Sunday 17 March 2024

FHC resto nr. 157; Slowly starting again after winter


It’s been far too long since my last report on this subject. Well on any TR7 related subject actually! But I haven’t been completely idle on things TR7 over the last few months.
To start with I had to search through my spares again. This time to look for another rear screen, as on closer inspection the chosen one had badly corroded heating wires. Luckily I found one that turned out to be much better in that area.


Next problem area (still) are the mounting holes for the rear parcel shelf. But as soon as the weather improves and I have enough time that should be rectified, together with fitting the newly chosen rear screen.
And while trawling through my spare parts I thought it might be a good idea to use the opportunity to sort out some more stuff; various electrical stuff this time. Plenty of spares left, but with three 40+ years old cars one never knows when something fails.



Back to the interior. Thanks to Russ I am now in the possession of an early US spec steering wheel. For no obvious reason I always liked the steel of these. Probably because they shout 70’s. So when this one was advertised I couldn’t ignore it. In the pictures Russ sent to me, it looked like there were some tiny blemishes. But after a few hours of cleaning with hot water, Fairy liquid and some brushes, it came out pretty nice. As new actually! A trip to a friend’s workshop, to use his blasting cabinet for the centre pad’s steel mounting plate, certainly helped with the finishing touches. Together with some new fasteners that is;



But that immediately leads to another problem, what steering wheel to choose for this car? As I also have this Moto Lita steering wheel which I ordered earlier in the cars restoration. Also very 70’s. Choices! Luckily the last one can also be used as a replacement in ‘t Kreng or my Defender.


And thanks to a recent trip to England I finally managed to get black (RAL 9005) vinyl paint (Rawlins Vinylkote) The joys of Brexit, as a result of which they didn’t deliver outside the UK anymore! But I can now start to rejuvenate some of the interior parts. So more cleaning to be done in the following weeks.



More interior parts to follow!

Monday 25 December 2023

FHC resto nr. 156; Rear parcel shelf & rear screen

It’s been a while since my last update on this car, about time to continue where I left! The rear of the interior to be precise. When I dismantled the car almost 10 years ago I found out the board material of the original three compartment parcel shelf was well beyond repair and only fit for the bin. So a GRP replacement was ordered and recovered.

Fast forward more than nine years and it is time for the final preparations of the parcel shelf: Drilling the various mounting holes. As you can only screw up that job just once, I ran a few extra measuring sessions for the various mounting points on the car’s body. Also fitted the hard foam support blocks I removed from the original shelf. One measuring session remaining, for the shelfs lower mounting edge. Mainly due to the way this part was fitted to the car, using drill screws. As a result of this the four holes for the lower edge are all over the place. So I will probably drill new large diameter holes in the body’s mounting brackets, and use spire nuts. This should give some room to manoeuvre.



And that’s where the weather intervened with long periods of strong winds and lots of rain during the short spells of spare time I have. Not ideal when the shed’s gate is the main supplier of light and the wind is blowing straight in. So I switched my attention the sound insulation pad (WKC 3340) that is fitted to the rear of the parcel shelf. Sadly somewhere in a previous life this was attacked by mice. So unfit to be re-used, but more than adequate to act as a template to create a new item. The original pad is shown at the top, the reproduced one below. For this I used 8 mm thick black high density EPDM rubber with a slightly profiled surface.


As you can see the mounting holes still need transferring as do the slits to negotiate the flanges on top of the rear inner wings. But that has to wait till I can go to the shed for at least a few hours. Hopefully somewhere in the coming two weeks!

Final job for this post was selecting the rear screens and mounting seal. Turned out the items that came from the car were in pretty good condition!




As you can see from the pictures above the rubber seal is in very good condition. It just needs a good clean before it can be fitted.

Saturday 23 December 2023

Seasonal Greetings

Christmas and the year 2024 are almost upon us.
Time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! See what 2024 will bring!



Monday 4 December 2023

Calendar girl 2024

The cover:
A few pictures of the car during various tours over the years.
Clockwise from the bottom left;
Ribblehead Viaduct (1-8-2014 UK);
Buttertubs Pass (2-6-2011 UK);
Pwllgloyw, Wales (22-5-2013 UK);
Vijlen (30-10-2021 NL);

Another year over and time for my traditional calendar post. Compared to the previous years, 2023 was a rather bad year from a “driving-my-TR7's” point of view. Even with one road worthy TR7, ‘t Kreng, I only managed to take her out for a drive five times. This lack of use was solely caused by a lack a time. Hopefully 2024 will offer more spare time to use ‘t Kreng, do some more work on the ’76 car (maybe even finish it!?) and start the DHC’s repairs.

So as 2023 draws to a close I decide to compile my TR7 calendar using a selection of pictures from my favourite drivers car, ‘t Kreng! Most pictures being taken during the many trips I enjoyed with this car in my home area and abroad!

January:
Hiding in the streets of Broughton-In-Furness,
after Club Triumph’s International AutoEcosse (6-6-2012 UK)

February:
In the parking area of The Old Stone Trough on the eve of
the 1st edition of the Border Raiders Tour (1-8-2014 UK)

March:
Upgrading the car’s interior (1-4-2015 NL)

April:
At the entrance of one of the many sand pits in the area,
or ‘t Kreng being in daily use near Klein Hanssum Neer (2-5-2018 NL)

May:
On an unclassified road near Auwel (27-3-2019 D)

June:
In front of a spare weir door in Baarlo (22-5-2019 NL)

July:
Early evening on the Länderstraße L228 near Bocket (25-5-2019 D)

August:
Autumn colours between Baarlo and Maasbree (10-11-2019 NL)

September:
‘t Kreng’s engine bay (22-11-2020 NL)

October:
Showing clear signs of use on local muddy country lanes
after our annual “Nachtrit”. Belfeld (31-10-2021 NL)

November:
Spring tour near “De Lanck” in Swalmen (23-4-2022 NL)

December:
On the brake tester at a friend’s workshop, for the car’s biennial
General Periodic Inspection, or MOT for the UK residents (8-6-2022 NL)