tr7triumph.com

Hi,

I mentioned in another post of mine just how much my restoration has cost so far. It is almost embarrasing but I believe that no matter what car you restore it costs far more than you can imagine.

So here is my car so far:

Previous owner spent $12,000 including purchase price and he sold me the bare, painted, rolling shell for $1,100. (Fortunately for me)

I have spent around $13,000 that I will admit to my self and the car just went on the road, legally, last week. There is still a lot to do as things shake out and reveal them selves so I estimate another $1,000 to $2,000 eg, I am about to spend $400 on the steering.

What has your restoration cost so far?

Mine = NZ$24,000 including what the PO spent

USD$18,424
Pounds 11,522
AUD$18,487



Here is what I and the PO have doe to the car

<u><b>PO</b></u>

Strip, replace all 4 wings/fenders, replace door bottoms and cut outrust in a few other areas like tail lights. He also painted the shell, doors, headlight pods, bonnet and boot.

<u><b>Me</b></u>

Supply a 2.0 Litre Engine and do the following

• Exhaust manifold planed and new studs fitted
• Valve shims adjusted
• New Water pump
• New stainless steel water bypass pipe
• New seals in oil pump
• New Distributor with cap and points from Quality Rebuilds
• New needle and seats in carburettor float bowls
• Air box plated and re-sprayed
• New front and rear crankshaft seals
• New Choke cable

Exhaust

• Stainless Steel exhaust fitted with manifold planed and new studs fitted.

Clutch

• Flywheel machined
• New Clutch Cover
• New Clutch Plate
• New Thrust Bearing
• New clutch Slave Cylinder (Same as used on the V8 version)
• New clutch Master Cylinder (Same as used on the V8 version)

Gearbox, A spare I had

• New Gearstick extension bushes
• Cap to hold gearstick rebuilt and freshly plated (A lug snaps off these)
• New gearbox rubber mount

Cooling

• New radiator
• New Thermostat
• New hoses
• New Water Pump
• New stainless water bypass pipe to replace original steel one(Important upgrade)
• New Heater Core
• New Heater Seals (Very rare and hard to find)
• New stainless steel heater pipes

Fuel system

• All new fuel hoses
• New seal for tank sender
• Pipes into carb bowls have been re-plated
• New rubber grommet for Fuel pipe entry to engine bay
• New Fuel line plastic clips
• Tank bolts plated and tank straps painted plus new rubbers
• Fuel Filler neck re-plated with new mounting screws installed

Suspension

• All front suspension and subframe has been sand blasted with two pack paint applied.
• All new bolts in front suspension
• New Ball Joints
• Nolethane subframe mounts and sway bar mounts
• Upgraded, hard rubber bushes into Track arms
• Rear trailing arms and tie rods are still standard
• New front Strut inserts (Shock absorber)
• New rear Shock absorbers
• New Spring seats
• New Bump stops

Brakes

• Brake Booster disassembled, plated and rebuilt
• Master Cylinder disassembled, plated, sleeved and rebuilt
• Front callipers rebuilt with 3 out of 4 new pistons and new pads installed
• New front rotors
• New front flexible brake hoses
• New rear flexible brake hose
• New rear wheel cylinders
• All steel levers and components in rear drum brakes plated to freshen and ensure free movement
• New dust boots on rear back plate
• Handbrake compensator plated and new bushes fitted with brand new, part specific bolt. (A real trap in TR7’s and makes a real difference to your handbrake)
• New rubber grommets through wheel arches for pipes
• Front back plates painted

Steering

• New Tie Rod ends
• New rubber boots on the Tie Rods
• Rack cleaned and painted
• New Upper Steering Column Universal
• New Lower Steering Column Universal with arm
• Rack service/recon

Wipers

• New Wheel Boxes
• Rack freshly plated
• Wiper motor casings plated to clean up engine bay
• Bracket plated
• New Rubber mount
• One new wiper arm
• New wiper blades

Headlights

• Halogen upgrade (Huge improvement on the
old sealed beams)
• Brand new lifting brackets
• Springs and parts re-plated
• New adjuster screws
• All brackets internal to headlight pods freshly plated and new screws used


Body

• New door Window Seals
• New Windscreen
• New grommets where ever possible
• All rust cut out and steel welded in
• Bare Shell re-spray (Non original colour for TR7)
• Rust proofing wax sprayed into everywhere I could reach


Interior

• New Carpets
• New Seat Covers
• New Door panels
• Late model Grey Dash installed
• Rear window tray refurbished
• New side panels with new vinyl
• New head lining
• Sliding sun roof reassembled and checked


Jolyon

Don't even want to go there![:0]

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

Well, let's see. Over the many years it would not surprise me to see about the same amount on repairs to the same items as in your very well done list.

Naturally, everything has increased in cost over 34 years. I just got off the phone with Whitepost Restorations who perform clutch slave cylinder sleeving. They now charge $175.00 plus $20.00 shipping, which is quite an increase over the $45.00 they charged some 15 to 20 years ago.

Money! It's just not what it used to be, or what it should be. However, as the years wear on, this car becomes more a part of me, therefore it becomes priceless. Granted, expensive, but priceless.

Oh, by the way. I just received a shipment of parts from Victoria British. The timing chain tensioner is a 'County' brand and is labelled made in India. I expect to have nightmares over this in the coming months.

Mildred Hargis

Why on earth would I keep a list like that!? If the wife ever stumbled upon that list I'm not sure I would live to see another day! And I haven't even done a resto, just the usual upgrades and repairs. Ok it's a TR7 so thats ALOT of repairs!

Besides to me it's PRICELESS!

Craig

Jolyon, does that money include all the parts cars you bought along the way? I can tell you that $13K is really not much - relatively. It is only 5 weeks labour for a panelbeater at retail rate.

But the next time you're feeling down & you think life can't get no worse, take your car in & get it valued. You will learn that there is always more room at the worse-end of the scale



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by PeterTR7V8</i>

... I can tell you that $13K is really not much - relatively. It is only 5 weeks labour for a panelbeater at retail rate.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That's less than AU$70/hr!

I think you'd be very lucky to find a good panelbeater that works near Sydney for that sort of rate, and if you did, there would probably be at least 10 yrs of work already commited before they could start.

As Peter says, keeping "too close" a track of your expenses can only bring you down, and put your relationship with partners at risk.

My clone car (a fuel injected 1980 TR8 which sat in a garage for 8 years which looks exactly like my original TR8) didn't run when I got it and I've worked very hard at restoring with good used parts (like rebuilding light switches and the like) and only spending when I need to on the important bits (like a new brake master cylinder, etc). I've done remarkably well getting NOS and good used stuff from eBay too. Cost of the car + all the new parts is about up to $6k and I plan on driving and entering it in Concours in VTR Breckenridge CO this summer and getting over 350 points. Wish me luck. It's already to the stage of me driving it back and forth to work and I think it'll already score over 350 points. Originality is what I'm after, nothing more.

Now if you count how much TIME I've put into it, well, let's not. I'll put in HUGE amounts of my time to save a buck or two here and there. Gene Thompson once told me that "time" thing is why we call this a HOBBY and trying to restore this one to factory original with as little money as possible has been fun. But LOTS of blood sweat and tears time-wise.

jim

First valuation for Insurance is $12,000

One of the big reasons that the list is so huge is that I picked up the car as a stripped shell, it was mobile on wheels with a steering column and not much else so everything had to be found and installed.

I just could not bolt rusty brackets to that lovely paint job so I plated them. I could not bolt on unknown brake parts so I repaired them, same with clutch, rubber grommets, hose pipes, fuel pipes, headlining had to be made up (the interior was close to $2,000). I could not install an unknown heater because they are such a major to get out. Therefore I stripped it, installed new foam and all waterways. New Windscreen was $450 fitted.

This is why the list is so extensive, there was nothing there so I had to replace it. I guess it is close to a new TR7 in many parts.

The other reason the list is so huge is that I am fussy.

Peter, the cars I purchased to wreck along the way are covered in here. The parts sales of the cars covered their purchase as I sold both diffs, gearbox and engine from one and many other parts. I have charged this project car a value for the engine/gearbox from the Red DHC and the sunroof, Dash from the Green FHC car. There were also window regulators, instruments and more.

I charged my self $1,100 for those items against the purchase of the wrecks.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Not so worried about the wife hearing how much I spent.... no longer married and now live with someone. <u>The wonderful thing about modern relationships</u> is the <b>pre-nup</b>! A pre-nup means that a lot of our finances are separate so she has no stake in the car or my finances...... not like my marriage. I actually told her what it cost and she said "that's nice"

Car runs well and looks fantastic though........



Jolyon

I can understand some not wanting to know.

The second year I raced my Morgan +4, I kept accurate records. After 12 months I discovered I had spent 117% of my gross, [not net] income for the year. The divorce came a little later, & was just as expensive.

I have never added things up properly again.

My present 7 cost A$1300 for a stationary car, & the parts car. I reckon it was on the road, painted for about A$7,000, & has had less than A$2,000 more spent on upgrades in 8 years & 50,000+ Km.

In other words, it would have been hard to find cheaper motoring than this 7.

The 8 is a little different. The ex pom who had it built for him must be the world champion in picking bad shops to give his work to. It came with a A$48,000 receipt file, which included its first incarnation as a 3.9L carb manual, then a 4.6L injected auto.

It went OK, & looked & sounded wonderful, but there is not much that has not had to be redone.

In the last couple of years, & less than 4,000Km, the repaint, gearbox rebuild, new strong diff, new induction & injection system, & a major cooling rebuild has cost about $16,000, add another couple of thousand to fit the new computer, [we just can't get into the old one to tune it], makes it a reasonably expensive car.

Still, if we had bought the top end GM Holden HSV or Ford Performance Vehicle V8 hot rod, with similar performance, six years ago it would have depreciated more than that by now, whereas the 8 has at least held its value.

If it had been well built, it would have been pretty good value as well.

Hasbeen

Two questions you should'nt ask one is ask woman her age and you have just asked the other one........

It rides again..... and again wehey!!!!!!!

Definately the wrong side of £15,000 so far .....

This heading should be rephrased!
It should ask,
Are you still in a relationship[?]
How financially worse off are you[?]
Have you bitten off more than you can chew[?]
Has your life style changed[?]
Or even worse,
Did you extend your garage for your next Wedge project[?]
[8D][:D][:)][^][:0][V][:(][:(!][}:)]

This is what 'Var' cost me[:D]
Look the outside is nearly done[8D]



The car is unable to handle my driving capabilities

Well Jolyon,
I could have bought a Ferrari for the collected Wedge money
- but I didn't want a Ferrari...

Odd, that's it exactly.

I don't regret a penny, & I have the cars I want.

Hasbeen

If i thought about the answer to much i would probably cry, I have every receipt for everything i have ever bought inc every can of primer and every nut & bolt.[:)]

But if the missus found out how much i have spent over the years [:0], i don't think she would be best pleased.



1980 2.0 DHC (soon to be 16v) - Polly.