triumph wedge owners association · 2019-03-17 · signed for a straight 4 or 6 motor and then over...

Triumph Wedge Owners

Association (Formerly TR8CCA)

The International Club for TR7 & TR8 Owners

April 2008 Issue #2

Inside Your April Issue of TWOA

TWOA Club Update Know Your Fellow Wedge Owners Owners Rescued 8 Parts Counter Wedge Clock Repair Deals ,Wheels & More

“Hey look the 2008 VTR is going on. Want to check it out?”

2

TWOA Club Update

Triumph Wedge Owners Association April 2008

2008 TWOA Board of Directors

Founder Mike de Andrade

671/565-7036

[email protected]

Acting Tim Lanocha

President 410/557-0081

[email protected]

Acting Vice Rand Torman

President 508/951-0199

[email protected]

Acting Joe Worsley

Treasurer 336/998-6501

[email protected]

Acting Bruce Quackenbush

Secretary 410/557-0081

Bruce.quakenbush@american

-contracting.com

Editor Ed Krakowiak

630/240-1134

[email protected]

Events Zach Torman

Coordinator

[email protected]

NE Regional Wayne Simpson

Director 908/477-3878

[email protected]

Southern David Massey

Regional 314/603-7084

Director [email protected]

SE Regional Chris Hansel

Director 602/370-8226

[email protected]

Fuel Injection Jim TenCate

Guru & Web 505/672-1953

Coordinator [email protected]

Tech Rep Woody Cooper

508/880-5448

[email protected]

Triumph Wedge Owner’s Association Board Conference Meeting

1. VTR Drag Races Pat Barbour ([email protected]) of the Detroit Triumph Sports Car Club joined in on the beginning of the conference call and spoke to us about the preliminary plans for VTR (http://www.natc2008.com/index.php?pr=Home_Page) and the Drag Racing event in particular. VTR plans on registration Monday August 4th and a tour of the Connie Colletta facilities on Tuesday, August 5th from 9:30 am to 11:00 am. His operation is directly across from the hotel. They would then plan for drag racing that afternoon at a drag strip about 20 min-utes from the VTR hotel in Milan, Michigan called the Milan Dragway (www.milandragway.com). The Autocross is scheduled for Thursday. They have the availability to host drag races on Tuesday. Their fee structure is on their web site but the basics are $250/ hour for a minimum of 10 cars. The fees run in $50 incre-ments for each 10 cars. There is also a $200 insurance fee. Mentioned was the possibility of working with the track owners to lower the fee schedule if that particular Tuesday was a slow day for them anyway. Pat thinks that we would need to give the track 7 day notice for the number of participants. Pat said they were hoping for a registration of 300 cars for the VTR and figuring for at least 10% that would be interested in running, he would expect about 20-30 cars for the drag strip. Other participants on the call told Pat that given the turnout at Roadster over the years, that they would expect the number to be much higher, possibly nearing 100 cars. The question of tech inspection came up and Pat told us that the website does not mention that the track does it. We suggested that perhaps the auto cross and drag inspec-tions could be done at the same time. Feb 2008 - Update on the Milan Dragway is that the rates for 2008 have increased. And the minimum track rental fee is now $2500.00. This is nearly double the original amount the club was planning on spending on to host this event. If this is the case then this puts the Milan dragway event no longer a reasonable use of clubs funds. The next option is to use the original funds for this event to contribute to the welcome party and autocross where the club banner and logo can be displayed at both events.

2. Mission Statement The proposed mission statement was discussed and adopted after deciding that the regular and ongoing consumption of adult beverages did not need to be part of the formal written statement. The Mission Statement of the TWOA is as follows:

“To promote the ownership, maintenance

restoration and enjoyment of Triumph TR7 and TR8

automobiles.”

3

TWOA Club Update


3. Organization IRS Status – Bruce Q reported that he had been in touch with legal counsel here to register the club for its appropriate IRS designation. Counsel thought the 501 (c) (7) Social Club was probably the must suitable. Conference call members agreed. Bruce will contact counsel to make sure that the registration takes place soon. By Laws – A committee made up of Bruce Quackenbush, Wayne Simpson and Bruce Clough will meet on January 15th via Yugma to draft a suggested set of By Laws for TWOA

4. Name All conference call members agreed and adopted the new name: Triumph Wedge Owners Association, the International Club for TR7 and TR8 owners.

5. Logo A logo design was presented by Jim Tencate. All agreed that the concept was a good one and that some further minor changes will be made to finalize the mark. Wayne S said that he will contact Ralph Genelli about the mark for the TR7 and TR8.

6. VTR Relationship It was reported that VTR has not yet described the Affiliate Program or what will be entailed. Blake Disher may be in charge of creat-ing the guidelines but it that is not clear yet. We agreed that we have to table that discussion until the affiliate guidelines are created.

7. TWOA AGM and Gathering Zach Torman was not able to make the call so we did not have an update on what progress has been made on finding a venue in Michigan for the meeting at VTR. Tim L will call him and see what has been arranged.

8. Newsletter Ed reports that he is still looking for additional material

9. Web Address and Site Address - We agreed to apply for the URL: triumphwedgeowners.org Joe will do the registration via credit card.Site – We agreed to spend $300 for the development of the site. Jeff Aronson is working on the new website www.triumphwedgeowners.org.

Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival 2008

Triumph is the Featured Marque at this Years Watkins Glenn Grand Prix Festival. September 5, 2008 The same weekend is SportsCar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) Zippo U.S. Vintage Grand Prix races held at the nearby Watkins Glen International race course on the same weekend as the festival. I have only gone for the Friday event on Main Street Watkins Glen. I have done the Glenora Winery Rally and did the two laps of the Original Race course (Public Roads) I see now there are 6 driving events that allow you to park briefly in Main street and then do 2 laps of the original Route(course) http://www.grandprixfestival.com/ Bill Sweeting

Carlisle Import & Replicar Nats 2008 Carlisle Import & Replicar Nats Car Show May 16th & 18th Carlisle, PA 2008. The event this year features British vehicles. For more information visit http://www.carsatcarlisle.com . TWOA members expected to attend so far include : Woody, Tim Lanocha, Rand Torman & Zach Torman.

TR Drivers Club National Weekend 2008

For the TWOA members and enthusiast overseas you can the check the TR Drivers Club website for more information on the upcoming club event this coming July 2008 in the UK. . The website is http://www.trdrivers.com. Several current overseas club have indicated they will be in attendance.

4

Know Your Fellow Wedge Owners


I was very excited to learn about the new developments with the club. I’m hop-ing an expanded membership base and ongoing club activities will lead to greater appreciation and treatment of these special cars. Although a lifelong car fanatic with an especial liking for the British sports car legacy, it was not until a few years ago that I finally picked up my first roadster from across the pond. I wanted a raw open top roadster in which to bomb around the backroads of Putnam and Duchess coun-ties in NY and do some occasional track days. Loving the smooth-sounding roar of straight 6 motors and with fond remem-brances from my early teenage years in the 1970s, my original intent was to get a TR6. However while searching TR6 listings a TR8 showed up. The car was dead stock, unremarkable looking and the quality of the pictures were poor but I began to think… The TR8 is a modern well-balanced car that offers plenty of scope for upgrading and modding to near super car specs. The TR6 is an old fashioned body on frame design with inherent chassis and power plant limitations. And where the TR6 had already entered its classic phase with prices for very clean examples ranging into the high teens, the TR8 wedge style was still scorned and as such presented a com-parative performance bargain. Here was a Cinderella-like car with great intrinsic de-sign qualities and potential that the factory never fully realized. I thought about what a great “what-should-have-been” project a TR8 would make. But most of all it was the thought of owning a car that ultimately belongs to that illustrious lineage of Anglo-American V8 roadsters. What especially appealed to me was that the TR8 is unique in this respect. It was not just another British chassis de-signed for a straight 4 or 6 motor and then over loaded with a heavy small block American V8 as the AC Cobra, Sunbeam

Tiger, TVR Griffin, MGB V8, etc were. The Triumph wedge was designed from the start to accommodate a V8 motor as well as the TR7’s SOHC slant 4. In addition, the use of the Rover motor, with its Buick-designed aluminum block, contributed to the car’s balance as it was actually lighter than the cast iron TR6 motor (let alone other small block V8s). Thus the TR8 didn’t suffer from such poor weight distribution as the earlier nose heavy Anglo-American roadsters had. Converted I began watching the listings for an example that would hopefully come with some key upgrades I was intent on having. Eventually a 1980 DHC originally from Louisiana came up. It had been taken to Boston a few years earlier. The gold paint was faded and the tan plaid interior worn but the body was straight with only some minor surface rust (there wasn’t a speck of rust on the undercarriage). The car had received many performance mods including a high lift cam, an Edelbrock high rise manifold, a Holly 650 carb, stainless steel headers, a Mallory distribu-tor and electronic ignition, Wedgeshop springs, beefed up sway bars, 14” Minilite replica wheels, an oil pressure gauge and roll bar. Most, if not all, of this work was performed for the previous owner by Woody Cooper at the Wedgeshop. The car also had a new cloth top. Believing this would make an excellent candidate for my roadster project, I bought the car for $5,700 and had it shipped to NY. Despite the performance mods, the PO had not yet addressed a few more funda-mental issues and it became readily appar-ent that the brakes and suspension would require a complete overhaul. As a result I enlisted British car specialist Jeff Palermo at International Motor Car in Hopewell Junction, NY to install new polyurethane bushings, front strut rolling bearings (from TSI in Ohio), SPAX adjustable gas shocks, a rebuilt steering rack, an anti-dive kit, a Wedgeshop front brake upgrade kit, an up-

graded Rover master cylinder and an in-car adjustable front/rear brake proportioning valve. I also had the Wedgeshop 3-point strut tower brace installed which did won-ders for stiffening up the front end (this should be a required mod for DHCs espe-cially as the unibody is highly stressed at these points). Finally in response to over heating I had a new triple core radiator and bigger electric fan installed. I also re-moved the inoperative A/C system and the corner weights in the front bumper to shave 50-60lbs of weight. Once shod with soft compound Kuhmo 205/60/14s, I was finally able to drive a car in near perfect mechanical condition. The performance was impressive and the car, aside from the raucous sounds of the motor, rode quite comfortably. Occa-sionally on wide corners with a clear view ahead I’d coax the car into a slight drift with a little throttle and then flick the wheel to bring it back. The responsiveness and predictability with which the rear end snapped back was pure joy. Bombing down the road with that motor roaring at RPMs I received many bewildered looks as people, fully expecting to catch sight of some American muscle car, saw instead some scruffy unidentifiable wedge-shaped object. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted for that visceral seat-of-the-pants driving experience offering the singular combination of nimble British handling with the torquey grunt of a pushrod V8.

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Know Your Fellow Wedge Owners


However the car’s ratty appearance proved too much to bear and I only drove the car a few times before sending it in for a badly needed cosmetic overhaul. That was over a year ago now and happily the car is almost finished. Although the time and expense involved has been ridiculous, the results are stunning. The original and fairly common “Cashmere Gold Metallic” paint was reap-plied with the stock decals but for the plaid tan interior, I opted instead for all black with leather seat covers. The look is quite sexy and evokes an early 1970s aesthetic which in my opinion suits the car much better than the bland late 70s/early 80s gold on tan combination. The original and fairly common “Cashmere Gold Metallic” paint was reap-plied with the stock decals but for the plaid tan interior, I opted instead for all black with leather seat covers. The look is quite sexy and evokes an early 1970s aesthetic which in my opinion suits the car much better than the bland late 70s/early 80s gold on tan combination. (To digress for a moment I think one of the key factors that turns people away from the TR7s and 8s is the poor “presentation” found in many examples. In dead stock

trim, the earlier cars especially, accom-plished the trick of turning a quite bold and clever design into a rather awkward look-ing machine. Small wheels and skinny tires, a tall and forward-pitched ride height (which over-emphasized the angular asym-metry of the front and rear roof lines), and tacky trim items (such as US dealer in-stalled suage line stripping and chrome luggage racks) detracted from the car’s purposeful lines. The unorthodox color combinations and interior trim packages further distracted from the car’s core aes-thetic giving it an almost disposable look. Compounding the image problem, many cars over the years have also been subject to degrading mods such as inappropriate aftermarket mirrors, wheels, seats, and bodywork. Fortunately, addressing some of these issues can quickly bring out the true aesthetic potential of these cars.

Perusing UK wedge sites in particular it’s amazing how sleek, mean, and modern these cars can look when stripped of tacky trim, lowered, and shod with bigger tires and wheels.) I can hardly wait for the car’s return and the coming of spring which will afford me the first opportunity in over a year to drive it. I’m especially looking forward to explor-ing the beautiful western Duchess County countryside along the Hudson River where gently undulating roads wind through pic-turesque farmland. Over the next year or so (money permit-ting) I’d like to continue developing the car’s inherent potential. First on the list will be 15” Minilites to accommodate fatter tires. Next I’d like to upgrade to the Wedgeshop modified Ford Posi rear axle with disc brakes which is 15 pounds lighter than the stock unit (a decent reduction in unsprung weight). The motor will likely require a complete overhaul before long and I’d like to mod-estly bore/stroke it and rebuild with high quality lightened and balanced parts. Along with a lightened flywheel and mod-ern roller rockers I’m hoping it’ll spool up a bit more like a Ferrari V8 than an old push-rod American V8! The motor currently sounds like Armageddon at high RPMs a sound which I would to refine slightly. (Incidentally, the first Ferrari 3.0L V8 pro-duction motors from the 1970s had a bore and stroke of 81/71 vs. 89/71 for the Rover 3.5L V8). All of this costs money however and I’ve already spent a small fortune on this car which I see no chance of recouping any time soon. And this brings me back to the original purpose of this submission: I’d like to express my gratitude to those mem-bers guiding the club’s activities which should go a long way towards raising awareness of these cars’ unique place in motoring history while hopefully also in-creasing their value to enthusiasts and collectors! - Hal McMath

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Rescued 8

I purchased it from the original owner who purchased it in the Chicago area in 1980. The car appears to be all original with nothing removed. She drove it for up until about 2000 were at which time some me-chanical problem caused her to park it in her heated garage until I found it. While she owned it, she maintained it very religiously. New steering rack, new alterna-tor, New stainless steel exhaust, etc, etc. The car came with the original sales invoice and a British motor industry heritage certifi-cate.

As expected, after 8 years of sitting, the car had to be trailered home when purchased and then all the real fun began. Considering I own 2 TR3s and have worked on over a dozen British cars, I thought getting this car running would be a breeze, wrong. It ap-pears to have multiply problems. First, after doing all the normal prestarting things you should do to a car that has sat for 8 years, I found that the fresh gas wasn't getting to the carbs, yet I could hear the pump working. I used the old plastic gas bottle trick and it fired up but ran very rough. After deciding to pull the pump and get a new one, I found that the pump was working great, but the rubber hose that connects the pump to the metal outlet had rotted away. The pump was just pumping the gas back into the tank. I decided on a new pump anyways. Got the car running on it's own tank fuel. Unfortu-nately, the carbs needed rebuilding and the cold start assembles needed a good adjust-ment. Still no great difference. Checked dis-tributor and found that the Vacuum advance is not working, removed and sent it out for a rebuilding. Decided to go with a Crane igni-tion system also.

That's were I'm at, at this time. I've only driven the car about 6 blocks, but I already think I'm going to love this car. On a side note, I have a receipt for the new rack install, many years ago, but I also found that the rack was almost empty. Had to ad new fluid, I hope it's not leaking badly. Anyways, I'm looking forward to a good summer of driving and meeting fel-low British car owners. Scott White


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Parts Counter


For those of you fellow wedgies out there that may have older Panasport rims on your car I have some good news for you. The center caps on my Panasport rims were showing their age as the em-blems were cracked and faded and the several of the mounting tabs were cracked

off. I tried all the usual suppliers and re-sources (ebay, Moss, Victoria British, Panasport) but with no luck in finding a replacement set. I did see a set pop up on ebay that went for well over a $125.00 re-cently. The older Panasport rims center cap is smaller at 60mm versus 2 1/2 inches for the newer ones. I found a lot of places had the newer center caps available but not for the older ones. As a last resort I happen to call The Roadster Factory and was told the guy I needed to talk to John was out on vaca-tion. So I called a week later and after some time on the phone comparing meas-urements with John he came up with Road-ster factory part number “PANHC103” and that they had 5 of them on the shelf. They were dusty but John pulled them off the shelf and described them to me.

Even though the emblem is black versus blue and design is different . The mount-ing tabs were the same and were for a 60mm opening. I ordered all 5 of them and as you can see by the photo they are differ-ent than the original ones but they fit per-fectly and look great. If you are looking for a set of replacement center caps or looking to keep a spare set around The Roadster Factory is going to be your best bet. Ed Krakowiak

Ted Schumacher from TSI has been working on the very rare and hard to find Wedge replacement foot well vent. Ted had the working prototype on display at the British Car Part Swap meet held at he Dupage County Fairgrounds this past Feb-ruary.

On the left you can see an original and the new prototype on the right that Ted has made. The only piece Ted is waiting on is the sealing weather strip seal to arrive before production can begin. Pre produc-tion pricing is estimated to be about $109.95 per pair. To install the vents only requires an opening to made in the kick panels. Once installed these vents will improve fresh air in circulation in the cock-pit of your TR7/TR8. Also in the works at TSI is a one piece rear brake line that will replace steel brake line between the rear wheel cylinders. On our Wedge cars instead of a single flexible brake hose connected to a junction block to split the brake line to each rear wheel cylinders as found on most cars the Wedge cars instead a have flexible brake

hose that connects to one rear wheel cylin-der via a steel brake line and then there is a steel brake line that runs the width of the rear axle to connects to the rear wheel cylinder on the other side. This new flexi-ble steel line will replace that line.

Pre production pricing is estimated to be $59.95. Contact Ted at TSI Automotive at (800)-543-6648 or via email at [email protected] to get your order in. In the last issue it was announced that replacement fresh air plenum seals were available for purchase but no contact infor-mation was given. To purchase the seals c o n t a c t W a y n e S i m p s o n a t [email protected] or phone 908-477-3878.

Club member Pat Lobdell has figured out a fix for getting the aftermarket locking gas caps that are currently being sold. The issue is they do not seal completely. The fix involves modifying the steel part of the filler neck with a dremel tool to accom-modate the locking gas caps. I would like to highlight the fix in the next newsletter but I will need a donor filler neck that to illustrate the repair. Anyone out there have a TR7/8 parts car that they would be willing to part ways with the filler neck to use as a demo for the modification. Please drop me a line at [email protected]. Ed Krakowiak

8

Triumph Wedge Clock Repair


Greg Bober, Copyright 10 January 2008, Rev 2.5 (originally written 4 July 2005) The following information is presented as "public knowledge" and is only for the personal use of individuals who are either restoring or repairing their own Triumph TR7 or TR8 vehicle's clock. The information may not be used commercially without the consent of Greg Bober (the author), who can be contacted via [email protected]. Triumph car clubs can reprint this as a monthly newsletter article, but please Email [email protected] so I know where in the world this has been reprinted. Thanks.

Abstract The 1975-1982 Triumph TR7 and TR8 car clocks contain 2 defects that can effect its successful operation in the vehicle's local envi-ronment. This document describes how a person with a limited skill level in electronic component soldering and automotive vehicle repair can correct these 2 particular defects to obtain a more reli-able Triumph TR7 TR8 vehicle clock. The first defect, or shortcom-ing, is that the clock was designed for approximately a +25C +/–10C temperature operation environment. This was a common automo-tive design standard used into the mid 1990's by a few major auto companies. Thus in colder climates, such as at 0C, the clock will just stop. The second defect, is that the clock's timing mechanism i s critically balanced between the force of a timing spring, the electro-mechanical force applied via an electric coil, the distance of a feed-back magnet is from a feedback coil, the vehicle's voltage, the amplification provided by a transistor, the friction of the clock's escape-ment gears and many other tolerance items. There is a spot where everything balances, the clock "stalls" and stops operating. The clock will only start operating again, if the "right" kind of bump in the road (vibration) or electrical transient (like starting the car) is encountered to jiggle the clock's pendulum back into motion. Although I’ve designed analog clocks for the Ford Expedition, Navigator, Jaguar XJC, the modern retro Mangusta, Lincoln Town Car and a few others using custom parts from Swatch, I choose not to use those particular Swatch parts. The Swatch parts are still used by many automotive suppliers around the world for many mass production vehicles, but the parts are not publicly available for sale unless you rummage through the scrap yards for the dash panel board clocks of the appropriate vehicles. Plus the Swatch clock motor mechanism only has an hour and minute hand. I’ve seen others replace their TR7 TR8 clock for little round digital clocks. I wanted to keep the origi-nal TR7 TR8 dash appearance and functionality (hour, minute and second pointers). The provided instructions communicate how I elec-trically modified an original TR7 TR8 to improve the original clock’s reliability while maintaining the original dash panel appearance.

Read this First Read all instructions before starting the repair procedure. Tools Required:

• screwdrivers

• small nose pliers

• small wire cutters

• 25W to 50W soldering iron

• acid free solder

• wood or plastic tooth pick

Dremel Hobby Drill or Exacto Knife or equivalent

9



Electronic Components Required

• Qty = 1, 100 or 110 Ohms 0.25W 5% Carbon film resistor (brown/black or brown/brown/gold stripe on component). Note: the 100 or

110 ohms resistor is not needed if CD33321 is used.

• Qty = 1, 3.0K Ohms 0.25W 5% Carbon film resistor (orange/black/red/gold stripe on component)

• Qty = 1, 1N4001, or 1N4002, or 1N4003 or .... 1N4008 rectifier diode (referenced as 1N400x)

Qty = 1, Holtek 14L, or 14LTO-92, or HT-2014L, HT-2014LTO-92 or CD33321 transistor IC (This part is hard to find, but easy to install, and works better than alternative parts I've tried. The “TO-92” describes this component's plastic encasement.) These are available from some electronic stores. Or contact me at [email protected] for a kit: Qty = 1 set of electronic parts $6.00 USD with additional sets of parts $4.00 USD each. The price includes worldwide shipping (Canada, California, UK, New Zealand is all about the same, the envelope weighs the most) this can be paid via PayPal to my email address or send check to: Greg Bober

22421 Edmunton

Saint Clair Shores, MI 48080 USA

(US personal check OK, or international bank, Postal, VISA, American Express, Barclay's checks)

Additional Items Required (used to test and power the clock when away from the car)

• 9V battery

• 9V battery clips with a short distance of wire

• paint pen or colored finger nail polish

and about 1 hour of time

Other Reference Documentation

• TR7 Service Manual, AKM3079B Published by BL Car Limited, 1981 or

• TR8 Repair Operations Manual (ROM), AKM3971, BL Cars Limited, 1980

Clock Removal From Vehicle Reference: TR7 Service Manual page 454 or TR8 ROM page 351, Procedure 88.15.07

1. Disconnect + positive cable from vehicle's battery.

2. Unbolt clock setting cable at cross beam eye-let along lower edge of dash cross beam (on some cars it just dangles down into the

foot well).

3. Remove center speaker grill on top of instrument panel.

4. Remove top of instrument panel fascia above Instrument Gauge Cluster (4 screws along top of fascia, 3 along bottom edge, 7 screws

total).

5. Remove 2 screws attaching top rear of Instrument Gauge Cluster to top fascia panel.

6. Remove 3 screws from top edge of Instrument Gauge Cluster lens.

7. Remove 2 screws attaching bottom of Instrument Gauge Cluster to knee level fascia panel.

8. Slide Instrument Gauge Cluster lens upward along curved contour of dash fascia.

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10. Remove the two screws attaching the clock to the Instrument Gauge Cluster housing.

11. Remove clock by pulling clock forward toward steering wheel 5cm or few inches.

12. Disconnect clock time setting cable (knurled nut) from behind the clock unit.

13. Note: it is not necessary to remove the Instrument Gauge Cluster from the vehicle nor it is necessary to pull out or remove clock

setting cable completely.

Pre-Testing the Clock

• With a battery clip, connect the 9V battery's + terminal to the clock's rear flat terminal and the 9V battery's – terminal to clock's metal

housing.

• Note: one end of the clock's pendulum can be seen by looking under the metal cover shown in Picture 2 (look through the gap be-

tween the metal housing and the brass support post).

• Orient the clock as if installed in the vehicle to allow the escapement gear to work with gravity.

• The clock might start on its own; if already started, gently and deliberately stop the clock's pendulum with a tooth pick near the cen-

ter of its swing.

• The clock is “stalled” if one pulls the toothpick away

without the pendulum moving. At this point if the clock was moving, and now it’s not, it can’t start on its own.

• With the toothpick, move the pendulum 3mm right or

left, and pull the toothpick away. The pendulum should start swinging with increasingly larger swings until opera-tion resumes.

• If the clock restarts after you've induced movement

into the pendulum, then this procedure and corrective action will help your clock.

• If the clock stops again after you've induced move-

ment into the pendulum, then your clock has other trou-bles (check the battery connections, broken clock spring, broken coil(s), etc.)

• I noticed that if the clock makes a small clanking and clunking sound, it’s the escapement gears binding (often loosens up after 30

seconds, 1 or 2 clock ticks).

Clock modification

1. Using a paint pen, or colored finger nail polish, identify and mark the following circuit locations (or at least be familiar with these

locations) as shown in Pictures 3 and 4.

2. The Green dot represents the clock's Ground (lower right most electrical connection on the clock's circuit board).

3. The Purple dot represents the clock feedback bias (this appears as a diagonal circuit trace from the lower corner of the circuit

board).

4. The Light Blue dot represents the clock's existing transistor's "emitter" (2nd electrical connection from the lower left corner of the

clock's circuit board)—don't count the little hole in the circuit board trace.

5. Skip over the 3rd electrical connection from the lower left of the clock's circuit board (do not connect anything to this electrical loca-

tion, its the Battery+ terminal).

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6. The Red dot represents the clock's existing transistor's "collector" (4th electrical connection from the lower left corner of the clock's

circuit board).

7. Cut the leads from the 1N400x diode and 3.0K resistor so each

lead length is 3mm.

8. Using a Dremel Hobby Drill or Exacto Knife, cut the circuit board

trace at the Purple dot’s location.

9. Across this newly cut circuit trace, solder the 1N400x diode with

the diode's anode band to the lower left corner as shown in Picture 4. The diode's anode (white or gray banding end of the diode’s body) should be soldered to the existing solder pad in the circuit board's lower left corner and share one end of the 3.0K resistor. The other end of the 3.0K resistor should be soldered to the Green dot’s circuit location.

10. The diode's anode (white or gray banding end of the diode’s

body) should be soldered to the existing solder pad in the circuit board's lower left corner and share one end of the 3.0K resistor. The other end of the 3.0K resistor should be soldered to the Green dot’s circuit location.

IF "14L" transistor IC is being used:

• Cut the leads from the 110 Ohm resistor so each lead length is

2mm.

• If 14L IC is being used, cut the center lead of the new 3 leaded

transistor IC to half the length of the outer leads.

• Solder one end of the 110 Ohm resistor vertically to the Light

Blue dot’s circuit location. See Photo 5.

• Solder the "G" labeled lead from the new transistor IC to the

Green dot’s circuit location. See Photo 5.

• Solder the "V" labeled lead from the new transistor IC to the

Red dot’s circuit location. This is hidden by the 110 Ohm resistor in Photo 5.

• Solder the center lead of the new transistor IC to the unused

end of the 110 Ohms resistor (the center lead is sometimes marked as “L”, and sometimes mark “O” see Picture 5).

• Note: the new transistor IC will operate as the clock's “pace

maker” or “watchdog timer”. Verify the 3rd electrical connection from the lower left corner has nothing connected to it or touching it. If an accidental connection is made to this location, the components will “smoke” when pow-ered and the clock’s coil will become un-repairable (I learned from making this mistake).

Picture 3: Location and marking the locations noted

Picture 4: Temperature Compensation Diode and Resistor

Picture 5: 14L transistor IC added

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IF "CD33321" transistor IC is being used:

• The 110 Ohm resistor is not needed, a resistor is built into the CD33321.

• Solder the "right" lead from the new transistor IC to the Green dot’s circuit location.

• Solder the "left" labeled lead from the new transistor IC to the Red dot’s circuit location.

• Solder the "center" lead of the new transistor IC to the Light Blue dot.

• See Picture #5, orient the 33321 the same as the 14L as shown in the Picture 5.

• Note: the new transistor IC will operate as the clock's “pace maker” or “watchdog timer”.

Verify the 3rd electrical connection from the lower left corner has nothing connected to it or touching it. If an accidental connection is made to this location, the components will “smoke” when powered and the clock’s coil will become un-repairable. Testing the Modified Clock

• Refer back to Picture 2.

• Through a battery clip, connect the 9V battery's + terminal to the clock's rear flat terminal and the 9V battery's – terminal to clock's

metal housing.

• Orient the clock as if the clock were installed in the vehicle to allow the escapement gear to work with gravity.

• The clock will be able to start on its own; if already started, deliberately stop the clock's pendulum with a toothpick near the center of

its swing.

• The clock is "stalled" if one pulls the toothpick away without the pendulum moving.

• The newly installed transistor IC will make the pendulum wiggle 1 time per second.

• The new transistor IC will induce increasingly larger pendulum swings until operation resumes.

• It can take a few seconds to 1 minute to build up the energy needed to overcome any friction in the pendulum.

Debug, Possible Mistakes

• If operation doesn't begin, or no movement is detected, check component orientations.

• Make sure the battery isn't dead or voltage under 8V (my clock worked OK with 8.7V).

• Check the polarity of the newly added diode.

• Check all newly added solder joints.

• With an ohm meter, the added 3.0K Ohms resistor should read as 1800 Ohms (the 3.0K is in combination with another clock resistor

yielding the 1800 Ohms measurement).

• The voltage across the added 3.0K Ohms resistor should be near 1.1V +/- 0.1V.

• The voltage across the added diode should be near 0.6V.

The voltage at the new transistor IC's "left" or "V" leg should be the same. Re-Installation of Clock Into Vehicle Reference: TR7 Service Manual page 454 or TR8 ROM page 351, Procedure 88.15.07

1. If necessary, Clean the inside of the Instrument Gauge Cluster.

2. If necessary, clean and polish Instrument Gauge Cluster lens (I used Mother's California Gold Scratch Remover, most automotive sup-

ply stores should will have this or something similar).

3. If necessary, renew the foam rubber strips along top and bottom edges of the lens (I used "Soft Touch" Ultra Heavy Duty Felt with Ad-

hesive 1/2" Wide Strip by Waxman #2200 obtained from a home hardware store).

4. Inspect the second, minute and hour pointers to insure no accidental bending occurred, re-flatten is necessary.

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Follow the Clock Removal From Vehicle procedure in reverse order. Done! Pat yourself on the back and go for a road trip. Clock Test Data (sample size = 1, my own TR7 clock testing both CD33321 and 14L versions)

• pendulum cycle rate, 2.5Hz or 400mS

• over 18 Hr period the "14L modified" clock showed no loss of time accuracy

• the clock self started from "stalled" position and operates at 8.5V @+25C or 75F

• the clock self started from "stalled" position and operates at 11.0V @-12C or 10F

• "original" clock operating current near 4.7mA, "14L modified" clock operating current about 5.7mA average @12V

• if 0 Ohms with 14L is used instead of 110 Ohms, operating current > 6.5mA time averaged - if 300 Ohms with 14L is used instead of 110

Ohms, the force from coil can't overcome extra friction from frost the CD33321's operating current is 1mA less than 14L transistor IC operating current Theory Behind The Operation and Modifications Normal Clock Operation:

When the voltage is applied to the clock unit, a bias voltage is applied to one end of a feedback coil under the pendulum. This bias voltage will always be about 13% of the vehicle voltage. The other end of the feedback coil is connected to a NPN type transistor. The transistor drives another coil under the pendulum to make the pendulum swing against the force from the clock's timing spring. When the pendulum swings in the direction pulled by the clock's timing spring, the magnet on the pendulum induces a >0.1V drop in the feedback coil and thus the bias voltage lowers enough to turn the transistor "off". When the pendulum motion stops the transistor turns back "on" and pulls the pendulum back until the clock's timing spring will not allow additional travel. During this motion, the magnet on the pendulum induces >0.1V additional voltage in the bias to turn the transistor "on" harder to allow the coil to pull the clock's spring out as far as possible. When the spring has traveled as far as possible, the added bias voltage is no longer given, the transistor begins to turn "off", and the pendulum motion reverses direction restarting the swing cycle. Each swing cycle will allow the escapement gear mounted on the pendulum shaft to "tick" or count one 400mS moment of time. Temperature (and Voltage Compensation)

The NPN drive transistor has a PN Silicon alloy "junction" (example: one part might be Silicon mixed with a tiny bit of Aluminum and the other being Silicon mixed with a tiny bit of something else). When there is more than 0.6V @25C across this junction (the transistor's "base" and "emitter" pins) the transistor's "collector" and "emitter" junction will activate to conduct current. Relative to this basic NPN transistor characteristic, the TR7 clock two problems: 1st, as the vehicle voltage changes over engine RPM, environmental temperature and electrical loading, the 13% bias voltage changes. But the clock spring's tension force capability doesn't change; 2nd, the transistor's PN junction changes about 0.0024V for each degree Celsius of temperature change. At hot and cold temperatures the transistor's "on and off" thresholds change significantly, especially when its 0C or 40C. By installing a diode with a similar junction into the bias voltage circuit, the bias voltage will shift up and down with ambient temperature almost identically to any temperature shifts experienced by the clock's transis-tor. Also, since the diode's voltage drop of 0.6V will be almost constant, it will make the feedback bias voltage 50% less dependent or sensi-tive to the vehicle's system voltage. The added resistor adjusts the bias voltage back to the original clock's bias voltage point.

14



Pace-maker or Getting a Kick Start If there is no motion in the pendulum, then there isn't an adding or subtracting voltage being induced into the feedback coil to turn "on and off" the transistor. This "stalled" location in the pendulum's swing is where the electro-motive force from the transistor driven coil matches the clock's timing spring's tension force resulting in no motion. The modification is to add a low voltage oscillator to disturb the balancing forces and toggle the transistor "on" and "off" to induce some motion into the pendulum. The normal operating cycle of the clock's pendu-lum will be restored once there is sufficient motion for the feedback magnet to induce the addition or subtraction of bias voltage to the bias circuit controlling the transistor's "on" and "off" toggling. Acknowledgement Special thanks goes to James TenCate for proof reading this article, adding TR8 Service Manual Reference information and a new Photo#1 showing the clock as it is mounted in the instrument cluster housing. Biography Sorry can’t find a picture of me, but here’s my TR7.

I’ve been apart of designing automotive electronics since joining Ford Motor Co. (North America) Automotive Components Division (now Visteon) in 1986. To my credit, I’ve designed the control electronics for many different suspension / steering control modules, body illumi-nation modules, dash panel clocks, and multi gauge instrument clusters (examples are Thunderbird Super Coupe Shock and Steering mod-ule, Lincoln Mark 8 Shock Module, Jaguar XJC clock, Jaguar ‘S’ Class cluster, Lincoln LS cluster, Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager cluster, plus many more over 20+ years). From 2002 to 2005 I restored a California EFI type TR7 Spider using many methods of improvement ap-plied to current production vehicles for electrical power distribution and fusing strategies. My TR7 now has reliability similar to that of a new car, I sometimes drive it to work (70 miles round trip).

On New Stands Now

The May 2008 issue of Classic Motorsports has a nice article entitled “Daily Drive Classics” and the TR8 made the cut. The TR8 enjoys the company of such other classics as the Alfa Romeo Spider, BMW M5, Datsun 240Z, Ferrari 308, Fiat Spider, Mercedes 450 SL & 560 SL, MGB, Porsche 911, Volvo P1800 & VW Type 1, Type 3 and Karmann Ghia. TR7 & TR8’s have always been under valued and under rated but are finally getting the respect they deserved as a classic sport car affordable for the rest of us. The market price for the Triumph TR8 is listed at $7000 to $16,000 which is about right for number 1 & 2 condition cars. You can also check them out at http://www. classicmotorsports.net. They have a free issue promotion going on right now that is worth checking out.

15

Wheels and Deals


TSI Imported Auto

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(800) 543-6648

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Ted Schumacher

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(508) 880-5448

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[email protected]

Woody Cooper

Lanocha Racing

http://www.lanocharacing.com

[email protected]

Wedge Parts Suppliers TR8 Posters Still Available The 24” X 36” Poster contains all the images from

the Coupe and Convertible Sales Brochures. The

quality is such that you can read all the written

words from the brochures. The Posters are

$20.00 for the first Poster and $10 for each addi-

tional Poster Free Shipping! Email Bill Sweeting

at [email protected] for where to send the

money. (there are plenty of posters left!)

Newsletter Submissions Email your newsletter submissions to “[email protected]” . The newsletter is published quarterly so the deadline for your submissions for the next three newsletters is 2nd Quarter Newsletter - June 15th 3rd Quarter Newsletter - September 15th 4th Quarter Newsletter - December 15th

Time to Renew Memberships Don’t forget to renew your TWOA memberships for 2008 if you have not done so already. If 2007 appears on the bottom left of your last is-sue then your membership has expired. Renew now to keep your membership current. Joe

Worsley

Wedge For Sale 1981 Triumph TR8 convertible stored since 1981. Everything recently gone over: brakes, 5 speed transmission, rear end, fuel tank, elec-tric fuel pump, complete engine rebuild includ-ing Edelbrock manifold and 4-barrel carb. Car is silver with black top and blue check interior. Have invested $6500 in this to get it running all that remains is some minor cosmetic work. Asking price is $6500 firm. Contact:

Carl Brinkerhoff 7040 Fishing Creek Valley Road

Harrisburg, PA 17112 (717) 599-5721

16

Mail Checks payable to Triumph Wedge Owners Assocation

to: Joe Worsley, 1591 Peoples Creek Rd., Advance, NC 27006 ONE YEAR MEMBERSHIP: US & CANADIAN $15.00 US FUNDS OVERSEAS $20.00 US FUNDS ( I encourage 2 years - makes less work for me! THANKS!) RENEWAL_______ NEW MEMBER________

NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS________________________________ __________________________________________

_________________________________________ PHONE(optional) ________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS:________________________________ SOME INFO ON YOUR CAR (if not already provided): Auto___ or 5 SPEED ____ Year:____ Coupe____ Convertible____ Color______________ Color Code ________ Build Date _______ Vehicle ID # ___________________________________________ (windshield, drivers side door) ARE YOU OPEN TO RECEIVING NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL YES______ NO______

1591 PEOPLES CREEK RD.

Triumph Wedge Owners Association

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