The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

ok, here goes again, with some commentary.

the car is currently at jodsport, ready for some massive action this coming weekend. in the meantime some things have happened.

some well overdue pics in sort of chronological order over the last couple of months:

before i took the car to jods i fitted the door rubbers, and after a couple of hours i had a break to admire glorias @rse:



...and then started sticking on some trim using black RTV silicone, until it ran out:



the car then went to jods and the engine n box along with all the interior came out. jod rescued the zorst manifold:



and the comedy started to flow:



...and kept flowing "how useful":



engine bay shots after a bit of cleaning up small traces of rust:







the interior came out along with the wiring loom. after i gave up trying to get all the dash bolts out, jod used a trusty method 'the force', then undid a few more bits:



i took the subframe home for some special dollyboy lovin. this is what it looked like at first:



notice the pressure washer in the bakground

dismantled half of it, painted a bit:



...then did a bit more:



...and a bit more:



...and a bit more:



...and painted the cups:



...and also painted pretty much everything else that might go rusty, including the camber shims, as well as found another use for wheelie bins - how useful:



oh yeah, one of the bottom balljoints had pretty much morphed itself onto the vertical link, but i have some skillz, i do, meet 'jack', well, in cb terms, thats his handle:




...so now we have an almost complete subbing frame. i've decided in spite of the fact the ball joints are all 'good', im gona get new ones. The TRE's are new, they went on when the new rack went in, however one of the rubber boots has a small split - not sure how that got there, but im not changing it now until it fails. rack mounts are poly too.

im waiting on bottom arm bushes from jigsaw - mark is a fat robbing b-stard, £60 for those, thats after £200 for a "full set" which doesnt include those, or the subframe mounts, so screw that, i bought rimmers ones which fat boy says dont fit - the jury's out on that one at the moment, but we'll find out next weekend at our peril. its actually rimmers peril, coz if they dont fit, theres gona be 3 very p1ssed off people, 2 more than the other one, but still, the resulting phone call the following morning wont be nice...

welcome to one of the most expensive tolos ever, still looking to be on target for 2k total without time and sundries.

plenty of grease used on all nuts n bolts, not that im planning on taking it apart again in this lifetime. i know, "was it copper grease??" i here you ask... well, no, it was the next best thing - "whatever i had kicking around" - boring old lithium grease. still, better than "no grease at all".

also - strange findings:

the castor shims (i think they're meant to be anyway), the little ones with 2 slots... well on one side of the subframe there was 1 shim. on the other there were 2. weird. just proves they do pretty much f-all then. so in absence of 1 shim i used a couple of washers that were spookily virtually exactly the thickness of a shim. HOW USEFUL.

i have a spare early sprinty subframe looking a bit crusty, you can see it in the background on a couple of the pics above. i rescued a couple of extra camber shims from that. this sprinty subbing frame has no castor shims or brackets/fittings for them, thus the top wishbone bolts will be shorter. HOW STRANGE.

i think i'll dismantle it at some stage and save the bits and chuck the frame as it's just in my way, but if anyone else has a sprinty subbing frame like that and wants some 'shorter' top mount/wishbone bolts, let me know

i was sure i had a pic of the superlights painted, cant find that, i'll get another one soon

Spriny subframe is an early one They didn't have the front brackets

yep thought so, ta. still, early or not, it's in my way, so that wont save it.

it looks very likely that one way or another im gona have to make some space for gloria at home much sooner than planned. sadly gloria cant go in my garage as a builder requires on-going access to the back garden to remove rubble, blocks, bricks and other crap so it looks like i have to fork out for a car cover and park it back on mum in laws drive in the heart of chad where it may be subject to hooded yoofs, various other undesirable elements of society and everything else you see on jeremy kyle. nice.

If the subframe mounting holes are circular then it's probably worth ebaying. I spent £50 on one a few months back.

well, they're sort of circular, but very flakey and need repairing. could have washers welded on i spose, it could be worth something to a stickler for originality, if i got a 10er for it id be v happy but the bottom line is i just need to clear stuff.

i wont have any time for the next 2 weekends but with some major re-shuffling i guess i could hang on to it.

the sooner gloria is tucked up safely at home, the better. im thinking of tracking down a local lock up/garage - im gona need one when the sprint is done! then again my nx door neighbour has a nearly empty garage, but my bike is already in it while garden works proceed.

anyone want a gsxr? £700

another update, in preparation pour le weekend:

the bottom arm or 'radius arm' bushes i ordered from jigsaw arrived. very nice they are too, except they were actually jigsaws super special poly-remade ARB end mounts by mistake, jigsaws i might add, so i take back the whining about £60, they're worth that to me, and now going on my sprint. good way of shifting some stock i suppose i dont think anyone else has bothered to remake them, and instead of re-used rubber ones its amazing more people arent using them really. i'll stick a pic up soon.

in the meantime, the bushes i actually NEED, while available in poly, i made a few calls and opted to go for a brand spankin new pair of bottom arms c/w metal type bushes a la sprint/1850/1500hl from rimmers. £20 a side. the poly bushes are about that a side, dont come with any means to minimise fouling on the arm mount, apparently are too much of an interference fit, so i did the sensible thing i think. sadly rimmers dont have the dust seals for the original type, but mark at jigsaw parted with some for me at minimal cost.

while i was there [on the phone to rimmers i mean] i invested in a new complete set of ball joints.

the front workings of gloria should now give better than 'just off the production line' feel and response, and last a good while too

expensive? yes
verging on bankrupt now? yes
worth it? probably, having a bit of a debate with myself justifying spending such an obscene amount of money on this little toy. I suppose the jury will remain out until ive driven it 'properly', but based on whats been removed vs whats gone back in place, the improvement in handling and feel should be exponential, especially when the superlights go on

...but im more looking forward to getting that lump and box in and playing spot the difference between a properly sorted fast road 1500 TC o/d vs standard 1300 single carb tolo motor.

[picture the scene: 10 miles from anywhere, no mobile phone signal or daylight, stretch its legs a bit for the 1st time, kabooom, swearing ] <<<<< very very unlikely really, but still, the comedy...

very productive day, well, weekend actually, this stage finished a day earlier than expected

Friday afternoon:
subframe completed and engine bay primed

Saturday:
subframe on (refitted with poly bushes, all except the donut ones that go on top of the rear mounts that need fitting at the next opportunity)
zorst manifold modified n ground out a bit
engine n box in n bolted up
engine bay painted up enough, its not a perfect colour match by any stretch but close enough, and most important its all protected
steering column swapped

loom compatibilty error for ignition - HL combines headlight switch wiring into ign bundle, tolo doesnt

pending compatibility error - tolo wiper motor vs HL loom

other useful findings:
- standard tolo propshaft IS INDEED same length as o/d
- an extra shim in suspension top mount appears to make what looks like just the right adjustment for 1" shorter springs, certainly better than it was anyway, but the real test will be front tyre wear, to be monitored.
- rimmers poly subframe mounts DO fit

thanks yet again jod and al, and various 'other halves' for patience, also thanks to alun n for previous loan of crane and new TREs.

all things moving in the right direction

the eternal question aye ?

Nice work dollyboy, nice wrap up of what you've been doing. Pics are great. That Jod fellow looks like a handy man to have in a tight spot.

I think that the cost becomes irrelevant as long as you don't literally bankrupt yourself. A wine critic in Oz had the saying "drinking a poor bottle of wine when you could have drunk a decent one, is the same as smashing the decent bottle on the ground. There are only so many times that you have the opportunity to drink good wine."

so it is with the dolly restos !

I also can't believe how well you've done given the limited space you have. Good work.

stu

thanks stu

yep, just a story of the usual - never enough time, never enough space, always something interfering with plans and getting in the way... and you're right, theres not many jods about! you need to be the right kind of person to be able to work with him for any extended period of time, thats for sure

on the cost issue - i whole hearetdly agree with what has been said before by certain 'banished' people, and some who remain nameless and choose not to make too much noise, except for once i'll opt for the more polite version:

its all well and good for folk to moan about how disappointed and traumatised by their dolo or tolo that cost a few hundred quid, and the fact it needs a load of work to get it to run properly and/or patch up all the rusty holes and replace panels. "GOD, ISNT MY CAR CRAP?" etc etc. the solution is simple - you want a reliable nice looking car? you gota spend proper time & money on it, replace things, upgrade things, do a proper job and stop arsing about. you dont need to spend a small fortune if you know the right people, thats one of the major point and purpose of car clubs isnt it?

theres no point embarking on a 'resto' unless you have time, money, space and some expertise or willingness to learn, or a big pile of money to pay someone else to do the whole lot. the cost of paying a suitably competent person/company to do a proper full job on a dolo or tolo i reckon starts at 3-4k and goes up to maybe 20k depending on the sort of job you want. the reason why people like mart do it cheaper is because they can do most of the work themselves. if im honest, i can undo nuts, bolts, screws,
hit things quite hard when required and im pretty handy with electrics along with having a fairly reasonable understanding of engineering terms and thats about it. i have limited tools, but enough to get by for basic stuff, which is why im so grateful for assistance from those people who help me out

anyway - more to follow.

jobs left - fit wiring, rad and cooling system inc oil cooler (its already piped up, in fact was never removed from the engine), heater, dash. clutch hydraulics, o/d wiring, fresh oil in gearbox, full engine service, a seat, then its off for tracking and another MOT on the way home.

then i can set about some small touching up of 'assembly damage', fitting the rest of the trim, polybushing the back end, fitting the spotlights, stereo and interior (converting honda civic seats), getting zorst made and then we'll be ready for 'next season' probably by easter. im trying to be realistic!

ok, so an update after weekend just gone, sadly no more pics to add at the moment, so in brief:

ign barrel swapped
HL heater matrix fitted
front wiring loom in and mostly connected
water hoses all connected
dolo wiper motor fitted
sprint rad fitted. oh what fun, oil cooler wouldnt fit where it was on edy as 1300 grilles have different brackets
new home found for oil cooler underneath rad (pipes need shortening tho)
zorst connected up (temporarily, the manifold went "ping", bye bye), and of course the gbox mount doesnt marry up
coil fitted
powered up (temporarily, battery too big on opposite side to sprint)
turned over/fired up, running nicely but setting up to do - of course you need bravery (and no pacemakers allowed) to make it stop running on 'temporary wiring' as the key switch isnt fully operational yet

ran for many minutes, all warmed up nicely, water boiled up before fan kicked in, missing earth to fan somewhere

...so plenty to be sorted yet, will move under its own power v soon.

could be more progress this coming weekend, see how we go. mother in law in hospital with cancer/lems disease/dehydration/kidney issues resulting from chemo/etc etc, so things are a bit stressed out in da family area [not a cry for sympathy please], more updates and pics to follow soon.

...more progress today, just a little bit.

gloria moves under her own power now if required, wiring sorted so now she starts AND stops on the key. to be fair it was mostly jod on the wires, but theres several modifications (well, additions) to the loom from EDY that i wasnt really party to, until recently

HL dash offered into place but not secured as mr triumph has put another hurdle in the way - the fixings under the window dont line up

pics will follow after next session...

Bloody brill progress mate. It will be worthwhile in the end. Mucho admiration.

Ken

so we continue...

blower repainted, gearbox drained and re-oiled. mating up tolo rear wiring to HL loom was fun, but now complete, with more big thanks to the majik bloke

headlight wiring - the HL connectors wont fit thru the square bowls, some tweaking required. still, the lights are now out again and the grilles will get another coat of paint while we're there.

things are heading in the right direction.

PS - this thing is gona fookin fly