Wedge Took the wedge out for a little spin. Yay!

It ran great, though the brakes squeak loudly when they heat up. I'm not nearly as familiar with wedges as I am TR6s though and dont really have any books, so what are the regular maintenance and check points that I should be looking at? What are the known problems to keep ahead of on a TR7 with all the original stuff?

The only known issue I have right now other than squeaky brakes (which work fine, just are loud, I believe the previous own has metallic pads on the wheels) is that the temp gauge isn't working, but I think this is because the previous owner went under the dash and unhooked the dashboard clock so it would not drain the battery and ended up knocking something else loose while in there. So hopefully I can get that working soon too without much problem.

One of my future projects is to get the AC working. I dont know if it's still in working order and just needs a belt, or if it needs more maintenance after having not been used for a long time. It certainly looks like all the parts and pieces are in there. In fact the whole engine bay looks pretty darned good for an almost all original unmolested 1977 wedge. About the only thing that I know is changed is the emissions air pump was removed, but it looks like everything else is still in there.

EDIT: Also a question. Is the air filter box supposed to be white, or eggshell/off-white? I ask because the paint is chipping and pealing off mine, and I'd like to repaint it to make the whole engine bay look all the nicer, but I'd like to keep it semi-original looking. Right now it's off-white but I dont know if that's just because of age.

https://www.tharkis.com/images/temp/wedge2.jpg

justin_mercier said:

What are the known problems to keep ahead of on a TR7 with all the original stuff?

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Two particular problem points are the timing chain (replace it before it breaks or you'll be sorry); and always keeping the antifreeze up to date (even if you don't drive the car). The aluminum head/iron block construction just invites corrosion, and it can quickly ruin the engine.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]One of my future projects is to get the AC working. I dont know if it's still in working order and just needs a belt, or if it needs more maintenance after having not been used for a long time. [/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, it almost certainly needs new hoses, then evacuated and filled with Freon. If you are converting to R134, then you should probably also replace the oil in the compressor (or the entire compressor), and the receiver.

Early cars had silver valve cover and air box. Later cars were blue. Squeaky brakes were probably caused by a slight build up of rust forming on the rotors which is now embedded in the pads. Retorque the head at every oil change. Change out that plastic overflow bottle for one of the later black painted copper tanks. There was a factory recall on those because they had a tendency to explode. Never seen a TR7 timing chain snap. What usually goes is the tensioner. It will wear and the chain will stretch to the point that it will jump a link and throw off the timing before anything bad happens. The 4 cylinder is so much tougher to work on than the 8 is. Sounds strange, but it's true.

The brakes have always been very squeaky on this, but only when warm.

I've googled but cant find the actual torque value for the head for when I change the oil. How many pounds should they be?

I'll be on the look out for the later model overflow tank too then!

I wonder if it'd just be easier to take off all the original equipment AC equipment and drop on some new modern compressor and whatnot , and toss the original equipment in a box =)

Disc brakes all squeal.
What you do is minimize the squeal.
(That from many brake maintenance seminars over the decades).
I did the brakes on my Jag six months ago, and they began squealing a couple of weeks ago.
So, pulled the front pads and bevelled them, squeal gone.

Think fingernails on a blackboard (same seminars).
The sharp edges of the pads tend to make the noise.
Bench grinder, do a 45 degree (not critical) bevel on the edges, in the direction of rotation (which means, the edge closest to the hub, or closest to the outer part of the rotor ignore) and re-assemble. Membrane (red or blue) on the back helps, too.

By membrane, do you mean the anti-squeal shim stuff you can buy at the auto store?

Tacky, rubbery stuff. In a squeeze bottle. Put some on, smear it around, let it skin over for 15-30 minutes, install. Tends to hold the pad against the piston so it doesn't vibrate at squealing speed.

Looks like my air filter housing actually should be egg-shell white

here's a new old stock one from the same

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Triumph-T...sQ5fAccessories

um, on the a/c, if there's still some pressure in it, I would just fill it with the r 12 and let it be.

Anybody with the mobile license can still buy the stuff, and believe it or not the prices are coming down to mearly ridiculus rather than unreasonable.

The other choice would be to use r 416A, which is a drop in. but the same price. This stuff works, but you'll have to get used to it. It's made of a blend of other types of refrigerants, so it does what is called a "temperature slide". IE it starts off not making very much cold, then as all of the different refridgerants started getting mixed together the temp comes down. It's mostly r-134, r-22 with just enough butane to keep the petroleume based lubricants moving around. There's not enough in there to be flammable.

If the system is empty, it needs to have the filter dryer replaced. From the picture it should be a generic one that any flap that deals in a/c parts should have something that will work. Pull your vacuum and see if it holds, If it does go for it.

As far as the Temp Gauge, Check the sensor. They go bad all of the time. Its just below the thermostat. pull off the wire and ground it, The gauge should go to max. If it goes up the sensor is bad.

George_H said:

As far as the Temp Gauge, Check the sensor. They go bad all of the time.

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Do the wedges suffer from the same issue as the Stags? Most vendors sell the wrong temp sender for Stags, which makes the gauge read high.

TR3driver said:

George_H said:

As far as the Temp Gauge, Check the sensor. They go bad all of the time.

Click to expand...

Do the wedges suffer from the same issue as the Stags? Most vendors sell the wrong temp sender for Stags, which makes the gauge read high.

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Had that same issue with my TR6 once. Replaced it with a sender that I picked up at NAPA and it was all better.

I think the wedge uses the same temp sender as a TR6, in which case i've got an extra one sitting in my spare box. I'll try the grounding trick first after I dig out some wire to do so, so i can ground it and then look inside with it grounded.

Not that I'm aware of. If anything the one I just replaced might seem a little low. At operating temp. its at 25 percent of the gauge. Not sure what is normal.

I have two air boxes, one is gray and the other blue. I've also had the shear pin on the jack shaft gear break. Eight hours work to replace a 10 cent pin. I modified my spare jack shaft with two pins to locate the gear on the shaft.