(it was 12:30PM). Let me warn others if they buy the stock exhaust
system from Special Interest Auto (made by Walker), to scrape the paint
off before installing it (shouldn't be hard, it kept flaking off as I
handled it).
Things left to do:
- custom build a kickdown cable (not made anymore - does anybody know of
a supplier of said cable for a '79 TR7 drophead with and automatic
trany?)
- do a minor tune-up to set the dynamic timing (I only did it
statically).
I'm so very HAPPY!
Greg.
--
Internet: gall@ultrix.uleth.ca
"You miss too much these days if you stop to think"
By a famous Irish poet and philosopher, Bono of the band U2, circa '91.
'76 Triumph TR7 V8 (Buick 350) Fixedhead Coupe. _ /| A
'79 Triumph TR7 Auto Drophead Coupe. \`o_O' C
'78 Mazda RX7. ( ) K
'73 FIAT 128 Coupe SL 1300cc. U !
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