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After the sandblasting the shell has been painted and put back on it's wheels ready to be transported to another workshop where the mechanical build up will begin.

In the "new" workshop work begins on putting the car back together. Amongst the other debris there can be seen the donor car's rhd dash, 2 wiring looms, side window weather strips, new chrome mirrors , steering wheel and rear bumper parts.

The headlights have been re-assembled and bolted in the raised position without the motors and associated lifting gear which has been junked to save weight. The TR8 wiring loom was damaged during welding and part of the TR7 donor car loom is being spliced in to repair it.

The RHD power steering rack has been fitted, along with the steering column. Original Works Rally Cars did not have PAS but since I was fortunate enough to find one, it's in the car.... The TR8 steering wheel has disappeared, hopefully only temporarily so a spare steering wheel has been fitted in order to move the car around.

The alloy wheels arrived a few weeks ago, genuine Minilites, 9" x 13" for the rear and 8" x 13" for the front and the spare. Tyres have just arrived... thanks to Neil Sawyer for helping with tyre info. Whole lot was on the car in double-quick time, then we all stood around for an hour or so admiring them!

Time next to see what the engine holds in store. The plan is to re-use the existing original V8 (this is not a conversion remember) with the addition of tubular manifolds and a single bore exhaust plus some better carbs. The car was described as "race prepared" in 1990 when I bought it and supposedly been fitted with 10.25 : 1 Vitesse pistons, Iskedarion camshaft and solid lifters and so it seems that this is how it is it. The bonus is that it all appears to be in perfect, even mint condition.

In the 2-3 years I ran the car back in the early 90's it gave endless trouble and spent most of it's time in the garage. I certainly never put much wear on it! The speedo still reads 56,000 miles and given that not a single panel has had to be replaced, I am happy to accept this as correct. The "race-preparation" in question was supposedly undertaken by the previous owner, a certain Richard Endfield who only kept the car for a year. Any further info croydebay@aol.com

The main problems with the car back in the '90's centred around the automatic choke (famous apparently for giving bucketful's of trouble) and overheating. Some badly blocked waterways were found which would explain a lot so these were cleared and the engine reassembled with all new gaskets and then painted. Subsequently the radiator was also found to be badly blocked.


Wet Paint!


Now rhd...	Rack...


Minilites and tyres...	On the car...


Donor Car looking pretty sad...