tr7triumph.com

Last December I bought and paid for some Sprint parts, including a cylinder head, intake, SU carbs, timing chain set-up and other odds & ends from a gentleman in Somerset, UK. He was to rebuild the head and ship the whole lot to me. Here it is in May, and I still don't have my parts. I heard from him in mid March with the head torn down and ready to put back together. No response to my messages since.

I believe he is a sincere older guy who doesn't plan to screw me over, but it may be that he doesn't know how to rebuild it. Or he hasn't made it a priority. There isn't much I can do from Seattle! Is there anyone nearby who could check on him and give him a bump? I don't want to broadcast it, but I'll send his contact info to someone if you are nearby.

Much appreciated.



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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

Seems those Sprint heads take a long time to rebuild. A friend bought and paid for a Sprint head year before last (some time in 2011. Saw the motor apart waiting for head Feb 2012. Just got it on the road a couple of months ago and is just broken in. Was at Van Dusen show last week end, first time out. Missed a whole year of driving and that was from one of our major suppliers in UK. Forgot to take pictures. Another time.

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

I hope it doesn't take that long! I have a separate engine block that I will use to do the build-out, so hopefully the TR7 can keep driving until I think the new engine is ready and make the change.

I thought getting the head and intake was the easy part, there seem to be a lot around. I had more concerns about finding good pistons and a distributor. But those are already here and now I wait.....


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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

Several points on an upgrade to a Sprint engine.

The Sprint engine has a crankshaft that has oil holes drilled in it to supply extra oil to the bearings. An original crankshaft is nice so you have a template for machine shop.

A Sprint engine needs three metal bearings like Vandervell. Two metal bearings like County won't last. Doug got 10,000 miles out of his Dolomite Sprint's County bearings before he had to redo the engine. The first clue was 8 psi oil pressure in a traffic jam south of San Francisco. Vanderbill bearings are no longer available for Sprints (although show up occasionally on eBay) and are hoarded by the Dolomite Club.

When redoing the engine grind out the holes in the block where the oil pump attaches to match the shape in the oil pump for maximum oil flow.

Not incorporating these Sprint differences will compromise the longevity of your Sprint conversion with it's high rpm. It's nice to have a Dolomite Sprint guy handy as the Dolomite Sprint help is hard to come by unless you're a Dolomite club member apparently.

It's not as simple as bolting on a Sprint heas /9if you want to do it properly. I would peruse the Dolly Sprint websites for info. You don't have to go for full race setups but some should be done. After all you won't be driving it like an 8 valve or it will be a waiste of money.

http://www.dollysprint.com/GeneralTuning.htm


Area to drill out on block.






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

Thanks FI; I've already spent way too many hours on the dolomite forum, Sprint manuals, and doing my homework on this. There are some very good threads here as well, including bobbyslandy's and shawniedawn's write-ups. I have also found that people seem to love to talk about this, so there is a wealth of people volunteering their opinions/expertise (for better or worse).

The engine I have to work with is low mileage, but I anticipate a pretty extensive (or you can replace the t in that word with a p [:0]) rebuild and have a local machine shop to work with. The pistons I have are standard size, so I expect to have to bore and sleeve the block (but it would be a nice surprise if I didn't have to - staying optimistic!). Bearing are indeed hard to come by, but I am persistent, if nothing else. I have gotten mixed reviews on whether or not the cross-drill is necessary, but I will most likely have it done.

I had been planning to grind the openings to the oil pump on my current engine the next time I have it off, so I will surely be doing it on the rebuild.

Once things start to come together I will do a member blog thread to track progress. I hope to make it through the summer driving season without having to change my clutch. But when it finally goes, I plan to do the conversion.



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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

Sounds like you have a good handle on it. Always nice to have a good machine shop that is willing to work with you. We have one here that does English cars as well. Our club had a tour of it last year. It was very interesting.



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

Im on the border white, pm me the details and I'll see what I can do for you

I'm back in touch with the seller and all appears to be o.k. at the moment. He will be shipping some of the pieces this week and expects to be done with the head rebuild in short order. We shall see.

Thanks for the offers from several of you to help track him down; I'm going to hold off and see if he keeps his word before turning the dogs on him!


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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.