A Day Trip….

Bigger Brakes

I took the opportunity this weekend to go and visit some people that I have met on the internet and to have some nice big brakes installed in the TR7.  The brakes are the Volvo 4pot calipers with Ford Escort vented rotors.  A custom hub adapter and brake lines were made.  Here are a few pictures of our endeavors

Mike Challenger,  For all of the custom machining
Pat Hall, For taking a day off from work and helping me install this transmission!
Carl McIver, Listening to me complain,  and helping me out with parts

It’s time for an update on the project.  Well, it’s taken a long time to actually figure out what to do about the clutch.  Let me tell you the story (the two month long story, for your amusement).  Well, my first thoughts in repairing the clutch was to just replace the throwout bearing since obviously (ya..) that is what was wrong.  Well.  Here in lies the problem with custom engineering and putting in transmissions and clutches that were not exactly meant to be run together.  The transmission snout on the supra transmission is about 3/4″ to short so when the bearing is engaged, there is not enough support and the bearing wiggles slightly.  This coupled with the fact that the bearing spun freely on the carrier (no locking pins) it machined a nice groove in the bearing carrier.  Ha!  So, this is where the  bearing was sticking and so not releasing the clutch!  So, I have to fix this in such a way that this won’t happen again.  First of all, I had a new snout for the transmission machined that was 3/4″ longer than stock.  I had the old scratched up snout removed from the transmission front plate and had this new snout braised in.  That worked great and it fully supported the bearing.  Now, how to stop it from spinning?  Ha!  The dang bearing is a solid unit made out of hardened steel.  If I welded it (which I wanted to do) I would have cooked the bearing.  Since it was hardened steel, I couldn’t drill it to install a pin (I have since been told that some machine shops can do this.. oh well).  Anyhow.. I thought long and hard and decided to try out a hydraulic bearing.  So, I ordered one of Howe’s hydraulic throwout bearings for stock clutches.  What I found great was that the bearing snout diameter was exactly the same as a GM tranny. hahah.  So, no machining was required there, it fit perfectly.    So, next problem.. The Girling master cylinder for our TR7’s do not displace enough fluid to significantly move the bearing.  So, Howe in their documentation say that the bearing is designed for a 3/4″ master cylinder.  So, I order one of these Tilton master cylinders with a remote reservoir kit.  Hook everything up and bench test.  Not enough displacement.  What the heck?  Ahh!   The documentation doesn’t tell me how much of a THROW the 3/4″ cylinder needs to have.  Obviously the weak 4″ that they TR7 pedal gives us isn’t enough.  I’ve got two data points now though, one with the 5/16″ Girling and now one with the 3/4″ Tilton.  I figure a 1″ master cylinder will be enough.  I get one of these, test it and low and behold, it works.  Now, before you think I have this problem solved, let’s go to how the hydraulic lines will reach the bearing.  First attempt was a set of bulkhead fittings on the bell housing.  Holes were drilled and everything before a very astute individual caught something that I totally missed.. Pressure plate clearance.  I’d been so focused on getting my bearing preload set right that I didn’t even thing about the pressure plate!  Damn!  Back to square one.  So, Here is what myself and a few other talented people have come up with.  The bell housing is thick in the back and has two bosses.  One on either side of the bearing carrier so The bell housing was drilled and tapped and fittings were installed.  A coupler was installed on the top of the transmission where the bleed nipple will be installed as well as the hose from the master cylinder.  Man, this has taken about two months to figure out.. On and off, one step forward, two steps back just about all the time.  So, the following photos I hope will show you how the transmission was modified, the installation of the bearing, and how the engine compartment comes all together.  Enjoy!

Tilton master cylinder pushrod all lengthened correctly for the TR7 pedal w/ clevis

Clevis pin all welded up

External view, you can see the fittings screwed into the back of the bell housing and then hoses going up to the connector block mounted up on the top of the transmission.  All connectors have Teflon tape on the threads to prevent leaks

Interior of bell housing, the bearing all installed with the correct spacing.  Two stainless braided hoses (made myself with aeroquip fittings)  They have been routed in such a way that the hoses will never rub against eachother

Photo of car up on ramps ready to put transmission back in…

Here is a shot of the Tilton master cylinder, the reservoir is mounted over next to the wiper washer fluid bottle.  There is a short aeroquip hose that goes between the master cylinder and the bell housing

If you can actually see with all these hoses in the way,  the hose from the master cylinder is screwed into the connector block on the bell housing.  If you are really observant, you can see one of the holes where I had drilled for the bulkhead fittings (now plugged with aluminum and epoxy)

It’s been a little while since my last update.  I drove the car to the VTR in Breckenridge, CO and had a wonderful time meeting people from the list and making new friends.  The car pretty much ran OK but I had several issues.  The first one was that the car got very hot in the deserts of Utah.  The second issue was that the clutch throwout bearing broke and so shifting became almost impossible.   So, There are several options available to me for the overheating issue:  Water pump and better radiator.  I’ll have to get the car on the road first before I tackle these issues.  To get the car working again, I’m going to have to deal with the transmission & clutch.  I’ve been talking to a lot of people who have used a Toyota transmission, it appears that we have several options that need to be dealt with.  The throwout bearing is not properly supported by the transmission input shaft collar when the clutch is engaged.  Also, the bearing spins on the input shaft collar (is not pinned) generates heat and then binds.  I’m having a new input shaft collar machined which will increase the length by 3/4″ of an inch.  This will allow the bearing to be fully supported during its entire movement.   To solve the spinning bearing problem, I’ll install some pins into the bearing that will rest against the clutch fork.  This will stop the assembly from spinning.  I was able to remove the transmission without pulling the engine with help from Carl McIver

I almost didn’t get it in the garage.  It took several attempts to get the car into reverse…

Whoops..  Misjudged that suckers’ clearance.  That was caused by the flywheel….

The radiator sprang a leak (the nylon rods that held the fan onto the radiator rubbed against the core causing the leak – Don’t do that… Use those nylon rods I mean).  So, I took this opportunity to  increase the car’s cooling ability.  I ditched the single 13″ pusher fan that I had installed on the front of the radiator and instead got myself two 10″ puller fans.  These fans combined will give me over 2000 CFM of air flow.  Since I didn’t want to use the nylon rods to attach the fans to the radiator, I went by the local hardware store and purchased (on the advise of Carl McIver) some aluminum angle stock.  Using this stock, I created a shroud that attached to the top and bottom of the radiator which then I screwed the fans to.  The following are some photographs of the shroud and the radiator assembly.

Radiator w/ the top and bottom brackets attached.  These are held in place by the rubber mounting bushings

Here are the cooling fans with the modified mounting brackets (the radiator was too tall to use the brackets supplied)

First test fit before riveting the unit together

Complete assembly, rubber pads have been glued under the brackets to protect the radiator

I modified the electrical plug of the first fan so both fans come off the same plug

Assembly installed in the car, plenty of clearance and plenty of air flow!

Stranded by a dead battery for the last time!!!  Time to get rid of the nasty 17ACR alternator and install something with a little more charging power.  So, I ordered a 25ACR from Victoria British.  It arrived but of course, didn’t use the same Lucas alternator connector that the previous alternator did so I had to do a bunch of rewiring to make everything line  up.  Here are a few shots of the alternator installed.  It charges quite nicely.  Previously with the old alternator, with all the accessories on, the battery voltage dropped to about 11V (not good).  Now, with everything on, it stays at 12.5 (very good).

I Don’t know what is wrong with the clutch, I filled it back up with fluid, bled the system and it works again.  But, it’s still leaking somewhere but I don’t see any drips on the floor.  Perhaps only during operation?  I completely rebuilt the front end during the week.  I torqued up the caliper & hub bolts which somehow worked there way loose.  Front end works again!  I drove over to Poulsbo this weekend to visit a friend (who actually was the previous owner of the car).  He took the following pictures for himself but I’m putting them up here so you guys can see them.  This car loves the freeway, around town, because of the heavy cam, the idle is very rough but over 2000rpms, look out!

Driving the car in the city and using it to drive back and forth from work was just not going to work with the cam that was installed in the engine.  After going through all the literature that came with the motor as well as a few phone calls with Ted, we determined that the cam installed was an Isky 270 performance cam.  It’s just too lopey for this 3.5l motor.  Ted also thought that the engine had a 264 cam installed so we were both kind of perplexed on the issue.  The only solution was to replace the cam with something that would make city driving a lot more manageable which would perhaps remove some top end power but make it more useful for daily driving.  I went through all the specs for the Isky cams and decided to use an Isky 256 Performance Cam.  The website (for Isky cams) specifies that this cam gives the best fuel economy & can be used with existing computer management / fuel injection computers.  A phone call with Woody also confirmed this so I struck a deal with Ted and got an Isky 256 drop shipped to me.  Although I was to busy with actually changing out the cam to take a bunch of photos, I’ve included a couple here which show the timing chain and the top of the motor w/ the intake off.  The difference in performance between what the engine was and what it is now is night and day.  The idle is exceptionally smooth, the torque that the car now delivers is unbelievable and any concerns that I had about loosing top end acceleration and performance have gone through the window.  This car just laughs at me.  Vroom Vroom!