The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

so... im fed up the old project white thread, half the time i cant find it coz its dropped so far off the bottom of the 1st page. oh well. I've started this one instead which is gona end up with massive picture content. im not gona bother explaining what im doing, or ask any more questions, or get any opinions etc, all you're getting from here on is pics and possibly a few words to explain what the pic is, they should generally be self explanatory i hope.

so the pics i have so far are below, they sort of tell their own story after liberating from an 18 month rest under a tree in brum, and a 2 year sit on colin scrapmans drive prior to that. hopefully they'll run in chronological order. she'll be out of my mates (well sort of deranged and twisted step half brother 3 times removed) unit in less than a fortnight and proceeding directly to jodderland for the jointly most exciting bit.

i think it'd be great if comments etc were saved until she hits the road properly again, i.e. a big list of pics then lots of hugs, cuddles, @rse kissing etc. (translated - PLEASE DONT POST ANYTHING IN RESPONSE YET)

are you ready?? sitting comfortably?? here goes (most of these were taken by my phone)

just rescued from under tree



repairs before MOT was done:





repairs/mods after MOT:




a trip to jods (also including installation of spax, 3.63 diff, 7/16 rear wheel studs, repacking rear wheel bearings etc):


latest batch of repairs and pics before prep for respray:








not much room to manouvre in here, but:


decided to play about with spot light mock up

current status - front n back glass out, door window seals removed and binned, all lights n front bumper now off, need to get tank out to get back bumper off as the bolts are as rusty and seized as you'd expect.

more to follow monday - please dont whack any responses up yet, massive progress expected this coming week...

just been to chk progress and pay 1st installment of total.

prep under way, lookin smooove, more pics to follow at wkend

bit of prep action, more pics taken via my jolly fine nokia:











more prep required before primer, but reckon we're lookin at weds/thurs for finishing off the paint

PS - the red on the front is from the heaters

today i polished up the front bumper after removing irons etc. painted inside of it with hammerite, and also hammerited the spacers for the irons and also headlight rings. have new irons so they're going on as the old ones are well crusty. would clean up, but im saving them in case i need them to make spot light brackets out of them. will replace coach boltts, probably with B&Q ones.

also dismantled rear lights, cleaned and slightly tinted them, reassembled.

pics to follow.

cleaned up front headlights but the silver is coming off the inside of one of them so im currently looking desperately for a replacement, ASAP, see 'wanted'...

nipping down there tomorrow for more pics. expecting primer i think, all will be revealed...

also may have enlisted support from an extra pair of hands for the transplant saturday after next. what a nice man ...who will remain nameless for now in case he cant make it for some reason. i think engine n gearbox swap and recommissioning in day is do-able, certainly with 3 pairs of hands. well, maybe 2 and a bit pairs if you include me. it fookin better be do-able anyway, or jods gona have a room-mate for sat night...

ok, snook down there tonight. shes now in a coat of white primer. couldnt get pics coz i was looking thru the gap between the door and frame, paint man wasnt there. fans on, heaters on, obviously not long been done.

will try again tomorrow.

pics WILL follow soon

or jods gona have a room-mate for sat night...

You can crash at my gaff, but you sure as hell ain't sharing my room.

you know you'd like me to really

i wondered who would be the 1st to break the rules of this thread, i sort of had a feeling...

...but you're special of course

primer and final prep pics inclusing stone chip:























martin was on the special green putty, and i was assiting with last stages of flatting door window frames...

dont be fooled by his crazy eyes... hes fookin mental, this dude:



i reckon he's one of al nicholas' relations actually, or maybe they met somewhere to compare perms...

for the anoraks - stonechip was tetrosyl, and if you go back to the previous pics, the white tin on the red cabinet trolly thing is ppg's finest acrylic honeysuckle. it looks a lot more vibrant than glorias previous outer skin, then again the previous painter was obviously a monkey, who used grey primer rather than white, the paint and the primer never keyed into the corners properly (hence why it was flaking off) because it looked like it hadnt been flatted anywhere near thoroughly enough, and according to the front grilles and various other bits, the trim wasnt removed when it was painted! i hate knobbers who bodge things like that. a paint job is a paint job, you cant do it in half measures...

ive also repainted the grilles in plastikotes rather awesome 'project paint'. dont be fooled by overpriced imitations masquerading as 'bumper paint', its the same stuff.

and while i was in the mood i also gave the rusty battery retainer a lick over with hammerwrong, i have loads of the rubbish, it needs using up on something!!

this was all after a particularly ferocious monster burn up at the gym a right burst of activity today, must be the weight loss pills the mrs got hold of from a powerlifter she works with. rather high ephydrine content, we're liking that, they're like speed, buzzing all day...

nearing final stages now, this evening martin was planning to get some top coat on. not sure if he managed it or not, but if not it'll be 1st thing in the am.

the plan was to drive the car home tomorrow, but me thinks that aint gona happen, behind schedule a bit, so i think gloria will be transferred to mum n dads garage to harden off for a couple of days before heading home... we'll see what happens...

to be continued...

oh, n forgot to mention, theres gona be some further repairs required, the metal is very thin under the ns headlight, actually a couple of small holes there, and also similar story on the inner front panel where the ns bonnet hinge fits. nothing terminal but too late to be messing with that now. pretty much invisible as they are, they'll get welded up at some point and probably painted with a relatively close match that i have kicking about in my garage, from sikkens rather marvelous and hideously underpriced just for the UK market range of yacht enamel... IFA 243 i think it is

apparently shes done, ready to go. will av a look tomorrow, lights n door handles etc will be going back on tuesday. had to book half a day for this due to crap weather stuffing plans again...

tomorrow... tra la la la la la la la la

more pics coming.

have a little 'make roadworthy' project on... time will be short. have booked half a day.

this will give me maybe 3 hrs to refit the following:

drivers door mirror
2 door locks
4 door handles
4 door rubbers
4 sets of window weather strips
1 boot lid seal
all lights front n back
grilles
washer bottle
number plate lights
front n back windows
wipers
number plates

(not bothered about bumpers n trim, just av2 see how time goes. new headlight units can go in on sat, as can rear bumper if time allows)

may be single handed on this so place your bets...