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Blog - 1537 Entries.


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"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

FHC resto nr. 112; Another small upgrade
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The advantage (or should I say disadvantage) of having a few later TR7’s, when restoring a pretty  early TR7: I know most of the many detail changes and upgrades done by the factory over the circa 7 years these cars were produced. And as I do have a fair amount of spares from later cars it is always a good thing to apply some of these changes to my ’76 car.



One of these changes was the prop shaft bump stop (UKC8268). In the picture above you can see the later variant, which was retrieved earlier this year from one of my spare shells (a 1980 DHC), before and after cleaning.
In 1976, when this car was produced, this part wasn’t fitted yet. And as a result the mounting studs welded to the transmission tunnel were also missing. Below are a few detail shots of these tiny parts. The first picture was taken from below, from the part’s donor shell. The second picture is taken from the inside of another shell. Clearly visible in this picture is the way the two studs are mounted to the rear of the transmission tunnel.



I should have removed the studs and mounting plate from one of these shells in order to weld them to the ’76 body. But I simply forgot to! And as welding to the still freshly painted shell will not happen, I had to look at an alternative. Turned out to be pretty easy. First I had to collect the necessary fasteners. I went for stainless flat domed Allen headed M6 bolts and nyloc nuts.


Final stage was marking out and drilling the two mountings holes and dropping the bolts in from the top of the transmission tunnel (using plenty of non-conductive grease to prevent contact corrosion). At this stage I had expected I needed an extra pair of hands to keep the bolts in place while putting the bump stop in position from below. I needn’t have worried. The bolts slipped into the holes quite easily. Even fitting the washers and nuts wasn’t a problem. As was tightening the nuts, using an Allen key wedged against the rear bulkhead to prevent the bolts from spinning while they were tightened from below.
And while I was at it I removed the wiring clip I forgot to remove before painting, touched up the damaged area, and replaced it with a nicely refurbished clip.



As fitting the bump stop went smoothly, I had some time left to look through my spare parts in search for some parts needed to finish both the boot area (rear light bulb holders) and the front bumper (side lights). A few hours in the shed well spend!




 posted Sat 17th Oct 2020
"vitessesteve"
posts: 2379
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Isle of Wight group
joined on Mon 16th Oct 2006

King's Road Garage Co Ltd St Annes-on-Sea - Triumph car dealers 101
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King's Road Garage Co Ltd were a Standard Triumph car dealer based in St Annes-on-Sea in Lancshire and are the subject of this blog post.

Atlas at agricultural show

It was reported in the February 1960 edition of Standard Triumph Review that: 

KlNG'S Road Garage Co. Ltd., St. Annes on Sea, staged this display at the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Show. Containing Atlas Vans, Atlas Pick-ups, Standard Vans and Estate Cars. It attracted much attention from the farming fraternity.

1955 RAC Rally

This photo of the King's Road Garage Co Ltd appeared in Triumph World article.

 

Some old adverts

The Historyworld.co.uk website has a lot of interesting content and is well worth a visit.  This is a series of adverts by the Kings Road Garage that I found on the Historyworld.co.uk website.

Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1957 advert




Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1958 advert


Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1958 advert2


Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1959 advert

Vanguard for George Formby

No more "cleanin winders" for George Formby OBE. He got windscreen washers and wipers on his new Standard Vanguard III. George bought his new car from Kings Road Garage Co Ltd, St Annes-on-Sea.

Show and Service Week promotion

Mr Poslethwaite, Mr Gentle and Mr Fletcher from the Factory Service Department interviewed nearly 200 STANDARD and TRIUMPH owners.

Staff from Standard Triumph HQ visited the business and assisted the firm with week long Show and Service promotions. These were held by the firm at their premises 12 to 17 May 1947.

Loxhams


 
By 1965 the business was operating as Loxhams Garages (St Annes) Ltd.  Loxhams later became a part of the Dutton Forshaw Group.
 


Triumph car dealers in the St Annes area


October 1955, October 1958:
Distributor
Kings Road Garage, Kings Road, St Annes-on-Sea, Lancs - tel 670/1/2


August 1961:
Distributor
Kings Road Garage, Kings Road, St Annes-on-Sea, Lancs - tel 670/1/2
Dealer
Geo Moore & Son (St Annes) Ltd, St Davids Road South, - tel 2060



February 1965, September 1968, March 1970, March 1972:
Distributor

Loxhams Garages (St Annes) Ltd, Kings Road - tel 25111/2/3


March 1974:
Distributor

Dutton Forshaw (St Annes) Ltd, Kings Road, FY8 1NG - tel 25111




Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about King's Road Garage Co Ltd of St Annes-on-Sea, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin


Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group which includes many photos of Standard Triumph garages etc from my collection and many other contributors .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credits: Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1957 advert + Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1958 advert + Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1958 advert2 + Kings Road Garage, St Annes-on-Sea - 1959 advert

A blog post from vitessesteve
 posted Sun 11th Oct 2020
"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

This is where it started!
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A very short post this time! During my past holidays, covering the month of September, I found an important piece of my motoring history again. The advert pages from Dutch car magazine “Autovisie”, dated the 20th of August 1988. And on one of the pages is the advert for an “as new” Triumph TR7 convertible.


It turned out to be a fairly early Dutch registered car (06-06-1980). I purchased it as my first car a few days later and never looked back! I still don’t regret the decision!
 posted Thu 8th Oct 2020
"vitessesteve"
posts: 2379
Website Administrator
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Isle of Wight group
joined on Mon 16th Oct 2006

Dolomite 1500 Workshop manual
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This copy of the Triumph Dolomite 1500 Workshop Manual known as the Repair Operation Manual has been processed so that you can search it by word.  You can view and download it from my box.net account. https://app.box.com/s/uwy8anbmq0schbsr3d6xmuap324for4m

 

A blog post from vitessesteve
 posted Thu 8th Oct 2020
"Radders"
posts: 1637
Essex group
joined on Mon 17th Nov 2008

New engine to rebuild for the Pi.

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 Ever since I've owned my Mk1 Pi, it hasn't had the correct engine fitted. This has always irked me somewhat and I've always kept an eye out for the right one. My Pi is currently fitted with a Mk2 Pi engine which starts with an MG prefix. The correct engine for my car should start with a CR prefix. 

Whilst browsing on ebay last week I spotted a CR engine which would hopefully be ideal. Luckily a friend of mine in Derby went to nearby Nottingham where the engine was situated and looked at it for me, confirmed it would be good and collected it for me. Even more luckily for me he was coming down to mine at the weekend anyway and brought it with him. 

I had some free time today so I started to partially strip it down to give me an idea of what I was up against and what parts I may possibly need. 

Removal of a big end bearing cap and a main bearing cap showed hardly any wear on the bearings and crank at all and the 308778 original Stanpart camshaft looked good as well. The oil pump filter also looked clean , so this engine has been looked after at some point. I say some point because when the engine arrived newspaper had been stuffed into the bores to keep them clean and extraction of the newspaper showed it to be 1983! 
All was looking good, but the cleaning of the top of the pistons gave the biggest surprise. At some point in its life the block has been bored out and had plus 60 thou pistons fitted. This will increase the CC (Cubic Centimetres) from 2498cc to 2601cc. (or in other words 2.5 litre to 2.6 litre.) 
At present it looks like this engine could just be fitted in the car and used as is. However, I will still be fitting a new set of big end bearings, main bearings, piston rings and a new oil pump, to hopefully get some longevity out of it. 
The funny thing is, the other engine that I have fitted in my Blue Mk1 has also been bored out to plus 60 thou as well, so I'll be running two Mk1 saloons both with 2.6 litre engines.
 


 posted Tue 6th Oct 2020
"Radders"
posts: 1637
Essex group
joined on Mon 17th Nov 2008

A decent drive at last! October 3rd & 4th.
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 With the Postponement of the 2020 Round Britain Reliability Rally and the fact that we were unable to cancel the hotel bookings we had already made, a few of us decided to plan our own weekend away and end up at the Novotel, Knebworth on the Sunday night anyway.
So, after a few weeks looking at routes and times etc. we decided on a trip out to the most Easterly point in Kent (Joss Bay) then all the way along the South Coast to Lands End. 
Fellow drivers Richard Warr and David Harvey arrived at my place on Friday (Needless to say Beer and Curry was on the agenda Friday night) and Dave Maton arrived on Saturday afternoon. A good dinner was had at a Toby Carvery in Wickford and after filling up with fuel at Basildon, the two Mk1 Triumph saloons set off  at 4.30pm for the first check point in Kent
The weather forecast that we had looked at with growing horror on the Saturday morning was turning out to be fairly accurate and not long after starting the journey the rain started. It had stopped by the time we reached Joss Bay in Broadstairs and we were lucky enough to get a few minutes out of the car and take  a few photos before the dark closed in. 
Our next stop was the Old Lighthouse at Dungeness and by the time we arrived here it was totally dark and the wind was getting up as well. We managed a quick coffee out of a flask before moving on and within the next twenty minutes the rain had joined the wind to keep it company. 
From Dungeness we travelled through Camber, Rye, Hastings and Newhaven and on towards our next planned stop at Brighton Marina. The rain was now Hammering down and the wind was battering the cars as we travelled along the coastal roads. The plan was to stop at Brighton for 30 minutes and have a cup of coffee somewhere, but to be honest, the weather was so awful we just quickly exited the cars, took a few photos, jumped back in and carried on! 
With the gale force winds now coming off the sea, we moved inland slightly and took the A27 through Worthing, Arundel and Littlehampton. We took on more fuel at Chichester and managed to have a quick chat and a laugh under the canopy of the petrol station away from the continual wet stuff falling from the sky.
Our route took us along the A27 to the M27 past Portsmouth and Southampton then onto A31 past Ringwood and into Dorset. We stopped again for a coffee and biscuits at Dorchester while the rain left us alone for a short while, but quickly hit the road when it returned with a vengeance. Honiton and Exeter were passed through and our next stop was for fuel in Whitehouse Services in Oakhampton, Devon. It was now around 4am in the morning and coffee and energy drinks were the order of the day as we were all now feeling a tad jaded. 
According to the satnav it was now 98 miles to our next intended stop at Lands End and we were running approximately two hours ahead of schedule. We had planned to have more coffee and break stops, but the appalling weather had kept us confined to the cars. We decided to just punch on and get there early and use the time to have a bit of a sleep when we got there. 
The rain continued until we were around half hour away from Lands End where it was replaced by a freezing cold wind. It was still dark on arrival so we parked in the car park and grabbed some shut eye. Daylight arrived and we moved the cars into position for a photo shoot and then headed for Bude Castle.
Within thirty minutes of leaving Lands End the rain had returned and with the wind as well it was like monsoon season. Bude Castle was only a quick visit because of the weather and we then found a Morrisons Supermarket with a cafe so we could get some breakfast. Very nice it was too, and cheap!
We had planned to visit Badgers Holt on Dartmoor and The Haynes Motor Museum on our route back to Knebworth, but we deemed Dartmoor to be too Dangerous with its narrow roads and slippery surfaces and the Haynes Museum was closed. The constant rain lashing down was starting to take its toll on us as well and we all decided to just head back to Knebworth. Our route back took us along the A30, M5, then A303 past Stonehenge, Andover, and onto the M3. Visibility on the Motorways was very poor due to the spray, but we made good time on the M25 which was lighter than normal. 

We arrived at Knebworth at around 4.45pm and after a quick shower and change of clothes we headed into Old Knebworth. We managed to find an Indian Restaurant and celebrated our trip with a good meal and a couple of drinks. We had had a good trip and driven some great roads, but the constant rain did reduce the enjoyment a tad.
Richard and I were both pleased with our cars as Richards was doing its first trip since the 2000 engine had been replaced with a 2.5 and my car was on its maiden long voyage with its newly rebuilt cylinder head and camshaft. Both cars never had a single issue (Thank God!) and the only time Richard opened the bonnet was to check the oil. Even then the wind nearly took it off and the oil he tried to pour in the engine got blown all over it by the wind anyway! 
A brilliant weekend away with some great company and hopefully, things will get back to normal soon so we can look forward to some other driving events. 
 posted Mon 5th Oct 2020
"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

FHC resto nr. 111; Striping
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With my holidays almost over I returned to the shed for a job that has been postponed several times in the past year. Fitting the striping to be precise. Early in the year I decided to remove the striping from the bonnet and change the pieces for the wings. Sadly though a friend who has the gear to cut the new items had run out of black self-adhesive foil. As it is easier to apply all parts in one go, I decided to wait with applying the remaining striping parts and decals till everything was ready. Fast forward 7 months and the new stock of black foil still hasn’t arrived! So I reversed the decision, and went to the shed armed with kettle, washing liquid and other household stuff. And the various parts for the striping of course.


I decided to start with the striping for the right hand rear wing. After washing off any dirt or dust, de-greasing and applying some soapy water the striping was put in place. Aligning went pretty smoothly. When I “designed” the striping, I used the door handles and the top of the door running parallel with the door handles as datum lines. With the stripe running in a straight line, parallel to these lines, from the rear wing to the front of the door.


With the stripe correctly positioned it was time to get an old ID card and the hairdryer out. And with most off the water rubbed from underneath the foil, it was time to gently pull off the backing foil. And that’s where it went wrong! I wanted to work from back to front, so the bottom of the downward part would remain in place and any stretch could be dealt with at the door gap. But whatever I tried the backing foil in that area refused to come of the striping. And working from the other side immediately stretched the two thin outer stripes. A long story short: Waste bin 1 – Car 0!
Normally at this point you walk away from the job for a while. Sadly that doesn’t work when you’re working in a shed, away from home. So the only option left was to carry on with the remaining pieces. Just to be sure it wouldn’t happen again, I cut the backing foil right back to the striping. And hoped for the best. Though slightly nerve racking, this time the initial plan worked. Hooray!




Only three items left. Next in line was the striping for the bonnet. I fitted that already a few years ago. But then I noticed that one of the two stripes wasn’t fitted perfectly. So that needed rectifying! And as these pieces were much smaller they were far easier to handle and apply. (sorry, I should have taken a picture with the bonnet up 😜)


That left me with one final piece, and also the smallest. A small “SPRINT” decal. This is actually a left over from one of the door stripes. But I thought it would look good on the boot lid. For its position I followed the dimensions for the “TRIUMPH” boot lid decal of the later Canley and Solihull cars. And of course the early “TRIUMPH TR7” decal (with a twist) already in place. So now you don’t have to overtake me to know what’s under the bonnet 😁.



That leaves me with the job of producing the stripes for the front wings and the right hand rear wing of course. With some spare decals thrown in. And a different font for the TR7 on the rear wing. See how that looks in real life. Hopefully to be continued very soon!


Back to my regular work tomorrow. It was a productive month! 

 posted Wed 30th Sep 2020
"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

FHC resto nr. 110; More small jobs
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Or should I say that I entered the end-of-my-holidays-frenzy! At least I managed to complete a few more small jobs on the car.


To start with the interior light armature. I sourced that from the shed over 4 years ago, with the idea to clean it and fit it to the car in the then near future. Sadly life intervened in a negative way. Fast forward and last Sunday I was going through the small parts littering my study. As the F1 Grand Prix of Russia had finished, and the weather was rather wet, I thought it a good idea to clean the armature. As I had found a few extra spares in the past years, I decided on a little cleaning experiment.


To get rid of the oxidation I dropped the armature for 15 minutes in a lukewarm solution of cleaning vinegar, rock salt and water. Turned out to work quite well as the picture below illustrates


Another job that had been haunting me was the boot light switch. The very early original item (606239) got lost during the move of all my parts from René’s place to the shed. At first I didn’t think much about it as I had enough of the later switches. And that is when I found out that the later switches wouldn’t fit. Also the early left hand boot hinge I had prepared turned out to be missing its welded on tab to activate the switch. Time for a rethink!
So one of the items that were picked up after powder coating was the part of the boot lid hinge from a later car that bolts to the bottled. And I found out that I had a freshly galvanised tab between the coated parts! So these were fitted together.


After which it was time to remove the left hand hinge from the boot lid and replace it without damaging the paint work. It took me almost an hour but I succeeded. Also managed to fit a later type switch. Although it works I am not very impressed with the fit. Luckily it is mostly hidden from view! Though I will probably have a go at adapting it to get a slightly better fit …


And the final job for a day well spent in the shed was fitting the door strikers. The driver’s side went rather smoothly.


Though I have some doubts about the right hand (passenger side) latch. With the latch fully engaged there is a fair amount of free movement. Which isn’t there on the driver’s side. Looks like I’ll have to fit some door seals first, to see if that changes the matter. I hope so! Otherwise I’ll have to prepare another latch.

 posted Mon 28th Sep 2020
"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

FHC resto nr. 109; Front bumper
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I picked up the freshly (powder) coated front bumper bar just before the weekend, together with some other parts for the ’76 car and my two other TR7’s. As ever the quality of the work done by Habraken in Best was spot on.



And today I spent a few hours in the shed. So after about 30 minutes of careful work (I didn't want to break another cover!), the covers were fitted to the bumper bar.




The anoraks already will have counted 6 cover retaining plates (ZKC2251) instead of the official number of 4, as stated in the parts manual. But as you can see, there are also no studs in the corner cover. And no sign there ever were! So I used an extra retainer plate to keep this cover in position.
I could have fitted the bumper to the car, as I did with the rear bumper. But that would probably restrict access while fitting the head lights and wiring. So that will be left for another time. 
 posted Mon 28th Sep 2020
"Beans"
posts: 5742
Netherlands
joined on Sun 5th Mar 2006

FHC resto nr. 108; Shot blasting
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Yesterday and today I spent some hours on cleaning and shot blasting the remaining alloy parts for the Sprint engine for the car. To start with a few before pictures.



And a few pictures after spending an afternoon at a friend’s workshop and his blasting cabinet. Which was loaded with glass beads. Ideal for alloy parts!





And after fitting some of the zinc plated and (black) passivated parts.



Though I found out a few of the threads in the manifold and timing cover need thread repairs, as the original threads have been stripped. To be continued … 
 posted Thu 24th Sep 2020
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