TR7 LexusV8 conversion

[Dan B]

Engine and transmission are bolted in, ready to go to the barn until next time.

[MGBV8]

I just wanted to reiterate that the engine slid in from the bottom with ZERO mods to the engine bay, firewall, or tunnel. You know the saying, "It went right in like it belonged there."  Well, it really did.

Also, that motor mount nut pic does not do justice to the ingenious solution. The motor mount stud was not long enough to protrude through the thick aluminum bracket. Several ideas were kicked around. Then, Jim enlarged the hole in the aluminum, took an oversized allen cap screw, lopped off the threads at the smooth shank, gun drilled it to the cap and tapped threads inside. Solved. Next.

Dan has a brother with cool tools that knows how to use them!

Dan, did you remember to close up the air intake before putting the Triumph in the shed?

[Scott Costanzo]

Really cool project! Anxious to see it.

[Dan B]

Yes, we put a mailing tube cap in it and tape over the water inlet/outlets.

[BlownMGB-V8]

These guys give away too much credit. They both had ideas and suggestions that made this thing go so smoothly and my first approach on that mount stud was a complete failure until they helped figure it out. I do wish we had a shot of that nut from the top though, it's a pretty cool piece. I think maybe Dan came up with the idea of using a bolt and Carl had the idea to go to the 5/8" size and in the end it really worked great. But regardless of who did what, we really worked well together.

I think at this point we have somewhere around 60 to 80 hours max in on the car (I probably should have documented the time but when it's your brother's car why would you?), times 3 guys both weekends for probably something around 175 to 200 man hours counting errands over two long weekends. And I'm thinking that's not too shabby going from the stock TR7 to this point on a first attempt. Considering we also managed to get a little work done on the Chump car while we were at it of course was a plus.

Jim

[mgb260]

Good work guys!

[bsa_m21]

Great work.  

You really are going to have to give some thought into the front brakes though.  The stock TR7/8 brakes are marginal, about the right size for a Mini (the original ones), not something putting out that kind of horespower.  

Also, you may want to take a peek at the rear trailing arm, body mounts.  They are a real weak point on these cars.  The bodies rust out there and the arm mounting holes are usually oval'd. I did a fair bit of bracing and welding to stiffen up all of that area when I did my conversion to V8.

Enjoy!

Martin

[tomsbad6]

Hey Dan it looks like you're having a ball     I just have a couple questions how much horsepower does a motor like that make and what kind of rearend do you put behind it

[Dan B]

The stock SC400 engine is supposed to put out 265 hp.  I am going with the stock 3.45 Triumph rear end at least for now

[Dan B]

I do plan to upgrade the brakes at some point. I did find out, however, that the stock brakes were vastly improved when I installed Hawk pads.  I went from having lots of fade in the mountains to none.  Jim & Ken drove it on the dragon last year and the brakes did fine.  Thanks for the tip on the rear suspension too!

[trseven]

Always been considering a Rover 4.0 or 4.6 for my TR7 but I'm pretty sure its out the window now!  Great work and many thanks for posting your progress!  Any work lately?  

Thanks!
Gerry C
80 TR7
80 TR7 shell & boxes O parts

[Dan B]

No, Gerry, the TR7 is at Jim's shop in Florence, Ky, which is about 200 miles from me, so I have to plan weekends to work on it when I can schedule the time.It also gives me time to save up $$ and collect parts in the downtime.  It is stored in a barn on his property in the interim.

[Dan B]

Bumping my thread... no new work yet, but we have scheduled to work on it the weekend of May 16-18.  Jim is also planning to tinker on the chump car that weekend and rumor has it he may be able to fire up his 340.....

[BlownMGB-V8]

Dan wanted to invite anyone who would like to come but did not want to be presumptuous. No problem, y'all are hereby invited. (Now we get to see if anyone other than the regulars show up, he, he. Betcha not.)

I had my calendar messed up, but Steve comes in on Thursday afternoon. We plan a trip to the Pick-n-pull, most likely Friday, to get an S-10 engine and bellhousing and if I can find it, a Mitsubishi 4G53 for the forklift. Hear that Dan? If you want to pull a Mu-tang axle you might want to be here for that.

Jim

[Dan B]

Progress on the conversion this weekend.  We dropped the engine and transmission back out of the car and reinforced the engine mounts Jim designed and built last time.  Steve Degroat and i cut reinforcing pieces and Jim welded them.  Then I painted it and we put the engine back on the cradle.  We unbolted the transmission to install the flywheel, clutch, htob, etc.  We had to chase parts all over Florence, but finally found the pilot bearing we needed.  Advance Auto Parts ordered it Saturday afternoon and we got it yesterday morning.  

If you use a W-58 transmission, be sure to install the bearing flush with the pilot hole in the crankshaft. The input shaft is kind of short.

Also, beware of adapters made by a company called Subversive.  The aluminum adapter that I got with the transmission did not allow the pilot shaft to line up.  Luckily, I was at the right place!  Jim used his MAD SKILLS at machining , chucked the transmission into his lathe and adapted the adapter to work with the transmission and bell housing.  

On Saturday, we went to the pull-a-part and got parts to install the transmission on the MG chump car.  Steve and Dave (Jim's older son) spent some time lightening the race car, then we put the engine and transmission in place with no mounts.

[bsa_m21]

I'm confused.  

If the pilot shaft didn't line up, I'd expect the bolt holes to be off.  How does putting it into the lathe fix that?  I can see skimming material off the outside or even the face, but I don't see how it can be used to adjust the alignment.

Pls elaborate.

M.

[Dan B]

The hole in the bell was indexed and found to be centered.  An offset was cut on the adapter plate using the lathe. The offset was 1/8" and fit into the hole in the bell, creating alignment.  From there, only one bolt would line up with the original holes, and we put it in tight and re-drilled all the other holes.  Most were about a half hole off one way or another.  We went to 1/2" bolt with nuts (what Jim had on hand).

[DiDueColpi]

Ya gotta admire the external cubicle thinking!
"Jim just chucked the transmission in his lathe" and machined it to center.
Now that's something you don't see every day.
I like it!
Cheers
Fred

[roverman]

Ok, I'll bite, what rpm did the transmission, "shift" at ??

[Dan B]

It never did shift, since it was locked in to the chuck, but those helicoils were rough on the tooling.

[BlownMGB-V8]

I think maybe we upshifted the lathe to 94 rpm at one point?

[Dan B]

We did have to shift the old bolt holes in that adapter plate, about 1/4" to 1/2" in all different directions.

[Dan B]

Jim and I have plans to work on my TR7 project some more on the weekend of August 8th.  Anyone interested is welcome to come and help with it, and also work on the v6 MGB chump car.

[Dan B]

Steve got to Jim's on Thursday I think.  I got there Friday evening and they had been making progress on the chump car.  We continued on it Friday night, as Jim designed and fabricated engine mounts, with help and encouragement from Steve and me.  
On Saturday, after a pick-n-pull run for drive shafts and to look at electric fans, we put the TR7 on the lift and spent the day working on the front of the engine, removing the guts from the hydraulic fan pump, replacing idlers, etc to finally install the serpentine belt.  The universal radiator like the one in the Roadmaster required a little modification.  I should have taken pictures of that.  Jim removed the filler and welded that hole up, but added a port to connect the stock TR7 surge tank.  The radiator and AC condenser are going to be moved forward a few inches to accommodate a Caravan fan.  Original TR7 electric fans are not going to be used.
At the junkyard I got a drive shaft from a Tacoma I think. Jim cut it to length and I will be taking it to a drive shaft shop to get the correct mounting flange for the TR7 differential.
Steve and I bled the brakes, so I didn't run it into the wall when we coasted it into the barn. The last couple of weekends we worked on it, the handbrake was slightly insufficient to stop it from bumping the wall in the barn that Edith is letting me keep it in temporarily. No damage, but they love to give me grief about it. Ha Ha!

Thinking about Labor Day weekend as a possible date for another work weekend.  Jim is checking his calendar.

[MGBV8]

No can do Labor Day weekend. Will be celebrating Piper's 14th birthday at the lake.