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Tags: triumph, tr7, spider, AIM, IM, buddy+icon, YIM

This is the video of me driving the VIR track during the lunchbreak of the 2006 Gold Cup. Thanks to Dr. Bob for his white knuckle video skills!

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Tags: triumph, tr7, VIR, virginia+international+raceway, gold+cup

I had a great time on my first visit to the VIRginia International Raceway. My boss came up for the day (huge car nut - owned a MG TD, DeLorean, Boxster, TR4, etc) and we all had a great time. I ended up leaving about 4pm which is when my 54 SPF sunblock finally surrendered to the hot sun. Ken, my boss, and I drove back an “alternate route” and we raced back to Greensboro, the Triumph kept up with his ride with no problem (ok, there was a problem, but I’ll get to that later).

Thanks goes to Robert who held the video camera when we got out on the main track for the parade run. What a blast. And Robert, your video turned out fine. It was loud as hell, but that wasn’t our fault! The track run was such a total highlight and gave me a greater appreciation for the driver’s that take those curves at twice the speed that I could muster. We dumped out of the last lap because of engine heat. We didn’t overheat, but I know I have a radiator problem and didn’t want to push it.

Which brings me to the other problem. The car has driven great all spring, but I need to take the car off the road for a time to do some upgrades. On the way back home, during me and Ken’s “leisurely” drive back, my muffler, which is badly rusted in the middle, melted in the center and the tip folded down to the pavement! Also, the radiator fan is beginning to squeak and I need to rework the radiator.

So the to-do list is…
header and exhaust
new performance radiator core
electric radiator fan

And of course… I have pics. Less than 200 this time.

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Tags: VIR, virginia+international+raceway, gold+cup

TCOC hosted a club event this past Friday night at the Bright Leaf Drive-In in Mt. Airy, NC to watch Pixar’s new film Cars. About nine of us caravaned up from Winston-Salem and arrived a tad after 7pm. The burgers and dogs were wonderful. The fellowship was capital as always (I have now become a full fledged Morris Minor fan) but this trip was special for me.

I grew up in the area and I would always drive my first Triumph (back when I was 16) to the Bright Leaf on the weekends and afterwords race (illegally of course) through the country backroads of Surry County after the show.

On the drive back I redrove those same back roads (at a much lesser speed) on my way back home to Lewisville.

There is just something about driving at night with the top down, while that British burble eminates from the tailpipe.

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Tags: triumph, TCOC, pixar, cars, bright+leaf+drive-in

A good time was had by all.

For me, the event started on Saturday night with the Triumph Club of the Carolinas’ dinner at the Wren House in Salisbury, NC. The food was good and the fellowship was great. My neighbor Malcom (back from Florida) was with me and we spent most of the trip down trying to figure out what car he wants to end up with - he is an active collector.

Malcom and I found a Jensen-Healey in Winston-Salem the morning of the dinner and spent most of the day discussing the possibilities. As it stands, I have my 7, his 7 and his Spitfire I am working on - a Jensen addition is just out of my ability to find time for. I can’t keep four British cars running and keep my day job.

We arrived first thing at the show - about 15 minutes before the gates were to open. Upon filling out my registration form, I discovered that the TR7’s had been left off. Typical. I swear it is becoming a forgotten car. So I went ahead and wrote in TR7 and went on my way only to find that they forgot to make any space for the 7’s. It took a bit to figure out where to put us. I think they carved out a bit of out of the TR3 paddock - those guys had NO room.

I finally got parked and began removing pollen off my 7’s black paint and then an 8 pulled up. A few minutes later, the SIGN for the 7’s & 8’s arrived.

There were a lot of cars at the show. Highlights were Ernest Hemingway’s Rolls Royce, a Morgan Super Sport, a very healthy dose of Jensen Healey’s and one of the nicest MG Midgets I have ever seen. We also had Jags, Lotuses, Sunbeams, Austin Healeys galore, a passel of Minis and we even had an Alvis! But the real highlight was the homemade ice cream!

All was well until the judging. I noted a few things were off. The previously mentioned TR7 registration fiasco was not the only oddity. The Lotuses had their own ballot class, but they all got stuck in Speciality Interest cars and was put up besides the Rolls and what-not.

I was chatting away with a friend of mine when I heard my name over the loudspeakers and I thought I had won for the 7s. When I got the plaque, I thought it was like Little League where all the kids get a trophy even if they are on the loosing team. My award was for Third in Class. Hell, there were only three cars in my class! Things got more confusing when some of my club members came over to congratulate me. I thought it was an attempt to make me feel better for coming in dead last.

But no. When we were half-way home, Malcom asked me if I had any idea “why they put the Spider in the TR6 class?”

“What did you say?” Then I finally got a clue. Now it made sense.

I had came in third in a field of about 15 - 15 TR6’s that is. Turns out they dumped all the TR7 and 8 votes in with the TR6 votes.

My 7 won third place in the TR6 category.

It suddenly felt like Florida.

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Tags: british+car+day+south, morgan, super+sport

In a total surprise to me, the Spider won Third In Class at the 2006 British Car Day South. By some act of God, or Confederate ghosts buried nearby, all the TR7’s got dumped in with the TR6’s for judging. But the mix-up proved once and for all that TR7’s CAN outrun TR6’s.

My life was spared!

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Tags: british+car+day+south, triumph, tr7

One of the items on my huge to-do list is to try to work out some buff marks in the paint due to a loose car cover that stayed on for years. I picked up some Meguiars ScratchX and it lifted right out. The car looks fab.

I also used some Meguiars Quik Detailer to clean the interior vinal and it too worked like a charm.

Now I am ready for British Car Day South!

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Oddities of the cooling system

Now that the car is up and running, it is time for UPGRADES! And an improved cooling system is top on the list.

Now as I started my planning and plotting, I noted something that seemed rather out of place and that was the plumbing differences between my 76 TR7 and my 80 TR7. Although the expansion tank with the radiator cap was a plus, the problem with the coolant path seems to be a glaring design error. If I have the flow reversed out of the engine, the error seems to be the same.

In this image of my car (above - 80 Spider), the coolant from the engine comes into the radiator (1) from the thermostat housing (3). The expansion tank (4) is attached at the radiator (2).

In this image (above - orange 7), the coolant exits the engine (6) at the thermostat housing and enters the radiator (5). The coolant flows right and down across the radiator and back into the engine (7).

A friend of mine, a NASCAR engineer, took a look at it and here is his 2 cents (actually, it was about a $30 steak).

The way my Spider is set up is inefficient by about 30-40% because the coolant takes to shortest path out of the radiator. (below)

To maximize efficiency, coolant must take the longest path through the radiator. But with the way it is currently set-up, I get coolant back to the engine the fastest way possible, but it is not the coolest it could be. The shorter round-time brings in more thermal energy back to the engine than it needs.

In the second image of this post, the thermal map would look like the image below (radiator pattern 2).

As you can see, the second set-up (second image in post) has the most effecient performing cooling set-up.

Any idea what model year this changed? The second example is an image I pulled off the web somewhere and both seem to be LHD cars.

Anyone made the changeover to the radiator pattern 2? Anyone else notice this?

–
1980 TR-7 Spider

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Tags: triumph, tr7, radiator

My typical daily driver is a Honda Element, so coming to work this morning in the 7 I am looking up at everything. EVERYTHING! But things were smooth on I-40 at morning rush and I could actually hear the morning news via the stock radio over the din of the engine, wind and other cars and trucks.

Once the engine and tranny are warm, the car feels perfect. Just flat-out perfect. I was thinking that my speedo was off, but a time, speed, distance calculation proved it to be spot-on.

Now all I need to do is drive home!

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This was my first Triumph Club of the Carolinas monthly meeting. I met a lot of great people and barely remember anyone’s names, my apologies. We met at Austin’s in High Point and the food was wonderful as always.

One gentlemen had the courage to drive his TR6 to the meeting in the face of some pretty impressive thunderstorms. The car was cherry red with wire wheels and glorious interior. The car was flawless with one exception - it wasn’t mine!

We are planning a drive to Mt. Mitchell in the coming months along with a tech session, this is where we all get together and fix each other’s cars.

Speaking of fixing, I finally got my order in for a new Robbins top. Should be here next week. This is a job I dread. I can barely sew a button on.

Sad, really.

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