My new Dolomite - 1980 1500HL Auto

[DoloWIGHTY]

Well I never knew that.

Surprised they went to all that trouble just for a limited run model. I think if I was in charge at Canley I would of said bung some Sprint alloys on 'em!

[Jon Tilson]

Sprint wheels need a spacer on a Spit else they touch the calliper...its onlu 1/8 inch!

GT6 wheels are okay on a Spit and GT6 too but the GT6 also has different hubs.

That's why its hard to tell without trying.

Jonners

[DoloWIGHTY]

No I meant bung them on the SE instead of having to retool for a new set of wheels.

[DavePoth]

Wouldn't steel wheels have been welded anyway? shouldn't be any extra work to just bung a wider rim onto the premade centre...

[Purplebargeken]

That was really nice of him to help you out. Glad it has made such a dramatic improvement.

[Toledo Man]

Beware of having your steel wheels banded. It is dangerous if not done properly. Matt Jones of Practical Classics had some done for his W123 Merc (the one with the V8 lump that came out of an S class) at some point in the past.

[Howard81]

I think the Spitfire will fit, but the offset is indeed different to the Dolly wheels. I'll get a couple of 155 tyres put on the 4.5J wheels and see how they sit.

NGU made it to Poole and back over the weekend without fault, she sits at a steady 60mph at 3K RPM. I pulled into all 3 service stations to let her cool off and check the fluids and all was well each time.

She looks great now I've sorted the wheelarches and polished her!

[DavePoth]

Ooooooooooooh. Adam will be so jealous...

[xvivalve]

Spit wheels look really nice with the centres painted black but the rims left silver

[Purplebargeken]

She looks rather spiffing there mate

Right then, want to sort out a day to commence Operation Lower Valance?

Ken

[richard4040]

That looks well nice WELL DONE

[Howard81]

NGU was showing her age, especially as the front valance was tatty and peppered with stone chips, that over time had gradually turned into small rust spots. She desperately needed a facelift. Dr Purplebargeken very kindly offered to help me sort it all out, so last weekend NGU went up to North London for surgery...

As you can see, once the bumper and trims had been stripped off, she looks rather sorry!



NGU also had a bump on the nose sometime in the past, you can see where the dent has been pulled out and fillered over.



Back to bare metal!



Rust treated and primed...



Filler in the nose to bring it back to profile and some high-build primer rather compliments the green paint!



Dr Ken does his magic with the spray cans



Wow look at that! MUCH better! Even Ken's Minor gives it his approval.





A REALLY BIG THANKS for Ken for this, NGU is looking fantastic once again! We massively underestimated the time this would take, we spent most of Saturday working on it, and again on Sunday morning. Ken still isn't happy with the nose section (although it looks great in my eyes ) so wants to profile it a bit better. It still needs a better top coat as Halfords Brooklands Green is not the same as the Brooklands Green on my car - it's a shade or two off. But that might be because it is a Rover 200 colour and the paint mix changed slightly over time.

Thank you Ken!

[DavePoth]

Should have left it with the yellow nose and tried to persuade someone it was a rare "Lotus Dolomite"...

[Howard81]

I knew that colour combo looks familiar, but couldn't remember... now I know

[JPB]

she sits at a steady 60mph at 3K RPM

Strange, that means that you have the 1850 auto diff in there (3.27:1), you'd be doing slightly more RPM for the same MPH figure if you had the 3.63:1 diff that my 1978 brochure says the 1500 auto had. Unless of course the speedo over reads but worth investigating I think.

The car's looking great with its nose surgery though, proof that rattle cans are capable of giving a decent finish in the hands of the right person!