The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Beautiful Spring like day so been driving the car for most of the day - and oh, boy do those "new" carbs make a difference!

It pulls so well, so much more torque too. Amazing difference. Always had a flat spot at around 3,000 rpm - that's gone too.

Later in the day I went to the local Civic Amenity Site "the tip" to get rid of hedge clippings and my old shock absorbers found these in the paper recycling bin:
















Which I am very happy about.

Wow What a find?
Some of those magazines are as old as me but,in better condition

Nice work there Alan, and the magazine's were a great find

All the best

Darren

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1974 Triumph 1500TC In Maple Brown, (MABLE) GGN 647N
1968 Triumph Vitesse Saloon 2L MK2 Not for the faint hearted, mega restoration
1973 Triumph Spitfire In Mimosa

Alan,

I agree that driving the car in the salty weather is NOT a very good idea. Damp conditions, rain etc will itself cause rust. Salt further aggravates this.

I don't use ANY of my old cars in the months from October to April, and even then only use them on a dry day with a dry road.

I have even became so paranoid that I no longer use my Rover 75 in the very bad months, and only drive my recently fully rebuilt, full dinitrol'ed and galvanised chassis land rover at these times.

I have noticed though, that even this is now showing small signs of corrosion here and there.

I HATE THE IRISH CLIMATE!!!!

Anyway, buy a cheap saxo or hyundai or something to ruin in the winter and keep the dolly in the garage.

It is too lovely a car to ruin

Alan

Ensis is used on the structural steelwork of most, if not all of the Sis-in-law's company's offshore platforms, this including on the parts that are under the water and into the bedrock, so I always considered it plenty good for the vulnerable areas of the Dolomite which, like my Rebels and kittens among other old motors before it, was used daily and never garaged as this would cause condensation. That, and the fact that my garage attached isn't a garage any more since the kitchen was extended out and the Henderson door kept to comply with the local planning missives. Taking the chamois to it after rain keeps the paint free of standing water, as does using polish.
Provided a car is kept protected - and that you don't expose it to salt unnecessarily (I rarely drive on the beach, even in the GRP/Carbon fibre panelled modern with its Galvanised steel frame, and only go that way when the tide's out....) then the fresh air through it, plus the fact that brake components last far better as do tyres, bushes and all other rubber components when a car is in use - then using regularly is the kindest way though I'd accept, as I put in the thread where I thought these posts ought to have been, that the possibility of collision damage is a fair excuse if body parts are harder to source and "like for like" cover unfeasible.

The only worrying rot that I've ever encountered in any of my cars (total now approaching 70, many of them greater than 40 years of age at the time) has been in the ones stored in those virtually airtight garages.
My Fiat Cinquecento ('72 on an L reg), for example, has been stored dry since it was 8 months old and although I'm still working to recommission its gearbox and attending to perished brake seals, window rubbers, steering column rubber joint, kingpin and wishbone bushes, etc. the shell is utterly free of rust, a fact that can be attributed to the steading where the Cinquecento and a couple of 30s cars are stored being dry, but having a constant through draft that maintains that dry air inside. In a better sealed environment, the condensation would still form from airborne moisture but there'd be no constant airflow to dry it off and this happens where it can't be seen as most '60s and '70s Fiats would confirm, assuming that any other UK market, RHD originals are around now in bodily untouched order.

For the sake of the cars, sure, don't expose them to salt, but why would you do that anyway? Otherwise at least drive them once every Month or more, your rubberwear will thank you for it.

Hi can you tell were you can buy ensis from thanks Dave.

I buy it at a Ship's chandlery, sometimes Heather brings me a gallon in her hand luggage when she's visiting the UK, or you could try buying direct from Shell if you don't mind having a 40 Gallon drum standing around.

Like most similar, if less effective products, several types are available, I use V because it's what she uses to protect her welds under sea water.

Oli & I will be looking into getting some over the summer, however the more of us that want some, the cheaper it is. It might make it worth buying a 40 Gallon drum

JPB, Ensis is no longer avaliable from Shell, the sold the division off!!

The drums still carry the Shell logo, that's news.

It may be worth asking at the vintage wireless forum too as I know that some of us are among their number and one of the mods there has a source of Ensis V, which has prevented any of his older Citroens rotting away.

I'm nearby and have multiple rusting cars!

I emailed them a while ago to find out how I could get some directly from them, and the told me they'd sold the division off to x company, I would tell you what it was, but the email won't open

Just a little update....

Now have the original cannister oil filter fitted (thanks again to tinweavel) and I am at last leak free (bar a drip from the crankshaft oil seal).

Little bit of nonsense (but with a story).

Put this Shell Antifreeze sticker on:



Story goes that my best friend from High School had a Saturday job filling cars with petrol at a small filling station in Cowes, he had rolls and rolls of these stickers, being Juvenal we stuck these all over Cowes, lamposts, postboxes, parked cars, shop windows etc etc.

This one remained with me for the past 30 + years, still on it's backing paper, so today I stuck it on the car (though the sticky had long since dried out).

Oh..incidentally, there was one lampost (of the aluminium variety) that the sticky residual from one sticker remained until around 5 years ago when the Electricity people finally upgraded it to a more modern variety but when I passed it always made me smile.

*EDIT* Just been out to the garage and the offside front tyre is as flat as a pancake. Oh well

Out of interest, Alan, when did they start using those transparent coolant header tanks? For some reason, I'd always thought that those were later than your car or did you just change it so you could see the level without taking the lid off?

It's been on there since new John, I broke another '75 1850 a few years back and that too had the plastic bottle.

Been a little concerned of late of how close people seem to be driving to me, so been looking around for a suitable (and subtle) third brake light.

I finally decided on the one I liked the best is from the Mazda6, so one used one purchased from eBay:



It arrived today, so just lashed it up in the rear window with an external power source:





Really pleased with how tight it matches the screens profile. All I need to do now is to raise it up an inch or so (not too sure how to do this of yet) and then I will cover it with some Chestnut vinyl from a spare door card I have.

Will put some more pictures up when I have completed it.