TriumphTR8

Triumph TR8 Parts

Which parts of a TR8 are its own and which it shares with the TR7 and the Rover SD1, where its injection parts can still be matched, the factory's handbooks and bulletins, and the clubs that keep its records.

A TR8's V8 lit by flash, with a chrome round air cleaner on an aftermarket four-barrel carburettor.
A chrome air cleaner on a four-barrel carburettor the factory never fitted, on the V8 of a car its photographer calls a TR8, photographed by flash in Alberta, Canada, in July 2008.dave_7, CC BY-SA 2.0

Most of a TR8 is a TR7, and most of the rest a Rover SD1: the engine, the five-speed gearbox (transmission) and the axle came from the SD1 3500 saloon (sedan), and the body, glass and much of the trim and suspension from the TR7. What is the TR8's alone is a short list. triumphtr8.com, which sells TR8 parts as well as writing about them, says where to look for it:

Trouble with parts for the TR8 is that nearly all the 8's went to the USA or Canada as a result that's where the spares went and also the best place to find second-hand parts.

triumphtr8.com, on the TR8's servo

In Britain and Europe, it adds, the factory's new old stock is "long since gone".⁠1​2​3

TR8-only parts

The parts the TR8 had and the ordinary TR7 did not are the V8's installation, with its own front subframe, springs and dampers; the power-steering pump and rack, a General Motors Saginaw pump with an Adwest rack; the thicker front discs and larger pads; the brake servo, part AAU7925, with a + on its face where the TR7's has an X; the carburettor airboxes, ERC2065, ERC2066 and ERC2065A; the injection system on the injected cars; the convertible's Moto-Lita steering wheel, PKC1295; the TR8's own chassis plates, TKC5574 for North America and TKC6764 for Britain; its decals and badges; and the velour trim of the 1981 model year. triumphtr8.com prints the part numbers, and also lists the TR8 decals BLM105219 to BLM105221 and some of the trim, such as the early blue velour door cards of 1979–80, WKC4797JJ and WKC4798JJ. It adds that the TR7 Spider and a European special-edition TR7 had the wheel too, and that a few TR7s had velour around 1979.

triumphtr8.com, which sells original wheels, says that the wheels other suppliers offer as original are not: a reproduction carries a ring over its screws, where an original's screws are recessed. Identification explains how reproduction British chassis plates differ. The two electric cooling fans of many TR8s are hard to match. Gene Thompson's notes for the Triumph Wedge Owners Association put it plainly: "If you're looking for exact replacement fans, good luck! About the only other cars sold in America that used those exact fans were Fiat 124s and (I think) Stradas."⁠1​4​5​6​7

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Injection parts and their equivalents

triumphtr8.com, which finds parts for the Lucas/Bosch L-Jetronic injection getting very hard to find, publishes the Lucas and Bosch numbers that match each other. Its list, unchecked against a factory parts book:

PartLucasBosch
Thermo-time switchEAC1385, EAC1385A0280 130 220, 0280 130 214, F 026 T03 100
Auxiliary air valveERC3617–
SensorEAC1386, ETC8496A243967, 243967A
Fuel-pressure regulatorEAC1284, EAC1284UR0280 160 200
Cold-start injectorEAC1383, EAC1338L0280 170 028, 0280 170 031
Oxygen sensor–0258 001 051
Throttle potentiometerERC3619–
Air-flow meterERC36240280 202 008
InjectorERC36200280 150 005, 0280 130 135
Fuel pumpCAC4269, CAC22630580 464 014, 0580 464 008
Combination relay–0332 514 121

The Lucas 4CU control unit is shared with the injected Rover SD1 and the European Range Rover. The TWOA, which repairs units for its members, writes that most of the unit's faults can be put right in minutes.⁠1​7

The engine bay of a silver TR8, the V8 topped by the grey cast plenum of its fuel injection, with blue ignition leads.
Under the raised bonnet of a silver car its photographer titles a 1980 TR8: the grey cast plenum of the injection, with an orange filler cap on the rocker cover beside it, in Alberta, Canada, in July 2008.dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0

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What interchanges

PartShared withNote
Engine, five-speed gearbox, axleThe Rover SD1 3500Autocar called the axle "a normal SD1" differential
Body, glass, most trim and suspensionThe TR7The convertible's hood (soft top) is the TR7 convertible's
Power-steering rackThe SD1's is used in conversionsWith a much bigger pump, by triumphtr8.com's account
Ignition and alternatorThe SD1's type, on some late personal-export carsAs triumphtr8.com records them
Carburettor choke partsLand Rover's Zenith-Stromberg carburettorstriumphtr8.com
Later Rover V8s3.9, 4.0 and 4.6 litresThe TR Register's notes explain which parts interchange
WheelsMontego, Maestro and MGF wheels fit, with careThe TR Register; the TR7's alloys have a 25 mm offset
A green Rover 3500 hatchback with chrome bumpers on a showground, other cars behind it.
Chrome-capped bumpers and the longship badge on a Rover 3500 (SD1), whose V8, gearbox and axle the TR8 shared, at the Festival of the Unexceptional, Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, in 2022.kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0

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Handbooks, bulletins and maintenance

Among the factory's handbooks were AKM4335 for the 1980 model year and AKM4779 for 1981; its workshop manuals were AKM3971 and a provisional one of 1978, AKM3983, to be used with the TR7's; and it printed a guide to the injection, AKM8070/80, and one to the emission controls, AKM4781/81, with parts books for the cars of 1977 onwards, the convertible of 1979 onwards and the cars of 1981. triumphtr8.com shows their covers. The TWOA indexes Jaguar Rover Triumph's technical service bulletins, among them bulletins on the fuel-pump feed and the main wiring harness of the carburettor cars and on the threads of the V8's cylinder bolts.

The sources add a few notes. The TR Register notes that the factory changed its recommended gearbox oil from hypoid to automatic transmission fluid, and that a semi-synthetic 75/90 gear oil may be the best compromise. The TWOA warns that British fuse ratings are about twice American ones, and that a fan fuse should never be replaced with a higher-rated one. Car and Driver ran its test car at 1.7 bar (24 psi) at the front and 1.9 bar (28 psi) at the back.⁠1​7​9​10

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Clubs and archives

The clubs keep the TR8's records:

  • The Triumph Wedge Owners Association, in North America, which grew out of the TR8 Car Club of America, founded in 1983: its pages hold scans of the brochures, the emission certificates, the dealers' memos and the service bulletins.

  • The Vintage Triumph Register, which refers TR8 owners to the TWOA.

  • The TR Register, in Britain, for every TR from the TR2 to the TR8 and their derivatives.

  • The TR Drivers Club, in Britain, which publishes the guide to the TR7's and TR8's numbers and production.

  • Club Triumph, for every Triumph, which runs the Round Britain Reliability Run.

  • The World Wide TR7 TR8 Owners Club, online.

  • The British Motor Museum, at Gaydon, whose archive issues Heritage Certificates from the build records.⁠11​12​13​1​14

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  1. triumphtr8.com, Pages (group): "TR8 VIN/CHASSIS", "TR8 Paint Codes", "TR8 trim codes", "TR8 Documents", "TR8 Adverts", "TR8 Clubs", "TR8 Efi – Injection system and sensors", "WL9 Camshaft", "Leyland Special Tuning", "TR8 FIA RAC", "TR8 Auto Choke", "TR8 Badges where do they go?", parts pages, posts "RHD TR8 UK SPEC" and "Round Britain Reliability Run 2023", the servo page; parts pages; parts pages: servo AAU7925, steering wheel PKC1295, carburettor airboxes, decals, trim; TR8 Efi: the Lucas and Bosch equivalents; TR8 Auto Choke: Land Rover parts; TR8 Documents; TR8 Clubs. Reference
  2. Road & Track, "Triumph TR8: Good news from the other side" (road test), Jun 1980, pp. 76–79, p. 77, the SD1's engine, gearbox and axle; p. 77. Primary
  3. John Miles, "Miles Behind the Wheel: America's TR8", Autocar, 1979 (May, according to triumphtr8.com), p. 2, "a normal SD1" differential; p. 2, the SD1's gearbox and differential. Primary
  4. triumphtr8.com, "TR8's Genuine Factory cars: History & Authentication" and "Is it a genuine TR8?", 6 Jun 2026, the TR8's parts; reproduction wheels and plates; SD1 racks in conversions. Reference
  5. Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5, p. 4, the TR8's subframe, springs and dampers. Reference
  6. Thos L. Bryant, "New from Britain: Triumph TR7 Convertible & TR8", Road & Track (reprinted by the TR Drivers Club), 1979, the GM Saginaw pump and Adwest rack. Primary
  7. Triumph Wedge Owners Association, Document pages (group): "TR8", "Memos", "Brochures", TSB indexes, "Deciphering the Wedge", "Component Serial Numbers", "TR8 Cooling Fan System", "TR8 ECU", "TR8 Cooling Fan System"; Component Serial Numbers; "TR8 ECU"; TSB indexes A–Z; "TR8 Cooling Fan System"; "TR8 ECU". Reference
  8. triumphtr8.com, "European Spec LHD TR8's", 27 Dec 2025, SD1-type ignition and alternators. Reference
  9. Malcolm Paris (compiler), "Triumph TR7 / TR7 V8 and TR8 Buyers Guide", TR Register, FAQ: engines and wheels; FAQ: gearbox oil. Reference
  10. Don Sherman, "Triumph TR8" (road test), Car and Driver, Aug 1980, pp. 36–40, data panel, tyre pressures. Primary
  11. Triumph Wedge Owners Association, "The Club", the TR8 Car Club of America, 1983. Reference
  12. Vintage Triumph Register, "TR8", with the buyer's guides page, refers TR8 owners to the TWOA. Reference
  13. Paul Towle and Rex Holford (update) and Mark Elbers (update), "TR7 & TR8 Identification & Production Data Explained", TR Drivers Club, 1987, updated (© 2016), the identification and production guide. Reference
  14. British Motor Museum (BMIHT), "Heritage Certificates", service description. Primary

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