TR8's, barf or bouguet?

In reply to spitfirebill:

Not really. There's always one or two for sale but compare that to 911's as an example, or TR6's or Spitfires. It's estimated that only about 1500 or so are still around. Only 400 were coupes. I hate to say it but the coupe could be the one to have from a collector's view..

You can still pick up really good examples for under 10 K.

NOHOME wrote: I speak poorly of the four banger that came in the TR7. Awful piece of poorly designed crap. I believe the brits actually tried to make a V8 out of joining two of them only succeeding in making something twice as bad.

And yet they worked fine when fuel injected and installed in a Saab.

Thanks all. I like what I'm reading. I was hoping it would be a fun but a better handling tiger alternative. There's one near here that looks pretty decent with about 70k miles onit for $6500 obo, typical acqua colour with blue vinyl seats.

we had a dealer down the street from me when they were new. I test drove a beautiful green one with tan cloth interior. I lusted after that car. I ended up buying an aniversary edition TR7 in the same color combination when I could afford it, but it was no where near the same car.

I really want a TR8 coupe, and it is on my short list of cars I want but never owned, along with a JPS Europa.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

NOHOME wrote: I speak poorly of the four banger that came in the TR7. Awful piece of poorly designed crap. I believe the brits actually tried to make a V8 out of joining two of them only succeeding in making something twice as bad.

And yet they worked fine when fuel injected and installed in a Saab.

I believe Saab made some small changes, especially concerning the way the head was bolted to the block.

That said, yes I agree that for some reason Saab had a lower rate of attrition.

It still would have been a miserable engine to work on if and when it did need service. The water pump in particular would put most normal people into therapy; not that it did not work AS DESIGNED, but that the design was so far out in left field that it baffled most mechanics end ended up being done wrong.

The cylinder head studs were another study in financial disrespect; they had to be replaced when head was removed.

Then this beautiful piece of turd was capped of with a set of dual strombergs in the height of pollution control learning curve to guarantee a low road to shop time ratio.

Other than that, they were fine.

NOHOME wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote:

NOHOME wrote: I speak poorly of the four banger that came in the TR7. Awful piece of poorly designed crap. I believe the brits actually tried to make a V8 out of joining two of them only succeeding in making something twice as bad.

And yet they worked fine when fuel injected and installed in a Saab.

I believe Saab made some small changes, especially concerning the way the head was bolted to the block. That said, yes I agree that for some reason Saab had a lower rate of attrition. It still would have been a miserable engine to work on if and when it did need service. The water pump in particular would put most normal people into therapy; not that it did not work AS DESIGNED, but that the design was so far out in left field that it baffled most mechanics end ended up being done wrong. The cylinder head studs were another study in financial disrespect; they had to be replaced when head was removed. Then this beautiful piece of turd was capped of with a set of dual strombergs in the height of pollution control learning curve to guarantee a low road to shop time ratio. Other than that, they were fine.

You can get SU carbs that were used in merry old England.

I

was watching a very clean TR7 on ebay that was about one hour away that expired yesterday. 60k ish miles and in a collection since 1986. Pretty darned clean and it went for $2k.

Two TR8s popped up on craiglsist in CA and are priced at $6k and $7.5k. Both look good. A club member has an 8 that I could probably buy if I pushed it. He has already offered me a 6. No darned place to put all this stuff.

I would love a TR8 and am going to have to pull the trigger before the prices goes the way of the Cobra, Tiger and Griffith. Otherwise I'm going to be forced to come up with my own 8 cylinder terror.

my first post, i would like to buy the tr8 and need phone #, if no one else has any interest

Back from the dead and a suspect canoe to boot!

i sold a customer one with 8,000 miles on the clock. he had it hauled in last week with a water leak. got a new fuel pump on and running rough. now has 11,000 on the car. driven without water! need a motor at min.

now proud owner of a TR8 with a bad motor 750

I test drove a really nice one last year and strongly considered buying it. It was a ~30K original car that had been in dry storage for years, and had all the nice driver updates from The Wedge Shop. thewedgeshop.com/ (I thought it was the car from the CMS article but it wasn't).

I liked it. Nice size, weight and handling for the most part. Interior was a funky original tan vinyl/houndstooth cloth that you'll never see on anything else. The dash was a craptastic plastic box, the only real letdown. It did have an aftermarket exhaust that made it sound like an old pickup truck, which was too bad but easily fixable.

Unfortunately the exhaust and long distance seat comfort were highly questionable for the wife, and the owner wanted top dollar. This was to be our summer cruiser and had to be comfortable for hundreds of miles at a time. We ended up with the old standby - yes, another Miata.

found several 4.6 good motors local. now all i need is that check from Washington

aussiesmg wrote:

NOHOME wrote: The worse thing about the TR cheese wedges was the engine. It had no interest in running for any length of time and the design was up there with the Vega in terms of poor engineering. The car itself was quite pleasant to drive and feels eons more modern than the MGB. I would think that the V8 would make a great cruiser. The engine itself is well established as a reliable mill.

Not sure if you are thinking of the Triumph 3.0 V8 but these had the very nice and reliable 3.5 Rover V8 the rights to build came from the Good Ole USA

I'm pretty sure he isn't thinking about the Stag V8, not many people use the words "Stag V8" and "reliable" in the same sentence.