2-door Toledo in Finland

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Jake
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2-door Toledo in Finland

#1 Post by Jake »

Cars, facts about cars, opinions about cars, experiences of cars have been an obsession as far back as I can remember. I am without doubt a "petrolhead".
When I passed my test in 1999 in my mothers Volvo 360, I worked and worked, and with excruciatingly slow passage of months, it was time to choose a car for myself.
Discussions and study led me towards a classic. My friends Novas and Renault 5s were horribly built, with buzzy one litre engines and no sex appeal.
I settled on a 1979 maroon Triumph Dolomite 1500HL. It saw me through an aerospace engineering apprenticeship, surfing every weekend, gigs, teenage love, it was there for me. That sweeping roofline, those rear wheel arch flashes, those twin SUs. It was so beautiful. It was love. Sadly like most teenage first cars, it passed away in a crash. I replaced it with a Sprint, and then with a 2500s in 2001.
Then came a VW phase, a Japanese phase, a v8 phase.
But I always wanted another Triumph. There were many fantasy projects. How about a two door 2500? How about a Dolomite with a rover v8? A two door Toledo pocket muscle car?
The two door Toledo idea wouldn't go away. The lines of the two door were so much taughter, more sporting, lighter. I always kept my eye open. Even lost a deposit on one which turned out to be not as advertised. Maybe some day.
These idle thoughts waited as life continued on. I moved to London. Got married. Moved to Tanzania, then India. Settled in Finland. Got heavily into old motorbikes. Last year we bought a house, with a three car garage and plenty of land. Finally, I'd never have to sell a car again if I didn't want to.
My affordable fantasy garage preoccupied my thoughts. Clio Williams? Fiat 124 coupe? 106 Rallye? I settled my focus on a Lancia Fulvia Rallye. None available in Finland of course. Corona dragged on. How could I get to Italy to buy a Fulvia?
Then one day I idly checked an online market website, not one of my usual car listing pages. Two door Toledo for sale, good working order.
One fifth the price of a Fulvia, potentially just as pretty, just as interesting and available whenever I could scrounge a trailer. The roads are still covered in ice and snow here, so I wouldn't risk an unknown car on a 4 hour journey in -20C.
Four days later it was nestled cosy and warm in my heated garage. Paintwork scabby and poorly repaired all over the car, but mechanically like new and carefully repaired underneath by a very nice old boy over a period of three years.

I'm so happy with this car. It will need a lot of work to get it as I like it, but I have time and space. I shall enjoy it as it is for the next year or so before it gets stripped down and rebuilt completely. This winter I have also been building a 78 BMW R100RS into a Cafe Racer so that's been taking all my time and budget, but it should be finished in time for spring.
In Finland, our winter is from October to March or April, so we use this time to work on our projects ready for next summer. Summers we use for building projects or outside stuff. So we are always busy, especially with an old wooden house to renovate!

The Toledo is by no means perfect, so for the purists, it will not be a travesty to modify it. It is made a little bit trickier in Finland by quite restrictive rules on what you are legally allowed to do to modify a car. Cars of a certain age qualify to be 'Museum Registered' this entitles you to no tax and very cheap insurance. However you have to keep the car original. So I will keep it original for a year or two before taking it off the register to repair and repaint the shell, and fit all the modifications in one go. This will give me time to save for the parts I will need.

The plan is to build it into a period road/race style car. I would say almost a four wheeled version of a Cafe Racer, with the focus on light weight, power and period style modifications. I will be going for the following:
Depending on Registry restrictions, motor-wise it will be either:
Rebuilding the standard 1500 with lightened internals, head work, twin 1.25 SU's and a four branch manifold, or
Fitting a 2.0 from a Sprint or a TR7
Either 5 speed box or four with O/D
Sprint rear axle
Gaz adjustables all round
Sprint springs on the front
Front ARB
Chin spoiler
Dolomite grill conversion
Trackerjack front discs and hubs
Sprint wheels (not settled on this just yet. I'd ideally like something more like the Alfa 105 Campags)
Solid rack mounts
Polybushing as and where
Stripped interior with period buckets
Dolomite dash with rev counter

Colour-wise, she will stay close to the same. It's currently a blue with a slight green/grey shade to it, most close to BMC Persian Blue. Not sure if the colour is original, faded, completely random but it looks period and I like it so it will get resprayed close to the same shade. It will have 60's style white roundels on the doors and bonnet. Rear panel will be black. Interior will be relatively bare and painted the same olive as Spitfire etc cockpits. Wheels silver. Tempted to go half cage and harnesses, but I'd like to take three passengers so probably won't go that far.
So that's the back story as to why I am here, the plan, and the timescale.
I will slowly be collecting the parts as and when I have the budget. Of course now, for every Triumph owner on the continent, the price of parts has just skyrocketed. Import duty here in Finland is especially high.
According to the Traffi Finnish registry, this is the only Toledo on the road in Finland, and there is only one Dolomite, so locally sourcing used parts may be a challenge!
If any of you lovely people have any of the above and are willing to stick it on a pallet once I have some savings, please let me know. Or generally, any advice, or if you have questions or just want to say hi, I would welcome that! I will be around, and more and more when next autumn drives me indoors. Best wishes to you all from snowy Finland!

Jake
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
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sprint95m
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Hello and .....

#2 Post by sprint95m »

Welcome to the forum Jake.

Looks an interesting project.
Is it left hand drive?



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Re: Hello and .....

#3 Post by Jake »

sprint95m wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:41 pm Welcome to the forum Jake.

Looks an interesting project.
Is it left hand drive?



Ian
Hello Ian, yes she is LHD. One less thing to worry about driving an old British car on the continent!
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#4 Post by Carledo »

The Sprint conversion is well thought of and easiest to do as it's a 100% bolt in job. There are several Sprint converted 2 door cars in the UK. Our rules on Modified cars are stiff and sometimes illogical, but not nearly as bad as Scandinavian rules.

So i don't know if you can get away with something like my own 2 door cafe racer, the Carledo. This car is about as close as you can get to the UK rules without quite breaking any!


Image

Image

This has the 2.0ltr 8v engine from a 1989 Vauxhall Carlton (Opel Rekord?) married to the gearbox from a 98 Omega driving a Sprint axle through a bespoke propshaft. The rad is Saab 9-3 and a few odd bits from other sources. It sits on Gaz adjustable coilovers all round with around 50% polybushing, Sprint AR bars front and rear and has Trackerjack brakes and 6x15" MGF alloys wearing 195/50 Toyo Proxes under it's rolled rear arches. It also has TDC supplied front wings and outer front panel in GRP for less weight. Current output is around 140bhp, which is "sufficient" for a car with a kerb weight of only 760kgs. However i'm positive that a long delayed remap of it's Bosch Motronic injection will take it to nearer 170bhp. In it's present state of tune it will do the standing 1/4 mile in 16.014 secs, not bad for an old banger that cost me £200 in 2008!

All the best with your project, sounds like fun!

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.
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xvivalve
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#5 Post by xvivalve »

Happy to ship to Finland and have the following:

Dolomite dash fully fitted
Front ARB and mounts
Dolomite Grilles
Sprint wheels
Sprint o/d gearbox

If converting to Dolomite quad lights, you'll need some Type N & P panels from here: https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... =4&t=31388 They are normally dispatched from my house too!
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#6 Post by Jake »

So i don't know if you can get away with something like my own 2 door cafe racer, the Carledo. This car is about as close as you can get to the UK rules without quite breaking any!


This has the 2.0ltr 8v engine from a 1989 Vauxhall Carlton (Opel Rekord?) married to the gearbox from a 98 Omega driving a Sprint axle through a bespoke propshaft. The rad is Saab 9-3 and a few odd bits from other sources. It sits on Gaz adjustable coilovers all round with around 50% polybushing, Sprint AR bars front and rear and has Trackerjack brakes and 6x15" MGF alloys wearing 195/50 Toyo Proxes under it's rolled rear arches. It also has TDC supplied front wings and outer front panel in GRP for less weight. Current output is around 140bhp, which is "sufficient" for a car with a kerb weight of only 760kgs. However i'm positive that a long delayed remap of it's Bosch Motronic injection will take it to nearer 170bhp. In it's present state of tune it will do the standing 1/4 mile in 16.014 secs, not bad for an old banger that cost me £200 in 2008!

[/quote]

Hi Steve, Thanks for the welcome. As far as I understand it, you can modify your own engine, or at a push perhaps swap it for a larger engine from the same product range (which is my intention) but you cant change to a completely different setup, so sadly I would not be able to do something like the Carledo or a Redtop/vtec kind of project. But I would like to keep everything relatively period anyways so hopefully I can make some progress. Like most people when they join a forum, i did a bit of lurking beforehand, and I have to say you have done some great things with these little cars and are to be commended on your work! I absolutely love the Carledo and I will be plagiarising some of your suspension work for sure!
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
Jake
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#7 Post by Jake »

xvivalve wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:43 pm Happy to ship to Finland and have the following:

Dolomite dash fully fitted
Front ARB and mounts
Dolomite Grilles
Sprint wheels
Sprint o/d gearbox

If converting to Dolomite quad lights, you'll need some Type N & P panels from here: https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... =4&t=31388 They are normally dispatched from my house too!
Thanks 16V, that's a most generous offer which I will take you up on! I will PM you.
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
Jake
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#8 Post by Jake »

Well this is due a quick update!
The car had a new clutch last week, fitted and tested with a quick rally session through the snowy lanes.
I’ve also fabbed up some mounts for the Cibie super Oscars, got them fitted and wired. I will make an extra dash panel between the dash and the parcel shelf for switches etc.
now I’m working on swapping the rear wheel bearings, which has been a fun job.
I trashed one hub trying to get it off the car before wising up and taking the halfshafts up to the press at work and popping them out there. Takes 15 tons and sounds like a mortar shell when they go. No need for a heart check up this year! Fortunately I had a spare hub so I’ll clean that up and try to get it rebuilt this week. The only other setback was crossthreading one of the wheel cylinders, so I have to find a tap to clean the thread out, any idea what size tap I need for a Toledo rear brake cylinder/brake pipe fitting?
Also when I remounted the halfshafts the bearings felt really notchy when you turn them by hand. I checked everything through and I had pushed the bearings up to the shoulder and they should apparently be around 5mm off the shoulder so I’ve rebuilt the hubs accordingly, hopefully when I fit everything this week it will spin a little more freely. If anyone has any tips on rebuilding these to get them spinning sweetly I’d welcome it. There’s talk of adjusting end float with shims but there were no shims in my setup and I can’t really see any way to adjust anything, it really seems like a bolt up system.

This month I’ve ordered a few flashy things like bonnet and trunk pins, and engine cut off switches for the scuttle panel and the dash. Hopefully they will arrive this week so I can do them over New Years.
I also scored a new old stock Moto-lita B23 steering wheel hub in black with a triumph centre, so next payday I will go shopping for a new Moto-lita wheel and a twin SU rebuild kit so I can get the new carbs built up and bolted on. As a whole the project is rolling forward very nicely.
I’d like to get the front end converted to Dolomite headlights this winter too, but that will have to wait for further pay days!
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#9 Post by yorkshire_spam »

Great progress!
Image
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#10 Post by Bish »

Hi Jake

Sounds like this is going to be a real nice car. I love the vintage speed style too.

Please post up some photos. The snowier the better! It will cheer me up from the damp grey miserableness that is England at the moment.

:D
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#11 Post by Jake »

A few random photos of the Tolly, to be honest the bodywork is solid but it’s a 5 meter car, the quality of previous repairs and paint is not great. But I usually build my vehicles until I’m happy with them, then do the full stripdown and build it up to the standard I like and that process works for me just fine. I still haven’t decided what powertrain to go for, or indeed what I can get away with so I’ll stick with the 1500 for now but I’d like a built Sprint engine in the future.

Image

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1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
Jake
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#12 Post by Jake »

A few more, if you’ll permit me I might use this as a kind of build record as things go.
This is the Tolly when we picked her up in April. They look so small these days.
Image

With the almost finished BMW, which will hopefully be in the MPMessut, the biggest bike show in the nordics in February.
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Wedding duties for good friends
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I’ve found these Lotus Europa wheels, not a million miles from that Italian Cromadora style I like so much. These will get a refurb and perhaps some Toyos at some point. Please give me a good reason not to paint them white! 😁
Image
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
Bish
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#13 Post by Bish »

Thanks for the photos - Good work indeed!

Looks to be gunmetal grey? Or is it more blue than that? I had a Vitesse in gunmetal grey. Always thought the wheels (5.5 steelies) would have looked cool painted orange. A bit like the colour of your bike, which is lovely by the way.

Keep it coming.

Edit; just noticed the plate! It would be perfect for me, being an Ade myself!
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#14 Post by Carledo »

Definitely Valencia Blue, a proper Triumph factory shade.

Keep up the good work, i'm pleased to hear the clutch is finally sorted!

Cheers and a happy new year, 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.
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Re: 2-door Toledo in Finland

#15 Post by Jake »

Image

Decided to take the rear bumper off for two reasons, well three I guess because weight. One is to balance the look of the car which was a bit Saturday night at the front and Monday morning at the back, now if looks a bit sportier from all angles. Also it lets me mount the boot spring latches from the old bumper mounts.


Image

Also fitted the bonnet pins as well. Next is to cut some of the grill out of the bonnet to fit the battery emergency cut off switch against the bulk head.

Today I’m off on a trip to south Finland to pick up another project car, a series 2 Peugeot 106 Rallye. I’m very excited as I’ve been chasing one of these for ages but believed they were out of my budget. It’s a bit of a dog but we have the time and space to get to that 👍🏼
1971 Valencia Blue Toledo 1500 Rally replica
1998 Peugeot 106 Rallye
2009 Audi S3
1978 BMW R100 Cafe Racer "Jägerbomb"
2018 Black Lab/German Shepherd mix "Rocky"
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