ERO - Project restore the late Mr Tilson's Dolomite

[dollyman]

Hi James, really nice work I cant remember, but have you got spray equipment or have you used custom rattle cans?

Tony.

[new to this]

looking good,have you got much more to do

Dave

[James467]

Just rattle cans Tony, weather wasn't the best to do it in (a tad windy) but it has come out ok.

It's just going through the car now top to bottom doing a pre MOT check Dave. I have gone through the brakes so I know they are fine. It's just a case of checking electrics, lights, balljoints, steering etc...

[dollyman]

Thanks James, that is a good finish, i have some paint to do on one of my cars...So i will get some made up.

Tony.

[matt of the vivas]

What did you do to the front end James? New wings?

[James467]

What did you do to the front end James? New wings?

Just repaired them Matt.

New column bush fitted (one that was in Jons stash)



Gave the rear panel a coat of satin and fitted a new stainless exhaust that Jon had for it.



Bumper refitted and it's back on its wheels



Fluids checked and started



All done, just needs a couple of things for it's MOT. Hazard switch, washer pump and the NS front main beam working.

[James467]

Spring has finally sprung here and the weather has turned for the better, or well for a couple of days at least! So on a nice couple of days I got on with getting ERO ready for it's MOT. The first job was to sort out the interior. A repaired seat, everything thoroughly cleaned, new carpets fitted scavenged from Jon's stash of parts in his garage and the interior smells so much better!















Having a clean, nice smelling interior makes a huge difference, it's now a nice place to be.

On to the outside of the car, I did my usual trick of flatting off the whole car with a fine scuff pad, then it was out with the polisher for a compound and polish followed by a good coat of carnuba wax!

This is after the first compound...









It now looks very shiny, you will have to wait for the advertising shots to see!

The rear bumper blades/corners have been replaced with hole free examples!





The boot has been thoroughly cleaned and all of the repairs to the floor have been given a liberal coat of Waxoyl. Unfortunately the old fuel tank was leaking, so it was out with the old and in with a spare which is nice and leak free.



On to the MOT prep, I knew there were a few electrical issues with the car, being stood for a while hadn't helped a bit. The headlamps were only getting 9 volts, Jon had fitted H4 bulbs but no relays so instead of spending hours trying to trace faults and repair, I simply pulled out the front loom and made a new one pulling a good clean 12v from the battery through relays for Main, dipped and the Horn, so now the headlights, sidelights and horn work perfectly.









A new washer pump and repaired parking switch means that the wipers work correctly. It was then a question of going around everything and making sure it all worked.

I ran it down the road and back for a shakedown and it ran really awful, so it was back home and I gave the carbs a good clean and once over to make sure they were working correctly, the carb rubber had perished and split as had the breather hoses, they have been replaced. I also pulled the distributor, the advance had seized so I stripped that down and that now works correctly. Everything back on, I had a look at why the exhaust was bashing the gearbox, the old gearbox support had become completely detached from itself, rubber perished and gone! So a new gearbox support is now on as well as new exhaust hangers.



It still needs a bit of a fettle but it now runs much better with the carbs and dizzy sorted plus a new cap and rotor arm. The exhaust needs a small adjustment, it's banging slightly, easy fix though.

Took it for an MOT and it did fail, there's no point in hiding it because the information is available in the public domain which is why I always tell people to check the MOT history of a car when purchasing. It failed on annoying things that only happen when you have a classic car, plus something that I didn't see. Whilst adjusting the headlamp aim (he lets me do that for free!!) the adjuster broke from age so the headlamp flopped around!! The brake light switch decided to fail on the way to the MOT station so I had no brake lights and the left hand rear indicator decided not to work when asked due to a bad connection, plus the handbrake needs adjustment (I normally do this there on the ramp but as it had failed on the brake lights I didn't bother). Nothing bad, but annoying nonetheless.

The other thing it failed on were the tyres. Although they had plenty of tread they were cracked from age and on inspection the cracks between the treads went down to the cords, this is a fail. So a new set of Firestones have been ordered. Check your tyres people!!

Anyway, tyres will be fitted next week, I have already fixed everything else so it should be back in next Friday for a retest which it should pass.

Just need to go and find somewhere nice to take some photos for the advert now.

[yorkshire_spam]

MOT fail can be demoralising, but really positive that it's nothing that can't easily be fixed. Great work as ever James!

[James467]

Thanks Sam, I'm not worried about the MOT, it's part of dealing with old cars!

[dollyman]

Top job as usual James

Tony.

[James467]

Cheers everyone!

Back for it's retest today and it was a pass!





Another one back on the road and now available for sale!

[yorkshire_spam]

The dawn of a new ERO for the car! Back on the road!

[GTS290N]

Looks great - another excellent job.

[Russetauto]

Car looks really good. What's the asking price for then?
Cheers David.

[James467]

We would like £3500 ono, which I think is fair.

There is also a spares package available, a complete TR7 fuel injection system, rear axle, spare head and some other bits all to be negotiated separately. Jon also has a spare TR7 engine in his garage which the new owner may be interested in.

Will put an ad up in the for sale section shortly.