The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

The Number One Club for owners of Triumph's range of small saloons from the 1960s and 1970s.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2021 5:28 pm 
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TDC Shropshire Area Organiser

Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7014
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Well i've swapped out the trans ECU and it works pretty much as well as the second hand one did. There is still no "self test" light when switching on and it still has an occaisional false neutral, but the shifting is more sane and predictable.

I'm currently delving back into the wiring diagram (it's warm and dry where my computer is) to see if I could have made any mistakes in the trans wiring but nothing is obvious yet. But it HAS to be something here and/or something in the trans itself. I may have to pull the loom when the weather is finer and recheck all the 5 million or so soldered joints for errors. It's easier and cheaper than getting the trans out and overhauled. In the meantime, i'm just gonna keep driving it, if it blows, it blows!

One curious thing i've noticed, is that the false neutral SEEMS to be related to throttle opening, up to about 1/4 throttle it's OK and anything much above 1/2 throttle, it also works fine, just in the middle it misses 3rd. This may sound like a bigger problem than it actually is when driving. For normal driving in average traffic I can drive it almost entirely on the first 1/4 of the throttle and it's still fine, more than capable of keeping up with traffic, (great for economy too). And if the opportunity comes up to nail it, that's great too! I've got so used to driving it now that it hardly ever misses 3rd, even on the first road test of the refurbed ECU, I got 8 miles before it missed a shift, I was almost sure it had fixed the problem by then!

I also got surprised with a laptop for Christmas (I have always worked with a desktop) which means I can finally deploy the Op-Com I was kindly gifted a year or two ago by another member. This might, if i'm lucky, give me some better insights into how the car is programmed together.

So I'm not quite ready for that manual conversion yet!

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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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:18 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
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Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:13 am
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Location: The continent
Quote:

I may have to pull the loom when the weather is finer and recheck all the 5 million or so soldered joints for errors.

Steve
There you go. Never solder in a harness. Didn't I send you crimp connectors for that? I think it weren't 5 million. :lol:

Jeroen

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Classic Kabelboom Company. For all your wiring needs. http://www.classickabelboomcompany.com


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 1:53 am 
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TDC Shropshire Area Organiser

Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7014
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Quote:
Quote:

I may have to pull the loom when the weather is finer and recheck all the 5 million or so soldered joints for errors.

Steve
There you go. Never solder in a harness. Didn't I send you crimp connectors for that? I think it weren't 5 million. :lol:

Jeroen
Well no, it was probably more like 150, just felt like so many more! Yes you did send crimps, but I just couldn't get on with them, or my crimp pliers couldn't. Wasn't too worried about solder joints failing from creep stiffness as they were all bundled up in a loom and not where they they could flex and break. IF there's a fault, it's been there from day one. So is more likely to be a circuitry mistake than bad soldering. Maybe i'll pay for my arrogance and maybe I won't. But I have enough wire left that I can remake every joint better if need be! And because I made it "plug and play", I can get the engine and trans loom out in about half an hour. If I DO have to rebuild it, i'll separate the motor and trans looms this time!

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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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 2:13 pm 
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TDC Cheshire Area Organiser

Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 6:28 pm
Posts: 1405
Location: NANTWICH.
Hi Steve, are you sure it's throttle related as my grumpy Vauxhall guy mentioned when i called you? I was waiting for your ECU to come back before saying anything.

Tony.

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NOW A CLUB MEMBER 2017057 :bluewave:


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 9:22 pm 
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TDC Shropshire Area Organiser

Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7014
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Still driving around OK, 700+ miles showing now, took these while waiting to pick my stepson up from work, his Corolla lost a rear flexi hose to rodent activity over new year and can't get a new one till at least Tuesday.


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Happy new year to all!

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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PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:31 am 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!
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Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:13 am
Posts: 3173
Location: The continent
Had my family and friends in Toyota's also. Only a filter change once a year so more Dolomite time to spend.

Sold mine half a year ago. And all on LPG..




Image

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Classic Kabelboom Company. For all your wiring needs. http://www.classickabelboomcompany.com


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:21 am 
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Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Posts: 7014
Location: Highley, Shropshire
Well the odometer is now reading 2083 miles and nothing much else has gone wrong, one of my new ARB clamps has broken, the n/s/f shocker (NOS Armstrong) has sprung a leak, the lower column bush (new from Fitchetts but a standard one) is a bit chewed and the steering stiffness is getting worse steadily, so much so, that I took it all to bits yesterday to sort out these and other matters.

Things didn't start well, as I was jacking the car up, it fell over sideways off the trolley jack (p**y gravel drive!) and the axle stand I was attempting to place ended up under the rack gaiter. The rack is now irretrievably BENT!

It's no great loss, I was considering swapping it out anyway and inspection has revealed considerable slop in the bearings at both ends.
So it's a deader anyway!

Back to the "main event" and I rejacked the car more carefully and this time got the stands in place without drama.

So, wheels off, calipers off (my bigger discs and Ford calipers mean you can't remove the track rod ends without taking them off) and both track rod ends disconnected. The n/s hub then moved freely, the o/s emphatically DID NOT! I did a quick "eeny meeny miny mo" and unbolted the top balljoint from the upper arms, which proved to be the correct choice, the lower balljoint was completely free and the (brand new last year) upper balljoint was seized solid! I replaced it with one from stock, checking carefully that it was free moving first! Changing that and the n/s/f shock for a Unipart one I had in stock occupied most of yesterday afternoon. I have to wait till about 2.30 pm for the car to be in the shade of the house to avoid sunstroke!

So today was rack day and the rack swap itself went better, I think, than doing the same job on a standard Sprint as both the U bolts come out in clean air without lifting the engine. I still had to lift the engine to physically get the rack OUT, but that turned out to be simple too, loosen 4 nuts on the 2 mounts to the ends of their threads, apply a jack and block of wood under the front of the sump and jack away for about 1.5". this left enough room to remove the rack and I didn't have to remove or loosen anything else. Leaving the nuts on a tad made lowering it down easy too!

I fitted the better feeling one of my 2 "quick" racks and also a pair of OE solid alloy mounts that I found on my 1500FWD when dismantling it, these actually hold the rack central unlike the Jigsaw ones I have been using, the main reason I've done this now is because the seized balljoint made the steering so heavy the strain was moving the rack in the Jigsaw clamps!

What I didn't expect to find was that the upper UJ on the (new 3 years ago and barely used) intermediate column was also seized in one plane. Fortunately I had another new spare to hand and also fitted a C Witor lower u/j whilst I was about it. I also took the opportunity to replace the column bush with a Superflex one.

Another thing I didn't expect was that the lower coupling (FAM1718) that I had dug up from somewhere and fitted cos I HAD it all those years ago is still in perfect condition. It's the design that has the screw ends peined over and may be a NOS type replacement that i'd had sitting for years before I fitted it. May do one of you concours types a turn, I won't be using it!

That's all back together now and it only remains to repair the ARB clamp and I can let the front down. I used to get through these quite fast on the Carledo too, I don't there's anything inherently wrong with them, it's probably just my modified ARB mount that's to blame.

Next job is to swap out the rear springs and shox for some NOS ones i've picked up recently (Springs from Fitchetts, shox from Alun) hopefully this will help my slight case of "soggy bottom"! My own fault, the ones on there were there when I got the shell, they SEEMED OK so I left them alone. Should have known better!

What I HAVE found interesting is that the rear spring is THE SAME PART NUMBER for ALL Dolomite models from 1300 to Sprint and 76>. So this story of the Sprint having stiffer (possibly 140 lb) rear springs is just that! Another urban myth! There are other springs available from Rimmers including stiffer standard length (considered these) stiffer and shorter, and "Italian spec" No poundages or lengths available for any of these though, so I stuck to standard ones. I didn't want the back end to end up stiffer than the front!

THe fuel pump is still noisy, i've got used to that, but an in-tank Cavalier one is in development, the trans still misses 3rd every now and then, but does seem to be getting better with use, so i'll probably live with it for the time being. It hasn't blown up yet! Theres a handfull of other less important jobs to do as well, whether they get done before TDCIR remains to be seen!

I'll see you all there!

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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PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:12 am 
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Posts: 956
Location: Filey, North Yorkshire
Some interesting developments/progress, thanks for the update!

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