classic triumph tr2

Straight & Narrow – Suspension Bushes and Alignment on the 1955 Triumph TR2

The 1955 Triumph TR2 has had a few bits of suspension work carried out by the Bridge Classic Cars team.

The team have replaced the offside-front upper arm bushes due to a bit of play in the bush itself and also replaced the outer track rod end on the same side of the car. Jon, one of our technicians, carefully removed the old bushes from the car to make way for the new replacements.

Because the team had unbolted and moved components from the front suspension, it is crucial to have the car realigned. So, Jon millimetre by millimetre adjusted the toe of the classic Triumph until it was perfectly within spec and even on both sides of the car. After road test, all was ok.

All Sorted – Mechanical Work on the 1955 Triumph TR2

The Bridge Classic Cars workshop have finished up the mechanical work on the 1955 Triumph TR2 which is in with us.

To begin with, the team worked on getting to the bottom of a concern from the customer of the car pulling to one side under braking. The team found that the wheel cylinders were leaking quite badly and on one side no longer allowed the shoes to make proper contact with the drums. A new set was ordered along with a complete set of front brakes shoes. Once installed, the team could readjust the brakes and retest. This sorted out the pulling issue on the classic Triumph. At the same time the team adjusted the rear brakes to spec

While under the car, the team discovered several ball joint rubbers had split quite badly. In total, 5 were replaced on the front suspension including the top ball joints and track rod ends.

In the engine bay, the team discovered a leak from the radiator of the TR2. The radiator was removed from the car, having to remove the front fascia from the car to get access. This was sent of to a specialist to be refurbished for the car. Whilst in the engine bay, it was discovered to have some debris (what appeared to be leaves/flowers) inside the sight glass of the carburettor which acts also as a filter. The team cleaned out the fuel lines properly and inspected the tank to make sure everything was all ok and replaced a split in the brake servo pipe.

Whilst awaiting the radiator to come back from repairs, our technician Jon fixed an issue with the seat runner the customer had mentioned. Jon repaired the seat runner the best he could.

Once the radiator returned, the team could get it back into the front of the classic sports car. With the radiator in place, the team could also sort out some wiring which had to be cut for the front fascia to be removed.

After everything was back in place and levels topped up and checked, it was given the all-clear to go back to the customer.

Repaired – Reworking the Seat Base on the 1955 Triumph TR2

The seat base of the 1955 Triumph TR2 has been taken out of the classic sports car and taken upstairs to the Bridge Classic Cars in-house trim shop to be worked on.

Brian, one of our trimmers, has had the seat base on the bench to begin its repairs.

The first step was to unpicking the stitching on the seat base to remove it from the metal sprung base. Then, the cover could be transferred onto a new piece of calico to create a backing for the repairs to bind to. Along with this, the team recorded the piping to give it back its original shape for the beautiful dark red leather. Whilst the cover was off the metal base, Brian could repair some of the springs which over time had become frail and broken.

Next, the trim team carefully trimmed out the base pieces from the calico before glueing them down and then refit them together with a new foam centre. Finally, the team could stretch the repaired cover over the base and fixed in place with brand-new hog clips before being installed back into the car.