The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Here she is:



Initially bought as a bit of a project to practice welding and paint finishing on, but she's actually pretty solid. Underside/sills are spotless. Just needs lower part of one door re-skinning, a bit of a rebuild around the grills, and a bit of attention on the wing around the light and bottom towards sill. Sill behind it is sound though. But I think we're thinking about keeping it for a while, as it seems to have a cracking personality and drives great.

Purchased in Twickenham on Saturday and driven back to Doncaster Sunday, didn't miss a beat. I changed the plugs as a matter of course, but it didn't really need it. We went down with every tool/supply I could possibly need but it didn't need a thing. Oil was clean, coolant fresh, etc. etc. etc. Sat at 70 quite happily after my confidence had built up in her.

There was some play in the steering at the steering couple, but I took that out with a bit of welding as a temp measure. Where do you buy these things? Or can the rubber parts that have worn be bought separately?

How quick should these things be? I've done the valve clearances, which it did need and seemed to improve tickover no end, but it does feel a little gutless. I reallise it's only a 1300 and it's not something that's going to be raced etc. but I could just do with knowing what sort of power it should be producing to give me some idea of engine condition.

Cleaned the rubbish out of the carb and just have the timing to check, though we'll probably get an electronic ignition slapped on. Do these make a massive difference? Any scope on timing to bump the power?

It came with a completely knackered back box which I've replaced with the body of an old mx5 shock absorber. Again, just a temp measure to get it through the MOT til something better comes along. It just needs the sharp edges around the grill sorting and it'll go through fine, maybe a tweak on the handbrake but nothing a tinker this evening won't fix, then it'll be a bit of a rolling resto, while I sort it out properly.

Also, the twin carb conversion... what's a good price? Local scrappers wants £140 for both manifolds and the carbs. Although, these are off a 1500 spitfire (i think) so not even entirely sure they'll fit).

If it's a decent transformation, then I guess it's not a bad price. Any ballpark bhp figures?

Edit: Aha, exhaust manifold won't fit. 85 odd ok for inlet and carbs? Ebay isn't throwing much up.

James Paddock is the best place to buy the steering joint. This, as suggested by its being made with flexible parts, has to be able to move, albeit very slightly, so get that weld ground away and fit one as soon as, if only for safety's sake.

I'd have got it through test by fitting a smaller wheel on the day.

James Paddock sell the joint at £17.50, enter part number FAM1718.
Should look like so:


& welcome to the forum by the way. Have a think about joining the TDC as well, it'll pay for itself the first time you need panels.

Nice car too.

That's the fella! Excellent. I'll get one of them ordered then. Cheers.

Just flicking through a few threads, I noticed mention of pageant blues having black go-faster stripes as opposed to the tahiti blue having silver stripes. Our's has silver stripes and the paint code 'JMA', which I presumed was pageant blue. The outside also matches the bodywork under the carpets perfectly hopefully meaning that if it was ever re-sprayed, it was re-sprayed in pageant blue.

Seems pretty good on fuel. Roughly low 30s to the gallon on the way back.

Came with 1/2 tank petrol, 6 months mot and the chap knocked it down to £210 due to the steering play. You can't say fairer than that. Even had a haynes in the boot.

That was one serious bargain! I'm not suggesting for a moment that you'd be tempted by the lure of profit, but I've seen cars that didn't even have decent sills and floors fetch rather more.

Don't suppose you'd fancy picking me some lottery numbers?

Hello welcome to the World of Dollyship!

You ask about improving performance of the Dolomite 1300, well I owned one for approx 8 years as my daily driver and did do the twin carb conversion.

Firstly you need to know the original factory specification. That is 58 bhp and a 0-60 time of 17.5 seconds. It was never was a ball of fire!

As you say the exhaust manifold from a Spit won't fit the Dolomite down-pipe, you need to get a one from a 1500 Dolomite along with it's matching down-pipe, this should then fit the standard 1300 system, prices are really governed by being able to get what you need I guess.

I speak from experience of my own TC conversion when I say it made little difference to the acceleration time, it seem to pull better when the momentum had been built up I found, but saying all that it was probably a case that my single carb was worn, the two "new" ones were in a better state of tune and I believe that accounted for any real differences found.

Saying all that there is nothing wrong with a Dolomite 1300. They perform the job so much better than other saloon cars of the time.

If you do want to get more go out of it then follow the route of how Spitfires are tuned, ie better flow through the head along with a better camshaft profile, this then matched by the better qualities of the 1500 exhaust set up should produce a car with a bit more pull to it, whilst it is of course achievable it does cost money.

Hope that hasn't put you off?

Welcome to the forum, dont go wasting time and money on twin carbs there will be very little difference over having a good condition single carb.
1300s were never made to be quick but with a good service then can still show up modern cars.

A good service, including replacing all of the ignition parts, will claw back some missing BHP. Also, getting the timing checked and adjusted appropriately for unleaded fuel usage will help. A compression check will also help you. If your car has missed oil changes, the cam's profiles may have reduced.

If you change to twin carbs, replace the whole exhaust system (not just the manifold/front pipe) with a Dolly 1500 set-up, as the bore is slightly wider.

Your 1300 should feel quite nippy around town, partly thanks to the low gearing. Things slow down after around 45mph. A good one should pull to 80mph quite easily but bear in mind that sustained high speeds are not good for these engines; my cars (both 1300 Toledos and 1500 Dolomites) are "happy" at 55-65mph on a motorway.

Finally, as far as I am aware, side-stripes were not standard fitting to the 1300.

R

Thanks Everybody! Some really good nuggets in there.

It's funny once you get talking to people with old cars. One chap at work went 'blimey! my mates dad's got one of them in his garage, been stood there since I was about 9! (he's 29 now). He might just let you have it! It's yellow with a black roof, any good?' Er, yeah!
Then another guy, 'what colour is it?', 'pageant blue', 'ah, might have a can of that somewhere'. Today he turns up with 3 rattle cans of the stuff and won't take owt for them! Plus he's given me enough offcuts of steel to sort the door and re-biuld the front section above the grill.

Looks like the only thing I'll have to buy is a nearside front wing, as this one's disolving/mainly filler.

I'll take that advice on the carbs for the moment then. Maybe until a set comes up at a daftly low price. I'll give it a decent service and check that timing. Is it 10 btdc for unleaded? Or is that the figure for leaded?

Does electronic ignition make much difference, or is it again a case of people replacing tired and worn points replacing with them noticing the difference?

Ah, another thing! Do these tend to understeer on the limit? How is geometry adjusted on them? I take it it's only the fronts with anything to change? Might just be a case of aged tires I guess though.

The OHVs won't be suited to unleaded without an additive, so as you'll be buying one anyway, just get the Miller's VSP or Castrol Valvemaster with built-in octane booster and run at the 4-star setting, or, ideally, fork out the £1.30+ per litre and use real 4 star if there's any in your area.

There are at least three shades of the colour known as "Pageant Blue", only one of which was used on Triumphs, the others appearing on other BL products, so good luck with that.

A new steel wing would cost you ££££££££££££, but by joining the Dolomite Club, you'd have access to GRP ones which fit well, won't rust and are much, much cheaper to buy.

Have a look at pictures of forum member "Alolympic"s modified, orange Toledo to see how good these GRP panels are.

Most of my Triumph have come from the Twickenham area. Must have been a very busy main dealer there in the past.

Those GRP wings are the dog's nuts. Fantastic quality and apart from there being no spot welds, they are indistinquishable from the steel ones. Lovely panels!!

Most of my Triumphs have come from the Twickenham area. Must have been a very busy main dealer there in the past.

Those GRP wings are the dog's nuts. Fantastic quality and apart from there being no spot welds, they are indistinquishable from the steel ones. Lovely panels!!

just been to the local rip off merchant motorfactors, commonly known as Halfrauds, and got some valvemaster plus. I think we'll be buying this in bulk off the net in future! But at least we've got some to keep us going for the time being.

GRP wing will be on the cards shortly. Possibly along with a rad, as this one's got a fair bit of fin rot on it. Only noticed in the dark last night tho, so i'll have to have a proper butchers later. Anyone use an alternative to the 100 pounds odd direct replacements? I saw some use the fiesta 1.8d ones to good effect.

She went in for MOT today, but unfortunately has got a knackered upper balljoint so failed. Plus a couple of little things that just need a bit of a tinker to sort out.
He used to have a couple of dollys himself, so I trusted him in what he was saying.
Front wheel bearings, no noise, just a bit more play than you'd like. So I'll give them a tweak and that'll sort them. Surface rust on brake lines - rub down and hammerite. Lower wing disolved away leaving a sharp edge - Gaffer and a bit of colour until new wing is ordered.
He thought the steering rack was a bit tight and felt gritty when turning lock to lock. He noticed the one boot had been changed and reckons whoever changed it didn't pack it with grease at the same time. So hopefully, that'll feel a million times better repacked.

Anyway, anywhere other than rimmers for an upper ball joint? £60 sounds a bit blinking steep! I only paid 25 quid a piece for vauxhall BJs the other week, and they were attached to a wishbone! Missed one on ebay a couple of weeks ago for 18.50.
Or anyone have a stash??

Oh, are they rebuildable then?

Ask your local Halfords whether they can get you the ball joint. No, seriously, I bought one as a spare from my nearest branch after I asked, not expecting them to be able to find one.
But find it they did, as they had a QH catalogue from the early '90s, in which the joint was still listed, called their various suppliers and came good after a day. It only cost £22!

Rebuildable ones have a blanking plug on the top which is removed to fit the grease nipple, if yours doesn't have that, then no, it will be a sealed for life one. Much as it pains me to say it, R*mmers may be the only quick source of one, But eBay often throws them up too.

Still, that's not a bad list and makes the car well and truly viable IMHO.