The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Due to wrong picture size and not being able to change it, I have decided to post a new thread - sorry.

Hi everyone. I'm Pete and I own a 1966 Triumph 1300, which I am in the process of total restoration. My wife and I owned a 1300TC for 11 years when we got married and loved it. After raising a family and doing all the married things we built a NGTF kit car, restored a Scimitar SS1 for my son and then restored last year a MGB GT. Had a brilliant summer with it but decided we would like a 4 door as well so have bought a 1300 off Ebay of all places and will be totally restoring it throughout the winter and hopefully have it on the road this summer, well that's the plan!
Its registration is GBT 198 D, hence GilBerT! It is green but will be Wedgewood Blue like our previous one when its finished. If anyone has any history of Gilbert, I would love to hear of it.
Although has MOT, VOSA said it was a 'lazy' MOT with many faults so decided to take it off the road and totally restore it*. To-date it is stripped of doors, boot lid, bonnet and all interior. The rear end is raised high in the garage with petrol tank out and sub-frame off and stripped down. In process of welding rear end rust areas and refurbish/rebuilding sub-frame, suspension and braking. Engine partially stripped and not looking too bad. Will tackle front end after rear end welding/finishing, then will strip front sub-frame engine and gearbox. Wings have been removed and new ones bought and will be welded on after strengthening the bulkhead and inner wings etc, then re-spray. Doors will have lower replacement panels fitted as current ones are rotten.
So there it is and I expect I will be asking loads of questions and asking advice from time to time. If I can complete GilBerT to anywhere near the standard of others on this restoration forum, I will be well happy.
I will update periodically with photos.
Pete
* Bought the car with 12 months MOT and no adviseries, but it did not feel right driving home so have it checked at local MOT station and they declared it unsafe to drive. VOSA got involved and decided that MOT was not properly done, although they thought it had been MOT'ed and not just a paperwork fudge, so called it a 'Lazy' MOT and were going to talk to garage involved.

Cut out rust from rear N/S corner and made new panels ready for welding, the 2 pictures attached tell many words. Used 0.9 Zintec and found it easy to work with and will have a bash at welding tomorrow.
I have some questions which someone may to advise me on?
I have attached two photos showing internal panels which are rusty and cannot get access to unless outer wing cut away. What is the best way to treat this rust before welding new panel back on - would it be waxyol or something else?
Once the zintec panels have been welded, what would be the best method of protecting edges/welds - would it be red oxide, hammerite or something else?
Thanks
Pete

Thanks for re doing the pictures, I have deleted the other topic with the huge picture.

Please keep the updates coming!

I would probably cut the wing away and replace the offending sections.
Waxoyl is fine where you can see it applied, but I found it difficult to spray so prefer to use the Bilt Hamber underseal. This comes in an aerosol and produces a nice even
fan like pattern so is easy to apply.

On new sections I use a weld through zinc primer. Bilt Hamber (amongst others) produce one.



Ian.

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Thanks for info on rust prevention.
My first casualty!!! I have broke one of the lugs that support the lower end of the shock absorber on the rear N/S trailing arm, see photo. I was trying to remove seized bolt and thought I had it supported at back, but not so!
There is welding wire and gas especially for aluminium that I can buy - do you think it is possible to repair this trailing arm or should I purchase one off a scrap 1300fwd? Does anyone know if there is one available?

since it is cast aluminium it will be very difficult to repair using welding. the amount of cr*p and dirt in the material makes it near impossible, unless you take alot of time cleaning it up and preparing it with heat treatment etc!


replacement is the best option, (in my opinion)

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Time for an update. I have spent the past few weeks working on the underside of the rear end. It is a terrible state, full of hole hidden by layers of underseal and what looks like roof/gutter flashing covered in underseal! It has taken hours with hot blow gun and several wire brushes in the trusty angle grinder. Even with regular vacuuming the garage got filthy and I even worse! The rust has been cut away and fabricated boxsections made to strengthen the bad areas and I decided to strengthen other areas with 0.9mm zintec to ensure it will not require any further work like this during its life. The welding is not a pretty sight, still learning!, but it has penetrated the parent metal. Difficult with bad neck and helmet contorted under the back end, but a quick touch up with the trusty angle grinder makes it presentable and by the time it will have several layers of hammerite after rust sealing, it should be good for years. Still some work on the boot well edging and other holes, then painting of whole back end underside and assembly of refurbished subframe assy. Then will take car off ramps, turn it round, lift the body of subframe and strip that for refurbishment. The body will be put back into the garage and front jacked up as high as possible for access to underside to do the same as the rear end. I have attached photos, but may not be in correct order as I am still getting used to website. More pictures and updates to come.

I wouldn't use that particular product......
instead I use plant enamel paint, as sold for use on agricultural tractors and other machinery.
From experience, hammerite is prone to chipping.

For priming, I use a zinc rich stuff.





Ian.

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Over the past few weeks the rain has allowed me to do plenty to the car. The rear underneath has been finally welded and reinforced in certain areas for the future, even when I cleaned off the old under-seal there were holes aplenty. The whole underside was brush de-rusted, jenolited, painted with 2 coats of Zinc paint and finally 3 coats of outdoor machinery paint - thanks sprint95m. Choose a light colour as I was fed-up with black gooey stuff masking trouble, at least in the future I will able to see any problems long before they get serious. The sub-frame was de-rusted and I welded 2 jacking plates to the underneath on the ends as they were weak and are now strong. I taped up the drain holes bar one and heated the sub-frame with a hot gun at the same time heating up waxyol in hot water. When liquid I poured about a litre into the open hole and taped it up, then shook it up fully coating the inside so it should last the life of the car. The broken trailing arm was repaired with brackets and plates held together with stainless screws. It seems more than strong enough but time will tell. Both the trailing arms were refurbished with new brake cylinders, shoes and hoses. I hope to assemble the whole of the rear end tomorrow and wheel it out the weekend, turn the car round and then start refurbishing the front end.

Sorry further photos which I should of attached to first post - pressed the wrong button Doh!

Managed to remove crankshaft pulley and starter ring assembly tonight. There were marks on the nut and pulley where someone before had problems removing it without the right tools, or so it seems. There was a locking plate to prevent the large crankshaft nut from coming undone, held in place with 3 of the 6 starter ring bolts - has anyone ever seen this before, its not in the manual?
When apart, the woodrough key was in bits and the crank end showed signs of previous damage. Does anyone know what would cause this key to break up? Where can I get a new key?
I would appreciate any feed-back.
Pete

Mick Dolphin is your first port of call. You might need to get the key remade if you can't get one.

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Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA

1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Now for sale)
2003 Volvo XC90 D5 SE (PX53 OVZ - The daily driver)
2009 Mercedes-Benz W204 C200 CDI Sport (BJ58 NCV - The 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - another project car)
Former stable of SAY 414M (1974 Toledo), GRH 244D (1966 1300fwd), CDB 324L (1973 1500fwd), GGN 573J (1971 1500fwd), DCP 625S (1977 Dolomite 1300) & LCG 367N (1975 Dolomite Sprint) plus 5 Acclaims and that's just the Triumphs!

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Congrats on taking the work on. You are certainly making progress. As said earlier, Mick Dolphin is the go to man for most 1300 FWD things. There is the show at Stoneleigh coming up soon. It might be worth your while going to that and having a mooch round.

Keep at it!

Ken

Hi Pete,

The Club do replacement front valances (unobtainable) in GRP; stock held in Stourbridge...if you need one?

Thanks for advice lads, will be going to show.
I have attached final photo showing underside before taking car off ramps/supports and turning around to restore front end and engine. Lots of fun scraping off 48 years of oil, muck and rust!!!
Have stripped front sub-frame down and found top and bottom ball joint rubber covers shredded so lots of grit in joints, need to strip and clean before making replacement decision. The front discs are so badly worn that only about 50% of faces are shinny and the other red rust, does anyone know minimum machine thickness before I invest in new ones? the one drive-shaft looks like it has been glued in around the splines as traces of hard adhesive/loc tight is visible, needless to say it is not budging so a bit of work to be done here!
Also attached is a photo of the rear transmission mount to front sub-frame - is this standard? Looks a bodge to me? There is a rubber mount (oil perished) that looks like it should be there but no fitting to mount to it. Comments appreciated as usual.
Pete