1971 2 door Toledo - a very long hibernation

[2door-toledo]

Sorry Dolomite 135 - I missed your reply too. Thankfully I've managed to pick up some NOS early style grills in silver. I repatriated one of them from Spain, as it was unavailable anywhere in the UK. I also added a set of later black ones because when I win the lottery and find the right donor car I am going to build a magenta Toledo TS

Despite the lack of recent updates I have been spending all of my time getting the running gear finished so that it can go back onto the car early next week.

I welded up the drag strut hole on the subframe as it had become elongated due to wear.



Removed all of the oil seals in the rear axle.



Painted the axle



And started getting everything ready for reassembly.








And then a trip to the bodyshop to see how everything is coming along. The doors and bonnet look ace.





It's a small and totally insignificant detail but I insisted that the bodyshop fit the ID tag so that it has the correct look, as it would have been attached before the shell was painted at the factory.






I also painted the shocks in blue.


Pretty close to their original colour.


I searched high and low in the garage to try and assemble the original tool kit, I think I've been pretty successful.



These have been sent for zinc plating.



I'm going to do a cosmetic restoration of the jack, eventually.



And there's even some touch up paint.




I haven't been able to find the jack handle, so looking for one of these.

[2door-toledo]

I stopped posting on here because no one seemed to be reading, but I'll update with the end result. We made it to the Classic Motor Show 2019, there's a few things I have to finish off this year and the aim is to MOT it for the spring/summer season, will be on the road approximately April to September and spending the rest of its retirement in a heated and dehumidified garage. Thanks to all that helped, even if it was "just" words of encouragement - it all helped massively

Lots of interest in the car. Lots of people who had had one or had relatives who had had one. Lots of lovely comments. Lots of questions about the colour. A great and very fulfilling experience.

There'll be a write up in the magazine in due course.

















And we made it into Triumph World.

[tinweevil]

Stunning Chris
I'm sure I'm not the only forum lurker wondering what had become of this car. I look forward to the write up in the magazine.

[yorkshire_spam]

Fantastic result! Are you having fun driving?

[2door-toledo]

Thanks tinweevil! I hardly believe it to be honest!

Thanks also yorkshire_spam! So finishing it for the Classic Motor Show was an absolutely herculean effort for me, the engine only went in the week before, and I was up until midnight the night before the show installing the front to rear fuel pipes. I trailered it to the motor show and I decided to have a break of a few months and finishing snagging tasks in early 2020.

But I did drive it into the display hall and a bit around the NEC. I need help setting up the carburettors and ignition timing (never done it before), and there's a few other things to attend to - I *think* I have finally stopped the NSF brakes leaking. There's also a leaking core plug. It's by far my most treasured possession, a reminder of my late parents when they first got married in the early 70s - so it'll be only coming out in the dry and I'm looking forward to the spring/summer show season

Here's a crappy video of its first big drive - I actually ended up getting directed onto the main roads around the NEC which was NOT intended and it's terrifying that this was completely legal as it's MOT exempt, I DO NOT recommend doing this. But it was a pretty special moment, especially driving with all the other classics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-M9Whx ... e=youtu.be. It will be getting MOTd before any more driving is done.

[yorkshire_spam]

Great video Chris. Get it on the road and start enjoying it after all that hard work!

[JPSPRINT]

Stellar job Chris! Excellent effort mate..

[Awaiting Repair]

You have done a fantastic job there Chris! Well done!

Keith

[Carledo]

I wouldn't say no-one is reading your posts Chris, 5000+ views in 18 months isn't too bad!

And here your resto lives on (as well it should, it's a cracker) almost indefinitely. 2 weeks on the FB page and posts are as good as lost!

Bet you can't wait to be out driving it now!

Steve

[Reg]

Awesome restoration.. Lovely colour too!

[2door-toledo]

Thanks yorkshire_spam, JPSPRINT, Awaiting Repair, Carledo and Reg!

Appreciate all of the questions you've helped me with Steve and good point regarding forum views - I guess I'm just used to instant facebook "Like" gratification

The car wasn't really finished at the motor show but I have now more or less finished going through my snagging list:

Fixed a few brake system leaks
Replaced leaking core plug in situ
Removed paint from upper ball joint taper on vertical link because I had no idea what I was doing when I painted it.
Fitted handbrake H pieces on the rear brake cylinders
Fitted Lumenition Magnetronic
Tuned the carburettors
Fixed the wiper motor - forgot to plug it in, whoops
Fixed the fuel gauge - sender plugged in the wrong way
Fixed manual screenwash pump - the one way valve wasn't installed correctly
Made the fan blower work
Installed some crappy repro horns until I can be bothered to refurb the originals

I do seem to be getting some excessive oil loss after taking it from a drive coming from the gearbox area, I haven't yet determined whether it's gearbox or engine oil. I hope it's not an engine or gearbox out job I have so far shoved a paper clip in the gearbox breather hole to try and make sure this isn't blocked but haven't taken it for a test drive since.

And yes I've been looking forward to getting it on the road, I've done some test drives and overall I am delighted with how it drives bar the oil loss.

[Carledo]

I've been saying for ages we need a "like" button on here!

Have a "thumbs up" instead!



Steve

[2door-toledo]

Haha, thanks Steve! Seriously, I think it's a good idea, it's a very low effort for someone to show appreciation.

Anyway, I think I've narrowed the oil leak down to the joint between the gearbox and rear extension.



Trying to figure our how to fix this by more reading of the damn manual.

[DOLOMITE 135]

I think you can be proud of an awesome car, your Toledo is probably one of the best, if not the best condition Toledo out there now.

The rear gearbox extension is fairly easy to remove to replace the gasket, though I've never done it in the car, just be sure to remove the speedo drive and to drain the oil or you're end up with a bit of a mess.

A couple of queries about your car:
I've never seen the front wing badges in the position you have them fitted, did you copy the position from the original wings?
Are you missing the original driver sun visor, or was fitting the passenger visor on the driver side a temporary thing?

Have the drag struts been sorted now?

[2door-toledo]

Thank you DOLOMITE 135 I have certainly done my best and hope that my parents would be pleased.

Re the front wing badges, I attempted to copy the original position but got it completely wrong. Oops. Mid 1990s photo showing the originan location. Will fix when I get around to it.



Well spotted about the sun visor! I do have both of them, it's just I got them the wrong way around as I hadn't realised they were different. Will fix

This is the only photo I have with my dad and the Toledo in the same frame.



I'm amazed and very happy that some of my friends managed to figure out that this is in the Lake District. I just wish Google Navigation had a "at 60mph" option



I am looking forward to recreating this trip!

I haven't touched the drag struts but I suppose I should tackle it sooner rather than later.