The Triumph Dolomite Club - EzBoard Archive

A mate of mine had one as his first car, we had an absolute hoot going up and down the M27 at 90 to visit friends at uni in Portsmouth. A couple of years back he blew up the gearbox and it's been sat in his parents' garage ever since. <br>
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I've told him the easiest thing to do is probably to pull the 998 engine and gearbox, and replace it with a nice 1275 twin-carb and box from a metro. Has anybody ever pulled the engine out of a mini, and if so how hard is it? Looking at the haynes, it seems a lot easier than the sprint.<br>
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Dead easy, I did the exact same thing a few years ago with a mate. Neither of us had pulled-out an engine back in those days and we had the job done in about five hours, old one out new one in and running.<br>
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Jod

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just don't forget to pull it with an angle on it for the diff housing to clear the subframe.... about 30 deg

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forget the metro lump fit a vaxuhall 2 litre lump, plenty about in scrap yards for little money.<br>
not a straight swap but something ive done (don't forget the uprated brakes<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :o --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> )<br>
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Justyn

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seem to remember from my mini days that the "in thing"<br>
was to drop an allegro 1300 lump in..<br>
them boys had a noticable bump in the bonnet!<br>
and weller wheels<br>
and a window louvre<br>
and peaks on the h/lights<br>
oh, and an AM cb...<br>
I was easily impressed in those days<br>
worth thinkin about uprating your brakes....... <br>
and if you can re-route the oil leak from the sump to the rear subframe, your laughing...............

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Didn't know Metro had Twin Carb's.<br>
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Anyway use the MINI engine mounting's,Mini clutch assy.<br>
Depending on the year of the MINI gearchance and driveshaft's.<br>
Late Metro' had a different heater hose layout and no bypass hose on the water pump. <br>
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Easy swap over you should have it done over a weekend.<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
Fitted a MG Metro Engine/Box to a 1275GT I own. <br>
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Just to add<br>
I think this topic has been done to death in minimags over the last few years and is basically really easy bar a couple of things- metro engines have no bypass between head & waterpump - some recommend drilling holes in outer ring of thermostat others the fitment of a blanking sleeve - main thing to worry about though is cooling - the std rad isn't up to much but the minispares two core is more than adequate for the job i think the "S" top rad bracket & hose is required and a little scientifc flattening of the breather with a lump hammer for clearance - other than that not much to it, new engine mounts obligatory, solid mounting front subframe wouldn't go amiss and an "ultimate engine steady" vital... <br>
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If your MG lump has the cable clutch mechanism - bin it - transfer all hydraulics over from your mini......

<p>1980 Dolomite SprintV8 (360bhp of TVR AJP V8 Pumping Alloy Coming soon !)<br>
2002 Citroen Xsara 2.0 HDi Estate.... Part's delivery Vehicle.<br>
They laugh at me because I am different. I laugh at them because they are all the same!)<br>
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</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p206.ezboard.com/bthetriumphdolo ... printV8</A> at: 6/7/06 11:17 pm<br></i>

Dave, <br>
I have a number of books for tuning the mini (proper one!) which came in useful for my old Austin 1300 GT.<br>
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If you require specifics for engine building from stage one to competition check this one out.<br>
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Good gen and easy to read.<br>
<br>
ISBN 0-85113-001-1 "Tuning the Mini" by Clive Trickey<br>


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I guess we'll be off to the scrappy fairly soon then. Cheers for all the advice.

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is to weigh the whole thing in and use the 60 odd quid for the purchase of a dolly 1300. Then you will remove another death trap from the roads and end up with a nice car....<br>
Minis....almost as crap as VW beetles...<br>
<br>
(doesnt dive for cover...stands on parapate waving skull and cross-bones)<br>
<br>
Jonners

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You just lost your head! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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20 or so million people must have got it wrong then ?<br>
and will the dolomite ever reach such a cult status <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
<br>
<br>
but i will say why i dont know <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :b --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":b"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>


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a good argument, especailly when george agrees with me.<br>
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I cant dispute that minis are popular, but then so were ford 100E populars, beetles and 2cv's and my other pet hate, the moggie thou.<br>
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What I would snobbishly call cars for the masses are rarely good. I fail to understand why they achieve cult status, but they do. It can only be put down to mass bad taste and lack of discernment. Who in their right mind would choose a mini as the transport of choice nowadays? Noisy, slow (yes I know they dont feel slow but neither does a pushbike down poorlock!) cramped and uncomfortable and quite possibly the worst crash protection available.<br>
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the ADO16 was so much better...decent riding if a tad bouncy, the twin carb ones went well, they stuck to the road like glue, beautiful precise steering and bags of room inside. Only problem was they were made of cardboard and assembled by morons, but then so were minis. So why arent they worth more?<br>
Oh well...<br>
I'm not a fan of heralds either but when I were young, a herald was a far better choice for pov spec motoring.<br>
I always went older and better though, with Z magnettes a particularly excellent choice for student driving on the cheap.<br>
<br>
Jonners<br>
<br>


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'Tis a labour of love, like everything we do. My sprint will have cost me £6k by the time it's finished, I reckon, so for the same money I could have bought myself a pretty decent car. But I didn't, because my heart rules my head on this matter.<br>
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Of course it's slow and uncomfortable, but it's got a lot of character, and it has a lot of memories. I bet a lot of people wish that they never sold their first car. I'm still just about glad I didn't.<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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similar to me Mr Poth, my budget being a little bit taller, I could have bought a decent porsche 911, or may a supercharged vw corrado and had change by the time my sprint will be done.<br>
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minis are fun, I was part way through the hunter gatherer stage on mine, but that was the project I donated to my body man in exchange for welding, paint, labor etc on my sprint. it was 1380 lump, lightened, omega pistons, straight cut everything etc, (approx 125hp with weber!!), 4pot brakes, hi-lo's, spax, dunlop wheels, blah blah, along with a tired rolling shell. yes, ok, im out of pocket, but im 6 ft and it would have been too small 4 me really, duno y i started it in the 1st place!<br>
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when I was 20 I built an MG metro out of 2 cars, written off MG and good 1.0 shell. All the MG interior and dash was transferred, rear tailgate spoiler thing, front n rear glass, rear wiper, necessary electrics, all the front suspension and engine etc just swapped by undoing everything and lifting the cars off the complete subframe, engine etc. V quick, whole job completed, car running in 2 days...<br>
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mini running gear just the same.<br>
<br>
talk to my body man, he's a mini master, ex birmingham area mini club rep or something, paul ratcliff 077<br>
99<br>
252 4 9 6<br>
<br>
His mini, D3 RAT is metallic BRG, bling bling chrome wheels, lots of wood and leather, fat stereo, dvd player etc, show winner everywhere it went... awesome...<br>
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<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

<p>project orange - slow progress<br>
project black - coming on, could be sold...<br>
project white - pimp my tolly, next year!</p><i></i>

That's got me thinking. £5k would have just about got me the world's worst 911...<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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