The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:28 pm 
Great write up Howard. Well done to you and Julian for getting a fresh MOT. It must be hard to motivate yourself working on a Convertible in the winter months but it will be worth it in the Spring!


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:01 am 
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Looking good Howard, love the stock of wire brush grinder heads handily on your kitchen shelf!

It took a tad longer than I first envisaged, I thought we'd have Howard cruising the streets this summer. Hats off to Howard for the determination to go back to Battersea time and again, only that saw that the job got finished. I'm glad we got there though particularly after my failure with Alex' 1850 a few days earlier.

Although that MOT tester was the toughest I've seen at that testing station and his was by no means the worst I've seen. After all, despite his thorough hammer work he found no rot and the fail items were fair. He commented on the thickness of the underseal and it's a fair comment, I'm absolutely bloody certain there's some crap welding hiding on that chassis.

To see a right w##ker of a tester at work I can tell you where to visit. This particular testing station had two testers, one was tough but fair and the other I can only conclude disliked classics. One year I took my sprint and it failed under the fair testers eye on a couple of minor issues. Next week I took it back and as soon as I pulled up in the queue and found the arsehole on duty, unusual for a Saturday morning, I should have left. After about 3 hours I got to the front of the queue. The w##ker looked at my fail sheet which did not include brakes, got in the car and stood on the brakes and pushed the pedal to the floor. The bloke is built like a prop forward and claimed it was easy. I complained and he showed me how to achieve the same, anyone here can do it. Just push the pedal as hard as you can (check first you have the reinforcing bracket fitted and your bulkhead is not split). Push harder that you could ever need to in a moving car. I estimate 10 to 20 times the force it takes to put a sprint into a 4 wheel skid. Something has to give and if all is well with the metalwork it has to be the seal and the pedal moves smoothly to the floor. I did nothing to the car, took it elsewhere and it passed first time. I reported the incident and a couple of months later bumped into the fair tester in Horley. He was not at all surprised and had left that job to go luggage handling at the airport, bullshit such as my encounter was one of the reasons. They had not by that time had a visit from VOSA but I heard via another source that there were more than average complaints received about that place. I'd be interested in Roy's opinion but it seems to me that given that an MOT is very subjective and so if a tester wants to fail a car a way can always be found.

Next time we'll go on a Saturday morning, the boss doesn't do Saturdays.

_________________
1978 Pageant Sprint - the rustomite, 1972 Spitfire IV - sprintfire project, 1968 Valencia GT6 II - little Blue, 1980 Vermillion 1500HL - resting. 1974 Sienna 1500TC, Mrs Weevils big brown.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:21 pm 
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That's nasty, although my Spitfire probably would have given him a heart attack!

I've had my Sprint MoT'd twice in London and it's flown through both times. The third time I took it to my Mum's local garage (who are brilliant and very classic-friendly) that usually do my MoT's. I had two pages of fails! Mainly shocks and suspension bushes. Turns out the place in London didn't even test the car and just wrote out a ticket.. Personally, I'd prefer a fail than drive a dangerous car!!

Anyway, at least I know my Spitfire chassis is rock solid :D

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:34 pm 
Nice one Howard. I stand by my recommendation for the foamy spray but would be more inclined to use it on fabric. Halfrauds produce an own brand trigger spray bottle of upholstery cleaner in a blue bottle. It is brilliant on vinyl. Best I have seen for a long while.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:46 pm 
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Yesterday I decided to strip out the front interior and see what was lurking underneath the gearbox tunnel carpet. The answer? Lots and lots and lots of bitumen sound deadening sheets. Over absolutely everything. I'm not a fan of bitumen sheets, as they had silently caused the front floorpan of my 1500HL to rust out, as water from the leaking front windscreen got stuck underneath, and out of sight, slowly rusting away. The sheets were therefore unceremoniously ripped out, and I was greeted with... a soaking wet front footwell :(

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Thankfully, this is only on the drivers side, and I think only happened relatively recently. About 6 weeks ago, the roof detached from the header rail on the driver's side - water from the balcony above came pouring on during some extremely heavy rain and got the driver's side of the car soaking wet. Hence you end up with a damp backside every time you sit in the driver's seat! Although the floorpan looks rusty, I've had a VERY good poke about, and it seems solid. I also found an old 50p :mrgreen:

The good news is that today it's almost completely dried out, so will get wire brushed (manually, as I have no power!), primered and painted. Tinweevil has recommended some excellent primer - Bonda Zinc? So I'll give that a go 8)

The gearbox tunnel is a complete mess - the firewall end had snapped off, and the entire section around the gearstick was missing! I have a glass-fibre tunnel, but it's unbelievably shite - I'm not even going to bother using it. Lesson learn't - either find a very good original, or shell out £80 for the plastic/rubber one that actually fits and has the mounting holes already in place. I was pleased to notice that my tunnel did have the footrest still attached - it was hiding under the bitumen sheets!! :woohoo:

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Today I got distracted with the wiring under the dashboard. It's a MESS. The entire dashboard was removed and the wiring stripped back as far as the fusebox. I cut out three accessory wiring looms for radios :lol: Once I removed all the unnecessary wires, half the loom tape was unwrapped so I could get one burnt wire out - the pink/white one for the heater (heater to ignition power). I also found the wire from the heater control melted, so I've taken the switch assembly out to clean up. The loom was then tidied, sorted out, and taped back up. If I'm honest, it looks great! It's all wired up again (bar the heater) and works perfectly - I even fixed the speedometer illuminaton and got the door courtesy lamp to work - well, it would if I had a door switch :lol: Overall, I'm very pleased. I'll look into the heater tomorrow, but I have a feeling due to the melted wires, the motor is going to be dead... we'll see :mrgreen:

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I started to install the black MKIV dashboard, I got most of it in place but it started to get dark. So went inside and refurbished the heater control. I don't have the right green/yellow wire, so I used bright blue, with a label.

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Only things I need to finish are two new bulb holders, and a couple of single/double connectors. I checked Vehicle Wiring Products, but they don't seem to do the right ones.. any suggestions? :)

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 4:57 pm 
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Nice work again Howard. The black dash looks extremely right in there*.

* And so much better than the crapple, sorry, crackle paint on an mg dash.

_________________
1978 Pageant Sprint - the rustomite, 1972 Spitfire IV - sprintfire project, 1968 Valencia GT6 II - little Blue, 1980 Vermillion 1500HL - resting. 1974 Sienna 1500TC, Mrs Weevils big brown.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 12:32 am 
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I do admit, the black dash looks great, quite sporty looking! Shame it only lasted for two years really.

I got the electrics all finished today, no thanks to the Haynes wiring diagram having the headlight wires connected wrong :roll: Also fixed the reversing lights - as suspected, it was a loose wire on the gearbox switch!

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I'm having a bit of bother with the heater. It's never worked, as the wires had all melted. The fan is good, as I've tested it. That's a job for another day though!

I'm wondering that while the gearbox tunnel is off if it's worth changing the gearbox oil. The gears are a bit crunchy, but I'm unsure if this is due to ancient oil or a knackered box. Probably both.. I might bleed the clutch and see if that helps.

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


Last edited by Howard81 on Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 12:36 am 
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Just a request - any Spitfire owners on here mind doing me a small favour?

Which holes in the bulkhead do the various leads and cables go? Speedo, choke, windscreen washers, etc? Any chance of some detail pics? :D

Most of mine were just poked through the bit missing at the top of the gearbox tunnel :roll:

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 4:48 pm 
Interesting read Howard :thumbsup:

Steve :D


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:52 am 
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Thanks Steve, glad you are enjoying it :suntan:

Another update today, and it's not good news I'm afraid.. :(

I took out the driver's seat, the "fluff" you can see is bits of seat foam that has disintegrated.. The carpet was soaking wet..

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Yuck! Bitumen tar board.. horrible. Doesn't look too bad, but I wonder what lurks beneath?

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The floor was absolutely drenched in water and is peppered with holes.. :snivel:

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AARRGGHHH! :(

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If I decide to get a new floorpan fitted, I may as well replace the other rusty bits on the car. Sill on the same side, front passenger wing, rear quarter panel lips (the bit below the bumper side-on).

Then it would be a pretty tidy car.. I've got all the interior bits to finish it off.

I just hope the passenger floorpan has faired better. We'll see tomorrow.

Why oh why oh why do I have a natural inability to weld :snivel:

On the plus side, I removed the roll-bar and painted the tacho trim black, so that blends in better.

Sigh... well, I'm glad I did it, after all, if I had left it, it would be a hundred times worse by the summer.

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_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 6:25 pm 
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Slightly better progress today, the passenger floorpan has been cleaned up, and there's no holes in it :mrgreen:

It will be getting treated with Rust Cure, then painted with Bonda Rust with Zinc primer. Then top coated in red. Lovely!

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I also dug out the hard top. That's rusty too. I bought it from eBay a 18 months ago, and it's been in my boiler cupboard ever since. Although it looked in good condition, the journey home shook a load of filler loose.. Well, it will get treated and fillered for now, but at least will keep the car dry. I ground off seal channel at the front of the roof as that had also rusted away, it's primered and painted now. As the seal channel is now missing, I'm going to glue the header seal back on.

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_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:25 pm 
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That's interesting - the hole that I thought made the drivers side quite serious appears on the passenger side too. Can you draw a line on the photo of the drivers side floor pan of where the reasonably solid metal starts, where it would be solid enough to weld to. You need at 60% ish of the thickness of the original metal to be there. How far out would you have to cut to have that?

_________________
1978 Pageant Sprint - the rustomite, 1972 Spitfire IV - sprintfire project, 1968 Valencia GT6 II - little Blue, 1980 Vermillion 1500HL - resting. 1974 Sienna 1500TC, Mrs Weevils big brown.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:42 pm 
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When a floorpan is a collander like this Ive had good mediun term bodge results by first of all wire brushing as much as possible and on both sides, then giving it a coat of bilt hamber hydrate 80 or somesuch then when dry covering the whole lot with P40...the stuff with fiberglass in it.

This gives quite a strong "ceramic" floor. It will last a couple of years at least...:-)

You can get a full floorpan and stick it in when funds allow. Unless of course this is a seller soon then it ought really to be done properly.

Jonners

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Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:46 pm 
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Which holes are you referring to?

If it was to be patched, you could get away by just cutting an inch or two outside of the lower depression - as shown in yelllow - then welding in a new section. However, there has been an L-section (shown in green) welded on the entire outer edge so the new sill could be welded on. The other yellow marked area would need to be patched too (but welded in from above as to not to disturb the L-section).

The problem is the L-section - does it hide a nasty mess? The perfectionist in me says to get the whole lot cut out, then a new floorpan, inner sill, outer sill and crossmember welded in. But that would cost more than the car has cost me so far! :?

I've been offered a panel from a Club Triumph member - he used the front floorpan section for his GT6, so the rear section is going spare :D

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_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:12 pm 
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Finally completed all the bits I now need for this car:

Front seats. Yes, they are in "new tan", and one has a hole in the side, but they are perfect other than that! Unlike my current 1500 seats that have massively disintegrating foams, these are perfect. And at £21 the pair, much cheaper than £140 for new foams. They are also the correct non-headrest non-recline seats for a 1970-1972 MKIV. They also smell how proper Triumph seats should :mrgreen: I quite like the New Tan colour, my plan is to eventually fix the hole by stitching in a new section, then using Vinylkote to dye them black. They're good as they are for now though!

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Secondly, a new gearbox tunnel - I bought a massively expensive fibreglass one, which is absolutely shite. So a good secondhand one was located instead. Unlike the fibreglass one, this original should actually fit :lol:

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Finally, the plasticy vinyl windscreen surrounds and an original radio surround.

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It has a modern radio fitted, but as you can't actually hear anything on it at speeds above 20mph, I'm going to fit a period Radiomobile I've had kicking around at home for years :D

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


Last edited by Howard81 on Wed Nov 24, 2010 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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