It has a V8 ;)

[300bhp/ton]

Hi, thought I should put at least one of my rides on here.

Well this is my slightly non standard TR7 V8.

It's my 2nd TR7. The first having met with a slight rust incident that resulted in the axle being ripped off

This one is a 1977 FHC. It's had two owners before me, one being the garage where it was registered and the next owner having kept it from 1977/8 up until when I bought it in 2000. He used to keep it in a carpeted garage

Anyhow, she started off as a stock 2.0 4 speed fixed head coupe in flamingo red I believe. In several places the previous owner had actually managed to polish the paint completely down to the undercoat

But this didn't deter me from purchasing as it was 100% solid and in great nick.

Straight off it replaced my previous TR7 as my daily driver commuting to Uni and back (some 60+ miles a day).

The car was most reliable only suffering one electric gremlin. However due to some over enthusiastic driving I did manage to bust a half shaft and bugger the axle up.

So the obvious solution was to say, sod it to the axle and fit a V8, 5 speed box, new suspension and replace the axle with one for a 5 speed car.

Logical... right?

So after the conversion she looked like this:



To which I had much enjoyment and did over 15,000 miles in commuting and having fun in. Pretty much trouble free.

With the large bore 3" rally style exhaust it sounded good too. With around 155bhp (stock 3.5 RV8) it went ok and was faster than most of my mates vehicles at the time.

But I kept planning on bigger and better things.....

So after a bit of saving it was time to do more mods and some restoration upkeep.

So the car was stripped, had all the wheel arches replaced and a full respray in a variation of Dodge Viper red. I also chose to include new smooth US style 1 piece bumpers and cruise lights and a bonnet scoop to clear the twin SU carbs that fouled the bonnet a tad.

From here I then set on the engine where I fitted a Weber 500cfm 4 barrel carb, a low profile Offy intake manifold (for clearance reasons), pancake air filter and a cam from Real Steel.

After some initial running problems and a dyno run she was found to be making a tad under 200rwhp, but didn't like revs and fell on here face at WOT.

Further investigation revealed that the fuel pump needed to be relocated (the replacement was a pusher, not a puller) and I upgraded the fuel line from a drinking straw to some 3/8" bore fuel line.

WOW what a shocker this little configuration change made to the way it drove!!!

Anyhow, this is how she ended up looking:








From here, she served well as a DD for quite some time. right up until I started doing 100 mile a day commutes. I also, thru more over enthusiastic driving managed to bust another axle, the diff this time.

Currently the car is under going another axle swap, I'm also changing the axle final ratio gear for something more aggressive to promote better acceleration.

Full list of mods include:

-Rover V8 conversion
-Kenlowe electric fan
-Luminitions
-Anti-dive kit
-Uprated shocks, springs and all suspension bushes (Shore70)
-Uprated front discs and large 2 pot callipers
-Uprated brake servo
-LT77 Rover 5 speed gearbox
-Shorten gear shifter
-Motolita leather steering wheel
-New carpet set
-Custom dash sections
-Cobra bucket seats
-Sparco racing harnesses
-Stainless steel single outlet rally spec exhaust (single silencer)
-Large bore competition spec long tube exhaust manifolds
-High lift cam
-Stage 1 unleaded cylinder heads
-Offy intake manifold
-Weber 500cfm 4 barrel carb
-US spec cruise lights
-Smooth 1 piece bumpers
-Front spoiler
-15x6.5 alloy wheels
-225/55R15 tyres
-5 speed axle 3.08:1 (currently being replaced with a 3.90:1)


Ok, she's not the most powerful, lightweight or fastest car on the road. But she's a lot of fun, makes enough power to out run a Mazda RX8 or BMW Z4 3.0i and corners and stops pretty good too.

With the 3.08:1 axle she's been clocked at 144mph, although with the axle swap this will limit top speed to around 125mph, but should see a hike in acceleration

I've still got a Triumph Tune rear roll hoop to fit at some point too.

Thanks for looking

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Saturday 27th September 19:53

[odyssey2200]

that is Cool!

[Benmac]

That is fantastic. Lovely and subtle. A mate of mine has one in a more basic spec but it does have a V8 in it. He hardly uses it though and just tinkers although never actually seems to move the project on at all. I'll send this to him to chivvy him along a bit.

[sniff diesel]

How do you get on without having door mirrors M?

[300bhp/ton]

sniff diesel said:

How do you get on without having door mirrors M?

lol

I admit it is missing in these pics, but it does have one on the drivers side. The passenger side one was a cost option in 77.