The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

From my recent research of Smiths oil-pressure gauges, there seem to be three pressure ranges which are commonly available; namely 0~60 psi, 0~80 psi and 0~100 psi.

Hence, I am interested to learn which would be most appropriate for the Triumph Toledo 1300's A-Series engine; preferably based upon manufacturer's specifications and/or direct observation under all driving conditions, including ultra-cold start-up?

On E-bay recently, I discovered a NOS 0~100 psi oil-pressure gauge module, which I think probably corresponds to the triple-gauge cluster illustrated below:

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

Well I had a MkIII Spitfire which I rebuilt the engine on, including a blueprinted oil pump and a new standard oil pressure relief valve spring. On a sub zero morning, whilst still running it in, it would consistently show 75 PSI throughout the rev range until up to normal running temp when it would hold 65-70 PSI running and about 45 PSI on idle. I would regard this as the absolute MAX you can expect from one of these engines, any more would derive from misguided modification of the pressure relief valve. So, in theory a 0-80 PSI guage would be sufficient, however I have always used 0-100 PSI guages, mainly because they are easiest to get hold of and usually cheapest. The only exception has been the Carledo which has a factory VDO electronic sensor in the engine which works in the 0-5bar range and needs a matching guage to respond properly.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

That's useful to know thank you.

I already have a VDO 0~5 Bar oil-pressure gauge & matching sender for my 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 campervan, which I could try out before committing myself to purchasing an oil-pressure gauge for the Toledo.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

Given the possibility of using a mechanical, cable-driven tachometer, I decided to try a search on E-bay, for Triumph Spitfire tachometer drives.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... e&_sacat=0

From what came up, it appears that the cable-drive for cable-driven engine-tachometers, seems to be derived from specially modified ignition distributors.

Irrespective of whether the engine has four or six cylinders, I would expect the ignition-distributor shaft, to rotate at half the RPM of the crankshaft, because a given cylinder’s sparkplug fires once, for every two rotations of the crankshaft, of a four-stroke engine.

Hence, if the driven-end & drive-end of the drive-cable are compatible with the distributor and the tachometer, I would expect a cable-driven engine-tachometer from either a Triumph Spitfire (four-cylinder engine) or Triumph GT6 (six-cylinder engine) to give correct RPM readings for a Triumph Toledo (four-cylinder engine), equipped with an appropriate Triumph Spitfire ignition distributor, have a mechanical drive for an engine-tachometer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SMITHS-REV-CO ... Sw32lYusYN

Here are examples of two types of Triumph Spitfire Delco distributor, with engine-tachometer drive mechanism, which have been modified for Powerspark electronic ignition, with either contact-breaker-points or electronic triggering:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Simonbbc-Ignit ... 7675.l2568

£84.95 - Triumph Spitfire Delco type Points distributor tachometer drive Powerspark

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Spitf ... SwHoFXvCMN

£94.95 - Triumph Spitfire Delco type Electronic Distributor Tachometer Drive Powerspark

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Spitf ... SwzgBY2l6F

I haven’t decided yet, what if any electronic ignition system, I might wish to retro-fit to the Triumph Toledo, but I have long been aware that some electronic ignition systems might not be compatible with some electronic engine-tachometers and vice versa.

The complication regarding electronic engine-tachometers (and possibly engine hour meters), is whether they are of RVI or RVC types, or possibly even some other type. The significance of these types, seems to be their compatibility with electronic ignition systems.

There is some mention of this, in the technical specifications leaflet, for the Microdynamics “Formula 1“ FCD – frequency-controlled dwell, contact breaker points triggered, electronic ignition system, which we retro-fitted in 1988/89, to the 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 campervan.

It appears that it is possible to convert an electronic engine-tachometer, from one type to the other:

£43.00 - Smiths RVI - RVC Tachometer conversion board + calibration cable (2016 Design)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-RVI-RV ... SwxH1UF~vT

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

Given the choice, I would always use a Lucas distributor as a basis for experimentation, or indeed to use unaltered as the Delco one fitted to Spitfires and GT6s are particularly nasty, cheap, fast wearing things which I bin at the earliest opportunity. I am not aware of a 4 cylinder Lucas distributor with Tacho drive that will do the job, however there are at least 2 six cylinder ones for TR6 and Vitesse 2 litre and possibly a third since I had one with Tacho drive but no Vac advance unit that I thought was a TR6 one and found out later it wasn't. It ran my GT6 mk II with Optronic beautifully though.
In theory you are perfectly correct, a 6 cylinder distributor runs at exactly the same half engine speed whether it is in a 6 cylinder car or a 4.
So it is reasonable to assume that you can make a 25D6 distributor with tacho drive (from say a Vitesse 2 ltr) into a 25D4, merely by swapping in the relevant 4 cylinder points operating cam (and dizzy cap of course) from your old Toledo distributor (or one from a Herald, Mini, Moggy Minor, the list is endless) And so long as you connect it to a matching Tachometer, it will work fine and read as true as any magnetic induction guage. I don't, unfortunately, have any spare 6 cylinder Lucas distributors with tacho drive, but I do have a fair selection of cable drive rev counters from various Spitfires, Vitesses and GT6s. If you like, I could take some pics and see if any of them take your fancy, I may even have matching speedos for some of them!

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

I was surprised to see an AC-Delco ignition distributor, intended for use with a Triumph Spitfire. I had previously associated AC-Delco products with General Motors – Vauxhall! I confess that for one reason or another, I wasn’t greatly impressed by the look of the illustrated Delco distributors with Powerspark electronic ignition, but I was unaware that they had a reputation for being of poor quality.
That sounds interesting! Unless the Triumph Vitesse & GT6 engines, have the same centrifugal and vacuum advance curves as my Toledo engine, I would imagine one would also need to swop over the ignition-advance mechanisms as well, including the centrifugal bob-weights & springs and the vacuum canister.

I have previously dismantled a Bosch ignition distributor (two sets of contact-breaker-points, for the ignition system and Bosch D-Jetronic fuel-injection system), originating from a 1971 VW 411LE, but I have yet to try this with a Lucas distributor.

The original Lucas ignition distributor on the engine of my Triumph Toledo 1300 (first registered in mid-November 1974 – since driven circa 101,000 miles), is marked Y in a circle, followed by 41449 B 45D4 »---» 3674, so I presume it is a Lucas type 45D4 distributor, that I suspect was also used on the Triumph Dolomite 13/1500. I don’t know what subtle ways this differs from a 25D4 distributor, but judging from the illustrations in the workshop manual, two obvious differences are the 45D4’s lack of an ignition-timing, knurled fine-adjustment screw and the construction of the 45D4’s contact-breaker points, which also features a vertical two-pronged fork to hold a felt grease-pad to lubricate the four-lobed cam.
I have seen a few cable-driven engine-tachometers, which appear to be a good match with the style of my Toledo speedometer; including a few with either one or two integral warning lights.

Smiths Rev Counter RN2318 /00 & Matching Smiths 140mph Speedometer SN 6203 /38A

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-Rev-Co ... Swol5Y2pP1

TRIUMPH GT6 GT6+ Tachometer Smiths 7000RPM 1970-1973 RN2318/00

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-GT6-G ... SwhlZYtkqF

Triumph GT6 MKII, MKIII Tachometer , Smiths RN2318/00 , Triumph # 215044

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-GT6-M ... Sw0JpV5L4e

SMITHS REV COUNTER TACHOMETER TRIUMPH KIT CAR

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SMITHS-REV-CO ... Sw32lYusYN

TRIUMPH GT6 TACHOMETER BEAUTIFIL FACE SHINEY CHROME

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112278215343?ul_noapp=true

There is no doubt that pairing such an engine-tachometer with an exactly matching speedometer, originating from the same car, has much to commend it, but it’s debatable whether the calibration of a Triumph GT6 speedometer (with three integral warning lights), would be appropriate for a Triumph Toledo’s gearing; even one like mine whose effective overall gearing with 185/65 R15 tyres, will be almost identical to that of a factory-standard Triumph Dolomite 1500.

My Triumph Toledo 1300’s Smith’s speedometer, is capable of showing a maximum scale-reading of 100 mph (large-numeral outer scale) or 160 km/h (small-numeral inner scale).

British specification, 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300's Smith's speedometer



Intriguingly, Page 7 of my English-language, Triumph Toledo 1300 owners’ handbook, illustrates a speedometer of similar appearance to mine, whose large-numeral outer scale is calibrated in km/h (i.e. 0~160 km/h) and small-numeral inner scale is calibrated in mph (i.e. 0~100 mph). How weird is that!?! That said, such a speedometer was used on the New Zealand specification, 1974 Triumph Toledo 1500, as I recently discovered.

New Zealand specification, 1974 Triumph Toledo 1500's Smith's speedometer



Given that the statutory maximum speed limits in most European countries are 70 mph, 110 km/h (i.e. 68¾ mph) or 130 km/h (i.e. 81¼ mph), even the Toledo speedometer is over-rated; especially for a Triumph Toledo 1300, whose theoretical maximum speed, is no more than 85 mph. The Triumph GT6’s 140 mph dial face, is even less appropriate to a Triumph Toledo 1300; 140 mph being exactly twice the British statutory maximum speed limit of 70 mph, so only half of the speedometer’s scale would ever be used!

The cable-driven, engine-tachometers’ pair of integral warning lights, seem to be one of green colour for direction-indicators and the other of red colour for a rear-window demister. Given that I intend to substitute a late-model Dolomite square-knobbed, heated rear-window switch, the red warning light is quite apt. The green direction-indicator warning light, could probably be used for the statutory, trailer’s direction-indicator warning light.

I also wonder whether it would be practical (or even possible?), to incorporate some additional warning lights, into the housings & dial-faces of an engine-tachometer (cable-driven or electronic) and speedometer. Firstly there would need to be sufficient space inside the housings, for the bulb holders cum black “light-tubes”. The next challenge would be to dimple the dial-faces in the appropriate shape and location, without otherwise distorting the dial-face or compromising the paint finish!?!

I am mindful that the speedometers of the BMC Austin-Morris Mini and the Morris Minor, both had speedometers with several integral warning lights, plus an integral fuel gauge. Sadly, they appear to be of five inches diameter, which is too large for my transplanted Dolomite HL instrument panel. Four-inch speedometers for the late-model, air-cooled, North American specification VW Type 1 Beetle, had seven integral warning lights and an integral fuel gauge.

Vintage Morris Minor classic car smiths speedo speedometer 95mph SN4423/00

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-morri ... 2348976ab5

80060000113h4444 - Mini Cooper speedometer (four warning lights and integral fuel gauge)

http://new.minimania.com/images_temp/80 ... 3h4444.jpg

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

I recently purchased on E-bay, for £10•00 each, plus postage & packing, a Smith’s 52 mm diameter, black-faced, 0~30 in.Hg inlet-manifold vacuum gauge and a Smith’s 52 mm diameter, black-faced, 0~100 psi oil-pressure gauge; both with white numerals and large-deflection (i.e. 270º or ¾-circle), centrally-pivoted white dial-pointers.

Smiths Oil Pressure Gauge 105 series 1 Landrover?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-Oil-Pr ... SwpkFY6qKQ

The 0~100 psi oil-pressure gauge which appears to be in excellent overall condition (I have yet to check it for functionality), came complete with bulb-holder, retaining clamp & knurled-nut, and screw-on fitting with barbed hose-connection. The gauge-housing bears a white, rectangular identification label, with black numerals, marked 105.

Smiths Vacuum Gauge

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-Vacuum ... Sw2gxYseGU

The 0~30 in.Hg inlet-manifold vacuum gauge, is probably less of a bargain; lacking a bulb-holder, retaining clamp & knurled-nut, and screw-on fitting with barbed hose-connection. There is no identification label on the gauge-housing.

The male-threaded boss, is identical to that of the oil-pressure gauge, so hopefully it should be relatively easy to obtain another. I shall temporarily use the one from the oil-pressure gauge, to check its functionality. As I suspected from the posted photographs on E-bay, the black paint is flaking off the brass dial face, of which some had already come adrift, revealing small brassy-coloured patches. I suspect that all of the black paint, with white scale marks & numerals, will eventually flake off, but for the moment it’s in usable condition!

Smith’s seemed to offer two styles of inlet-manifold vacuum gauge, one of which is like the second-hand one I bought, priced at £10. The other style has coloured segments, but only has calibration marks & numerals for 0, 10, 20 & 30 in.Hg. Reconditioned examples of both, are available from The Gauge Shop, but at £85 each they are too expensive for me!

http://thegaugeshop.com/

http://thegaugeshop.com/epages/77fe249f ... Products/5

http://thegaugeshop.com/epages/77fe249f ... roducts/41

The bezels of both gauges I bought, are of the same profile as the existing gauges in my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300, but they are nickel or chromium plated, which will need to be painted satin-black at some time in the future, to match the existing gauges.

Besides that, I am extremely wary of having any reflective surfaces (e.g. polished chrome or stainless steel) in line of sight, owing to past reflected-glare problems that I have experienced with the sun reflecting off the stainless-steel windscreen-wiper arms and chromium-plated steering-wheel spokes, of the substitute 14½ inch Dolomite steering wheel. In the future, I shall either paint my steering-wheel spokes with black Hammerite or satin-black paint, unless I can find a reasonably cheap, late-model Triumph Dolomite three-spoke steering wheel with black spokes.

For those travelling in extremely cold or extremely hot climatic conditions, there is also listed on E-bay, a Smith’s ambient-air temperature gauge, of similar style to the aforementioned inlet-manifold vacuum gauge and oil-pressure gauge, but at an asking price of £250•00, I think I shall pass on that one.

SMITHS AMBIENT OUT SIDE AIR TEMPERATURE GAUGE LOTUS HISTORIC MINI FORD ESCORT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SMITHS-AMBIEN ... SwOddYxxPH

It convinces me that I got a bargain when I bought my NOS, VDO Cockpit, -25~0~40 ºC ambient-air temperature gauge kit, for my 1973 VW “1600” Type 2 campervan, for only £15•00 during the early-1990s. I don’t suppose I really needed one, but for a mere £15•00, I thought it might look kewl on the dashboard and it’s another potential talking point! One potentially useful feature, is the integral frost-warning light, to alert one to the possible risk of ice on the road.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

Here is an interesting looking 100 mm, Smith’s 0~6000 rpm electronic engine-tachometer for four-cylinder engines, of a similar style to that of my original 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 speedometer, that I found listed on E-bay. However, it is uncertain whether it is serviceable or not and it is of POSITIVE-Earth type rather than NEGATIVE-Earth type.

british jaeger ,smiths rev.counter.vintage | £20.00 winning bid | Postage: £7.00 Economy Delivery

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/british-jaege ... Sw~y9ZGDHl

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/british-jaege ... Sw~y9ZGDHl

I wonder whether it could have been converted to RVC, negative-earth operation and refurbished as necessary, using the following kit.

£43.00 - Smiths RVI - RVC Tachometer conversion board + calibration cable (2016 Design)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-RVI-RV ... SwxH1UF~vT

A 0~6000 rpm tachometer would probably be better suited to the likely operating conditions of a Triumph Toledo 1300’s A-Series engine (especially mine!) than a 0~7000 rpm tachometer.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

The Jeager one looks like a refugee from something Rootes, Alpine, Rapier, Sceptre, etc from the late 50s or early 60s. The +ve earth might be a problem, you'd probably have to fit one of those modification kits, which would make it quite expensive.

Talking of expensive, I hear Accuspark (Simon BBC) are soon to be producing a Lucas type electronic distributor with cable rev counter drive for both 4 and 6 cylinder Triumph engines to complement the Delco type Spitfire and GT6 types they already make. No prices yet, but the GT6 Delco one is just shy of £100. I've used one on a customers GT6 and it absolutely transformed the running. Mind you the original 1967 Delco one WAS totally shot!
With that in mind, I have dug out of my stock a matching pair of 4" clocks from a Vitesse 2 litre mkI, a cable driven tach, orange lined at 5500rpm and redlined at just under 6k and a 110mph speedo with matching face and 3 warning light in the bottom for oil, ignition and main beam. I'll try and get some pics but my old phone camera is playing up.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

It will certainly be interesting to see those!

I don't have a phone camera, old or new. Nor do I have a mobile telephone or digital camera of any type; relying exclusively on my late-1970s vintage Olympus OM2 SLR camera, with interchangeable lenses and 35 mm colour-reversal film.

Here's the British Jaeger, 0~6000 rpm tachometer (electronic, POSITIVE earth), which closely matches the style of my original 1974 Triumph Toledo speedometer, apart from the chrome-plated right-angled triangular-section bezel, slight differences in the number font, and the pointer needle being red rather than white.

british jaeger ,smiths rev.counter.vintage | Winning bid: £22.00 | Postage: £7.00 Economy Delivery







Here's another Jaeger, 0~6000 rpm tachometer (cable-driven), which closely matches the style of my original 1974 Triumph Toledo speedometer, apart from the chrome-plated isosceles triangular-section bezel, slight differences in the number font, and the pointer needle being red rather than white.

It's currently listed on E-bay, by a vendor in France.

REV COUNTER " british JAEGER | £50.00 | Postage: £15.00 Economy Delivery

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REV-COUNTER-b ... SwCU1YsRUx

British Jaeger, cable-driven, 0~6000 rpm tachometer

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

I have a speedo that looks fairly similar to those Jaeger rev counters, similar font and red needle, but black bezel - and it goes up to 140mph, which is a tad optimistic in a Toledo! (This instrument came from a MKII GT6)

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

As you say, 140 mph is more than a bit optimistic for a Toledo with factory-standard drive train. I think it would struggle to achieve its theoretical maximum of 85 mph; not that I would wish to drive that fast!

There are probably all sorts of tachometers and other instruments I've yet to learn about, from examples of historic vehicles that I haven't seen in decades, which might usefully be adapted for use in my Toledo, whilst maintaining reasonable consistency of style!

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

One of my concerns about replacing the speedometer of my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (three-rail gearbox), is that of preserving reasonably accurate speedometer calibration; bearing in mind the differing rear-axle final-drive ratios and possible differences (i.e. ratios between gearbox output-shaft rpm and speedometer drive-cable rpm) for the various gearboxes used.

The legal requirement for a road-car, is that speedometer readings may read up to 10% higher than the true road speed but no lower than true road speed, so I think it’s likely that a typical car’s speedometer would read about 5% higher than the true road speed.

It might have been interesting to compare the three different pre-1975 Toledo speedometers I’ve had on my car (the original AC and two Smith’s), to determine by how much their calibration differed. Also note that speedometer calibration changes by nearly 2% over the life of one’s tyres, from having 7~8 mm tread-depth to the legal minimum of 1•6 mm tread-depth.

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club

Well the Toledo has the 3 rail gearbox, 4.11 diff and 155/80/13 tyres of the Triumph Herald. The Vitesse came with an almost identical 3 rail box, the same size tyres and a 3.89 diff so I reckon if you used a Vitesse speedo driven gear in the gearbox it should come out about right!

According to Alun Nicholas, all Triumph speedos since time out of mind have the same rating, 1000 turns per mile (TPM) The differences are adjusted for by simply changing the driven gear ratio. different colour codes define the choices.

I had a much tougher problem with a GT6 I built years ago. The GT6 came with a choice of 2 diffs, 3.27 without overdrive and 3.89 with. however my car had the 3.63 diff of a 1500 Spitfire so in theory the Spit driven gear should have been suitable. But it wasn't because my car had the 25% overdriven D type unit and the 1500 Spit uses a J type which is only 17% overdriven. Add to that non standard 185/60 tyres and I had built a combination that never existed from the factory. It turned out that the driven gear for a 3.63 diff and J type o/d box gave the closest result, which was just about within legal limits.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

And if necessary, Speedograph in Nottingham can recalibrate speedometers, I haven't had one done for a few years, but if all else fails.

I'm with Steve, that there will be a near enough combination of bits from the Triumph parts bin

_________________
BWJ
1966 Triumph 1300 Royal Blue
1966 Triumph 2000 Blue
1965 Triumph 2000 black and rust
1967 BSA B40wd green
2018 Jaguar E pace 2018
NOBODY expects the Canley Inquisition!