Tr7 brake and suspension upgrades

a-1 exhaust · June 12, 2008, 10:58:12 PM

I have an 80 model tr7 with a 3.8 buick v6 with a turbo charger and a 700r4 trans. with a ford 8" rear. Does anyone know what can be done to upgrade the brakes and front suspension? The car is a hoot when it comes up on boost, but the brakes just don't do it and I can't find rims. Has anyone had any luck swapping out the front sub frame with something newer? Preferably with a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern to match the rear.

dwtr6v8 · June 13, 2008, 07:32:21 AM

Not that I want to take you away from this great forum, but check out this cardomain.com site. Leon's TR7 Spyder. Go to page 6 for the front brakes and page 3 fro front suspension.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2472999/6

BlownMGB-V8 · June 13, 2008, 08:02:03 AM

Corey, could you turn in a "How it was Done" sheet on your car? We don't get many 3.8 Buick conversions and it would be a great benefit to the members to see it.
http://www.britishv8.org/How-It-Was-Done.doc

Thanks,
Jim

Dan B · June 13, 2008, 11:31:02 AM

Yeah, Corey,

Is it a John's Cars conversion, or what? I will probably be looking to do a conversion on my 7 in the future, so I am interested in the options.

Dan

a-1 exhaust · June 14, 2008, 08:29:25 AM

This is a conversion I did myself. like I said, still trying to get the bugs out of it. I'll try to get some digital pics of it and up load them

Dan B · July 03, 2008, 03:30:03 PM

Corey,

Any luck on brake kits? Have you check the TriumphTR7.com forum? Also, VTR.org has forums on all Triumph models. The forums are free, but the VTR one is not very active.

As for the "How it was done" article... I am interested in seeing that and pictures too. It may be a while before I do a conversion on my 7, but I want to explore options, etc.

cliff · December 15, 2008, 10:29:37 PM

Corey, not to take you away from this forum however, http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com as Dan B suggests is a good source of brake info. Do a search on brake upgrades after joining the forum. jclay out of Houston has several articles on brake upgrades and there is at least one article on aluminum front hubs that may soon be available from the Wedge Shop. 92rrrandall has some very good pics of his alum front hubs. The search tab helps to find things article specific.

mgb4tim · December 15, 2008, 11:55:49 PM

Look at...

http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Big%20Brakes.html and... http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Big%20Brakes%202.html fro your front brake questions..

WedgeWorks1 · December 20, 2008, 08:35:18 PM

Corey,

Contact Woody at The Wedge Shop, www.thewedgeshop.com. He has the upgrades for the front brakes in two or three stages depending on your rim sizes. He has upgraded brake proportioning valves. The suspension he carries GAZ & Spax which are externally adjustable for the front and rear. He also has the old school Konis that are non-adjustable once installed on the car. Upgraded full suspension bushing kits for front and rear plus subframe. To help with spring he has lower kits as stock replacements and some front coil over adjustable height kits too. He takes all the thought out of what to do and buy.

real_old_guy · December 31, 2008, 11:07:14 PM

Corey,

There are coil over kits from Miatas, but the stock suspension can be used with Teds over sized front hubs with larger bearings, his roller bearing upgrades for the McPherson struts, and his TR8 Brake kits. I believe he also has upgraded spring sets.

Ted raced TR7/8s for years. I would say that Ted and Woody are the two TR7 expert suppliers here in the States. They are both great guys to work with and will both give you the straight skinny on any questions you might have. Now Tim gave you the links to my site and having worked on the Big Brake Upgrade set-up documented on my site, my best advice is to get yours from Ted or Woody!!

Ted's site: http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com/

ROG (aka jclay)

PS, you can make a bigger MacPherson set-up by mating a SD1 lower unit to the TR7 upper unit which will give you a larger front spindle and bigger 5 bolt hubs!

mgb4tim · January 02, 2009, 10:57:19 PM

real_old_guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> PS, you can make a bigger MacPherson set-up by
> mating a SD1 lower unit to the TR7 upper unit
> which will give you a larger front spindle and
> bigger 5 bolt hubs!

What do you put on the back for the 5-bolt hubs? ROG - you crack me up!

real_old_guy · January 04, 2009, 06:48:07 PM

Hey, Tim-Bo,

The SD1 units have larger hubs with 5 lug bolts.

I am like the cross-eyed discus thrower, I don't set any records but I do keep the crowd alert!

ROG!