Hello all:
New subscriber. First attempt. Forgive me in advance for my faux pas'.
So anyway. I have a 1980 TR7 convertible, gold in color. Built August
1979, with a 79 VIN, but sold and registered as an 80. Haven't a clue
what the VIN actually is.
Bought the car new July 15, 1980. Now has 75,000 miles, and other than
a little fading in the Jaguar-spec paint it looks new. I painted the
original equipment wheels black, since the gold car looked odd with
silver wheels. Have replaced the original black top with a tan one,
courtesy of some local radio thief. Otherwise she's original. Oh, he
DID get the radio, although WHY I'll never understand.
Work done over the years includes rebuilding the warped head (really?)
in 89, rebuilding transmission and clutch in 93, and suspension work
to repair a collapsed right front suspension and cross member caused
by dodging an air-head. Since it's British it ate it's wiring harness
one wintery night in 87. That was interesting. It took four trys to
find a replacement harness that was even close to the one I had.
I'm interested in more power for the car, having foolishly made the
decision at the time of purchase to go with the four cylinder instead
of the identical looking V8 next to it. Something about the $4000 price
difference.....? What works well, with minimum negative effects?
I would like to find out if anyone has knowledge of a replacement head
that I have heard rumoured. It is a 16 valve head, supposedly available
on the "Sprint Dolomite" in the UK, and transferable to the TR7. From
the little bit of info I have heard it boosts the anemic TR7 engine to
about 135 bhp with no other changes.
Has anybody ever heard of such a critter? If so, is it a reasonable
performance change for my car? Cost? Availablity? Can you retain the
stock carburetion, or would I JUST HAVE TO go to Webers? Or is all
this some pipe dream created by an especially cruel Scottish mechanic
who shall remain nameless - (until I catch you, Robin!)
My cryptic e-mail address will probably not tell you that my name is
actually Steve Junor, and that I'm sending this from Bellevue, in the
state of Washington, US of A.
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