Topic: Changing the sway bar

[Imaj]

I meant before one tightens down the bushing brackets. The bar is tight and centered to the best of my ability.

[DRM]

The bar should be "centered" but I do not believe it should be loose in the mounts. Can you actually grab the bar and slide it left to right? What bushings did you use?

Sway bar bracket torque is 41 ft/lbs and end link torque is 53 ft/lbs.

Thanks for the torque numbers.

[snaponbob]

I meant before one tightens down the bushing brackets. The bar is tight and centered to the best of my ability.

That sounds fine. If the links are standing straight up (or at least equally so) then you are good to go.

[snaponbob]

Thanks for the torque numbers.

No charge !!

[wspohn]

The bar shoudn't move back and forth very much in the mounts once everything is bolted up.  Some cars have bits that specifically maintan lateral location of the bars.  Here is one used on MGBs:



What I usually do on my race cars is take a block of aluminum, saw it in half, then clamp the halves together and drill them out to the size of the OD of the bar.  Drill a hole on each side to pass bolts through and clamp it on the sway bar, both just inside the frame mounts touching or almost touching those mounts.  The bar can't slide either way with those on there.

[snaponbob]

The bar shoudn't move back and forth very much in the mounts once everything is bolted up.  Some cars have bits that specifically maintan lateral location of the bars.  Here is one used on MGBs:



What I usually do on my race cars is take a block of aluminum, saw it in half, then clamp the halves together and drill them out to the size of the OD of the bar.  Drill a hole on each side to pass bolts through and clamp it on the sway bar, both just inside the frame mounts touching or almost touching those mounts.  The bar can't slide either way with those on there.

Good lord, look at the list of Lucas victims you own !!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was crazy with just a GT6+ and a TR8.

I forgot about how the Brits located their sway bars. My GT6 is like that. BL should have left the bars alone and figured out how to keep electricity flowing and oil IN the engines and transmissions !!!!!!!!

[wspohn]

Hey now - the carefully calibrated oil drip is a craftily desiged anti-rust measure for the chassis.  And if you think Lucas electrics are bad, try Marelli some time!!

The Lucas electrics are actually pretty good.  Any high resistance connections after 50 years or so can be remedied more or less permanently by cleaning the bullet connectors and applying a dab of dielectric grease before reassembling.

[Sol Asylum]

That anti rust measure doesn't work.  I have been working on replacing the transparent steel on my TR7 with the stronger more opaque steel for some time now and I don't think there was one panel on that car that didn't have rust even though there was plenty of free range oil.

[wspohn]

Don't interfere with natural forces - let that poor rubber lipped flying doorstop go to the great parking lot in the sky and buy a nice MG.....

Bill
(who thinks the TR-3 was the last Triumph worthy of garage space - and I've owned almost all of them!)   

[snaponbob]

Don't interfere with natural forces - let that poor rubber lipped flying doorstop go to the great parking lot in the sky and buy a nice MG.....

Bill
(who thinks the TR-3 was the last Triumph worthy of garage space - and I've owned almost all of them!)   

Flying DOOR STOP !?!?!?!?! This coming from the owner of a car that looks like an electric shaver!!!!     

ALL TR's rusted with great abandon. Some did not. The GT6 needs some work in the driver's foot well and about 1 square foot of removed junk in the rockers. Other than THAT, rust free !! And the TR8 IS rust free. If you have not had the pleasure of driving a slightly hopped up 8 with free flow exhaust and lowered suspension, you have missed a treat. Works well, and sounds GREAT. As for 7's, a Sprint version (dohc type) CAN be sorted out and turned into a fun car. As for the electrics, once fully sorted (something they were NOT from the factories) they work pretty well. All that said, BL actually DESERVED to go belly up. The British can build wonderful safes, but that's about it !!!!

If you have not seen the following, it is a wonderful resource - http://britishcarlinks.com/ 

[wspohn]

Which one were you aiming at with the shaver comparison?   

In any case, yes I have driven them all - we got an inordinate number of TR-8s in BC and I've drive both carb and injected versions.  Nice touring cars, hampered by the fact that they hamstrung both it and the MGB GT V8 with the lowest output version of the engine thay had. A TR8 won't scare a dead stock Fiero!  They should at least have used the SD1 version with 185 BHP or so.

While I respect the TR-8, I like the TR-7 less. The DOHC head never made it into production, performance was indiferent with the production engine - and I can't forgive them for letting the decent MGB slide into obscurity in favour of this indifferent sports car that really did nothing better than the MGB did. The 7 didbenefit from the later 5 speed gearbox, but never got anywhere near to fulfilling early promise.

I've owned or driven most Triumphs - TR-2, TR-3, TR-3A, TR-3B, Swallow Doretti, TR-4, TR-4A, TR-6, TR-7, TR-8, and have to say that the 7 is my least favourite.

But hey - I think your GT6 is a vastly underappreciated classic. A friend raced against me in one and apart from a weak gearbox, it seemed to do a very creditable job.

Is your TR-8 injected?  Many have seen some upgrades that bring them closer to 200 BHP with great flexibility and then they are a lot of fun.

[snaponbob]

Which one were you aiming at with the shaver comparison?   

In any case, yes I have driven them all - we got an inordinate number of TR-8s in BC and I've drive both carb and injected versions.  Nice touring cars, hampered by the fact that they hamstrung both it and the MGB GT V8 with the lowest output version of the engine thay had. A TR8 won't scare a dead stock Fiero!  They should at least have used the SD1 version with 185 BHP or so.

While I respect the TR-8, I like the TR-7 less. The DOHC head never made it into production, performance was indiferent with the production engine - and I can't forgive them for letting the decent MGB slide into obscurity in favour of this indifferent sports car that really did nothing better than the MGB did. The 7 didbenefit from the later 5 speed gearbox, but never got anywhere near to fulfilling early promise.

I've owned or driven most Triumphs - TR-2, TR-3, TR-3A, TR-3B, Swallow Doretti, TR-4, TR-4A, TR-6, TR-7, TR-8, and have to say that the 7 is my least favourite.

But hey - I think your GT6 is a vastly underappreciated classic. A friend raced against me in one and apart from a weak gearbox, it seemed to do a very creditable job.

Is your TR-8 injected?  Many have seen some upgrades that bring them closer to 200 BHP with great flexibility and then they are a lot of fun.

With the help of Woody's Wedge Shop I have about 200-200 HP. Compression, intake, carb,, cam, Rimmer's Brothers headers and resonator only exhaust, springs, poly bushings, bars, Quaife, etc., and it is a hoot. Sounds SOOOOOOOOO good. Works well, too. You are SO right about the GT6. A $10,000 restoration would net about $10K. Like they say at Barrett Jackson "you pay for the restoration and the car is free". As all the other cars get pricier, the GT6 will become more valuable.

[wspohn]

I believe that you can put the longer stroke TR-6 motor in these cars, and add a whack of torque if you want to and still get it under the bonnet.

I had a really amusing incident with a friedn who fancied himself as an engine builder.  I walked into his shop one day as he was assembling a GT6 engine. He'd just installed the crank, one he'd had to source from a rebuilder as the original was thrashed, and had put in the first two pistons, went to rotate it to do an other pair and was standing there scratching his head wondering why the engine was seized.  I crooked my finger at him and beckoned him to come around to the block face - and see the pistons he had just installed standing proud of the block, just far enough for one compression ring to expand and lock it in place.

The shop had sent him a longer stroke TR6 crank instead of the GT6 part he'd ordered.  I didn't let him live that one down for awhile. ;-)

[TomatoSoup]

I crooked my finger at him and beckoned him to come around to the block face - and see the pistons he had just installed standing proud of the block, just far enough for one compression ring to expand and lock it in place.

The shop had sent him a longer stroke TR6 crank instead of the GT6 part he'd ordered.  I didn't let him live that one down for awhile. ;-)

Now THAT's Funny! 

[wspohn]

Now THAT's Funny! 

One does collect these things over the years.

Another friend had just rebuilt his old Honda Civic motor using my garage and it fired at the first turn of the key.  He started congratulating himself and had just uttered the words "I build them to last" when the front pulley came loose and launched itself int the neighbours yard, narrowly missing us in the process.  He was henceforth known as "I build em to last Phelps".

Well, at least until his next exploit when he was fitting Koni front strut inserts into the same car. There was an alloy ring adaptor that needed to be drilled for retaining bolts, and he conceived the bright idea of simply using the new shock itself as a holder while he drilled the necessary holes.  Which would have been an effective plan only if he'd stopped drilling a little sooner.  The ensuing spurt of pressurized oil from inside the perforated Koni and the language that followed earned him another nickname - Koni-f***ker

[snaponbob]

The TR6 engine will not properly fit as the pan is deeper to clear the crank. It can be made to work, but most who have tried it said the 2.0 spun up better.

I better apologize for the hi-jack. Now, back to our regularly scheduled sway bar topic !!!

[Sol Asylum]

Since we are now back on topic.  My wedge came from the factory with sway bar clamps like the ones that wspohn recommended making.  I don't know if the 8's had them or not but the 7's did.

[snaponbob]

Since we are now back on topic.  My wedge came from the factory with sway bar clamps like the ones that wspohn recommended making.  I don't know if the 8's had them or not but the 7's did.

If the 7s did, the 8s did. BUT !!!!!!!! The sway bar on the wedges also serve duty as locating arms for the lower control arms. They simply HAD to con trol th lateral movement of the sway bars - they were integral with the rest of the front suspension. Think about it THIS way - disconnect the sway bars on a a Kappa and the car will lean in turns. Disconnect the front sway bar on a TR7 or 8 and the front lower control arm will be flapping in the breeze. Doubt it? TRY IT? The kappa will make you go   . The TR Wedge will make you go   as you display a classic "asshole$ and elbows as the car goes wallowing towards the closest solid object. (Just for clarification, my TR8 is parked with my Redline.)

[Sol Asylum]

SOB you are right about the wedge suspension design however the early 7's in fact did not have the clamps they were actually an after thought, proving once again the English's engineering abilities.

[snaponbob]

SOB you are right about the wedge suspension design however the early 7's in fact did not have the clamps they were actually an after thought, proving once again the English's engineering abilities.

Rebuild a 1970 240Z engine (a complete knock off of a Mercedes gas engine of the same period) and a GT6 or TR6 engine and you will see EVERYTHING you ever needed to know about British engineering of that time.

[Johnny-Longtorso]

Just FYI - I've put grease zerks into numerous aftermarket (Energy Suspension) bushings and it works great. Small drill and a standard tap.  If you've got nice urethane bushings already there's no need to buy new ones just to get a couple of $0.89 zerks, and you get the added bonus of being able to clock them in any orientation you want on the bushing.  On larger bushings I even scored a small groove inside for grease flow (overkill, but that's me).