The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello all!

It's been a fair while since I've posted here, I hope you're all keeping well.

I still have my lovely Nina but she's looking a little bit sorry for herself and is going to need some bodywork. How do I figure out quite how much is needed? For instance, if the bottom of the doors are disintegrating, how do I figure out what to replace?

When it comes to repairing around the front windscreen corners, what is the solution?! Is anything available? What about leaking windscreen surrounds (relatively new; can I just pump it with sealant or is that bad practice?!) & front quarterlight rubbers?

I had a bodyshop respray a boot lid for me a few years ago and it has survived excellently, am I safe asking him to do more complicated sections such as the front wing replacement, or do you recommend going to a specialist for classics, or even Dolomites?

Thanks!

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HQentity (Kyle)

1975 TRIUMPH DOLOMITE 1850 in Honeysuckle (Nina) 2015-2020


"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the Triumph." - Thomas Paine

Hi Kyle,
An interesting post; your have certainly made some plans.
From my experiences of getting the MGB and the Lotus done in the past few years I'd perhaps offer the following bits of advice.

Write a speel about exactly what you want done as far as you can see, and what bits of trim etc; need replacing, and most importantly what colour you want it done in. They will want to replace vinyl trim to see what is underneath. Try and quote a paint code. If the car has any interesting history, take it along, wash the car before hand, and clean out the interior, and empty the boot so they can see the floor. It all creates a good impression.

Then go round 4 or 5 restoration places and see what they say. The good ones will probably want to put it on a ramp to look underneath, but as a minimum they will need a really good look round. Now they are bound to spot extra things that you haven't noticed, but don't be worried.
Ask for written estimates / quotes and ask them to state which. ( E-mail is fine ).
<Edit 2 > If a supplier doesn't reply that is another "not interested" danger sign. Just go somewhere else,

Wait for the estimates to come in and pour yourself a stiff drink.

Words like " We wouldn't want to take it on" are a "walk away from them" sign.
As is " We'd only take this on if we can get ( Hen's teeth part 1; hens teeth part 2 " etc; etc;
Avoid the temptation to use the words " and while you are at it " 'cos that is what bumps up the final bill. And don't involve them in work they are not familiar with like electrics and engine / transmission work unless they are familiar with the model.
For instance don't ask a restoration place to do a slant 4 water-pump ("while you are there." There is a risk of them screwing it up.

And if , while they are doing the work they find extra bits ( usually rust ) then get an e-mail quote / estimate for that as well, and approve back by e-mail pronto, so it doesn't delay the work in hand.

December / January are good months to start the work particularly if you offer a deposit. It all helps with their cash flow we found. And don't underestimate the time scale. 4 - 5 months is reasonable with an 8 - 9 month lead time. So if its a daily driver, try and borrow the Wife's car etc; etc;

I've got a proforma enquiry letter we did for the MGB. I'll see if I can find it.
<Edit > Discuss with them whether they will be using cellulose or 2-pack, and take their advice.

<Edit 2 > Discuss with them what sort of quality of finish you require. Do you want one like "RNK" by RSi on here or a Daily Driver finish like my 1850, SWK last time you saw it. I went for a Daily Driver finish as I was parking in the company car-park and the local supermarket. Need I say more. It has lasted well so far.
To answer your other question they are bound to take the screens out to avoid a paint edge round the rubber. They will note any corrosion and should advise how much extra it will cost to repair a known Dolomite rust spot.
Ask your favourite sprayer how he intends to replace the front wings. If he adopts Derek's approach you will get a great job done if you remember seeing SWK's last time we met
HTH,
Tony.

Sounds like good advise Tony.

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Triumph Dolomite Sprint,RNK 957W

Built 26/6/1980 (one of the last built), Auto, Porcelain White - Genuine Mileage 52,820 (warranted).

Only 3 previous owners, (2 within the same family).

Supplied by Lavender Hill Garage Ltd, Enfield, London, by garage owner Jimmy Metcalfe on 30th September 1980 to Geoffery Robinson, Enfield.

Club Membership No: 2017092

Hiya Tony!

Thanks very much for your quick reply and advice, and sorry for taking so long to get back. Christmas calls, and has been getting in the way of everything haha! I'll put some photos here that I took last year, the goal is to get rid of as much rust as possible. Mechanically I'm not too bothered; everything I can think thats broken, I can have a go at fixing. It's just bodywork. Even structurally I don't think there's much wrong, although I would consider rustproofing underneath "while you're at it" haha!

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HQentity (Kyle)

1975 TRIUMPH DOLOMITE 1850 in Honeysuckle (Nina) 2015-2020


"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the Triumph." - Thomas Paine

Hi Kyle.

From the pictures it doesn't look too bad and I'm sure a good 'classic friendly' repairer could sort that out.
If panels are required, then Alun can supply these and they are a superb fit - probably cheaper in the long run to supply these than someone having to make repair sections from scratch - in particular the lower door panel that you picture and the lower rear wing.

Other areas may be repaired by cutting out and letting in small repairs - such as round the windscreen. It is the time this takes that adds to the ££.

You are obviously handy with the car - have you thought about having a go yourself with a welder? I've recently been repairing my project and some of the simpler stuff I have done myself having never welded before...it is very rewarding!

Another thing that would save some ££ is if you strip the car yourself before taking it to a bodyshop - trim etc.. even flatting the paint.. depends how far you intend to go and if you want to drive it to the bodyshop of course! When I had my 1500HL painted, I took a week off work and did the prep with the bodyshop!

Well worth doing though - a solid basis.
Keep us posted!

MC

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Matt Cotton

TDC Oxfordshire Area Organiser.
TDC/TSSC group meeting - 3rd Tuesday of the month


1980 1500HL - OPD
1976 Sprint - SWU

Hi Kyle,

I'm going to be the voice of doom for a bit!

Theres a lot to do there, plus there will be things uncovered that you can't see, there will be sections that will require some fab work.

However, it has rusted in all the usual places so someone familiar with the cars wont be scared.

I would do the following.....

• Strip the exterior

• Replace the sills, including the lower inner section with club items, the rear section can be repaired

• Rear doors can be repaired with skin sections from the club

• Inspect the chassis legs

• The front floor looks like surface rust and would respond from a clean up, get a heat gun on that sound deadening and remove it, inspect and replace it.

• On the front wings, I guarantee that the inner headlight panels have gone as well so you are looking at the inner valence repair, the wing and the headlamp mounting panels. The most difficult section is the outer wing.

• Front valence is standard and will really need to be fabbed, not difficult for a panel beater and english wheel.

• Rear wheel arches need replacing with club panels

• Boot floor looks to have gone along the seam of the outer panel, Rimmer stock these

• What always worries me is the lower windscreen/a pillar section. If it has got into the bulkhead it's a real pain to fix, you can see what I had to do to Shauns car, thats worst case though. I have seen plenty that have just needed outer skin repairs, which is pretty easy

Then it's going to need to be undersealed and painted.

The reality is that it wont be cheap I am afraid.

Sorry!

Kyle,

Afraid to say I agree with James467. To do the job properly there is a lot of work. In my experience what you can see is usually the tip of the iceberg - especially when you see large bubbles under the paintwork. It does all depend on what you want to achieve. A solid roadworthy car that looks presentable from a distance will be far less costly than going for a full bare metal restoration with a near concours finish.

I suspect if you took the car for an MoT now it would fail on corrosion on the sills at least. Looking at the MoT history it has already been failed several times on excessive corrosion at the rear which must have been patched/repaired at the time, this just says to me there is a lot waiting to be revealed when you start digging so be prepared.

Having said all that it is all very doable, plenty of repair panels available which save a lot of time, and it is the time (labour) that really costs. If you can do some of the the donkey work yourself you will save some money - though check with who ever you decide to spray the car that they are happy for you to do this.

I may be wrong on this and it could be that a respray in the past was poorly done and it is just the paint lifting in places but I very much doubt it. My Sprint is a 1975 in Honeysuckle as well. It has remarkably little rust underneath but whilst removing the front suspension and subframe I found a nice hole where the wheel arch joins the front footwell, major PITA to get to and weld up as it is under the servo/behind the pedals. Its unexpected finds like these that really start adding to the cost/time, and you don't find them until you are committed.

I think you will get a better feel for cost and possibilities if you take the car to a few classic car specialist and see what they say. At this stage I wouldn't worry too much about finding the best one, just visit a few and see what they say. Also speak to the outfit that did your bootlid and see if they are interested - you were happy with what they did before - though this is a bit different to painting a single panel.

Good luck

Roger

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1975 Sprint Man O/D in Honeysuckle Yellow
1971 Stag Auto White

Too many cars, too little time!

Most of the area's James mentions have required work on my project car and if I had farmed out all this work I dread to think what the cost would be -ultimately in excess of the cars value for sure once painted etc... many projects are though.
I've been working pretty solidly on it since March and there is still a fair bit to do...not too many surprises but I am still finding grot as I work my way round it, so Rogers 'tip of the iceberg' quote is certainly one that runs true for me.

I guess for you Kyle, you have got some attachment to the car having owned for a long period.

As a guide I paid just over 2K to have some small repairs to the boot area, new rear wheelarches and a full repaint on my 1500HL and that was nearly 20 years ago! Bodywork is very expensive.

A few pics which look similar to yours...

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Matt Cotton

TDC Oxfordshire Area Organiser.
TDC/TSSC group meeting - 3rd Tuesday of the month


1980 1500HL - OPD
1976 Sprint - SWU

My car has pretty much gone in all the same places as yours.

The good news is I have basically fixed all the metal work and did it myself. Most people on the forum will be better with a welder and angle grinder than me, so it is doable for the average person.

The bad news is you are looking at the tip of an iceberg. I had to replace both front wings and the front outer valance with GPR. I found the front of both sills had gone, pretty easy fix. Had to replace large parts of the of the offside sill.

Like yours I had to do the rear arch, though that wasn't too bad, the panels seems to be have sealant from the factory which holds the rust back. You will probably have to fix the corners of the boot floor. The doors are relatively easy to fix, as long as the door shells are in good nick.

The one repair on your car that would worry me is around the windscreen. I had a similar rust bubble and I only found out how bad it was when I removed the wings. Fabricating and welding a patch for that area with not a trivial undertaking.

As for time, mine is a hobby car, so it has taken me years.

Hi Kyle

I am in a similar boat as you, although my Triumph is not as bad as yours, so unless you are very attached to the car and are willing to spend far more than the car will ever be worth fixing it, I would just sell it as is, and save up for something better. I spent £500 getting a new boot floor fitted (even with doing the prep and painting it after). So it will soon add up, and the fact is people are selling restored non sprints for around the £5k mark, so its not really worth it.

Mine is MOT exempt now, but I keep getting it MOT'd but once its fails on corrasion I will be moving it on, as its not worth it to fix, I will just enjoy it while I can!

Regards

Barry

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Aberdeen

1975 Triumph 1500 TC various shades of blue

Hiya all thanks for the advice!

Unfortunately I am rather attached to my Nina, and I would rather have a go at restoring her despite the costs. I'm just waiting to be able to afford it. I would consider doing the work myself I suppose, I'm just nervous I would mess it up? Is it straightforward to weld?!

I have already poured the majority of my earnings over the last 4 years into her, so really I'm beyond the point of no return now haha!

Thanks for the advice, I will go to a few bodywork shops next year and get some quotes for different levels of work as suggested.

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HQentity (Kyle)

1975 TRIUMPH DOLOMITE 1850 in Honeysuckle (Nina) 2015-2020


"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the Triumph." - Thomas Paine

I'd agree with everything James has said too - having had a few cars restored myself over the years. Do as much as you possibly can yourself, bits you're confident in doing - if you're not confident then better to leave it as it could cost a lot more putting it right, redoing it!

The one thing to be very careful about is if you are going to use a body shop to do the main parts of the work, then get plenty feedback from people who's cars were done by them and in 'similar' condition to yours, I'd not be to keen on anyone who's not got the level of experience needed, and someone said a 'classic friendly garage', that's a definite too if it was me getting it done.

I'll PM you with the cost of the type of work I got done, hopefully over this weekend - at least it'll give you an idea of what garages may charge.

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Triumph Dolomite Sprint,RNK 957W

Built 26/6/1980 (one of the last built), Auto, Porcelain White - Genuine Mileage 52,820 (warranted).

Only 3 previous owners, (2 within the same family).

Supplied by Lavender Hill Garage Ltd, Enfield, London, by garage owner Jimmy Metcalfe on 30th September 1980 to Geoffery Robinson, Enfield.

Club Membership No: 2017092

A bit of a trek, but if you want a decent job done, at a decent price, try Andy Dann

http://www.classic-resprays.co.uk/3.html

His work won't win concours events, but lasts well and you won't get better value anywhere (probably!) I have seen many examples of his work, it all seems well done and so far is lasting far better than some other far more expensive work.

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Clive Senior
Brighton

Kyle. For some of the bigger tasks on my car I have used this chap[url]www.http://classiccarwelding.co.uk/[/url]

He really is excellent and very good value. You are a bit further away from him than me so it may not be as cost effective but maybe worth a call to him.
A few other Dolly owners have used Scott since and been equally happy.

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Matt Cotton

TDC Oxfordshire Area Organiser.
TDC/TSSC group meeting - 3rd Tuesday of the month


1980 1500HL - OPD
1976 Sprint - SWU

https://classiccarwelding.co.uk/

Sorry that was bugging me.