New grinall v8 drophead owner-scotland,a few questions for you knowlegable folk

[tony1966]

hi folks-just bought a tr7 with v8 conversion -grinall car

it runs terribly-now runs on 8 but under load its horrid,backfires etc did compression check and all 8 pots seem pretty decent

fuel pressure seems high at appx 6psi-double what i thought it should be for the su carbs-ordered a reg and will reduce to half that-no fuel from overflows though[silver facet fitted]

i have just fitted new lead and cap/rotor arm-not tried it yet,but will maybe wait till i find a new ballast suitable coil[it has electronic ign and an sd1 ballast resistor on the front landing panel

the distributor is an old electronic two wire job-this must be due for replacement as car was converted in appx 1990

was later upgraded to modern 4.0 block

anybody got recommendations for a source for new dizzy? i have a new non ballast coil here so may bypass the ballast and have it running 12v again  

despite running poor it has potential and i always fancied one-says tr8 on v5 too which is strange-but its chassis number doesnt have the v code

helpful tips welcome 

[acaie]

When I got my Grinnall I took it down to my local rolling road tester. Doesn't come for free, but made quite a bit of difference and meant I could stop worrying about quite a few things and not spend money on unnecessary changes. 

 

[tony1966]

i can balance and set the carbs for mixture myself, just wondering what the best results are from various dizzys,i fitted an accuspark to a midget las year and it was great-complete dizzy,coil,leads,etc-and a little wiring

attached pics of the balast and dizzy fitted to my tr for those intrested-sd1 ballast iirc

[Scotland Director]

Hey Tony,

Congratulations on the purchase of your Grinnall, they are truly remarkable beasts.  I noticed two things, I’m nothing if not adept at spotting the glaringly obvious!  First off, you’re Scottish or at the very least living in Scotland and secondly you are not [yet] a member of the TR Register Car Club !

You've already found the forum and so far helpful advice, which is brilliant and thanks for using it and helping to contribute to an invaluable reference resource.  So, why not go the full way and join us at the TR Register Car Club.  We currently have 210 members throughout Scotland and there are a couple of Grinnall’s amongst us, we’re a friendly and helpful bunch and depending on where you live and also if your car is currently ready for a run, then we have a breakfast run organised on Sunday 30 May touring the TRossachs, where you can meet - socially distanced - some like minded new friends.

How much does annual membership cost, well depending on the car you drive about half a tank of petrol !  And, you’ll also get the award winning TR Action Magazine delivered straight to your door with access to all sorts of discounts and trips and tours of UK and further afield.  Also, you might even want to come along to our annual event, this time at Malvern in August.  And, that’s not even mentioning there’s a Register for Grinnalls within the club.

So, got a bit over excited there about our Club, anyway, please drop me a line as I love to hear the story of how / why you bought your TR - it’s a habit that becomes an addiction - so be warned.

Feel free to contact me at Scotlanddirector@tr-register.co.uk

Have a brilliant week ahead my friend and look forward to chatting to you and hopefully welcoming you to the TR Register Car Club !

best regards

Stephen Hall, Scottish Director.

[BusheyTrader]

Hi, the distributor is a 35DE8 Lucas.  They are notoriously unreliable as they get older.  They fail as the engine warms up.  The Rev counter drops to zero and the engine cuts out.  Not rough running, just dead.  After 10 minutes cooling down it will work again only to fail when It warms up. 

The vacuum advance unit attached to the distributor has a diaphragm  inside that hardens with age.  The unit may still hold a vacuum but it’s restricted movement can cause timing issues / rough running.

The fuel tanks rust from the inside out, clogging the fuel filter with fine orange powder / rust.  My engine ran fine at low revs but misfired through fuel starvation under acceleration.  I fitted a new tank before it rusted out.

These issues happened to mine over the years.  I fitted Lumenition to the distributor 30 years ago, a new tank 10 years ago and a new vacuum unit 3 years ago.

I believe that SU’s should have 2psi fuel pressure.......

I’d contact S & S Preparations and / or RPI Engineering about a replacement distributor if a fuel regulator or fuel filter inspection don’t  solve your issues.

Good Luck.

 

[tony1966]

hI-i have fitted a new electronic dizzy[from simon bbc on flea bay] plus its conversion lead/coil,removed the ballast[only really needed to protect the points systems]  car runs far better now,starts nicely,however still struggles for fuel on one bank it seems under heavy load,so still to strip the lower end of the carbs[float jets /height possibly],also remove the filter on the fact silvertop that is under the rear of car-changing all fuel lines while i am there-i did fit a regulator-dropping the pressure to around 3 psi but it made no difference-no fuel visible from overflow -will see whats in the facet filter-it also has a filter up front in the engine bay-will renew that too and check the tank out-its a 2+2 conversion from grinnal so tank may possibly be a little different[although most likely sourced from another leyland car if it is] car seems to have ran fine with the facet for a good while[says 5-6psi on the spec]

extremely tempted by the weber 500 conversions but its a pretty big price hit when su carbs are usually fine once cleaned/set up/good clean fuel supply

Edited May 27, 2021 by tony1966

[tony1966]

Here is a pic of the tank layout-another filter found[will be removing it as not good pre facet] fairly well executed conversion,also preserves the tank a bit better

so much for leyland components-its very bespoke-but so was the price of the conversion back then!

I am also going to have the tank feed dropping down straight onto the facet-its not good the way it sits at the moment-curling up then down

3 filters in system at moment-this one,one in facet and one underbonnet-two is plenty,both of them will be getting renewed[facet internal and underbonnet item]

I have never liked the feed on the v8 rover su carbs going to one then the next-any benefits to be found found running a t piece and feeding both from the fuel in line...anybody...?

Edited May 27, 2021 by tony1966
PICS

[BusheyTrader]

Unknown to me, my Mitsuba fuel pump had an integral filter which became clogged with the finest orange dust (rust) as the tank corroded from the inside out.  The replacement filters were ludicrously expensive so it was removed and replaced by an inline filter between the tank and pump.  
 

After any burst of acceleration it would misfire until the fuel bowls refilled...

 

3 x fuel filters suggests that the previous owner may have had a problem with dirt reaching the carburettors...

[tony1966]

Hi-cleaned fuel system,removed rear filter,replaced integral pump one,nothing too bad-plumbed in fuel line dropping straight into facet

removed carbs,found both float needle valves pretty choked,drivers side float sticking slightly against casing as they are apt to do when up-relieved casing to sort it

cleaned all the internals,set jet heights with su jetsetter[really handy wee tool] changed the overflows from bowls to individual lines[were going into a t piece]

balanced it all up ,joined the throttle linkage and its all sweet,runs very well[have super unleaded in it at moment,on idle appx 8 deg btdc] pulls nicely,very smooth 

Can now get stuck into lots other wee jobs,but its properly usable now

[tony1966]

3 hours ago, BusheyTrader said:

Unknown to me, my Mitsuba fuel pump had an integral filter which became clogged with the finest orange dust (rust) as the tank corroded from the inside out.  The replacement filters were ludicrously expensive so it was removed and replaced by an inline filter between the tank and pump.  
 

After any burst of acceleration it would misfire until the fuel bowls refilled...

 

3 x fuel filters suggests that the previous owner may have had a problem with dirt reaching the carburettors...

The tank seems fine-thats not to say they havent had any bad fuel or moisture ingress etc,its had loads work done new 4L HC motor from dreadnought, recon 5 spd gearbox and just about every part relating to it -the previous owners had it twenty years,but i dont think they were mechanical/hands on-it has seen very little use i last few years,probably due to running issues ,giving it to a garage running like that would be like writing a blank cheque...plenty time spent resolving all the issues

 

[BusheyTrader]

Good to hear you’re sorted....

I saw a 2+2 Grinnall about 30 years ago on a dealer’s forecourt in St Albans.  IIRC the hood had to be removed completely and stowed in the boot instead of folded away on a frame.  A smaller custom tank was installed to fit between the redesigned bulkheads.

The original TR7 tanks rusted and pin holed (leaked) from around 25 to 30 years old.  Hopefully your custom tank is made of a thicker gauge and can be protected somehow.  Removing my standard tank meant disconnecting the rear axle’s top links from the chassis, lowering the axle and multiple scuffed knuckles and swearing swapping over the tanks.

[tony1966]

lol my tank would come out in 5  mins,its very clean and solid

hood folds back fairly easily-i have a hood cover on it at present

i have a morgan 4/4 and on those you basically remove the hood to go topless-although mine is on aeroscreens anyway atm[although its in bits lol] 

never even gave much though of it being a 2+2 tbh-ideally i would like a saloon with the bigger v8,even a saloon with a webasto/glass pop up sunroof-but this was too much to resist for me,and i do like top down motoring

[Howard722]

On 5/29/2021 at 2:11 PM, BusheyTrader said:

Good to hear you’re sorted....

I saw a 2+2 Grinnall about 30 years ago on a dealer’s forecourt in St Albans.  IIRC the hood had to be removed completely and stowed in the boot instead of folded away on a frame.  A smaller custom tank was installed to fit between the redesigned bulkheads.

The original TR7 tanks rusted and pin holed (leaked) from around 25 to 30 years old.  Hopefully your custom tank is made of a thicker gauge and can be protected somehow.  Removing my standard tank meant disconnecting the rear axle’s top links from the chassis, lowering the axle and multiple scuffed knuckles and swearing swapping over the tanks.

Just spotted this `chat`, that car you saw in St Albans I think was mine, a 2+2 in Poseiden Green?

My hood does not `come off`, it folds down into the rear seats and with the standard hood cover looks just like a normal DHC with the hood down flush.

The fun comes with the hood when in 2+2 use as it has two extra arm links each side (ex-Grinnall) that allow the hood to be articulated/rotated rearwards so that it sits on the rear rail just forward of the petrol filler. My car now has a custom hood bag when in cabriolet mode.

[BusheyTrader]

Hi Howard,

Yes it was Poseidon Green and IIRC it had a tan check interior with a small 2+2 bench seat in the same material.

The hood frame had those extra arms inserted as you describe, so sounds like your car…

 

Adam

[Howard722]

Yes, tan check interior with matching rear seat +rear seat belts. Owned now for 34 years.

Can`t log on to www.tr7triumph.com, ???-is there a problem do you know?

[BusheyTrader]

I think the dealer was “Chariots” in St Albans.     I’ve owned mine since June 1996.

The TR7 forum has been down for a while, I’m none the wiser although I heard there’s been a number of cyber attacks on it 

 

[Howard722]

Cheers for that, FYI I have done the Volvo gearbox mount conversion-joy and relief combined

[BusheyTrader]

Yes, full credit to Galileo on the Dolomite forum for sharing his experience with the Volvo gearbox mount rubber.  I felt my gearbox was going to explode after fitting the aftermarket rubbish item, so shared it amongst the forum after trying it myself.

https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29990&start=0