>Well, we found my little sister a car. A 1977 TR7 fhc :) Now I need to
>know things about the TR7. I understand that it shares an engine and
>transmission with the Dolomite. Is there anything interesting about this
>engine that I should know? How fast is this sucker? I've only gotten a
>chance to drive it around town and it felt about as strong as my TR6.
Couple notes from one I owned for only a year, so my experience is limited...
If you have a 4-speed, the clutch is vulnerable because of the tall first
gear. I forget when they went to 5-speeds. The Lucas electronic ignition
module was very unreliable and many were replaced with a Pirahna or Allison
like mine was. Other than that I didn't run into major reliability
problems.
I seem to recall the horsepower rating was similar to the US TR6, i.e. OK
but too little for serious fun. Handling even with Comp T/A's and new
shocks I thought was marginal, but I didn't do any other handling mods. If
little sister doesn't have a competition license it's a pleasant car to
drive, long suspension travel and tight structure in the fhc.
Parts ironically are not as easily available as the TR2-6 because the 7/8
was lower volume, not enough demand to get many repro parts manufactured.
There are specialists in the magazines, such as Ted Schumacher/TS Imports
in Ohio.
--
Gary Schneider, Nicolet Instrument Technologies
phone: 608-276-6172, Fax: 608-273-5061, Internet: gschneid@nicmad.nicolet.com
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