Project Little Green Dolly

[Purplebargeken]

Goodbye LWT, hello LGD.

Welcome to: WLG 389W a Brooklands Green Dolomite 1300. She was registered on 1st September 1980, so she is nearly 35 years old and is the 'newest' small Triumph that I have owned AFAICR.

Her most recent owner was an elderly chap who sadly passed away and the car had lain dormant for a short while. Her MOT and tax have only very recently run out.

She had some welding underneath and will require a tickle from the MIG along the inner sill(s).

Her dash veneer is a bit tired but I am thinking options for that and will come up with something I am sure.

Her beige rear seat upright is afflicted by the usual sun induced fragility and has perished in places.

The odd bit of external trim is required, mainly a door trim and both rear bumper end pieces.

The rest of her foibles will be revealed upon a proper inspection on her arrival on Tuesday.











So, there she is.

[Carledo]

You spend TOO much time on ebay Ken! Still it looks reasonably sound!
Project SB is still here but has not turned a wheel in anger since the last MOT and its due again on Aug 4th! And the clutch has seized on! I will have to spend a weekend sorting it out so it can be tested again and (note to self) use it more next year! Joe has still not passed his test, 4 tries now and all silly mistakes really, he's actually not a bad driver despite the ADHD! He's still determined to pass and get out in the Tolly but going for tests is becoming an expensive hobby!

Steve

[Purplebargeken]

Just chuck the bugger in 4th and get him to rock the car as punishment for not getting his licence yet lol.

He'll get there.

The car was bought of another forum mate and I got it at mate's rates as he needed to clear space ASAP and no-one else showed an interest.

[Purplebargeken]

Have been buying for the Dolly already!

Bought some sidelight/indicator unit seals, screws and some new amber bulbs.

[Purplebargeken]

Steve, I haven't told you about the Rover 75 2.5 V6 or the '91 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme have I?

[Jon Tilson]

I've got a set of dash wood from a 1300 sat in the loft.

Come and get it.

Can you remember the way?

Jon

[Carledo]

Olds Cutlass eh? I'm not that well up on 90s Yank iron but IIRC its a rather boxy 2 door notchback with either a 2.3ish 4 banger or a 3.8ish v6 some of the 4 pots came with turbos and were quite quick. FWD, auto and every gadget known to man, loads of velour inside plus a ton of emission control equipment to strangle the engine!
AND another 75! You sure are a glutton for punishment! Mind you, I came within a whisker of buying a 51 plate ZTT from your neck of the woods a few weeks ago! My opinion of them is not as bad as it used to be, my tame MOT man has an ever changing fleet of them, but never less than 6 and one of my own customers has 3 including an early, Cowley built 2.0 V6, this one I have NOT changed my opinion of, it's far better built than later ones but is totally GUTLESS!

Pics please!

Steve

[Purplebargeken]

Hi Jon, that sounds like a plan. Sadly I will need reminding Sir. Thank you

Steve, the 75 I have was an ebay find. It needed a new fan which I did and a new thermostat housing as the one on there was leaking and making the temp gauge climb alarmingly. A chap from the club came over and did it for pocket money. Utterly fab bloke. The 2.5 is lovely and smooth and it is lovely to drive. ZTT is a useful thing.

The Olds is the 3.1 version and needs a fettle. Poss an injector, front disks and pads, a bonnet (hood ) release cable and a trunk lock. Pushrod engine and no cambelt. Could do with a trans fluid and filter change too. It was only 200 quid mind.

4 speed auto column change and a bench seat up front. Nice enough as an intro to american stuff but a bit bland compared to what else is around. It is a start.

[Purplebargeken]

I will do piccies of 'em all when they turn up. Not sure of delivery date for the Olds, Dolly is tomorrow. Rover is outside

[Jon Tilson]

Chuck me a PM when you fancy popping over or maybe Howard will collect it for you when
he next passes for Bournemouth.
Now has your name on it

Jon

[Carledo]

Hi Jon, that sounds like a plan. Sadly I will need reminding Sir. Thank you

Steve, the 75 I have was an ebay find. It needed a new fan which I did and a new thermostat housing as the one on there was leaking and making the temp gauge climb alarmingly. A chap from the club came over and did it for pocket money. Utterly fab bloke. The 2.5 is lovely and smooth and it is lovely to drive. ZTT is a useful thing.

The Olds is the 3.1 version and needs a fettle. Poss an injector, front disks and pads, a bonnet (hood ) release cable and a trunk lock. Pushrod engine and no cambelt. Could do with a trans fluid and filter change too. It was only 200 quid mind.

4 speed auto column change and a bench seat up front. Nice enough as an intro to american stuff but a bit bland compared to what else is around. It is a start.

OOF! I did a stat housing on the 2ltr V6 one and it was a nightmare - both to get and to fit, all the inlet manifolding and injection had to come off to access it and it took so long to source one (the old one had literally crumbled - cheap plastic cr*p) the owner was on the verge of scrapping it!
Yank bits are not too hard to source generally, nor are they usually very expensive (cept modern Chrysler stuff) but you won't get them from Halfords! There are UK Yank specialists and if that fails, try scandinavia or american ebay, you'd be surprised. You want to watch the early GM injection and management systems though, small problems can kill a car through lack of available diagnostic systems in the UK. My 84 Olds Custom Cruiser Woody had a carb and was easy to deal with but the 87 Caddy with 4.1 injected V8 was a nightmare, so much so that I sold it quick when it started playing up!

Steve

[Purplebargeken]

Cheers Jon, happy to pop over at some point. It has been a while.

Steve, there is a 'keyhole' method which involves less wanton dismantling. There is a vid of it somewhere on the interweb.

Frustratingly the delivery of said green Dolly has been delayed for a couple of days as the guys transporter is still in the garage. I haz disappoint.

[Toledo Man]

As somebody once said: Good things come to those who wait.

Will it be back on the road in time for the TDCIR?

[Purplebargeken]

I'm not sure mate. I will be taking my time with this one.

I have the other cars to attend to as well

[Purplebargeken]

Just a small update to say that LGD trundled through the 40 mile journey to another temporary home this morning and never missed a beat.

We will just have to wait for the transporter to be repaired and then she can receive some TLC.

I will try and transfer some piccies over later today.

Here you go:





Happily up to temperature and sat there:



Dash is a bit tired in places:



Seat has seen better days but I may have a brown vinyl set to fit:



Door card is tatty but will try and get the brown set:



Steering wheel needs a tidy up. I will just get a wheel cover and fit that once cleaned up. I have never retained the black finish but will do this time.



Dirty but seems solid enough. Typical weepy rocker cover gasket:





So there you go so far. Oh, forgot to say. The mileage is a tad over 81, 500.