I just came in from the garage, washed off the copius amounts of grease and
grime (another afternoon working on the TR7 from Hell) to find Ric Johnson's
advise to Arthur Freeman on tire wear on his MGB. My project car, the fore
mentioned TR7, has similar wear. As with the MGB, there is no adjustment
other than toe-in. I don't know if the TR7 geometry is similar to the MGB.
In my case, I had been assuming (perhaps incorrectly after reading Ric's
response) that the wear was due to weak springs. Just a look at the TR7 front
suspension indicates that if the ride height is off (weak springs), inner
tire wear can result. Are there any TR7/8 owners out there who can provide
similar advice? Springs, bushings, or both?
On another subject, later TR7's had courtesy lights built into the inner door
panels. The driver's side is missing, and the passenger's side is melted.
Yep, melted! Seems that BL made a wiring change in 1981 that provided
(inadvertantly I hope) a second, unfused, source of power to the courtesy
lamp circuit via the cigarette lighter. I've had to replace quite a bit of
wire and install an in-line fusebetween the lighter and battery. North
American TR7/8 owners beware! The previous owner was lucky that the whole
thing didn't light up.
Does anyone have a line on these courtesy lamps? I have not had much luck
locating replacements through major suppliers or local salvage yards.
Randy Ponik (rponik@aol.com)
The TR7 from Hell
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