Check out Richard Sutherland’s post on his new project – see below or click on Member’s Cars tab

When Richard Sellers purchased the blue TR8 from me Carolyn’s first words to me “we now only have one car”.  So what was I to do!  Look for an affordable Triumph to fill the empty spot in the garage of course!  The quest began, unfortunately it was the beginning of the Covid pandemic and affordable Triumphs had disappeared . . . those that were available were well out of my price range.

In desperation I bought an MG Midget, a Spriget, I could join the Sprite club and catch up with Gordon, one of the three Amigos of Croydon TAFE.

Well the Midget wasn’t a Triumph and in time Carolyn said I should buy a Triumph, I’m in the Triumph Sports Owner’s Club and I should have a Triumph.  I had a mission to buy a Triumph, a TR7 V8, (and a budget).

Neil a TSOA club member and a good man had a TR7 V8 for sale.  A car Neil had purchased for the 4.6 V8 that he had now fitted to his TR7V8.  I asked if I could have a look at the car then, with a view to purchase.

FIRST VIEWING 20^th April – Hayden and I drove out to Neil’s place for a look at the car.  There it was looking splendid, although there was no engine and gearbox or bonnet but no it looked pretty good.  A TR7 V8 coupe yes.

Hayden assisting with the inspection.

Triumph TR7 V8 registration number RTROO8, odometer reading 37425Km

Neil delivered the TR7 V8 on 2^nd May 2024, with spares, the Engine and Gearbox were to come later.  I wanted to repaint the Engine Bay before installing the engine so arranged for the car without the engine fitted. OK now for the project to begin.

Plan for Monday 6May 2024

Prepare Engine bay for painting.

Pull wiring loom into cabin

Sanding Engine bay 120g disc, wire wheel, hand rub 180-240 dry rub

Mask up where necessary.

Wheels off, for a close look at the underside.

Lets get on with it.  Is there a plan?  The engine bay is the priority, repaint anything that is not red.

Pull the Dash out to remover the Heater and pull the engine bay wiring back into the cabin.

Remove wiper motor, Coil, Coolant overflow tank, Air horns, Brakes master, pipes and proportioning valve, bonnet and lock.

Tuesday 7 MAY 2024

Primer etch and high build. Seem seal, panel joins and over laps the primer.

Starting to strip out the interior, for access.

Stripping back the carpet.

Not surprised that the strip down was straight forward – parts labelled and grouped to assist with assembly in a few weeks or months, the project will have some  interruptions and has no set date for completion.

Right hand side

Left hand side

Ready for masking.

Masked ready to paint, base coat, RED Wednesday 8 may 2024

Mask and spray Base colour coat followed by 2 coats or Clear (from spray can 2Pack)

Painted then masking removed.

Removing the windscreen base trim, revealed surface rust with some pitting of the lower windscreen surround panel.  For safety and further investigation, the windscreen needs to be removed

Interior stripped out; Brake pedal box removed.

After windscreen removed, Lower windscreen surround panel, wire brushed to remove paint and rust.  No serious damage, apply rust converter, etch primer, primer and topcoat.

Decision to paint Black the rust effected surrounding areas.

Look out for the second installment coming soon!

Richard Sutherland

DOT Report 2024

Our Day of Triumph was held at Civic Park on Sunday 22 September 2024. While the weather wasn’t especially kind in the morning it turned into a lovely spring day.  Thanks to all those who bought your cars out for the day. We had 18 entrants and an extra  8 cars on display.

Winners on the day were remarkably similar to last year:

Overall:                                                              Trevor Hawkins (TR4A)

Second Overall:                                                  Roger Lange (TR8)

Third Overall:                                                     Lisa Vettese (Stag)

Michelotti Trophy (TR4,4A & 5):                   Trevor Hawkins

Harris Mann Trophy (TR7/8):                        Roger Lange

Concours

TR4/4A/5/250:                                                  Trevor Hawkins (TR4A)

TR7/8:                                                                  Roger Lange

Stag:                                                                      Lisa Vettese

Saloon:                                                                 Roger Lange

Spitfire/GT6                                                       Tim Wechtel (GT6)

Pride of Ownership

TR4/4A/5/250:                                                 Katherine Bradley (TR4)

TR6:                                                                     Ivan Powell

TR7/8:                                                                 Steve Ferguson

Spitfire/GT6:                                                     Nathan Parkes (Spitfire)

Stag:                                                                    Chris Marshall

Saloon:                                                                Rob Hanna

Big thanks to our judges and helpers on the day Alex Smithson, Duane Kaak, Lawrie Placing, Richard Sellers, Katherine Bradley, Garry Buckton, Nathan Parkes , Rob Hanna and Trevor Hawkins. Thanks again to Ian Rigby for his help and support (I might have progressed from my L plates to my P plates now) and Lisa and Margie for their help scoring. Thanks again to Dino and Lisa Vettese who provided a subsidised breakfast for members at Café Primo – all the reports indicated breakfast was delicious.

Dean Berlemon

2024 DOT Organiser

Due to oil leaking into Plug #3, my Sprint didn’t make last years event. (lucky I have spare cars!!).

This year, I’m currently getting my 1850 ready for the day. It’s had a fresh coat of paint in my garage, and now needs a lot of cut ‘n’ polish. A few years ago at the DOT some of you may remember this car for the two white doors and white bootlid. It’s now finally all the one shade of Carmine Red. If it’s not finished, I can always enter ‘under restoration’?

I have wanted a modern audio system in my TR7 V8 for some time, and finally got around to doing it.

This required opening up the centre section of the console to accommodate a Double DIN unit, and finding a head unit that was shallow enough to fit, which I did with an Alpine – not many after market Double DIN units offer the shallow casing that the Alpine has, and even then, it only just fits.

What I now have is a quality sound system complete with Apple Carplay / Android Auto that enables Waze GPS, Spotify music, hands free phone, voice activated everything, etc. Needless to say, I am very happy with the result.

Oh, I also installed a rear view camera that works a treat. The mini camera is mounted centre top of the number plate and is nicely concealed.

Her’s a couple of SA members having some fun in their Triumphs . . . Bryan Young in his Vitesse and Andy Ansell in his TR7, both competing in the Leyburn Sprints. If you haven’t heard of Leyburn, it is a small town in Queensland that has become somewhat noted for this event over recent years. Have a look at YouTube for footage.

Wheels and tires are one of the categories for judges to inspect. My Dolomite Sprint wheels were in poor original condition, as can be seen but are turning out great with hours of effort at home, 1 side done, 2 weeks to get the passenger side finished

Our member Bill Galler came across these two intrepid travellers in Kingston SE – they are Bob and Robyn Adams from Victoria.

They are travelling around Australia in their 70 year old Triumph TR2, complete with trailer to carry essentials (and possibly some spare parts?)

What an adventure! We wish them well . . .

Your website manager didn’t particularly like the look of the front page of our site . . . too fussy and a bit boring.

Posts to the site will now appear in date of lodgement order and users will need to scroll down for all the latest.

Something of particular interest may be left at the top of the list for a short time . . . like today’s photo!

Geoff Ellis is selling his lovely TR6 – have a look at the Classifieds section for more details.

Why not find something of your own to share and post it? It is not difficult, and if your need guidance contact me.

Roger