MY SPRINT VXG 707N (W london)

[johnnyv1]

Hi everyone, ive just started work on my dolly sprint. Only had it since sep 09, bought it as a non runner- didnt need much doing to it to get it running., usual suspects spark plug tube seals/fuel/electric problems but nothing major.

The plan is to respray whole car and repair bodywork (body needs alot of work), do as much possible that i can to it with my budget and time. I am a custom auto painter so i will be doing everything to it myself including bodywork,welding,minor mechanics,electrics etc.

As i am only 28 i am new to the triumph dolomites sprints etc so please be gentle in your criticisim of my ideas/choices made during this project.

Ive been kindly granted space in a workshop that i used to work in to do the project which i will be starting wed 11/nov/09.
So, i will get lists/pics up of all the work done soon and general sharing of experiences of jobs.

Ive been after one of these for quite some time (Come from a family of petrolheads,grew up with capri/cortina carbs/parts being dismantled in the kitchen etc) and originally bought it as a runner but the seller couldnt get it to start on the day of sale, against a friends advice i didnt want to walk away from the dolly and ended up getting it towed to london and working on it since to get it going.

Anyway,cheers for reading and il get back soon. john

[Ian Wilkes]

I quite like that. What colour scheme do you have in mind for it?

Welcome to the forum!

[straylight]

welcome, that sprint has made its way to these forums before.

plenty of advice on here from some very clued up people.

Check out Mad Marts, Autonet7 or MickeyB's resto threads, very inspirational. They have been for me.

stu

[David6214]

Welcome

That car used to belong to Lewis on here. He did the spray job. Montythemol;e is another albeit brief visitor to check out. Thats the last two owners as far as I am aware.

This thread is a good start point for info....

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9773&p=93014&hilit= ... ale#p93014

[1300dolly]

And if you want to do something about the roof that chap above ^^ me has a good roof he could sell you (sorry to make assumptions David, wasnt sure if you had noticed it)

[1300dolly]

Oh and welcome to the forum as well

[Purplebargeken]

Welcome! A Dolly with attitude.

Whereabouts are you in West London? I used to work at Charing Cross Hospital a few years ago.

[xvivalve]

I hope your trip to Ikea last week didn't have anything to do with the restoration work!!

[Dollybird]

Hello and Welcome

I have seen this car before somewhere

I think it looks really COOL as it is

SHELLY

[johnnyv1]

Hi everyone,just a quick note to say thanks for all the replys. And yes i did go to ikea but not for the car ha ha,well spotted.
As for the area im in w10 which is about 10mins from notting hill/ladbroke grove etc.

For the colour, everyone seems to love the matt look but the bodywork needs a complete overhaul due to bubbling rust/filler work,so if im doing the complete i would like a nice paintjob. I would love to go crazy on the paintwork but would also like to keep it fairly simple as the type and age of car. I want to do the car a metallic black and am really undecided about whether or not to add a bit of black metalflake to the paint to give it a high sparkle but still looking just black from afar. I understand that black is not original, but i guess this car is far from original by now and know that i will have the concours guys angry but black and chrome always works...
That being said, im still undecided on the paint scheme .

I am thinking about welding the roof and filling as i would not have transport to collect a new roof and might end up being more work to fit i think. im on a very tight budget as i wont be working while im doing the dolly, (thats how much i want to save it from the scrapyard reaper) and just me working solo so might take awhile.

[johnnyv1]

Oh, and thanks for the link to old thread of car,its nice to see other pics of it before i went crazy with the camera.

Just some pics of when i took the carbs out etc, stripped as much as i could, vigorously cleaned, checked all parts and colour sprayed non moving parts.Refitted successfully and oiled/greased springs.
Also fuel pipe cleaned checked and painted...

[DavePoth]

Concours guys?

The nice thing about BL was that since their production quality was so variable, there isn't really any car you can properly call concours.

Black was a special order colour for all the dolomites, so it's sort of original if that really bothers you.

[Lewis]

Glad to see it wasn't anything serious to get it going again - I remember Monty (he bought it off me) telling me how it'd played up on the day (mind you, hadn't been used for a bit).

You can see a fairly extensive bit of history here too:

viewtopic.php?t=8984

From when it was its original colour (or at least, bits of it )

[merlind100]

Hi Johnny
I've got an original black Sprint and I'd say be careful with black as a choice of colour because you loose all the black trim, it just sort of blends in compared to how well it stands out on a brightly coloured car. That said I love mine and wouldn't change the colour

[straylight]

I think black really suits the dolomite, I'm thinking of doing my "donor" in black, so it will be interesting to see how yours pans out. I remember Lewis spending hours on rubbing that car bak and going through pallets of dust masks.

again, good luck and thanks for the pics. We all like pics

stu