RUK - Project Recommission 1972 'Dolomite' Auto

[Triumph1300]

Nice job there James, shame that the cover sills were ever fitted

[James467]

Thanks Bruce!

There's not a lot now left to do, there is rust in some other areas, air vents at the rear, boot lid etc... but they can all be tackled in due course.

I'm so tantalisingly close!!!

Definitely on track for the MOT on a week Saturday, getting excited now!

[Reg]

Fantastic job James! Getting rid of those covers and uncovering the originals is a fab idea and far, far nicer..top work.

Thanks for the updates..

[James467]

Thanks Reg, it certainly looks better without them on!

This morning I finished the inner front valence, fitted the strengthening pieces below the headlights, checked everything lined up then seam sealed and painted everything that would eventually be covered by the outer valence.

Everything got a coat of etch primer first



Everything seam sealed





Then once the sealer had skinned (according to the instructions on the can) I could put on a coat of stone-chip. Need to wait 2 hours before I can put a dusting of body colour on there.



I also sealed all of the welds inside the engine bay, these will be top coated when I do the rest of the car.



I started repairing the worst of the outer valence to get a head start on tomorrow. There is still more work to do but I'm please so far, everything lines up nicely.





I am hopeful that I'll be able to get the lower valence fitted and finished either later today or tomorrow morning.

[Triumph1300]

I'm afraid to go to sleep with the speed of progress on this James, looking good, mot on the 13th May looks very feasible!

[Reg]

mot on the 13th May looks very feasible!

Absolutely!

[James467]

Inner valence bottom painted!



Test fitted the outer valence to make sure everything lines up, there's some fettling needed to drop it down a tiny bit (notching the strengthening panels will do this) but oh my goodness, it looks like a Dolomite again! I will weld it all up properly once it's fitted as the panel is quite flimsy and I risk distorting it. I have a template cut for the sidelight repairs, I'll do these when it's back on the car for the same reason.





Definitely a good place to end the day!

[new to this]

Ive got cover sills on mine,i may do the same as you and remove them,as they make the gap between the sill and doors to close,
i see you have a power file,great little tool,i buy the wider belts and cut them down,you can go through a load

Dave

[James467]

If you do remove them I found the best way was to simply cut through the lower section then you should be able to bend them up and cut the welds along the top. That's if they were fitted like mine!

This morning I made some boomerangs!



To go here!





They made a massive difference once fitted, the panel was a lot more rigid.

I then straightened all of the joint edges and offered the valence up to the car. This is why I didn't remove the wings, I wanted to make sure that everything still lined up properly.

Once I was happy with the alignment I went ahead and welded it on.





Some fettling and dressing to do on this repair but it should be fine.



I'm moving on to repairing the passenger side now, attaching the wing, repair the sidelight mounting, fitting the eyebrow etc... then on to the drivers side.

[Mahesh]

Like the boomerangs

[new to this]

James

how come you didn't do the repairs for the sidelight, before refitting the valance,do you know if the plastic plugs are still available for fitting the side light to the valance

Dave

[James467]

James

how come you didn't do the repairs for the sidelight, before refitting the valance,do you know if the plastic plugs are still available for fitting the side light to the valance

Dave

With the repairs I did only being tacked in I was worried about the structural integrity of the panel off the car, plus it moves around a lot! Now it's fitted it is more rigid so once I have seamed the repair patched in properly I can get on and repair them.

The plastic plugs are still available part number CZA4705L, they are used for Defender grills as well, I got a pack from eBay for a few pounds.

[Jon Tilson]

Presume you welded the boomerangs to the flange on the lower front wings from inside the arches?

Did you spot weld those or plug weld them? Your usual excellent photos though....this will be very useful to a few of us.

Jonners

[James467]

Presume you welded the boomerangs to the flange on the lower front wings from inside the arches?

Thanks Jonners. The OS wing section will be replaced with a repair wing section so I don't need to do that side. On the NS, yes that was the plan. The wing looks like it's an aftermarket one and I just couldn't weld it on, it just kept blowing through even on the lowest setting on my welder. I eventually managed to weld the wing to the valence in such a way that it can be removed if I need to in the future. It's not nice but it's functional and hasn't damaged my valence repair.

So today starting with this I wanted to finish this corner of the car ready for the headlamp panel to be fitted.



I repaired the wing, the indicator panel and seam welded all of the repairs.



Fitted the club GRP eyebrow. This was fitted with a couple of self tapping screws and tigerseal.



I then cut a repair section from the spare upper front valence that I have.



Tacked it in, checked alignment then seam welded it.



The underside where it joins to the eyebrow has been sealed with tigerseal. I test fitted the club headlamp panel from Alun and it fits perfectly, overall I'm really happy with the way this has turned out, everything lines up and with a small skim of filler in a couple of places this should look ok with a rattle can.







The only thing left to do was to give the inner panel a coat of red oxide then a couple of coats of top so I can fit the headlamp panel.

[SprintMWU773V]

It's interesting that you've used seam sealer, they didn't bother from the factory I don't think. No wonder they rusted!

Looks great BTW.