tr7triumph.com

Hi there, my mechanic man who has driven many miles in tr7, tells me mine is a pig, we need to rebush everything to start with, especially as the rear seems to wiggle everytime you change gear.
The only thing that has good bushes is the subframe which has orange poly bushes.
If you put a small screwdriver between the nuts, there is easily 10 mil of movement in the subframe.
Should there be any movement?
How do the rally boys mount their subframes?
I want to sprint and hillclimb it and use it on the road, what bushes do people recommend?
It has no antidive kit, are they any good?
Many thanks Calvin.


What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

Hi Calvin,

If correct it sounds like the nuts have not been done up[:0].

All the subframe nuts should be torqued up, doesnt sound like they have been and would be an mot failure. My advice is throughly check all the running gear to make sure it has been properly assembled.

I have orange poly bush through out and it transformed the handling (still using standard springs).

I fitted the anti dive kit and find its good, but as the original front shocks were knackered I have no idea what improvement they make to a car which has working shocks.

Pete
1981 Carmelian Red 2 litre DHC - out for the summer.
Polybush, KYB shocks, electric fan, electric windows and electronic ignition roller bearing struts and anti-dive kit - otherwise standard
1979 Pageant Blue Spitfire 1500 - In hibernation - Engine overhaul needed.

I certainly would recommend poly bushes all round.
As Pete already stated there shouldn't be any movement in the sub frame.

The anti dive kit sharpens the cars handling a bit, so from that point of view it is worthwhile.
But under heavy braking there will still be a fair amount of dive.
To get rid of that there are only two ways, very firm springs or a change of the front suspension geometry.
I found fitting extra supports to the centre of the ARB to help even more with steering precision on my DHC.



Also you could change (part of) the sub frame bushes with alloy spacers





As ever suspension modifications are very personal, so I won’t give any advice only pointers [:p]

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

Thanks Guys,
we wondered about solid subframe mounts made from alloy. May go down that line, will find out the torque settings for the subframe and do as soon as.
Need to get a new rack too, mine has way too much movement and it seems to be too far gone.
Calvin

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

<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 claypole1360</i>

... Need to get a new rack too, mine has way too much movement and it seems to be too far gone ... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Before spending money on a new steering rack first tighten up the sub frame.
See if that improves the steering.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

<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 claypole1360</i>

... solid subframe mounts made from alloy. May go down that line ... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Bear in mind that you will need new inserts for the lower poly bushes ...



<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

I was going to suggest that your subframe bushes may not have the steel spacers in them.

If they are missing the bushes are squashed, & the nuts can not be tensioned properly.

Hasbeen

I have the orange ploy bushes on mine. They are pretty soft. Black poly (as obtained from US suppliers) are much harder.



- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT