The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi Louis,

Well done on an ambitious resto, I don't know if you have contacted the TSSC to confirm but your car seems to be one of the oldest MkIV or earliest 1500's, bit confused by some of the photos and too much red wine but the early body and engine bay pictures tell me it's a Mk IV. About this time Triumph were experimenting with lots of things for the new model, I think that the speedo is 1500 rather than late MkIV for example. Basically I am saying that your car is a bit special, so good on you !

I don't know where the Toledo comment came from but I have a 2 door and a Dolly 1500 HL in a 4 door shell that will be for sale, Toledo TS badges and Sprint alloys et al, if you need a new project after let me know !

I haven't contacted the TSSC, no. I had seen the forums been down for a LOOONG time now though otherwise I would have been interested in maybe joining that club as it has lots of benefits when it comes to insurance etc. It is registered as a MKIV and had the badges on the rear quarters and the stock 1300 engine however I thought the speedometers in 1500/mkiv were the same? had never really thought about it having 1500 parts although I had realised it was a late one either way.

Oh, and about your Toledo... I have been looking for a small car to use after passing my driving test at the end of last month which would be decently insured as the spitfire insurance is pricey!

I'll pm you

Louis

I'll wait for your pm but just to advise, the speedo actually changed, i'm not at home to confirm but if I remember correctly the early ones indicated 120mph as the last number and the later ones 110mph with just a mark to indicate 120. No doubt someone will clear up the correct way round it is. I broke an N reg 1500 a few years back and was really surprised at the amount of MkIV parts that were used and only changed on the model in 1976.

The Toledo, it's a 2-door in Red, been sitting in a field for a while but still runs well. I'd need to sort out the clutch slave cylinder before it would be roadworthy but that's it, after that it just needs a coat of paint and it will look 100% again, the interior is in excellent condition.

I pmed you yesterday, did you not get it? Sounds like exactly what I was looking for really! It had never been mentioned to me before about some 1500 parts being on my car. Is there any other parts you want me to look for which would most likely have been interchanged? I suppose with such a small thing as a Speedo you wouldn't often notice!

I checked the speedo again today and it does have the 120mph number and the mark so does this make it mkiv?

I rebuilt my shock absorbers today with the newly cleaned and painted parts. The only thing I did notice however when putting one of the shocks back together the top leaf spring plate was on an angle with the bush inside also not equally compressed. I tried putting in new bushes but they were incredibly tight, and ripped the bush? Any ideas onto these issues? I'm thinking the shocks will "settle" once actually on the car but i'm not sure.



I also welded in the sill section back into position and sprayed some zinc phosphate into the middle of the sill. Will be inserting some wax-oil into both sills before welding on end plates.







Here's some before and after engine bay pictures. Quite proud of this ;D

Plastic welded the cracks, filled and primed my overriders. Just need spraying black next.

Nice work going down here....

The spit 1500 I own has a silver rocker cover and air filter. Not sure about earlier ones.

Nice bit of welding there too.

Jonners

_________________
Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.

Yeah the rocker cover will be going back to silver air filter box will be staying the same for now as I have some kns to fit anyway. Will just need new needles and springs for that though. Thanks for the kind words.

I welded in a last "v" plate into my rear quarter repair panel. Just need some bondo in order to bring back the smoother curving profile of the wing.



I also sprayed my over-riders up in black and was happy with the finish as it kept the matte plastic look and was fairly similar to the original finish. I was gutted to say the least when the passenger side rider cracked when tightening up the bolts. Ahh well, win some you lose some. It'll do for now, and i'll search for a new on in the future.

Welded in the curved front panel onto the front of the bulkhead like I had done on the passengers side. Did a much better job this time, and can feel my welds improving! Lot less holes There is a large "dent" in the bulkhead which I didn't do but the metal is really thin. Thinking of just knocking this out from inside or welding in a flat piece of sheet metal. Will see.











I also bondoed up the rear quarter from before and will sand it tomorrow.



I re-connected the door hinge thing again, but instead of using the rivet I just put a nut and bolt in. Will this be ok?

Cheers Hazen, i'll bear that in mind.

I had made my repair panels "oversized" as I was unsure on the exact measurements and didn't want anything too small. It doesn't look like i've done anything at all from before, but i drilled through and plug welded the bulkhead repair to the a post and trimmed the repair into the proper size.

I also re-welded in with a higher power the repair panel on the passengers side and there's no holes now! Just need some more of the welds grinding/ filling but will do that once the sill end plates are in.

Well I sanded down the bondo on the rear quarter. As the panel wasn't exactly the right size which was welded in it needs some more bondo to build it up to the correct profile. I am happy with it's positioning however as on both sides it measure the same height for the bumper mount.



I also made a sill end plate, which was harder than I thought it would be but got there in the end ;D

It still needs some more finishing, but now I will be able to apply bondo over my welds and then put some stonechip onto the bulkhead.

Thought i'd have a better look at the heelboard/ rear radius arm bracket rust. It seems when that the bracket had been re-inforced in the past and along with the spot welds were seam welds. Made it interesting to remove in such a tight space but anyway...

I set to it with my grinder and got the bracket off.



I cut the majority of the rust out just have some more to get to and tidy up.



Has anyone done this particular area before? Doesn't look too difficult to form the panels.

I also drilled the crusty parts of the windscreen frame until I got to solid metal. I will just put some metal into there and it'll be good. I have put some primer onto it for the time being.

Welded in a sill plate onto the other side of the car now.



I also started the rebuild on my front suspension but unfortunately no pics! I'll get some tomorrow.

Good stuff,plenty of pics.Well done.