The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

g[/attachment][img][/Hi folks,
Only joined the club at the start of August, my name is Gary and live in South Queensferry about ten mins from Edinburgh, had a 1500 tc as my first car and have always had a notion for another one so at the start of July I picked up DJL 244V (1500 HL) russet brown, since then I have already spent hours and hours on her and loved every minute so far, I'm no mechanic but do have the luxury of a very good mate who is and I also have use of a garage which makes things a lot easier. My wee dolly started off pretty well with not much rust at all from rear to front, all good so far, all cut out and repaired but now we have welded all the dodgy bits apart from front panel headlamp holders valance etc which are to be honest a bit past it! Bought a fibreglass wing from rimmers for the n/s which was beyond repair too but now have purchased a "Chick Doig" restored 1500tc which is accident damaged, but fit for the parts I need I'm glad to say so now have a donor vehicle VHO 749V.

Questions I have
1, am I best keeping it russet Brown? (Original colour)
2, in the donor car it has a auto box ( am I better using that engine and box) or sticking with the original manual box and original engine?
Both are looking like they are in good condition and both sounding really sweet? Since I'm new to this I'm looking for a bit help/advice on the best way forward, got the car stripped the now and hopefully it will be going in for a full respray the first couple of weeks in September, then get it back and fit whatever units you think best?
Doing a good bit work to it to bring it back to a decent standard and want to do what's best for the motor, got loads of new parts to fit to it too bushes, shocks, brakes, etc etc etch of any advice would be greatly appreciated. Will try and post some photos but pretty useless with these computers!
With anticipation,
Gary Deuchars.

Gary,

The Club does new galvanised headlamp mounting panels and zintec repair sections for the inner valance. They also do GRP wings to far better quality and fit to those you can source from elsewhere. There is no real need to destroy one car to fix another.

As for which drive train, what do you want from the car?

Thanks for that but the donor car chassis has a good buckle in it from when it came off the road it went in a ditch and has put a good sized dent in the roof and due to such a shunt it looks like it has twisted the chassis, I just want to restore the 1500 hl back to a really decent standard and to save it going to the scrappies. It's not a car I will use every day ( use my van) and also have another car for day to day use, to put one back on the road would be fab and to use when suits.
Regards Gary.

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Turning the car upside down must have made it much easier to get at the rusty bits!

Welcome to the forum Gary.
Bill (who is EdinDundee on here) is just along the road from you in Edinburgh.

In my opinion...
1 Yes
2 Stick with original engine and gearbox.


Ian.

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They certainly look different upside down!
Ah, that sounds far better; you made it sound as if it were fresh out of Chic's workshop!

Welcome to the forum Gary.

I've resized all those photos so they're all the right way up now. I'm 100% with Ian. Keep it Russett and keep the original mechanicals. If this is going to be a "resto" thread then it needs to be renamed to something more appropriate. The current title suggests that you're just asking for advice.

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Toledo Man

West Yorkshire Area Organiser & forum moderator
Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA

1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Now for sale)
2003 Volvo XC90 D5 SE (PX53 OVZ - The daily driver)
2009 Mercedes-Benz W204 C200 CDI Sport (BJ58 NCV - The 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - another project car)
Former stable of SAY 414M (1974 Toledo), GRH 244D (1966 1300fwd), CDB 324L (1973 1500fwd), GGN 573J (1971 1500fwd), DCP 625S (1977 Dolomite 1300) & LCG 367N (1975 Dolomite Sprint) plus 5 Acclaims and that's just the Triumphs!

Check my blog at http://triumphtoledo.blogspot.com
My YouTube Channel with a bit of Dolomite content.

"There is only one way to avoid criticsm: Do nothing, say nothing and BE nothing." Aristotle