The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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 Post subject: project dolomite 3500HL
PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:54 pm 
I bought this triumph in august last year as i was looking for a decent car to drive as a daily runaround while i rebuild my skoda estelle

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as bought

anyhow when bought i was looking for a rot free example as i thought the mechanicals where reasonably reliable,,,,,,as it turned out the car was absolutely rot free underneath all the main rust traps were in excellent condition the sills,,chassis rails,,suspension mounts,,,inner archs and bulkhead all origional and rust free
at 68'000 miles and full mot cert back up it'd never been layed up in 30 years use hence the good body condition

the first thing was to replace the brown interior with dark blue ,,electronic ignition and a sprint radiator to keep the 1500 cool

at 73'000 miles the engine started over heating all the time which then led to the crank rumbling and the head gasket going
reverse gear also disspeared and the diff was whining badly
at the time it had major starting trouble i parked it up at the front of the house for a month while working out what to do with it
i bought a scrap spitfire engine for rebuild as i couldnt find anything else

this is how the rebuild went
removing the engine
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pulling the cylinder head and finding a slight mess
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after freeing the engine by means of wd40 and rocking the crank back and forth I checked the end float on the crank (limits were 0.1-0.23mm it checked out as 0.11mm)
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the pistons were removed and cleaned up (the old rings were rusted in the grooves,,,so were prised out and replaced)
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the crank bearings were 10 tho undr size and in really good condition so I gave the assemlby a good smothering of lubricant
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I gave the cylinder a good hone,,,hydraulic jack oil gave an excellent medium for the stones to work with,,,then I fitted the pistons
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the cylinder head was looked at next,,,despite its horrible appearance the valves are unworn and the valve seats/guides were still in good order,,,
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the valves were cleaned and ground in
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this left the head like this
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and it was fitted with the help of "pandaselecta" and another friend (this is the old engine coming out)
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it would seem that my rebuild was a rather large FAIL

the running in produced huge emissions of oil clouds,,,which gradually worsened as time went by,,along with the head gasket failing

1000miles later the crank started rumbling,,,,,again ::)
and very suprisingly the head gasket failed to the the extent of the coolant flowing out the exhaust and the engine trying to hydrolock when on the move

I don't think I get on with the 1.5 triumph range of engines or the single rail gearbox's (which doesnt have reverse gear anymore)

despite this major failure (along with broken halfshafts and whining diff's) I really enjoyed the driving dynamics of the car and with it being totally rust free underneath i didnt want it to go to waste

i had a v8 already to run and a mint condition gearbox to go with it
this one is a SD1 engine that was rebuilt ,,run in then removed so its mega clean internaly
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first job was to remove all the running gear/exhaust/engine bay bits and bobs
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I had a spare sprint subframe so I chopped the mounts off and welded on some mount rails (so I could fit a box lower mount where ever the engine mount sits)

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:06 pm 
i fitted the sprint axle and some better condition controll arms

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I removed the brakes straight away as they were awfull even with a knackered 1500
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and I started modding the front panel to take a radiator as far forwards as possible (a p6 lower valance should hide it)
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i swapped in the modified subframe and aquired a propshaft for shortening for £15
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the propshaft is a ldv pilot item which has a lt77/r380 UV joint at the front and a salisbury axle UV joint at the rear so will bolt onto the sprint axle and rover gearbox once it has been shortened considerably

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the 1500 prop bolted to the sprint axle but I doubted its strength due to the amount of torque being transmitted (LDV left/1500 right)
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i mock fitted the engine and gearbox,,,to see where it contacted,,,mainly small areas of the bulkhead around the bellhousing
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the tunnel had to be trimmed back to accomadate the rear of the gear box,
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the bellhousing also clashed badly with the rear of the subframe with made the engine sit at a large angle
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:37 pm 
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Location: South Coast
ah another v8 dolly :)

_________________
Previous owner of 42 Dolomite shaped vehicles, 14 Sprints, 12 1850s, 8 1500s, 3 V8s, 3 Toledos and 2 SEs


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:39 pm 
that crossbar that was interfering with the bellhousing got cut away
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then it was replaced by some plate steel 1.5" further forward so should now clear nicely
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I placed the engine and box in the place I wanted abit higher than the diff flange for the rear of the gearbox,,,and the bellhousinging 3/4" away from the new subframe crossmemember ,,the cylinder head on the offside is 1/2 " away from the bulkhead

now the engine is totally level in the bay

the engine block brackets on both sides needed chopping shorter
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then they were fitted to the mock block along with some new cotton reel mounts to see how close the rails were,,,,,,i liked the result
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then some little angle brackets that bolt onto the rails were made and fitted
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then I looked at the rear crossmember for the gearbox and it was completely wrong
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so that got popped off,,,i just wanted a crossmember that mounted of the origional holes,,,,but was lower and further back than stock
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I seen disabled gaurd rail was very beefy steel indeed so I wipped that off the wall and chopped it along with some brackets
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the brakets were shaped and drilled to fit like this style
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compared to origional
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I made some brackets for the crossmember to support the gearbox rubber mounts

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and welded them on,,,,,,,,i had to move them sideways later as I didnt measure properly initialy and some strengthening fillets were added to stop them bending down
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the gearbox needed its m8 mounting holes drilled out and tapped at m10 size for the rubber mounts I found (volvo 340 engine mounts lol)
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the chassis rail that extends across the transmission tunnel needed extending up and rear wards to clear the gearbox and the hole for the gear lever goes back about 5" and up 2",,,,,,this means the handbrake comes up and back to clear the propshaft
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:44 pm 
Amazing! Is it going to be ready for Ryhope? I'd love to hear that running. 8)


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:58 pm 
nah i'm out of work atm so i'm just doing the cheap stuff first it'll be on the road early next year
however i will be at ryhope in the skoda (although probably not showing it as i dont think an E plate car is old enough :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:23 am 
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Location: South Coast
Thats going very quickly.....nice tidy work as well, keep it up.

_________________
Previous owner of 42 Dolomite shaped vehicles, 14 Sprints, 12 1850s, 8 1500s, 3 V8s, 3 Toledos and 2 SEs


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:21 am 
Quote:
..... i dont think an E plate car is old enough :mrgreen:
Bear in mind that there was a 'G' plate Golf parked between our cars last year, and that they allow Sierras in. Sorry for the o/t but bring the Skoda in, there'll not be another there and you just don't see them on the road nowadays! :wink:


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:15 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:27 pm
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Location: Hampshire
Looking good!!

Quick question to everyone though...

Seen a few Dolly V8s recently and Im just wondering why everyone sticks in a Rover V8 and not a Triumph V8 from something like a Stag?

Apart from the Rover lumps being more redily avaliable, isnt an 1850 engine effecively half a Triumph V8 so would slot in easier?

James


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:00 pm 
The Stag engine is longer than the 4-pot (more gubbins on the front), so requires modification to the Rad to fit it in, it also requires a custom right-bank exhaust manifold and some other fabrication. It has been done!


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:22 pm 
i did consider the stag v8 as it certainly does sound nice ,,but it falls down to economics (i had the Rv8 already)

stags are 145bhp which is a good result but the rover should be around 200bhp and around 280lb/ft once ive gone 3.9,injection with a cam and some "dremel spec" cylinder headwork

the exhaust is a pain on the offside bank with the starter and steering column ,but down infront of the starter and behind the engine mount is the way i'll go with that,,,2" i reckon

and the rear axle is ridiculously tight too i notice it has to go between the upper arms and the diff ,,,,however i'll go under the axle and make it fairly solidly mounted at the rear and with a flex joint up front


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:42 pm 
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what manifolds are you using?

_________________
Previous owner of 42 Dolomite shaped vehicles, 14 Sprints, 12 1850s, 8 1500s, 3 V8s, 3 Toledos and 2 SEs


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:30 pm 
i'll make some manifolds possibly,,,1.75" stainless steel 90dergree bends should fit the bill in a block hug style,,,however if i dont have dosh at the time i'll just stick with some P6 ones assuming i can find any

its got an sd1 front end on the engine currently too so i'm unsure whether it'll clear the radiator ,an RR water pump would allow the radiator to fit,,,,but not twin fans


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:05 am 
this evenings activity has briefly moved onto dismantling the front suspension and hubs and checking for wear,,,,the drivers side ball joints have abit of play,and they seem to be able to be taken to bits

it looks as though the brakes had previosly been upgraded to 1850/sprint 222mm disks by a previous owner,,,,that elementary now tho
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i then hacksawed the brake disk centers off to be reused on the vw disks,,,,the bolts look like 3/8UNC so i'll get some longer ones
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also noted were the feeble 3/8" wheel studs so it was usefull that i swipped some TR7 m12x1.5 studs and wheelnut to go with the TR7 steel wheels
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temporarily tried one in,,it fits properly with the end seating right too so at least i know the wheels arent going to part company when using max v8 torque
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:39 am 
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Location: South Coast
p6 front end would be btter. I'm running mgb V8 manifolds on mine.

apparently if you elongate the front and fit a stag V8 you get the urge to whip it out and slot tvr in, so perhaps better to stay with a rover :)

_________________
Previous owner of 42 Dolomite shaped vehicles, 14 Sprints, 12 1850s, 8 1500s, 3 V8s, 3 Toledos and 2 SEs


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