One of the first cars that I drove had a 7.5 litre engine with 320hp and 450lbs of twist mated to a TH400 transmission and 2:73 gears. I understand the quiet subdued thrust that just keeps building well into triple digits speeds, it just makes you smile. 71 Olds 98 two door.
Love this thread, a Turbo R is one of those dream cars of past days.
Beautiful car Toyman! Love it.
My desire is a 2005 Red Label Arnage or a 2009 Brooklands. Someday!
A 2022 Flying Spur rolled into the tint shop next to my office this morning. White on tan. My eldest, who works for me, mentioned to the owner that I had one. He had come in and check it out.
I went out and drooled over the new one. It's a super nice car, but I think I prefer the older body style to the new one.
Not much work on the car. I did spend some time factoring on tires and made a decision that solves the problem for the short term.
Link to the tire thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/tire-shopping-for-a-bentley-i-think-im-going-to-pull-out-all-my-hair/201294/page1/
The tires are in. I will get them installed over the next few days.
The eagle has landed at home though. I spent the last couple of days cleaning up the disaster that was my shop to make enough room to get the car out of the warehouse. I really didn't want one of my employees to crash something into it.
More to come.
In reply to Toyman! :
That looks wide. Optical illusion or wider than a normal car?
In reply to Stampie :
79 inches wide. 207 long. It's a tight squeeze.
In reply to Toyman! :
I like big Bentley booty.
I just found this thread, and I'll be following with great interest.
You might want to know that the late David E. Davis, Jr., once called the Bentley Turbo R the only RR or Bentley he would want by his side in a bar fight.
If it's any encouragement, we fitted the Firestone Indy 500s to our LeMons car and ran a whole weekend flat out on them. They aquitted themselves nicely. Granted, our LeMons racer weighed roughly half of what your Bent does, but we were also running 195/55R16.
Sorry for draggin' me feet.....have been going back and reading past issues of Classic Motorsports. Well lo and behold what do we have here? March 2021 .....page 66 ......author Johan Dillen.....very well done TMan!!!! I'm in, especially with those hp/tq #'s what with my 03 duramax LB7 running 300hp/520tq @1800rpm.....though your show is way more sublime.....than my Bro Dawg .....wink . The brake episode will be way worth the price of admission.....carry on...late.
The Bentley received some loving today. Namely tires.
The suspension on this car has so much droop that my air jack wouldn't lift the frame high enough to get the tires off the ground. Rather than dragging out more equipment we took care of the tires one at a time.
The suspension under this car is enormous. Everything about it is large. The underside is where she shows her age. She looks like a car with 125k miles on it. The good news is the brake rotors and pads look to be fairly new. I think I can scratch that off the list for a long time.
The Avon tires that were on the car were 13 years old so it's probably a good thing I was replacing them. The Firestone tires that replaced them were a little wider but still appropriately sized for the vehicle.
With this car, I've taken to doing a little reading before I jump in and take things apart. For one thing, parts are expensive, and breaking something out of ignorance would cost a lot. The British also have some bizarre ways of doing things. This time it paid off. For starters, the passenger side of the car uses reverse threaded lug nuts. Not something I haven't seen before, but also not something you see on cars built in the 90s. Second, the lug torque is only 50 lb-ft! This is because the lug nuts are brass. Yes, you read that right, brass.
While it was in the air, we took a look at the spare. It was dated 1985 so we replaced it with one of the 13-year-old tires.
Also while it was in the air, I have been smelling gas from the back of the car. Some studying found that the low-pressure side of the fuel pumps (yes, it has two, no I don't know why), were leaking a bit. That turned out to be loose hose clamps. We got those tightened up and backed it out in the yard for a bath. Yesterday's wind had blown a fair amount of trash through the shop doors and onto the car.
With all the fiddly bits taken care of, it was time for an afternoon cruise. I have been wanting to find a decent place to take some pictures. Someone's gated driveway seemed appropriate. She cleans up pretty well.
I felt like a paparazzi trying to take pictures of someone famous while shooting these. 
More to come as it happens.
Having once sold an original 1970 Cadillac spare tire for $100 I'd have to wonder how much an original Bentley spare tire would go for.
In reply to Stampie :
I'm not sure it was original. It looked like a used tire just like the other 4, just older with more cracking. The spare wheel is a full-size OE wheel like the other 4 so it may have been a take-off from another car or it could have been what it came with.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said: Everybody loves torque over horsepower... they just don't understand it well enough to know that.
*Laughs in rotary fanboy mode*
Toyman- this is an awesome bit of machinery and classy as Hell. I wish you the best of luck with it!
That color is now one of my absolute favorites, too.
I guess changing air filters is no longer cool. I bet this one is as old as the tires.
Uggh
Those fuel pumps look like the typical pumps that came in Bosch controlled Euro cars. I wonder if they have a Bentley tax if you buy one with a Bentley part number vs a lesser car with the same pumps lol
In reply to yupididit :
Flying Spares lists the pump at $293 each.
Boy that cleaned up nice ,
you need a chauffeur outfit so you can make the family feel important when you take them to Walmart :)
Is there a Poupon holder in the back seat?
In reply to californiamilleghia :
I agree, also regarding the air filter, Jeeves really should have taken care of that, I'll have a word with him, good help is so hard to find.
I spent part of the day working on other things. The Bentley got the gutters around the trunk lid and hood cleaned. They were pretty nasty.
I also installed a fire extinguisher in the trunk. I usually reserve fire extinguishers for race cars and such. This thing is complicated enough that I think it needs one. 2500 psi oil sprayed on a hot exhaust manifold might be exciting.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to haul tools when we road trip this car. The Bentley Owners Club is nice enough to market a Bentley tool bag so I had to pick up one of those.
In reply to Toyman! :
They make a dual band mounting bracket for that Amerex extinguisher that might work better for you in that spot. I would hate to see that handle wear through the (probably leather) trim in the trunk due to bumps and gravity.
I have to admit, these have always been a car I really admired. Thanks for taking the risk and showing us all the way it can be done. Nice car and I hope it treats you well, they really are cool and your's is the perfect color combination. I have to say, I recognise those spheres, as Rolls Royce and Bentley licensed that technology from Citroen.
Since you have a fire extinguisher , is it worthwhile getting a quick release for the battery cable .
Your new weekend job can be driving for weddings and high school proms etc.....
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