The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I would guess refurb calipers, new pads, new discs, new fitting kit for the front. You're looking at several hundred pounds. So have a search on here for Trackerjack Brakes, it's an upgrade mod for any of the Dolomites.

Rear gearbox mount - if it's newish (last few years) put it in the bin. If it's NOS, keep it. There's a Volvo mount conversion that works well, again, search on here for the details. The Volvo mount cured some nasty noise and vibration on my 1850.

I've seen Trackerjack conversions mention before here. When I've seen kits go secondhand on eBay, they seem to be in the £300+ mark. Where can I get hold of new kits and how much would roughly I be looking at?

I roughly reckon £95 for discs, £20 pads, £90 for calipers, £15 for fitting kit. So about £220 for it all if I keep it stock.

Brake fluid in the master has that black sort of colour to it as if the seals have gone. So possibly need a rebuilt master in that too.

Rear brakes are currently unknown as I haven't had the back wheels off.

Speaking of taking wheels off, is the wheel nuts on these made of aluminium? They seems very light and soft material to most wheel nuts I've ever known. Also those wheel studs are very tiddly. I've used much thicker bolts to put shelves up with!
I really don't know of the mount is NOS or not. Is there any distinguishing feature on what can I tell if it is?

It isn't clear in the above pictures but it's branded as Metzeler. They appear to make motorbike tyres.

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

I've costed out the trackerjack kit including the kit itself (discs, brackets, spacers and clamp plates) new recon Ford calipers, good used caliper carriers new bespoke adaptor brake hoses and new front wheel bearings (well why not since the hubs are off?) and it comes to something in the close order of £425. You can do it cheaper if you are prepared to trust scrappy calipers, leave out the wheel bearings etc. But that is what it costs to do it properly!

Yes, you can do the stock brakes a bit cheaper, probably around £250 but then you're just replacing the factory's (only just good enough in 1973) system with the same thing, which in my and most other peoples opinion on here, is NOT good enough today!

If you are going to drive a Sprint in the manner it was designed to be driven, you NEED brakes that are as good as you can possibly make them, not the tiny, thin, milk bottle tops the factory provided which fade rapidly and warp under spirited use!

The TJ kits you see from time to time on ebay are NOT second hand, in the "used" sense, they are kits that have been bought and not fitted for one reason or another. Nobody who has FITTED a TJ conversion has ever taken it off! It's that good!

I have TJs on both my Sprint and my Vauxhall powered Toledo, have fitted them to 4 other cars for members, am currently doing a 5th and the 6th is booked in! I wouldn't go back to stock for all the tea in China and nor would anyone else who has used a TJ equipped car!

BTW, I have no connection with Jon (Trackerjack) other than as a very satisfied customer!

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.

Interesting. Having not properly driven a Sprint, I don't really know what the stock brakes are like myself and it's hard for me to judge if they will be a problem for me in my use. Against even my MGB discs these discs do seem very piddly. I do like driving a car spiritedly though ...but modern traffic often precludes that! Especially when stuck behind a long line of cars not wanting to overtake someone doing 45mph in a national.

Kinda torn whether to do a brake upgrade. One side I'd like to keep it relatively original as, for me, part of buying classics is to experience what cars were like to drive. Changing them too much can all to easily make them into something else. By fact you can't be on "maximum attack" 100% of the time is part of what the car is.

The other side is that when you're having fun, to be curtailed can be quite frustrating - especially if the brakes do fade heavily very quickly and end up loosing it on a corner.

I'll probably never track this car to be honest. If I was going to a track day, I'd probably take my Boxster. This car, for me, is about having the Webasto open and blasting around country lanes on a summers Sunday while off to somewhere to visit.

Ultimately the real decision probably come down to usual money and time - both of which I have very finite amounts. I'd like to get the car relatively usable asap and that means make it safe to drive. Apart from the brakes, there are other stuff that needs attention like clutch hydros, metal work and the wonky handling. The price difference between stock and Trackerjack will cover some of the costs of the materials I need to sort the other bits. Then my other cars can be quite needy at times too!

As long as I gel and get on with the car, this will be a long termer. If in the future I do feel the brakes are inadequate, there is nothing to stop me upgrading then.

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

You sure that gearbox mount didn't have "Metalastik" written on them? Looks like it's missing the large bell washer and dropped a bit too.

_________________
Current fleet: '75 Sprint, '73 1850, Daihatsu Fourtrak, Honda CG125, Yamaha Fazer 600, Shetland 570 (yes it's a boat!)

Past fleet: Triumph 2000, Lancia Beta Coupe, BL Mini Clubman, Austin Metro, Vauxhall Cavalier MK1 & MK2, Renault 18 D, Rover 216 GSI, Honda Accord (most expensive car purchase, hated, made out of magnetic metal as only car I've ever been crashed into...4 times), BMW 318, Golf GTi MK3 16v x 3

I'm in total agreement; I've had these brakes fitted on my 1500SE (by Steve) and in my opinion they are the only way to go. The standard brake setup may have been adequate several decades ago, but the world has moved on. These are potential life-savers.

_________________
Please note that I am simply a Forum administrator, so please do not contact me unless your question is regarding your Forum account. For general enquiries regarding the Club and its services (membership queries, questions about spares, lapdancing etc) please see https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... hp?t=20098

Are you enjoying using our forum? If so why not support the owners club which provides it by joining The Triumph Dolomite Club? Help us to preserve these great cars for future generations.
Club membership costs just £30 for one year or £55 for two years. See https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... =4&t=37824 for details.

Causing me a lot of dilemmas now! Maybe I'll have to price up a Trackerjack kit.

I've done an initial and rough todo list in an approximant priority order
 

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

Tell you what, don't decide yet! You've plenty to be getting on with!

Get yourself up to the TDCIR near Oxford (even if it's in a modern) on Sept 8th, biggest gathering of Dolomites in the world annually, it's our big show! I'll take you out for a spin in my TJ equipped car and i'm sure someone will do the same in a stocker! If that doesn't convince you, then stick to stock and good luck to you!

On other questions you've raised, yes the wheel nuts are aluminium and the 3/8" UNF ones on your early car are quite fragile and also quite hard to obtain. Later cars (VA 20000>) however had 7/16" studs and nuts, the nuts are quite plentiful but the 7/16" studs are NLA and also hard to swap out, at least on the rear. I got mine by swapping out the front hubs and rear 1/2 shafts for later ones.

I'd also replace all the rubber brake hoses and metal pipes if they've not been done already, Goodrich braided hoses and cupro nickel Kunifer metal pipes are best, fit and forget! Best put new rear wheel cylinders in too, they're relatively cheap!

Sump plugs are a bit of a sod to seal, so are often screwed in by Hercules and require equal (or more) force to remove. I prefer the large Stilson wrench method to remove them. New ones ARE available and cheap as chips. Its the same plug as the gearbox filler so get 2! My party trick here for "future proofing" the plugs, is to take an angle grinder to the new plugs and grind them down to a 10mm square from a tapered 11mm (7/16") then you can buy a genuine Facom tool for not much money that is designed to do these jobs on Renaults, i'll get the Facom tool part number off mine if I can find it.

Judging by the colour, that slave cylinder is fairly new (old ones are plain rust colour) and doesn't appear to be particularly leaky. Again, due to lousy design, the Sprint slave is a PITA to bleed correctly. the best way is to get the rear of the car 3ft off the ground so the slave is level when bleeding. Some folk reckon it's worth making a bleed return pipe too, to get the bleed screw above the level in the reservoir.

That heat shield, with it's backing is (or is supposed to be) rivetted to the tunnel housing. The backing material may, or may not contain Asbestos! In any case your exhaust is too close to yours for comfort! This may have a couple of causes, 1) Rimmer bros or other aftermarket lousy fit downpipe 2) collapsed o/s engine mount (check clearance between o/s rack mount and oil pump, there should be some!) Either of these could be helping your noise problem along!

If the brake fluid is black, the seals almost certainly need attention. you can kit it or go mad and use a club exchange master cylinder, these are stainless steel sleeved for longer life.

HTH, 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.

Busy evening yesterday. Removed the transmission tunnel cover so I can get access to this clutch slave and rattling heatshields.

However before then I got distracted by trying to open the roof and give some more natural working light. Unfortunately it got jammed trying to open it slightly and thus committed me to sorting it. After plentiful use of GT85, I got it opened and closed reasonably smoothly. Going to need to grease the runners with some lithium grease or similar so it stays nice and smooth.


Next up was removing the parcel shelf. Wasn't too difficult, even if this one is pretty damaged and battered.


Removing the radio was the hardest bit. Not helped by this mess of spade connectors behind the dash. Many of the wires hadn't been crimped properly and were falling out. I've disconnected and taped up the power lines for now and I'll come back another time to clean and redo this lot up.


Then I made the mistake of looking up at the dash area for rust.

First off is this little hole which goes into the drivers wheel arch. Doesn't look too difficult to repair this one.


Looking up I noticed this suspicious looking mess covered up with black goo (Tigerseal by the looks of it).


I made the mistake of giving it a poke with my finger and was rewarded with a shower of rusty metal in my face!


Thankfully the metal behind looks in good condition and a simple area to work on - apart from the "joy" of welding upside down. However it looks like it'll be a dash out job to repair this. Right now I'm thankful of having that rather rusty Austin 1100 I welded up - otherwise I'd be freaking out right about now! This area will have to wait until I've moved house though. If that all goes ahead, I can strip the car out while it's undercover and not worry about rain getting in between working on the car. Also hopefully that'll all be done and dusted before the end of the year. That way I can get it sorted over the winter period.

Passenger side isn't much better. I resisted the urge from poking this took hard just yet.


I wouldn't be surprised if there are many a Dolly with rust hidden away in these sort of areas. Not something you find unless you start pulling bits off and go poking.

Finished off getting the transmission tunnel out.


Ended up being a bit of a fight with this heatshield from earlier not wanting to release itself. Looking at the backing insulating material it was sat on, it looks almost certainly to be asbestos. I'll remove it and probably put some exhaust wrap or similar over this area.


Clutch slave


Pulling back the rubber boot revealed a fluid like substance behind it. I think this is brake fluid or water. If brake fluid then it's been leaking, if water then it'll rust out the bore and leak either way!


Given the ease and cost of buying a replacement clutch slave, I think I'll just replace rather than rebuild.

This project seems to be finding me more jobs to do all the time!! (Don't they all...)

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

I was just reading about that. I've been to millets a lot over the years and know it quite well. Not far for me to go either. Would it be wrong though to turn up to a Triumph meet in an BGT?

I did see the rather low torque figures on the nuts, so I resisted the urge/laziness to undo them with my impact wrench. Glad I did!
Flexis look like they have been replaced at some point this decade and not in bad shape. However cheap enough to just lob on some new ones while I'm there. Hard lines from the Flexi to calipers look a bit crusty though. Not investigated the hard lines too much further back yet.
That's made me even more tempted to suck the oil out for now. Moss and Rimmers do the correct spanner in getting the plug out so I'll probably order one of them. Sump plug might be worth replacing as starting to round off already.
Repro part then! Probably why it looks to be leaking then.
It definitely looks like asbestos but either way I'm going to put my PP3 mask on and remove it. Thanks for the other tips, I'll go and investigate. Clearance between the body and the exhaust definitely is pretty close and tighter than I imagined it should be.
Do the club stock single line masters? I'm convinced I read somewhere they do, but I can't find it on the parts list.

Who is the go to contact in the club for spares?

Thanks for all the advice!

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

The club do supply single line master cylinders, contact Alun Nicholas (xvivalve on here) for details of these and also the repair panels you may need for the car. Or the parts hotline!

You do need to be a member to buy club spares but it's a worthwhile investment! The club sells bits you just can't get elsewhere!

Steve

PS, I can supply any or all of the hard brake lines for your Sprint. Made to order in copper or Kunifer and guaranteed to exactly match the length of the originals. Most aftermarket sets are a bit generous in length and come in a "one size fits all" kit which is not correct, there is quite a lot of differences between pipes on various models of Dolomite! For a few dollars more, I also do a rear axle pipe modification which makes a better job of it than the original design by equalizing the length of the pipes to the rear cylinders.

PPS, Turn up to TDCIR in whatever you like! all Dolomite fans are welcome no matter what their other fetishes may be!

_________________
'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.

No you can't supply in copper, only kunifer available.

Jeroen

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

Afaik copper is a legal material to use in the UK for brake lines. Of course whether you should do or not is an ongoing debate in every classic car community I think!

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

Current shopping list. Front brakes depends on if I stay with stock for now or go straight with trackerjack now.

• Front Calipers x2
• Front Brake Hoses x2
• Front Brake Fitting Kit
• Brake Master Cylinder
• Front Caliper hard lines
• Front Discs + Pads
• Rear wheel cylinders x2
• Rear wheel shoes
• Rear wheel springs
• Exhaust Wrap
• Drivers Footwell
• Pedal Rubbers
• Sparking Plugs x4
• Carpet
• Front drivers seat padding (reupholster/from another car)
• Front drivers seat webbing

Just ordered a clutch slave from RobSport, so hopefully that will be here in a couple of days. Problem is, I've been spoilt by living near a Moss Motors branch where I can pick up most stuff for my BGT during the day and fit it that evening! If its wrong or I over buy, I can take it back (within 12 months) for a full refund. With the Dolly though I need a bit more forward planning.

Need to figure out which bits I can get from TDC and which I need to get from suppliers. Mevspares was the cheapest for a few of the bits, but annoyingly (for me) they appear to have gone on holiday for a bit.

_________________
Current Heaps: 1968 Austin 1100, 1974 Dolomite Sprint, 1974 MGB GT, 1985 BMW E28 520i, 2000 Porsche Boxster, 2002 Clio 172 and a boring 2010 Audi A4 that keeps the wife happy!

The club can supply a footwell panel, throttle pedal rubber, brake master cylinder and seat diaphragm as well as stock recon calipers (also stainless sleeved) if you go the standard route. We also currently have someone working on remanufacturing new moulded seat cushion foams but no ETA on them yet.

Copper brake pipe is completely legal in the UK, i've been making and fitting copper brake pipes for over 40 years and never had a problem with it. Most pipes I make in the course of the "modern" side of my business are still copper now, for the ease of shaping and of course, it's a bit cheaper. It's only classic car people who insist on Kunifer. I know a lot of semi scientific people mutter a lot about "malleability" and "work hardening" with copper pipe. But I have just as much trouble getting cupro nickel pipes undone as I do with copper. In the end, since it's no trouble to me to make a new pipe, I regard all hard pipes, whatever they're made of, as sacrificial. If they come out easily, fine! If they don't, it's no biggie! Personally, I don't have a problem with copper and I do sometimes wonder if it's just Kunifer's great propaganda that has given copper pipe a bad name! So I offer a choice!

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.