Bradman's restoration thread - 1974 Dolomite THU232M

[Bradman]

It’s been a while since my last confession...

Work will soon continue on breathing life into the Sprint engine I picked up last summer (after collecting a few bits from Mr. Trackerjack in a few weeks). How much of that Engine survives to power my car remains to be seen - so far the water pump, jack shaft and block are all corroded beyond repair :-O. I must be mad...

In the meantime I’ve got my hands on another Dolly for the price of a few beers - and this one is a Sprint! It’s not ran for 10 years, but is not seized either. It seems to have oil in all the right places and the coolant is free from oil.

[Bradman]

So: starting Sprint engine 2 then. So far, so bad. It turns, there’s fuel, but no spark. I’ve only taken 1 spark plug out to test it, since that was bloody tight and I don’t want another Sprint head with a snapped off plug! The plug is weird by the way: It shows evidence of having been used in anger, but it’s not the BP6EFS I was expecting and has a funny pointy tip.

Anyhow, I know the tests I must do and start with one of the easiest and check the coil: I get 12V at the coil +ve without cranking, so the balast has been bypassed.

Now, my 1850 has been getting difficult to start too, so I check to see what coil it needs in case I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone: it also gets 12V on the +ve without cranking. Winner: I buy a new DLB105, install it in my 1850 first, to check it’s OK before lashing it to the Sprint engine.

It’s great, and is an improvement for sure, but on checking voltages... With the ignition on (but not running) I sometimes get around 7V at the positive, and sometimes 12V! I supect the bypass switch in the starter is faulty... Next task is to rewire for 12V non-ballast ignition (now that I’ve bought the damned coil), and then do the same on the Sprint engine.

When the wind and rain stops that is

[Bradman]

1850: ballast bypassed, and she runs like a dream - idle is noticeably smoother than with the old setup, and some of the flat spot has reduced.

Sprint: As above, I bypassed the original wiring and supplied a new 12V feed. I picked up a spark plug testing light, and all four seemed OK. After much cranking and many words of encouragement (and a little name calling, just in case it’s that kind of car), the engine started! It ran OK if I kept my foot on the accelerator, and it sounded smooth enough at fast idle (smoother than the 1850, but maybe that’s just a 16V vs 8V thing). I soon made the mistake of letting off the pedal (the dash is dead, and I didn’t want to overheat), and that was it: it refuses to start again now.

The carbs are a right mess with missing screws and many leaks, but... I’ll replacing the points and condenser next as these are cheap, then I’ll get a carb rebuild kit.

Questions:
I’ve had cars in the past with blown HG and they wouldn’t start uless cranked for a long time - could this be HG? The oil and water are still separated as they should be, but are there any other symptoms I should check for on a Sprint?
I’m not sure which distributor I have - I think it’s a 44D:

[red&black]

I'd be checking for dirt in the float chambers and using fresh fuel if you aren't already. If it's clogged up,the tank is probably rusty and/or the fuel hoses are breaking up. Also do a compression test.
If you get it running,look for lots of bubbles in the expansion bottle,and pressure released when you take the cap off after it's been run up to temperature and left overnight to cool-not a good sign.
Beware of poor quality ignition parts - Lucas parts in green boxes are generally to be avoided.

[Carledo]

If the dash instruments are all dead, try the (one and only) ignition live fuse.

Nice to know if you're cooking it BEFORE it's fried, It might have got hot enough to get fuel vaporization which would make it very hard to restart till it cooled down.

Steve

[Bradman]

I'd be checking for dirt in the float chambers and using fresh fuel if you aren't already. If it's clogged up,the tank is probably rusty and/or the fuel hoses are breaking up. Also do a compression test.
If you get it running,look for lots of bubbles in the expansion bottle,and pressure released when you take the cap off after it's been run up to temperature and left overnight to cool-not a good sign.
Beware of poor quality ignition parts - Lucas parts in green boxes are generally to be avoided.

Thanks for the advice It’s using fresh fuel: the first day I put the car on my drive, the fuel hose tank side of the pump disintegrated. This emptied the tank for me I’ve since then replaced all fuel hoses and installed a clear fuel filter so I can visually see if fuel is flowing. The carbs are in a very bad state, so they could be full of gunk... I’ve just checked the expansion bottle, and no pressure or signs of bubbles - but then the engine only ran for a couple of minutes, so maybe not long enough to get that hot? Compression test next then. I’m not looking forward to that: I’ve taken just 1 plug out so far, and I needed to use an extension bar as a PO had installed them too tight. I really don’t want to shear a plug...

On the ignition parts, can you recommend a stockist? The 44D doesn’t appear to be that well supported, unless it shares components with other models...?

[Bradman]

If the dash instruments are all dead, try the (one and only) ignition live fuse.

Nice to know if you're cooking it BEFORE it's fried, It might have got hot enough to get fuel vaporization which would make it very hard to restart till it cooled down.

Steve

Thanks Steve! Knowing me, I’m sure I’d have overlooked the fuse if I hadn’t just removed the ballast path from the ignition circuit - I checked all (just 4!) input / output points in the fuse box to find the one I needed for my 12v ignition only non-fused live connection. That’s not to say the fuse hasn’t blown since then, so worth a check! I think the car’s dead dashboard is a symptom of the missing wires that should normally connect to the voltage stabiliser - no trace at all of these, not even severed stumps... A PO has “cleverly” rewired this part of the car into a relay box along with the headlight and horn circuitry - none of which works now! After neatly concealing all severed connections, they then used the same coloured green wire for everything new they did, and didn’t label anything. Nightmare to trace out... I’ll have to bypass the botched wiring to fix the dash, and probably before I try to start it again: as you say - better to have some warning before it’s too late, eh?

[red&black]

It's good that you have fresh fuel and a filter. Dirt could still be in the float chambers and/or jets though. The needle valves tend to stick open and flood the carbs if dirt gets into them. Clean or blow them out as necessary. If you can see fuel in the filter,the pump is probably ok.
Some diesel or similar down the plug tubes may help free the plugs off.
Try to find old stock Unipart or Lucas (in red boxes) ignition parts. They do come up on eBay sometimes. Checking for a spark on a plug held next to something earthed while cranking should tell you whether anything is faulty though. Plugs can spark fine in free air but not when screwed into the head though.
You should get around 10 volts out of the instrument voltage stabiliser when you get it working.
Keep at It- it's all simple stuff compared to today's vehicles

James

[Bradman]

It's good that you have fresh fuel and a filter. Dirt could still be in the float chambers and/or jets though. The needle valves tend to stick open and flood the carbs if dirt gets into them. Clean or blow them out as necessary. If you can see fuel in the filter,the pump is probably ok.
Some diesel or similar down the plug tubes may help free the plugs off.
Try to find old stock Unipart or Lucas (in red boxes) ignition parts. They do come up on eBay sometimes. Checking for a spark on a plug held next to something earthed while cranking should tell you whether anything is faulty though. Plugs can spark fine in free air but not when screwed into the head though.
You should get around 10 volts out of the instrument voltage stabiliser when you get it working.
Keep at It- it's all simple stuff compared to today's vehicles

James

Thanks for the advice, James! I’ll keep a lookout for those old stock parts... Mike.

[Bradman]

I don’t beleeeeeive it. The Sprint’s engine is alive! And fires up on barely a turn of the key...

So: I was cleaning up the distributor from the other Sprint engine I have lurking in my garage, the one that sat in a field since 1985, now awaiting Barry White levels of luurve to bring it back . It had it’s points / condenser in place and they looked OK... A few minutes later these were slapped onto on the other Sprint engine’s distributor, gap set by eye as I couldn’t find my feelers - and it started on first try, and even runs OK (if not a bit noisy at the front end, and I’m sure it wasn’t when I briefly got it to run before ).

I still have much to do (clean / re gasket the leaky SU’s, fix the dash wiring (my temp gauge is currently wired direct to the VS and engine sender...) / change the points for electronic), but at least I know it’s capable of running now.

On the noisy engine... I’m sorry to say I’ve never heard a Sprint running before, in person . Are they a noisy engine? This engine has stood silent for 10 years, is there anything hydraulic that could be starved of oil? I’ll post some youtube videos later if anyone is interested...

[Bradman]

Some YouTube links:

https://youtu.be/NZmY8cKfGrI

https://youtu.be/HQ-dztbOJiQ

https://youtu.be/Kvh3yHjnnK0

[Bish]

Hi Bradman, some good work your doing there, keep at it!

Sorry, I can’t offer advice on your engine noise. Got mine running today and have similar noise issues!
I’m not familiar with these engines either, but don’t think it should sound like this;

https://vimeo.com/339842462

All the best, Bish.

[Bradman]

Hi Bradman, some good work your doing there, keep at it!

Sorry, I can’t offer advice on your engine noise. Got mine running today and have similar noise issues!
I’m not familiar with these engines either, but don’t think it should sound like this;

https://vimeo.com/339842462

All the best, Bish.

Hi Bish - I’m in good company it seems . Your video link doesn’t work, gives a generic vimeo message. Maybe try YouTube...? Cheers! Mike.

[Bish]

Pants!

I’ll have another go.........

[Bish]

https://vimeo.com/user99238187/review/3 ... be06b950da

Works?