LL's new toy TR7

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There's something about wrinkle black paint that sends me wild! I sprayed it everywhere:

I don't like the bright chrome of the gauges so these will probably go the silver of the tach bezel.

Switches for indicator, lights, wipers, horn, a spare to keep everything symmetrical and fan. LED warning lights for lights, indicators and fan.

All of the mounts for the dash are in place so I'll keep all this wrapped and protected until I'm ready to fit it.

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Rear wheel tubs are now made and fitted. These were CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) modelled and riveted together. 1.6mm aluminium sheet:

Inside the car it's starting to look very racy!

Just a few flat panels to make up and the rear cockpit and boot areas will be complete.

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With the tubs finished it would be nice to have something to fill the gaps:

And to fill the smaller gaps I went round most of it with seam sealer:

Upright panel and side panels in 1.2mm aluminium. Main floor in 2mm. 

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The side panels are riveted to the wing seams, the rear panel, the wheel tubs and the chassis, and it's amazing how much stiffness these thin little panels have added to the rear bodywork.

The left hand panel will have a battery tray/box mounted to it. The battery will sit along the rear of the wheel tub.

 

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With all of that done the fuel tank can be fitted:

And you will also notice the first bit of plumbing. This is the fuel return which goes through the right-hand panel and joins up with my old faithful BG220 fuel pump.

All of the fuel and oil plumbing on the car has custom anodised silver fittings, and comes from SpeedFlow in Australia. Thanks to the guys over there for an excellent product.

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Underneath doesn't look too shabby.

Just the battery tray/box and a but more plumbing and the boot area is complete.

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With the majority of the boot done, and a bit more plumbing (that I'm not going to show you yet!) I turned my attention to the inside, and after removing the last of the sound deadening from the parcel shelf I made possibly the most time consuming panel on the whole car:

The bottom return is not 90 degrees, it has returns that rivet to the inside of the tubs, and those tabs that drop down into the 'corrugations' are two different depths. even the two flat panels above the tubs are different shapes! I'll slap some sealer around it before the interior is painted.

 

 

[legendlives]

Moving downwards I have only one more hole to fill in the back panel, but I had to deal with this:

Which I never finished because I hated it all. Fortunately I have a grinder and I'm not afraid to use it!

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Better fill that hole eh?

First off, I extended the transmission tunnel framework and welded it to the rollcage crossmember and down to the chassis:

Followed by cutting, folding, bending, welding and grinding:

It needs a bit more tidying up before painting, but it's a great improvement.

Now I just need to make the aluminium closing panels for the rear bulkhead, and front of the transmission tunnel. The trans tunnel panels are going to be bolt-on removable panels to aid fitting, removal and maintenance of the transmission.

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I've been a bit crook lately, so can't spend too much time doing stuff. Thought I'd have a go at the fuse and relay board. This was templated in card and then cut, bent, drilled and welded in 1.6mm Aluminium before being coated in my favourite shade of crackle-black:

You'll notice that the sides of the templates are square, whereas the sides of the box are not. Good job I checked the fit regularly during the fabrication process.

Anyhow, once it was made I riveted it into the glovebox of the TR. The gaping hole on the right-hand top was an intrusion to clear the heater ducting that needed to be cut out to fit the fuseboard.

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Around the back there was a lot of excess glovebox:

Which was removed. I left a flange at the bottom to clip any wiring to, and used a section of the cut off bit to fill the hole at the top.

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It now has the Mallory ignition box, all of the relays and a fusebox.

The round hole at the bottom will have an insulated +ve terminal, and the holes that the wiring will run through will be edged in rubber.

Not a lot of room left for gloves, but it's easily accessible and (IMHO) quite neat.

You'd never know:

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It's pretty obvious that the intake system will need to be covered:

I'd already bought a fibreglass bulge/scoop, but figuring that the rest of the car is steel (the first all-steel race car I've ever built!) I decided to build my own steel scoop.

Starting with some CAD:

This has a curved top and follows the line of the original 'lump' in the TR bonnet. I tried it with a flat top and it just didn't look right.

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Looking round for materials, I cut the side panels out of the old steel wheel tubs. used the front of the TR bonnet, and cut up a Toyota Echo bonnet to finish the panel.

It's now high enough that I can add carb spacers if I need to.

It will need some panelwork and a bit of filler, but overall I'm pretty happy.

[legendlives]

I've spent a bit of time over the last week or so designing (!) and making the battery tray:

This sits behind the left-hand wheel tub. End supports are dimple-died and riveted on all 4 sides.

The bracket at the front is 3mm, welded to the tray and riveted through to the tub. Rear mount hole is threaded into the reinforcement which runs the full width of the tray and is welded from underneath.

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The fuel filter is a relatively cheap unit with a stainless steel mesh element. The bracket is angle-cut and welded at the ends to give it a bit more strength than just an angle bracket. The M6 countersunk fixing screws are threaded into tapped holes in the chassis.

Hoses and fittings are from SpeedFlow in Aus (custom anodised silver) in -8AN size which will run all the way through to the fuel regulator.

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After buying at least 4 pairs of seats for the car I've now settled on these:

Kirkey aluminium race seats. Ultimately they will be upholstered the same.

I chose these for three reasons:

1. Lightweight.

2. as the height inside the car is so short I needed seats with the thinnest bases possible and these fit the bill (but not entirely. More on that later).

and 3. They're cool!

But even with the extremely thin seat base my helmet is still too close to the rollcage (no sniggering at the back there!), so I made this:

Which welds underneath the chassis member and allows me to cut the chassis and lower the seat even further.

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With the additional gusset welded in place the chassis and floor went under the surgeon's knife (OK, my grinder.) which resulted in this gaping hole:

I'll make a new floorpan in this section in 2mm steel plate which will add more strength (not that it needs any) and safety.

Seat in place almost 2 inches lower, and now my helmet is free to move as it should:

[legendlives]

The interior got a bit of a make-over with new aluminium door cards. These will be trimmed to match the seats:

New window winders fitted. These are the cheapest of the cheap, but with 'nice' screws fitted they work well on the TR7 window winder shaft: