The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Yes, I have got my hands on another early Sprint for body restoration!

This is a very original car, it has it's original stripes and paint as well as it's original rust! Condition wise it has rusted in all the usual early Sprint areas, rear panel, the top corners of the boot, lower windscreen, front upper valence. The sills look good and only need a couple of repairs, overall this should be a good fun job.

With the originality in mind I have taken a load of reference photos and measurements for future use and comparison.



So, stripes/coachlines! These always seem to cause arguments, how they are fitted, where they go etc.... well here we go, here's a original set!

Thickness: Bottom 1/2", top 1/8", gap in between is 1/8".







Front end coachline join detail











The length of the stripe from the trailing edge of the wing is 41". Measuring it this way gives a more accurate measurement as you are not having to take into account the curvature of the front end.



All of the door stripes curl around the ends of the doors









The trailing edge of the front wing stripe sits 24.5mm from the top edge of the wing.





The leading edge sits approx 18.1mm from the edge of the wing





On all doors, the stripes sit 117mm from the top edge



The rear wing stripe on the trailing end sits 96mm from the edge of the boot and curves around under the trim.



It is important to note that with the stripes these are just starting measurements, as you can see they follow the swage line down the side of the car.

Details of the BL Wing badge







Details of the rear panel satin black paint masking.





























I'll add bits to this post as I progress with the restoration.

So, on with the body restoration.

It has the usual areas of rust on the rear panel, as they are readily available I'll just put a new panel on.





Lee has also provided a new bootlid to be fitted.

It has rust on the lower corners of the rear screen, it isn't as bad as it looks, thanks to Tony Burd I have a pair of repair panels for this.





The usual rust in the roof and C pillar





The usual rust in the lower A pillars has gone through into the bulkhead.









Then there is the front panel, which has gone in the same way as VA 138

Starting at the back of the car and working to the front then... first job, rear panel. As you know I have done a few of these so it shouldn't be difficult!

Start by just removing the seam sealer and cutting the panel off.





Then you can carefully drill out all of the spot welds and remove the seams.







I'll need to do some small repairs before I can fit the new panel but in the meantime I can test fit it.





I never have any issues with the fit on these panels.







Test fitted the new bootlid to ensure that the wings had not moved during the removal of the panel









It fits perfectly so I marked up the hinge position, the rear panels are now ready to be dressed and fitted permanently

Great measurements for reference, thanks James.

Are you sure the black boot panel paint is original? It seems to go too far up the gutters?

Thanks Tony, judging from the paint I'd say it is, there was only the red primer, yellow then black there.

Looking forward to following this one James and good progress made already.

All the best with it.

MC

Tony Burd wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:03 pm Great measurements for reference, thanks James.

Are you sure the black boot panel paint is original? It seems to go too far up the gutters?

It's exactly the same as my unrestored 72 car, looks correct to me.

Brilliant find, looking forward to following this one.

Where did it come from?

matt of the vivas wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:15 am

Tony Burd wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:03 pm Great measurements for reference, thanks James.

Are you sure the black boot panel paint is original? It seems to go too far up the gutters?

It's exactly the same as my unrestored 72 car, looks correct to me.

Thanks for confirming, so for a Concourse Restoration should this bad masking be recreated?

Tony Burd wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 2:50 pm

matt of the vivas wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:15 am

Tony Burd wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:03 pm Great measurements for reference, thanks James.

Are you sure the black boot panel paint is original? It seems to go too far up the gutters?

It's exactly the same as my unrestored 72 car, looks correct to me.

Thanks for confirming, so for a Concourse Restoration should this bad masking be recreated?

Depends how anal you want to be!

Looking forward to following this build, as I do them all - and nice to see another early one being saved. You'll soon be doing them in your sleep James.

It was quite far up the rear panel on mine, here's a photo - that's original too.

RSi wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:14 pm Looking forward to following this build, as I do them all - and nice to see another early one being saved. You'll soon be doing them in your sleep James.

It was quite far up the rear panel on mine, here's a photo - that's original too.

I think to say that Triumph had the level of quality control to make every car the same is a bit of a stretch

Progress is good today, a bit slow as about 5 weeks ago I decided to ride down from the top of the Unterrothorn to Zermatt in Switzerland as fast as I could. Unfortunately I ran out of talent resulting in some broken ribs and some damage done by fast stopping internal organs!

Didn't knock any sense into me though!

Anyway, I have repaired all of the rust around the rear panel, there wasn't a lot just a few holes here and there.









Fitted the boot then dressed, aligned, clamped and fitted the rear panel.



Something I didn't highlight when I was doing Shaun's. A few panels have some brazed joins, part of the top of the front wings and the top corners of the rear panels. I have replicated this, it's easy with a torch, flux and some rods. Unfortunately I ran out of gas and couldn't get the panels hot enough! For brazing I only use the small MAPP gas and O2 bottles, it isn't worth me getting big ones. I'll finish it off in the week. I can still finish off the rear and start on the corners on Monday.

I have moved onto the rear screen surround, starting at the bottom inner panel the rust has really taken hold in the boot surround wells. It seems to have hit the spot welds then rusted into the seams between the panels. Below the rear screen water must have been sitting here, the well itself had rusted completely through in places.

It looks brutal, but in reality the panel structure isn't that complicated, it was just a case of drilling out the spot welds and being methodical when trying to disassemble it. Unfortunately the rust had spread underneath both wing tops, the good news is that I have all the panels to repair it.









Now all the rust is cut out I can have a tidy up and get on with repairing the inner structure and putting it all back together!

Great work James.
I am in awe. So clever. I really enjoy reading them. Would love to know what happened to the other cars you have worked on. Would be great to see a finished car.

Dave.