The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 9:18 pm 
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Here we go again!

A free 1850 was offered on the free cars part of the forum and as it was so close to me I decided that I wanted it.

Yep, it's another RUK, well not quite, it's a manual!

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A 1972 Dolomite Manual, registered June '72 chassis number WF6051.

It has had two owners from new, the first being Dr Wales of Southampton who bought it in June '72, it was then bought by the late father of the gentleman who offered it on the forum in February '74, it looks like it has been parked up in his garage since the early '90's. The garage was a much better environment than the one RUK was in! The original owner had it Ziebarted in '72

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It wasn't a difficult job to get it moving, the front pads had been removed from the car and were in the boot, it was just a case of removing the rear shoes so that the car would roll properly, 5 minutes later with a hammer and they were out and we pushed the car to the end of the driveway.

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I decided there and then that I wanted it and gave my local garage a call and they were able to come and collect it from Farnham and drop it in Fleet for the slightly more than the trailer rental but with a hell of a lot less hassle!

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At about 4:30 it arrived home to my neighbours twitching their net curtains thinking, 'oh god, he's bought another one!!' :lol:

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At least I didn't have to try to reverse the trailer down the side of the house again!

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Condition wise it is far better than RUK, I havent had the chance to have a proper look around it yet but the sills look to be in perfect condition with minor surface rust at the fron jacking points. The floor pan in mint as is the boot floor. The chassis legs are perfect, there is a small amount of surface rust on the a pillars and the door bottoms are all completely rust free. The front Valence looks solis as does the inner valence headlamp panels. Although, I've never seen a Dolly with perfect original inner outer valence panels, so I'll take everything off and have a look.

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The front nose looks to have some filler in it, a poke with a screwdriver reveals some rust but nothing scary. The inner front panel around the rad has rusted through, again nothing scary but I'll have to strip the front end to take a closer look.

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There seems to be an auxiliary fuel pump fitted, apparently this was a 'backup', that'll be going then!

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Has the early larger steering wheel fitted and as Jonners pointed out to me the early CDSE bergs. It has the wrong rev counter fitted, not an issue, I'll keep an eye out for one of these. I got some spares as well, a spare rad, sealed beam units and a bunch of bits in the boot that I need to go through.

I'm very pleased, as much as I like RUK being an auto I was hankering after a manual so it will be nice to drive a manual version as a comparison.

So what to do with her. Well you've probably guessed that she's going to be restored, shes way to good to scrap and should be an easy resto. New brakes, new fuel lines, pull the tank and clean it, refurb the carbs, electronic ignition, new hoses. But instead of faffing with the electrics I will immediately install halogen units and an electric fan and at the same time relay everything as per RUK. I'll keep the upgrades sympathetic, NWL is the uber anal, has to be super original car! I think the rack may need a recon, so that should be easy, mileage is higher than RUK so I'll do a leakdown test again, I think the head may be a newer later one, will have to check that out and go through the paperwork, it may have had a new engine fitted with the box.

What to do with the box though? It's a good upgrade IMHO, so I think I'll keep it. If I see a non od box come up for sale then I'll snap it up. Incidentally the exhaust system that has been fitted is the non od system the same as RUK and it seems to fit ok. I'll see, but it will need a new exhaust and tyres as well. I want the parcel shelf for RUK as it has the radio cutout in it so I'll swap them over. I'll have a look over her at the weekend but I wont start anything until RUK is finished.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:22 pm 
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Great find and save, I'm looking forward to watching this progress :)

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:52 am 
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I'll be interested to see the extent of the repairs needed and of course look forward to seeing the repairs take shape.

It's fair to say James that you now have Obsessive Dolomite Hoarding Disorder or ODHD! Great find though, and to be so local and free is even better. Similar to how I found my old 1500HL.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:33 am 
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Thanks chaps, I'm going to have a really good look over it this weekend especially that front end. I'll get the inspection camera into the box sections as well.

Need to see if it turns over by hand.

Have been through my stash and I have points, cap etc... so if I get a battery I should be able to see if it will fire up at the weekend.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:23 am 
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I notice it has the shallower tunnel tray from a later single rail box car. Is reverse next to 3rd or 1st? It may have the later single rail overdrive box fitted from a later car when the o/d was converted.

I can probably find you a 3 rail non overdrive box but I cant remember if I converted most of my boxes of this type to overdrive. You can play a lot of mix and match between 3 rail and single rail boxes and take advantage of the stronger TR7 laygear, but there are some caveats too. If the box in it works well I'd just go with it.

I'm surprised this works with the non o-d exhaust though. I had to change the centre section when I converted ERO about 12 years ago now.

To get the CDSE bergs running sweet you will I suspect need to do the minute O rings under the plastic lozenges. I would reserve judgement depending on how you get on with them.

Front end looks to have suffered but not too badly. I await developments with interest.

Jonners

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:41 pm 
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Quote:

It's fair to say James that you now have Obsessive Dolomite Hoarding Disorder or ODHD!
Must have caught it from Alun :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:27 pm 
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Well Mart, I have been conversing with him a lot recently, oh my god even my vocabulary is better hanging around with him. :lol:

It's a single rail Jonners, looks to have been converted a while ago. I agree, I think as long as the box works well then I'll stick with it. It's part of the history of the car. Checked the engine number and it matches up so the block hasn't been changed.

ImageUntitled by james_shephard_uk, on Flickr

I have a knock around with my trusty bodywork hammer today, if there's rust this will find it! 8)

ImageUntitled by james_shephard_uk, on Flickr

The rear of the car is solid, boot floor is mint, the inside of the boot has a thick coating of black ziebart, there's that familiar smell when you open the boot!

Outer sills are just mint, inners and outers. They are original as they have the bottom lip bit.

Behind the splash shields is clean, theres a small hole at the bottom of the drivers side sill here, a tiny fix but in a pain in the arse position.

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Doors are perfect, obviously the Ziebart has done its business here.

A posts have some surface rust but no holes like RUK.

Engine bay and chassis legs are perfect.

Haven't checked behind the servo yet, will do that when I pull it off.

The main problem areas are at the front. The lower outer valence on the passengers side has some holes, I'll have to do the same repair as I did before. The outer upper valence had some filler in and is holed around the headlights, this is going to require some fab work here. The wings have a few small holes in, nothing bad. Haven't had the lights off yet so I need to will need to check the headlamp panels but they seem fine after my test of shake the light and see if any rust falls out! I hammered away at the inner valence outers and they really do seem to be solid. The inner valence behind the rad does have some holes. I should be able to repair these with the rad out.

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I pulled the sender out of the fuel tank and as was to be expected the inside is pretty manky. It's going to need a Bilt Hamber clean and a pressure test. I suspect that it will have a couple of pinholes in it and will need a repair.

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I popped a battery in and it does turn over and has oil pressure. The radio works and was tuned to Heart, as soon as I turned it on Queen, Radio Ga Ga was playing!!

I think the front seats have been replaced as well, the runners on the front are the later type that you have to pull the lever to the side rather than depress it as on the early cars.


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 Post subject: Okay.......
PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:18 pm 
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Please do note, the wiring has been altered to get the tachometer working (assuming it does work?).

Ditch the CDSEs and fit the later CDs. Unleaded and the temperature compensator O -rings are a bad combination….
T2000 CD150s are the same save for the needles.




What is an early tachometer worth?




Ian.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:44 pm 
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Quote:
Please do note, the wiring has been altered to get the tachometer working (assuming it does work?).
Yep, I'm aware of how the rev counter works on early 1850s (given that I own another!! :wink: ), the wiring hasn't been touched, it isn't even connected.
Quote:
Ditch the CDSEs and fit the later CDs. Unleaded and the temperature compensator O -rings are a bad combination….
T2000 CD150s are the same save for the needles.
To be honest with you Ian, no, I'd rather not. The o rings that Burlen now supply are compatible with unleaded fuel so won't be an issue. I'll rebuild them as I did on RUK and replace them and any other parts as necessary, I'm going to keep it as an original early car with sympathetic upgrades, headlights, fan etc...

I buffed the paint up a bit and it came up very well. It has some places where it has polished through, I may respray it but before I do anything else I want to do a compression test, get the engine running then do a leakdown test.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:53 am 
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I checked the bulkhead for the usual cracks around where the pedal mounts as I noticed it was moving rather a lot!

This is probably the worst case of bulkhead fatigue that I have seen, there's a crack from the top mounting bolt to the throttle cable and theres a crack from the top bolt to the hole that the loom goes through!

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Servo needs to be removed for painting and the bulkhead pad needs to come off to inspect for rust anyway so it wont be a difficult fix.

What it will do is give me the opportunity to detail how to fix this area and fit one of the clubs reinforcing brackets.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 12:00 pm 
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That should be an easy fix, I raise you with this from my old shell. A car which had an MOT when it came off the road.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 12:51 pm 
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Wow, NWL was just as bad and that had an MOT as well. Although the MOT tester at the time did tell me that it wouldn't go through another MOT the way that it was!

I have been thinking about the best way to tackle things on the car. I don't know the condition of the clutch so rather than faff around guessing I will pull the engine and the box out to replace it. This will then give me excellent access in the engine bay to do the welding on the front inner valence and get to the bulkhead without having to work upside down. I'll also have better access for the brake pipes and I can pull the rack out and recondition it as well plus I'll have an easier time moving the car around with no engine in.

I can dress the engine, clean it up etc... recondition and fit all of the ancillaries with it out on the engine stand and also check the gearbox over.

I really don't like the ziebarted engine bay, but should I be keeping it or cleaning it off? My gut feeling is that as much as I don't like it, it should remain as it is part of the history of the car.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:00 pm 
Engine is all original.

From memory gearbox had problems.

Just wanted to say how pleased we are that the car has gone to such a good home.
Also what a pleasure it was in all our dealings with the Club and its members in person and in the forum.


Best regards

Andy
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:50 pm 
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It could not have gone to a better home, James's work and attention to detail is superb. Will be watching with great interest. It is amazing how these Dolomites keep appearing after being mothballed for so long.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 3:01 pm 
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Nice one James :thumbsup:

At the rate your sorting them out, let's hope some more come your way, and back
on the road.

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