The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I've been sitting on this second sprint for a while now. It was bought in a fit of enthusiasm a few years ago as a project, half stripped down and with a swag load of spares for my son. I've taken the car back and inspired by a few threads and a few weekends spare, I've started some tentative work on her.

The car was purchased on ebay from a guy in Ballarat. Originally it had been offered from a seller in Geelong alongside another sprint that had an SR70DET conversion that had been involved in a collision. The Ballarat buyer bought both but didn't take the converted sprint as it didn't have an engineers certificate, very important here in Oz. He then sold on the sprint project after a month or two for the same price he had got it for. The list of spares was impressive and for $1500 and the cost of a trailer to fetch the thing, I was on the hook.


collection from Ballarat (actually Sebastapol, just down the road, a 1000km round trip)


The spare parts occupied the best part of a ute tray. I reckon there are the parts from two other dolomites mixed in with the haul.


Back home in the shed


The first priority was to preserve the roof, which had lost the vinyl and was starting to rust


sanded back, treated with rust converter and sprayed with primer to hold in in check. The car as a whole is in a lot better condition than my other sprint. The body is solid, a little bit of rust but compared to what I salvaged before, this is a walk in the park.


Next step was engine out to fix the massive oil leak between the gearbox and bellhousing and give us a chance to look at the engine bay.


the carbs and manifold had already been removed so the engine extraction was quite simple


The gearbox and bellhousing cleaned up. I have the gaskets and oil seals ready to fit, but this is about where the project stalled as I discovered rotten metal on the engine bulkhead underneath the servo. I figured I couldn't invest the time nor the money to get the car back on the road and was deliberating whether the original plan of just getting it driveable for my son wasn't a bit short sighted and perhaps the car deserved more fettling.

I'm still undecided whether I want to go for a total bare metal repsray and Mad mart style resto or do enough to get her back on the road and enjoy her as a half restored vehicle that won't mind a bit of gravel.

This weekend I bit the bullet and started on the bulkhead.

This work is almost the direct result of ed1993's thread about buying some tools. Looking at how much fun can be had mucking around with cars and the preparation work knowing the long term goal is to restore the car back to a running condition, improving everything along the way.

The rusty bulkhead had been worrying me, I'm not a welder, I have only the rudimentary tutelage of George to go by and I was nervous about stuffing it up. But if all that is needed is some stitch welding, I thought I'd give it a go. bear with me, this is a step by step story on a noob tackling some panel work


pretty typical rust


Brushed it back with a wire brush and carefully cut out the offending section, being careful not to interfere with any of the existing holes in the bulkhead.


The piece that needed making up was curved and had two reinforcing channels in it.


I hit the bulkhead with my cheapie sandblasting set up. $30 and a bag of garnet, got rid of the rust I couldn't get to with the brush


the result of the sandblasting.


I then hit it with some rust converter. The chemist in me sees the logic in how it works and despite other advice saying it isn't needed, I figure it can do no harm


The trusty spare metal department, an old 2500 bonnet (yes, that is a bullet hole)


fabricating up a new piece, the effort on top was a fraction small so I made up the second replacement, with key to fit into the lapped upper panel. This is just lots of fun. Simple tools, a hammer and a small rod on top of a makeshift anvil and it is surprising how accurate you can get it. In the end, the piece was a bit too short but I was able to fill in with weld.


flap wheel on the angle grinder to bring it up sparkly. Feeling pretty confident about now, this was how George does it. Takes a while to get the fabrication done, but worth it.


fitted in place and held with a magnet. There is about 2mm gap on the underside, but I had been told to leave a bit of a gap for the weld to fill into.


This is where the purists and proper welders are going to cringe. Lots of faffing around and lots of chicken poop. But pretty much held in place.


a radio going (a radio version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, of all things) and a cup of coffee with what are arguably the best biscuits in the world, Montes.


My good wife came out and grabbed a rare shot of me working on the car. The process of welding and grinding wasn't as smooth as it might have been. I think it took 8 goes to get it all filled in, grinding off the excess between welds. George does it in one


OHWS safety shot, mainly for Jonners who loves this sort of thing.



The welder. Picked this up second hand for $100, I use it gasless. There is a problem with the wire feed and it is very erratic. Not that I am blaming the welder, but it excels at stitich welding and is hopeless on anything requiring a run.


Finally finished. I put a spotlight inside the car and could see where I still had pinpricks of light coming through the bulkhead. I learnt the hard way about leaving the mig in one spot for too long, but also got the hang of filling in holes. I wouldn't leave it like this on an external panel, but since this will be covered by the bulkhead pad, I figured a less than perfectly smooth finish was going to be okay.

finish the days work with a clean and then spray of Zinc Black primer.

So what to do from here ? Do I continue with the engine bay and respray it slowly or go straight for the jugular and refit the (repaired) engine. How much engine work should I be looking at doing ? Complete strip as last time and a trip to the engineers shop to plane the head and set the valves up or just plonk it back in with an overhaul of the water pump, oil pump and other ancillaries ? How much do I spend on the body ? I'm really, really torn here.

stu

Hi Stu, superb repair..looks very good indeed.

Engine.. While it's out, strip it down and have a look at what needs replacing. Probably a new clutch.

Body.. As it looks pretty damn good already, a new vinyl roof and a body t-cut and polish.

If I already had a mint Sprint already (of which you have), that's what I would do.

That welding looks an excellent job, well done Stu, be proud of your achievement mate

(oh, could I just add though.....that when using a grinder in such close proximity to the glass work (the windscreen in this case), please cover that glass (old blanket etc) as the glass will get filled with hot spatter in a very quick time - I should know )

As for what to do.... just get it roadworthy, drive and enjoy. As Reg so rightly said you already have one "posh" Dolomite so there is no need to go down that road with this one.

Well done for having a go. With a minter in the shed already one that 'won't mind a bit of gravel' sounds just the ticket to me.

Don't forget that there should be a drain hole for the plenum chamber in that area, no. 5 in this post. Without it condensation or car wash water (do you get rain?) will fill the half circle under the brake tube.

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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.

You were brave leaving the loom so close to the welding. I'm sure you protected it somehow.

I'd have pulled it out.....yes its a faff but I wouldnt want to make a new one and when its back inside the car it makes the underbonnet repaint etc so much easier.

Lovely bit of work though and well done.....

That weather....that space....I'm emmigrating....:=)

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.

thanks for the kind words, most of them not deserved though

the welding is very rough and I didn't have the foresight to protect the windscreen, the wiring loom or the brake lines/unions. Next time !

thanks for the tip on the drain holes Tin, most useful. I'll have to dig out Ian's sage advice on reinforcing the clutch/brake pedal area on the bulkhead as well.

when done I'll spray with mimosa from a can to finish off the bulkhead and then turn to the engine. Got this saturday free before the ritual of children's sport occupies every winter weekend.

Mart's dismantling of that OD was encouraging wasn't it ?

most annoying, the door hinge nuts on the inside of the car body aren't captured in any way, refitting the door I took off is going to be a pain.

Nice work stu, better than my pigeon Poop I call welding ....
- agree with the majority -get in it as soon as you can and start ripping thru some rally stages...!
...sort the mech's, make sure the o/d is in good fettle, and have wheel spins in the gravel -immense fun because you won't be too precious about all the paint you might have put on...as long as it's ok from a distance( and possibly yours im assuming may be constantly covered in dust..!) don't worry about looks - start looking for good driving roads - I'm sure there's more over there than here...you lucky bugger...

bit more work tonight.

removed the front bearing plate from inside the bellhousing, the part that surrounds the input shaft that goes into the gearbox. Prised the old seal out, found it to be metal with a rubber insert. Installed the new one (all rubber). Took off the countershaft cover plate and cleaned up all surfaces. Replaced the bearing plate gasket and cover plate gasket. Put the bearing plate and cover plate back on.

I was expecting the bearing plate to be a bit of a push fit along the input shaft with the new seal, but it was a very loose fit. I'm not sure how the seal is supposed to stop the gearbox oil coming through if it is so loose. The seal remains stationary while the input shaft spins underneath it. Anyone ?

Then I thought about replacing the clutch forks and cross shaft. Realised I'd need some extra plastic bearing caps on the ends of the cross shaft, which I don't have, so called a halt. Then I noticed someone has welded up the throw out arm on the cross shaft, so looked to see if the spare engine had a better one, only to get a rude shock to find that had also been welded up, a bit more enthusiastically.


the existing cross shaft


the spare engine and gearbox cross shaft.

someone has been putting a lot of weight on their clutch pedals to require this much fixing.

stu

That fleece looked very fluffy, how many times have you set it on fire whilst grinding/welding? Mine's gone up about a dozen times.

It's very satisfying making repair panels with nothing but a hammer and whatever you can find isn't it? There's a few pictures of some bits I've made waiting to go into a thread of my own, eventually.

More practice with the Mig and you'll be well away!

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1978 Sandglow Dolomite 1850HL The Lolomite - MOT pass! (broken again in 55 miles though...)
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.

Hi Stu,

It is good to see that you have plenty of time on your hands and can take on another rebuild/restoration!!
The seal only fits/runs on the machine (polished area) section just in front of the bearing. From memory as you push the front cover home you will feel some resistance just before (3mm?) it reaches home. The broken/repaired cross shafts are fairly normal. I would say that most Sprints (including everyone that I have owned or seen) has had a repaired or have had the cross shaft replaced due to the welds failing or the arm breaking from the shaft.

Your earlier comment about full restoration or get the car going I would definitely get it going and enjoy it ASAP. It will save heaps of time and money. You mentioned about your son using the car. This is no reflection on him (or his ability) but a young novice driver in a lightweight rear drive car with gravel roads in the area could be a potential recipe for problems (we were all young once, and for some of us that was a long time ago). I truly hope that is not the case, firstly for him, then you and finally the car.

Enjoy the rebuild and good luck.

Mark

cheers Mark and Oli.

I well remember my own idiocy in the sprint as a young 'un. Lucky to be here looking back, so I agree with your sentiments Mark. While having the kids out doing kid's stuff sounds good, having them do it in a car with ABS, airbags and 5* NCAP rating is better. This region was identified as one of 2 in SA that had a statistically high fatality rate among young drivers, due to road conditions, freakin' great big trees on the verges, long distances and a culture of ute musters/drinking/parties/footy. Dukes and Riddoch highways are like the old Hume. I'm glad in a way he has passed up the car (for now) in favour of something that will be distinctively his, due to the safety implications of driving a 70's car. The sprint would not have saved the driver in the latest accident we have just witnessed.

Thanks for the info on the seal. From what you said, I'm thinking it came under compression/located when the 4 bolts were tightened up and that will provide the seal ?

The PO double bushed the bell housing cross shaft journals. Win.

Got to get the clutch MC rewelded, one attachment lug snapped off during removal. Local engineer should be able to TIG it. Tempted to go for your reco MC on the bay, but I'll see how this one comes up.

I'll replace the rear main crank seal while it is all apart, new release bearing for the clutch as standard (and a new locking pin thing), the clutch is still good, then get it fitted back and reassemble the carbs which are currently in pieces. Should be a good weekend. Good weather forecast too, I feel a drive coming on

stu

I too have had to repair several of these cross shafts in my time...

While its all out have a look at an alternative solution to the cross shaft on the mintylamb web site, which iirc uses a sierra slave cylinder internal to the bell housing.

Sounds risky...having to take the box out to fix a hydraulic leak, but in practice they seem to achieve a 100k mile life no worries....

Just a thought.

Front box seal leak is also sadly quite common over here. Ive fixed a few in my time.

Jonners

_________________
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.

Great to see you having a go again Stu - well done for trying your hand at new skills too.

I am sure that it will be a great car once back on the road, gravel or no gravel.

_________________
Martin.

2021 Land Rover Discovery Sport HSE PHEV
2021 Dacia Duster 1.3 TCe
1963 Austin A40 Rally Car
2021 Honda Cross Tourer Highlander

I too have heard of the use of (are they called?) concentric hydraulic clutch cylinders,
but is NOT from a Sierra (these have cable operated clutches and Type 9 'boxes).
Is it the MT75 'box, as fitted to the Ford Scorpio V6, that has the hydraulic clutch? (I saw an MT75 last Saturday but
didn't look closely enough to have noticed .)

Chris Witor seems to have solved the problems of clutch operation using improved components in the original system, which is
good news given the interchangeability of parts T2000/Sprint.
If it were up to me Stu, in your position, I would overhaul the original system.


Re the welding, Stu,
I think you should go for using gas with the MIG.
That small machine you have will cut out quite quickly if you try to seam weld, I expect. However, with patience, it will be okay
for most repairs. With practise you will produce welding that needs minimal grinding. A joggler (joddler) is a useful tool.

At the end of the day, the better welding machines are more money for good reason.

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